Listen!
DO NOT TAKE THIS RECORD FOR GRANTED.
Contained herein is genuine 'lost' treasure of original and authentic American Punk/No Wave circa 1979-81 that now in 2017, nearly 40 years after the recordings were made, a whole generation later, you only just deserve to hear. The Sickness are 'year zero' for a lineage of notorious bands who followed namely The Groinoids. Kilslug and Upsidedown Cross, all now infamous in their own right, for many of the wrong reasons, but now it's time for the band where it all started, who in it's own unassuming way could possibly be the most important of all, to be overlooked no longer and finally get the credit it so rightfully deserves.
Every badly strummed out-of-tune guitar chord, every missed snare hit, when they all go out of time with eachother and the whole thing so nearly falls apart completely ... You just can't fake it - This is the real deal ... Add the seriously unhinged vibe dripping off every second of these recordings, the raw 'lo-fi' sound being another seal of authenticity, the peculiar lyrics delivered by a unique whiney drawl of a voice you either love or loathe which once absorbed will always be instantly recognisable. If music reflects the personality of it's creator/s, it's no surprise the creators of these fantastic dirges were known as the local "drug taking weirdos" and often shunned as social lepers, thus providing the fertile ground on which The Sickness would spew. "From the start, they were sick people making sick music for sick people ... in a scene full of healthy jocks".
The Sickness formed in 1979 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA by old high school friends Larry Coyle (guitar, vocals - later 'Larry Lifeless') and Jay Snow (bass, backing vocals - later 'Big Daddy') who together jointly concocted all of the band's material. Inspired by The Stooges, MC5, Black Sabbath, Captain Beefheart, The Residents, the attitude and aesthetics of Punk Rock and anti-music stance of No Wave (minus the artistic pretensions of the NYC scene), both still so fresh and vital at the time. The excellently named 'Snot' (drums) was the only person Larry and Jay knew who was both suitable and remotely interested in joining what became The Sickness' sole but surprisingly productive line-up. However, the physical artefacts were very little, a trend that would afflict the entire lineage of bands - just one 2 track 7" released in 1981. Around this time Jay was forced into exile for a while during which Larry was coaxed by Rico Petroleum to form Kilslug. Also having formed by this time was The Groinoids, also featuring Rico, who became fully active as Jay resurfaced and both new bands becoming the main focus essentially dissolved The Sickness. Initially, a handful of The Sickness tracks were also played by Kilslug including 'Corpsemonger' which was still played up to as late as 1984.
The tracks collected on 'Complete Sickness' are some of the best selected from one early rehearsal recording and a couple of different studio and live recordings. The title is misleading though as this is far from complete and represents only a small amount of their total unreleased material which had existed all these years on several old cassette tapes in Jay's possession, some likely the only surviving or known copy of, as only a couple of the recordings had ever made it into the hands of a select few of the band's inner circle and there seemed destined to remain. There had never been any plans for the recordings as The Sickness had largely been forgotten about or overlooked completely, always overshadowed by the bands it would spawn. It was only after repeated requests that Jay was convinced to hand over the cassettes so the recordings could be salvaged and transferred to a digital medium. It would've been a travesty for any of these recordings to have been truly lost physically or rendered completely unplayable due to deterioration, which initial effects of are audible in places. Without knowing all the reasons/circumstances, that any band could release just two tracks and then sit on such amazing unreleased recordings for so many years is baffling on face value, but it's also to be admired in this age where music exists primarily on the internet and is constantly flooded with pure drivel from millions of young and old musicians, both just as deluded as eachother, unashamedly begging for your attention. The Sickness never really gave a shit though, and as far as they were concerned nobody cared much for them either, and that right there, ladies and germs, is just it - because the best climate for making music is often one in which 'nobody cares' and these recordings are solid proof.
The sands of time are being fair to The Sickness though. Nowadays around Boston they are recalled fondly by those lucky enough to witness them live as a very strange but excellent band. In an interview with Curtis, the owner of Taang! Records (who released the Kilslug and Upsidedown Cross albums), The Sickness were included in a list he compiled of the top 10 most important Boston bands ever. After Kilslug reanimated in 2007 and knocked everyone dead with consistently excellent live performances and a stunning new album revered by old and new fans alike, the world finally caught on to the extent that they are now universally viewed as innovators of slow-mid paced Noise Rock/Punk and automatically name-dropped by music hipsters in the same breath as Flipper, like it had always been the case. Now with Kilslug's debut album having just been reissued to acclaim and work on a long since announced discography CD and DVD documentary ongoing, unreleased The Groinoids recordings also finally seeing the light of day after many false starts with unreleased Kilslug and Upsidedown Cross recordings likely to follow, the spotlight has slowly but surely moved towards The Sickness. Let this album, which will be the first of several collections, leave you in no doubt whatsoever that The Sickness were a very important band from this era, one that has been hiding in plain sight all of this time, and that these recordings are simply just too good to remain unreleased for any longer and absolutely should be heard.
Side A
Outlook Studios, Boston. 1981. Recorded by Ted St. Pierre
1. Corpsemonger
2. Regurgatation
3. Die
4. 100 Watts Electrified
The band created Stinky Bike Records to release 'Corpsemonger' and 'Regurgatation' (sic) on vinyl as a 7". The artwork was simple but effective - a yellow and black coloured CAUTION sticker peeled off a garbage dumpster and the band's logo. 'Caution' also became the unofficial title. Limited 500 copies on black vinyl only. 3 different sleeve variations (some signed and/or defaced by the band) or no sleeve at all! A miniscule number packaged in zip-lock bags have a chunk of (fake) vomit enclosed. Mailorder adverts in magazines such as Maximum Rock N Roll and Take It! stated the record could be played on all 4 turntable speeds - 16, 33, 45 and 78rpm! 'Die' and '100 Watts Electrified' complete what was their final studio recording along with alternate versions of both 7" tracks. 'Corpsemonger' has an additional heavily distorted organ note buzzing in throughout and a different vocal mix and 'Regurgatation' has a completely different vocal take altogether. '100 Watts Electrified' was later resurrected by Larry in Angry Hate, a mainly studio based band he did with Anal Cunt's Seth Putnam from 1998-2002.
Radiobeat Studios, Boston. 1981. Recorded by Lou Giordano or Jimmy Dufour
5. Slob
6. Shut Up
The legendary Radiobeat Studios where the majority of classic Boston Hardcore recordings from the same era were put down also had both The Sickness and The Groinoids record a session each there. The Groinoids session produced the tracks 'Angel' and 'Empty Skull' which appeared on the now classic 'This Is Boston Not LA' (LP) and 'Unsafe At Any Speed' (7") compilations which showcased the best Hardcore Punk the Boston area had to offer at the time such as Jerry's Kids, Gang Green, The FU's and The Freeze. Of course The Sickness, The Groinoids and Kilslug were always true outsiders of the whole scene and existed in a parallel world of their own creation. The first of 7 tracks recorded by The Sickness at Radiobeat was 'Hospital Song' and is easily one of their greatest moments and will definitely be included on the next collection. Also recorded was a fast version of 'Corpsemonger' which beyond the intro is only really recognisable by the lyrics and has Larry share vocals with a rambling female, the charmingly named 'Katy Crotch', an Iranian student (and relation of the then recently exiled Shah of Iran!) Jay befriended who also lent her voice to The Groinoids on the aforementioned 'Empty Skull'. 'Shut Up' was also resurrected by Angry Hate (about half of their material were reworkings of The Sickness and Kilslug tracks). 'Slob' was Seth Putnam's favourite The Sickness track.
Side B
CBGB, New York City. 1980.
1. Louie Louie - Solid Drip Breakfast
Soundboard recording. The climax of an electric near half hour long set. The term 'cover version' can only be used loosely as 'Louie Louie' is soon ground up into a glorious improv mess and 'Solid Drip Breakfast' morphs into a spasmo interpretation of The Association's la-de-da Psych/Pop hit 'Windy'. Guest alto saxophone by Lance Knight, an old friend of Larry's who lived in NYC at the time. The Sickness were already up against it having to perform at 1am in the morning during the week, going onstage to a handful of spectators to have the end of every track played met with long gaps of silence and an occasional unapproving clap and/or sarcastic yelp, whilst they belted out one of their greatest achievements ever with an almost nonchalant arrogant cool. Yep, nobody cares alright, and they didn't care that nobody cares, Lance humourously announcing "Fuck you all out there!" to the empty room as he first got up onstage, but The Sickness still played like their lives depended on it.
Rehearsal, Boston. 1979.
2. Neopolitan Pizza
The earliest known/surviving recording from their Boston rehearsal space in a loft near the music club The Channel where they would play one of their greatest gigs on New Year's Eve 1980-81 supporting The Plasmatics to a jam-packed audience so dangerously over capacity the local fire department had to be called to restore order. That 'Neopolitan Pizza', the first track on their earliest recording, has no lyrics and instead just Larry vocalising the sound of spewing his guts up is clearly the perfect beginning for not only a band called The Sickness, but especially one with such a cynical sense of the absurd. The 6 tracks that make up the session include '100 Watts Electrified', 'Die' and 'Corpsemonger' in their most stripped down and purest forms. 'Corpsemonger' even manages to plod along at a slightly slower pace than the 7" version. The unhinged vibe that would soon engulf all of their material is clearly already at play here but it's impact lessened by a thin guitar sound.
The Underground, Boston. 1980.
3. Blame It On The Dog
Around this time The Sickness had become the unofficial 'house band' of The Underground, a short-lived music club in the Allston neighbourhood of Boston and were often transported around in an old funeral hearse owned by Mongoloid, vocalist of The Groinoids. Although hard to imagine now, The Sickness would sometimes perform there twice a week which often led to more experimental largely improvised performances where Jay would also play an analogue synthesiser. The Sickness performed live approximately 30 times in total. Their debut gig was at The Rathskeller (The Rat), a legendary music club in Kenmore Square, Boston open from 1974-97. At least 3 more recordings of The Sickness live, two of which are from The Underground and likely document more of the band's experimental side, the other from the Streets club where they supported Snakefinger, exist in the collection of a Boston music archivist and are currently in the process of being obtained and may appear on a future collection.
MG (once a pre-pubescent Kilslug fan, now a bald middle-aged fanatic)
The Sickness 'Complete Sickness' LP
Limited 505 copies (345 black vinyl, 160 yellow vinyl)
ОПАЧИНА Records (Macedonia). 01. 2017.BUY vinyl lp and/or digital from label
https://opa4ina.bandcamp.com/album/the-sickness-st
