intro by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_), feature by The Stick Figures
Floating Mill Records is a new reissue label based out of Pittsburgh, digging through the crates to bring some of post-punks gems to a new light. Their first release brings us back to The Stick Figures, a post-punk band from Tampa active from 1979 to 1981. While they were only together for three years time, Archeology proves to be an essential find, a collection that compiles the band’s self-titled EP with six previously unreleased songs, two live tracks, and a reimagining of “Ellis Otivator Dub.” Regardless if you’re familiar with The Stick Figures or not, this is a great listen of a band making taut post-punk in the era of The B-52s and Pylon (and just after Television).
The band sat down to compile both a track-by-track of Archeology as well as a playlist of the songs that influenced the recordings.
1. N-Light
This one was written before my time in The Stick Figures, but they gave me one of the hardest songs to play drum-wise on this track. The lyrics, I think, came from siblings Rachel and David with David having developed a funky, complex bassline. Then there’s Sid’s chording & double stops and Bill’s picked melodic line with variations of Sid’s chords. In all, it comes out something like a punky version of a Parliament/Fukadelic song or Chic’s “Rebels Are We.” - Robert Dansby
2. Crayola Bowling
On this one, Sid took guitar with Dave on organ and Bill on a melodic bass. Drum breaks countering and dropped into a steady beat. Atonality meets anthemic chording that ends with quite a workout. Something like Bush Tetras’ “Can’t Be Funky.” - Robert Dansby
3. September
September is a song based on my love of Autumn; in Florida Autumn is like Spring in northern climates—the heat and humidity diminish and the world appears to be one’s oyster! Musically, it is inspired by both psychedelic-era Beatles and the then-current, early Psychedelic Furs albums, like their 1980 self-titled and it’s first song, “India.” - Bill Carey
4. Green
Green was written before my time that I got to play a bunch—lyrics by Rachel, music put together by Bill (low string riff), David (bass) and Sid (guitar chording). Sid plays prepared guitar somewhere in there… Played live, it developed into a more low end percussive track. I always liked Rachel signing “ Chorus”—literally. Kind of a Johnny Thunders, meets Keith Levene and Dee Pop with polyrhythms to sound something like PiL’s “Swan Lake”? - Robert Dansby
5. Everplayed
Everplayed was a piece of music I wrote as an ‘“exercise.” Unlike David and Sid, I’m not a trained musician. I was taking a piano class at USF and was learning to sight read. I wrote the guitar and bass parts in notation and gave them to David and Sid. I played the fuzz guitar, Sid played the harmonics guitar, and David the bass. Rachel Maready wrote the lyrics and did the vocal melody. Percussion and mellotron were over dubbed. The intent was to vacillate between the “portentous” verses and the “angelic” choruses. Influences…? “Put A Straw Under Baby” by Eno could be considered one. - Bill Carey
6. Mr. Simon
Mr. Simon was a simple song that came from a rehearsal session; I basically ad-libbed a nonsense verse over the group jam; we would often create this type of song on the fly. It’s very much in the style of Brian Eno (…whose first name was rarely uttered in those days—he was simply Eno to us!)—something like “Blank Frank” from Eno’s first solo album Here Come the Warm Jets. - Bill Carey
7. Yesterday
Yesterday was written by me and Lee Warren and originally performed by our band, The Art Holes. This was one of the first songs we wrote, and when The Stick Figures formed it was one of the first we learned to play. I wrote the music—with rhythm sections falling somewhere between the Clash and Talking Heads and solos aping those of “Blank Generation” by Richard Hell. I believe the lyric is a rumination on the fleeting nature of time, but that is mere supposition! - Bill Carey
8. Energy
In the late 70’s America was still in the throws of the OPEC energy crisis; I was taking a class at USF in Energy Conservation, which was the inspiration for the lyrics, we developed the full lyric as a sort of word play during rehearsal with Bill Maready and David trading off ad-libbed lines. The basic riff was a simple rhythm part akin to a Talking Heads take on a soul song found in “Electricity.” - Bill Carey
9. Language (Live)
Language is another early track played by The Art Holes. This one is primarily David (lyrics and music). Sing the verses in a broad Geordie accent and it becomes apparent that they are influenced by Roxy Music. The chorus sounds like Siouxie and the Banshees' first album to me, “Switch” mostly—always in heavy rotation at our hovel! - Bill Carey
10. Screaming (Live)
Screaming is a song I wrote the lyrics and basic riff for. The lyrics blend two different experiences:
1) In High School I used to jam with friends in the maintenance barn of a local golf course on Friday nights. People who lived nearby used to call the police and complain about “the drums.” We didn’t actually have a drummer—what they heard was the sound of the marching band from the high school football game! (They still made us stop…)
2) The house where Sid, David, and I lived looked across the street to a field with some trees. Beyond that was a housing development. There was a family living there who had kids who screamed incessantly!
The music was influenced by some of the emerging ‘noisy’ post-punk bands, like The Fall on “Leave the Capital.” - Bill Carey
11. Make a Fire
Bill sings on this one! Kind of beachy twanging guitars that turn into Vivaldi then mutates into a pop song. Drums although kind of rockabilly, were very influenced by XTC’s Terry Chambers (I particularly like his multiple rhythms running at the same time and the low end of the drum kit.) and Talking Head’s Chris Frantz. Vivaldi, Feelies, XTC, and Dick Dale are all baked into this one, but I’d single out The Feelies’ “Crazy Rhythms.” - Robert Dansby
12. Ellis Otivator Dub
Ellis Otivator Dub was done by dubbing multitrack tapes from one tape to another and mixing in a dub. There were no digital samples used, it’s all dubbed from the masters of Archeology’s “Crayola Bowling” (voice) and one of our still-unreleased songs, “Elevator Shaft” (rhythm and utter chaos). Overdubs from a Moog modular were added, punch ins and layering were done live in the mixing process. Influences include Arthur Russell, Andy Partridge, King Tubby, Rocky Diamond Collection, and Peter Baumann, particularly Mr. Partridge’s “The Rotary.” - Robert Dansby
13. Ellis Otivator Dub 2021
EOD 2021 was started from a restoration/transfer of the original 8 track master of EOD, and a decidedly slow, low version cooked out those sources. Synths were punched in as well as samples from live tapes. Then a chorus was put together by Bill using samples sourced from the dub and live and multitrack tapes and cut into the original dub which was sent back and forth approximately one million and 1/2 times between Bill and myself… ;) Influences Mala, Kevin Martin, and Thomas Koner--check out Mala’s “The Tunnel.” - Robert Dansby