Working Title  TOTAL DEATH : The Beaver Proxy

Recorded : October 1995

Studio : Mallon’s Studio, Bryant St, SF

Producer : Tom Mallon

Lineup :  Craig Gray - guitar

              Paul Hood - guitar

              Erich Werner - bass

              Tom Mallon - drums

              Mark Sullivan - keys

Mix : Craig Gray

Release : unreleased

There were 17 tracks recorded, they are in alphabetical order :

     1.     Andi (Gray)

     2.     Beetles  (Hood)

     3.     Bolero (Gray)

     4.     Bossa Nova (Toiling Midgets)

     5.     Chas (Gray)

     6.     Clock  (Toiling Midgets)

     7.     Fast 6  (Werner)

     8.     You’ve Lost That Lovin Feelin (P. Spector/B. Mann/C. Well)

     9.     Machine  (Werner)

     10.      Nein  (Toiling Midgets)

     11.      No Paul No  (Hood)

     12.      Petrouchka  (Toiling Midgets)

     13.      Quiet Song   (Gray)

     14.      Seven  (Gray)

     15.      Soft Face  (Hood)

     16.      Xploitation  (Werner/Mallon)

     17.      Younger Brother  (Werner)


Mark Sullivan, Erich Werner, Craig Gray, Paul Hood and Tom Mallon

We had been together in our new form for 3 years by the time we recorded this, Mark being the newest addition at about a year. The songs are pretty much our repetoire at the time with a couple of jams. We had tried playing and recording with a different singers during the previous couple of years after the lineup change but even though there were some interesting results it didn’t work out. The kind of things that did work were the experiments, for example, Tom had us play and record while listening to “The Rites of Spring” in the headphones. Songs like Petrouchka were the result. Somewhere there are  two cassettes, one marked 1 - 51, the other 52- 100, the ideas from that session.

We rehearsed every Sunday at Tom’s studio . It was the highlight of my week. I would take the bus from Haight and Filmore downtown, getting off at Second and Market. It would be deserted and I would walk the few blocks up to Mallon’s and not see a soul. I was usually early and would sit on the bottom of the big pillars outside, smoking and waiting. Sometimes Erich might zoom up on his bike, most of the time Tom would arrive at 11 on his bicycle and we would go up. We set up and waited for people to arrive, Paul usually last, all sweaty and smelly from softball. We would play for a few hours. Alot of these were recorded in some form or another.

  Tom decided it was time for us to record in October 1995. We set up in his studio, played and recorded every night for a week, no singer this time. We continued  to play gigs and send out tapes for the next year to little or no interest. We decided to take an 11 year break. As of this date these recordings remain unreleased.