VOLCANO SUNS Career In Rock 1991

Discogs

Artist Biography by Chris True

Rising out of the ashes of the disbanded Mission of Burma, drummer Peter Prescott put together the Volcano Suns with bassist Jeff Weigand and guitarist Jon Williams to continue making rock music, but to do it in a lighter, less serious way than Prescott's former band. 1985 saw the band's debut, The Bright Orange Years, released on Homestead. Their second and third releases -- also on Homestead -- saw a development in the band when Weigand and Williams left after album number two, All Night Lotus Party. 1987's Bumper Crop, the Volcano Suns' third, was well received enough to get the band signed to SST for their next two albums: Farced (1988) and Thing of Beauty (1989). Considered the best lineup of them all, this incarnation (featuring the guest guitar work of David Kleiler) would be the band's last. 1991's Career in Rock (released on Quarterstick/Touch and Go) would prove to be the band's final release. In late 2005, Prescott re-formed the Volcano Suns and played reunion shows in Hoboken and Boston.

Tracklist

1	Blue Rib	3:02
2	Binds That Tie	4:44
3	Mystery Date	4:13
4	Silly Misunderstanding	6:16
5	Total Eclipse	3:57
6	Horrorscope	2:26
7	Punching Bag	2:48
8	Show	3:40
9	Sensitacho	5:32
10	Hey Monarch	2:40

BIG DIPPER Slam 1990

by request

biography

[+] by Stewart Mason

A great band that never quite fulfilled their enormous potential, Boston's Big Dipper had impeccable indie credentials and an excellent line in crunchy post-post-punk guitar pop, but their later albums were no match for their early work.

Big Dipper was formed in 1985 when guitarist Gary Waleik and bassist Steve Michener left the original lineup of Volcano Suns, which they'd formed with drummer and vocalist Peter Prescott after the breakup of Prescott's earlier band Mission of Burma. Both uncomfortable with the idea of taking lead vocal chores, Waleik and Michener recruited singer/guitarist Bill Goffrier, who had moved to Boston after his former band, the Lawrence, KS-based indie pioneers the Embarrassment, had split up in 1983. Completing their lineup with local drummer Jeff Oliphant (formerly in an early lineup of Dumptruck), Big Dipper gigged around Boston and Cambridge for a while before recording their first EP, 1987's Boo-Boo, at the soon-to-be-famous Fort Apache Studios. Leading off with the killer "Faith Healer" (a song Goffrier had brought with him from the final days of the Embarrassment that would prove to be one of Big Dipper's most popular tunes, even getting covered by Shonen Knife), Boo-Boo was well-received on both the local and national indie scenes. Later the same year, the full-length Heavens was released (with no overlap from the EP, which was included on the CD issue) to even greater acclaim. An excellent synthesis of sunny power pop, neo-psychedelia, and indie rock angst featuring gems like "She's Fetching" and "All Going Out Together," Heavens is one of the finest American indie albums of its era.

Unfortunately, 1988's Craps is a comparatively weaker effort, with less sharp songwriting and a more sedate vibe. (Goffrier at this point was dividing his time between Big Dipper and a temporary Embarrassment reunion, which might account for his less striking contributions.) After that release, Big Dipper surprisingly signed with Epic Records. Like their Boston compatriots O-Positive, who had signed with the same label around the same time, Big Dipper's one and only major-label release is a major disappointment; 1990's Slam features far-too-slick production, with intrusive brass sections and too much emphasis on the rhythm section. Demoralized by the lack of critical and popular success for the album, Big Dipper broke up shortly thereafter. Michener moved to California and briefly worked with Barbara Manning before retiring from music to become a nurse. Other than the short-lived supergroup Crush, Sr., which released one album in 1993, Waleik also retired, becoming a producer for National Public Radio.

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 Tracklist 

1	Love Barge	3:33
2	The Bond	2:14
3	Another Life	2:09
4	Slam	2:53
5	Bony Knees Of Nothing	3:32
6	Baby Blue	3:45
7	Picnic	2:35
8	The Monsters Of Jazz	2:40
9	Impossible Things	3:01
10	Blood Pact	3:15
11	Father's Day	1:36
12	Baby Doll	3:54
13	Life Inside The Cemetery	4:08
14	All The Way From Memphis	3:26

 

 

KUSTOMIZED At the Vanishing Point 1996

by request

Discogs

Artist Biography by Jason Ankeny

Led by singer/guitarist Peter Prescott, a onetime member of the seminal 1980s post-punk bands Mission of Burma and the Volcano Suns, noise-rockers Kustomized also originally included guitarist/violinist/organist Edd Yazijian, bassist Bob Moses and drummer Kurt Davis (the former frontman for Bullet LaVolta). Formed in Boston during the autumn of 1993, the band honed its chops while supporting acts including Yo La Tengo and Helium; upon signing to Matador, they issued their debut EP The Mystery of Kustomized in mid-1994. The single "The Day I Had Some Fun" followed in 1995, and later that same year Kustomized issued their first full-length effort, The Battle for Space. Former Sugar drummer Malcolm Travis signed on in time to cut 1996's At the Vanishing Point. 

 

Tracklist

1	Handcuffs
2	Fingertips
3	Permission
4	Bored To Death
5	The One That Got Away
6	Hound
7	Amy Arrow
8	Camp Climax
9	Yacky Do
10	You Make
11	Film
12	Harlem Nocturne