DEADITES

The DeaditesWith one foot in the grave and one foot on the dance floor, the Deadites were an Austin-based band of born losers who left a trail of whiskey bottles, broken guitars and fist fights across Texas in the early oughts. They launched themselves at the end of the 90's garage rock renaissance and lurked in the shadows of this decades' great garage rock hoax (the hoax was that the music industry types saw dollar signs while critics stuck thier indie-rock sticks way up thier asses and the purists just sat back and laughed at the notion that garage could ever be the second coming of grunge). The Deadites understood the real definition of being a garage band had nothing to do with the music biz or any kind of retro style. It's about a love for rock 'n' roll and the honesty of punk rock: There is nothing political about this music, just sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll ; and the blues, but that's another lengthy dissertation. The Deadites were all about having a good time and not taking themselves too seriously (the unofficial garage rock manifesto). Sadly, the Deadites dissapeared from the scene in 2004, as garage rock seemed to fade away from the buzz factories of hipsville. The story goes that they are buried in some unmarked shallow grave, awaiting thier resurrection by the deep dark desire to get drunk and play rock 'n' roll that is inside them as well as inside of us."we are who we eat. " - George A. RomeroThe Deadites story goes back to the beginning of the 1990's. Singer, Kevin White, Drummer Hank Tosh, guitarist Darin Bond, and bassist Mike Poppitt all lived in the Dallas - Fort Worth area where redneck tradition clashed with urban decay, leaving the kids of new suburbia caught between the Bush I nightmare and the Bush II apocolypse. Hank will tell you about growing up in a small town on the doorstep of west Texas, he would listen to the Circle Jerks and wish that he was anywhere but Texas and how punk rock was his salvation. Likewise, Darin and Mike will tell you how hardcore punk helped them survive high school, but they're proud to be from the same state that produced bands like the 13th Floor Elevators and the Butthole Surfers. They are all proud now to call Texas home. Scientists and historians have tried to figure out just what happened in the universe to produce Kevin White. To describe him, I would just say to think of Matt Dillon's character in ' Over the edge' crossed with Dean Martin in " Rio Bravo". But, let's get to the important stuff : 1995. Darin had spent a couple of years trying to fit in the Dallas music scene with 'Headswim', a band that mixed noise, blues and psychedelics and left thier fans' ears ringing but the rest of the town deaf. Darin and Headswim drummer Greg Cummings would join forces with Hank and Mike for the early Pink Floyd meets Crash Worship experiment they called Hypnoscope. That was short-lived, and Darin, Mike and Greg would soon migrate to the music mecca (sorry Dallas, give up NOW! you'll never be as cool as Austin) with Kevin following shortly after.The Austin garage/punk scene of the mid-90's was a special time and place. Not to compare, but it had a feeling like those romantic punk scenes of the 70's that we all read about. Austin is a town where you can go out any night of the week and hear just about any genre of music and discover that each genre has it's own thriving indipendent scene. And, of course, there is the history of Blues. You can literally throw a rock down sixth street and hit a Stevie Ray wannabe. But where else will you find Willie Nelson playing in a small honky tonk dive, while Iggy Pop is playing in the middle of the street? But it was hanging out at a skate shop listening to the cool sounds of instro kings, the Sir Finks, or recieving a testimonial at a record store by the Lord High Fixers, or a backyard bbq with the killer-on-the-road sounds of the Phantom Creeps, or the beer and sweat cocktail of packing yourself into the 60-capacity Blue Flamingo to see the Motards, the Chumps and the Reclusives create pure punk rock bliss( that led our transplants to believe they had found the promised land).In early '96 Darin, Mike and Greg would form the Negatives, the result of all night parties at thier house on the outskirts of town, where they would play Chuck Berry and Gun Club covers and develop a style that didn't fit into the common idea of garage but was definitely true Texas Punk. At the same time, Mike and Kevin formed the Long Tamales who combined 80's hardcore with surf instros. SInce booking gigs required effort, they threw house parties, which at the time was really the best venue. (Hank played with the Blackouts at one party and the Stingrays at another where it became dubbed (thanks to Sean Handran) the 'Action House')) Every weekend, somebody had a bunch of bands playing in their living room or on thier back porch. A free show with free beer? What a concept.1998 was a time of change. After the tragic death of the Tamales' drummer and Greg's impending move to Colorado, not much seemed to be happening. The Negatives were asked to play a Halloween party where each band would play as some famous act. At the time they were doing covers of both the Sonics and G.G. Allin & the Jabbers, and they couldn't decide who to be, so they split the set between the two. Over the next two weeks the buzz over thier performance resulted in many requests for future gigs. They figures doing the Jabbers was more suited to a one time only experience, but doing the Sonics would be cool, so they learned a full set by the Northwest legends and played a christmas party at thier own house. It was a smashing success.Meanwhile, back in Dallas, Hank was keeping busy playing with the Stingrays who took the blues/punk setup of two guitars and drums and applied it to surf. Following that he played with the Blackouts (some former Moodswings), who played a loving tribute to the Nuggets/Pebbles/Back from the Grave state of mind. upon hearing that his old friends were doing a Sonics thing (playing a few sonics covers as well, and having played with Mike and Darin before), he begged them to come to Dallas and play. The problem was, at the beginning of the new year Greg was rocky mountain high, so naturally Hank had to fill in. Billed as the 'Soniks', they played several gigs and parties in Dallas and Austin. With Hank in Dallas, things got more complicated when Kevin moved to Waco, but they were having too much fun. They decided to become a real band and expand thier setlist a little as well as writing thier own songs. Darin had always wanted to put a horror-themed band together. " Like the Misfits meets the Sonics. " He once said. "And we'll call ourselves the Deadites." The idea had been tossed around for several years, but sometime after they took up the Evil Dead moniker they realized there were other bands with the same name, but they didn't care. They were a garage band. How many 60's bands shared the same name ? "Fuck 'em! " In march of 1999, during a sxsw party they played thier first original song "Coupe De Villian " by introducing themselves " We are no longer the Soniks. We are now THE DEADITES!!!!! "That one party was legendary. It was estimated to have recieved over 300 guests and photos show more than 80 people inside the house while the Lord High Fixers performed. The Deadites would immortalize the night in a song "Action House Party"."This next song goes out to all the girls buried in my backyard." -introduction to 'Hey Little Ghoul' Ft. Worth, Feb. '01Despite being spread out across the state, the Deadites would spend the next couple of years playing all over Texas. They would play with some of thier favorite bands and form great friendships with many: the Jewws, the Hatchbacks, the Mullens, Sons of Hercules, Magnetic IV, Down and Outs/ Omens, the Wontons, the Lottie Collins, and Frigg-a-go-go. Thier only out of state gig ever was in New Orleans with Dallas' Gospel Swingers and Frigg-a-go-go. They would become the Mr. Hyde to the Swingers' Dr. Jeckyl, playing several shows together. They did all this despite not being able to rehearse a whole lot, but sounded like they played every night (o.k. some nights they would just be so fucked-up, but the audience didn't seem to mind: "that's my Deadites." ) Dysfuction set in when it came to recording. With all the means available in Austin, all of thier recordings were done in Dallas. Thier first sessions were with friend (and former Mood Swings Guitarist) Paul Kulksar and featured guest appearances by Kari Luna (Gospel Swingers) on organ and Mark Ridlin (Lithium X-Mas) on theremin. They would also record with Swingers' Chris Merlick, but the most solid sessions were done by the Mullens' Tim Stile at Hank's house on annex. One Stile session produces a little ditty called "Jokes on You" a classic 'girl-done-me-wrong' garage stomp, that would follow up the often played 'Hey Little Ghoul' recieving tons of airplay by Bill Kelly's "Teenage Wasteland" program on New York's WFMU as well as the Wayback Machine out of St. Louis. They Appeared on Little Steven's "Underground Garage" compilation, and did a split 7" with the Hellions for Center of the World recordsd. They would also appear on four different comps : "Diggy Diggy Die" and "Diggy Diggy Dead" for Rubble Records, "All That's Left After the Puking " on Android Corporation, and "Shakin' In my Boots" on Licorice Tree Records. Plans to release all of thier recordings as one full length have been on the table but have yet to materialize. In 2002 things started to slow down. At a Dallas show opening for Electric Frankenstien, thier lack of rehearsal began to show. The audience didn't seem to mind and they were followed by the Riverboat Gamblers, who blew everyone away including the headliners. They would also appear at Gearfest in Austin and in march of '03 a show at beerland would be filmed and presented on the Austin Music Network cable channel. Everyone seemed to keep busy with other projects. Hank would play with A Feast of Snakes, the Gospel Swingers, the Ravens, The Hotrails, and currently plays with the Mullens and the Blackouts. Darin has been tearing it up all over Texas with the 00 Spies and Mike has toured Europe with the Hard Feelings and the U.S. with the White Ghost Shivers, while Darin and Mike and Kevin put together heavy punk outfit, the Lo-Fives.After a year of not gigging, the Deadites reunited in '04 for a show in Dallas. One of the opening bands cancelled, so the boys decided they could whip out a few Sonics covers and extend the show to two sets. The first set was amazing, like thier haitus never happened. They should have quit while they were ahead. Shortly into the second set, Kevin jumped off the stage and broke his leg. ( which kevin fuller tried to patch with duct tape and drumsticks). That november the Lo-Fives would play dallas and the Deadites would reunite for one last time during an encore. With so many other projects to keep them busy, they all agreed it was time to let the dead sleep. However, rumors of a reunion have been surfacing, so who knows. If there is a p.a. and some cold beer, those of us who enjoy a little fuzzed-out, bluesy garage punk, may find out that dead men can't die.-J.W. Blues March 2007