As requested by Elektro80s, here is the selftitled LP from San Francisco industrial/synth band Infant Bonds of Joy. This was a trio consisting of Ricki Sara Bennett, James Davis, and D. E. Kohls, who recorded the record with engineer/producer Greg Jones (RIP).Anyway, this record was released in 1986 on the UK-based Public Records. It comes in a plain sleeve with glued-on artwork. The music is a mix of industrial/EBM, darkwave, and synthpop.
Apparently all the members have now contacted me, so it's great to see that everyone is doing fine! David Kohls filled me in on the history of the band:
"A (not so) brief Bio of IBOJ by David Kohls:
I came to SF from Lansing MI in 1982 drawn by the fantastic music coming out of the City in those days. Especially I liked bands recording on the Ralph Records label, and yes, I do know a member of the Residents, though I would only tell for money or food...
Boe came from Lansing 6 months later. We met up then got together with Billy Mitchell, another Lansing transplant. Billy was the drummer we'd worked with in our Lansing band "i-Tense". I seriously don't think any of us made any phone calls or anything in plans to emigrate to this great land, but here we were... I met Ricki through a Bay Guardian ad and along with a singer/girlfriend, the five of us launched Dinner Noise, a band basically built to perform a multimedia conceptual performance piece thing. We wrote a lot of music for that - a lot of it pretty good stuff.
Next, Boe and I formed the band Wimpy Savage. Very loud, unstructured, male, and in retrospect with a sound based on a Mattel drum machine which was a great sound that I don't think ANYONE else had. Boe and I have very fond memories and demo tapes of that era and our current film production company carries the same name.
Billy (and I, for a short time) did a stint with the Part Time Christians based out of Concord - kind of a bowling punk thing. Singer Dave B. is still in the area. PTC is definitely a band you freaks should clamber over if clambering is indeed what you do.
Unfortunately , Billy fell for that old diabolical call that has felled so many fine musicians. Too soon he was done and it's too bad cuz Billy was the finest drummer, maybe overall musician, I've ever worked with and he left us without a drummer.
Around this time (1985) Boe and I started writing a new set of songs. Ricki became involved and added her own (much different!) sensibilities to our sound and then we met reknown saxophonist Normal Salant who decided we'd be the perfect band for his first stroll in producer shoes. We rushed out a few more songs and made the record at Gregory Hale Jones' (RIP) recording studio. Greg was the engineer on the project and produced "WhyWhyWhy" and "Boo!". I think it's obvious to anyone who has heard the tracks that those 2 cuts sound much different than the bulk of the LP produced by Salant.
Overall the record has a lot of regrets as I suppose all records do. It is interesting though in that it caught an unusual sound in a twisty little musical time and especially it catches - showcases, actually - some of the blips of the technology of the time. Most prominently is the Roland 707 drum machine used throughout the record. There was no swing in this lock step monster and not terribly great samples either. I regret I didn't make better, more creative use of its limitations. Instead I got caught up in trying to make it sound like a drummer.
Also showcased is the wonderful Moog Prodigy synthesizer (not even Midi capable!) still highly valued for it's kick-ass bass capabilities. Most of the other keyboard sounds were produced on the Juno 120(?) a good midi-enabled synth. Did take advantage of some midi stuff, mostly triggers from the 707 and sequencing on Greg's Apple II computer! The recording was done on a 24 track board on 2 inch, mixed down to 1/2 inch and mastered at Fantasy in Berkeley."
Thanks a lot for the thorough background on the band!
Click here to download the album.
Track list:
1. Simple Anwers
2. Glorious Din
3. A Reaction
4. Why Why Why
5. Pointed Sticks
6. I Like Some Fun
7. Just Like Spoons
8. Boo!
(note: I accidentally called track 7 "Just Like Sticks" in the .zip file. Also, I didn't crop the cover images. D'oh!)
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8 comments:
Yeah!!!
Thanks a lot Goutroy for share this rare gem.
Cheers
elektro80s
Wow!
This takes me back. David Ricki and I were surprised to say the least to see this out there. There is an unacknowleged member of IBOJ named Greg Jones. Sadly, Greg is no longer with us. He too would have been pleased to see that the album sold for waht it did. What do you want to know about the band?
James "Boe" Davis
A (not so) brief Bio of IBOJ by David Kohls:
I came to SF from Lansing MI in 1982 drawn by the fantastic music coming out of the City in those days. Especially I liked bands recording on the Ralph Records label, and yes, I do know a member of the Residents, though I would only tell for money or food...
Boe came from Lansing 6 months later. We met up then got together with Billy Mitchell, another Lansing transplant. Billy was the drummer we'd worked with in our Lansing band "i-Tense". I seriously don't think any of us made any phone calls or anything in plans to emigrate to this great land, but here we were... I met Ricki through a Bay Guardian ad and along with a singer/girlfriend, the five of us launched Dinner Noise, a band basically built to perform a multimedia conceptual performance piece thing. We wrote a lot of music for that - a lot of it pretty good stuff.
Next, Boe and I formed the band Wimpy Savage. Very loud, unstructured, male, and in retrospect with a sound based on a Mattel drum machine which was a great sound that I don't think ANYONE else had. Boe and I have very fond memories and demo tapes of that era and our current film production company carries the same name.
Billy (and I, for a short time) did a stint with the Part Time Christians based out of Concord - kind of a bowling punk thing. Singer Dave B. is still in the area. PTC is definitely a band you freaks should clamber over if clambering is indeed what you do.
Unfortunately , Billy fell for that old diabolical call that has felled so many fine musicians. Too soon he was done and it's too bad cuz Billy was the finest drummer, maybe overall musician, I've ever worked with and he left us without a drummer.
Around this time (1985) Boe and I started writing a new set of songs. Ricki became involved and added her own (much different!) sensibilities to our sound and then we met reknown saxophonist Normal Salant who decided we'd be the perfect band for his first stroll in producer shoes. We rushed out a few more songs and made the record at Gregory Hale Jones' (RIP) recording studio. Greg was the engineer on the project and produced "WhyWhyWhy" and "Boo!". I think it's obvious to anyone who has heard the tracks that those 2 cuts sound much different than the bulk of the LP produced by Salant.
Overall the record has a lot of regrets as I suppose all records do. It is interesting though in that it caught an unusual sound in a twisty little musical time and especially it catches - showcases, actually - some of the blips of the technology of the time. Most prominently is the Roland 707 drum machine used throughout the record. There was no swing in this lock step monster and not terribly great samples either. I regret I didn't make better, more creative use of its limitations. Instead I got caught up in trying to make it sound like a drummer.
Also showcased is the wonderful Moog Prodigy synthesizer (not even Midi capable!) still highly valued for it's kick-ass bass capabilities. Most of the other keyboard sounds were produced on the Juno 120(?) a good midi-enabled synth. Did take advantage of some midi stuff, mostly triggers from the 707 and sequencing on Greg's Apple II computer! The recording was done on a 24 track board on 2 inch, mixed down to 1/2 inch and mastered at Fantasy in Berkeley.
OK. Grandpo is done...
Wow, thanks so much you guys for filling in the gaps. Sorry I left Greg Jones out from the credits; I wasn't sure if he was an official member or not. Sorry to hear he's not with us any more. I used to have a record by him (an LP, I think, also on Public Records) with a song called "Perfect Leader" that I really liked. I may post that song some day as part of a mix CD I'm working on.
Did Infant Bonds of Joy record anything besides this LP? And have you guys gone on to record any other material?
No, we never got back in the studio exactly. We played out a bit after the record release and did a few home recordings. I have salvaged a few of those songs and can send them if you're interested. Greg Jones didn't play on the IBOJ record as he wasn't yet a band member - we'd only met him at that time.
Greg became a great friend to us and a great musical partner to me. He had a huge influence on the three of us exposing us to a much different musical/media world in the Bay Area. IBOJ continued to play out some - and Greg played with us on these gigs. The reality is we became involved in a flurry of projects with Greg and a number of other people in San Francisco. Some of that stuff was recorded but I don't know where it would be found.
Soon we landed in theater. I had always written in a wide variety of musical styles, and theater allowed for a lot of stuff I was interested in writing at that time - tangos, pop songs, ballads, waltzes. Additionally Boe came from an acting background so it was a natural and exiting move for him too. I would say our era of noise and rowdiness (musically) had pretty much ended by 1988. What recording exists (in my library) is not well recorded and probably has limited appeal. Greg Jones' estate, on the other hand, would have a huge library of well-recorded work Official website
Great thanks for sharing the link, for me in 80s this guys were the better band that I heared since the last concert in Seattle I remember that day like if it was yesterday.
Thanks so much.
hello, i would like to read more information about this interesting topic.
thanks for the review about this band, it music is good, with a unique style, this is the true mark of a original band.
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