peter laughner/rocket from the tombs

Smog Veil's been talking about putting out a "definitive" Laughner collection for a while now. There are a ton of tapes of him floating around with various bands or solo. "Guitar Player" was pretty much just scratching the surface. I dunno, sometimes he's a little insufferable -- seems a little bit caught up in playing the role of genius songwriter than actually being a genius songwriter -- but there is some stuff that really is great.

Are there any available Mirrors recordings worth getting?

"Available" might be putting it too strongly, but the first one to go after is the Hands in My Pockets cd on Overground. There's also Another Nail in the Coffin on Resonance, but my sense has always been that this was the band getting together later on (mid-80s?), so you're not really getting the early 70s full-on pre-punk action...still great, though, especially the title track. As Resonance went out of business almost immediately after releasing Nail (and they were a Dutch company anyway), very few copies were shipped. So ROIR put out Another Nail in the Coffin (Remodeled), which tacked on live stuff, I think. Never heard that one. Also, Scat dug deep and found some more Mirrors for the Those were different times comp CD.

If you're going to hear one Mirrors song, it should be "She Smiled Wild." It's the track included on the Pere Ubu box set (on the last cd, which presents Ubu's Cleveland brethren) and hits somewhere between VU and the Electric Eels.

If you like the Mirrors' stuff, track down X_X (Ex Blank Ex), a spin-off whose 2 singles are in the same vein. And, speaking of veins, obviously the Styrenes ("Drano in your veins"), though some of their material is a bit more whimsical.

There were also an English and a Japanese Mirrors, both punk bands.

from the smog veil newsletter
Lastly, we've been working tirelessly for 3 years on our Peter Laughner archives and retrospective. The work will finally see the light of day in 2011 as the Peter Laughner LP series debuts in April on Record Store Day. Each LP in the series will feature the best possible audio quality and extensively researched liner notes including never before published photos and amazing interviews. We've tracked down plenty of never before heard recordings, including master reels of secret studio sessions, pristine band rehearsal recordings, and great live recordings. For example, remember that Fins 7-inch that SOL Records released a few years back? We found the master reel for the entire live gig that lent the recording for the 7-inch. It's a barnburner for sure! The series will start, as I said in April, with the release of "The Ann Arbor Tapes", which features Peter as well as Don Harvey, and includes some of the most poignant recordings of Peter's best known material. More news to follow.

well, goddamn. will buy.

had a real cool 4-way split cd of mid-70's cleveland stuff- haven't been able to find it since i moved

is that the "Those Were Different Times" comp?

Hey! http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/412-invisible-hits-peter-laughner/
4 years after I posted about that smog veil campaign ... where is all that stuff!

Thanks for the Peter & The Wolves zip link on yr blog. Maybe there are no coincidences? (Be ready to clutch the pearls when you see the price)(but I'm told it's a sweet read):
http://www.adelebertei.com/store/p4/Peter_%26_the_Wolves_by_Adele_Bertei.html

hadn't seen that! funny how much writing there is about laughner -- he really made an impact on the people he knew, I guess.

apparently "recently surfaced" translates to "posted on youtube three years ago but nobody's bothered to listen to it yet". the tape's also been around before youtube for certain...

at some point in the pre-D1mead0zen days when it was called Easytree or something liek that, somebody uploaded a TON of Laughner tapes, but I missed them all. I'm sure they're out there, though.

Sorry I said recently surfaced. Who cares? Anyway yeah! There was a ton of laughner stuff that popped up a while back. I grabbed a few of the recordings, wish I had grabbed a few more.

Think the Dime/EZ Tree stuff all came from the CDrs that a Cleveland musician used to sell via the web (well, if he didn't just rip you off). His website doesn't seem to have a store anymore, & mentions that they've stopped selling the music as Smog Veil has some big news coming (this no doubt written several years ago).

yeah i think the "big news" was the thing I posted upthread in the summer of 2010. smog veil still exists, but they stopped talking about the laughner stuff a while ago.

got a little update from the people putting together some laughner releases -- they ran into a few hurdles obviously, but they're hoping to start getting things out sometime later this year.

some great laughner material available now (this stuff has floated around in the past, but seems like the source is improved): http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/122172039577/peter-laughner-mr-charlie-1969-the-ann-arbor

some more good stuff -- laughner's bootleg of television at CBGB in January 1976 (peak doom & gloom) i think, PLUS a really well-researched essay about Laughner's relationship with the band... http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/140031747872/television-cbgb-new-york-city-january-1976

not holding my breath, but I guess this might actually be happening at last?

For a decade or more, the rumors of a Peter Laughner retrospective box set have been hotly debated and speculated, with many fans wondering if in fact such a release would ever see the light of day. At long last Smog Veil Records, in conjunction with the estate of Peter Laughner and his many collaborators, is very pleased to announce the impending release of Peter Laughner, a 5 LP/CD box set plus bonus 7” EP. The set is scheduled for release in November 2018.

Focusing on the 1972 to 1977 period of Laughner’s career, Peter Laughner will feature previously unreleased performances by Laughner’s bands Rocket From The Tombs, Fins, Cinderella Backstreet, Friction, Cinderella’s Revenge, and The Original Wolverines as well as solo and collaborative efforts. In addition to the material uncovered over the last decade, this box set will also include some significant sonic upgrades of material that was previously released on various out-of-print and bootleg compilations. With 61 tracks in total, the release will be the definitive statement of Peter’s career. Twenty five bandmates and collaborators are represented on this release and many are available for interview.

Peter Laughner will also include a book featuring extensive previously unpublished images and a collection of Laughner’s writings, reviews, and poetry for publications such as Creem, Exit, Zeppelin, and Star spanning 1973 - 1977.

Best known for being a co-founder of Cleveland’s legendary “avant garage” band Pere Ubu and a significant member of proto-punk trailblazers Rocket From The Tombs, Laughner had a musical career that stretched back to the mid-1960s and continued through to his untimely death at age 24 in 1977. Laughner did a little bit of everything in his music career: rock, folk, blues, punk, jug band, experimental, and even jazz fusion, drawing on influences as diverse as Chuck Berry, Jimmy Cliff, Brian Eno, Richard Hell, Michael Hurley, Robert Johnson, Lou Reed/The Velvet Underground, and Television. His original and collaborative compositions have been covered by artists as diverse as Guns ‘n’ Roses and Mission of Burma and lyrics from his signature composition “Amphetamine” were used by Jeff Tweedy in Wilco’s “Misunderstood.”

Perhaps even more importantly, Laughner was a catalyst for the Cleveland underground music scene, stating his conviction bluntly in a 1974 piece for the Plain Dealer: “I want to do for Cleveland what Brian Wilson did for California and Lou Reed did for New York.” In some ways, 41 years after his death, Laughner has done just that.

Only 24 years old...

bookmarked! thx tyler

Yeah, and apparently he told some people he was older, didn't think they'd take a kiddo seriously. I first knew of him as a Creem reviewer (also wrote a good feature about Rory Gallagher), and had no idea of all his prodigious musical activity---he did mention playing with Tom Verlaine for about a week, but that was parenthetically and more about disclosure, since he was covering TV and/or Television at the moment. No gonzo self-promotion---the gruesome account of a drunken rampage was in his review of/response to Coney Island Baby---Reed was his personal Elvis Dylan and then some---but it was a David Carr,Hour of The Gun, journalist-drawing-on-his-skills personal disclosure and confession, detailed and concise, without trying to use the album as justification (although he still found it depressingly bad).
So I'm glad there will be a book.
(Some of the solo and duo one-offs are hard to listen to re technical distractions, also you start noticing some of the lyrics are not so hot; I like him better in bands.)

Smog Veil seem to be doing a lotof pre-Ubu Cleveland related releases recently. Sounds like a few of them are worth looking into.
But this sounds like something i could really get into.
I have the Take The Guitar Player For A ride set but this sounds worth grabbing.

yeah this should be better than the Guitar Player comp — think they have access to more material (and better sounding versions of what's already out there).

thanks for sharing this. sounds really awesome.

http://thatrecordgotmehigh.com/2019/05/02/s2e58-rocket-from-the-tombs-with-cheetah-chrome/

Is an episode of the Podcast That Record Got Me High featuring Cheetah Chrome talking about the RFTT lp The Day The Earth Met The...
It's an interesting podcast and has covered some great lps.
This is the first time I'me aware of taht they have had an ex member of the band being talked about as the guest. I haven't heard all of the episodes yet though. Tends to be people talking about a favourite record of the guest.
I got turned on to the podcast by them covering the Gun Club which somebody shared somethyime last month.

Weird how I never posted to this thread. The other day I googled for pl t-shirts. I'll have to make one myself. Lol. I'm a massive fan.

did yall see this update:
OK FRIENDS: as many of you have surmised and/or read, all of us at Smog Veil Records have been working for the last 10 years to create the definitive Peter Laughner retrospective. I am pleased to announce that the box set is now in production, and the wait is nearly over.

In cooperation with Peter's estate and his many collaborators, the box set will contain the definitive statement of Peter's musical talents and additionally showcase his writings and the many works he created with a variety of talented friends. Smog Veil's research team has looked in every basement, attic, and corner to uncover numerous gems and we are pleased to be able to place Peter's work on display.

Many of the 56 songs contained in the release are seeing the light of day for the very first time. All songs have been carefully mastered and sonically upgraded from the best possible sources by the Grammy-nominated team of Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering. The box set also contains a 100 page book of photos and writings. Two box set formats will be available: 5 LPs or 5 CDs, and both formats contain an identical box, book, and track listing.

Pre-sale for the box set will begin in May, and at that time, we'll reveal more details about the release. A special pre-order only bonus will be included and this bonus will not be sold separately or in stores.

I cannot thank enough the Smog Veil team and Peter's estate and collaborators for their diligence in creating this definitive work. The time and care they put into this release is without compare. Over the course of the last 10 years, the friendships we forged to make this release happen and the stories we collected reveal a history of Cleveland independent music that is the stuff of legends. I know our many fans will appreciate the release we are about to deliver and I thank each and every one of our fans for their patience.

As mentioned above, the box set is in production. Test pressings have been approved; all art and layouts have been completed by the team of Johnny Dromette and Ron Kretsch. We are awaiting the final book proofs and once those are approved, we'll be able to announce the release date.

We look forward to revealing more details, stay tuned here and at our Facebook and Twitter pages for more to come.

Yup, gonna preorder that asap

Boxset is standard release not limited or anything is it?

& repeat plug for that That record Got Me High podcast that had Cheetah Chrome as a guest this week. Do love taht The Day The Earth Met The ... anyway.

More info (incl. Soundcloud link) https://www.smogveil.com/collections/frontpage/products/peter-laughner-box-set-5-lps-plus-book

Got a promo of the box in the mail today. I really don't understand who the fuck needs a 5CD box set of home recordings and live bootlegs, half of them cover songs, by a guy who was in one band with no official recordings and another that did all its important work after he died. But maybe I'm just a few years too young to get it.

Too bad they didn't get around to releasing something like this sooner. He's been dead longer than Elvis. But he was the real deal, a legit talent who would have gone on to accomplish great things.

I have a bunch of stuff to say abt this box but am still thinking

I really don't understand who the fuck needs a 5CD box set of home recordings and live bootlegs, half of them cover songs, by a guy who was in one band with no official recordings and another that did all its important work after he died.
have you listened to it? a lot of it is really good, and he's an interesting character.

some thoughts:

lots of covers, sure, but his guitar playing really makes most of them special

the book is amazing, and I really really appreciate that they included a lot of his writing and reviews, it also makes for a great time-capsule view into the era.

that being said, it KILLS me that they don't even MENTION his revered and essential place in the pantheon of America's great bootleg recorders, we owe the existence of the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Sister Ray" to Laughner and his devoted concert recordings (not to mention numerous other essential VU Cleveland shows). That's where the book should have started, it pre-dates his recorded work.

tons of great tunes, but again is is absolutely maddening that at least half a dozen tracks from the T/K double LP aren't included here. I've only listened through once, but is the version of "Amphetamine" different? Cuz that would be a travesty.

unperson i think you're totally right honestly....you don't need needless marginalia like this cluttering up your place

strictly as a favor, i'd be willing to pay shipping costs to let you offload it

lol

sleeve, "amphetamine" is a different version here — the tim kerr set had a version with acoustic bass on it. this one has a reed organ or something like that.

and i don't think that laughner actually recorded those VU cleveland shows — that was jamie klimek of the mirrors. laughner was at those same shows though.

another that did all its important work after he died

Ubu? I think the two guitar Ubu was the best.

yeah, i mean "30 seconds over tokyo," "heart of darkness," "final solution" ... those are all pretty important, right?

those are all important!

but i mean pere ubu really becomes *pere ubu* after that (imo)

on the other hand, not so important that you want 5 plastic coasters in a fancy box taking up space at your pad

hmm OK tyler you must be right abt Klimek, although Laughner was def there and may have propagated the original recordings to a degree

"amphetamine" is a different version here

a travesty I tell you

oh well, at least this preserves the (insane) resale value of my T/K 2LP

yeah, laughner was probably the one who distributed those VU recordings in the early days -- he was covering obscure bootleg-only VU songs in like 1969.

oh well, at least this preserves the (insane) resale value of my T/K 2LP

Ha! I had a copy of it that I must've bought in 1995 but lost it somewhere along the way. It still annoys me to no end when I see what they're going for on amazon.

didn't even realize he did recordings of "pledging my time" and "visions of johanna" that are lp-exclusive to the T/K

I tried to find a copy of that record when I went through a Cleveland rock phase (years ago), but it always eluded me.

Is this getting a European release? I'm seeing it listed for about £100 or $100 which i think are still pretty different figures.
& I don't have that to spare right now. But would love a copy.
Have been after more stuff of his since getting Take the Guitar Player For A Ride whenever that came out. THink I found that in Dublin so 20 years plus?

Had hoped 5cds might be about half that price.

it's got a big hardback book that is in both the LP and CD version, no difference in packaging. and yeah CD version is $100 direct from the label:

https://www.smogveil.com/products/peter-laughner-box-set-5-cds-plus-book

(and definitely no plans for a European release afaik)

some more good stuff -- laughner's bootleg of television at CBGB in January 1976 (peak doom & gloom) i think, PLUS a really well-researched essay about Laughner's relationship with the band... http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/140031747872/television-cbgb-new-york-city-january-1976

― tylerw, Friday, 26 February 2016 bookmarkflaglink

Just started reading this (and listening to RFTT for the first time too)

THat The day The Earth Met RFTT is pretty essential, wish there was more of it.

Do love The Shapes of Things by Pere Ubu from 76 too. Still not really investigated teh Dead Boys.

Yeah 'The Day..' is what I've been listening to. Real good stuff after deciding to dutifully listen to some Sabbath and Zeppelin.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0075/9892/products/SV147COVER_large.jpg?v=1602094220

Adele Bertei "Peter and the Wolves" book
THIS ITEM IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-SALE THROUGH NOVEMBER 9, 2020. DURING THIS PRE-SALE PERIOD, ENJOY FREE SHIPPING IN THE UNITED STATES!

USE CODE AT CHECKOUT TO GET FREE SHIPPING IN THE USA: SV147

I said I wanna walk on down the alley
down where the light shines so very dimly

I wanna shake hands with all the creatures that I meet with Miss Cinderella Backstreet

--Peter Laughner

Peter… I’m listening to your voice and guitar on Pere Ubu’s “Final Solution,” hearing the rusted heart of our town beating inside the tenderness of your reach. And in there too, the foreboding that comes when we can’t make the pieces fit… –

--Adele Bertei

Smog Veil Records is pleased to announce the first paperback edition of Adele Bertei’s infamous, long-out-of-print memoir, Peter and the Wolves.

ADELE BERTEI is a poet, writer, actor, performer, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker. She entered the downtown New York scene of the late 1970s as organist for musical insurrectionists, the Contortions. Bertei appeared in lead roles in several indie films, notably Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames, and has toured with, written songs for, and recorded as a vocalist for artists as diverse as Tears for Fears, Sandra Bernhard, Culture Club, Scritti Politti, Whitney Houston, and Lydia Lunch. Bertei’s first solo recording “Build Me a Bridge” on Geffen Records was a dance hit, as were singles “Just a Mirage” and Thomas Dolby’s “Hyperactive!”. She debuted new material in 2017-18 at MoMA, Club Salo Paris, and in Florence at La Compagnia Cinema. Adele has facilitated songwriting workshops for homeless youth at My Friend’s Place in Hollywood, and volunteered with Wayne Kramer’s Jail Guitar Doors. Bertei’s book Why Labelle Matters will be published in 2021 by the University of Texas Press.

Adele’s memoir, Peter and the Wolves, recounts her friendship with the late great Peter Laughner, Cleveland’s answer to all things underground and punk in the 1970s. Adele and Peter’s collaborations appear in Smog Veil’s groundbreaking 2019 box set. The book is Bertei's intimate recounting of the musical education she received from Laughner; of their complex artistic kinship, and the vivid trajectory of the ‘live fast die young’ ethos that extinguished the light of a radiant rock and roll heart.

This first paperback edition contains newly discovered photos, a new forward, and an epilogue penned by original Pere Ubu bassist Tim Wright all contained in 93 pages.

THIS ITEM SHIPS ON OR ABOUT NOVEMBER 10, 2020.

SPECIAL PRICING IS AVAILABLE WHEN YOU BUY THIS BOOK AND THE Peter Laughner box set. Click HERE for details.https://www.smogveil.com/collections/frontpage/products/adele-and-peter-powerpak

$18.98

"There are, as Bertei calls them, unholy incantations. Electric guitars, drugs, books of poetry, bullets, queer love, adventures, and misadventures. Real life and sounds that refuse to fade, all wrapped in the most stunning prose." - Camilla Aisa/Shindig

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YGfh3Ve2TE

Or even
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaPgJt2Il2U

“Ain’t it Fun” to keep finding versions of song “Ain’t it Fun”

OTMAIF

Really liked that Adele Bertei/Luc Sante thing in the Brooklyn Rail the other day

Have you read it yet?

Liked most of it, although a few times they came across as cranky old old old people.

I wonder if Bertai’s statement is accurate : “Segregation didn’t exist in gay culture in the 1970s.

His cover of «Slim Slow Slider» is heartbreaking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_5jwr0tykU

I guess «rewrite» might be a more precise description than «cover»

There's a review for theis book by Adele Bertei on Peter & the Wolves Peter laughner's mid 70s band in the most recent Ugly Things
https://www.smogveil.com/products/adele-bertei-peter-and-the-wolves-book

apparently a shorter middle book between a memoir on her growing up and moving to NYC I think. Which she has covered in longer books.
Sound like things i want to read anyway. hope SmogVeil is easier to get hold of than Hozac books are. Though a European outlet for Hozac would also be good. I thik there have been some books from them on the Cleveland scene too, Hozac that is.

I wonder if Bertai’s statement is accurate : “Segregation didn’t exist in gay culture in the 1970sehhh, think---going by interviews w people of color and whitss in Tim Lawrence's histories of NYC dance culture in the 70s-80s-90s, also his examination of documents, it depended on where you were and when---the old Fire Island gay subculture was being modified from some of its insular, even politically conservative, incl. color-wary, shall we say, POVs, but still there was some of that, and some venues were there---also, there were certainly club-owners who *tried* for a whiter, or white-only, clientele, along w a richer one, especially as the most relevant parts of NYC became more gentrified in early 80s, but even way before that to some extent, with a place intended from its launch to be a celebrity-magnet, for instance, or some little place that just *caught on*, so prices go up and maybe there are other filters, so a a place like The Gallery was something of a grassroots, multi-racial,multimedia, trans-genre etc counter to that---and the punk drag Pyramids was an explicit counter to largely white, affluent, "clone," "lookist" The Saint (though evidently there were people of color who went to The Saint, it just wasn't known for that...)
The whole thing was more fluid than some wanted it to be, but could be dicey. Lawrence's books don't have that much to say, so far (I haven't gotten all the way through the one that delves into the 80s), about lesbian-exclusive or lesbian-centric scenes, maybe those had fewer racial "filters," at least that she might have been aware of as a white woman---? And looking back through the mists of time etc.

One that delves into the *90s*, I meant to say.

In his Fresh Air interview, archived on npr, RuPaul talks about the Atlanta punk drag scene of his youth; he and his crew prob knew about Pyramids (and the self-described "gay street gangs" aspect of the drag houses crews in Paris Is Burning), but either way, it could cut across racial lines as much as dance music, to some extent, at least in gay and gay-inclusive scenes (though also, of course, Lester Bangs said: https://www.villagevoice.com/2020/01/05/the-white-noise-supremacists])

Originally published 4-30-79.

https://brooklynrail.org/2021/05/books/Adele-Bertei-with-Luc-Sante

This is the piece James Redd and I were referring to. Bertei & Sante did a chat in NY recently also, and she's been making the rounds re her Laughner book and her new Labelle one.
She was also on Mike Watt's interview show podcast awhile back.

From Smog Veil newsletter:

PLUS, ENJOY FREE SHIPPING IN THE USA.

And, we do mean everything on the Smog Veil site is 40% OFF so, enjoy special pricing and shipping savings on Adele's book and/or pair it with the Peter Laughner box set for even more savings.

Adele Bertei readings and author talks. Mark your calendars for these events and check out these podcasts:

STREAMING NOW (click on the link to be magically transported):
Adele Bertei with Lydia Lunch http://lydianspin.libsyn.com/episode-89-adele-bertei

UPCOMING DATES
June 3: Sandra Bernhard interviews Adele on XM Radio, 1:30 PM, eastern, details HERE.
(actually not, and haven't found them on the Sirus site yet)
Maybe they'll fix the link---whole newsletter is here as webpage, so I'll check again sometime:
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Smog-Veil-Records-Clearing-The-Air--174-JUNE-2021.html?soid=1102941868062&aid=oKPggqljO7M

Still love The Day The Earth Met…, thinking of taking a deep dive into the box set.

Such fun.