At last on CD...

PSYCHEDELIC NIGHTMARES I: The Zoo

79 minutes of pure rock 'n' roll hell

Super digitally remastered? Is it f*ck but at least you can skip the tracks you really hate (all the way to the end in fact)!

This is a real Frankenstein's monster of various demos. Here's the lowdown...

HOT FOX ACTION [curran] We kick off with a toon from the Teen Trash sessions (May 1994). These have Vic Rea on drums and here you get an idea of how freakin' good he was - although his always being in jail was a problem. Also, he had the coolest set up - his drumkit and a PA in his bedroom: the top floor of the grooviest looking haunted house in Salford. So with the bass and rhythm guitar going life through the one speaker along with the drums, we recorded all the Teen Trash tracks through cheap mikes onto a second hand Tascam Porta 1 (this is an ancient wee cheapy 4-track cassette recorder to you youngsters). Lead guitar and vocals overdubbed in Stevie's bedroom (if you listen carefully you should hear the neighbours banging the walls).

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND Blowing Auntie Beeb's mind with the previous track in early 1995.

BAD ACID BABY [curran/laird] Originally entitled "Erotic Toenail" and penned with Gav Laird just prior to our Mystery Machine days in 1988. If you think the lyrics are bad now, Gav was coming out with stuff about eating Paul McCartney's shoes?? Anyhoo this version was recorded by the Zoo (the earlier Tombstones version can be heard on Vol. II) with the primeval Dr Klaus Suhling Ph.D (Physics) on drums. Like Vic, he was one shit hot drummer with the same palate for 70's punk. This is version is from Bad Acid Baby sessions which were recorded in mid-1993 onto the portastudio at Red Eye rehearsal rooms in Clydebank.

MY BABY LEFT ME (IN A UFO) [curran] Klaus on drums again.

SPACED [smillie/curran/mclean] Us arsing around in yet another bedroom (in Glasgow early 1993). After discovering this cool effect we forced Grant to make up a bassline on the spot and recorded it directly onto the infamous portastudio.

CHILLIN' OUT [mclean/curran] From the Bad Acid Baby sessions.

KYLIE CAN'T DANCE [curran] Written in June 1989 after seeing a certain Ms Minouge making a complete arse of trying to dance while bleating her latest atrocity (Locomotion?) on Top of the Pops. (I had a sliding kitchen door at the time.) Who'd think she'd be back annoying us all these years later? Anyway before making a living wiggling her bony behind, she used to dance by jutting out one hip in a very Romeroesque zombie fashion - hence the song. This version is from the Teen Trash sessions - studio version on "Pop Goes The Weasel Vol.2" (K.O.G.A. 007).

RUNAWAY [shannon/cook] ...and here we come to the studio recordings. This was when we re-recorded Teen Trash in early 1995, digitally onto 16 track in a real studio. How crap does this sound? I guess we're just not a 16 track digital band. Also "the just after a 4 month bout of chronic laryngitis" doesn't help. Anyway we've stuck in this classic as, although we just started playing it before this recording, we really dig it (although we never learnt the lyrics). Alain Lanet on drums - who was subsequently deported back to France (that'll learn him to play with The Zoo).

SWAMP THING [curran/mclean] Actually recorded as The Inner Mystique in the Spaced bedroom, November 1992. Maybe saying pre-Zoo/post-Tombstones is better than giving the band name, as I'm a firm believer that a band doesn't count unless they've played a gig (and The Inner Mystique didn't). Otherwise they'd be more bands than people in Glasgow ! (And most of them shite.) What we're trying to say is this was recorded with Mr Voodoo on drums, Sir Richard on bass and rhythm guitar and Stevie on vocals and feedback.

STRANGE SIMON'S GARDEN [curran] The one good thing about the crappy digital recordings is that we got to meet Simon Strange, who was pretty groovy. And good enough to play some wigged out keyboards on this track.

EVERYDAY [hardin/petty] Another cool '50s cover digitally recorded in the studio. This is the only time we ever played this, but it was always an ambition of mine to play the real thing since the Paisley Underground days when we used to warm up with Blitzkrieg Bop.

A PSYCHEDELIC TEABREAK [curran] 4 track hoopla!

DAVEY GNOME'S SUIT [curran]The Teen Trash version where we get some cool effects which probably destroyed Vic's PA. This is of course our tribute to the Punk Rock Love Führer Davey Gnome of the Surfin' Gnomes. There are just not enough tributes to this guy. Anyhoo, one day many a moon ago ('90 or '91), we were jamming with the Gnomes and Davey, who'd been to an interview, turned up wearing a suit, thereby anyone who entered the rehearsal room (were we selling tickets?) asked Davey what was with the suit. This eventually calmed down until Grant turns up a couple of hours late and asked again what was with the suit. All very hilarious, ha ha ha. More tea vicar?
The original version can be heard on Vol. II.

FLOATING [curran] Phasers and phings. I like how I manage to disguise (without fading) the fact that the tape actually ran out while recording this.

PRIMEVAL MAN [smart/dibble]Here we are - just what you've been waiting for. The classic as performed by Lance and Martin on Home and Away (June 1990 in the U.K. so it'll be a good couple of years before this is Australia). If anyone has this on video, we'd love a copy. I think Sir Richard taped McGyver or the Kylie and Cliff Richard Xmas Special over his copy: Stevie had been at a party all night and was watching the lunch time showing of Home and Away with a bunch of hung-over goths, when TV's two coolest dudes appear in a jungle with leopard bikini clad chicks banging clubs together singin' this toon which would have done the Cramps proud. Stevie immediately gets on the phone to tell Sir Richard to tape the tea time showing. The clip was only a verse and a chorus so we had to write a second verse and "arrange" the song. This recording is actually from the Bad Acid Baby sessions with Klaus giving it some seriously primeval drumming. We should mention (for our own protection) that MAD was never into playing this, nor any songs from Home and Away when she drummed with the Tombstones.

ROCK 'N' ROLL KITCHEN [mclean] Sir Richard's classic penned especially for Mary's 21st where we played in her flat, since all the best parties end up on the kitchen (it's the party place to be). One of the real studio recordings.

THE CHICKEN CHOKIN' SQUARE DANCE [arr. curran] This evolved from "Whispering Stan" (another of MAD's faves perhaps to be heard on Vol. II) and is basically us mucking around after a hard day's recording Teen Trash. The chicken noises in the third "verse" were done by Vic that same day who was unfortunately in jail the following weekend when we re-recorded the "vocals": Here Sir Richard really shines, although maybe it was a bit too soon after that Drifter ad since "speak English boooy!" abounds. (Also after seeing some really dodgey country band at the 13th Note in Glasgow, where the singer kept asking some Leroy to get him a glass of water.) Introduction by Vic Boyd.

RASPBERRY JAM [curran] Written that morning and recorded in a oner for Teen Trash.

ONE UGLY CHILD [e. mc daniel] A Bo Diddley classic murdered by us. Again a one off - we just played it the once for the Teen Trash re-recordings.

ZOMBIE EYES [curran] Witten after Grant and I having our first hallowe'en in Manchester (1993) [so the reference to the M6 isn't pure artisitc licence]. This particular night found us groovin' to the sounds of Smile, a really cool 60's garage/psych club we'd just found and would frequent our whole year there (Grant even ended up on their posters/flyers), while wearing ping pong ball type zombie eyes the entire night. From the Teen Trash (i.e. fancy digital) re-recording.

SPACED (LIVE IN STUDIO) [the zoo] Actually live in Vic's bedroom. Like Davey Gnome's Suit (Vol. II), we wanted to see if we could actually play this live. There also exists a later version with sitar, tablas and all kinds of shit on it from the studio re-recording, but the sound is way too clean and the drumming bollocks. Basically, if you have an 11 minute 23 second instrumental consisting of 2 bass notes and not one chord change, the drums need to be pretty f*cking spectacular. Which is what Vic does here.

STAND BY ME [ben e. king] From the Bad Acid Baby sessions. If you're unfortunate enough to have an 80 minute CDR this has probably sneaked onto it and is a good time to stop.

Stevie Mooncat
So if you're interested in this miracle of modern technology send a mail.
Now available "Psychedelic Nightmares II" - the earlier Tombstones and later Transformed Men recordings. This is mostly a two track radio cassette recorded in the rehearsal room deal and only recommended if you really dig Vol. I. Even then you'll think it sucks.