A little light relief from Oakland’s premier murder enthusiast, performance artist and general oddball Monte Cazazza. These debut recordings backed up by Throbbing Gristle for this session and released on Industrial Records are not pleasant listening. ‘Candy Man’ is a track that lists all the teenage victims and how they died at the hand of Texas serial killer Dean Coryl. Quite a few victims, all young boys, to fill up a couple of minutes of background noise.
Sorry about the crackles on ‘To Mom On Mother’s Day’ my copy of this 7″ single is a little beaten up.
Text below courtesy of allmusic.com
The work of controversial performance artist Monte Cazazza has been sampled in numerous books, films, and recordings over the years. Hailing from Oakland, CA, Cazazza spent the early ’70s experimenting with his art, often indulging in such gross-out acts as burning a partially decomposed, maggot-infested cat, which would often shock his audience to the point of physically illness. Cazazza caught a break when members of industrial rock groundbreakers Throbbing Gristle came across an issue of the appropriately titled Vile Magazine in 1974, a Valentine’s Day edition which modeled Cazazza on the cover, holding up to the camera a bloody heart that was made to look as if it was torn out of his chest. The up-and-coming artist befriended industrial rockers Throbbing Gristle, as it was Cazazza who supposedly coined the band’s now-trademark phrase, “Industrial Music for Industrial People.” In 1977, Cazazza travelled to England, where he recorded several songs (which featured the sounds of roaring chainsaw, as well as hammers beating on the insides of a piano), including such titles as “Busted Kneecaps,” “Hate,” and “P.S. (Plastic Surgery).” Cazazza also starred in several obscure films around this time as well (including one in which he and a young boy are electrocuted), and contributed to such books as Pranks, Modern Primitives, and The Industrial Culture Handbook, all of which explore his outlandish antics. In addition, Cazazza was an early member of the Throbbing Gristle off-shot group Psychic TV, and has issued several full-length solo albums over the years, including the 1996 compilation, The Worst of Monte Cazazza.
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Steve
December 15, 2008 at 11:57 pmIs there a credit on that Slash piece? (my eyesight just isn’t what it was!)
Penguin • Post Author •
December 16, 2008 at 12:00 amIts just an Industrial Records press sheet. J.B wrote the piece for Slash originally in 1979. Don’t know what Slash it was in originally. I will link it from ‘Print material’ section in the photo gallery so you can get the chance to read it properly. Hit the link in the post, expand the seperate window to fullsize, then click the curser over the page you want to read one more time and it will increase in size and read better.
Nic
December 16, 2008 at 10:11 amAnother classic upload, Penguin…
I love this single, and the ‘Something for Nobody’ EP: there’s a real ugliness to his voice on many of his cuts, particularly those like ‘Tiny Tears’…
I sampled a little of Monte for an album cut back in the early 90’s (the sex pulsation groove of ‘Climax’ )…
Another ‘Candy Man’ (Dean Corll) related track:
Stickmen with Rayguns – ‘Kill the Innocent’ (available on the classic ‘Texas Trip’ compilation which the Butthole Surfers put out in the mid-1980’s)…
Martin C
December 17, 2008 at 2:34 amYeah, great tune – the mix I’ve got is really different to this though, none of the guitar sounds, just that whirling bass typhoon and really audible vocals
Know what Nic means about the sinister vox – for me, ‘Rabid Rats(Vietnam)’ is the one – sounds like a delighted retard giggling and frotting himself over history videos.
Penguin • Post Author •
December 17, 2008 at 10:30 amYou sure you have this single Martin? Thought only one mix existed… Perhaps you are thinking of the single ‘Ossie’s Dream’ by the 1981 Tottenham Hotspur players re: the whirling bass typhoon?
Nic
December 17, 2008 at 11:40 amMartin: The version you have is the version from the ‘The Worst of Monte Cazazza’ CD which came out in the very early 90’s…
The cuts have a slightly different mix – the guitar is still there (but a lot of the treble has been rolled off and it is buried deeper in the mix) and the vocals are mixed slightly louder…
Martin C
December 17, 2008 at 12:53 pmYeah, I think that must be it Nic. ‘Worst of’ is highly recommended – the first track ‘Psychiatric Review’ (with Monte or a colleague pretending to analyse the contents of the CD and launching into a tirade of abuse) is pretty funny. Penguin, I do remember the time William Bennett had fallen out with other members of Whitehouse and had to draft in Chas and Dave on backing synths for a couple of London ‘live aktions’, but sadly my copy of Ossie’s Dream is long lost (yeah, I know, ” call yerself a fan”…)
Nic
December 17, 2008 at 12:58 pmI heard that Whitehouse took There Ain’t No Pleasin’ You” as their motto at that time…a motto that the audience at the Roebuck took to heart…
Ian S
December 18, 2008 at 2:04 pm“Penguin, I do remember the time William Bennett had fallen out with other members of Whitehouse and had to draft in Chas and Dave on backing synths for a couple of London ‘live aktions’”
Did that really happen? Remember hearing of Some Bizzare records putting Showaddywaddy on with Test Department but Chas n Dave with Whitehouse lol.
Knew someone who tried to organise a Chas N Dave vs Wurzels soundclash but alas it never came off.
Farmer Glitch
December 18, 2008 at 4:21 pmI am pretty sure the Chas N Dave vs Wurzels clash actually kicked off in Yeovil last year ! I almost went – but thought better of it in the end ..
Martin C
December 21, 2008 at 1:38 amOK, IMPORTANT WARNING – GEEK ALERT – GEEK ALERT – the villagers wave their ‘Sex Beast!’ placards and reduce Rupert the Bear’s vice den to a smouldering ruin – Yoko Ono suffers a paper cut and goes into rehab – GEEK ALERT – GEEK ALERT
After rooting thru some Cds, there is a ‘third’ mix of this, which was recorded for me by someone years ago, among some other electro stuff. The difference is the track is about 30 seconds longer than both this and the CD remix, has the vox on both channels throughout and is completely bass-dominated with the guitars nearly inaudible (the drum sound is a lot denser and less ‘snare’y) – there’s vinyl crackles, so God knows where it comes from…fuck, just can’t believe my night ended on the internet, typing this up….