GNP "1985 Demo" LP

 GROSSEST NATIONAL PRODUCT  ( GNP) formed in 1982 in Birmingham, Alabama and were one of the state’s first hardcore punk bands, playing garage-y thrash with lyrics inspired by the comedic acidity of the RAMONES or DEAD KENNEDYS.  Classic 1980’s teenage thrash, the band was a constant, encouraging presence in the Birmingham punk scene for nearly three decades, opening shows for the MEAT PUPPETS, GBH, LIFE SENTENCE, MAGGOT SANDWICH, THE ACCUSED, and many more. 

A wild cast of hilarious characters, the band rarely  left the city limits, even less often the state and left few recordings, but tracked a classic demo tape in 1985 featuring some of their best songs “Reggie’s a Veggie”, “Ready To Ralph”, “Rabid Lassie”. The demo is presented in its entirety, pre-mastered by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air studios with vinyl mastering by Anne-Marie Suenram. The album comes packaged in a 24 point board tip on Sleeve with a full color inner sleeve with photos and flyers from the bands first three years, and includes an additional Lyric sheet insert with extensive liner notes and band history from Guitarist Chris Hendrix.  Pressed on Green and Purple vinyl at RTI, Reverse board 24 point Jacket at Stoughton, Full color inner sleeve. 

Mailorder copies additionally come with a bonus 12 page fanzine with even more flyers, photos and writing from Dan  / Crisis Within, Alabama Sharp, Greg harvester, Will Kiliingsworth, Ian Wise and more. 

Order Here

Listen Here

This release something Prank had hoped to do for years. Old friends from our home state, they're a band long deserving of a spotlight, and the all out packaging is an attempt to convey HOW important they were to a state where, for many years Few people played Punk Music.

Oh MRR, Why are you doing Record Reviews from Bandcamp?

MRR reviewed our re-released of the GNP "1985 demo"  record..... From Bandcamp. 

https://www.maximumrocknroll.com/review/mrr-517/1985-demo-lp/

We spent $30 sending them a copy of the record, which includes a poster of liner notes, a 12-page fanzine and a full color inner sleeve, none of which was mentioned in the review.  So we sent them a letter back in June. two months later we never heard back, so we're printing it here for your amusement.

Hello MRR-

This is Ken Sanderson, Former MRR radio show host, reviewer, and person behind Prank Records in San Francisco, which I've run for thirty years.

 

I sent my newest release for review, GNP "1985 Demo" LP and thank you for reviewing it.....but am pretty disappointed with how the reviews were obviously made.

 

This release was painstakingly made by several trips to Alabama and Memphis to find archival material. There is a printed inner sleeve with full color photos and flyers from those trips, there's an additional insert with a reproduction of the tapes original lyric sheet and a long detailed history of the band from the guitarist. I *STILL* didn't feel at that point this conveyed the importance of the band, who played most people in Birmingham's first punk show, in their thirty years playing in the city, so decided to make an additional 12-page fanzine. 

 

Printing is really expensive to do in the US, so just can;t make the 40-page full color booklets like European pressings. But the booklet contains probably another 100 show flyers, photos, and writings / testimonials from Greg Harvester ( who's also been an MRR contributor), Ian Wise ( who did several articles for MRR on Alabama punk history), Will Killingsworth from Orchid, as well as fellow old school Alabama punks, Dan Niel ( crisis within) and Alabama Sharp ( knockabouts) and myself. I really feel if you spend time with this booklet, it's hard not to love the band and what they mean to Birmingham, and the history of Alabama punk itself.

 

With prank, every single detail is looked at - in this record it's a conscious decision to use 24 point board, reverse board jackets,  We paid more for better stock, we mastered and plated this record twice ( also expensive) so the sound would be perfect. It's one of the most deluxe presentations we've done for a reissue, or at least since LIFE'S BLOOD. We feel the totality of the packaging makes this release really special, and it's also riddled with jokes and funny stuff in the character of the band.

 

And We sent that in for review. The Record. For a record Review.

 

And your reviewer, obviously, reviewed MP3's off of bandcamp, which is not the same thing. The bandcamp DOES offer a pdf of the booklet if you purchase it, but the review doesn"t mention any of the packaging at all....because they're reviewing it from a stream on bandcamp, which is not what we sent you to review.

 

Now keep in mind. With a lot of hardcore, and particularly old punk like this. It's really hard to get it reviewed anywhere. There's just not a lot of outlets. So the MRR review is really important....and to me, who's spent all this time and energy making something really special, it's kind of bullshit to be asked to pay to send that in....and then have a review based off something I didn't submit. I'd send you a complete digital press kit if that's how you are going to do your reviews.

 

I understand in the decentralization of MRR, it does not have the local ability for reviewers to pick stuff up and there's a lot more shipping and coordination involved.  I mentioned all of this online, and was told reviewers just get a big pack of free records every couple months and review off of bandcamp now....But if you're asking people to submit physical copies, there's a general expectation that that's what is going to be reviewed....and if not? Why not just ask for bandcamp links? just so you can pay reviewers in free records? 

 

Keep in mind 90% of bandcamp streams don't include lyrics, or even any additional art work or inserts. Bandcamp is a benign thing generally, and does allow self publishing in a way punk never had access to....but it's still owned by a billionaire, and I've never seen anyone vet where that percentage  upstreaming of wealth goes. Having sat at Mordam meetings in the 1990's and seen Tim Yo argue until he was blue in the face about Caroline distribution and it's connection to majors and media consolidation,  it's still just weird to me that MRR essentially became a referral for this company - are you paid for links / hits?

 

GNP  isn't a huge release for me, but it's a very personal and important one. It's one that deserved a little better given all the work and effort that went into it, work your reviewer never even saw.

 

Bands like to see MRR reviews, I'll probably still send stuff in ( even though the other recent review of a prank release, BURNED UP BLED DRY, was so oddly written it seemed like it was put through translation software. Maybe it was and that's okay, but the sentence structure was so poor and hard to read,  it probably should've been also presented in it's original language) But do better. If you want to be and stay an authoritative voice, you have to earn that every single day with your actions and output.You're MRR, should be the best and I'm disappointed because I know you can, 

 

Thanks,

KEN / PRANK

NEW LIFE'S BLOOD SHIRT

LIFE'S BLOOD 2-sided "Youth Enrage" T-Shirt now up for Pre-order at Pranks Big cartel.

Official band design by Neil Burke from the "Youth Enrage" design by Adam, printed at Monoroid. Will come with a new LB Pin.

LIFE'S BLOOD "Hardcore A.D." is still available on LP /CD.

BURNED UP BLED DRY in Little Rock, AR 2/2/25

Here's some footage of  the start of BURNED UP BLED DRY Set in Little Rock, AR 2/2/25

Wendy-O-Matik On Her Spoken Word on "A Darker Shade of Grey"

 At the end of  The Grimple / Logical Nonsense split “ A Darker Shade of  Grey” There’s a spoken word piece by Wendy-O-Matik with sound collage by Noah Landis. Wendy-O-Matik was well known for her spoken word performances at Gilman Street and punk shows throughout the Bay Area, and also the vocalist of Gag Order,  a Bay Area band with Raina from the original line up of Grimple, Noah and Keith from 23 More Minutes. We Asked her about her spoken word and how she was invited to appear on the record. 

Prank:  How did you start doing spoken word? What inspired you to start doing it?

Wendy-O-Matik: In the late-80s, while I was listening to my local radio station KPFA 94.1, Lydia Lunch’s spoken word was played. I was mesmerized and captivated by her words, rage, and passion. I hadn’t really heard much spoken word by women up to that point, and it was mostly by men. Lydia’s spoken word ignited and inspired me to find my own voice and to take my writing more seriously, and that’s how I initially found my courage to do spoken word. I found open mic nights where they had spoken word sign-up lists and I started showing up. I also had strong support and encouragement from my partner and my friends, as well as other bands in the punk scene to keep doing spoken word. Gilman Street was also a long-time supporter of my spoken word, inviting me to read between bands. 

Prank: The piece you have on the Split LP is a great part of the album, underlining the meaning of the entire record, do you remember how you ended up doing the recording for the record?

Wendy-O-Matik: Ugh, my mind is a sieve at this age! The finite details of the recordings that I did have sadly faded from my memory. I had the privilege of doing all of my recordings with an ultra-skilled, brilliantly creative, and well respected sound engineer, Noah Landis, so that was a true gift. The members of Grimple and Logical Nonsense were good friends of mine, so we connected frequently through shows, parties, and friendship. I rarely missed a Logical or Grimple show at Gilman. I even saw them play in Santa Fe. All I can say is that I was so honored and privilege to be invited to contribute to their album. That split is still epic and timeless.

 Prank: You mentioned before that the time when this record was originally recorded was a really inspiring time of activism, community and music for you. The 90's bay area punk scene and it's extensions of family from all over the US and beyond was pretty special time and place, what inspiration do you carry from it?

Wendy-O-Matik: Great question! The bay area punk scene in the early 90s was definitely a strong, well-connected and active community. For many of us, it was more than just shows and parties. We gathered and organized for political demonstrations against war, inequality, reproductive rights, the climate crisis, and more. We gathered, organized and spoke out against skinheads, violence against women, and we even held fundraising shows to help out friends with medical health issues that might have left them homeless or financially destitute, as well as for nonprofit organizations that represented the issues that we cared about. To this day, I am still driven to play an active role in local activism circles in the fight for social justice and radical change.

Prank: What have you been up to ? 

Wendy-O-Matik: When I’m not writing poetry or love letters or racial awareness blogs, you can find my other books on meditation Here:  or you can find my other spoken word pieces here (all recordings by unforgettable Noah Landis):

·      Birth of Our Extinction 

·      It Will Come to Pass 

·      Theory of Mutation 

·      Westbound 

GRIMPLE / LOGICAL NONSENSE " A DARKER SHADE OF GREY" LP/CD UP FOR PRE-ORDER

 

GRIMPLE / LOGICAL NONSENSE " A DARKER SHADE OF GREY" LP  was Originally released in 1994 by Photographer Murray Bowles and Filth Bassist Lenny Johnson’s collaborative East Bay Menace label, this split combined two of New Mexico’s fiercest hardcore bands on one split LP. East Bay Transplants from Santa Fe, New Mexico GRIMPLE’s sound had become more harsh, caustic and acidic, retaining strong songwriting of their debut LP  but shedding some of their pop sensibilities for quick metallic riffing. Their brother band, Santa Fe’s Logical Nonsense had also begun to leans heavier, creatively arranged songs which front harsh guttural vocals and brutal crushing riffs pointing to the sound of their raging follow up LP’s on Tee Pee and Alternative Tentacles, and their influences of EXTREME NOISE TERROR, NAPALM DEATH and NEUROSIS.

This album has not been repressed since it’s original pressing in 1994.  Prank orignally approached Re-pressing it in 2002 when "GUYA" was re-pressed, but it wasn't until 2013 that the original tapes were baked and Noah Landis from Neurosis / Christ On Parade began remixing the record. There were several re-mioxes and tweaks until  completion in 2020 and  last year it was re-mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service.  The packaging is true to the original but has been painstakingly recreated with slight upgrades, including a new 11x22” insert with band photos and lyrics. The CD version features a 16-page booklet. These are available from pre-order now at Our Big Cartel

We also created limited edition for mailorder  limited to 400 pieces and comes in a completely different 24 PT jacket, Different printed insert, Experimental Grey-Clear haze vinyl ( Looks grey on the turntable, unsual  when held to Light), two band posters,  A vinyl Sticker and a Pin. For initial mailorder copies We'll also send the regular edition insert as well. You can find this edition HERE

KEVIN ARMY on Recording Grimple " GUYA"

We interviewed Legendary East Bay Punk Recording Engineer Kevin Army about Recording GUYA on 11/10/21:

How did you get contacted to record Grimple?

Kevin: That I can't remember, Maybe the people doing their business, Murray or Eric Yee. Maybe Billie Joe.

 

How was Billie Joe involved with this?

Kevin: We worked on a few sessions together back then, He helped co-produce. He disappeared from the credits, I’ve never seen him on the credits for it have you?  He was there the whole session, we met with the band and I recorded them. One of my favorite Billie stories is visiting Grimple in their bedroom with him.

 

What happened?

Kevin: They all lived in a single bedroom, there’s like four mattresses on the floor in a room and then there's like pet mice running around everywhere, I'm a little freaked out by the mice and Billie just jumped right in and was totally at home. Total punk cred there. This was just before Dookie and so long ago. Maybe I'm dreaming all up, but it was super punk.

 

Where did you record this record?  

Kevin: Sound and Vision in San Francisco on Indiana Street, I believe that building is a bunch of condos now.  It was a nice small tight room with 16 tracks. This was the same place I recorded the Operation Ivy LP, Fifteen, Blatz, Filth. Tons of stuff. The go-to plan was: record at Sound and Vision, and then mix at Dancing Dog in Emeryville. Sound and vision was $18 an hour.

 

Dancing Dog in Emeryville had a better-equipped control room for mixing and was owned by Lydia Holly and Dave Bryson from Counting Crows. Dancing dog was one of the first victims of the first waves of dotcom gentrification. It was in a cool Giant warehouse complex in Emeryville with artists and bands. For what it was, it had nice equipment with good monitors and a nice neutral environment. Everyone left us alone at both studios.

 

 
 Most of the other Lookout and East Bay records I did were mixed at Dancing Dog.  I ended up working there because I realized after I sold my own studio, I could make the same amount of money just doing recording with no overhead. The studio was sliding scale, I could choose to have the band play $12 or $15 an hour for the studio and never charged us if we had to cancel last minute. It was the Go to thing for all those years until it shut down.

 

When I first brought bands there, Dave Bryson was really scared I was bringing punk rockers there. He thought they would trash the place. The first record I recorded there was the Stikky album for Lookout.  After the session was over, Stikky cleaned up everything they had left there and Dave was like " This is the cleanest any band has ever left the studio". They had learned from Gilman Street. The noisier, more aggressive bands were always nice people. The Grimple Guys were just nice too.

 

So you mastered this at K-Disc?

Kevin: Yeah, The other thing was I’d just get people to pay my gas to go master with John golden (Sr.) at K-Disc. He would teach you so much about engineering and mastering.  We’d stay up to 2-3 in the morning with him telling stories and giving advice.  John mentored. He sat me down and said “ you’re doing these things wrong, and you're doing these things right”. He was super supportive.

 

Where was K-disc?

Kevin: K-disc was right in the heart of everything in Hollywood.  They did all this huge stuff, but then treated everyone the same, You’d see all the tapes of famous stuff. The guy who worked on the rhino reissues would often do sessions right before John, so there would be tapes of all these major records there.

 

 Anything else about the record?

Kevin: It’s a shame Eric and Murray didn’t become one of the more successful labels but maybe they were too nice.  I guess I should've charged more back then..... But then I wouldn't have gotten all the work!

 

Kevin still mixes the occasional project and recently mixed an album for Kyushu, Japan's Born Shit Stirrers. He sells Vinyl and shit on EBay and dances with his cats to a combination of Harry Partch, Captain and Tennille and Blatz. 

GRIMPLE " UP YOUR ASS" has been Re-pressed and is available Now at http://prankrecords.bigcartel.com