CD THREE (1995-97)

1.Misguided Memories (The Freeze)
2.Dean is a Punk
3.Hate is Such a Strong Word
4.Little Red Riding Hood (Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs)

1995: More "Easy Instructions" tracks from DAT. Pete Kourim from Oblivion guests on "Little Red Riding Hood". He's been stalking us ever since.



5.Safe Rock
6.Blistered Up
7.Capitals

1995: Before heading out on a three week tour, we had to complete some tracks for two compilations. "Safe Rock" and "Blistered Up" ended up on Tina Tyson's "A Taste of Chicago" comp. "Capitals" ended up on the "Ground Rule Double" CD. The drums for all three were recorded in a hallway at Solid Sound Studios. A lady came out and hollered at me when we were finished. Funny. These tracks came within weeks of "Easy Instructions" completion, and would've sounded interesting in that context.



8.'73
9.Somebody's New News
10.Chubby Cherub
11.Joyful Is the Day
12.Keeping Score
13.Your Momma's a Timebomb
14.The Family Strong
15.Live Wire (Motley Crue)
16.Do You Love Me / Do You Love Me Now / Love Gun (Breeders / Kiss)

1996: Everyone at Johann's Face was recording with Chuck Uchida. How ironic that when we finally got around to doing the same, we were already bidding that label farewell. There were too many reasons to list why we left (we were even officially "kicked off" the label for a time, too), but if you must know: They would not release our 10" version of Motley Crue's "Too Fast For Love". When we returned from our Summer 1995 tour, we had decided that we would learn the entire album, and deliver a 20 minute version of it, Hoboken style. We learned most of side one before we found out that we'd have to put it out ourselves. So naturally, we kept "Live Wire", and went back to writing new songs. These would be the last songs written and recorded with Bill. The Breeders song was intended for a "love song" compilation which we missed the deadline on, so we asked Rocco to release all the Attica Studios recordings as an E.P. Jason Mojica at Rocco did eventually get around to releasing it about two years later. Ah, Chicago...The City That Works (eventually).



17.Introducing Sean (Interview)
18.Hazelnut
19.Sorry 'Bout the Mess
20.Box Of Pills
21.Live Wire

1996: VML Records recorded this show at The Fireside Bowl 04/26/96. A good portion of the songs we played were new to the audience, so there was a lot of awkward silence. Or maybe that was because Sean was now playing with us, and Chicago wasn't used to seeing that much testosterone on one stage. More songs from this performance were included on the VML Live 7" and CD, which I believe has been released even though we never got any copies. They probably didn't appreciate what we did to "In the Corner". Or maybe they just didn't understand. Pete from Oblivion sings on "Live Wire", and he rocks.
Lineup: Todd Paglialong- vocals; Scott Hoffman- guitar; Kurdt Dinse- bass; Sean Seeling- guitar; Andy Peterson- drums.



22.I'm At Least 8 Things
23.How She Gave Us Something Back
24.Safe Rock
25.Box Of Pills
26.Speaking a Menthol Way
27.Hazelnut

1996: Our first recording session with Sean Seeling, Spring 1996, back at Solid Sound with Pale Bonnet. These are early mixes with some noticeable differences. Kelli Sullivan guests on "How She Gave Us Something Back". I didn't notice what was different about "Hazelnut" until I put on headphones. What a trip. "Safe Rock" was re-recorded with Sean, and then never released. I just recently found this version, and if I had earlier, it would've been on "Inverse Reverse Perverse". Again, whoops.



28.Be Alright / Good Luck To You
29. Keeping Score

1996: Tang Ly at KUCI-University of California, Irvine recorded this radio appearance 09/03/96. He must have thought we were really nuts. We were having a very bad time on our tour at this time, mostly because we had finally made it to California, and found it was just as bad as every other place we had played up until then. Shows were being cancelled, or if we played them, we played for the sound guys. We were even invited to play a party with the Kanker Sores, a story later in this box set. After they blew off the party (for 12 year olds), they played a coffee house, opening for us. Their bass player got all crazy, and threw his kneecap or something out of whack, and started crying on stage! They called an ambulance. The paramedics, the Kanker Sores, and their crowd disappeared into the night. And I consider this a rather fond memory, actually (it was funny). Thank you to Tang for sending this to a band he admitted "scared him". We met our booking contact, Tara Ruttle, on this night. She was very sweet.



30.Interview
31.Pulling Worms Apart
32.Dick Van Dyke
33.Monchhichi
34.Port Wine Stain

1996: Sean's 8-track demos for what would eventually become "House of the Rising Son of a Bitch". Somewhere in the middle of recording this album, we struck a deal with Kung Fu after deliberating for close to two years. We got a recording advance, and finally got to tour full time with a label that would push our record outside of Illinois. Once "House" was released in Spring 1998, we were gone for months at a time.



35.Interview
36.Meatballs (Trad. Arr.)
37.SS Decontrol

1997: The interview segments on Disc Three come from a session we did with James Van Osdol at Q101, Chicago 04/28/98. Though somewhat out of chronological time, the interview took place at the time of the "House" release, and really sums up a lot of what we had been through. James was always kind of paranoid that by putting us on Q101, we might alienate some of our hardcore fans. While he definitely had a point, he was a great friend to us, and really did listen to the music. Good enough for me. The music we started producing in the late 90s is probably what really drove the hardcore fans away. We, rather ironically, started straying away from punk rock at a time when we were going to tour primarily with punk rock bands. It always helped to go out with weirdos like ourselves, so The Blue Meanies were a perfect fit. "Meatballs" and "SS Decontrol" were summer themed songs that were recorded for a split with The Blue Meanies that unfortunately never happened. Where's their box set?

Box Set | Disc 1 | Disc 2 | Disc 3 | Disc 4