A beautiful example of Che Underground musical chairs in action,
“He’s Calling You Tonight” brings together the talents of Dave Fleminger (Answers co-founder and sometime Hair Theatre guitarist) and Sergio (Hair Theatre co-founder and sometime Answers vocalist).
“This is a Sergio song we recorded on the 4-track with overdubs,” Dave writes. “I played the guitars, and Sergio played the drums.
“It showcases once again what a fantastic vocalist he is, and the double- and triple-tracked voice-lines are especially effective. I don’t recall playing this song with Hair Theatre while I was with them, and I’m not sure if it was part of the band’s standard repertoire.
“There’s a profound sense of desperation in the vocals that truly carries the message of the lyrics.”
Sergio (vocals, drums); Dave Fleminger (guitars, bass).
Amazing. I’d never heard this, or even known about it. Close your eyes- wouldn’t this have been perfect for the Pulp Fiction soundtrack?
I love this song… it’s really beautiful. Dave F is right about the desperation in the vocals… and I like the way there are two alternating melodies for the chorus
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.
Probly still does…you can’t can that kinda thing…it sorta leaks out when you try.
Pat
Patrick: Actually, there were two guys on stage who I thought shared a particular kind of chilled-out rock-star charisma that I desperately wanted: Sergio and Jeff Lucas.
And it’s funny: When I was talking to Serg last week, he specifically (and spontaneously) said to me that he’d felt he and Jeff had a similar attitude toward the world. But while I always read it as maximum cool and envied the hell out of it, Sergio attributed it to a certain kind of shyness (manifested in a reluctance to remove their sunglasses after dark.)
That’s not to say that there weren’t plenty of other folks with charisma to burn in our scene. (Patrick: You had it in spades, my friend, even if you never officially joined a band.) But whatever motivated Sergio and Jeff — if Jeff agrees that it springs from the same sort of reticence Sergio felt — it was something I wished they could transfuse!
I love this version. The 12 string sounds great. We did play this song regularly between ’83 and ’85 although it doesn’t appear on the demo I played on or the two albums I have with later HT lineups.
Can you tell us the tracks on the Hair Theatre albums, Paul?
I didn’t even know there was a second album! the only released record I know about is the one produced by Van Orbitson in — what? — 1991?
Wow! I didn’t know about a 1993 record at all.
Then there was a recording — perhaps destroyed — with Mystic in the early ’90s … And Sam Wilson tells us he has eight songs recorded during his sojourn with the band … And I gather from Sergio’s comment that the 1983 Lab session was Hair Theatre’s second studio demo that there was an earlier one — beginning of 1983? — probably with Howard Palmer on drums.
Any other time Hair Theatre spent in the studio?
There was at least part of a second Van Orbitson-produced album, when I visited SD around 1991 I heard some rough mixes of new songs at Van’s house and at a studio they were tracking at. Don’t know if those tracks were ever completed but it seemed like the album was well underway and the songs already had vocals on them. I recorded the band at the Casbah during that visit, haven’t yet listened to see how crunchy that cassette sounds..
I’ve got a tape of the ’83 demo with Howie on drums, Sergio Castillo has a cleaner copy. There’s some clips from that session on the Che compilation track. I think that was recorded at Palomar College?? Plus a number of Sergio acoustic demos he recorded on cassette, he gave me the tape when I joined the band briefly in ’84.
I have Freak Idol on CD — that is an intense record!!
Did the band later morph into Joy Bombs, and was there also a Joy Bombs album?
Does anyone have a studio tape of Hair Theatre’s “Black Planet Moon” ca. 1983 (?) that doesn’t have a dog on it?
Every version I’ve heard was dubbed from the same cassette: The intro is corrupted because someone accidentally pressed the record button and taped over it with a few seconds of a dog barking. It’s a great performance … The dog’s in good voice, too, but I don’t think it propels the song wonderfully well.
A correction on the Lab Demo songs, the 3rd song starts w/the line “Well let me, hip you to the streets now” and speaks of living in an apartment room, apart from the side of gloom. I forget the name. “Can you help me if you can” is the last line of Confession. Oops.
I haven’t heard the ’83? Black Planet Moon.
I would love to hear the Sam Wilson era HT. Didn’t he join right after I left? I was very much on the side of gloom at that point.
Sergio Castillo said the first demo was recorded at MiraCosta College. I used to see Howard around in San Francisco. Haven’t seen him in a long time. Haven’t seen Joe Palmer since the 80’s.
Roy Orbison. Lovely.
Hey Paul,
I shot a video with Sammy on gtr w/ HT right before I moved to phoenix. Sergio was in fine form as usual. I got round to putting it on dvd a year or so ago. I have a tape or 2 of shows with you on gtr. Finding them would be a challenge.
Wow! Just heard ’bout the deal from Serg today! Perty cool shtuff!!
My Bro Howard lives in Brooklyn…diggin’ it too much!! Man, those days were a LOT of fun! Great to see all the contributions…I’ve been playing “I am the Bird” at open mic…not anywhere near as clean as days of old…maybe there’s a comeback in the offing…
Out for now!
Much love,
Joe Palmer
JOE PALMER!! All RIGHT!
How the hell are you?? And where? Help us represent Hair Theatre! (For starters, do you happen to have the very first HT demo? We’ve yet to locate a copy.)
I’d have to look at my old box of cassette’s…I DO have the first album on vinyl (fairly decent condition) and the later CD…I was joking with Sergio today that I have some SUPER old recordings of songs that never made it to the stage, much less recordings…I may use it against him someday…
Matt: How are you? I want to acknowledge you for creating this forum…I saw one about the SD Punk scene a few years back, but it didn’t refer to THIS scene, which in my estimation was a LOT more fun and real…plus the artists had some real talent!!
I still hear “…5, 4, 3, 2, 1…Everyone’s the Sun…” in my head every once in a while…boy, could Flem play! And that car with “Zoltan” (?) on the hood…huh?
There was this time they (Hair Theatre) played in this bar and as they were going through their standard set…and they bust out with the Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down” done superbly with Flem on guitar, little Serg on Bass and Sergio’s incredible vocals…I was crowd-watching and knew it was coming…as the folks were engaging in the Psychedelic/Post Punk/whatever we would have called Hair Theatre at the time…and then…midset…Flem starts out with the Intro…Sergio starts out with the Lead Vocal and the place got quiet, every head turned…it was STUNNING…the song ended, there was this very pregnant pause, they applauded in awe and the band went right back to their set like nothing had happened…though everyone there was still in shock 3 songs later…that was the effect…
And you and Dave, Wendell and Kristin…if I only knew how to truly appreciate the Arts back then and not just be after “what’s in it for me?” I didn’t “get” Noise 292 until years later…the music was awesome and then I realized you were up to SO MUCH more…very inspiring. Thank you for all the times you drove me and Sergio around in your van…I’ve got some interesting offline stories…I remember when you guys introduced me to the “Exquisite Corpse” at Denny’s!! What a fun way to idle the hours away in bliss and total disconnection from society!!
I also agree with your estimation of Jeff…there was this mystery about him…
Thats ” Don’t Let Me Down” sounds pretty cool. Didn’t the Answers with Sergio do a Beatles cover or 2? I barley remember those shows. The only clear memory was thinking that it was weird to see Jeff on stage without a mic in front of him.
Zultan? I think I hear Lutan getting pissed…….