Live Skull

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Live Skull
Cover of Live Skull's 1989 Positraction album. L-R: Mark C., Thalia Zedek, Richard Hutchins, Tom Paine, Sonda Andersson.
Background information
Origin	New York City, New York, U.S.
Genre(s)	Post-punk Noise rock Experimental Alternative rock
Years active	1983 to 1990
Label(s)	Homestead, Caroline
Associated acts	Thalia Zedek, Fuse, Come, Chavez
Members
Mark C (1983-90) Tom Paine (1983-90) Marnie Greenholz (1983-89) Richard Hutchins (1987-90) Thalia Zedek (1987-90)
Former members
James Lo (1983-87) Sonda Andersson (1988-90)

[edit] Overview

Live Skull created abrasive no wave music not unlike their 1980s contemporaries Sonic Youth, Swans, Rat At Rat R, The Chameleons, Mars, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and Band Of Susans. Their music featured angular guitar parts interspersed with bleak, quieter passages, for a haunting overall effect. The lyrical subject matter was usually as pessimistic and harsh as the music itself. Live Skull never achieved mainstream recognition, but retain underground notoriety and share a family tree with other relatively noteworthy groups.

[edit] Biography

Live Skull formed in New York City in 1983 by the guitar/bandleader tandem of Mark C. and Tom Paine. They were soon joined by drummer James Lo and Marnie Greenholz (Paine's then-girlfriend), on bass guitar. In 1984, a self-titled debut 12" EP saw release on the tiny Massive label. They soon signed with indie label Homestead Records, which released their 1985 debut full-length Bringing Home The Bait. On this LP, vocal duties were shared by Greenholz, Paine, and C. 1986 album Cloud One had slightly more accessible song structures. A concert album, Live: Don't Get Any On You, was recorded at CBGB's late that year.

Thalia Zedek joined the band as lead singer in 1987, taking over most vocal duties so that the other members could concentrate on their instruments.^[1] Zedek had previously played in the Boston-area post-punk outfits White Women, Dangerous Birds, and Uzi. The band also replaced Lo with ex-Ruin drummer Rich Hutchins ([1]). Zedek and Hutchins debuted on 1987's Dusted, which spawned a black-and-white music video for the song "5-D", likely filmed in the same abandoned warehouse featured in the album's cover art. (This video later appeared on the Twelve O'Clock High video compilation.)

The group signed to the larger Caroline Records label, debuting with 1988's six-song Snuffer 12". Hutchins was now also playing with the band Of Cabbages & Kings. Greenholz subsequently left and was replaced by Sonda Andersson, a former member of Rat At Rat R and cousin of avant-garde composer Glenn Branca. Released in 1989, Positraction was a more accessible, song-oriented effort that maintained the generally positive critical reaction. Live Skull disbanded in 1990 due to musical differences.

[edit] Post-breakup activity

Zedek moved back to Boston and fronted the blues-rock-oriented Come, which went on to recognition via Matador Records. Several Live Skull members briefly reunited in the band Fuse, which released a double 7" in 1992. Lo would go on to drum for Wider and then for Chavez in the mid-1990s.

Richard Hutchins performed for a few years in DIGITALIS, which featured another former Rat At Rat R member John Meyers, REVERB MOTHERFUCKERSkinny John, and 3 TEENS KILL 4 & BITE LIKE A KITTY & brief early member of LIVE SKULL Julie Hair, whom Richard married in 2000. DIGITALIS split up around 1998. Hutchins currently performed in PHIDEAUX, the HUNGRY MARCH BAND, and various other projects

Tom Paine (Lance Goldenberg) received an MFA in film at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He is a writer and expert in world cinema. A favorite film of his is Alejandro Jodorowsky's "Santa Sangre."

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

• Bringing Home The Bait - LP (1985, Homestead)
• Cloud One - LP,cass. (1986, Homestead)
• Don't Get Any On You (live 1986) - LP,cass. (1987, Homestead) (cassette version has bonus track "Brains Big Enough")
• Dusted - LP,CD,cass. (1987, Homestead)
• Positraction - LP,CD,cass. (1989, Caroline) (CD pressing includes Snuffer EP + compilation track "Paul Revere's Bush (Tree Girl)")

[edit] EPs

• Live Skull 12" (1984, Massive)
• Raise The Manifestation/ Pusherman 12" (1986, Homestead)
• Snuffer 12" (1988, Caroline)
• John Peel Session EP (1991)

[edit] Video

• Skull Fuck - VHS (full live concert in Cincinnati, Ohio, circa 1986) (Atavistic - ATV6)
• Live Skull Live - VHS (full live concert in Fort Worth, Texas, with interview, April 22, 1989) (1989, Videophile)

[edit] Notes

1. ^ George-Warren, H: "The Next Chapter in Thalia Zedek's Indie Saga", Option Magazine 48: January/February 1993

[edit] External links

• Live Skull: Smart Band in a Hard Place by Caroline Ely
• TrouserPress overview
• Live Skull/ Zedek album reviews
• Live Skull trading page listing some rarities, lyrics, live setlists, etc.
• website of drummer Rich Hutchins
• Show flyer (drawing by Jimi Hendrix) from concert w/ Sonic Youth on May 24, 1985
• Skull Disgocs page)