From the same 1983 Lab Studios demo that brought us “Nightfall,” here’s Hair Theatre performing “Rolling Soul,” another signature number and staple of the band’s early-’80s repertoire. This track showcases the clean confidence of Hair Theatre’s early years and highlights the sophistication and charisma that vocalist/ songwriter Sergio demonstrated by age 18.
It also commemorates the collaborative skills of Sergio and Answers co-founder Dave Fleminger (demonstrated elsewhere with a recording of Sergio’s “He’s Calling You Tonight.”) “Sergio and I wrote that song one afternoon at [original Hair Theatre drummer Howard Palmer’s Carlsbad] shack,” Fleminger recalls. “The song was part of the expanded ‘3 Daves’ Answers sets, including our ‘Painted Sun’ gig opening for the Unclaimed at the UCSD Rec Gym” April 14, 1984.
(Painted Sun included the core Answers lineup of Fleminger, bassist Jeff Lowe and drummer Dave Anderson as well as Sergio and Noise 292 guitarist David Rives.) “The song really took off when it was revamped and reworked into Hair Theatre’s set, and it was always a thrill for me to hear them play it,” Fleminger concludes.
Remembering the recording session that generated this version of “Rolling Soul,” Hair Theatre lead guitarist Paul Allen writes, “The Lab was an eight-track (analog, of course) studio. We did the demo in stages. As I recall, we did the drums first, using all eight tracks. Then they bounced the drums down to one track and recorded the other parts, one at a time, with Sergio adding backup vocals to his lead vocals.”
Acute observer Patrick Works has written: “What can I say? Sergio and HT were not appreciated anywhere near their value except by other musicians, who were rightly in awe. I always thought he was the only one of us who had real star power. Probably still does … you can’t can that kinda thing … it sorta leaks out when you try.”
Sergio (vocals); Sergio Castillo (bass); Cesar Castillo (rhythm guitar); Paul Allen (lead guitar); Steve Broach (drums).
More Hair Theatre MP3s:
Great track…Charisma is definitely the word for Sergio!
I’ve heard the tape Dave Fleminger references where he and Sergio are writing this song: Bad batteries unfortunately make it sound like everything’s being blasted through a kazoo, but enough detail survives to remind me of the fun and creativity that went on in that lagoon-side shack occupied by Howard Palmer and his girlfriend Erin.
While it had electricity and water, I can’t imagine the place was up to any sort of building code … It seemed sort of half-open to the elements, but they’d done a nice job furnishing it with used stuff … Lots of books … Lots of hanging out and playing music and swapping schemes for aesthetic revolution. Bringing new downtown folks like Jerry all the way the hell up to Carlsbad was always a fun exercise in intellectual cross-pollination — I lived one town south in Encinitas, and I didn’t even know about all these wacky characters until we started doing the Che thing!
I figure this was late summer ’83; Howard and Erin were also early emigrants to San Francisco. Howard’s brother Joe was a puckish and unsinkable presence in the Hair Theatre entourage even after his older brother’s departure.
BTW: Does anybody have a line on Spent Idol? I believe Howard drummed for them briefly before Hair Theatre, and I think they were a little bit of a rallying point in Carlsbad for a while. Judging from their MySpace page, they keep going like the Energizer Bunny … but I don’t think I ever heard them!
I love this song… I used to have a tape with this on it, but the sound quality of my copy was bad compared to this. It’s great to hear it sounding more like the way it did live. They were the best band around back then!
Speaking of cassette copies: Looking back, I’m surprised we didn’t make a more organized effort to design and distribute cassettes of our stuff, a la “Our Blow Out.” As I recall — and the artifacts we’re finding seem to confirm — duping was usually a somewhat ad-hoc affair, onto the cheapest cassettes we could find, without much art put into the presentation.
It’s strange (and frustrating now) that with all the loving attention that went into flyers and the music itself, we didn’t combine them into nice little audiovisual packages. We were (occasionally) paying for studio time … I don’t remember anyone paying to dupe a couple hundred cassettes, though.
Then again, there might have been less pressure to put up these assets: I don’t remember demos being key to getting gigs in SD. I got a lot better at all this stuff in SF in the ’90s, when you couldn’t get a Monday at Nightbreak without a studio demo and a set of photos.
This copy sounds great. I’m curious how it was produced.
I’m staying in Leucadia for the week. I was driving past the lagoon where the Shack was. I didn’t see it while flying past on I-5. The area is now home to a waterskiing business and a few large condo/apartment complexes loom in the background. I went to the Shack a few times in its last days as a hangout. As I recall, Erin’s family owned the place, and her sister and sister’s boyfriend got domestic and took the place over. I went to a party once at an old overturned, land-bound boat that was resting between the shack and the lagoon. That’s where I met David Dick.
Speaking of whom, I went to the Secret Society Scooter Club 25th anniversary show at the Casbah on Sunday night. David Dick’s Irish punk band, the Downs Family http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=62719535 rocked the house with a tight set (especially for a band that rarely practices). The arrangements included two guitars, mandolin/pennywhistle, accordian, fiddle, bass and drums.
Preceding the Downs Family were Self-Made Men http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=367765216 . This ska band had an amazing horn section. One of sax player/vocalist John Roy’s previous bands was Unsteady http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=23413520 , another awesome band featuring Paul Howland on Bass.
Starting off the musical portion of the evening was Manual Scan http://www.myspace.com/manualscan . This was pure, rockin’ power pop. They were tighter and more intense than I ever remember them.
Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera. I believe another Che Underground blogger was there taking pictures. Hopefully someone recorded this show.
Really one of my favorites -- I’d almost forgotten how good this was. I’d have to say that Sergio’s delivery and exuberance on stage were a tremendous inspiration to my own later efforts.
Really nice to hear this again.
Jeremiah, were you involved in musical projects besides MCing?