Dear Uncle Creepy

While I'm covered up working on the liner notes for HOTZ (and other personal things), I thought it would be nifty to start a 'diary' of the goings-on of my newest project CONVULSIONS...this thought just came to me a few minutes ago, ha ha...

If you aren't aware of CONVULSIONS, click on the link I've got here in the previous post, announcing our intentions to produce some heinous noise for an indefinite period of time.

Since we've made the announcement, I've got a few songs worked out already, music and lyrics, that will be featured on our promo demo, now officially entitled "Total Head Removal." The title is also the name of a song that will appear on the demo, a song that was resurrected from my never-realized ZOMBIE project of the 90s. Of corpse, "Total Head Removal" is something that Chris Reifert (AUTOPSY, RAVENOUS, ABCESS, etc) always used to say!!

The demo will be released on cassette only (yes, that's right...how "old skool" is that?!?), and is planned to feature an intro, "Total Head Removal" (a total gore/violence worship tune, in the same way that "Unadulterated Brutality" was), "Post-Carnage Mishap" (a nice song about a murderer who has buried his victims in his crawlspace and backyard...only to find one evening, that they are returning to life and coming to get him...), "Kichiku dai enkai (Banquet of the Beasts)" (a song with many lyrics in Japanese, inspired by the film of the same name), and a 'surprise' cover song -hopefully!- that Greg and I discussed a few weeks ago. I don't think even Neil and Billy know about it yet, ha ha! Of corpse, all this is subject to change, but for now, that's what we're shooting for.

All the lyrics are done, with the exception of the "Kichiku" Japanese lyrics; I'm getting those translated now. I played some of the material for Greg right before Christmas, and he seemed to enjoy what he heard. He's working on goofing around with the bass again, since it's been a while (I'm doing the same thing with the guitar...aieeee...). He's identified a local 'studio guy' who is inexpensive and pretty versatile. Soon, we'll be able to get together and work some of this material out, and get the recording session set and rolling.

I've already had a couple of requests for interviews, kick ass!! I'm working on one now (sorry it's taking so long, Ben...still recovering from the holidays!!)...the word seems to be spreading!

Check this blog for updates, and also visit the RAZORBACK site frequently. STAY SICK!!

kool logo by PUTRID!! putridgoreart.com

After a nearly 12 year hiatus from the metal underground, Stevo (IMPETIGO) announces his newest project…CONVULSIONS!!

What can you expect from this outfit? Think of the big three…MASTER, AUTOPSY, and REPULSION…sprinkle in some MANTAS, MASSACRE, SLAUGHTER, MACABRE, and CELTIC FROST, and you’ve got a pretty good idea. The band aspires to write and perform musick that honors these giants (very much in the same way that IMPETIGO did)…if you are hoping to hear “original” or “innovative” material, consider your hopes dashed.

In the words of Stevo himself: “There is, nor should there be, anything ‘original’ in musick that maintains respect for the true underground…it was a special time in history, a time where my black heart still dwells. As in IMPETIGO, our mission is tribute and homage; by incorporating specific and mandatory elements of these bands we hope to offer a new interpretation in arrangement and presentation only, NOT in style or execution! You won’t hear ‘carbon copies’ of this klassic stuff, what you will hear is a group of honest individuals continuing to carry this torch beyond the era in which these magnificent sounds flourished. Why try to reinvent the wheel? These bands changed my life, and to this day all paths lead to them, ultimately. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. We are not the first combo to espouse this philosophy, and we certainly won’t be the last. I strongly feel that it is important to continue the tradition of homage that inspired my work in IMPETIGO; more so now than ever before, with the saturation of ‘nu-metal’ and other hybrid forms of what I would rather call ‘alternative’ music in the market. The market is UNIMPORTANT to us, what is important is the TRUE UNDERGROUND…saying that, what we play is, essentially, TRUE DEATH METAL, in its purest form…no noodling, no complexity, no special effects, no riff-cramming. 200% raw, pure, and vicious DEATH METAL.” Lyrically, one can expect the same type of tongue-in-cheek, manic prose that Stevo exercised successfully in IMPETIGO…more klassic horror and true crime inspired anecdotes of violence, brutality, and other kreepy goings-on.

The evolution of the band is simple, yet unusual. It’s known by some that in the mid-80s, prior to meeting Mark and eventually forming IMPETIGO, Stevo had attempted to form a ‘death metal’ band called CONVULSIONS. Where this attempt failed, IMPETIGO was the subsequent result; a much different band altogether. Many years later, after the breakup of IMPETIGO and during his tenure in INSOMNIA, Stevo tried to manifest the concept of a “no bullshit, bare bones” death/grind outfit known as ZOMBIE with Neil Hardesty (guitarist of INSOMNIA) and former MASTERFISTER drummer Chad Merrit. Due to Stevo’s busy schedule upon returning to college and preparing to start a family, ZOMBIE never came to light other than a handful of never-finished songs.

Fast forward to the late Summer of 2006…Stevo began to contemplate ‘resurrecting’ some unheard, unfinished material from both IMPETIGO and ZOMBIE for a new project. Just a pipe dream at first, he found a great deal of support and some fresh ideas from Billy Nocera of RAZORBACK RECORDS. While the name ZOMBIE had been used by another band since the inception of the original ZOMBIE by Stevo back in 1994, the band name CONVULSIONS popped up in conversation between the two, and after over 20 years it stuck. While Stevo was convinced that he could handle the vocals, bass, and guitar chores for this studio-only project, he was less than convinced he would be capable of performing the drums. Billy suggested Maniac Neil (FRIGHTMARE, LORD GORE, BLOOD FREAK), of whom Stevo refers to as “the most talented individual in the underground.” Neil accepted the invitation to participate, and things started rolling from that point. Besides Neil’s well-known musical prowess, Neil also possesses the talent and know-how to provide crucial assistance in utilizing today’s technology to ‘wrap up the loose ends’ involved in the proper recording and mastering of the material written and performed by a band whose members are separated by thousands of miles. Stevo developed a list of potential songs (titles and concepts), some of which were partially developed, and began writing the material.

Enter Greg Mattingly!! Stevo and Greg have been solid pals since the tape trading/pen pal days of the mid to late 80s, when Greg was in FORSAKEN (US), then NOTHING and SON OF DOG. When Stevo relocated his family to Louisville in the late 90s, the two touched base on a couple of occasions but due to restrictions in their personal lives, we never able to nail down work on a project together. When Greg contacted Stevo again in the fall of 2006, it became apparent that the time was right, and that Greg should take his rightful place in CONVULSIONS. Stevo and Greg share many of the same interests, including but not limited to their unwavering support and dedication of the TRUE UNDERGROUND…

The band is wrapping up preliminary material for a 2-3 track promo demo in early 2007, followed by a legitimate full-length release on RAZORBACK RECORDS!! Prepare to DIE…the body count continues…

CONVULSIONS is:
Stevo do Caxiao: verbal torture, six strings of sadism
greGORY Mattingly: hellish crossfire on noodle packages
Maniac Neil: terminal skinslaughter

November 27, 2006

…From the bowels of the unruly graveyard of the Underground of Years Past, the fetid foursome announce after 13 years of dormancy, that IMPETIGO, with the klassic lineup of Stevo, Mark, Dan, and Scotty shall reunite for a one-time only performance during the Central Illinois Metalfest occurring in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois July 20-21, 2007.

This date and performance commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the band’s first ever live appearance on July 31st, 1987, as well as celebrates the release of IMPETIGO's prime recordings in their 'ultimate' editions on CD from RAZORBACK RECORDS and LP editions from HELL’S HEADBANGERS.

The set list shall feature many fan and band favorites culled from IMPETIGO’s Six Years of Sickness.

This is NOT a hoax.

We now return control of your information device to you.

It occurred to me, after I posted the story of SGT. ROCK, that I really didn’t focus much on CONVULSIONS other than to touch on it’s place in the story of what was happening at the time, and its importance as it related to the future of IMPETIGO. What I didn’t go into detail about was the significance of the ‘video rental’ craze, its influence upon CONVULSIONS (and, subsequently, IMPETIGO), what the true concept of CONVULSIONS involved, and last but not least, my obsession with making audio tapes of myself (and others) hurling their guts into oblivion…an obsession that eventually evolved into a fantastic stage act!

It all figures in one way or another to the overall IMPETIGO story, so here are the details…

This isn’t intended to be a high-brow dissertation on the ‘video rental’ craze (that might be a topic for my other blog!)…indeed, many of us now take for granted that before the early 80s, the only way we could watch our favorite horror films (the ones that didn’t make it to television or, later, HBO and Cinemax) was to order and swap cheezy 8mm reels without sound. When I was a kid, I bought scores of these (mostly from Famous Monsters magazine ads; you know…the multi-page ads in the back) and in many instances, they were the only exposure to several horror cinema gems I was ever able to experience. When my family acquired a Betamax machine, I squealed with joy when we started subscribing to HBO and I was able to tape several films for repeated digestion. I paid homage to HBO by including their themesong in the IMPETIGO setlist. I remember renting Beta tapes at Fotomat (near my house in Freeport, IL) but true horror titles were scarce beyond imagination.

When I moved to Decatur, IL in 1983 was when the ‘video rental’ boom occurred in Central Illinois. I believe it was a Curtis Mathes store that first offered titles for rent as well as VHS and Beta Machines (our Betamax wasn’t ours, and we had to return it when we moved) for rental. Yeah, that was a memorable weekend…I walked in with my dad and spotted several tasty titles on their shelf. Out of about 150 tapes, they had lots of great, old and new horror films for rental. I must have grabbed 5 or 6, plus a machine. It wasn’t too long before the money I earned and didn’t spend on records was going towards weekend dubbing parties, where I would rent two machines (or rent one and borrow a friend’s machine), a handful of tapes, and have a group of pals over to dupe tapes, drink beer, and peruse the klassics. My family didn’t own a VHS machine until I moved out of the house; I lugged a box of tapes with me when I left for college in 1985, where I continued my practice of renting, dubbing, and drinking. I was still an ‘avid dubber’ and video trader all the way up to the mid-90s, giving up about the same time I gave up tape-trading.

It was this manic obsession with horror videos that was truly the co-inspiration for my band CONVULSIONS. This, coupled with my burning desire to form and play in a death metal band, was the main thrust. As I had mentioned previously, all the horrible lyrics were about and inspired by horror movies. However, the concept of CONVULSIONS expanded into a new realm once I had bailed out of college and returned to Decatur…CONVULSIONS wasn’t only a band, it was a movie…yes, that’s right, a movie of the same name that was about…what else? Zombies, vampires, sex, nudity, blood, gore, fighting, witchcraft, bizarre science, and total violence. Right before the advent of SGT. ROCK I was working on a storyboard/screenplay (in comic book format) where I began to flesh out the story of a strange satanic chemical experiment that rendered some very unlucky individuals into death, only to return as zombies to consume (and have sex with) the living!! The vampires fit in as a group hired by the government to try to control the zombie threat. I didn’t get very far before SGT. ROCK happened, and I lost my focus on the project. But, in a nutshell, that was it.

It was during this time (and while I was also working on “Splatter Zine”) that my goofy pals Brian Lehfeldt (WEHRMACHT) and Chris Merrow started sending me audio cassettes of them vomiting. I was so freaked out by this, and hysterically drawn towards this art, that I started taping myself, then others, and sending these out also (usually at the end of tapes I made for my trading pen-pals). I would bring a small hand-held tape recorder with me to parties and other gatherings, and pounce upon unsuspecting individuals when they least expected it and were completely hammered. Sometimes, I had to get them started (and help them get over their ‘stage fright’) by vomiting myself, whether I felt like it or not. I suppose this is when I began to perfect the art of ‘vomiting upon command,’ without using my fingers…anytime, anywhere. I continued this practice of taping vomit-sessions when I moved back to Bloomington-Normal to live (instead of study). It was then that my own vomiting evolved into performance art! I have dozens of pictures of myself puking ‘at command’ during various parties; I had stopped taping them and just started bringing pukes into the public domain, if you will. This evolved further into a private joke; those of you who remember IMPETIGO from the “All We Need is Cheez” days may remember that NAKED HIPPY used to play a joke-song entitled “Puke” and I would usually run onstage with a big sign that had “PUKE” in big letters written on it. Many years later, I had the notion to vomit at the end of “Red Wigglers” onstage, and that worked out great.

To this day (in fact, right now!) I can still work up my bile and send it in any direction I feel like anytime I choose to do so. It looks better if I’ve been eating chili dogs, but I can still do it!

When I returned to Decatur in January of 1987, I was a wreck. Mark was the koolest guy I had ever met, and we were both on the same page on so many things…there was never another individual whom I had met that would have made a better bandmate, but my situation was what it was; I was broke, flunked out of college, and I was (still) desperate. Bloomington/Normal was only an hour away, but that hour seemed like a million miles at the time.

After being branded and exiled, I turned my creative energy back on what I had unsuccessfully attempted while at ISU, and in Decatur, the worst of places. As I mentioned, my attempt at reviving DEAD TRENDIES was a bust, as was my campaign to form a ‘death metal’ band called CONVULSIONS…this was a band I tried to start with Shayson Clay (later in NAKED HIPPY, MASTERFISTER, and an INSOMNIA member for a while; Shayson was also my roommate later on), all we needed was a drummer. While at ISU, I peppered the campus with flyers and spread the word around as best as I could, but it was no use. Back in Decatur, I continued my attempt to jumpstart CONVULSIONS by writing a handful of terrible, S.O.D./DEATH/MASSACRE/C.O.C. influenced material; generic 4-note ‘homage’ riffs (‘homage’ means I stole them from other songs), really bad lyrics (simple, 5 or 6 line DISCHARGE-style) about horror movies and inside jokes. Typical of my ‘band fantasy world,’ I had artwork, flyers, lyrics sheets, and all faithfully drawn out and ready to go. Decatur was worse than Normal was; there was NOBODY around who wanted to play this stuff (or had even HEARD OF the bands I was imitating) and since Mark and Shayson were way out of the picture, it was destined to fail. The rest of my energy went towards publishing my own fanzine, “Splatter” (influenced by Mark’s “Uni-Force” zine), and in tape-trading and doing free-lance artwork for several bands. Mark and I still kept in touch through the mail and phone calls.

Other than recording some bass tracks of the songs I had written on my home stereo, CONVULSIONS was dead before it was born. I still had a ‘bad reputation’ in Decatur amongst the small handful of people who were either into or played hardcore/punk music, and I knew of nobody who was into death or speed metal. My ‘bad reputation’ stemmed from the DEAD TRENDIES days, where I was frustrated with the ever-rotating lineup of this band from back in 1985 and their lack of dedication. It’s a long story (and too silly to tell here), but basically, the remainders of DEAD TRENDIES had teamed up with a guitarist fellow named Jymi and a vocalist named Jim to become “Necrophilia” (the other members of DEAD TRENDIES wanted to call themselves this, and I had refused) and had been working on originals and covers while I was at college. Jymi had been around for years, and was an original member of Decatur’s first punk band, ILL NOIZE…as a person, he was nothing more than an asshole, but because of his work with ILL NOIZE, I had a deep amount of respect for him. Jymi had ‘discovered’ speed metal while I was at college (interesting historical note: Jymi had traded me his copy of Venom’s “Black Metal” some years earlier, as he ‘hated it’ and thought it was ‘awful’) and upon my return to Decatur, Jymi had re-named his band ILL NOIZE. Jim, the punk vocalist, was replaced by Geo, a ‘metal’ vocalist. Jymi’s new influence of POSSESSED, ANTHRAX, S.O.D., etc had moved into his songwriting, and the band was sounding pretty damn good.

Jymi’s brother Jeff had always been a great friend of mine, was the drummer of DEAD TRENDIES and was in the new ILL NOIZE. After some revolutions in my battered brain, I started to think that there might be a possibility of getting CONVULSIONS going with Jymi on guitar and Jeff on drums, as long as I could handle Jymi’s ego and his aloof nature (Jymi was one of those guys who was always your ‘best friend’ when he needed you for something, and he was nobody’s friend when he didn’t need them for anything). One evening, I was at Jymi’s house with a dozen others…there was always a crowd in his room most evenings, as all the punks in town would bring their beer to his house and sit in the room, junk and band instruments all over (ILL NOIZE practiced there), and we’d drink and listen to music; sometimes the band would practice also. Jymi and I were talking and I was trying to introduce my idea about CONVULSIONS to him, when he introduced his idea about an S.O.D.-like band to ‘warm up’ at ILL NOIZE shows (there weren’t many, trust me!)…he was a big comic reader (like myself) and a huge S.O.D. fan, one thing led to another and I had my bass over, his friend Mike from work got behind the drum kit, and we blasted out about 6 or 7 real quick S.O.D. type short crossover songs, and SGT. ROCK was born. Jymi’s concept was to make all the lyrics humorous snippets all military-related. I was also a SGT. ROCK fan, and it was the closest thing to a band I had been involved with since DEAD TRENDIES, and I was so obsessed with playing in a band, I was genuinely chuffed. A couple of days later, Jymi had all the lyrics written, we had added a few more songs (some of them riffs that I had written), and during a ‘practice’ he taped the whole 20 minutes or so of material and we had a demo.

I think it’s important to mention right here, right now, that none of these guys had any notion of tape-trading or the underground at that time. Jymi (and the others) only knew of what he could buy at Camelot music or what they could read about in Hit Parader. I remember bringing over DEATH demos (like, “Death by Metal”), playing them, and hearing snickers all around. The SGT. ROCK demo didn’t come from a need to promote ourselves in the underground…well, to ME it did, but to Jymi, he must have thought ‘if those guys can do it, so can I’ and we recorded the tape, the rest was entirely up to me. I made a cover, printed out a shitload of flyers for my mail, and the rest…as they say…is history. That summer, ILL NOIZE played a handful of gigs, and everytime SGT. ROCK was their ‘warm up’ act. Again, I took SGT. ROCK much more seriously than the rest. Our very first show in St. Louis with MEAN GUYS FROM HELL was my first actual live performance EVER. If it weren’t for the SGT. ROCK experience, IMPETIGO would never have been what it was. The initial concept was Jymi’s, but from that point on, the band was driven by me. I took the reigns of introducing songs and between-song banter, and I sold demos in the mail for cheap (I gave away more than I sold). I broke the cardinal rule of fanzine editors and featured an interview with SGT. ROCK in my own fanzine (Jim, the ex-ILL NOIZE vocalist) did the interview for me. During this interview, Jymi exposed his true intentions for the band, “drink beer and play stupid songs.”

Our performance at the outdoor Decatur Band Jam was the high point in the summer for me…Mark made the trip to see us play, and his presence there was stellar; it was as if Monte Conner himself had made it to the gig. Mark liked SGT. ROCK (and had done his own ‘project,’ the legendary P.G.L.S., which is a “lost demo” as we both taped over our copies in the early IMPETIGO days) and was very enthusiastic in his support of my ‘first official band.’ Also playing with us that day was LEVIATHAN, a great speed metal band from Peoria, featuring a young Ty Smith on drums. Ty would become one of my greatest pals; he later became involved in NAMLAND with guys from IMPULSE MANSLAUGHTER, moved to the Pacific Northwest and became a member of RESIST, among others.

We had added a couple more songs to our playlist, one of which was a song that I wrote 100%, “My Lai.” It followed the SGT. ROCK pattern, a silly song with a military theme. It was one of my earliest fulfilled attempts at writing a song seriously for this genre, and I think most of you can probably tell that it was entirely influenced by SACRIFICE…I even got to sing it, Rob Urbanati-style!! It was a short summer, but we were very busy with this. Interest in the band via my pen pals and tape-trading buddies was lukewarm, but enthusiastic…there were dozens of other joke bands, inspired by S.O.D. and SPAZZTIC BLURR, and we were far from taken seriously. Jymi started to get worn out (actually, bored) with the whole thing…ILL NOIZE was working on a studio demo tape, and it wasn’t going that well. We had a 4^th of July party gig coming up, when I was contacted about playing in Peoria at the end of July. Our contact was the guys from LEVIATHAN (I think), and at first both bands were going to play, but for some reason, only SGT. ROCK was going to play…I don’t think this sat well with Jymi; he had no reason to be jealous of one of his bands over another, but ILL NOIZE was his priority and if they didn’t play, neither was SGT. ROCK. In response, Jymi bailed out of the 4^th of July gig (his excuse: to help with a ‘fireworks program’ and drink beer), so I went from two shows in one month to nothing.

On the fly, and on a lark, I made a decision…without even blinking…to call Mark and get him involved immediately. I wanted to play the Peoria show so bad I could taste it, and there was only one way I was going to do this…usurp Jymi’s role in the band somehow, get Mark in as guitarist, and make the show…and I didn’t even have an entire month to get this going…and Mark was still an hour away, in Bloomington/Normal!!

Things move pretty damn quick from this point, but we were young and felt no pain whatsoever…hang on, the story continues and gets weirder from here!!!

Since the topic of discussion focuses on "the OLD days" I only thought it would be appropriate to post the first part of the "unpublished" full-blown story of IMPETIGO. What follows starting with the words "In the beginning..." has never been published before, and is only the first part of many that detail our history, in essence, from my passionate point-of-view. The format was intended to illustrate and define our incept, early days, and all events leading up to "Ultimo Mondo Cannibale," which is detailed in the liner notes for the upcoming Razorback Records ultimate edition re-issue. Enjoy; I'll post more when I can...

In the beginning, there was Mark and myself…the story of IMPETIGO begins with the story of how Mark and I first met, and the events leading up to SGT. ROCK and, eventually IMPETIGO. This is an entirely personal perspective on how things fell into place, and the events are in the best manner that I can recall. Some things may not have happened as chronologically as I depict them here, and some people may remember certain events differently than I. In some cases, I may truncate details so as to not hurt a person’s feelings, and in some cases…I won’t. These are abridged excerpts from a much larger document that may or may not ever see the light of day. Either way, you can thank your lucky stars that it is what it is.

When I was attending Illinois State University during the 1985/1986 school year, I had become very adept at skipping classes and goofing around for the majority of the time I spent there. One of my favorite goof activities was writing…I loved to write, even if it was nothing but bullshit. I would sit at the typewriter for hours, making shit up. I even earned cash on the side, typing papers for grad students…typing other peoples’ bullshit. Other than that, I was drinking and listening to records and feeling sorry for myself.

Naturally, my love for music was the most important thing in my life. For years, my attempts at playing in bands with other people had never worked out. No matter what…always the wrong mix. My ego was enough to drive a group of people apart in a matter of minutes, and my enthusiastic idealism was enough to lose the ones who could stand my ego. I had tried several times to resurrect my high school punk band, DEAD TRENDIES, while attending ISU and it never happened. During the late winter of 1985, I began to write record reviews for the dorm newsletter, a tiny, Xeroxed piece of crap that was produced only to fulfill the University’s goal of “enriching student life.” Since shock value was the only way to express my ideals without a band to play with, I wrote reviews of ONLY the most extreme, terrifying, anti-social music that I listened to at the time…HEAVY METAL.

It would have been enough to focus on punk/hardcore…it certainly was “in vogue” at the time, and hair metal was still very much “in.” You have to consider the “audience” of this newsletter…all people who either knew me or had seen me psychotically stalking the hallways of my dorm. NOBODY else read this, and those who did…DID NOT care. The newsletter consisted of 5% “pertinent info” for dorm residents (such as, we’re trying to buy a popcorn popper, don’t use the laundry after midnight, etc.) and 95% bullshit. Besides my record reviews, there were interesting and bizarre cartoons drawn by my pals on the first floor, an advice column (also written by me), and useless articles and gripes about everything from cafeteria food to new movies and crazy campus events. For distribution within our dorm only…or so I thought.

The “dorm control alliance” was a ruling body at the university that combined the efforts of representatives from each dorm on campus to improve life in these sad concrete boxes. They were called something different (and did NOT like the word “dorm” as an operating parameter) but all you need to know is that a representative from MY dorm presented a copy of the newsletter as a “sample” of how our dorm was improving life for its dwellers at a meeting of the “dorm control alliance.” On the other side of campus, a fellow by the name Mark "Stoid" Arrigo was his own dorm’s representative, and he gave the newsletter to his pal, an individual by the name of Mark Sawickis, a generally normal guy who was very involved in the underground at the time, and had a few local things going on, not the least of which was helping a local fanzine get some interviews of some ‘extreme’ bands from across the country. Scott showed this newsletter to Mark, who immediately contacted me and introduced himself. I got his note in my mailbox and wasted no time calling the guy…he asked me if I liked CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER and stuff like that and I nearly fell over dead.

Mark and I became fast friends. He had contacts in the underground I could never dream of, while I was interested in getting more involved (especially in tape-trading) but had not contacts and not much to start off with. Mark changed all that, generously offering copies of anything he had that I was interested in and then some. His success in maintaining lasting friendships via pen pals was mostly due to his serious, organized attitude and I did everything I could to emulate his prosperity to this end. We both enjoyed the same kind of music, movies, and more. We spent many afternoons together fawning over demos by Chicago’s DEVASTATION and DEATH (remember MANTAS?!?) and poring thru EXCEL flyers. Unlike many of the other friends I had made at the same level, he was a bit closer to my age and just as manic about detail as I was. We both felt like the underground existed to save the world for guys like us; this was true then and is still true today. Besides that, Mark was genuine and sincere and not interested in taking advantage of myself or of my ideas. If anything, he should have been wary of me doing this to him, but the thought never crossed his mind.

Mark was also a better student than I was. In early 1987, after months of drinking and partying my way through school, I finally gave up. I quit ISU after being placed on academic probation and given an ultimatum by my father that I could not work my way around. Reluctantly, I packaged my college life up into hurried boxes and returned to Decatur, IL to try and repair my ‘good standing’ at home and also to try to do something about all these ideas in my head…but first I had to have a leg (or two) to stand on…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Morbid Greetingz to y'all...this is STEVO!!

Welcome to my twisted space!! After posting actively in many t*rrent forums and working on the extensive liner notes for the upcoming IMPETIGO re-issues on Razorback Records, I thought I would get going on a project I've been wanting to do for a looooong time (and have been lazily preparing for)...a blog in which I can share with you, friends, fiends, and fans of the TRUE UNDERGROUND, the tales, stories, and recollections of mylife in the underground...with many of my bands (IMPETIGO, of course, and all the rest), my tape-trading and zine-editing experiences, and above all, remember and recall all the kool people I've met, known, and worked with over the years.

The TRUE UNDERGROUND will never die, friends...there are plenty of us who are keeping it ALIVE by doing things just like this...

If you were THERE, then HAILS...you may show up in one of these tales from the Chamber of Ages!

If you WEREN'T...pull up a chair, and get a taste of what it was like...BACK IN THE DAY!

Thanks to EVERYONE for their support over the years...

and, as always...

STAY SICK!!!