February 11-March 11, 1983 – Newsreal. Page 10
Having
evolved from the seeds germinated a year ago, the Serfers are now in
their toddler stage and about to break into a run toward a successful
musical future ... is where we left off in August, 1980. They ran to
L.A., changed the name from Serfers to Green on Red and after doing some
roller coaster rides through reality, the band seems headed toward
musical recognition.
“Recognition”
seems more appropriate than “successful” because even though their
debut 12 inch EP has been favorably reviewed in Creem, Bam and the LA
Times. Jack Waterson (GoR bass player) is still on the bus at 8:15 to do
warehouse work ‘til 5:00. “Success” on the other hand seems to mean one
can skip the 9 to 5 slide and cruise on the revenue generated by the
creative endeavor and, according to Jack, the band hasn’t reached that
phase– yet.
Musically,
it was a magical period for Tucson with a communal, innovative energy
abounding in Pearl’s Hurricane Bar and Tumbleweeds, but for the Serfers
the sequence was coming full circle and burnout was setting in. Days
were spent drinking beer and seeking smoke ‘til stage time.
“We had
kind of gotten down to the very depths of humanity living gig-to-gig...
REAL, distraught. You reach a point when Halloween has gotta end,”
reflects Jack in a recent phone conversation. There were many doubts,
but the intuitive feeling of the band was to move on and make music for a
larger audience and although at times the obstacles seemed
insurmountable, Jack (speaking for the band) says, “We’re all glad we
did it.”
When they
first arrived in L.A., Jack, Chris Cacavas (keyboard/vocals), Dan
Stuart (guitar/vocals), and Van (drummer), lived in a studio apartment
on Vine with some mice and a few other people. Only Dan was working. Van
left L.A. on the same day Darby Crash OD’ed and John Lennon was shot,
leaving a trio of Serfers behind. They didn’t play music for a year.
In
February of ‘81 a friend of theirs gave them money and told them to do a
record. At that point Green on Red had no drummer, so they recruited
Alex Mac Nicol for the sessions and he eventually became the permanent
fourth member. Jack looks at the record project as a learning period,
“you’re aware of what only experience can teach you. You see all the
truths ... and you see all the lies, and you know when somebody’s trying
to give you the knife.”
They knew
it wasn’t worth playing gigs without “the ace up our sleeves,” which
was vinyl. In L.A., “very few bands become well-known without having a
record behind them.” The 12-inch EP was released in June. In the period
between February and June they played as a trio and became “solid as
hell.” They also met “Comet Man” in the hall of their apartment
building.
Early Green On Red return to Tucson. Newsreal photo, February 8, 1985, Page 29.
He was a
black, funk bass player who played a left hand bass with his right hand
and it was “like he was trippin’ when he played, his eyes would roll
back in his head and sometimes he drooled. He used to tell us the only
problem we had was we didn’t have any soul. So he kinda gave us soul
lessons.”
They
hung-out with Comet Man for about a month and then moved from the studio
into a house. Alex began getting them music jobs that they played for
free. In mid-August they landed an X gig and played with Lydia Lunch the following night.
It looked
as if the band was finally beginning to roll. But, by November the band
made no progress and Alex became disheartened and left for New York.
The sputtering stops and starts left the remaining members in a sad
state. They didn’t interact with their instruments and they had little
to say to one another.
Alex
returned from the Apple and although they hadn’t practiced at all, they
came and played in Tucson (February 1982) and were “flipped-out” by how
good it sounded to them. Sometime after, they put out a demo tape and on
May first they played in L.A., meeting members of the Dream Syndicate,
which became a turning point for GoR.
They
decided to have a barbeque and invited Dream Syndicate and members of
other bands they had grown to respect. A communal feeling began to
develop, as those Sunday parties became regular events. During one of
those gatherings, GoR played their tape for Steve Wynn of Dream
Syndicate and he decided to put out GoR’s first album on his Down There
label.
The gigs
just started happening and they began playing an incredible amount of
dates. They recently did six shows in four days, while doing their day
jobs in between...crazed! Musically, Jack describes the band as an
“electro-folk-combo” and they are as rebellious as ever. As in the
Serfers days, they are still “revolting against everything we see as
normal.”
Dan
Stuart sees the seeping of societal desperation from the urban
landscape, then, lyrically etches his impressions onto a background of
neo- psychedelic and the naive urgency of the folk era. Dan’s voice
lyrically conveys raw reality juxtaposed with Chris’ sweet, almost
lilting harmonies. Chris renders his organ riffs with Doors-esque
textures while Jack and Alex provide precise rhythmic support.
Having
suffered and squirmed through the head-reeling realities of rock, Green
on Red is now headed onto the L.A. freeway toward musical “success.”
They are working on a second 1-inch EP to be produced by Steve Wynn and
have several labels quite interested in them. Word is, these former
desert rats will be bringing their anxiety ridden dance music to Tucson
sometime next month– a party NOT to be missed!
Now Available From Amazon.com
by Robert E. Zucker
The local entertainment
scene in Tucson, Arizona during the 1950s through 1985 was vibrant– from
the ‘50s rock and roll of the Dearly Beloved to the ‘80s with the
Pills, Giant Sandworms and everything in between– classic rock, disco,
alternative, punk, hard core, country, swing and Big Band. Hundreds of
bands and thousands of entertainers over three decades. Within these
pages are the memories and the experiences of those people and places.
These are the original
articles and interviews published in several local newspapers that
covered the Tucson entertainment scene over the decades. Follow their
stories through the years– the big breaks, record releases, hot
performances and duds, break ups, tragedies, personal insights and
struggles.
Purchase copies of Entertaining Tucson Across the Decades
on amazon.com.