Welcome! You have discovered
THE SECRET BOND TAPES
This set of MP3s was found on a cd-r labelled "Lofi Bondcave & Saint". The sound on most of the tracks is HORRIBLE!!! You'd almost think we were a lofi band with a perverse classic rock influence. And in fact, all I remember about this recording is thinking that same thing when I played it back at the time. I sort of like the effect, especially since I know what our actual sonic intentions were.
These may have been recorded on P-Jo's little cassette recorder, or they may have been recorded to Miles Corum's minidisc recorder. I don't recall. I know it's live, because I can hear people yelling. That makes it a Bondcave Party. So think 100+ people drinking in a living room by the end of the set.
I hear a saxophone on the Discmen tracks, which is probably Skippy Digits playing without her electric rig and it really couldn't be anyone but Donovan Raymond playing bass on those tunes. I believe I recognize Mike O'Doherty on the drum kit.
Most of the Bond tunes on this disc are Andrew's tunes, but there is a version of Paul's epic "Midnight." I love the way "Balance" devolves into heavy psyche territory. I was probably listening to Mainliner and Comets On Fire that summer. "Play" - I am only so sure about the title, but it is what popped into my head. "The Moon, Tonight" was a lot of fun to play live and great to dance to. "Bittersong" careens between a beer-glass-sloshing teary-eyed toast-to-regret and some kind of jerky rave-up. "Waiting For The Show" is our boffo finish.
As a bonus (and because it was also on the CD I found these on) I have included my original demo for a song called "Lazy Saint". I found the words to this song in a book by Norman Spinrad called Passing Through The Flame. I liked them, and Paul liked them, so I wrote music to them - which was a very cool experience. The rhythm pattern stuck first and then the chords followed logically in this weird crystalline sequence. The demo is fairly ambient (and very sloppily assembled as I was pretty new to this kind of approach to making a track - it's built out of clips from a Neon Brown Presents plus some keyboard and guitar overdubs) but live it was a crunchy rocknroll song... Or would have been, had we ever in fact played it live. I think there is a rehearsal tape somewhere. PS I got a go-ahead from Spinrad via email before we messed with it.
Now, without further ado...
The Secret Bond Tapes, #1 - LOFI BONDCAVE & SAINT
1 - Lean 5-Track & The Discmen
2 - Laundromat Song (Circling The Squares) 5-Track & The Discmen
3 - Balance The Bond
4 - Play The Bond
5 - The Moon, Tonight The Bond
6 - Midnight The Bond
7 - Bittersong The Bond
8 - Waiting For The Show The Bond
9 - Lazy Saint (demo) 5-Track