Sunday, May 18, 2008

I'm in control



The band F - no one seems to have a credible justification for the name - was formed in 1982 and released their first 12-inch record You Are An E.P. a year later. Prior to its release, the band broke up into two bands - one punk rock and the other '70s-style heavy metal - with the same name and performing the same songs in their respective styles.
This miniscule controversy - as well as a number of childish and unfriendly pranks - brought the band to the attention of the South Florida scene. For an effect probably not half as comical as they thought at the time, the band adopted the newly minted straight edge pose, complete with Xs etc., while drinking heavily and behaving like spoiled, self-destructive, carnivorous swine.
Upon the pressing of 1,500 copies of this record in 1983, no less than 200 of the records were smashed with hammers and against walls by the band and attendees at the practice/show. Such was their idea of a punk rock record release party. Calling the police on their own shows was another party favorite, and they delighted in their last show in Fort Lauderdale where the police actually made arrests instead of the usual simple harrassment.
The band toured twice outside of Florida, both times with White Flag - althought their t-shirts and interviews indicated they had toured with the Ramones.
The band consisted of U.S. Ken "The Duke" Decter, John "John Galt" Golf Jr., Eddie Nothing and alternating drummers Ravenous "Mike Hasson" Gangrene and Pete Moss. Tim Swingle also played bass early on.
The Duke moved to California and played solo under that moniker and as guitar-man for the Ex-Idols. John is a financial planner in South Florida and Eddie (who also played for the Gay Cowboys in Bondage) is now a bill collecter in Tampa. Rav has not been heard of in some time, and Pete won't ever be again, as he died in mid-1997 while abusing some straight-edge heroin. (Rest in peace, Pete.)
[Note: Someone wrote to the website to say that this is incorrect; Pete Moss committed suicide in 1997]
In the early 1990s, the F-Boys appeared in South Florida, having no other connection with the band than their name. And then, following their example, F, The Band Formerly Known as the John Birch Society were born in Gainesville in 1994 and released a fine e.p. "Die You Stupid Hippies."


F - You Are An E.P. (VBR vinyl rip)

4 comments:

Aesop said...

I was in the F Boyz, and grew up seeing F.
Here's a comprehensive F post on my blog

http://cosmichearse.blogspot.com/2008/02/you-are-blog-post.html

Aesop said...

Oh, and I added your link, thanks for a great blog.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Geoff said...

Dude, that rules. I saw that post a couple of weeks ago, and my semi-recent acquisition of the 12" and the subsequent ripping of it by my roommate led to my post

And thanks for posting all that French black metal shit, it rules