First off: After spending 10 years saying I didn't understand how someone who doesn't have a commute -- and can't stand headphones for extended periods, especially while working -- can listen to a podcast, I have finally found a venue where I can: the bathtub. (Our new apartment has a vintage tub and I'm addicted to soaking in fancy bath products!) So with that in mind, I can make my first recommendation.
Romeo Void singer Debora Iyall was a hoot on @thehustlepod with Jon Lamoreaux. Listen HERE.
Best moment: Upon meeting backstage years ago at the MTV Video Music Awards, Daryl Hall told Debora that it was nice to meet her before saying: "I'm somewhat of a fan." 🤣🤣🤣
And don't forget Romeo Void's new album -- “Live From Mabuhay Gardens, November 14, 1980” -- will be out on Record Day (March 22). Two songs, "Charred Remains" and "Guards," are already streaming wherever you get your music. What a treat it is to hear the latter in its infancy!
Day 2 of my series of instrumentals I don't skip: Today's pick appeared on Romeo Void's third and final album, "Instincts." Saxophonist Benjamin Bossi had always been an integral part of the band -- his solo on "Never Say Never" is one of the most iconic music moments of the new wave. But on "Going to Neon" it was as producer David Kahne wrote the song just so Bossi could pretend he'd been commissioned to score a film noir throwback I most definitely would want to see.
As I've gotten older, I've come to realize there are few things more jolting than watching the people we grew up idolizing age and, even worse, what inevitably comes next. Yesterday I read that onetime Romeo Void drummer Larry Carter had died, possibly of a brain aneurysm. Larry joined the band on the road after the release of their debut LP, "It's a Condition," then played on their two most famous releases, 1982's "Never Say Never" EP (produced by the late Ric Ocasek) and the "Benefactor" LP that followed later that year.
As Romeo Void singer Debora Iyall remembers on Instagram:
"He was pivotal in the writing of “Nvr say Nvr” as his drumbeat was the base on which we layered all of our parts. With a smile on my face I’m remembering him recording the wild percussion part, wailing on the drum stands with drumsticks. He really enjoyed the creativity of the recording process, which he continued doing long past romeovoid’s demise. He was an intelligent, stylish and quirky guy. A drummer who carried a briefcase as I recall. I have never had contact with his family, so I don’t know about a formal memorial service. As a fellow band member I like to remember him playing his thundering kit. That kid could make a snare drum ring out loud! My heart goes out to his friends @jimmycrucifix and loved ones and I’m grateful forever to him for his crucial contribution to Romeovoid’s success."
Although the attention lesser-known musicians' deaths receive isn't commensurate with the impact their music has on our lives, social media -- for all its cons -- sure is a nice place to commiserate at times like this. (Howie Klein's blog post about Larry's death was a nice source of comfort yesterday -- as was Tombotee in Portland's "Undercover Kept" shoutout.) What I'd have given for Twitter when I was crying alone in my bedroom the day Kirsty MacColl died back in 2000.
RIP, Larry.
Because "Never Say Never" was already SOTD, I chose this one from the four-song "Never Say Never" EP, each more haunting than the next.
About 20 years ago at the height of the Napster revolution, I came into possession of four demos by Romeo Void, once my favorite "intact" group of the early '80s. (Blondie broke up and two members of the Pretenders OD in '82 , leaving the band's future in doubt.) The Romeo Void demos appeared to be from what was apparently an attempt at reunion in 1993, nearly a decade after they'd split. I wasn't actually a big peer-to-peer music trader -- at least not in the way the kids were doing it back then. Instead, my friend Greg and I had had become well-known on the internet for our compilation CDRs -- meticulously crafted collections of B-sides, rarities or vinyl transfers of albums that never reached the digital age.
In addition to our transfers of Slow Children's two albums and collections of hard-to-find tracks by Maria McKee, Bananarama and Tracie, one of the most popular things I traded in was the Romeo Void demos, which never saw the light of day, even after the band's appearance on VH1's "Band Reunited." That they'd all but vanished seemed like a huge shame to me -- you can pretty much find anything on YouTube these days -- so I reached out to singer Debora Iyall to see what she'd think of my uploading them there. After telling me she wanted to make sure former bandmate Frank Zincavage was OK with it, she got back to me to say they both think they're "ready" for the world to hear.
As we worked out some of the details -- artwork, credits -- I ended up learning that Romeo Void had actually played a few live shows in the run-up to these demos, which makes sense now but was complete news to me. Pre-internet, all information was catch as catch can. So how upsetting to learn that they'd actually played at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., just down the freeway from the Orange County Register newspaper where I worked around the time.
While I had some of the band's attention, I decided to see what more I could find out. Here are some recollections of the reunion from Debora (vocals) and Frank (bass). (They've been edited and condensed.)
What was the backstory on these demos? Was Benjamin Bossi [RV's sax player who developed hearing problems] able to play on them?
Debora: In my opinion how this came together was after we did a benefit show to help our sound man Louie Beeson who was stricken with AIDS. He specifically needed expensive treatment for his eyesight. (Editor's note: This is the Louie who gets name-checked in RV's cover the Fabulous Thunderbirds' "Wrap It Up."]
We did two nights at the club Slim’s in San Francisco. The Knitters [X's side project] and Chris Isaak supported us. Benjamin already couldn’t play because of his tinnitus, he performed acoustic on guitar if I remember right.
I did my vocals in a room Tom Waits often used to record his piano.
[Louie Beeson would die on Sept. 22, 1992, with his boyfriend, Steven Loving, and his cat, Scooter, by his side.]
Frank: Thinking back I don't really remember how Debora and I arrived at a consensus to do the Slim's shows for Louie.
Can't remember if we had even been in contact since '85. We probably had been contacted by Dawn Holliday, the booker for Slim's. Louie had been doing sound for a variety of touring bands and also was an employee of Slim's, doing the house sound when not on the road. Dawn was always a big fan of Romeo Void and
a good friend to Louie. All the other members of RV were still in the Bay Area -- Peter Woods, Aaron Smith, Benjamin Bossi -- so getting together for rehearsals wasn't a problem.
The big issue was that Benjamin might not be able to play. He played at the first rehearsal and then decided he couldn't continue
due to his tinnitus. We were able to bring in Sheldon Brown, whom Benjamin knew, to play sax for the shows. Sheldon is an amazing jazz oriented player.
The shows went well and somewhere along the line after that Debora and I started working on songs again. Also around this time my
younger sister was graduating from Sonoma State college and when I was at her graduation I met her friend Klaudia Promessi, a saxophone player.
And because of this Sonoma connection I found out about Prairie Sun Recording studio in Cotati. Again, I don't remember how it happened but
the owner of Prairie Sun, Mooka, agreed to let us record there for a minimal fee with the hope that full payment would happen if we were able to get
another contract with Sony. And, of course, that didn't happen. He still owns the multi-track tapes to those sessions.
So we worked on the four songs in my basement home studio, Klaudia playing sax, Peter contributing the chords for one of the songs ["Stormy Eyes"]. Then went up to Cotati for
several days and recorded basic tracks. Over a month or so we finished overdubs, vocals and mixing.
After this we somehow managed to get a few shows booked, did another show at Slim's on Halloween, played somewhere in Monterey, L.A. and Orange County.
But Sony wasn't interested and we weren't interested in continuing to foot the bill to play small clubs occasionally. Everyone had other lives and jobs.
So that phase came to a close.
Somewhere after that ('90s?) we had our VH1 "Bands Reunited" experience, playing a show at the Whisky in L.A. We brought Sheldon back for that.
Trying to keep a band together is no easy endeavor and I'm not surprised by some of the comments I read by other bands and their difficulties. Sometimes I think
bands should include a marriage counselor along with manager, booking agent, sound man and crew.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Fascinating stuff!
And with no further ado, here are the "lost" Romeo Void reunion demos:
Producer: Frank Zincavage / Engineer: Mooka Rennick / Recorded at Prairie Sun Recording, Cotati, CA / October 1993 / Vocals: Debora Iyall / Guitars: Peter Woods / Drums: Aaron Smith / Bass: Frank Zincavage / Saxophones: Klaudia Promessi / All songs published by Talk Dirty Music, administered by BMI
Via Wikipedia: "San Francisco Days" is the fourth album by Chris Isaak, released in 1993. The album was dedicated to the memory of Louie Beeson, who was the sound consultant.
UPDATE: How nice is this? Louie was immortalized on the AIDS Memorial Instagram page by KC Powers on Nov. 10, 2020:
Today should have been my brother Bill's 57th birthday, if not for this insidious disease that has taken far too many of our loved ones. But I'm still celebrating that I got to have him here for 49 of mine. xo
There will certainly never be another ...
You can hear a newly unearthed demo of the Romeo Void song HERE.
Looking at pictures with Mom and Billy on what would be his final celebration, circa 2016.
This and "Undercover Kept" were my favorite songs on "Benefactor," a truly timeless album that never fails to dazzle me. So nice that Debora Iyall embraces her musical past -- I know I would if I had even a fraction of her talent.
Haunting single from the San Francisco New Wavers' debut LP. What's so great about Romeo Void is that they could have never existed in another time or place, yet they are somehow as timeless as ever.
I played this on the jukebox last night at Julius' -- which everyone I know insists on calling Julius. (Side note: Why does everyone -- in Michigan, at least -- add an apostrophe "s" to most proper nouns, but then refuse to say it when it's actually part of the name?) The song is a masterpiece and besides "White Sweater," it's gotta be the San Fran New Wavers best album track, despite the unfortunate attempt at rhyming "nonchalence" with "audience."
Romeo Void singer/lyricist Debora Iyall has this to say about "Never Say Never," arguably the quintessential song of the '80s New Wave:
I was solicited on Facebook to tell the backstory to Nvr say Nvr and this is what I wrote: "The back story is a crush, bad band behavior in a Burger King, wanting to chronicle my time and experience in SF (slumped by the corner with wind-burnt skin...), feeling like an afterthought rather than a sought-after and the rest is poetic license."
So there it is. Btw- I am sorta "over" it but you can't take it away from me either.
(The song is available on CD HERE, and on iTunes HERE.)
It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of San Francisco (nice place to visit, wouldn't wanna live there -- where have I heard THAT before?!). But I sure wish I'd been a Bay Area boy last week when a reunion concert was held for 415 Records, the small music label named for both the area code and the police code for disturbing the peace that flourished in the early '80s. The show featured Translator ("Everywhere That I'm Not") and Wire Train (what, no Red Rockers?), but the real star of the show was Debora Iyall, the poetic new wave goddess who along with her Romeo Void bandmates, defied expectations with three critically acclaimed albums and two huge singles, the college radio classic "Never Say Never" and the top 40 hit "A Girl in Trouble (Is a Temporary Thing)." My love for Romeo Void is well-documented, but my affection endures most of all for the recently married Debora, who still looks and sounds great, and was kind enough to mail me a copy of post-RV project's CD (Knife in Water) a couple years ago when I was unable to locate one here in New York. I'm not sure what the complete set list was at the reunion (I hear they also did a show at the Knitting Factory in L.A.), but I found these clips of "Just Too Easy" and "Never Say Never" on YouTube, and for a minute there I felt like I was going to neon all over again. (Don't get it? Rain on you.)
FOOTNOTE: Debora's recent presence on Facebook has been a real treat. Remember that clip of Madonna putting John Oates in his place at a New Music Seminar in New York City from back in 1984 I posted over the summer? Well, it turns out Debora (and Joe Ely of the Psychedelic Furs) were there, too. Check out some rare photos a fan posted online. Some great stuff. Now, of course, I can't wait to ask Debora all about her interaction with the Boy Toy in training. ...
While 48 percent of American teenagers reported buying not one CD in 2007, this old fart spent the year adding lavishly to my collection, with my Amazon purchases reaching new highs in '07. While shopping online last night I came across quite a surprising and wonderful find -- the debut Romeo Void album (1981's "It's a Condition") and singer Debora Iyall's sole solo release (1986's "Strange Language") on compact disc for the first time ever -- packaged on one disc from the good people over at Wounded Bird Records.
Although I had long ago gotten my vinyl of these two gems ripped to disc, an official release (complete with "White Sweater" b-side bonus track "Apache") was what I'd always dreamed of, and if the band actually gets some royalties out of their great work, so much the better. I share this with you because I figure that if I -- one of the band's most psychotic fans -- hadn't even heard about this monumental release (apparently it came out last summer), then I doubt many others have either. Hopefully this will help spread the word to other fans of this often overlooked San Francisco band that was truly one of the highlights of the American New Wave scene.
Also available:
"Benefactor"/"Never Say Never" EP -- which I wrote about here. The only way this CD reissue of the band's second album along with the "Never Say Never" EP thrown in as bonus tracks could have been better is if it had included the "Never Say Never" 45 b-side "Guards." (That rare track can, however, be found on the fun Sony compilation "Never Say Never: Hits, Rarities & Gems.")
"Instincts" -- the band's third and final album, featuring their one Top 40 hit, "A Girl in Trouble (Is a Temporary Thing)," and the dance club favorite "Say No."
"Never Say Never"
"A Girl in Trouble (Is a Temporary Thing)"
"Say No"
Super bonus! Here are MP3s of Romeo Void's unreleased 1993 reunion demos. The label didn't show much interest, but hardcore fans will love them:
Best remembered for the quintessential '80s anti-love song, "Never Say Never," Romeo Void's sophomore album captured the band at its peak. Debora Iyall's intriguingly remote yet utterly intimate vocals and romance-free lyrics surrounded by Benjamin Bossi's lonely saxaphone provided the soundtrack for anyone who ever thought that love wasn't within their reach.
Kudos to WoundedBird for just getting the rights to this 24-year-old album for a first-time CD reissue of the album, which includes the 1981 EP "Never Say Never" as a bonus.
Especially: "Undercover Kept," "Orange" and "Flashflood" (and the uncut "Never Say Never," of course)
