Cosmic Jackhammer

so after the last OZ post I decided (well actually a friend decided for me) that we should continue in that vein and put up a demo of the band Mike gray would join after Opinion Zero.....COSMIC JACKHAMMER

this was recorded in 1990 or 1991 and they started as a band in 1988 I believe. Besides Mike you also had
Ethan Houser, also on guitar, who previously had been in FUCT
Bob Martin on bass, who previously had been in HC (from west PHX - litchfield park)
Sonny Lamotte on drums, who's sister Roni also played drums in local yokels Haus
and Jerry Disaster aka Abel Ferraira the man responsible for Driller Killer and Bad Lieutenant....just kidding he had been in a band with Sam Preston of OZ called Butchers for Peace, and was a beautiful mess.

Later on after this tape had been recorded Jason Musfelt of Civil Order/Ice Nine would replace Bob Martin when Bob joined up with Greg Sage to tour Europe as the Greg Sage Experience, and John Scharf of math wizardry, bong rips, and pizza eating (later to be in the Lovers and CRUD as well) would replace Sonny on the drums.
Also there was a long line of guitarists that took over Ethan's place such as Detroit Johnny (or John John) and others my feeble old brain can't recall.

One particular show he was eating Cheetos (the puffy kind) while singing and near the end of the set decided to cut his head open with a Swiss Army knife. He made a pass once and nothing. Tried it again and again NOTHING! Someone from the audience notices he has been attempting this with the dull edge so they smartly tell him to turn the blade around. He does so and tries it again only with the same force that hes been attemnpting with the dull edge. ALA GRAND CANYON FULL OF RASPBERRY SYRUP TO GO WITH YOUR PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES! He got a little white in the face but finished out the set. The singer in the next band, however, had a mic that looked like a bloodstained basketball to contend with.

the name Cosmic Jackhammer alluded to GOD's male appendage. BFP had a song called Buttfucked By God and so Abels next band;s name was kind of a nod towards that

this demo is an amalgamation of one recording that just was finally released on cd this year and some songs that were on another tape i found in the junkpiles in my house


COSMIC JACKHAMMER demo

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Back with a Bang now...so I'm going to start this bitch back up and use it to get all the lost Tucson recordings out there into the vast reaches of space. Most punk/hc bands from Tucson never really put stuff out. UPS, one of the bigger bands, didnt put there 7" out till 6 years after they started. Hell, most bands never even got beyond a crappy boom box practice tape and if they did put out a demo it was in an edition of maybe 50 tops. Whether this was due to something in the water, being from TOO STONED, or just realizing the audience was slim and let's concentrate on getting thru this life and having fun (which means more live shows and less sitting around your house folding j-cards and labeling tapes) might never be answered. This is the reason though that more people know about bands from Phoenix, and less people know about the superior Tucson bands.

You scoff now, but I'm a show you

so first band on deck
OPINION ZERO

OZ was born from the ashes of WSB, which will definitely be talked about later, as John Henkel played guitar in WSB and would take over the bass duties in OZ. Mike Gray would be slinging the axe, freshly moved from El Paso where he had played in Friday the 13th, and another band I am brainfarting on. Sam Preston would be the singer, and he did guest vocals on two other bands recordings as well...Blood Spasm and Civil Order, as well as having some of the only 3-D tattoos I can recall. A guy named Rambo started on the drums and would later be replaced by Dean who would later move to Portland and join Alcoholics Unanimous. When Dean split Dugga Doug (from Civil Order) took over on the throne, and then much later Dirty Birt would man the drums when they had a reunion of sorts and local record store/label Toxic Shock would release a song, "Words" from this recording, on their Noise from Nowhere series.

OZ was of the crossover scene I guess, but they really sounded like their own beast. They were more a hardcore band that wasn't afraid to show people they liked Thin Lizzy, and less a metal band that was just discovering GBH and Black Flag. Some of the members were also in Five Prong Stud Assault, the premiere Tucson house party band at the time. Oh those Robo nights!

This tape was recorded at a place called the Sound Factory, I believe, in 1987. It was the studio for all the metal bands and tv and radio jingles at the time ie PRO studio.

They went on a tour up the west coast around the same time that they recorded this and played in the Bay area at the Farm. UPS might have been touring with them as well, Coming back after playing San Diego the van threw a rod that narrowly missed the occupants of the vehicle.

Sadly, Sam Preston would die in the latter part of 1996, at his mother's house.



John Henkel would later play in the Blink Dogs and Prosthetic Head.
Mike Gray would later be in Cosmic Jackhammer and Cancer Brides.

The cover of this tape (which I no longer have) was a drawing of an alien (much like kali) playing the guitar, the bass, the drums, and singing. A pattern that would be repeated by the band the Weird Lovemakers sort of with their t shirt that showed the amalgamation of the band members as superheroes. I wish I had that shirt as well.

One last thing...in the movie Frankenhooker there's a scene in a bathroom with a couple prostitutes and one of them looks like she has the OZ logo (a sort of chaos symbol with a 0 in the middle) on her arm...just another case for Robert Anton Wilson I guess.

Opinion Zero - Storm and Stress

BACK FROM THE DEAD AND HUNGRY FOR BRAINS

Francis Harold and the Holograms

"It's a mixture of Flipper and Brainbombs, but with a stronger hatred for your eardrums."





ULTRAMAROON





PIJIN RILIJIN

here's some mp3s for download
Francis Harold and the Holograms