License this music for commercial use through Pump Audio The Scarlet Dukes Certain General Certain General Phil Gammage Voodoo Martini PreFab artist profiles: Certain General Presented here is information about the projects and recordings of Phil Gammage that make up the PreFab catalog and store. Certain General bio | in Francais | Gallery 1 2 3 4 5 | Quiz | Official Certain General website | Video collection | Certain General at MySpace photo: Nikolitsa Boutieros NEW YORK CITY, January 1984. Tonight Danceteria, the 21st Street multi-storeyed hotbed for those who find Paradise Garage too disco-purist and CBGB's too scuzzy, is rocking. B-boys slam in the hiphop room, boogie monsters tear up the disco and those in need of a chill hit the couches of top floor Congo Bill bar and its multiple TV screens. Meanwhile, on ground level, there's a group playing to a mix of East Village rock fans, street punks and the artier echelons of lower Manhattan. The singer bends double to coax a quavering whisper before lashing and screaming with cataclysmic passion. The guitarist fires stun-blasts of psychedelic surf nirvana over the light-and-shade demolition of the rhythm section. A hair-raising street-light orgasm called 'Voodoo Taxi' careers to a glorious halt and the increasingly-delirious crowd erupts. The group is called Certain General and New York's bush telegraph says they are the hottest act in the city. 23 years later, it's still a mystery why one of the greatest bands to spew out of post-punk New York City never became as massive as some of the groups they shared cramped stages with, like New Order or R.E.M.. Until now. April of '07 sees the release of the fittingly-titled Certain General: Invisible New York, a two-CD collection of previously-unreleased demos, live recordings and hard-to-find album tracks. You must have Quicktime to listen to these audio clips. "An Introduction to War" CD Shelter the Girl (QT) Touch (QT) Certain General could be the ultimate post-punk New York group with their wild eclectism, surreal poetic flights and blistering live show which could give anyone including the Cure and New Order a hard time. But their story is a catalogue of bad luck and tragedy as well as glorious music. Or, as singer Parker DuLany says, 'We always seemed to shoot ourselves in the foot.' Their story needs to be told, records have to be set straight and the world has to know about what one writer described as, 'the baddest, craziest, most behaved band that was walking the Earth'. In the early 1980s, Manhattan's East Village was a different world from the cleaned-up post-zero tolerance yuppie farm of today. East beyond First Avenue was no-go for anyone except junkies, hustlers and artists/musicians ready to brave the ever-present danger for the cheap rents. But the neighbourhood also attracted young movers and shakers involved in music, writing, film, art and fashion with gigs taking place in galleries, lofts and after hours clubs, in addition to a bustling local circuit. Georgia-born/New Orleans bred Parker hit the Village in 1979 and immediately started gaining a reputation for his paintings. Certain General started the following year with Parker hooking up with Texas-born guitarist Phil Gammage, bassist Russell Berke and former B-Girls drummer Marcy Saddy. Their first main influences were James Chance's wired funk and a smattering of PiL. 'We wanted to be a pop version of the Contortions,' says Parker. 'That's what New York bought us on.' They made their live debut supporting Arto Lindsay's D.N.A. at a party in an old school on Avenue B. First gig was opening for Liquid Liquid at Hurrah. First high-profile punter conversion was the 'Avenue B Is The Place To Be'' festival in Tomkins Square Park in August 1981. The downtown buzz swelled and they became darlings of Keith Harring and the arty set. Local scenester Perry Brandston got them playing galleries, parties and put them in the studio for the first time. Unreleased until now, 'Touch' is shot with the clipped urgency of a band straining at the leash. They toured relentlessly up and down the Eastern coast while lower Manhattan sank further into their pocket as they slaughtered gigs like Hurrah, the Peppermint Lounge, A7, Max's and, most frequently, CBGB's on the insistence of Hilly Kristal. In summer 1982, CG released the Holiday Of Love EP for the independent Labor Records with Peter Holsapple producing and Swan-to-be Michael Gira mixing. College radio steamed in and suddenly, 'all America was talking about Certain General'. But just as the group looked about to bust out, they hit the first hurdle when Russell Berke refused to do crucial tours of California and Florida. 'If we had done that everything would have changed.' After Berke left in mid-1983, to be replaced by old mate Joe Lupo, the next two years showed a promising upwards spiral. Respected NYC booking agent Ruth Polsky had pushed CG from the start and would become their manager the following year. Ruth was known for giving first UK breaks to a string of post-punk groups including the Smiths, New Order, the Birthday Party and Echo & The Bunnymen. She also booked Danceteria, ensuring that Certain General almost became house band. Noticing the market for guitar-based American bands in the UK, it was decided to release a joint album with East Village comrades the Band Of Outsiders on their own Sourmash Records and gig ferociously to finance a British tour. Faraway In America saw each group supply a pair of studio tracks and then record a joint night at CBGB's to provide another two songs apiece. The album caused enough ripples for a UK mini-tour in April 1984, including riotously-received sets at infamous Goth hangout the Bat Cave and Soho's psychedelic epicentre Alice In Wonderland. The two groups invoked a brand of mayhem rarely seen in the capitol. The trip paid off in terms of attention and good reviews. CG got a deal with French label L'Invitation Au Suicide, who released the November's Heat album in November 1984. Apart from being one of the great New York albums, it's one of the all-time great debuts, a sublime realisation of the group's heady mix of mysterious sensuality, sonic magic and and searing rock 'n' roll. CG classics abound, such as the afore-mentioned 'Voodoo Taxi', corruscatingly dynamic 'Maximum G' and compellingly-twisted 'My Gang In The Woods'. CG were suddenly massive in France but Marcy left to be replaced by Vinny DeNunzio, who'd served with Richards Hell and Lloyd, the Feelies and Ivan Julian's Outsets. The new lineup nearly blew the Cure off stage at New York's Beacon Theatre. With a stack of killer new material in the can, CG returned to Europe in February 1985 with Ruth fielding interest from major record companies including Fiction and Virgin. Then Phil Gammage left to concentrate on his surf band side project the Corvairs, stalling the momentum again. CG decided to take a big money deal from a French label instead of going with a US independent. The killer new stuff remained unheard until 2001 when it was released as An Introduction To War on the Sourmash label. It still sounds amazing and would have cleaned up. 'I truly believe that if we'd released An Introduction To War when we were so red hot it would have opened up the American market,' says Parker. 'That was at the time when the Replacements and the Dream Syndicate were coming out and all we had to was put it out. It kind of got swept under the mat, just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.' On the night of September 1986, an unimaginable tragedy put the lights out in Certain General. Their new lineup with guitarist Sprague Hollander was playing the Limelight, the converted church on Sixth Avenue. A great gig but Ruth Polsky was conspicuous by her absence. And why was there a yellow taxi lodged in the doorway? Next morning, a still-mystified Parker got the call to go and identify Ruth's body. It transpired that, while standing at the entrance directing guests, Ruth had been mown down by a cab that had lost control after a collision with another car. Ruth's death devastated Parker and horrified the music world. Morrissey dedicated 'Shoplifters Of The World Tonight' to her and, in tribute, New Order started playing 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' again for the first time since Ian Curtis died [on the eve of Joy Division's US tour which Ruth had organised]. Certain General had a gorgeous new single called 'Will You' ready for release and it became Ruth's tribute, as is the whole of Invisible New York. 'Ultimately, it was Ruth's death that really stopped Certain General,' reflects Parker. More recordings were made which wouldn't surface until 1999's These Are The Days album, a lush beauty drenched in melancholy. 1999 also saw first lineup reunite to revisit some early 80s highlights in CBGBs basement studio with Konk's brass section as Signals From The Source. Parker then went it alone and made the Mr Parker's Band album but finally succumbed to a regular dayjob teaching in the kind of tough Brooklyn school thought to only exist in the movies. Certain General activity rumbled again in 2000 when the original lineup got together to play a show at New York's Public Theatre. In 2003 they demoed new songs. Russell Berke nixed this too but the old spark was rekindled with Parker and Phil Gammage later recording a brace of new songs which have been left off the compilation because they will start the next phase of Certain General activity. Last year, Soul Jazz Records included 'Back Downtown' from 1982 on the second volume of its New York Noise series. Invisible New York not only encompasses past highlights but live material including songs from Live at the Public Theatre and Parker's previously-unreleased collaborations with Julee Cruise, angel-voiced chanteuse from the David Lynch films and Twin Peaks. The pair met on a boozy flight to Paris and subsequently recorded a tribute to Serge Gainsbourg called 'La Decadanse' plus a defiant post-9/11 romp through 'New York New York' along with Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye. For Invisible New York, Easy Action are honouring Certain General with the sort of lavish presentation that has already graced sets from the likes of Iggy Pop, Sonic's Rendezvous Band, T.Rex and the MC5. It's one hell of a journey. Certain General are invisible no more. Kris Needs, London 2007 From the band's first performance opening for DNA in 1980 to now, Certain General's public performances have been events, concerts, and parties. The band is the contradiction. Brutally beautiful. Certain General. For more information visit their website at listen.to/certaingeneral.