Help me reconstruct the back story on these photos, which come from a set of snapshots I’m betting were taken on Nov. 17, 1983, when Noise 292 played the Che with Hair Theatre and 11 Sons. Near as I can make out, Jeff Lowe is playing bass with Hair Theater that night, while Dave Fleminger is drumming for Noise 292 … Or was this a show when Sergio was fronting the Answers?
Oh! And Jeff and I seem to be playing the same bass in these pictures … Was that his? ‘Twasn’t mine or Kristin’s.
More clues: Is that Dave Anderson behind Sergio and Jeff? And who owned the black drum kit both bands are using?
That bass in question in the photos was Jeff’s, ..back when you could go to Apex Music with a coupla hundred and pick thru the Gibsons and Gretsch’s…ack
The drumkit in the photos is Dave Anderson’s 70’s Rogers kit. An awesome set.
Also you can just see (behind Jeff) Dave F’s hand and the neck of his Gretsch Country Gentleman geetar. A perfect feedback machine with a whammy bar…
11/17/83 was probably the first Answers show
featuring Sergio, he joined in for the second half of
the set. A recording of that gig is in the archives,
setlist to follow…
What I wanna know is who/what are all the apparitions that appear in the Noise 292 photo?
I’m sure Ghost Hunters would have something to say about this. That can’t just be smoke, Noise is working those spirits up into a frenzy!
Topsy: Tell me about it … We were definitely channeling something that night!
What the hell show is this? Answers weren’t on the fliers for Nov. 17 … My archive of Noise 292 shows says the Answers and Noise played together at the Che twice: our first show ever (5/26/83), before we ever met Hair Theater, and 7/29/83, which I believe was the first (unbilled) Che appearance by Hair Theater (e.g., before we’d all been playing together and you started experimenting with Serge on vocals).
When did Sergio sing with the Answers? When was the Club Zu show? Was that with Dave Rives on second guitar, too?
” ..back when you could go to Apex Music with a coupla hundred and pick thru the Gibsons and Gretsch’s…ack”
In 1984, I bought a ’65 sunburst Mosrite Ventures model (in almost perfect condition) there for $175…it was my main guitar for years.
Wow! Dig this exhaustive article on the history of Apex Music.
Was the downtown Apex the dealership for all the Vox gear we were banging on in those days? We went there a lot for service and stuff back when I was playing bass through that big amp with the “Effect X” (?) knob. I know there were at least two other bands playing through those amps — Gravedigger V was one — ’cause we all played a party at Pat Works’ house that was busted up by the Hell’s Angels and SDSH, and I believe we ended up inadvertently going home with a better one!
Paul Howland: Were you playing through one of those Voxes? And did you play that party? I have no record of this party in my stack o’ fliers … I know the Pandoras were there as guests … And I think it’s the night the Angels relieved Wendell of his aspirin!
This looks like the first show I ever played with Noise292. I figured that since I was banging on metal pieces I should use metal to strike them. I had come up with some chunks of metal rod about a 1/2 inch thick and wound some duct tape around them by way of protection but was so exuberant in my crashing that I soon developed large blisters but played on through them until by the end of the show my hands were shredded and bleeding blobs. Although it may have been good for some sympathy points I quickly adopted regular drumsticks. I’ve been making noise ever since as an artist and a musician.
Wendell: I feel your pain … I did some serious damage to the heel of my right hand with the tambourine work on our version of “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” (There’s a decent recording of it on the July ’83 cassette from the Headquarters, which also features a young Leighton Koizumi making his rocknroll debut playing electric violin on “Heroin.”) I’m actually surprised I never fractured a bone on that one.
PS, Wendell: Here you are that night!
Do you guys remember the main sign that Apex had? It was made to look like a Vox amp that said “Apex” across the front. Also, on the front door there was a cool decal from the 60s that said “authorized Vox dealer.”
Matthew, I remember Leighton playing violin at that show…I think it was the first time I saw Noise 292.
Dave Ellison: That Headquarters gig was August 26, 1983, with the Pandoras and the Answers. (A live tape exists of that Noise 292 performance, glory be!) 🙂
When we finished our set that night, I came outside to find firetrucks around my parents’ van … A small plastic component of the fuel line had popped, spilling gasoline all over the parking lot. I did not feel very rock ‘n’ roll with a crippled car and the manager of the club chimping out about the fire hazard!