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Hidden away in Ellie’s cuboards were a few cassettes from the 1980s, I am sure there are more cassettes out there in attics all forgotten about, believe me they do no good in boxes in attics, they should be out and jumping around like what they used to be doing all those years ago.
This cassette has travelled quite a lot. It was a “mixed tape” Carlisle style, not your normal mix of “other people’s music”, but our own music/songs played live into a standard cassette machine and sent to someone who cared enough to listen.
Dung´s (other band)”Grinning in the Graveyards” was on the go when he recorded this in his parents mobile caravan in York/UK. He went there to escape memories and his life in Carlisle, after his break-up with his girlfriend. Most of these songs are about his girl-friend; and he recorded this cassette while getting pissed in his parents small caravan where he used to sleep.
The cassette was done for me (as he says so in the recording) but I gave this cassette to Ellie (bass player in Red Aligatorz) and he kept it until (like Frodo’s Ring) it came back to it’s original owner. Hearing it again brought back some fond memories, as well as some smiles and laugh’s, as it is dry sarcastic and sardonic humour which is embedded onto the tape.
The cassette also charts Dung’s musical influences; on it you can hear chord changes reflected in his musical choices: The Dead Kennedy’s, The Anti Nowhere League, Killing Joke, Conflict etc. As well as lyrics of dry humour and playful bitterness. I liked his songs then and I like them more now.
On Side 1 all songs were played on a small folk style acoustic guitar, tuned by ear and strummed with vengeance. The recording starts off sober enough, then as the night goes on his tuning, vocals and style becomes more “relaxed”. These songs would be transferred into a group setting with bass guitar, lead guitar, vocals and drums as was “Grinning in the Graveyards”.
The order of the tracks on the cassette are written next to the titles, Audiomack desided to reorder them…not sure why?
Side 1
When I heard Side 2 I did not know who it was! I thought it was someone else singing Dung’s songs, perhaps a girl friend with a deep voice! I had never heard Dung singing like this before, like it was a 2 track recording (guitar in the background and vocals over dubbed); then I saw scribbled on the cassette “Dung sober”, so this is what he sounded like sober! I had mostly heard him sing while drunk, it is a very different experience to Side 1. If I am wrong and it is someone else singing I would appreciate it if you got in touch to correct the records, otherwise I might be doing him/her an injustice.
Happy listening
Side 2
