THE PURPLE MERKINS

THE PURPLE MERKINS are the garage-punk "side band" of longtime garage-psych masters THE MARSHMALLOW OVERCOAT.
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THE PURPLE MERKINS:
From 1991-1998 The Purple Merkins released 4 vinyl 45s and one vinyl album. All of these tracks were collected in 2005 for the "Merkinmania" CD. Here's the band's story:
By 1991 The Marshmallow Overcoat was getting fancy. The garage-psych group was preparing for a European tour and recording a new album full of string quartets and Rickenbacker 12-string pop. So to keep in touch with his 1966-garage-roots, bandleader Timothy Gassen hatched a “side group” -- and named them The Purple Merkins. The Overcoat would continue on their quest for more sophisticated psych-pop sounds with bigger budgets in real studios -- the Merkins would record crude ’66 fuzz garage, mainly in a band member’s living room.
The Purple Merkins (named in honor of a pubic toupee Gassen saw in Canada during an Overcoat tour) would use essentially the same line-up as the Marshmallow Overcoat, and managed to spit out four seven-inch vinyl releases and two compilation appearances from 1992-1998. All the tracks - and unreleased songs -- were assembled into the limited edition “Merkinmania!” vinyl-only album in Italy.Producer Gassen finally dug out the master tapes in 2005 and re-mastered and edited them for a CD edition. Songs 1-8 were recorded in December 1994 at a “real” studio -- WaterWorks in Tucson, Arizona -- which was also the site of many fine Marshmallow Overcoat recordings from 1988-2008. Randy McReynolds engineered most of the Overcoat sessions, and he joined in on guitar for the Merkins both in these recordings and on stage as well.
These first eight songs were recorded “live,” with the band performing all in the same room and with no overdubs. More than that, they were recorded one after another as if the band were performing a live stage show. (There was a small studio audience, too.) A rough mix of the session was later broadcast on the local “Peyote Stomp” concert radio show.
The Merkins and Overcoat were so intertwined that Misty Lane Records mistakenly issued the Purple Merkins’ version of “My Flash On You” as The Marshmallow Overcoat on the 1996 “Transworld Garage” compilation. (An improved, shorter version of the song is issued for the first time on the CD.) Conversely, the Overcoat issued “A Song For Steven” as a bonus cut on a 1996 CD; the track was actually recorded in the WaterWorks session by the Merkins.
The Purple Merkins’ debut tracks (songs 9-10) were recorded in 1991 at 7n7 Studios, where the Overcoat was also working on new demos. Songs 11-19 were recorded from 1992-1994 at a band member’s house on a ¼” tape machine with three or four microphones and a plethora of cheap beer. These tracks are remarkably vibrant considering the crude recording environment and lack of equipment -- and capture the band’s desire for an authentic ’66 sound with plenty of spittle and mood. They remain Gassen’s favorite of all the Purple Merkins recordings.
It’s easy now to consider “Merkinmania!” only as a phantom album from the Marshmallow Overcoat, filling in the parent group's musical gaps. But The Purple Merkins stand on their own fuzz guitar feet, Farfisa organ pumping away, empty beer cans piled in the corner. So get going, kids -- start your own ’66 garage band!
Liner notes by Marcus Tybalt, Jr.
PURPLE MERKINS DISCOGRAPHY:
"Purple Merkin Power" b/w "Get On This Plane" 45, 1992
What Wave Magazine, Canada
"Ain't Got Enough" b/w "The Wind Blows Your Hair" 45, 1994
Rockadelic Records, USA
Dig It! 4 song 7" EP, 1995
Dionysus Records
Baby's Got Kinks! 4 song 7" EP, 1996
Doctor Vinyl Records, Belgium
Transworld Garage (compilation) LP, 1996 (1 song)
Misty Lane Records, Italy
Battle Royal (compilation) LP/CD, 1998 (1 song)
Blood Red Records, USA
Merkinmania! 19 song LP, 1998
Psych-Out Records, Italy
Merkinmania! 19 song CD, 2005
Dionysus Records, USA
Lost In Tyme Magazine (compilation CD), 2007 (1 song)
Greece
Rumble Skunk Magazine (compilation CD), 2008 (1 song)
Greece
Buy the Purple Merkins CD at www.purple-cactus.tv in the Garage Nation section. FUZZ ON, bruthas and sistas!