Certain general
Encyclopedia
Certain General is an American post-punk
band formed in 1980 by Parker Dulany, Phil Gammage, Marcy Saddy, and Russell Berke. BOMP! Records has called them "NYC's 80's cult favorite, while Rock & Folk
identified the band as "the bridge between Television
and Radiohead
.
In the liner notes for Introduction to War (2001), their former manager, the late Stephen Graziano, called them "...the baddest, craziest, most misbehaved but mind bendingly brilliant band that was walking the Earth." This coincides with Mojo
magazine's assessment that "the story of Certain General is one of triumph, tragedy, and often dazzling music."'
Drawing on a tradition established by New York rock bands such as the Velvet Underground, Certain General has recorded and performed extensively in the United States and Europe. Although various personnel and label changes have occurred over the years, Dulany and Gammage, along with Kevin Tooley, continue to record and perform.
With one foot firmly planted in the post-punk sound of the late seventies and the other in the emerging new wave
, at the outset, Certain General's quirky, kinetic, rhythm and sound owed more to the "dead disco and happening hip-hop," as parleyed by such emerging New York entities as James Chance
and the Contortions than the moody, psychedelia-gone-mad direction that would follow. However, from the start, their unique mix of evocative lyrics and a consistently frenetic live show quickly earned the band widespread acclaim when they began to play shows in 1981. As Boston Rock
noted at the time, they were "superbly energetic, the last time the band played here the crowd almost tore the walls down." New York rock critic heavyweight Christgau from the Village Voice weighed in that the band produced "rolling, ambitious, somewhat mannered art pop that is totally original." And his colleague, Van Gosse, maintained that "this band so fervent and young has come to stand for something. That notoriety would eventually extend to Europe, where they would release November's Heat in 1984. Considered a seminal album of the 1980s and one of the defining New York rock records, November's Heat would earn the band many accolades, especially in France. In 1995, Rock & Folk
called it "one of the most important albums made between 1965 and 1995."
. Before playing their first club date at New York's Hurrah
, the band had already created a buzz among the downtown Manhattan music and art communities. Loft parties, art openings, and after-hours shows in lower Manhattan served as their springboard and they quickly became one of the darlings of a downtown scene based in the Club 57
social club inhabited by such artists, actors, and musicians as Keith Haring
, Jean-Michel Basquiat
, John Sex
, Wendy Wild
, and Ann Magnuson
, among others.
Bassist Russell Berke (Carla Bley
), drummer Marcy Saddy (Toronto's the B-Girls), and guitarist Phil Gammage (the Corvairs) collaborated with painter and poet Parker Dulany to create a live show that captivated the local New York press. New York Rocker quickly proclaimed them "the most kinetically exciting new band."
By 1981 and 1982 the band was performing in East Coast venues and colleges from Canada to Texas. Early shows found them sharing the stage with fellow New York and Boston bands such as DNA
, Bush Tetras
, Liquid Liquid
, Mission of Burma
, Raybeats
, and Swans
. Their prominence grew as their presence was increasingly felt within the downtown scene and the band found themselves at various times serving as the house band at both CBGBs and Danceteria
, venues that are both now gone, but nonetheless remain legendary for the pivotal role they played in the club scene at the time. Certain General were almost synonymous with that scene, becoming ubiquitous hosts at such other venues as the Mudd Club
, the Peppermint Lounge
, The Rat
, 9:30 Club
, and downtown's Hoboken
, NJ annex, Maxwell's
. They would remain staples of this scene for several years. In a review of a show for These Are the Days (1986) at Danceteria
, Richard Grabel of the New Musical Express wrote "in a wall of ingenious noise Parker seems like a fallen angel out of a page by Rimbaud."
In 1982, the group signed with the New York independent record label Labor Records and recorded their debut, Holiday of Love. The five-song EP was produced by Peter Holsapple
of the The dB's
and mixed by Michael Gira
of fellow Labor Records label mates Swans
, "an interesting pairing if there ever was one." Holiday garnered rave reviews, among them a Trouser Press
piece that cited the disc as being created "for all the teenage devils of the world."
In 1983, original bassist Berke would depart to be replaced by roadie and all-around funster, Joe Lupo, and the band would begin work on recording their first proper album. While the bass work of Berke was widely regarded as brilliant, Graziano remarked that Lupo was "the plutonium rod that fueled the Certain General party reactor. During this time, Certain General would catch the attention of British music journalist Kris Needs
, who championed the band and later served as their host during their first UK visit. At the suggestion of Needs, Far Away in America (1984) was conceived as a collaboration of sorts and the LP was shared with another New York band, friends and musical colleagues Band of Outsiders. Independently released on SourMash Records in April 1984, it featured two live and two studio recordings by each band. The two groups furthered the co-op approach and toured together in the spring and summer of 1984 in both the United States and the United Kingdom to promote the record. Highlights of the UK dates included shows at Alice in Wonderland (where in his typical exuberance Dulany smashed his hand through the asbestos ceiling) and the Batcave
in London, as well as the Hacienda
(with James
) in Manchester
.
The album, coupled with their New York and London performances, would also draw the attention of Chris Parry and his London-based Fiction Publishing. This coincided with a change in management, when the band signed on with Ruth Polsky
(the booking agent for New York clubs Hurrah
and Danceteria
) and her agency, Blind Dates Management. They also began work with the new French record label L'Invitation au Suicide (I.A.S. Records) and made plans to license a newly recorded second LP to the label.
The band leveraged the Parry relationship and agreed to appear in support of The Cure
, who were already signed to Fiction, at New York's Beacon Theater on November 14, an appearance that would be a 1984 highlight. Fans of both bands would maintain that since there was some common ground in the respective sounds of the two bands at that time, the pairing certainly made sense from a musical standpoint. However, their respective positions in the musical pantheon of the day was another issue indeed. Certain General's innate hunger to perform and desire to move forward would serve them well in the context, which became something of a pattern for the band. Rising to the opportunity presented by the Beacon gig, by all accounts the band certainly delivered. David Fricke
of the New Musical Express wrote of this performance "Certain General defy equilibrium in their abrasive velvet descended attack and by set's end they are a revved-up dance engine with juggernaut possibilities."
, November's Heat was released in France in November 1984 by I.A.S. Records. This would prove to be a major turning point. Arriving in Paris on February 3, 1985, the French daily Libération
welcomed the band and marked their arrival with front page coverage and three interior articles, with a headline above a front-page photo that announced: "Certain General: Nous Voila (We Are Here)." Calling the band "Jim Jarmusch
's and William Faulkner
's America," and referring to Dulany as "desperately beautiful," Libération declared Certain General "best new band" and awarded "1984 album of the year" honors for the release. The UK would take notice as well, with the New Musical Express designating Heat one of their "Five-Star Albums."
Although the next two years saw the band tour and make television appearances in France several times, within the United States, the group's profile remained primarily underground as they continued to perform mainly on the East Coast. To a large degree this was due to internal differences as to where they should appear: tours on the West Coast and in the South failed to materialize not because the opportunities did not present themselves, but rather, because internal strife prevented follow through. However, their reach on the eastern seaboard can be neither ignored nor discounted and their cultural influence was by no means limited to New York. Whether it was due to one of their regular jaunts at the Paradise Club in Boston or City Gardens
in Trenton
, with a stop at the East Side Club in Philly on their way to 688 in Atlanta, aside from being merely heard in some of the top clubs of the time, they made their presence known and their impact felt.
The bands with whom Certain General appeared in the early- and mid-eighties is a veritable list of many of the top independent rock bands of the era: Green on Red
, Rain Parade
, Mission of Burma
, Gun Club, Oingo Boingo
, New Order
, Rank and File
, The Rezillos
, The Bongos
, The Nails
, Gang of Four
, R.E.M.
, The Sisters of Mercy
, Way of the West, Medium Medium
, and Raybeats
. In the context of playing as the opener, Certain General built a much-deserved reputation for surpassing those they were supporting. They became a force to be reckoned with. In a review of an appearance in Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported that "after New Order had finished, it was opening act Certain General that continued to resonate in the mind."
While hugely successful in France, puzzlingly, November's Heat was not released in the United States until 2000, rather odd considering that the band was covered widely, especially by the much-respected UK music press. At the time, Sounds wrote of their live performances
The New Musical Express reviewed a show at New York's Pyramid Club
and Lindsay Shapiro called Certain General "New York's answer to the (Echo and the) Bunnymen
with a few [Jim] Morrison tendencies thrown in" [but with] "plenty of individuality and a lead singer full of passionate presence—agonized lyrics torn from twitching limbs." The review concluded by observing that CG was "almost psychedelic in their unfettered spirit."
1985 saw more personnel changes as Sprague Hollander replaced original guitarist Phil Gammage. In France, I.A.S. Records released the band's next recording project prior to its completion, in fear that they would lose the group to a major label. This "bootleg
" would become the infamous These Are the Days and would still somehow win great praise from the press despite the glaring inconsistencies of an unfinished work. Regarding Days, Steve Mirkin wrote "Filled with a dark confidence and narcotic allure…with a charged confidence and kamikaze edge."
In response to the piracy of the record by I.A.S., Ruth Polsky
released a finished single by the band ("Will You" and "Bad Way") on her own New York-based label, S.U.S.S. Records. This success was overshadowed by tragedy when Ruth was killed in a horrific car accident that left her pinned beneath a yellow cab in the doorway of The Limelight
club, a converted church in New York, as the band performed there in September 1986. The band would not learn of Polsky's death until the following morning.
After a memorial show for Polsky with New Order and Karen Finley
at the Roxy in New York and the second of two tours with New Order, Certain General slowly retreated to Paris to convalesce and reorganize. One can speculate that the fact that TimeOut would later describe Dulany as "the haunted crooner" can be traced to this watershed event.
(Jacques Brel
, Noir Desir
) and recorded Cabin Fever. The LP included their best selling single to date, "I Lose Myself," which was cited as "one of the 10 best singles of 1988" by Libération. Based on the success of Fever and the attention it garnered in French press, the group continued to tour and perform in France. In 1990, Barclay Records issued the album Jacklighter, produced by Fred Maher
, Gavin Mackillop, and Lloyd Cole
. It featured Lloyd and fellow ‘Commotion' Blair Cowen on the single, "Baby Are You Rich?" The single fared well, but the group was dropped from Barclay in 1992.
Following the release of Jacklighter the band entered a period of hiatus until the late nineties while its various members pursued other projects.
's CBGB Records. Genya Ravan
(the Dead Boys) produced the record. These Are the Days was officially released on France's Fantastica Label and the group played a nationwide tour of France, co-headlining with fellow New Yorkers The Fleshtones
.
In 2000, Fantastica released the Arnaud Dieterlan-produced Closer to the Sun, which was recorded in Paris during the 1999 tour. 2001 saw the group issue Live at the Public Theatre on its own PreFab International Records. This recording featured a duet of Serge Gainsbourg
's "La Decadanse" with Julee Cruise
(Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks
).
Featuring original band members Parker Dulany (lead vocals, bass) and Phil Gammage (guitar) along with longtime drummer Kevin Tooley, Stolen Car continues the band's tendency toward expansive and exploratory rock sounds. Produced by Tooley at his Concept Studios in New York, Stolen Car includes contributions from sax session musician Robert Aaron, a veteran of recordings by David Bowie
, James White
, and Al Jarreau
, among many others.
In a Le Son du Maquis press release from March 2010, Dulany commented on the writing, recording, and producing aspects of this collection:
On to something they were; in 1999 Libération compared Certain General to the U boat in the 1981 film Das Boot
, calling them "insubmersible." The landscape that simultaneously served as their living room and the ultimate party venue, New York's East Village and downtown, have not been so durable. Replacing the artist's lofts, dives, and backrooms that were their laboratory are the all-too typical earmarks of any modern gentrified locale: the Nine West
s, the Starbucks
, the Gap
s et al.. Fortunately, in spite of these less-than-inspiring surroundings and unlike most of their peers, the band carries on: Parker Dulany, Phil Gammage and Kevin Tooley continue to perform and record as Certain General.
, Fan Club Records, and Commotion Records). In 2001, SourMash Records issued the two-CD set An Introduction to War, which included the previously unreleased album The Dead Rabbit Gang (songs that were to be released after November's Heat in 1985), and a disc of live material, Savage Young Generals, circa 1981–1982. In 2005, Certain General were included in Soul Jazz Records
three-CD compilation series entitled, New York Noise, which featured most of the prominent post-punk New York bands from 1978–1982. In 2007, UK label Easy Action Records released the only comprehensive retrospective devoted to Certain General, Invisible New York. That disc included a collaboration of "New York, New York" with Julee Cruise and Lenny Kaye
, which was recorded in response to 9/11.
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
band formed in 1980 by Parker Dulany, Phil Gammage, Marcy Saddy, and Russell Berke. BOMP! Records has called them "NYC's 80's cult favorite, while Rock & Folk
Rock & Folk
Rock & Folk is a prominent French popular music magazine founded in 1966, and published in the Paris suburb of Clichy. Its current editor in chief in Philippe Manœuvre. Though the magazine's title includes the word "folk," it is in fact oriented strongly toward rock and roll, especially championing...
identified the band as "the bridge between Television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
.
In the liner notes for Introduction to War (2001), their former manager, the late Stephen Graziano, called them "...the baddest, craziest, most misbehaved but mind bendingly brilliant band that was walking the Earth." This coincides with Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine's assessment that "the story of Certain General is one of triumph, tragedy, and often dazzling music."'
Drawing on a tradition established by New York rock bands such as the Velvet Underground, Certain General has recorded and performed extensively in the United States and Europe. Although various personnel and label changes have occurred over the years, Dulany and Gammage, along with Kevin Tooley, continue to record and perform.
With one foot firmly planted in the post-punk sound of the late seventies and the other in the emerging new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
, at the outset, Certain General's quirky, kinetic, rhythm and sound owed more to the "dead disco and happening hip-hop," as parleyed by such emerging New York entities as James Chance
James Chance
James Chance, also known as James White , is an American saxophonist, songwriter and singer....
and the Contortions than the moody, psychedelia-gone-mad direction that would follow. However, from the start, their unique mix of evocative lyrics and a consistently frenetic live show quickly earned the band widespread acclaim when they began to play shows in 1981. As Boston Rock
Boston Rock
Boston Rock was a tabloid format entertainment magazine published in Boston, Massachusetts. Its focus, as stated on the cover was: fashion, style, and entertainment. The main focus was on the local music scene and indie rock....
noted at the time, they were "superbly energetic, the last time the band played here the crowd almost tore the walls down." New York rock critic heavyweight Christgau from the Village Voice weighed in that the band produced "rolling, ambitious, somewhat mannered art pop that is totally original." And his colleague, Van Gosse, maintained that "this band so fervent and young has come to stand for something. That notoriety would eventually extend to Europe, where they would release November's Heat in 1984. Considered a seminal album of the 1980s and one of the defining New York rock records, November's Heat would earn the band many accolades, especially in France. In 1995, Rock & Folk
Rock & Folk
Rock & Folk is a prominent French popular music magazine founded in 1966, and published in the Paris suburb of Clichy. Its current editor in chief in Philippe Manœuvre. Though the magazine's title includes the word "folk," it is in fact oriented strongly toward rock and roll, especially championing...
called it "one of the most important albums made between 1965 and 1995."
Origins: 1980–1985
Certain General came together as a band in late 1980 after meeting in Manhattan's East VillageEast Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
. Before playing their first club date at New York's Hurrah
Hurrah (nightclub)
Hurrah was a nightclub located at 32 West 62nd Street in New York City from 1976 until 1980. Under the management of Jim Fouratt it became known as the first rock disco in New York, and pioneered the use of music videos in nightclubs, placing video monitors around the club, over a year before the...
, the band had already created a buzz among the downtown Manhattan music and art communities. Loft parties, art openings, and after-hours shows in lower Manhattan served as their springboard and they quickly became one of the darlings of a downtown scene based in the Club 57
Club 57
Club 57 was a nightclub located at 57 St. Mark's Place in the East Village, New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was a hangout and venue for performance- and visual-artists and musicians, including Madonna, Keith Haring, Cyndi Lauper, Charles Busch, Klaus Nomi, The B-52s, Futura...
social club inhabited by such artists, actors, and musicians as Keith Haring
Keith Haring
Keith Haring was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s.-Early life:...
, Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting.-Early life:...
, John Sex
John Sex
John McLaughlin , better known as "John Sex" was a cabaret singer and performance artist in New York City from the late 1970s until his death.-Early life:...
, Wendy Wild
Wendy Wild
Wendy Wild, born Wendy Andreiev was an American singer, musician, and artist who in the 1980s was a well known presence in New York's downtown music and performance scenes.-Career:...
, and Ann Magnuson
Ann Magnuson
Ann Magnuson is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer who first gained prominence in the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan...
, among others.
Bassist Russell Berke (Carla Bley
Carla Bley
Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...
), drummer Marcy Saddy (Toronto's the B-Girls), and guitarist Phil Gammage (the Corvairs) collaborated with painter and poet Parker Dulany to create a live show that captivated the local New York press. New York Rocker quickly proclaimed them "the most kinetically exciting new band."
By 1981 and 1982 the band was performing in East Coast venues and colleges from Canada to Texas. Early shows found them sharing the stage with fellow New York and Boston bands such as DNA
DNA (band)
DNA was a No Wave band formed in 1978 by guitarist Arto Lindsay and keyboardist Robin Crutchfield. Rather than playing their instruments in a traditional manner, they instead focused on making unique and unusual sounds...
, Bush Tetras
Bush Tetras
Bush Tetras are an American post-punk band from New York City, popular in the Manhattan club scene in the early 1980s but never achieving much mainstream success. Their music combined funk rhythms and dissonant guitar riffs.-History:...
, Liquid Liquid
Liquid Liquid
Liquid Liquid is a New York City post-punk, post-disco band, originally active from 1980 to 1983. They are perhaps best known for their track, "Cavern", which was covered by the Sugar Hill Records house band as the backing track for Grandmaster + Melle Mel's old school rap classic, "White Lines "...
, Mission of Burma
Mission of Burma
Mission of Burma is an American post-punk band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1979. The band was formed by Roger Miller , Clint Conley , Peter Prescott and Martin Swope...
, Raybeats
Raybeats
The Raybeats were an instrumental neo-surf rock combo from New York City that arose from the No Wave musical scene. The original line-up consisted of Don Christensen , Jody Harris , Pat Irwin , and George Scott III .- History :The Raybeats formed in 1979, brought together by George Scott...
, and Swans
Swans (band)
Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...
. Their prominence grew as their presence was increasingly felt within the downtown scene and the band found themselves at various times serving as the house band at both CBGBs and Danceteria
Danceteria
Danceteria was a well-known four-floor nightclub located in New York City which operated from 1980 until 1986 and in the Hamptons until 1995. Throughout its history, the club had seven different locations, three in NYC and four in the Hamptons...
, venues that are both now gone, but nonetheless remain legendary for the pivotal role they played in the club scene at the time. Certain General were almost synonymous with that scene, becoming ubiquitous hosts at such other venues as the Mudd Club
Mudd Club
The Mudd Club was a TriBeCa nightclub that was opened in October 1978 by Steve Mass, art curator Diego Cortez and Anya Phillips, a figure in the downtown punk scene...
, the Peppermint Lounge
Peppermint Lounge
The Peppermint Lounge was a popular discotheque located at 128 West 45th Street in New York City that was open from 1958 to 1965. It was the launchpad for the global Twist craze in the early 1960s, and also where Go-Go dancing originated....
, The Rat
The Rathskeller
The Rathskeller was a Kenmore Square live music venue in Boston, Massachusetts that was open from 1974 to 1997. As implied by its name "Ratskeller" , the Rathskeller was a dimly-lit establishment...
, 9:30 Club
9:30 Club
Foo Fighters Promise to come back to D.C. and play the 9:30 ClubNightclub 9:30 is a nightclub and concert venue in Washington, D.C. Originally located at 930 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C., in the 1970s it was called the "Atlantis Club", and hosted primarily rock, New Wave, and punk bands...
, and downtown's Hoboken
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
, NJ annex, Maxwell's
Maxwell's
Maxwell's is a music club in Hoboken, New Jersey that also has a restaurant. The intimate venue often attracts a wide variety of acts looking for a change from the New York City concert spaces across the river.-History:...
. They would remain staples of this scene for several years. In a review of a show for These Are the Days (1986) at Danceteria
Danceteria
Danceteria was a well-known four-floor nightclub located in New York City which operated from 1980 until 1986 and in the Hamptons until 1995. Throughout its history, the club had seven different locations, three in NYC and four in the Hamptons...
, Richard Grabel of the New Musical Express wrote "in a wall of ingenious noise Parker seems like a fallen angel out of a page by Rimbaud."
In 1982, the group signed with the New York independent record label Labor Records and recorded their debut, Holiday of Love. The five-song EP was produced by Peter Holsapple
Peter Holsapple
Peter Holsapple formed, along with Chris Stamey, the singing, songwriting, and guitar-playing core of the dB's, a jangle-pop band from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He became the band's principal songwriter and singer after Stamey's departure. The dB's were at the forefront of the guitar bands...
of the The dB's
The dB's
The dB's are a jangle pop/power pop group who came into prominence in the late 1970s and 1980s. The bandmembers were Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Will Rigby and Gene Holder, all of whom were from Winston-Salem, North Carolina...
and mixed by Michael Gira
Michael Gira
Michael Rolfe Gira is an American musician, author, and artist. He is the main force behind the recently reformed New York City musical group Swans and fronts the Angels of Light...
of fellow Labor Records label mates Swans
Swans (band)
Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...
, "an interesting pairing if there ever was one." Holiday garnered rave reviews, among them a Trouser Press
Trouser Press
Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...
piece that cited the disc as being created "for all the teenage devils of the world."
In 1983, original bassist Berke would depart to be replaced by roadie and all-around funster, Joe Lupo, and the band would begin work on recording their first proper album. While the bass work of Berke was widely regarded as brilliant, Graziano remarked that Lupo was "the plutonium rod that fueled the Certain General party reactor. During this time, Certain General would catch the attention of British music journalist Kris Needs
Kris Needs
Kris Needs is a British journalist and author, primarily known for his writings on the music scene from the 1970s onwards. He became editor of ZigZag Magazine in August 1977, at the relatively young age of 23, and has written biographies of numerous rock and dance stars including Primal Scream,...
, who championed the band and later served as their host during their first UK visit. At the suggestion of Needs, Far Away in America (1984) was conceived as a collaboration of sorts and the LP was shared with another New York band, friends and musical colleagues Band of Outsiders. Independently released on SourMash Records in April 1984, it featured two live and two studio recordings by each band. The two groups furthered the co-op approach and toured together in the spring and summer of 1984 in both the United States and the United Kingdom to promote the record. Highlights of the UK dates included shows at Alice in Wonderland (where in his typical exuberance Dulany smashed his hand through the asbestos ceiling) and the Batcave
Batcave
The Batcave is the secret headquarters of fictional DC Comics superhero Batman, the alternate identity of playboy Bruce Wayne, consisting of a series of subterranean caves beneath his residence, Wayne Manor.-Publication history:...
in London, as well as the Hacienda
Hacienda
Hacienda is a Spanish word for an estate. Some haciendas were plantations, mines, or even business factories. Many haciendas combined these productive activities...
(with James
James (band)
James are a British rock band from Manchester, England. They formed in 1982 and were active throughout the 1980s, but most successful during the 1990s. Their hit singles include "Come Home", "Sit Down", and "She's a Star" as well as their American College Radio hit "Laid"...
) in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
.
The album, coupled with their New York and London performances, would also draw the attention of Chris Parry and his London-based Fiction Publishing. This coincided with a change in management, when the band signed on with Ruth Polsky
Ruth Polsky
Ruth Polsky was a pioneering booker and music promoter in New York City. She died after being crushed by a runaway cab on the steps of the Limelight club in NYC....
(the booking agent for New York clubs Hurrah
Hurrah (nightclub)
Hurrah was a nightclub located at 32 West 62nd Street in New York City from 1976 until 1980. Under the management of Jim Fouratt it became known as the first rock disco in New York, and pioneered the use of music videos in nightclubs, placing video monitors around the club, over a year before the...
and Danceteria
Danceteria
Danceteria was a well-known four-floor nightclub located in New York City which operated from 1980 until 1986 and in the Hamptons until 1995. Throughout its history, the club had seven different locations, three in NYC and four in the Hamptons...
) and her agency, Blind Dates Management. They also began work with the new French record label L'Invitation au Suicide (I.A.S. Records) and made plans to license a newly recorded second LP to the label.
The band leveraged the Parry relationship and agreed to appear in support of The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, who were already signed to Fiction, at New York's Beacon Theater on November 14, an appearance that would be a 1984 highlight. Fans of both bands would maintain that since there was some common ground in the respective sounds of the two bands at that time, the pairing certainly made sense from a musical standpoint. However, their respective positions in the musical pantheon of the day was another issue indeed. Certain General's innate hunger to perform and desire to move forward would serve them well in the context, which became something of a pattern for the band. Rising to the opportunity presented by the Beacon gig, by all accounts the band certainly delivered. David Fricke
David Fricke
David Fricke is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was managing editor before stepping down.-Background:David Fricke is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania...
of the New Musical Express wrote of this performance "Certain General defy equilibrium in their abrasive velvet descended attack and by set's end they are a revved-up dance engine with juggernaut possibilities."
November's Heat and These Are the Days: "Nous Voila"
Self-financed from earnings saved from performances at New York's DanceteriaDanceteria
Danceteria was a well-known four-floor nightclub located in New York City which operated from 1980 until 1986 and in the Hamptons until 1995. Throughout its history, the club had seven different locations, three in NYC and four in the Hamptons...
, November's Heat was released in France in November 1984 by I.A.S. Records. This would prove to be a major turning point. Arriving in Paris on February 3, 1985, the French daily Libération
Libération
Libération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...
welcomed the band and marked their arrival with front page coverage and three interior articles, with a headline above a front-page photo that announced: "Certain General: Nous Voila (We Are Here)." Calling the band "Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
's and William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
's America," and referring to Dulany as "desperately beautiful," Libération declared Certain General "best new band" and awarded "1984 album of the year" honors for the release. The UK would take notice as well, with the New Musical Express designating Heat one of their "Five-Star Albums."
Although the next two years saw the band tour and make television appearances in France several times, within the United States, the group's profile remained primarily underground as they continued to perform mainly on the East Coast. To a large degree this was due to internal differences as to where they should appear: tours on the West Coast and in the South failed to materialize not because the opportunities did not present themselves, but rather, because internal strife prevented follow through. However, their reach on the eastern seaboard can be neither ignored nor discounted and their cultural influence was by no means limited to New York. Whether it was due to one of their regular jaunts at the Paradise Club in Boston or City Gardens
City gardens
City Gardens was a nightclub located at 1701 Calhoun Street in Trenton, New Jersey.The Nalbone family of Trenton and Lawrence, New Jersey, owned the building several years before it became the legendary rock club known as City Gardens. The "City Gardens" moniker was first used strictly as a blues...
in Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
, with a stop at the East Side Club in Philly on their way to 688 in Atlanta, aside from being merely heard in some of the top clubs of the time, they made their presence known and their impact felt.
The bands with whom Certain General appeared in the early- and mid-eighties is a veritable list of many of the top independent rock bands of the era: Green on Red
Green on Red
Green on Red was an American rock band, formed in the Tucson, Arizona punk scene, but based for most of its career in Los Angeles, California, where it was loosely associated with the Paisley Underground...
, Rain Parade
Rain Parade
The Rain Parade was a band active in the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles in the 1980s.-History:The band was founded by college roommates Matt Piucci and David Roback in 1981, originally as The Moving Sidewalks. David's brother Steven Roback joined the band shortly thereafter...
, Mission of Burma
Mission of Burma
Mission of Burma is an American post-punk band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1979. The band was formed by Roger Miller , Clint Conley , Peter Prescott and Martin Swope...
, Gun Club, Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo was an American new wave band. They are best known for their influence on other musicians, their soundtrack contributions and their high energy Halloween concerts. The band was founded in 1972 as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, a performance art group...
, New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
, Rank and File
Rank and File
Formed by brothers Chip and Tony Kinman after they split up their punk band the Dils, Rank and File were a roots rock post-punk band. The Kinmans' singing was distinctive; they weren't traditional harmony singers à la the Everly Brothers, but rather sang synchronized upper and lower octaves. The...
, The Rezillos
The Rezillos
The Rezillos are a punk/new wave band, who formed in Edinburgh in 1976 and still play gigs around the world in a re-formed line-up. Although frequently aligned with the punk movement, the Rezillos' irreverent glam rock image and affection for campy girl-group iconography, set them distinctly apart...
, The Bongos
The Bongos
The Bongos were a rock band from Hoboken, New Jersey, primarily active in the 1980s. With a unique blend of British Invasion-flavored power pop, jangly guitars, and dance beats they made the leap to national recognition with the advent of MTV.-Biography:...
, The Nails
The Nails
The Nails were a six piece New Wave band that formed in Boulder, Colorado, during the mid 1970s. In Colorado, they were originally named The Ravers, and their roadie, Eric Boucher, later became known as Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys.-History:...
, Gang of Four
Gang of Four
The Gang of Four was the name given to a political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution and were subsequently charged with a series of treasonous crimes...
, R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
, The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
, Way of the West, Medium Medium
Medium Medium
Medium Medium were a post-punk band from Nottingham, England, initially active between 1978 and 1983.-History:Emerging in 1978 out of Nottingham punk/rhythm & blues band The Press, Medium Medium's debut single was "Them or Me", which was released in late 1978 and was still selling well enough in...
, and Raybeats
Raybeats
The Raybeats were an instrumental neo-surf rock combo from New York City that arose from the No Wave musical scene. The original line-up consisted of Don Christensen , Jody Harris , Pat Irwin , and George Scott III .- History :The Raybeats formed in 1979, brought together by George Scott...
. In the context of playing as the opener, Certain General built a much-deserved reputation for surpassing those they were supporting. They became a force to be reckoned with. In a review of an appearance in Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported that "after New Order had finished, it was opening act Certain General that continued to resonate in the mind."
While hugely successful in France, puzzlingly, November's Heat was not released in the United States until 2000, rather odd considering that the band was covered widely, especially by the much-respected UK music press. At the time, Sounds wrote of their live performances
"...they demonstrated that there are still bands around that can deliver the goods without the usual accoutrements of cheekbone image....Strong on tunes, energy and power; they might not be known at the moment but with performances like this and a glittering debut LP, they will be soon."
The New Musical Express reviewed a show at New York's Pyramid Club
Pyramid Club
__notoc__The Pyramid Club is a nightclub in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. After opening in 1979, the Pyramid helped define the East Village drag and gay scenes of the 1980s...
and Lindsay Shapiro called Certain General "New York's answer to the (Echo and the) Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...
with a few [Jim] Morrison tendencies thrown in" [but with] "plenty of individuality and a lead singer full of passionate presence—agonized lyrics torn from twitching limbs." The review concluded by observing that CG was "almost psychedelic in their unfettered spirit."
1985 saw more personnel changes as Sprague Hollander replaced original guitarist Phil Gammage. In France, I.A.S. Records released the band's next recording project prior to its completion, in fear that they would lose the group to a major label. This "bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
" would become the infamous These Are the Days and would still somehow win great praise from the press despite the glaring inconsistencies of an unfinished work. Regarding Days, Steve Mirkin wrote "Filled with a dark confidence and narcotic allure…with a charged confidence and kamikaze edge."
In response to the piracy of the record by I.A.S., Ruth Polsky
Ruth Polsky
Ruth Polsky was a pioneering booker and music promoter in New York City. She died after being crushed by a runaway cab on the steps of the Limelight club in NYC....
released a finished single by the band ("Will You" and "Bad Way") on her own New York-based label, S.U.S.S. Records. This success was overshadowed by tragedy when Ruth was killed in a horrific car accident that left her pinned beneath a yellow cab in the doorway of The Limelight
The Limelight
The Limelight is the name of a chain of nightclubs that were owned and operated by Peter Gatien, located in Atlanta, Hollywood, Florida, and London, and formerly in New York City and Chicago.-History:...
club, a converted church in New York, as the band performed there in September 1986. The band would not learn of Polsky's death until the following morning.
After a memorial show for Polsky with New Order and Karen Finley
Karen Finley
Karen Finley is an American performance artist, whose theatrical pieces and recordings have often been labelled "obscene" due to their graphic depictions of sexuality, abuse, and disenfranchisement...
at the Roxy in New York and the second of two tours with New Order, Certain General slowly retreated to Paris to convalesce and reorganize. One can speculate that the fact that TimeOut would later describe Dulany as "the haunted crooner" can be traced to this watershed event.
1987–1998
After again touring France in 1987, Certain General signed to the prestigious French label, Barclay RecordsBarclay Records
Barclay Records is a French record label founded in the mid-1950s by Eddie Barclay under the alias, Edouard Ruault. Eddie Barclay also founded the Riviera label in the early-1950s....
(Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
, Noir Desir
Noir Désir
Noir Désir was a French rock band from Bordeaux. They were active during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, and have had two albums certified double platinum in France and three certified gold. They have been an influence on numerous French musicians including Cali, Louise Attaque and Miossec...
) and recorded Cabin Fever. The LP included their best selling single to date, "I Lose Myself," which was cited as "one of the 10 best singles of 1988" by Libération. Based on the success of Fever and the attention it garnered in French press, the group continued to tour and perform in France. In 1990, Barclay Records issued the album Jacklighter, produced by Fred Maher
Fred Maher
Fred Maher is an American drummer, programmer and record producer.He was a member of Massacre , Material, Scritti Politti, Lou Reed, and is best known as the producer of I'm Talking's album Bear Witness , Lou Reed's album New York , Matthew Sweet's album Girlfriend , and Information Society's self...
, Gavin Mackillop, and Lloyd Cole
Lloyd Cole
Lloyd Cole is an English singer and songwriter, known for his role as lead singer of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989, and for his subsequent solo work.-Early life:...
. It featured Lloyd and fellow ‘Commotion' Blair Cowen on the single, "Baby Are You Rich?" The single fared well, but the group was dropped from Barclay in 1992.
Following the release of Jacklighter the band entered a period of hiatus until the late nineties while its various members pursued other projects.
1999–2009
In 1999, original guitarist Gammage rejoined the band and the group's original line-up re-united to record Signals from the Source in the CBGB's basement studio for Hilly KristalHilly Kristal
Hilly Kristal was an American club owner and musician who was the owner of the iconic New York City club, CBGB, which opened in 1973 and closed in 2006 over a rent dispute. -Early years:...
's CBGB Records. Genya Ravan
Genya Ravan
Genya Ravan, aka Goldie Zelkowitz is an American rock singer and producer. She is the former lead singer of The Escorts, Goldie & the Gingerbreads, and Ten Wheel Drive....
(the Dead Boys) produced the record. These Are the Days was officially released on France's Fantastica Label and the group played a nationwide tour of France, co-headlining with fellow New Yorkers The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York formed in 1976.- 1976-1979 :The Fleshtones were formed in 1976 in Whitestone, New York by Keith Streng and Marek Pakulski The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York formed in 1976.- 1976-1979 :The...
.
In 2000, Fantastica released the Arnaud Dieterlan-produced Closer to the Sun, which was recorded in Paris during the 1999 tour. 2001 saw the group issue Live at the Public Theatre on its own PreFab International Records. This recording featured a duet of Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
's "La Decadanse" with Julee Cruise
Julee Cruise
Julee Cruise is an American singer, and actress.With a distinctive, airy voice, Cruise has recorded three albums, but is probably best known for the lead vocal on "Falling," the theme song for the cult U.S. television series Twin Peaks...
(Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
).
2010–present
On May 21, 2010, Certain General released their first collection of new material since Closer to the Sun, released in 2000. The new 13-song CD, entitled Stolen Car, is composed of 12 new songs written by the band plus a remake of their 1982 recording “Hello My God.”Featuring original band members Parker Dulany (lead vocals, bass) and Phil Gammage (guitar) along with longtime drummer Kevin Tooley, Stolen Car continues the band's tendency toward expansive and exploratory rock sounds. Produced by Tooley at his Concept Studios in New York, Stolen Car includes contributions from sax session musician Robert Aaron, a veteran of recordings by David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, James White
James Chance
James Chance, also known as James White , is an American saxophonist, songwriter and singer....
, and Al Jarreau
Al Jarreau
Alwin "Al" Lopez Jarreau is a seven-time Grammy Award winning jazz singer.- Background :Jarreau was born in Milwaukee, the fifth of six children. His web site refers to Reservoir, Inc., the name of the street where he lived. His father was a Seventh-Day Adventist Church minister and singer, and...
, among many others.
In a Le Son du Maquis press release from March 2010, Dulany commented on the writing, recording, and producing aspects of this collection:
After thinking about it for the last 10 years, we decided to make good on our threat to make some racket. From the outset we intended that this adventure sit well next to two albums in our canon: November's Heat and These Are the Days. We strove to capture the feeling that no matter how much you felt that you were in control of your life and your destiny, in reality, you were not. Stolen Car is a metaphor for this statement: “Who is driving, please?”
In expressing this declaration we avoided all of the usual recording entrapments: No big studios, no outside producer, no instruments of 'sentiment' such as acoustic guitars or strings; nothing that the three of us could not play ourselves. Well almost nothing, as Robert Aaron's sax contributions could not ignored; we are strict, but not stupid. We wrote by committee, arranged by committee, played by committee, drank by committee, and then let Kevin mix alone. So Kevin is the producer, Stolen Car is the album, and Certain General is the band.
Influence
Their ongoing success abroad notwithstanding, Certain General's influence continues to resonate in the US. In a review of a gig marking the release of Introduction to War at Don Hill's in New York, Kristy Eldredge wrote in Glorious Noise, that Dulany"embodies subtle but powerful charisma…and slender scarecrow elegance…(his) body language is the loosest and he seems to have the most soul. The French don't always choose the most worthy American icons to elevate, but they seem to on to something with Certain General."
On to something they were; in 1999 Libération compared Certain General to the U boat in the 1981 film Das Boot
Das Boot
Das Boot is a 1981 German epic war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, and Klaus Wennemann...
, calling them "insubmersible." The landscape that simultaneously served as their living room and the ultimate party venue, New York's East Village and downtown, have not been so durable. Replacing the artist's lofts, dives, and backrooms that were their laboratory are the all-too typical earmarks of any modern gentrified locale: the Nine West
Nine West
Nine West is a fashion wholesale and retail company best known for quickly translating runway trends into styles attainable by mass consumers. Initially founded as a fashion footwear brand, Nine West has since expanded into handbags, sunglasses, legwear, outerwear, jewelry, belts, watches, cold...
s, the Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
, the Gap
Gap (clothing retailer)
The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...
s et al.. Fortunately, in spite of these less-than-inspiring surroundings and unlike most of their peers, the band carries on: Parker Dulany, Phil Gammage and Kevin Tooley continue to perform and record as Certain General.
Compilations and re-issues
November's Heat continues to be issued and re-issued worldwide (Bomp/Alive RecordsAlive Records
Alive Naturalsound Records – also known simply as Alive Records – started in 1994 in Los Angeles, California, by Patrick Boissel, is an independent record label specializing in garage rock, punk blues, garage punk, psychedelic rock, power pop and blues-rock music. It grew out of Boissel's...
, Fan Club Records, and Commotion Records). In 2001, SourMash Records issued the two-CD set An Introduction to War, which included the previously unreleased album The Dead Rabbit Gang (songs that were to be released after November's Heat in 1985), and a disc of live material, Savage Young Generals, circa 1981–1982. In 2005, Certain General were included in Soul Jazz Records
Soul Jazz Records
Soul Jazz Records is a British-based record label. The label started in the 1990s, releasing compilation albums of predominantly black music, including reggae, soul, ska, Dub and jazz...
three-CD compilation series entitled, New York Noise, which featured most of the prominent post-punk New York bands from 1978–1982. In 2007, UK label Easy Action Records released the only comprehensive retrospective devoted to Certain General, Invisible New York. That disc included a collaboration of "New York, New York" with Julee Cruise and Lenny Kaye
Lenny Kaye
Lenny Kaye is an American guitarist, composer and writer who is best known as a member of the Patti Smith Group.- Early life :...
, which was recorded in response to 9/11.
Solo and side projects
During his years performing with and without Certain General, guitarist Phil Gammage continued to record and perform under his own name, with several of his recordings being released by the Paris-based New Rose Records. Other musical projects of his have included The Corvairs, Voodoo Martini, and The Scarlet Dukes. Parker Dulany has continued his work as a painter and poet. He recorded a solo album, Mr. Parker's Band, which was released in 1995 on the French label Night and Day Records.Discography
- Holiday of Love
- 1982 Labor Records (USA) EP
- Far Away in America
- 1984 SourMash Records (USA) SM101 LP
- 1985 L'Invitation au Suicide Records (France) LP
- November's Heat
- 1985 L'Invitation au Suicide Records (France) SM103/I.D.7 LP
- 1999 Alive Records (USA) ALIVE0039 CD
- 2002 Commotion/Fantastica Records (France) FMS120 2 CDs
- These Are the Days
- 1986 Invitation au Suicide Records (France) LP
- 2000 Fantastica (France)
- Cabin Fever
- 1988 Barclay RecordsBarclay RecordsBarclay Records is a French record label founded in the mid-1950s by Eddie Barclay under the alias, Edouard Ruault. Eddie Barclay also founded the Riviera label in the early-1950s....
(France)
- 1988 Barclay Records
- Jacklighter
- 1991 Barclay RecordsBarclay RecordsBarclay Records is a French record label founded in the mid-1950s by Eddie Barclay under the alias, Edouard Ruault. Eddie Barclay also founded the Riviera label in the early-1950s....
(France)
- 1991 Barclay Records
- Signals from the Source
- 1999 CBGBCBGBCBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...
Records (USA) 004 CD
- 1999 CBGB
- Closer to the Sun
- 2000 Commotion/Fantastica Records (France)
- An Introduction to War
- 2001 SourMash USA Records (USA) SM201 2 CDs
- Live at the Public Theatre
- 2002 PreFab International Records (USA) PF/FANTASTICA102 CD
- Invisible New York
- 2007 Easy Action Records (UK) 2 CDs
- Stolen Car
- 2010 Le Son du Maquis
External links
- Certain General — The Invisible Band of New York (article)
- http://www.prefabgroup.com/ PreFab Group
- Trouser Press (article)
- (Press release, March 2010)