Brian Doub Reborn

So, Brian Doub has been in an almost impossibly long list of bands (IQ9, Bilsheeoh, Bell Brothers, Podunks, Malabaster, Finks, Odes, Bright Leaf, Cakes Of Light, etc.), and has been releasing material under the alias Ray Cathode for many years. This October 1, 2009 performance opening for Richard Buckner was at The Garage in Winston Salem, NC. It is his first performance under his own name. No other cohorts or pseudonyms; just Brian in all his naked glory. Enjoy!

As Brown As It Gets

Malabaster - self titled (2000)

1. This Does Not Work This Does Work
2. In The Early Days
3. Lungbrush
4. Starts To Melt
5. Southern Lights
6. Steak Pie Please

Brian Doub - guitar
Will Dyar - drums
Kat Lamp - bass, vocals
Kemp Stroble - guitar, vocals
#5 live on WXDU.
#1 done on a digital 8-track.
All others recorded @ The Wherehouse studio on 16-track. 

In 1999 Kat Lamp and Kemp Stroble's group, Teratoma was laid to rest; with the untimely passing of the drummer. While Kemp was living at the Wherehouse, he and Kat found themselves in the communal kitchen discussing what their next musical move might be. Kitchen lurker and drummer, Willie D, offered to join forces with them and a legend was born. The larval three piece asked fellow resident Mark Linga to name the band. He immediately broke out a brown marker and a piece of paper, creating a long list of possible names. Of them all, Siamese John Cale and Malabaster, were the favorites. They said they knew what the one meant, "...but what's a malabaster?" To which Willie D slyly quiped, "It means; as brown as it gets!" After a few early practices, Brian Doub and Chris Leiser sat in, with Brian eventually joining. Kat says it was the most effortless writing arrangements she's ever been involved in. "Someone would bring in a riff, someone else would add something and before you knew it, the tune had evolved into something new." The group practiced in the Wherehouse basement studio; consequently it was easy to capture the sessions on tape. Songs developed as demos, and were re-recorded by laying down single instrument tracks (not as a live group recording). The self titled album engineered by Brian and Willie D, also featured one track recorded at a practice, and one recorded live on WXDU (hopefully, more about that later).

Live Malabaster shows involved plenty of improvisation, lengthening and modification of their compositions. The band played the Wherehouse, several Malette Street house shows in Chapel Hill, Greensboro's Onion Cellar, Go Studios in Chapel Hill, and house shows in Asheville. One show was in Baltimore at the OttoBar with Oxes and Erase Erata. Drummer for Oxes, Chris Freeland, even performed a solo set dressed like a pimp and talking about himself over some pre-recorded tracks. He stayed in character all night, except when playing with Oxes. This gig was a showcase where some record execs had come to scout. One approached Willie D at the bar with a slick spiel along the lines of, "Hiiii, I'm (insert name) from Monitor Records, and weeeee came down tonight to check you guys oooout..." which Will cut short with, "Whoa! Relaaaax man! I'm just here to get a drink."

Malabaster was the first Wherehouse band to play at the Pudhouse in Charlottesville, Virginia; eventually performing there at least three times. This connection happened when Raw Dog Rex & the Family Nads played the Wherehouse. Kemp was booking the Bellabaster tour and asked Family Nads members, Tom and Colin if they could recommend a good place to play. Colin replied, "We have a place called The Pudhouse." This venue was a wild and totally unscturctured scene of people dancing and freaking out inside, as well as roaming around outside on the train tracks, uncoupling the cars and making them collide with one another. Kat remembers waking up to that sound and thinking, "Really? First thing in the morning?" It was at these shows that they witnessed the gestation of USAisAmonster. In the beginning Tom played keyboards and guitars, Sara was the drummer and Colin would wail on his guitar while running around the room, sliding on his knees and generally freaking out. Alot of Rod Stewart was listened to in the van on the Bell Brothers and Mabaster tour, and became a running joke amongst the two groups. In an interview for the Wake Forest college paper, The Old Gold & Black, they were asked what advice they would give to record companies. Willie D blurted, "Listen to Rod Stewart!"

There was a Go Studios show with Engine Down, and another with Mile Marker, Oxes, and Fin Fang Foom; as well as a weekend mini-tour to Greensboro, Asheville and Durham. The first of these was in Greensboro at a shortlived warehouse space near some railroad tracks called, Track 13. The show was with Damad, Zegota and Catharsis; the last two being part of the Crimethink family. These band's radical roots brought a clique of Washington DC fans down, including some who were working on a benefit project. After the show Malabaster were asked for a contrubution to that compilation. By the time the, WITH LITERACY & JUSTICE FOR ALL: A BENEFIT FOR THE DC AREA BOOKS TO PRISON PROJECT disc came out, Malabaster was already broken up. The second show was in Asheville at Vincent's Ear, where they stayed the night with college buddy Reed and it snowed. The nasty storm caused numerous accidents, which Malabaster avoided as they crept from Asheville to Durham to play live on WXDU. They also played three shows at the Cedar Street House in Greensboro; one of which was their last show (as well as the last Bell Brothers show). Another Cedar Street show with Zegota was a particularly great one, where everything gelled for the packed crowd (Zegota were also featured on the same Literacy compilation). The other was with Wherehouse band Cobra Clutch, when lead singer Steve Tesh crawled under the carpet and sang, then rolled himself up in it like a burrito. Of course, there were plenty of Wherehouse shows like; with Fin Fang Foom & Oxes (2.19.2000) and Mercury Birds (7.16.2000).

Malabaster dissolved in the late Fall of 2000, when Willie D moved to New York City. Of all the different bands, projects and groupings from The Wherehouse; Malabaster is easily one of the most talked about, marveled over and sought after of recordings. On October 25, 2005 a special pre-Halloween Reunion show brought several old Wherehouse bands back together; namely Rompe Cabezza, Bell Brothers and Malabaster.

 http://www.4shared.com/dir/21285042/a420a288/Malabaster.html

Bilsheeoh: where it gets Tasty!

Bilsheeoh The Redundant - Bob Barker's Charisma (1995)

1. track 1
2. track 19 (#2 in full stereo 4 track)
3. track 2
4. track 3
5. track 23 (#5 in full stereo 4 track)
6. track 26 (#6 in full stereo 4 track)
7. track 7
8. track 8
9. track 9
10. track 29 (#10 in full stereo 4 track)
11. track 31 (#11 in full stereo 4 track)
12. track 32 (#12 in full stereo 4 track)
13. track 13
14. track 33 (#14 in full stereo 4 track)
15. track 15
16. track 37 (#16 my way close to 35 with treble) (Samb's treble mix)
17. track 17
18. track 06 (extra - see #26-28 the instrumental)
19. track 27 (extra - #6 straight vocal only)
20. track 28 (extra - #6 effected vocal only)
21. track 30 (extra - #10 vocal only)
22. track 10 (extra - see #29 the instrumental)
23. track 11 (extra - see #31 - direct w-o room mics)
24. track 14 (extra - see #33 - guitars only)
25. track 34 (extra - #14 drums only)
26. track 20 (extra - #2 bass & chime elements only)
27. track 21 (extra - #2 active elements only)
28. track 24 (extra - #5 active elements only)
29. track 25 (extra - #5 low key elements only)
30. track 16 (extra)
31. track 17 (extra)
32. track 35 (extra - #16 keys & guitar panned out . bass & drums in)
33. track 36 (extra - #16 keys & guitar panned in . bass & drums out)

nonexistent song titles all


The Legend Lives On:
Bilsheeoh was a 4-track solo project by Brian Doub, begun before the Wherehouse existed as such, when the core group of what would become the Wherehouse boys lived in the 4196 house. The name Bilsheeoh comes from a lyric in a Bob Seger  song, refering to the bills a woman owes. "The Redundant" refers to his first  cassette cover, wherein a bank statement reveals that his savings account was begun with "0.00" dollars and ended with "0.00" dollars. Brian continued exploring songwriting, recording techniques and equipment, eventually leaving  Bilsheeoh behind to release his solo efforts as Ray Cathode. Consequently, Bilsheeoh has come to signify the 4-track stage of Doub's recording career; which is obviously not his best work, but it definitely has it's worthy moments. You will be amazed later, when I drop some Ray Cathode on this blog; so dig the humble origins! 

BOB BARKER'S CHARISMA is a mixture of noise experimentation, sound collage, and pop songs. It bears the catalog number 001, as it was WDYO Records first cassette release.
 
Notes on the Remastered 14th Anniversary Edition:
This file is a direct digital dub from the original 4-track, which had no titles as such. The result here, is the best 33 dubs resequenced for re-release. Tracks #1-17 are the best "master" takes available, and #18-33 are "extras" of various types; from good 2-track versions to singled out instruments from various tracks. A perfectly good explanation...but let's go further.

The actual digitizing process, without titles, became a bit confusing. This is where it gets tasty. What was originally tracks #1-33 (missing a couple of flubbed takes, ie; 2,5,12,22), have been resequenced as #1,19,3,4,23,26,7,8,9,29,31,32,13,33,25,37,18 for the major work and #6,27,28,30,10,11,14,34,20,21,24,25,16,17,35,36 as the order for the extras. These were then re-labeled to bring them back into 'order' (if such  a thing actually even exists at this point).

Bilsheeoh was always about puzzling out something new; so since we gave away the secrets of his name, this gives the listener something important to grapple with. This puzzling process is entirely necessary for proper engagement with the recording; do NOT ignore the number sequence, as your ability to appreciate the music could diminish! To fully understand this number sequence may even require psychic contact with master numerologist Eric Jackson during a nap (when his Embyonic Crusader personality is present). Don't bother him with it while he's in an awakened state, as that part of his mind is not dominate then. It wouldn't help to psychically contact Brian while he's napping, as he long ago received a hypnotic treatment to block the Bilsheeoh personality; and he needs his rest. Otherwise, enjoy the recording.

If you're a math whiz, and master the number sequence before you finish listening to the recording, please calculate the significance of their first street address (4196) in conjunction with the Remastered 14th Anniversary Edition of this rare historic recording. It might also be important to include the 33 tracks, which is a multiple of the 17 original tracks minus 1, rooted by use of a 4-track tape machine. Your Bilsheeoh pop equation should look like this: 


Turn in your solution for extra credit... and don't forget to show your work!

P.S.- There's nothing MORE redundant than a remix of a perfectly good song, and we think it high time Bilsheeoh be downloaded and remixed, so Brian can pick his favorites and add a new number sequence to even out the confusion. Then again, maybe you'd like to take one of the extra tracks and create your own collaborative composition from it. That's cool too, just have fun and send us your results!


http://www.4shared.com/dir/20303472/f034959b/Bilsheeoh.html

 

The Genesis of Oakley Hall

Crazee & Heaven - Crazee & Heaven (2001)

1. Furrow Of My Brow
2. (I'm Not The) Other Woman
3. Runnin' After You
4. When You've Got A Broken Heart
5. San Antone
6. Have Another Beer
7. Drinkin' & Cheatin'
8. Stolen Fruit
9. After Hours
10. Whiskey Drinkin'

Crazee (Pat Sullivan) - vocals, acoustic guitar, writer
Heaven - vocals, electric guitar, writer
Hills (Will Dyar) - drums
Fame & Fortune (Jesse Barnes) - bass
West Virginia (Claudia Mogel) - fiddle
Kai McBride - National guitar

Guests:
Andy "Ain't" Mabe - bass (2,3,5,8)
Debbie Gitlin - fiddle (4,8)
Brain Sides - lead guitar (8)
Rick Nathey - pedal steel
Mark Linga - accordion
Brian Doub, Hills, Eric Jackson - engineers
Recorded @ The Wherehouse, Fall 2001; Winston Salem, North Carolina. (ps211.org)

Jesse Cannon - additional vocal recording and mastering @ West West Side
Peter Katis - mixer @ Tarquin Studios
Tony & Joel - mixers @ Studio G
Album design & printing by Kayrock (www.kayrock.org)



New York's Oneida had played five or six times at the Wherehouse by the time of this recording. Papa Crazee fronted that band, but had been exploring Country music outside the group. The Bell Brothers (from the Wherehouse) had played the Knitting Factory with Oneida and stayed at drummer Kidd Millions' place in Brooklyn, where they met Heaven for the first time. Soon after Papa Crazee invited Bell Brothers drummer Hills, to come up and play a show with the Country project he had formed with Heaven, Jesse, West Virginia and Kai. When they were ready to record Crazee & Heaven (as they were known) wanted Hills drumming, so they came down and recorded at the Wherehouse studio. As is evident from the credits, they used many local musicians to fill out the songs they had written. Much of this transpired from the desire to beef up the studio for the out-of-towners, as most Wherehouse recordings up to this point had been done with a cassette 4-track. This was accomplished by borrowing an ADAT machine from Robert Kirk, who had connections that put the project in touch with Gitlin and Nathey. Nathey in particular floored Papa Crazee when he arrived at the studio and was told no more about the first song than the key and 'swing-style'; at which point he laid down a track in a single take that had Papa doubled over giggling with delight.

Several weeks before the group arrived, the Wherehouse hosted a film night, screening the films of resident filmmaker Frank Eaton; starring members of the Wherehouse and surrounding community. From that night a woman lodged a complaint with the Winston Salem Fire Department, who soon arrived to inspect the facilities. It appeared the issue was being dealt with, but several weeks later (about half way through the four day recording session) the Fire Department and their inspectors arrived in mass for a full frontal surprise inspection, that ended with the building basically being declared a fire hazard. The band had only a short amount of time alotted to record anyway, so with the basic tracks finished, they took the tapes back to NYC for mixing and vocal dubs. Before they left, the group moved their equipment upstairs to provide an evening of entertainment in the kitchen. This was not the first or last time the Wherehouse had to hunker down, regroup and figure out a way to keep moving forward.

Crazee & Heaven were together long enough to come down and visit several more times, including for one of the infamous shows at the Seed Gallery with Oneida and Malabaster (October 5, 2002) ! Eventually, Heaven ended up moving to California, while Hills moved to New York (since the Wherehouse was barred from occupancy for a while). After Heaven left, the group changed their name to Oakley Hall. Steve Tesh (who'd been doing a Country project at The Wherehouse with Rachel Cox, called The Podunks) wasn't far behind Will, and also joined the band. So what we have here, is basically the genesis of Oakley Hall, who went on to have a successful four album career worth checking out.

An ironic footnote involves Rachel Cox having been in The Podunks with Steve Tesh (who took a number of their songs with him to Oakley Hall), but she didn't move to New York till a bit later, eventually singing with Crazee in the subways and ultimately joining the band in 2004 (after Steve had already moved back to the Wherehouse). Years later Papa Crazee and Rachel Cox backed up M.Ward on Late Night With David Letterman (February 17, 2009)! The album art for this release was an early screen printing by the now quite famous New York graphic designer and artist; Kayrock.


http://www.4shared.com/dir/20205328/86ee123c/Crazee__Heaven.html

California meets Carolina through Hendee, Dyar & Jackson

Eric Jackson & Will Dyar - Presence Control (2001)
1. Presence Control 9:40


The soundscape by Eric Jackson and Will Dyar titled "Presence Control", was created at artist Stephen Hendee's request for his art intallation at The Laguna Art Museum in California. Being from California himself Stephen chose earthquakes as the theme, and asked for a musical soundtrack for accompaniment. In the end, what was delivered was a sound collage of numerous tracks laid atop and conjoining one another. The source materials for "Presence Control" were field recordings from around North Carolina; of the train at The Werehouse, from the woods at Jeff Foster's house, water from the banks of the Yadkin River, and pots and gongs at Mike Callahan's place at Moore's Wall. These were captured on Mark Linga's borrowed DAT machine with a stereo mic, then looped and mixed throughout the fall of 2000.

Stephen Hendee's "Presence Control" appeared January 21 – July 8, 2001 at the Laguna Art Museum. Hendee’s site-specific constructions are built out of foamboard, wood supports, tape, and fluorescent lights. They are glowing, tunnel-like, room-size installations that exist somewhere between outer, mathematical or electronic space, or even intestinal space, if the body in question were an android. (curated by Tyler Stallings)


http://www.4shared.com/file/131603038/a7c2f06/Eric_Jackson__Will_Dyar_-_Presence_Control_2000__192_.html