The Stump Wizards brought a whole new retro sound to my high school ears in 1985 with their irked garage punk via the Flamin' Groovies 3-piece sound updated with some mosshy parts and doubletimed rockouts for the kids to slam to. They drew a pretty diverse crowd of punkers, metalheads, and 60s garage fans from around Central Pennsylvania playing as we did in those days in rented American Legion halls and Moose Lodges. The almost off-key vocals and sometimes upside-down beat sounds like they were barely holding it together. That and solid songwriting made them some of the best music going. This was their first demo tape that I know and they released a number of records afterwards. Bassist Eric Vermillion escaped suburban PA to play with post Velvet Monkeys members in NYCs Gumball, and guitarist/vocalist Jack Chiara went on to play with Australian ex-Radio Birdman members in Deep Reduction. Not bad for a couple of Camp Hill kids.
Yeah, they were a great band. Regards from Holland!
ReplyDelete