The Mutant website that�s alerted us to one DJ Hells appropriating our own mutated music has one anonymous referring to �club music - a nest of charlatans�. This makes me sift through much of our past life and wonder where WE are in all of this. I�d say we�re still floating on our homemade life raft somewhere between the tortured live club scene and the huge record labels/corporations lurking above and around our heads. It�s an astounding feat of creativity on both our parts that we created anything at all, let alone groundbreaking post punk, elecrto-synth, or however it�s being pigeonholed. I knew at that time how proud I was of every naked note on my funky little cassette tapes which I still cherish and listen to. I�d still like to make some more.
One of, if not the most important aspects of our efforts was the fact that it�s all a product of what�s derogatorily referred to today as the Manual Age. That was before digital technologies subsumed everything in its path. The fact that the production qualities directly reflect and include the past analog sounds of the real instruments you�ve sighted as well anticipate the coming digital disciplines is what makes this music so astounding. You can hear the brain cells being formed like fabric woven between the two ages. You can also hear the unique character of historic Radio City Music Hall Recording Studio in which it�s been encompassed. Despite the limited musical/financial resources involved (analog synths/live percussion), the shear brilliance of your incredible studio wizardry and musical innocence can be heard in every edit, tape loop and flying vocal. (I just love that phrase flying vocal SO MUCH!) I recall toying briefly with the Synclavier and pounding out atonal chords late at night from a set of samples we combined on the machine when it was parked in the studio by the commercial musician whose name escapes me now (wasn�t it Burger King?). This equipment, the Roland TR-5050 drum machine and the Lynn Drum that Judy Belushi (yes, that�s THE John Belushi�s widow) was kind enough to loan us was the first indication of where the technologies were headed. I remember how frustrating it was to have only the separate elements with no way of orchestrating them together comprehensively. In other words: computers, the knowhow and the entire support staff required. I�ve still got the hand drafted scores I created for the dance pieces buried somewhere in my stuff. The stretch to bring the two ages together just made us be even more creative to bridge the gap. To quote Don, �it�s the gift of improvisation�.
Meanwhile toiling by night for little or no pay in beer soaked, cigarette smoke drowned nightclubs, I assisted in providing sound systems with Phaedra/Centaur Sound for bands like: The Ramones, Blondie, The Talking Heads, The Dead Boys, The NY Dolls, Jane County, Lou Read, Frank Zappa, Robert Gordon, Hall & Oats, Link Wray, ESG, Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club, The Simple Minds, Jah Wobble, Ornette Coleman, Tito Puente, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Cabaret Voltaire, Soft Cell and Rush before Neal joined the band, just to name only a few of the ones I can recall. There were SO many, many more. I worked with John and Bob Kessler along with Al Buttzbach and Bill Veldran in the clubs: Max�s Kansas City, The Ocean Club, The Mudd Club, Danceteria, Studio 54, The Underground, Armageddon, The Kitchen, Symphony Space, My Fathers Place and many other smaller venues of that time.
I pushed on to continue playing my drums and pounced on the opportunity you provided to record them as you coached me how to play them better. I don�t think anyone�s aware that I bought my drums from you with the money I earned working at Jack in the Box by night. We were even held up at gun point for a bag of hamburgers one late shift. The opportunity to assist you during the daytime with recording sessions was one the greatest highlights of my entire life. To be working with true Broadway legends like Ann Miller is a gift I can never repay to you or to them. My underlying distress at being slowly separated from my original band mates, the Master Radio Canaries, due to our diverging demographics prompted me to share with them any aspect of my life that I could. I also played with several artist such as: John Lurie and Arto Lindsey (The Lounge Lizards), Vince Gallo (I�ll Wear You), David Allen (NY Gong), Jim Jarmusch (Del Byzantines) and Steve Demartis (The Mighty Minds) and many other along the way including Rupert Holmes (who we mustn�t overlook).
We all played our parts as best we could, only to be swept aside by the enormous discrepancy between the two worlds we existed in. I�ll never forget how painful it was when the Music Hall decided to shut down the studio. Hearing from you as they sold off each chunk in bits and pieces was a horror worse than hell. To know of how hard you worked running back and forth to your home, having the isolation booth robbed of your equipment by someone from inside the organization and then to be struck down by the final blow is truly too much to take. It�s a little known secret just how hard we worked around the clock.
In the documentary �NY77�, it was Tommy Ramone who pointed out that �music is a business� and of course he�s absolutely correct. It�s hard to conceive of all the free rides, guest lists, backstabbing, drug deals and junkies that have gone into all this. It�s such a shame. And yet, the music industry is bigger than ever and going more global everyday as the market enlarges to engulf the entire world. Even Led Zeppelin have adapted to the new business model with its file sharing and micro percentages. It�s so strange to think of an unknown computer hacker in Southeast Asia listening to recordings of unreleased tracks culled out from 30 years ago in the depths of the NY City�s financial despair. So many people have told me of late how much they miss those days. I think we all long for our lost past, but I believe we want to go ahead with life even more.
Since barely being able to provide any financial rewards from my efforts for myself through all this, I was inspired to create Blinx when I encountered the LED on Canal Street. At the now legendary Trans Am Electronics, many paths crossed and careers were started. Encouraged by my unexpected and limited successes with pioneering my electronic jewelry, my head was filled with visions of worldwide digital art forms long before there was such a thing. These visions both propelled and shackled me from that moment on. To quote Dominique Francon in the Fountainhead, �It�s the things that we love that enslave us�. Being so na�ve and undereducated , I had no idea how much trouble lay ahead with regards to my art work and how it would affect our music, not to mention my personal relationships. The look of disbelief on people�s faces when I tried to describe the possibilities of connecting all this music, art and technology together just seems like a ghost today now that such things are taken for granted. Video games like Guitar Hero are amazing to behold, and I marvel even at the cheap digital toy guitars in my local discount store.
I recently ran into an old close friend the DJ Anita Sarko on 14th Street who told me she�s now married and no longer works in the clubs but still write reviews. I was crushed when she asked if I still made Blinx, to which I had to say no for now. The wizards at Phillips have now done it with their resources. Even if they look goofy at this time, I�m sure it will continue to be developed along with the massive legal patents and ensuing legal battles. I�d have to describe Blinx as having discovered an idea way larger than himself. I�m lucky to still be alive to talk about it. And I wasn�t alone at that time either. I met several of my co-creators back then who were also discovering the LED early. The closing of the Radio City Music Hall Recording Studio, the collapse of the disco scene along with the AIDS epidemic pretty much sent me to the very bottom of the trenches, were I�m still encountering all sorts of bottom dwellers.
Which brings me back to our music. DJ Hell and P Diddys appropriation of our music is pretty much standard today if I comprehend the culture as it is. A close friend says that this puts us in the meme of our time. As kind and loving a statement as that is, it doesn�t tell us where or how to proceed. As long winded as this letter is, I�m trying to get down on paper some of the fundamental aspects of my life during this period in order to give you some more to work with on the site. I�d like to collaborate as much as possible with you in the future to weave this into a proper balanced presentation on the IMA site as well as draft our statement to the Mutant website folks whoever they are. From reading some more of their comments today, it seems as if they care about the truth of the situation. It also looks like people at large actually like our music 27 years latter without it almost never being heard in its day. I do recall Anita playing our flexi-disc at the Mudd Club one night with little reaction. It�s fascinating that it�s getting that overdue reaction now. It just goes to show how much pressure we�re under.
Andy Blinx
