With six weeks of winter ahead, what better place to hibernate than deep within the realm of the Unknown 80's?Welcome back.
This time around, I thought I might try something different. While researching last months featured artist; Yipes, I had come across a small number of pictures highlighting the band in an early 80's live performance at a college. While there was nothing groundbreaking there, the candid's got me to thinking about the band's earlier days, before the A&R person came along with a pen in one hand and a recording contract in the other.
Everyone starts somewhere.
What were they doing in the weeks, months and years leading up to that momentous occasion?
How difficult was it to play original material in the Wisconsin club scene at that time?
What did it take to rise above the other bands and get those tunes heard?
How did it differ from that of the Long Island club scene with which I had become so familiar?
I can pretty much break down the 1980's Long Island scene into two categories:
A. Bands in pursuit of a record deal
B. Bands in pursuit of a party.
RPM fell into the latter category.
This is not to take away from the musical prowess of any of the individuals depicted here. Each and every one of them were musically gifted in their own right. RPM left an indelible imprint on the Long Island circuit. Beginning in 1984 as a cover band, they started out in smaller clubs, often opening for some of the more established local acts. It was on one such night, in a room in the New York City borough of Queens that I had first come across RPM. Specifically, it was on the eve of the historic Live Aid show that would commence the next morning several miles south in Philadelphia, Pa. I listened with half an ear, waiting rather impatiently for the main act to hit the stage, a group of friends whom I will one day write a book about as it was they, who more or less provided the soundtrack of my life during those years. RPM however had not gone forgotten. I vividly remember the band capably covering the Steel Breeze hit "You Don't Want Me Anymore," one of my favorite one-hit wonders from the early part of the decade. The memory stops there. It would be another two years yet,
before I would cross paths with these guys again. By the fall of 1987, the RPM I had stumbled upon was a completely different unit. Scaled down to four members, the band was now led by renowned front man Joel Frixx. Having made a name for himself over the years with Long Island's Vixen, followed by Tara, Joel brought RPM out of the smaller rooms and into the Long Island limelight, cementing themselves as one of the top drawing bands on the copy circuit. An entirely different dynamic, the band ran through an immense catalog of tunes ranging from the 1960's through the new music sounds of the mid-80's, covering the likes of New Order, Erasure, The Cure, and Depeche Mode to name a few. The idea of performing a set of their own music had never been a priority, primarily because there just were not enough original tunes to draw from, yet in 1986, the band had been offered a gig at Long Island's legendary My Father's Place, an institution that gave rise to the likes of Billy Joel, The Police, The Talking Heads, and so many more. With less than two weeks to prepare, they put their heads together and (in what I would like to assume was an intense writing session) rapidly penned enough tunes to cover a set. Today, they laughingly admit that most of those tunes were not worth much more than the paper on which they were written. A small number of similar gigs would follow in Manhattan, but after a short period of time, the band went back to doing what they did best, conducting some of the greatest party nights that Long Island club owners and patrons would remember long after those years had become but a memory.It is with that very thought in mind, that I happily induct into my personal Unknown 80's hall of fame; a group of guys that I am both proud and honored to consider as friends. The live footage that follows was shot in 1987 at Long Island's Rumrunner of Oyster Bay. The interviews were conducted at EKO studio's in Deer Park, Long Island nearly a decade later, in the fall of 1996 as the band was preparing for a 10 year reunion/anniversary celebration. The original music featured here is really only of the tip of the iceberg, yet briefly allows a small glimpse into Long Island's 80's music scene.
Sound Engineer, Steve Porcelli summed it up best during the recording of the '96 interviews:
"They don't want to tell you about all of the debauchery that this band has left in its wake."
What is left for me are some of the greatest memories of those carefree years, and it is my hope that for some, this preview might rekindle just a bit of the good times that transpired back then. For the rest of you; enjoy this trip back in time. Once again, I implore you to leave a comment on your way out, and spread the word. In the meantime, hit the play button below and take a journey with me once more into the world of the Unknown 80's.
See you next month!
Morty
Feb. 2009
