Photo by Doug Coombe.
Mazinga is a band based out of Ann Arbor, MI. in which I play guitar. The other members are Marc McFinn, lead vocals, Big Tony O'Farrell, Bass, and Al King on Drums. The group engages in a mash up of styles ranging from driving power pop punk anthems, to dark surfy songs with psycho, wah-wah tinged guitar tones, along with bludgeoning hard, fast pounding rock songs, with the hooks designed for complimenting high speed runs down the I-94 expressway, while looking for a way to make something better out of the bleak existence that is life in a mid west college town.
The group formed on Nov. 15th, 1995. At the time the three core members, Marc, Tony, and myself, all lived in the same house at 112 Chapin St. just off our Huron. We ran DIY shows out of the basement. Marc named the place "Scorpio McSatan's Kung Fu Lounge". The basement had a dirt floor studded with beer caps. More about the Kung Fu lounge in another post.
Originally I wasn't supposed to be in the band. Our friend & fellow housemate Rodney was supposed to play guitar. Marc asked me to teach Tony how to play bass, since that was my main instrument at the time. So Tony and I headed down into the basement and I showed him some basic stuff, and then we wrote a surf song. We showed it to Marc and he really dug it. It became our first song titled "So Incomplete". Afterward we went out for some fast food and talked about having me play guitar for the group. I guess Rodney had told them he didn't want to start a band with Tony since Tony was to inexperienced for what Rodney wanted to do. Rodney was nice enough to let me use his Guild guitar and his Fender super reverb amp. Since my other band had just broken up earlier that fall, I decided to join up and make a go at playing guitar. I was also excited about being in a band with Marc. We had grown up together. He is the person who gave me the nickname "Jukebox" way back in 1979. Anyway, I remember them telling me their idea for the name of the group on the ride back to the house. They wanted to call it Mazinga. The name comes from a Japanese cartoon about a giant ass kicking robot called Mazinger Z. This character along with a group of other Japanese giant robot toys were brought over to the US toy market in the late 70's under the banner name of the Shogun Warriors. As kids we all owned various Shogun Warriors, but one of the coolest ones was Great Mazinga.
I didn't really like the name at first. I thought it was sort of silly sounding and no one would get it. Then Marc explained to me that the comic book, pop culture geeks would get it and that they were our target audience. This was back in the day when it wasn't very cool to be a pop culture nerd. Now-a-days they have cable shows and web sites dedicated to all things geeky. We've had ten + years of comic book, sci-fi, fantasy movies and TV shows. The geek impact on the mainstream culture is very prevalent now, but back then, it wasn't nearly as hip. In fact it wasn't really hip at all. So upon our return to home, Marc rang up their prospective drummer for the group, Don Blum. He is a childhood friend of Marc and Tony. I knew him through those guys and had seen him play in a few local bands. He came over a few nights later. We ended up jamming for a long time and things clicked right away. Don is an amazing drummer and can play a wide range of styles. We would often play off each other, bringing out the best in each others musical ability. I was really musically energized because of focusing on playing guitar. I found that the instrument gave me the ability to control a lot of the dynamics of the sound and the vibe of the music. The ideas and riffs seemed to flow very easily. Tony took to the bass quickly as well and within a month we had a handful of songs. Marc's vocals sounded like a cross between early Glen Danzig's shout and early Dave Vainian's snarling croon. His lyrics were funny and direct as he would sing about things we were into like comic books and movies, or things we dealt with in our personal lives like love and loss, or the 9-5 grind. We started off writing simple songs to keep it easy and fun. Some early song titles included "Fuck You Reagan" which was our homage to 80's hardcore, and "Get ahead" which was all about being young and poor in a rich honky infested college town with no chance to break out of the social barriers that exist there. We were trying to write the type of music that we loved in our youth. Stuff like the Misfits, the Stooges and the MC5. We ended up sounding like a mix of those groups with a strong surf influence. I've always been way into surf music.
We practiced a lot. Here is a photo of a very early band practice in the basement of the Kung Fu lounge. (L-R, Big Tony, Don , Me)
I would get off of work around 5ish and drive to Don's house at Packard and Division St. and just grab him, no matter what he was doing, then drag him back home to jam. We drove our housemates nuts. At some point early on we recorded some of the songs with our pal Joe Morita. I've still got that tape somewhere around.
The band didn't play any shows for a while, even though we were throwing house shows all the time in our basement. Eventually we booked some gigs. We ended up playing two parties in one night. The first was a house show in John Griffin's basement located in heart of the student ghetto of Ann Arbor.
At John's house we opened for our favorite local punk band at the time, The Fags. They had played our first Kung-Fu lounge show and many others after that. They were sort of our house band for the Kung Fu lounge. The Fags did really well that summer, releasing a single and a live record and playing tons of shows. Unfortunately they broke up shortly after. Here is a photo of Becky Fag on bass, and Jef Fag on drums from the show. I couldn't get much closer cause it was packed.
My recollection of the night is hazy to say the least but I do remember the crowed going nuts and dancing when we played. My other bands had never had that sort of reaction before. Marc lunged into the mass of sweaty bodies packed into the tight cramped basement and things got out of control as they all pushed back and almost knocked over the whole band. I remember Nate from Wolf Eyes, Dave from Nadsat Nation, and Jessica from Jaks all up in the front having a blast. It was a fun first show. I do remember Rodney's super Reverb blew a tube on our last song. But that just added to the energy, like we rocked so hard that the amp blew!
Here is me (pre big sideburns) and Big Tony rocking out.
The second part of the night took place at a loft party in Downtown Ypsilanti, at my friend Dave's place. We quickly packed up our gear and went out to Ypsilanti where the folks were into it, although it wasn't quite as wild as the crowd at John's house.
It was a great start for our group. We felt like we really launched ourselves right out of the gate.
The rest of 1996 would see us building a steady momentum. We played several more house shows, as well as the local college radio station WCBN on their local music radio show. We did finally end up playing a show at our own house at the end of the summer for Nadsat Nation's last show. The Nadsat Nation guys were good friends of ours and a very popular local punk band at the time. The show was totally insane. Big Tony and I did the poster.
On October Friday the 13th we opened for the Cult Heroes and the Fury at the Heidelberg.
It was Mazinga's first show there. Our good friend Sean Carroll was the bartender. It was the first time that I officially met Hiawatha Bailey the charismatic lead singer for the Cult Heroes.
It almost turned out for the worst. At first he wasn't going to pay us. I had to go into the back room and confront him. He was cool as ice as he sat back with his feet on a table. He asked me why some young upstart new band should come and demand money from him. I said because we're not that young and we don't take any shit from anyone (although none of us were really "tough guys"). He laughed and said he liked my attitude and guitar style because I reminded him of the guys from the MC5, which I took as a high compliment. He paid me and then asked me to sit and have a drink with him. I' m glad I did. We ended up becoming good friends and musical collaborators and I'm glad I've got to know him.
This ends part one of the Mazinga history lesson. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for part two, 1997, when we record and release our first single, board a plane out to California for our ill fated west coast tour, and see the beginning of the ongoing war against the anti Rock 'N' Roll conspiracy brought about by legions of pretentious indie-rock fuckheads.
12 comments:
This was awesome! I was at that Heidleberg show. That was the first time I was served in bar and that was the drunkest I had ever gotten. I ended up starting a fight, getting kicking out, kissing Karl's girlfriend and telling mine about it. I think Dorian and I went out and broke a window after that. Pure debauchery. Best bad night I ever had.
Thanks for reading Jef! Glad you enjoyed this. 1996 was a different time for sure.
I had the pleasure of seeing Mazinga 12-18-09 and I personally thought they stole the entire show. Ssssh don't tell the rest of the line up. Mazinga did a favorite of mine Lookin At You MC5 that was fantastic! Loved them many kudos to the guys!
That's weird.I remember shit a little differently.
Well mostly the same.But I remember the first show at John's being pretty empty.I guess it started out empty,and then filled up.Because we had to go on after the Fags which I was pretty worried about.
Such bittersweet memories.
The 90's....
What can I say? My wife and I loved Japanese trash culture ever since back in the days that "zines" were made on xerox machines and had lame 1960's font typeset. Like IronFeatherJournal... try finding THAT one these days.
Ahem. Enough of my old guy ramblings.
Box, thank you for lashing together these strands of Ann Arbor counterculture memories and making them accessible to those of us who read this stuff.
Speaking as one of the oldest non-dead members of the local rock pantheon, I certainly look forward to the day that I can conquer chronic fatigue and lame early morning job scheduling and catch one of these shows, fer crissakes.
or at least make it over to play fireball island and put together 70's spaceships.
Mazinga year one. This is the 15th anniversary of Mazinga's formation.
It was the last weekend the sun was in scorpio in '95. I think our first practice was on the 18th or so.
Here is how I remember it. The summer leading up to the kung fu lounge was crazy. Big Tony and I worked in the basement of an office building doing customer satisfaction surveys by phone. It blew. We worked all day,and got out at 9. And hung out all night talking shit,eating junk food, and making plans. That summer I was renting a room in a house full of junkies. I was chomping at the bit to make my way in the scene that was exploding around Ann Arbor at the time. It was mostly noise groups, and venues were sporadic but exciting when shows happened. I had been in bands since I was 14. But none of them had played out in almost 4 years. I was always in a band but they always broke up right before playing out. It was my purgatory period.
I was starting to think I was cursed. I had the good fortune of always playing with the best musicians, but they were usually the most unreliable. I had just been in Austin the year before and the city's vibe reinforced what I wanted to do, which was start a band, put out records, start a 'zine, and write a screenplay to shoot in 8mm. I had this epiphany in the winter of '94 shortly after returning to michigan. Elastica's first single (stutter). It was a moment of clarity. All I wanted to hear after that were short simple catchy punk songs. And Big Tony caught the same bug. We would drive around at all manner of ungodly hours listening to the Clash and Naked Raygun. We decided we wanted to start a band and a 'zine and call one Grandizer, and the other Mazinga. Both creations of Manga legend Go Nagai. But we weren't sure which would would be which. We figured we would be a noise band. Because at least we could get shows with other noise bands even if we had no equipment. After a while if we wanted to start writing songs maybe we would. I just wanted to play out again. So that summer we put the 'zine (Grandizer) out. And we started making all these plans for the group(Mazinga). We would have matching uniforms, and banners, and use all this propaganda style imagery, and bright kanji. We would be the militant wing of the unsung nerd nation. We would proclaim Jack Kirby a political figure. An ideal for living.
I was also writing a comic for Kitchen Sink Press that summer,and all I wanted to do was create. At the end of the summer the junkie house I lived in got shut down. And I had to stay at my mom's place for the worst month and a half of my life.
Big Tony and I were looking for a two bedroom apartment, but we kept finding better deals on houses. So we decided to round up a group of friends and start a show house. I was inspired by the Lab which was the most awesome Ann Arbor show house ever from 1992 to 93.
Coincidentally a few of my friends were also living at home, and all were getting tired of it. And a few of them were musicians. So before we moved in we realized we could start a real band with Rodney Royal who was just a totally bitchin guitarist. He and I had previously been in The Kama Sutra but it imploded before we ever played out. Rodney decided he wanted to get back on the horse because he hadn't been in a group that had played out for a long time. Big Tony had a bass but had never learned to play it. And we were going to be living with Chris "Jukebox" Taylor. Who was a formidable bass player/singer. So we decided he could teach Big Tony how to play and we would get Don Blum on drums. Don was a ridiculously good drummer but also the best kept secret in town. But he rarely played out. He had been working full time and going to school for most of the 90's. He played with The Kama Sutra briefly but left due to his overwhelming schedule before we ever played live. The only group he played for with any regularity was Blake and Sarah, a folk duo comprised of a married couple. So Rodney, Big Tony and I had visions of doing a Kama Sutra part 2 called Mazinga. To me it sounded like a verb. With an ambiguous sound like Fugazi. We moved in to the house halloween weekend. And I swear it was the most exciting week I ever had with a group of friends. The place was awesome. And great for shows and practicing. The basement had a low ceiling, and a michigan floor. It even had a separate entrance way from the outside. And a small room
near the door where we could set up a table to collect the money.
There were 6 of us to start. Myself, Rodney Royal, Big Tony, Karl Kerpics, Chris "Box" Taylor, Steve Greenway, and Karl's cat Pepe. We wanted the house to have an outrageous name. So out of town bands would choose us over other venues. Steve was really into kung fu. And his cousin was teaching him a modified form of wing chun. He made the cold ass garage into a kung fu studio. So I decided we should be the Kung Fu Lounge. Big Tony had a drawing of this devil with a stereotypical Irish "paddy" type outfit on. I decided he should be called Scorpio McSatan. And our house would be Scorpio McSatan's Kung Fu Lounge. That first weekend we hit this amazing party at the Flying Monkey House like a gang. Big Tony and I had cut our waist length hair a few weeks before we moved in. And Box and Don cut their long hair not too long after. It was a new beginning. I remember us pouring into the packed house while Nadsat Nation were playing.
We squeezed our way up to the front and they freaked when they saw my short hair. Dave Sommers passed me the mic as they ripped into Ann Arbor's unofficial anthem (I want to be your dog).I hadn't sang in front of a crowd since '91. It was like the best high I could imagine. That was the night Scorpio McSatan's Kung Fu Lounge entered the conversation. We were all leather jackets, comic books, 40 ouncers, and Star Wars movies on VHS.
There were 6 of us to start. Myself, Rodney Royal, Big Tony, Karl Kerpics, Chris "Box" Taylor, and Steve Greenway. We wanted the house to have an outrageous name. So out of town bands would choose us over other venues. Steve was really into kung fu. And his cousin was teaching him a modified form of wing chun. He made the cold ass garage into a kung fu studio. So I decided we should be the Kung Fu Lounge. Big Tony had a drawing of this devil with a stereotypical Irish "paddy" type outfit on. I decided he should be called Scorpio McSatan. And our house would be Scorpio McSatan's Kung Fu Lounge. That first weekend we hit this amazing party at the Flying Monkey House like a gang. Big Tony and I had cut our waist length hair a few weeks before we moved in. And Box and Don cut their long hair not too long after. It was a new beginning. I remember us pouring into the packed house while Nadsat Nation were playing.
We squeezed our way up to the front and they freaked when they saw my short hair. Dave Sommers passed me the mic as they ripped into Ann Arbor's unofficial anthem (I want to be your dog).I hadn't sang in front of a crowd since '91. It was like the best high I could imagine. That was the night Scorpio McSatan's Kung Fu Lounge entered the conversation. We were all leather jackets, comic books, 40 ouncers, and Star Wars movies on VHS.
A few weeks later me, Rodney, Big Tony, Box, and Don would gather in the basement for our first jam session. We didn't know what to play so we tried to take a crack at "no rewards" a song Rodney and I wrote for the Kama Sutra. Box had our demo so he knew how the song went. So he took to the task of teaching Tony the song on bass while Rodney sat impatiently with his guitar strapped on. Rodney decided to go upstairs and drink a beer with the rest of the fellas so Box strapped on Rodney's guitar and had at it.
Soon we were playing no rewards with Box on guitar. And we played it over and over. After that he started playing this Cramps sounding, haunting ass riff. It was dark and mysterious, and begged for a vocal that communicated longing and lust. By the end of the night we had our first song "so incomplete" and a faithful cover of no rewards. A song that no one outside our little group had ever heard. The vibe just felt right. It was the band I always wanted to be in. The next day Big Tony and I were driving in his '87 tempo listening to Stiff Little Fingers talking about what had happened the night before. We talked about the Rodney situation. How he had refused to go back downstairs after we started progressing. As awesome as he played, as unique and groundbreaking as his style was, he didn't have the patience to commit. And besides Box's longtime group Undermind (who he sang and played bass for) was petering out. The second drummer in a row was going to be a father. And the heavy sludge sound was losing traction. I turned to Tony "I think Box is going to be the fucking guy, Rodney is the shit but we'll never play out if he's our guitarist. Undermind won't make it to '96, Box can teach himself guitar while teaching you bass, this is the fucking line up man trust me". Rodney had lasted all of 20 minutes in Mazinga. That fall we put Scorpio McSatan's Kung Fu Lounge in the listings of Maximum Rock and Roll's Book Your Own Fucking Life '96 Edition. The best way to advertise your band, or venue in the age of scarce internet connections, and cell phones. We were going to play with Nadsat Nation, and the Fags. And then were going to play everywhere.
As skilled, unique and otherworldly as his style was, he didn't have the patience to commit. And besides Box's longtime group Undermind (who he sang and played bass for) was petering out. The second drummer in a row was going to be a father. And the heavy sludge sound was losing traction. I turned to Tony "I think Box is going to be the fucking guy, Rodney is the shit but we'll never play out if he's our guitarist. Undermind won't make it to '96, Box can teach himself guitar while teaching you bass, this is the fucking line up man trust me". Rodney had lasted all of 20 minutes in Mazinga. That fall we put Scorpio McSatan's Kung Fu Lounge in the listings of Maximum Rock and Roll's Book Your Own Fucking Life '96 Edition. The best way to advertise your band, or venue in the age of scarce internet connections, and cell phones. We were going to play with Nadsat Nation, and the Fags. And then were going to play everywhere.
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