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Through the Back Doors of Time, Through the Back Doors of Space, Through the Back Doors of the Universe, Here Come the Backdoor Men! Cleveland's Notorious Backdoor Men Release "Mohawk Combover" Epic Psychedelic Pop Disc Projected to Top Charts Cleveland, Ohio, May 10, 2004 - Forty years after their founding in a Fairview Park garden shack, Cleveland's notorious Backdoor Men have released their masterpiece. "Mohawk Combover," featuring 16 new BDM songs plus a bonus live performance recorded at the height of the band's first wave of popularity and influence in 1977, was recorded at 609 Recording in Bedford over the past 18 months at by former Breaker, Guided by Voices, and Cobra Verde guitarist Don Depew and mastered by Cobra Verde's Mark Klein at Noisefloor Studio, also in Cleveland. The songs were written primarily by the band's longtime songwriting team of Terry Hartman and Dan Cook. But this time, they set themselves a new co-writing challenge: Cook now lives in Portland, Ore., while Hartman has retreated to a farm in the countryside outside of Cleveland. Using Portland musicians, Cook wrote and recorded demos of most of his songs in a Portland warehouse, then sent cassette tapes of them to Hartman, who added his touch. Meantime, Hartman crafted his songs in his barn, working most of them out in the studio with band members just prior to recording them. Cook drove to Cleveland for the three recording sessions that resulted in the bulk of the material on this CD. The record includes 12 new compositions by Cook and Hartman, as well as two by multi-instrumentalist and former Peter Laughner sideman Don Harvey, a single cut by co-written by Cook and BDM drummer Paul Nickels, and a song written by Laughner and performed originally with his high school band, "Mr. Charlie," in 1969. The bonus track is a riveting electric arrangement of P.F. Sloan's timeless protest anthem, "Eve of Destruction." "This record is infused by the manic energy of the late rock visionary Peter Laughner, in whose footsteps the band continues to misstep," noted Cleveland critic Carlo Wolff, who has been reviewing bands and records since the 1960s for the likes of Rolling Stone and The Village Voice. "The terrain explored here by the Backdoor Men is familiar to the few who have trod it before: anger, completely unjustified bitterness, alienation, but of a suburban, punch-drunk nature and painted upon a canvas of sarcasm and irony," he continued. "This record, by a tribe of faux rock stars and poet-pretenders conversing aimlessly in the dark, somehow cuts past and through truth and lies simultaneously. At its very heart, it is rock 'n roll that will force your ass to sway, although your head will register regrets. "These songs at last focus the band's smoldering if inconsequential anger outwardly rather than inwardly." Wolss noted "how lame and out of touch with rock reality these guys still are, which oddly enough is the basis for the honesty that comes through. No marketing pretense here whatsoever. No commercial intent. No chance for late-in-life fame. Just a final screech and then darkness." So: Who the Hell are The Backdoor Men ??????? Here's the essay on the Backdoor Men that appears on ClePunk (www.clepunk.com), the premier site for the historical and current Cleveland punk scene... The Backdoor Men: They came, they played, they drank, they went home to bed. The Backdoor Men were first envisioned in the mid-1960s by the childhood friends Dan & Chris Cook (yes, brothers) and Terry Hartman, all of Fairview Park and all in the throes of an obsession kicked off first by the British Invasion and later fueled by the Byrds, Bob Dylan, and both urban and country blues. By the time the boys launched themselves onto Cleveland's original music scene in 1977, they had twisted these influences into a repertoire of a couple dozen originals in the "nuggets" psycho-garage mode to go along with their selection of British Invasion, American Psychedelic, and New York/Detroit "underground" covers. Initially, the boys in BDM found it difficult to crack the Pirate's Cove, which was the center of a scene that included contemporaries such as Pere Ubu, the Dead Boys, and others. Their solution was to start their own alternative showcase just down the street in a dingy bar called Fitzpatrick's Rainbow. Soon the lads were booking a slew of acts to accompany them in their weekly appearances in the small but perfectly-vibed venue. Bands like the Kneecappers, Lepers, x-blank-x, Heironymous Bosch, Public Enemy and more suddenly had a new place to play, albeit mostly to friends and fellow musicians, and to develop their material in a friendly setting. The boys were also among the inhabitants of cheap rehearsal space in Cleveland's then-moribund Warehouse District. First they shared space with associates of the Dead Boys on West Sixth St.; later, after suffering through numerous break-ins, they took over a huge loft on West Ninth St., which they sublet to several other bands and was the site of much drunken revelry. (It also featured on its first floor a small tavern called the Lakefront, where they would play a few years later.) Soon Dan Cook, a journalist by the harsh light of day, had launched a publishing venue with the notorious VELAND magazine, his answer to the sporadically published (though informative) CLE. VELAND took the piss out of virtually EVERYONE, from the rotund David Thomas to the geeky Andrew Klimek, and fueled a good battle between Fitzpatrick's and the Cove, which eventually relented and began to book the Backdoor Men. The Backdoor Men played virtually every venue available between Youngstown and Toledo and all points in between in 1978 and 1980. Never particularly sophisticated as musicians, they compensated with tons of material. Cook and Hartman were extraordinarily prolific. From the neo-psychedelia of Hartman's "Bomber's Moon" and Cook's "Neutralizer," the boys progressed through offbeat pop takes like Hartman's "Handicapped Kids" and Cook's "Bad Girl" to such timeless gems as Hartman's "Life" and "Literary Tradition," and Cook's "Ain't No Magic" and "Club Madrid." In all, Cook and Hartman, occasionally aided by Chris Cook, generated more than 100 originals, a number of which were covered by other area bands in need of material. As 1980 drew to a close, Terry Hartman - a man who took songwriting VERY seriously - was chafing to take full control, and parted amicably with the Cooks to form Terry & The Tornadoes. The Tornadoes were short-lived but critically acclaimed, and were indeed the Cadillac Fleetwood that finally realized fully the extent of Hartman's songwriting abilities. During this period, Hartman teamed with Jimmy Zero and Johnny Blitz of the Dead Boys to record two of his originals for a single on Bomp Records, "Man with the X-Ray Eyes" b/w "Down with the Lonely Boys," but Bomp foundered and the single was never released. The Backdoor Men soldiered on, working under a variety of names, self-releasing a 45 under the moniker of "Bomber's Moon," and generating even more material. Hartman eventually did return, and with the Cook Brothers and BDM drummer Paul Nickels, formed the band that was to be their swan song, Napoleon in Rags. Cook and Hartman put together a fresh batch of material, honed it to perfection, played out for a year, and then, like so many others of the era, appeared to disappear into the mists of time. Only to emerge, alive, in 2004.... The Backdoor Men Are: Dan Cook: Vocals, Guitar Terry Hartman: Vocals, Guitar Chris Cook: Bass, Vocals Paul Nickels: Drums, Vocals Derek DePrator: Guitars, Bass, Vocals Don Harvey: Guitars, Bass, Vocals Additional Musicians Include: Jimmy Juhn: Guitars, Keyboards Don Depew: Guitars, Keyboards Michael Hronek: Keyboards Matt Nelson: Percussion Samantha Starborn: Vocals MOHAWK COMBOVER Track-By-Track Take Me Away (D. Cook) This blast of pure punk rock kicks the door down. A cry from the edge of a world in collapse. One of the first written for the record, but, oddly enough, recorded on the final day, in one take. Cultural Insanity (D. Cook) A real Dead Boys-styled rave up about modern-world craziness in Cleveland Heights, of all places. Not Fed Up With You Yet (D. Cook) What's punk rock without a Farfisa organ? Here's another slab of domestic madness, served up with a beer, a cigarette, and a classic garage rock riff. Bus Station Gyration (D. Cook) The Backdoor Men's loving tribute to Detroit's Mitch Ryder... Hope you like it, Mitch. What you're hearing here is the first and ONLY time this song was ever played, warts & all. I'm So Fucked Up (P. Laughner) Deceased rock legend Peter Laughner was a good friend to the Backdoor Men's two key songwriters, Dan Cook and Terry Hartman. Here's a legendary number that Peter wrote for his high school band, Mr. Charlie. This got his band unplugged and thrown out of a high school dance at the Rocky River city hall... Essentially a very nice R&B romp, played in affectionate memory of the most influential Cleveland rock musician ever. Sung by Derek DePrator, who loves Peter and whom Peter would have loved. Fuck the French (D. Harvey) Written by former Laughner sideman and current Backdoor Men Jack of All Instruments Don Harvey. People, PLEASE: This one's for fun. We DO NOT HATE the French! Especially we don't hate their wine. Hallelujah I'm A Goofball Bum (T. Hartman) In case anyone didn't know it, 1950's beatniks were punk rockers before there was ever rock & roll... Here's a testament to goofball bums everywhere, courtesy of Terry Hartman - one of Cleveland's true legends. Pure Heart (D. Cook) A chilling meditation on the aging heart: written, sung, and harmonica'd by Dan Cook. Feel the pain, feel the loneliness. This is possibly his career masterpiece, though who knows what comes next? Oklahoma Jack (D. Harvey) Throw every sixties guitar sound you can think of into a blender, give it a great hook, and say "San Francisco." You've got "Oklahoma Jack." Yes, that familiar riff you hear comes courtesy of the Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction." We all had one when we heard this playback for the first time. It's So Strong (D. Cook) Like "Take Me Away," recorded on the spot, in one take, on the last day of recording. Total energy blast, and indeed, "so strong." Knockin' 'Em Down (T. Hartman) Also recorded on the last day, also in one take. The dueling guitar solos are courtesy of Derek Deprator and legendary Breaker guitarist and former Cobra Verde and Guided By Voices bass player Don Depew. Listen quick; this clocks in at less than a minute and a half. Get in, get out, don't linger. Everything is Killing Me (And There's Nothing That's Worth Dying For) (T. Hartman) This is an acoustic, first-take recording of a great piece of punk poetry by Terry Hartman, recorded in the Lakewood attic of Backdoor Men drummer Paul Nickels. Wouldn't change a thing, and we didn't. Well of Rage (P. Nickels, D. Cook) Yes, drummers do occasionally get to add a song. Just ask Ringo. Nickels thanks Cook for lyric help. This one stings like a scorpion. Shit Outta Luck (D. Cook, J. Juhn) Remember the lead character in "Falling Down"? Here's his story, set to music. The most Giant Guitar Riff on the record. Go Home Party Boy (T. Hartman) Eventually the party ends.... It's not always pretty. (See Peter Laughner.) Here's one about the cold light of day. End of the Line (D. Cook, T. Hartman) The last song recorded, on the last day of recording. Thanks to Derek DePrator for some beautiful guitar, and to Dan Cook and Terry Hartman for living it. BONUS TRACK: Eve of Destruction* (P. F. Sloan) *Live Performance by the Backdoor Men, Fitzpatrick's Rainbow, Cleveland, Ohio, January 1977. This is the sound of punk rock in Cleveland when the Flats was a place to be proud of... Or to get killed in. Man, was it fun. And if the Red Hot Chili Peppers would put out this arrangement of a great song, it would be Number One for six weeks. Enjoy. Check out the artist's website: http://www.handsomeproductions.com Track List: 1. Take Me Away 2. Cultural Insanity 3. Not Fed Up With You Yet 4. Bus Station Gyration 5. I'm So Fucked Up 6. Fuck the French 7. Hallelujah I'm A Goofball Bum 8. Pure Heart 9. Oklahoma Jack 10. It's So Strong 11. Knockin' Em Down 12. Everything Is Killing Me 13. Well of Rage 14. Shit Outta Luck 15. Go Home Party Boy 16. End of the Line 17. Eve of Destruction Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
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