This number ties up a few narrative strands and bridges the San Diego-to-San Francisco gap that defined much of our post-Che Underground history.
“Snowball” is a song I wrote for 3 Guys Called Jesus in 1986. It’s performed here by the Ho Hos, the mid-’90s San Francisco group of San Diego expats that comprised me on vocals and guitar; ex-Morlocks bassist Jeff Lucas; Robert Labbe (former drummer for 3 Guys, the Forbidden Pigs and myriad other outfits); and Steve Lam, a marvelous guitarist and vocalist who met us in SF by way of Hong Kong. (Speaking of musical Che-chairs, this was a dream lineup for me.)
This track was recorded in 1994 at Mr. Toad’s in San Francisco; proprietor Tardon Feathered and future Amazons bassist Jason Brownell excelled as engineer and producer, respectively. It appeared on our “Ho’s Next” demo.
Killer! Is there tape of the HoHo’s fantastic live version of “Cry Baby Cry”?
Paul: Technology marched on between the ’80s and ’90s … While video of our older bands are rare as hen’s teeth, I bet there are 10 Hi-8 videos of the Ho Hos playing “Cry Baby Cry”! (We were videotaped a lot more often than audiotaped.)
Per your request, I’ve got a team of ethnomusicologists combing the files for the best version to share. 🙂
Matthew, this is great! This is probably the catchiest song I’ve ever heard by you…I really like it a lot. The guitar player is cool too… I love that little weird dissonant lick he plays about 3/4 of the way through.
Thanks, Dave! Yeah, Steve is an incredible guitarist … He’s played in a lot of SF projects with our friends, including a post-modern oldies cover band with Fleminger and Labbe that has the greatest name: The Butcher Covers. 🙂