During the dark, post 9/11 days of the Bush administration, my friend Rich Paddock, bassist for our old live karaoke band The Street Karaoke Project, came up with the idea of bringing back live karaoke, but combining this proven success model with some of the political parodies I was writing at the time with a few covers, too, just to have fun and to show off all the different genres we could now pull off due to our two years with SKP. He came up with the eSKPee idea, since what we were really looking for was to ESCAPE the dreary totalitarian neoconservative nightmare we were all living through in those unsettling, war-filled days.
When Lydia Beth Leimbach (keyboards), Robin Toye (drums), and Michael Rains (guitar) joined us, it was like a dream come true for me personally. I had always wanted to have a fuller sound with more options for arranging and expanding our tonal palette; with five pieces, the eSKPees were also about ESCAPING limitations!
Fortunately for us, our friend Michael had an analog recording studio in his basement at the time, where he was often busy recording local bands who couldn't afford the regular studios in town; what a loving and generous-hearted soul he was, and is! Michael offered to record these seven songs for us at no charge, and we all dove in to the project with enthusiasm and and intense desire to ROCK!
For this 15th Anniversary edition, I decided to honor my sorely-missed friend Rich Paddock and remaster these tunes as if was picking the equalization settings; naturally, he would want to hear himself a bit better, so I upped the bottom a bit. Then I just added a bit of compression to even out the sound and make it more "present" and in your face. Play loud for optimum listening pleasure!
Many thanks to my ultra-talented and loving friends who selflessly helped me to make this recording a reality! And thank YOU, too, dear reader, for giving our little musical project a listen!
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The eSKPees are:
Lydia Beth Leimbach: keyboards, backing vocals on tracks
Michael Rains: rhythm guitar, lead vocals on track 3, engineer, co-producer.
Rich Paddock: bass, backing vocals on tracks 1 and 4, lead vocal on track 6.
Robin Toye: drums
Greg Hohnholt: lead guitar, backing vocals on track 3, lead vocals on tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7, lyrics to tracks 1, 4, 5, and 7.
Tracklist:
1) Rise and Fight! (lyrics: G. Hohnholt, music R. Bachmann, C.F. Turner)
2) Chantilly Lace (J.P. Richardson)
3) All Day and All of the Night (Ray Davies)
4) G.O.P. Cretin Hop (lyrics: G. Hohnholt, music by the Ramones)
5) Commandoes 2004 (lyrics: G. Hohnholt, music by the Ramones)
6) What a Wonderful World (B. Thiele, G.D. Weiss)
7) Corp'rate Owned Radio (lyrics: G. Hohnholt, music by E. Costello)
