The recording of this version of WAG is virtually unlistenable, even to us. The players, Randy Cade on drums, Craig Patterson on guitar, Bill "Dook" Foulis on bass, and Tony Swann on organ, sound like they are all playing different songs. "What a Gas", as recorded by the JSDB, (and a succession of our other bands, in double digit takes through the years) was not so much a song as a forum, an excuse to exhibit lead vocalist Dennis Stubblefield's incredibly loud and offensive belches at the end of each "musical" phrase. The term "train wreck" comes to mind when this version is revisited by the original line-up. The phrases served not only as sonic assaults, but they gave Dennis a few seconds to swill carbonation and swallow air before his next gastronomic eruption. After the organ chord intro, the audio mess hits with the impact of a Force 5 hurricane, dissipating any sense of legitimacy that Tony's chords (Tony actually knew how to play) might have had. The noise could only have been created in the absence of parents, by a renegade group of hard-drinking teenagers out to prove something… And that something was what many others learned a decade later from the punk movement…you don't have to be good to be in a band.
"What a Gas" became our anthem, stolen from Mad magazine but made original by our troupe of tasteless ruffians who revered belching beyond the accomplishments of the great composers. The bashing and crashing, the horrible epithets and asides striking out at each other for our incompetence and at the equipment for its inadequacy all converged into a separate thing, an entity which amazed and disgusted hundreds of people over the period of dozens of years.
Other great audio accomplishments featured in The JSDB Box Set include Mark Armstrong, roadie & guest singer doing "The Crusher" (Ya do the hammerlock..) a novelty song done by The Novas in the mid-60's. Think Dick Dale meets the WWF. Mark does a beautiful job of recreating the yell of a tortured Marine on Okinawa "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH… YA DO THE HAMMERLOCK!" which seared the air and eventually made it onto the airwaves of San Francisco's premier "underground" FM station KSAN for YEARS as a bumper-opener for Terry McGovern's morning drive-time show. A truly unnerving piece of sonic smegma to be exposed to at 6am every weekday.
The JSDB eventually evolved from the humble beginnings of "whoever shows up is in the band" to something that we got semi-serious about, at least in terms of effort, during and after college (1970-73). The JSDB Box Set, besides treating the listener to several versions of "What A Gas" shows a progression of semi-talented suburban youths doing their best to churn out some credible "hard rock" product in the 1970's..a decade dominated by the likes of Bread, Abba, Dr. Hook, Disco and The Fucking Eagles; the antithesis of what WE were about.
What we were was about ten years too early. If the Sex Pistols and/or The Ramones had heard our early demos and gig tapes featured here in The Set, they would likely have thought us GODS.
We were punk before punk, hard rock before hard rock was played in "Cafes" and we had the real fire and bile in our veins. Our authority problems (although stopping a little short of what is common today) would have rung some kind of cracked bell with songs like "Hey, Dirty People", "That's The Kinda Guy You Are", "Days Without Suds" "Dump On Me" and the ever-popular "Bomb the Whitehouse" in our sets. These originals and others were performed with punkass gay posturing, wisecracking, beer-soaked fervor by The JSDB. That's who we were but that's not important. What's important is "When".
The JSDB evolved (if that can be said) from the band in Al's living room to a punk enterprise overrun with a bunch of "berserkers" sharing a common love of The Who, Eddie Cochran, The Move, authority-bashing, shock communication and volume.
Randy and Tony were used to actually being in the type of band that practiced and played at parties and dances. The JSDB was never really geared toward those ends. We were always pretty damn certain that most people really did not want to hear what we were doing. Funny thing though…a lot of them liked to hear about what we were doing………..
We didn't care about our audiences before it was hip to do so. Just ask them. The JSDB never intended to play a popular vein of music, make a 3-song demo and take it to the record labels with the intent of being signed as a national act. This would have been folly.
We forced ourselves into our own environment, getting together at Christmas or Spring Break, always playing and recording when school wasn't an issue, just to keep doing what we were doing whatever the hell it was we were doing.
Finally, we just didn't care what people thought of our music; it was their reaction (positive or negative) that we were after. Our music was and always will be an extension of our shenanigans, be it a belch in the school Public Address system, a front-yard Christmas tree set afire or a carefully manicured lawn brutally car-plowed into what now could be named "Big Muddy Creek".
Unrealistic expectations aside, there are some primo moments in this set (there had goddamned better well be, with 5 CDs!!). You don't own any music quite like this.
Be forewarned! After you receive The JSDB Box Set, your other CDs will try to physically distance themselves from it while you sleep (I have seen this). But we say: Screw 'em…buy it anyway!!!
Written by Randy Cade, 2002
Edited by Craig Patterson, 2004
