Installment Vol.5 Page 4

I first approached the record companies to back me on production of a live album that would reflect a cross-section of artists that deserved recognition and a chance for success. All the record companies turned me down. They didn’t hear the talent. I finally decided to do the album myself with the help of two gentlemen, Roy Erickson and Julio Vitolo, who contributed financially and morally. I sifted through the merits of some seventy or eighty bands and boiled it down to about a dozen. To physically produce the album I was lucky enough to get Craig Leon, who was A and R for Sire records and had done a great job in producing The Ramones' first album. As recording engineer I used Kim King who did a fine job. I hired a recording truck that came highly recommended, and with the help of Charlie Martin, as stage manager, I was ready to go. Charlie had come from Chicago, bringing the band Sun, whom he managed, to New York City with he idea of conquering the big apple. Craig Leon was the perfect producer for this record. Besides his expertise as a record producer, he brought a tremendous amount of enthusiasm which was transmitted to everyone involved with the project. His knowledge of past and present rock and roll and his concepts of live recording were invaluable. Among the bands that recorded were The Tuff Darts- a punk band with a dynamite lead singer in Robert Gordon, The Miami’s, The Talking Heads with David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, and Chris Franz (Jerry Harrison had not as yet joined the band), Stuart’s Hammer, Laughing Dogs, Mink Deville with the incomparable Willie Deville, Blondie- with Debbie Harry, Manster- a very odd group indeed, Sun - a band that possibly didn’t quite fit into the category of new rock but they were an exceptionally technically proficient heavy metal group with a wild lead singer of phenomenal vocal range named Nicky Buzz.

Tuff Darts



The Miamis



Laughing Dogs

[back] [next]

Vol  I, Vol II, Vol III,  Vol IV, Vol V and Vol VI