19 November 2008

Honeymoon Killers


UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded
08/31/2013. Enjoy, NØ. 

The Honeymoon Killers were a New York City band formed in the early 1980s by the multi-talented Jerry Teel. Though they are often lumped with bands such as Pussy Galore & other garage-y Noise bands, they never really achieved the success they rightly deserved. I was fortunate enough to have seen them several times live & I'm here to tell you they were the real deal. They began as a four-piece firmly rooted in the aesthetics of the splatter drive-in. Their sound is abrasive & primitive, kinda like The Cramps with less-commercial instincts & an even sicker sense of humor.

A partial list of Jerry Teels many projects:
1. was in the Sno-Caps on guitar with Lisa Wells on bass & Claire Slater on drums;
2. was in Huge Killer Ship on guitar with Claire Slater on bass & lead vocal ,Stephen Gullo on
drums, Stan Satin on saxophone, &Ted Parsons on drums (Ted went on to play with Prong);
3. was in Honeymoon Killers;
4. was in Boss Hog on guitar for the first two albums;
5. was in Chrome Cranks;
6. was in Little Porkchop;
7. was in Knoxville Girls;
8. has appeared with the Workdogs on a couple of songs & on one entire LP;
9. has appeared on the Cheater Slicks' fourth album;
10. has a studio called Funhouse, together with William Weber;
11. recorded/mixed/engineered/produced the first Dura-Delinquent album;
12. recorded/mixed/engineered/produced the 20 Miles 3x7";
13. recorded/mixed the 3-track debut-CD release by Lynnea;
14. appeared on harp on/produced a 7" by Spanish band Pretty Fuck Luck;
15. recorded the debut 7" & debut LP by Dan Melchior's Broke Revue;
16. recorded the 2nd 7" by The Starlite Desperation;
17. recorded the debut 12" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs;
18. appears on Spencer Dickinson's debut CD;
19. recorded, together with Peter Arsenault, the third album by 20 Miles;
20. is in Jerry Teel & The Big City Stompers;
21. produced the Detonations' debut Static Vision CD;
22. appears on guitar on Rob K's The End Of The Earth CD;
23. was, as a one-off, in Bewitched.

Honeymoon Killers - Honeymoon Killers From Mars, Fur Records, 1984.
all decryption codes in comments

This first release from Honeymoon Killers was recorded in four-track horror fidelity beneath the Sixth Street Butcher Shop in NYC. Jerry Teel - guitar, Michael O'Neill - guitar, Lisa Wells - bass, & Claire Lawrence-Slater - drums. Graphics by Frankenjerry.

This Side -

Honeymoon Killers
Cornbread Fed
I Love to Eat
Rooms of Doom
Place in France

Other Side -

Ubangi Stomp
Cat People
Who Do You Love
Shake

Honeymoon Killers - Let It Breed , Fur Records, 1986.

After half of the band split, guitarist Jerry Teel & bassist Lisa recruited drummer Sally Edroso/Barry for Let It Breed, another crunching descent into tongue-in-cheek sonic warfare. Side A was recorded at Noise New York & engineered by the infamous Kramer. Side B was recorded at CBGB in such a way as to suggest the sound of a bottomless pit. This time the women share more of the vocal chores, chiming in with Jerry for a neat X/Cramps-like effect; they also exchange bass & drum chores on the brief "Zoo Train."

This Side -

Power Man
Injun Joe
Dr. Pain
Rich 'N' Famous
Dip it in the Gravey
Day of the Dead

That Side -

Zoo Train
Brain Dead Bird Brain
Face of a Beast
Don Gato
Godzilla

Honeymoon Killers - Hung Far Low, Fist Puppet/Cargo Records Fist 002, 1991.

Jerry Teel - guitar, vocals, & harmonica, Lisa Wells - bass, & from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Jon Spencer - guitar & trombone, & Russell Simins - drums, vocals, & bongo.
Red vinyl LP. Artwork by Jens Jurgenson.




Side A -

Mad Dog
Kansas City Milkman
Mr. Big Stuff
Vanna White (Goddess of Love)
You Can't Do That
Quittin' Time

Side B -

Devil's Jump
Tanks a Lot
Fannie Mae
Scootch Says
Something's Wrong
Madwoman Blues
Whole Lotta Crap























Enjoy,

14 comments:

  1. Jerry Teel is God!!!!

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey, do you happen to have the original, tape-only mix of "Kansas City Milkman?" Some years ago, the Killers played up in upstate NY and stayed at my place. Jerry gave me a copy of the demo that would become Hung Far Low, but the vocals on "KCM" were not only way different... but way better. Sadly, that tape got eaten somewhere along the way, but I've always wondered if some tapehound has a copy of it out there...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jamie,
    Don't have the tape-only mix you requested. Sounds like it might have been kinda rare. Too bad it got munched. Probably irreplaceable, but someone reading this might have it. Here's hoping.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lisa Wells offers HK Cds/Lps/Tapes on Gemm Records. I think her "company" name is Kranky Girl Records.
    Jerry lost all of his in Hurricane Katrina.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anon,
    Too bad about Jerry losing everything to Katrina. Many people devastated by that bureaucratic snafu.
    Jamie,
    maybe you can check for that original tape-only mix from Lisa on Gemm.
    Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  6. YE, at last someone uploads Honeymoon Killers records!! Thank you very much!

    ReplyDelete
  7. thank you! great site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. nice thank you

    ReplyDelete
  9. hi man

    I have live stuff and other rare things to trade of HKs

    write me at almudeno69_at_yahoo.com

    what do you have?

    ReplyDelete
  10. What about the second record, Love American Style (1985), or the fifth, Take It Off (1989)? Great records every one!

    ReplyDelete
  11. They were a cool band & cool people. Used to correspond occasionally w/Jerry in the 80s.

    ReplyDelete
  12. should i hope to find the lyrics somewhere? They became one of my favorites

    ReplyDelete
  13. MEGA decryption codes
    Honeymoon Killers From Mars
    XWfO6lNnMh-0kmq6ACfN6XY5CcMD7S1MvsjcuDZMQkU
    Let It Breed
    GL5AjR4IZ9mDI6180RwjyjUVmsdlLpe50a4AauWPRKU
    Hung Far Low
    HvxoPXcG1ID1G75mu3zDzWRLl71--ZIam3EPRcoRYiM

    ReplyDelete