June Collective Collaborative Blog: Past Local Bands that Cast a Long Shadow

In a recent issue of Medium Rock 'n Roll, an indie music zine issued by Reflective Tapes, they asked the question: Who are some past local bands that cast a long shadow? For the June collaborative blog, members of the collective responded to this prompt by discussing previous local bands from Chicago, Cleveland, Phoenix and Tucson whose legacy lives on. Whether they garnered national attention or remained in underground obscurity, these bands show how local music can endure a timeless legacy in their communities. 

A. Iwasa's Picks
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Artist:  Reacción
Years active:  circa 2002-’03 
A Condenada and Bosque predecessor band, Reaccion was a Chicago hardcore punk band I liked a great deal more than subsequent projects, and as far as I can tell is largely forgotten, as is another Condenada predecessor band I liked much more, Human Order, relative to how popular Condenada went on to be.

Confrontar was on both Reaccion's 2002 demo and the South Kore Records compilation, Ratas de Ciudad.  
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Artist:  Unsewn
Years active:  circa 2002
When I first met Ryan Farrell and Dave Ryan from Unsewn in 1994, they were already jamming together in a band called Trench Mouth.  They found out the name was taken, and changed theirs to Proon, which is what they were called all the times I saw them in the late 1990s.

Dave went on to play drums for a couple punk bands including Pride of Ohio, and Ryan also played drums for an infamous local punk band, seemingly lost to history, called the Nympho Granny Douche Masters, or just the Douche Masters for short.

Dave has since passed, but by the time Proon was changing its name to Unsewn, Ryan was also in an industrial band, Stitches, with Jeff Pillar from The Forgotten.  And perhaps most importantly, Ryan went on the play bass for Mushroomhead!  But since then, some smarty pants decided to connect Ryan's name to the given name of another prominent rocker from northeast Ohio, so you won't find anything about Proon, Unsewn or Stitches on Discogs connected to his name.  
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Gregory Gonzales’ Pick
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Artist: Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl
Years Active: 2003 - 2013
It’s been nearly 10 years since we lost Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl. An absolute power duo, Amy and Derrick Ross brought their humor, folk sensibilities, and overall good vibes to Southern Arizona — they were staples in Bisbee, but known across Arizona — and are missed direly. Amy sang and played the keyboard while Derrick played guitar and sang backup, and they both shined through as stars together. 

The strength of their love for each other was matched only by that of their music. You could feel the love through the notes; it was a privilege to see their chemistry on the stage, through subtle glances, live songwriting, and banter. They could bring the audience from laughs to tears in two songs (or at least, they could do that to me). As for the music, their dedication was impressive. Legendary comedian Doug Stanhope (their landlord in Bisbee) once hired them to play the entirety of Pink Floyd's The Wall for his girlfriend's birthday — which they learned in its entirety, down to the bullhorn vocals — which shows their dedication to their craft.

These two wanderers found their home in the desert after traveling around together, but in 2013 Amy lost her battle with Lupus and Derrick ended his own life shortly after. For more on them, check out the documentary about them (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21200236/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_ov_pl) and the two-part Doug Stanhope podcast, “Cliffhanger” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8HEAWWavKg and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8ZnZDZSWtQ). 
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Parisa's Picks
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​Artist: Sun City Girls
Years Active: 1979 - 2007

No one revolutionized the Arizona local music scene quite like Sun City Girls. A trio that dared to push their punk roots (emerging from Phoenix bands like JFA - who really deserve a whole write-up in and of themselves) with fearless experimentation, multicultural fusion, collaborative spirit, and eclectic genre-blending all with an intensely D.I.Y. ethic. They seamlessly blended elements of free jazz, folk, psychedelic rock, with inspiration from Latin American, Middle Eastern, African and Asian instrumentation, topped with their own unique oddball personas and sense of humor. 

While there’s so much to be said about this group, they have such a huge discography and dynamic, rich history that even as a life-long fan I’m still not fully informed on. The least I could say if you’re new to Sun City Girls is that they’ve undoubtedly had a lasting impact on avant-garde and experimental music both within the Arizona music scene and worldwide due to their devoted cult following. This link will take you to a radio show above from one of my favorite programs, Observations of Deviance on WFMU, that shares a great 2 hour mix of some of the best Sun City Girls material along with collaborations and related bands within the scene and inspired by their legacy. 
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Artist: Monster Pussy
Years Active: 2009 - 2013

Every local scene has its heroes. There’s always that one person who champions the community and makes it feel like a welcoming space. When I moved to Tucson in 2010, it was clear to see who that person was. At every local show (and I really mean every local show), you could always expect a short character front and center rocking cut-off shorts and a tuft of bright pink hair on top of their otherwise shaved head, doing a fidgety dance from the beginning to end that resembled movements half-human and half-feline. That person was Mullarkey - a Tucson DIY legend and local musician. I had moved to Tucson as an incredibly self-conscious eighteen year old coming from Scottsdale, an infamously snobby, judgemental and superficial city. I never knew how to unabashedly be myself, nor had I ever seen that quality in my community growing up. Seeing Mullarkey attending every show by themselves, being fully immersed in the music and embracing it in their own weird way was truly nothing short of inspiring. As I’ve talked with friends over the years reminiscing about the 2010s music scene in Tucson, it’s very clear Mullarkey’s infectious energy and fervent passion for local music changed a lot of lives. 

Aside from being a local scene staple, Mullarkey also had two great weirdo, oddball outsider music projects called Monster Pussy and Run-On Sunshine. These projects were casiotone-driven twee pop with punk roots that largely sang about cats and autobiographical stories about biking around Tucson, being an outcast, etc. etc. At times sort of atonal in the way The Shags were but more grooves and dusty desert riffs. There’s no doubt in my mind that those groups paved the way for Tucson weirdos to make the exact kind of music they were born to create.

Mullarkey moved out of Tucson to St. Petersburg, Florida about eight or so years ago to go somewhere where it was even hotter and even dryer. It looks like Run-On Sunshine put out one final album last year, but knowing Mullarkey, this isn’t the last we’ll hear from them!
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Artist: Mighty Sphincter 
Years Active: 1982 - 2018ish (on and off)
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Mighty Sphincter was a death rock, punk and goth band from Phoenix formed in 1982 by guitarist and self-proclaimed vampire, Doug Clark, who remained the only consistent member of the band. Although they didn't become the household name they should have, they undoubtedly were a huge inspiration in both the underground and national punk and goth scene.

They started off their career with a killer 7" that's completely ahead of it's time - a self-titled debut that showcased hardcore punk energy with very progressive song structures that was unabashedly queer (in '82, mind you!) Over time and after the departure of original singer Ron Reckless, they shifted towards the death rock sound and let Clark take the lead. It's easy to see even from the delightfully lo-budget and amazing music video above that Clark was a one-of-a-kind artist and performer. In his personal life, he slept in a coffin and was rumored to drink blood, truly living death rock as a lifestyle and not just wearing it as a costume! They were known for insane stage antics that involve skits, ceremonies, bizarre props, but even with all that, the music stood above all else. Introducing prog, art-rock, goth, and doom to punk changed the Arizona underground scene permanently. Criminally underlooked on the national level, any fan of 45 Grave, Christian Death, etc. would be thrilled to hear the decades worth of Mighty Sphincter's music. 

For more reading, I highly recommend this memoriam on Doug Clark on AZ Central that also features some incredible shots from legendary music photographer Joseph Cultice. 

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P.S. - For related reading, Greg and I wrote a short article many years back about the Tucson hardcore scene of the 80s and early 90s. We interviewed people about the bands that made the scene - the crusty punx, the outsider oddballs, the ones that lasted, the ones that didn’t, and what the overall community felt like back then. You can read it here: https://www.trialanderrorcollective.com/music-blogs/they-called-it-thc-a-glimpse-into-tucsons-punk-history
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Here are some videos and quick descriptions of bands mentioned in the article above:

Conflict (from Tucson, not to be confused with the UK punk band of the same name)
Hardcore punk from late 80s, in my opinion one of the greatest albums to ever come from Arizona. Fronted by the incredible Karen Allman, who if I’m not mistaken is now a librarian in Oregon. Here’s an article from the Phoenix New Times that discuss their one and only album as being one of the Top 10 most influential punk records from AZ.
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​Malignus Youth
Hailing from Sierra Vista (about 40 minutes south of Tucson), Malignus Youth created an incredibly unique blend of hardcore punk with classical influence. Lots of complex time signatures, vocal harmonies, all things you wouldn’t necessarily expect in a punk record but works beautifully. You can read an interview I did with drummer Mikey Armenta here in anticipation of their reunion show at Southwest Terror Fest. 
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Mondo Guano
90s Tucson art-noise group with poppy hooks, for fans of Suburban Lawns. The drummer Danny went on to be in a bunch of other great local bands, including one of my favorites The Pork Torta. The guitar, Bob Reynolds, became the one-man band freakshow Bob Log III who garnered a lot of popularity outside the US and still tours today!
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U.P.S. (Useless Pieces of Shit)
Pure ‘80s hardcore, and one of my all time favorite band names! Fronted by the infamous Lenny Mental who has been an absolute fixture in the music scene since the early days. Also sang for the killer hxc band Civil Death and if you’ve ever seen him perform with his most current band, The Besmirchers,  you wouldn’t be surprised to know from his stage antics that he used to tour with G.G. Allin

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​Some of the photography used in the banner image up top are from the brilliant Tucson photographer Ed Arnaud. You can see more of his art and read an interview we did with him about his photography and the southern AZ music scenehere.
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