Music — 1201 Records
Music, sound design, audio post-production
My "band", The Bohemian Fringe, consists of myself and whatever musician friends I can round up at any given time for performance or recording. I play bass and sing and occasionally play some guitar.
The first studio recordings from the Bohemian Fringe were made in 1986 with just myself on bass, vocals and odd percussion, plus Tony Gross on some guitar bits. Then I got a band together and in 1987 we released a 12-inch, four-song EP, Japanese Haiku Tour. The first full-length album followed in 1991 with "From Parts Unknown" and then... nothing until 2024.
2024 — The Bohemian Fringe: Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax
It's been over 30 years since the last Bohemian Fringe release. Where does the time go? Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax actually includes some songs recorded almost 30 years ago and never released, many of them recorded on 2-inch, 24-track analog tape. The two instrumental tracks were originally done while I was in grad school for projects I was doing while working on my master's degree (big shout-out to Don Maue at Duquesne University!) and included here in updated versions.
Other musicians on this album are: Michael Chan, Rob Cullivan, Mark Gifford, Jeanne Hinkelman, Barbara Johnston, "Lectric" Liz Lottman, Jason Mirwald, Michael J. Petrantoni, Denise Wearne (now Johannessen), Greg Weckesser, plus my brothers Alistair Roberts and Carl Roberts.
The album consists of 10 songs and runs 42-and-a-half minutes.
• Online lyric sheet here
Also available on CD
($10.00, including shipping in the US):
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1 Watertown |
2022 — The Llama Situation: Unauthorized Music Event
What did you do during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020-21? Like many people, I decided to use the down time to accomplish something. I vowed to get back into music, revitalizing my playing and production skills. Unauthorized Music Event by the Llama Situation is the result.
This was originally planned as a Bohemian Fringe album and I thought I'd record some cover songs instead of originals, just to warm up first. But after a few songs I decided to create a new band just for cover tunes, The Llama Situation. I do the vocals and play all the instruments with one exception: I resurrected a 30-year-old analog master tape of myself and the late, great Joe Dady (violins and violas) covering the Pixies' Here Comes Your Man.
The album consists of 8 songs and runs just under 40 minutes.
Also available on CD
($10.00, including shipping in the US)
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1 The World is Not Enough (Garbage) |
1987 — The Bohemian Fringe: Japanese Haiku Tour
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In 1987 I got a band together for live gigs and we released a 12-inch, four-song EP, Japanese Haiku Tour, which included re-makes of "Well of Life" and "Walk Around the Wall". The latter included "free" backwards satanic messages (because the ridiculous fuss about such messages in mainstream rock was still in the news at the time). I'm not sure how we came up with the name for the disc. We'd definitely been discussing the structure of haiku poetry and Susan Moran's art work certainly seemed to evoke a kind of Asian vibe. But I have no idea where the "Tour" bit came from.
In 1988 we released a 7-inch vinyl single with the dance remix of "Walk Around the Wall" on the A-side and a reggae version(!) of Bruce Springsteen's "Cover Me" as the B-side. |
1986 was the year in which I made the first recordings under the name Bohemian Fringe, "Well of Life" and "Walk Around the Wall". They were done by just myself plus Tony Gross on some guitar bits.
1991 — The Bohemian Fringe: From Parts Unknown
Public performances took place with several varied line-ups and included musicians like Michael Chan, Jeff Cary, Barbara Johnston and Bobby Bond. |
1991 saw the first full-length The Bohemian Fringe album, titled "From Parts Unknown",
after the way we were billed in a local concert series (the club had booked about a dozen out-of-town touring bands and us; they didn't want to let on that the Bohemian Fringe
was a local band, because that would have lessened the prestige of the concert series, but they wouldn't simply lie and claim were from somewhere else, so this billing was their solution).
This album included yet a third version of "Well of Life", but it's what I consider the definitive version of the song because it has the
"Friends of the Fringe Choir" on the chorus.
Arpad and the New Sons of the Industrial Revolution — Calm Down
I also produced projects for other artists, like a single by the Urban Squirrels ("Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore" b/w "Jesus at the Ground Round").
One of the highlights of my "beyond the Fringe" exploits was undoubtedly the album "Calm Down" by Arpad and the New Sons of the Industrial Revolution.
The Arpad project was pretty amazing as he was living in Canada at the time. He'd mail us a casette tape of two or three songs and the drummer and I would learn them (I was playing bass on this project, too) on our own. Then Arpad would come to town for a weekend of recording. At the end of one session we had time left so Arpad showed us his song "Flammable" and we we recorded it pretty much on the spot. While recording "Bitching Worker" we ran out of tape. This being the era of two-inch analog tape, we couldn't just pop out and buy another reel. So I improvised by mixing it "dance mix" style and cutting and splicing it to extend the length of the song.
I even performed with Arpad for a few live gigs after the album came out. A fun and unusual experience.
The 1201 Records Catalogue
| Year | Title | Artist | Media Type | 1987 | Japanese Haiku Tour | The Bohemian Fringe | EP - Vinyl | 1988 | Walk Around the Wall/ Cover Me | The Bohemian Fringe | 45rpm single - Vinyl |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore/ Jesus at the Ground Round | The Urban Squirrels | 45rpm single - Vinyl |
| 1989 | Calm Down | Arpad and the New Sons of the Industrial Revolution | Album - Vinyl | 1991 | From Parts Unknown | The Bohemian Fringe | Album - CD | 2022 | Unauthorized Music Event | The Llama Situation | Album - CD | 2024 | Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax | The Bohemian Fringe | Album - CD |
| Unauthorized Music Event and Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax are also available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and most other streaming platforms. | |||