Before his long-running career as a legendary stand-up comedian, Neil Hamburger, Gregg Turkington was a prominent fan figure in the highly influential Tempe/Phoenix, Arizona music scene of the 1980s, which ultimately gave birth to such notable acts like the Meat Puppets, Mighty Sphincter, skate punk legends J.F.A. (Jodie Foster's Army), and, of course, the Sun City Girls. As a young teen, Turkington's connection to the Sun City Girls, in particular members, the Bishop brothers, and late drummer Charles Gocher, who tragically passed in 2007, not only inspired his poetic pursuit over the decades, but also showed the aspiring artist that anything is possible if you stand your ground. Mixing melody with madness, the band shook the scene's hardcore backdrop with free-range ritualism and challenged even the politics of punk to go where no man has gone before. Eventually relocating to San Francisco to work alongside Bay area legends, Flipper, Turkington launched his own zine, "Breakfast Without Meat (Gravyhills Cassettes)," which simultaneously acted as a record that famously released one of SCG's most notorious albums, 1986's "Midnight Cowboys From Ipanema." Now, if you want to get technical, this is considered to be the band's third official album, but who's asking? A collection of radio-friendly covers inoculated with various spiritual snippets from their cosmic catalog, Turkington later reissued the album on vinyl and CD with his newly formed label, Amarillo Records, while continuing to book and stay connected with the band during some of their earliest West Coast shows. Similar to that of the Sun City Girls, Turkington's legacy is radically rich with a liberating language spoken only through the melodic mist that entangles its subject's senses with an ancient grip like no other.
For this episode of The Burning Nerve Ending Magic Podcast, we decided to cover some bands and cultural happenings adjacent to SCG to add context to the times. We begin by diving into Grails' classic cover of "Space Prophet Dogon" and discussing some of Emil's time with Jandek as it runs parallel to his meeting with Alan Bishop, and how both of those characters helped change the course of his artistic life.
Have you ever wondered about the deranged details and mind-numbing narrative behind the Sun City Girls' infamous comic "The Brothers Uncconected" that was featured alongside the 1992 7-inch "Napolene & Josephine"? If there was some graphic novel, and I do mean graphic, to come out of the collective's consciousness that ultimately demonstrated the poetic possession of demonic dynamics between thought and expression, then maybe we could finally wrap our heads around the freak flag pole that has stood its ground for nealry half a century. Released on the Black Creek, BC, Canadian-based imprint Scratch Records, just a year in operation at the time, the band played in the label's underground location, where they connected with owner Keith Perry, and musician/illustrator Blaine Thurier (The New Pornographers), while on a rare run of shows with The Thinking Fellers Union Local Club 282 in the fall of '92. Hired to work on the group's only release for the label, Thurier spent endless amounts of time working out the contemplative concepts and pathological philosophy to go alongside the group's ancient text. Haunted by the project and its gravitational pull on his spiritual senses, Thurier finally completed his masterpiece, and the rest is history.
Arizona-based music journalist Marc Masters has contributed to several notable platforms over the years, like Pitchfork, Bandcamp Daily, The Wire, and NPR Music, and has even published his own books, "No Wave," and, most recently, "Hi Bias: The Distorted History Of The Cassette Tape." A brilliant writer whose dedication to the collective culture of sound and its harmonious history is just as inspiring as the greats who laid words to paper in the decades prior, Masters' voice and style are entirely his own as he graces the alchemical airwaves for another episode of "The Burning Nerve Ending Magic Podcast - A Sun City Girls Story." A fan of the band since the early days of tape trading and mail-ordering, Masters, along with his brother, followed the band on an early 2000s run, documenting every performance along the way. From Philly to Boston, New York to DC, Masters takes us on an epic escapade through the captivating catacombs of the band's iconic impact on culture, while simultaneously exploring his unique connection to their all-encompassing economy of esoterica, and much more.
Hailing from The Great White North, Sam Shalabi is one of those rare talents that effortlessly bridges the global gaps, both musically and politically, in a familiar way that echoes the essence of society and culture at its most critical condition. From the boreal borders of his country's forests to the poetically sharp physiographic regions, while simultaneously inhabiting the ancient atmosphere of Cairo, Egypt, Shalabi's fundamental footprints can only be measured in melody and madness. Having connected with our subject, the Sun City Girls, over two decades ago, Shalabi immediately secured a cosmic connection with Alan Bishop, in particular, and has spent the last decade and a half establishing the esoteric ecosystem that would eventually become The Dwarfs of East Agouza. On this episode of "The Burning Nerve Ending Magic Podcast," the multi-instrumentalist, Egyptian-Canadian composer, and improviser sits down to take us through his unique introduction to the Sun City Girls and how he first became aware of the band around the time they released their monumental classic "Torch of the Mystics." it was inevitable that Shalabi and Bishop, along with Maurice Louca, would go on to form the Dwarfs, who are set to release their brand new LP "Sasquatch Landing" on Constellation Records in early October, back in the 2010s, while their telepathic trickery seemed to percolate to the surface like a rising cloud of contemplative consciousness. But to connect the dots with a liberating language such as intimate improvisation? Forget about it. Maybe there is a higher power out there somewhere pulling all the strings, while we dangle mercilessly from its fragile fibers in the cold vacuum of space. I guess some things do happen for a reason, and investing in that melodic mystery is just part of the poetic puzzle of being a person.
There are several topics, cosmic concerns and esoteric elements that spiritually surround the wild and wonderful world of the Sun City Girls. One in particular that comes to mind is the universally dense phenomenon of the UFO subject. Smitten by the legndary lore, the band has effortlessly explored and eagerly expressed their critical connection to one of the greatest mysteries known to man, which ultimately added to the band's visceral vision throughout their captivating career. On this episode of the "Burning Nerve Ending Magic Podcast," we're joined by Josh Moss, the man behind all things The Mordern Folk, to break down perhaps one of the most complicated conspiracies surrounding the Dulce Base that began to raise eyebrows in the late 1970s and into the 1980s. Giving Roswell a run for its money, the base supposedly rests under New Mexico's desert, where extraterrestrial excitement is the talk of the town, and a lucrative way to capitalize on the cryptic content. Moss takes the controls of the mother ship and sets out on a metaphysical mission that begins on Earth and ends up on the cold outskirts of the event horizon. Or the middle of nowhere, USA.
From the cold, calculated catacombs of Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta since 2001, a spiritually sophisticated system of songs, esoteric emotions, and liberating legends lurks in its sinister shadows. It's a safe assumption that when you think of Seatlle in the 1990s, bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden come up, but what about the Arizona-based collective and institution of intensity, Sun City Girls? After relocating to the Emerald City, bringing along with them the adopted audio wizard Scott Colburn, the band began the next chapter of their sonic story by effortlessly diving into the ethereal ecosystem of the singing subconscious with one mission, and one mission only, to conjure the melodies of madness and murderous meditations of music. After meeting the band on their first tour with local legends JFA in 1984, Colburn not only became the group's biggest fan but a lifelong friend and brother as their irresistible influence and alchemical approach to art shattered the universe with unparalleled expression. Since 1993, Colburn has single-handedly documented every project the band produced, leading up to the untimely departure of drummer and spiritual scientist Charles Gocher Jr., who passed in February of 2007. From "Kaliflower" to "Jacks Creek," Colburn was there ready to capture the lysergical lightning in a biblical bottle at any cost. On this episode of "The Burning Nerve Ending Magic Podcast," we sit down with Colburn to explore the band's 1996 masterpiece "330, 003 Crossdressers From The Rig Veda." A subliminal installment in the band's legendary landscape of sound and melodic madness, join us as we return to the epic ethers of the album's feverish fibers to unlock the meditative mysteries, techniques, and cosmic concepts of this truly groundbreaking body of work.
The short-lived, Phoenix, Arizona-based outfit, Paris 1942, consisted of the Bishop brothers, Alan and Rick, who had recently established the famed Sun City Girls, former drummer of the Velvet Underground, Moe Tucker, and Jesse Srogoncik. Together for a short four months in the early 1980s, the band took atmospheric advantage of the time given together by relentlessly recording their feverish findings until the desert moon faded, the spell lifted, and each member moved on to other respective avenues in their creative constellations. Srogoncik, a legend and sonic staple among Arizona's alchemical scene of poetic pranksters and music maniacs, tells his captivating story of the band's humble, yet biblical beginnings, befriending Tucker, several collaborations with the Sun City Girls, the essence of expression, and much more.