Sugarbush - The Last Show - Juke Joint (4/4/98)

Here's the flyer and a photo from the very last show performed by Sugarbush.

Sugarbush @ Juke Joint (1/8/98)

Here's a great Sugarbush show that Brian Gressler recorded at the legendary Juke Joint (which really deserves it's own post some day)...

[DOWNLOAD] Sugarbush @ Juke Joint (1/8/98)
1) >intro<
2) We're Gonna Groove (Led Zeppelin)
3) Miles Turned Electric
4) >chat<
5) Heading Downtown
6) >chat<
7) Some Last Words
8) >chat<
9) >Julien & Chris<
10) Cracks in the Sidewalk
11) >cheers<
12) Jupiter's Child (Steppenwolf)
13) Last Call
14) >"wuzzon"<
15) Chicken Scratch
16) >chatter<
17) >we've got the setlist planned out<
18) Heritage
19) >chat ñ tape flip<
20) >more chat<
21) '71
22) >whoa-yeah<
23) Earth
24) >Rich says. "bite me"<
25) Take the Hill
26) >shuggabush!<


SUGARBUSH
Jim Burns - vocals
Julien Valenstein - guitar
Chris Balsam - drums
Rich Alfieri - bass

Tammie Comics (1997-1999?)

The "Unscene", as we all know, is very testosterone driven. Today's post is the first post about a lady. In fact, Tammie is the only female that has her own tag in the label bar of this blog. For some reason the girls of Bellmore – in this small scene at least – haven't shared their creative side with the rest of us...except Tammie. Bellmore: The Unscene touched upon this subject briefly. Here's Tammie Cohen, Deniese Kollar, Christine Stamberg, Christine Frey (sorry I spelled your name wrong in the movie Christine) and...um...Dave S with their views on a girl-less scene...



Tammie's Comics – highlighted in the clip above – ran in the Long Island Voice from 1997 to 1999 (I think those are the dates?). Each episode centered around a cartoon version of Tammie, and was full of Bellmore characters and inside jokes. The best way to describe it is to actually read it so here's a few...

Splinterface (mid to late 90's)

Speaking of Splinterface (last post)... Though most of the members of Splinterface were from Bellmore, there was no mention of them in Bellmore: The Unscene. Probably because they were rooted in metal rather than punk like the rest of the bands profiled – but that doesn't make them any less of a Bellmore band. In fact, the original – very short-lived – line-up had Jim Conaboy on drums and Dave Deluca on keyboards, no less!

After Situated Chaos broke up, Lenny Lampel and Andy Glasser (Andy Flav) teamed up with Mike Wiltshire and formed Splinterface. I sort of knew Mike from art class at Mepham. (He was the metal head who wore a bone around his neck in my sculpture class.) They put out a few songs on some comps and released a 7" called SEVERED FROM THE WORLD. After Lenny left the band he was replaced by Gerry Giacalone on guitar. Andy and Gerry would later go on to team up with Jim Burns and Kevin Purcell and form Not Saved (which I'll get to some day).


I personally only saw Splinterface perform once...and it wasn't even their show. It was during a Sugarbush set at Wayne's Place when an impromptu Splinterface reunion broke out. It was the Lenny Lampel lineup of Splinterface and I remember liking it a lot...very heavy.

Here's a few Splinterface songs. The first three are Lenny and the last one is Gerry...

[DOWNLOAD] Splinterface
01 My Ugly Self -- Independent Music Fest - NYU Program Board (1995)
02 Amends -- 516 - A Long Island Hardcore Compilation (1996)
03 Mindslave -- 516 - A Long Island Hardcore Compilation (1996)
04 No Roots -- An Under The Volcano Comp (1996)

SPLINTERFACE
Mike Wiltshire - bass, vocals
Lenny Lampel - guitar, vocals
Andy Flav - drums
Gerry Giacalone - guitar, vocals

The Whole Magilla vol.1 (1997)

Here's the compilation of Long Island bands I mentioned in yesterday's post. Sugarbush contributed their song "'71", taken from the Spread For The Bread session. Also on the comp is Splinterface, whose Gerry Giacalone and Andy Flav would later hook up with Jim Burns and Kevin Purcell to form Not Saved.

[DOWNLOAD] The Whole Magilla vol.1 (1997)
01- Santiago 301 - Live For Today
02- The Disenchanted - Laugh Track
03- Spasm 151 - Get Out Of My Life/Frustration
04- Peter The Great - New Addiction
05- Chimi-Changa - Therapy
06- Splinterface - No Roots
07- Oblique - Leather Jacket
08- The Riot Squad - My Life
09- Square One - Why?
10- Close Call - American Youth
11- The Gunga Dins - Van
12- Rodent - Cliff Williams
13- Insurgent - Right To Revolution
14- Chapter 16 - Hopeless War
15- 7G - Blame Me
16- Return Around - Seven Trains
17- The Sea Monsters - Corpsman
18- Sugarbush - '71
19- The Ballistics - It's Not Democracy
20- Contra - In Step
21- Bugsy - The Other Day
22- The Standards - 414
23- Drain Bamaged - Wake Up And Smell Reality

Sugarbush - Spread For The Bread (1997)

In September of '97 Sugarbush went into the studio to record some new tracks. They recorded the songs live to tape – one of which, "'71", was released on a Long Island music compilation...The Whole Magilla (tomorrow's post). But the band decided to shelve the rest of the demo session because they just weren't feeling it.

Jim says...

"...I think I was not happy with it b\c we always sounded a bit trepidacious in the studio...the songs were a lil bit slower than I woulda liked, but listening to it now, with the benefit of time and age, the tape is pretty decent, albeit slow..and trepidacious...;))"

Well the years have past and looking back the recordings weren't that bad. Here's the official release of the lost Sugarbush demo...Spread For The Bread.


[DOWNLOAD] Sugarbush - Spread For The Bread (1997)
01- Take the Hill
02- Cracks in the Sidewalk
03- Blank Page
04- '71
05- Last Call
06- Miles Turned Electric
07- Earth
(bonus track)
08- Take the Hill (take 3)


SUGARBUSH
Jim Burns - vocals
Julien Valenstein - guitar
Chris Balsam - drums
Rich Alfieri - bass

Spacemaker & Sugarbush @ Raven July '97

Here's a Spacemaker/Sugarbush show from July '97 that Christine Lembo shot. Unfortunately, there's only two Sugarbush songs and the second one gets cut up and ends early.

First up is Spacemaker...

Spacemaker - "Prognosis Negative"


Spacemaker - "Ride"


Spacemaker - "Human Consumption"


For their last song, Mike invites Joe on stage (and me but I didn't accept the invite) to sing "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg" by the Ramones. And for some reason Matt takes over on drums...

Spacemaker - "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg" (Ramones cover)


Then Sugarbush took the stage...

Sugarbush - "Heading Dowtown"


Sugarbush - "Take The Hill"

The Hoffman Estate 5/24/97

In May of '97 John Hoffman hosted a second party (see here for the 1st) at his house with musical performances by Spacemaker and Sugarbush (there may have been others...not sure).

Here's Spacemaker's performance...

[DOWNLOAD] Spacemaker @ The Hoffman Estate 5/24/97
01- Prognosis Negative
02- >talking<
03- Wrong With Me
04- >talking<
05- Human Consumption
06- >talking<
07- Rerun
08- >talking<
09- In My Life
10- >talking<
11- Ride
12- >talking<
13- Shadowbox
14- Bonzo Goes To Bitburg (with Joe Kollar)
15- Ride (alt.)

All I have of Sugarbush is this photo...

Sugarbush @ The Spiral, NYC 5/3/97

Just two months after their debut with Rich (last post), Sugarbush played The Spiral for a second time. All I got from this one is a flyer they made trying to cash in on their "Best Rock Band of '96" title, an ad for The Spiral, and a few photos. Sorry, no audio...but Jim in a dress should be enough.


SUGARBUSH
Jim Burns - vocals
Julien Valenstein - guitar
Chris Balsam - drums
Rich Alfieri - bass

Sugarbush @ The Spiral, NYC 3/6/97

It took Sugarbush a year after Dave's departure before they were ready for their next live performance. After some inactivity they found bassist Rich Alfieri and got him up to speed. Once again, Jim added some commentary to the recording he sent me. Here's what he wrote...

"Our first show with Rich and a great debut. Listen to that "Soul Kitchen"…BAFFLING!...

Once Julien got a hold of Rich’s talent, the band would turn from its punk funk vibe to a progfunk-jam punk thing. Some folks dug it, some didn’t, but we were pretty unique, although sometimes way too obtuse…

This show doesn’t get too far ‘out there’, neither in setlist, nor in the jams contained within, it was our first show out, after all…it wouldn’t take long before Julien would write an opus like “Earth” which had about 15 different parts in 5+ minutes…My contributions even started to get artsy with “Miles Turned Electric” and “The Mess Slams Into Me”, though my artsy usually was along the lines of Serrano’s ‘Piss Christ’…;))

I always kinda dug the Jesus Lizard like aspect of the band, where the guy in front is a totally violent buffoon while the guys playing are classically trained musicians…I sorta played on that vibe, though it wasn’t contrived in any way, it was just kinda that way, and I didn’t do much to change it… play on yer strengths, ya know?...

Anywho, we all got along really well, and it was a fun period, although I was probably complaining (aren’t I always) that we were jamming too much…we were…but, after many years of not hearing these, I’m a lot less harsh on what we were. Whatever we were…

We broke up when Rich decided to move to San Francisco…lemme tell ya, the air hung thick with irony…";)))

Thanks again Jim.

[DOWNLOAD] Sugarbush @ The Spiral, NYC 3/6/97
01- >intro<
02- Soul Kitchen
03- Cracks in the Sidewalk
04- Take the Hill
05- Angels Are Burning
06- Last Call
07- >chat?<
08- You're the Type of Girl That Needs a Pair of Galoshes
09- Heritage
10- Heading Downtown
11- >outro<

SUGARBUSH
Jim Burns - vocals
Julien Valenstein - guitar
Chris Balsam - drums
Rich Alfieri - bass

Sugarbush & Rat Bastard "Best Rock Bands of '96"

In the last post, Robbie Woliver from NEWSDAY crowned Sugarbush "Best Rock Band of '96". In his next article (above), he added 22 + bands to the list...including Rat Bastard.

Sugarbush - LIMF 6/26/96

Below is a a great Sugarbush performance from the Long Island Music Festival, at the Cornerstone Pub & Grill in Copiague, NY – Dave S was writing for Good Times paper so he was the MC for the night. This significant show was to be Dave's last with the band. Jim was nice enough to add some commentary about this show when he sent it to me. Here's his two cents...

"So Dave had mentioned in the car ride to the place that he was leaving the band and this would be his last show – or maybe he would play again if we wound up advancing to the next round (yeah RIGHT!) so with that in mind, we all gave a very spirited performance.

Joey is hysterical on this one as Saldi (Dave S) is giving his intro, Joe yells "Hootie!" at him and totally throws him off his game – hilarious. He is amazingly vocal, and totally made Sugarbush better whenever he was there to shout out. All our friends who were there were really supportive. We needed the help too.

The Basals were on the bill and WBAB was there broadcasting live b/c the lead singer worked at the station – in other words, there was absolutely NO WAY they were gonna lose – but, we impressed Robbie Woliver enough to give us "Best local band of 1996" in his year end write-up in NEWSDAY, even though we hadn't played fer over 6 months at the time he wrote it! Of course, we quickly got our shit together and reformed with Rich after that – to try to cash in on the praise. His next revue wasn't as glowing – but he put us in the same write up as the Spice Girls, calling his article "Sugar and Spice", which I think RULES, since I do love the Spice Girls – GIRL POWER!


Anywho, this was the first and last time we played "1000 Thorns" in full, but had played it twice before, once as a jam, the next time ending abruptly in the middle section. When I say "first time" in reference to playing it, Deluca says.."ok, THIRD time";). I sing the intro to "I Want You" at the beginning, which I could never help myself from doing. I took those lyrics with me to Not Saved. I always liked those lyrics.

"Galoshes" has us breaking into Black Flag's "Jealous Again", which is something Dave couldn't help himself from doing.

I fuck up "'71" by starting the vocals too early, but we get through it relatively unscathed – Saldi was rushing towards us at the end of "Soul Kitchen" to get us off stage, so ya hear me yelling "now!...do it now!!" – to break into "Steel/Twisted" or else we were gonna hafta fight Dave fer the mic!

As it is, we played it and I beat myself in the head with the mic pretty good during it, opening a decent sized gash in my head – which always made fer a good show. This was the last time we ever played "Steel" since Dave wrote it and we dropped it with Rich – Dave wrote the main part of "'71" (it's Zombula's 'Misery'), but we changed that one enough to keep playing it with Rich – or I guess we thought we changed it enough – it's still "Misery", but different.

I always found Joey to be a truthful soul, and when he says at the ending, "if you guys don't win this, there is no justice in this world", I believe his words were accurate. We didn't win, and there is no justice in this world."

Thanks Jim.

[DOWNLOAD] Sugarbush - Long Island Music Festival • Cornerstone Pub & Grill, Copiague, NY • 6/26/96
01- >intro by Saldi<
02- >thanks<
03- Angels Are Burning
04- Heading Downtown
05- >shoutouts<
06- Take the Hill
07- '71
08- >thanks again<
09- Last Call
10- 1000 Thorns
11- Yer the Type of Girl that Needs a Pair of Galoshes
12- >thanks AGAIN<
13- Soul Kitchen
14- Steel//Twisted
15- >outro by Saldi<

Sugarbush @ Wayne's Place 4/5/96

Here's a rather nice intimate Sugarbush show at Wayne's Place, with special guests Bobby S and Jim Muscarella. And speaking of intimate...at the end of "Take the Hill" it sounds as if someone would've liked to have gotten intimate with Deluca – I'm not naming names.

"Last Call"


"'71"


"Take the Hill"


"What Goes On" (Velvet Underground cover) with guests: Bobby S (guitar) & Jim Muscarella (saxophone)


"Steel/Twisted"

Sugarbush @ CBGB's 2/5/96

Here's a soundboard recording and photos of Sugarbush at CBGB's on Febraury 5th, 1996...

[DOWNLOAD] Sugarbush @ CBGB's 2/5/96
01- Steel/Twisted
02- '71
03- Some Last Words
04- Angels Are Burning
05- Heading Downtown
06- Cracks In The Sidewalk
07- Take The Hill
08- Toyin' With My Heart


SUGARBUSH
Jim Burns - vocals
Julien Valenstein - guitar
Chris Balsam - drums
Dave Deluca - bass