This seems to have been a vanity label for Mark Hoback. He plays on four of the seven releases. I've also incorporated the SIR label's only record into this discography, since it was another Mark Hoback record.

Mark was kind enough to provide me with pressing and sales info. Basically any leftover stock that didn't sell and wasn't used for promo got thrown away--thus the pressing numbers don't tell the whole story.

test press:

commercial release:

Mark Hoback Band - Farrahclones 7":
Farrahclones // Call Me
1000 on black vinyl
Round Raoul ST45-01, 1978

Lineup: Bob Arbeene - drums / Ann Hoback - bass, vocals / Mark Hoback - vocals, guitar / Judy Swack - sax, flute, vocals / Don Zientaro - production

Recording Info:

Notes: Yeah, Zientaro.

Mark Hoback (label, guitar, vocals): Mailed or gave out about 100, sold about 500. It's funny that you heard sixties in Farrahclones, since that's one song that had very strong influences--early Roxy Music, with a Springsteen break. (I thought 'Born to Run' disk was about the most ludicrous thing I had ever heard, and I loved to parody it). The flip, 'Call Me', was written as a anger/love song that was being sung from the viewpoint of a frustrated old geezer. You know, someone about my age now...

Reviews: Pretty conventional sixties rock. Too bad it was fifteen years late.

Mark Hoback and Bob Arbeene - Santaclops 7":
Santaclops // Santadub
200 on black vinyl (no PS)
Round Raoul XST45-02, 1978

Lineup: Mark Hoback / Bob Arbeene / Don Zientara (Santadub) / Howard Wuelfing (Santadub)

Recording Info:

Notes:

Mark Hoback (label, bass, vocals): Santaclops was a quickie, recorded and mixed on a Saturday morning. It was meant more as a promo. The first single had gotten a fair amount of airplay, and we sent this to the stations that were playing it, gave some to friends, and had maybe 100 copies for sale locally. I used to have a couple of copies, but seem to have lost it along the way. The flip side 'Santadub' was a remix by Don Zientara and Howard Weulfing.

Reviews: I've probably made my feelings on Christmas records clear with my review of the Reind Dears 45. Novelty. End of story.

test press:

commercial release:

No Joe - Hard Wax 7":
the Twentyaire / Mother Laughter // No Fun / Strychnine
1000 on black vinyl
Round Raoul 7-33-03, 1979

Lineup: Chris Thompson - drums / Ann Hoback - bass / Don Zientara - lead guitar, backing vocals / Mark Hoback - lead and backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars / David Finlay - guitar (on Strychnine)

Recording Info:

Notes: Strychnine recorded live.

Mark Hoback (label, guitar, vocals): The No Joe EP was a mishmash. The Twentyaire was supposed to be the A side of a single, No Fun a remix from :30 Seconds Over DC, Strychnine a live cut that we liked (you can hear one of the PA speakers blow out towards the end), and Mother Laughter was a Don Z cut from an EP that he never completed. (He finally got his first disk out two years ago!). 100 distributed, about 800 sold. If we had had good distribution, this would have sold a lot more, since it had good radio play.

Reviews: You know, I must be the only person in the world who doesn't like the Sonics. I don't like the Dead Kennedys or DOA either. I think the Beatles are boring. Bruce Springsteen fills me with a murderous rage, but I like Billy Joel. I can't figure out if there's something wrong with me, or if it's just that you folks a bunch of freaks with screwed up taste.

But anyway, No Joe do a GREAT version of the Sonics' Strychnine. Loads better than the original. The other three songs are pretty dull. No Fun is a reworked version of the track from :30 Over DC--which I really didn't need to hear again. The Twentyaire is a good song, but the version Mark did for his solo LP is miles better. Mother Laughter isn't too interesting.

Chumps - Air Conditioner 7":
7-11 / Go Go God // Air Conditioner
1000 on black vinyl
Round Raoul 7-33-04, 1979

Lineup: Rob Kennedy - bass / Dav Findley - guitar / Mike Miller - guitar / Rüch Dreyfuss - drums / John Dreyfuss - sax / Lisa Mednick - addt'l backing vocals (7-11 and Go Go God), addt'l sax (Go Go God) / Ann Hoback - addt'l backing vocals (7-11 and Go Go God)

Recording Info: Recorded at Studio B, engineered by Don Zientara, produced by Don Zientara and Mark Hoback.

Notes: Sleeve is oversized. Record number given as 7-33-03 on the back cover, but 7-33-04 on the record label and etched into the runout.

Mark Hoback (label): The Chumps were my favorite local band, bar none. 7-33-04 is the correct number. I'm sorry to say that this great disk only sold about 300. Later on, with a lot more studio time, the Chumps recorded a full disk which is one of the best records you've probably never heard. Someone had promised them a deal and it went on and on, and never was released.

Rob Kennedy (bass): I really like the record. There's one absolute crime about the record though, and it's probably one of the things that psychologically might have, in the end, fucked up the Chumps, which is sort of too bad. The crime of the record is that Mike's song, the first version of Darlings of the Avant-Garde was recorded for that record, and it absolutely should have been on the record. There is no doubt, even if it meant bumping my song, that it should have been on the record. I don't know why we didn't put it on there even to this day.

Dave Findley (guitar): I was happy with the EP, my friend David remembers hearing it somehow before it was struck off as a 45 and he said it sounded a lot better before the 45 came out, he thought it got kinda stomped on during the mastering. I was happy with the 45, generally speaking.

Mike Miller (guitar): Well, it is what it is, really. I have an affection for it. I don't know how to really judge it in the over all...whatwasgoingon...I like it fairly well.

Reviews: A very strong spazwave record with blaring saxamophone and nasty geeeetar. 7-11 is a quiet, uninteresting ditty, but the other two are a killer snapshot of what avant-noise constituted in 1979.

Now that I have a copy of this record, it has become even more essential that I find a copy of the Problem With Saxophone cassette that Don Fleming and Rob Kennedy put out in the mid-eighties. If you have a copy, email me! Ditto for anyone with a test pressing of this fine EP...

Nurses - Hearts 7":
Hearts // Cardiac Arrest
1000 on black vinyl
Round Raoul 7-45-05, 1980
?? test pressings
Limp Records 034, 1981

Lineup: Howard SM Wuelfing - vocals, bass, finger poppin' / Harry Raab - drums, finger poppin' / Marc Halpern - guitar, finger poppin' / James Testa - finger poppin' (guest)

Recording Info:

Notes: There were new test pressings done in the summer of '81 for a reissue, but it never happened. 50 test pressings were made from the new master for the Extant 5x7" boxed set.

Mark Hoback (label): The Nurses sold most of what remained of their printing--we had a lot of warpage because they insisted on a European style small hole, something the pressing plant had a lot of trouble with. I really wasn't much involved with this record, so I don't have a lot to say about it.

Reviews: The Nurses get a record of their own! They don't waste the opportunity, but they certainly don't make the stunning debut they should have. Marc Halpern's guitar is a mean sounding mess of almost sixties folked-up (or should that be fucked up?) rock guitar, Howard's bass is a flailing monster throughout, and Harry Raaaaaaaab holds the two of them in check. Recommended.

I don't have the test pressings of this record. Email me if you have one for sale or trade--especially the Limp test pressing (yellow label with NR-12722 etched into the dead wax).