ESPPEP by SCD

It all began with a mistake and a complimentary Butthole Surfers Vinyl Record which came with a yearly subscription to Thrasher Magazine in the mid 1980’s. My older brother, being the subscriber and recipient of said record (Live PCPPEP on Alternative Tentacles), invited me to listen to the record with him in a 4’X8’X8’ room built under the deck on one side of a half-pipe skateboard ramp.

When the needle began to produce sound for us, we both were struck with the thought that this music was attempting something that few, if anyone, had ever tried. I was very young then. Although I had not articulated this thought quite so well as in the above sentence and I was very inexperienced in terms of having a broad musical library with which I was familiar, Live PCPPEP left a profound impression on me and stayed with me for 30 years. That being said, I never had a chance to listen to the record again. Until this year.

The other day I was in a colleague’s office and he was listening to Independent Worm Saloon. I listened quietly for a moment and then was seized with the same thought I had many times over the past 30 years while listening to their records or even when I saw them perform live once: “It’s alright, but you know, they really had something with that first record I listened to with my brother all those years ago and nothing else they have done has even come close”. I began to relay this story to my colleague when I noticed the pitch control on his turntable and it hit me: My brother and I had listened to the record on the wrong speed. I had my colleague switch the speed and turn the pitch down and there was my beloved innovative rock band. I had been measuring the band against a version of themselves which never existed outside my own ignorant experiences.

After shock, amazement, and sadness crept in, I decided I needed to record an album as homage to the version of the Butthole Surfers which never were.

As excited as I was to begin the project, I realized it would have to wait because I was currently preparing to record a group of terrible songs my friends and I wrote when we were teaching ourselves how to play instruments in middle school as a way to avoid the frustrations of growing up in broken homes in Stockton, CA. Lyrical content was typical of budding middle school maniacs of the time (sexual frustrations, innovative mythological creatures, bad smells, hors d’ oeuvres at PWP meetings, Kool-aid and things found in the couch).

The songs up until this time had only existed on the b-side of some cassette tape which was recorded directly to tape via one of those portable tape recorders (not a 4-track) from back in the day. I wanted to redo the songs so that the quality of recording was better.

During my commute shortly after discovering the user error on my and my brother’s part 30 years ago, it occurred to me that these beginner songs (which were written only a few years after my first listening to Live PCPPEP) could be twisted and slowed down to create the perfect homage. SCD presents: ESPPEP

I had a few ideas for the usual loud processing gears however, all my recording gear was in the garage while TP gear was located 50 miles away. Taking inventory of the various musical noise makers on hand (jug, washboard, old snare, brushes, a small pot, clarinet, upright bass, classical guitar) decided to create hardcore music arranged and performed on completely acoustic instruments. JUGCORE!!!