Sunday, September 27, 2009

LO-FI CONSPIRACY (1997-2000)


waaay back in 1997, in Greenville, NC there was a building on the corner of 5th street. This building was Backdoor Sk8park.  A bunch of the dudes from art school had bands, and Backdoor provided us w/ a place to play with touring bands from around the world while local dudes skated, other area bands would play and get drunk and it was pretty much anything goes.  Nitewolf was starting up a band at the time w/ some dudes and they asked me to sing.  Our first show was actually @ the Corner w/ the Spazms, and Bilirubin.  Our second show was at Backdoor w/ the Mommyheds.  Over the course of our run, we played w/ some killer bands, that mostly don't exist anymore, some of which were: the Spazms, Creeping Phlox, the Mommyheds, Bilirubin, Kill the Hippies, NEMO, Blatt Box, the Soccer Moms, F13, King Monkey, Twin Turbo, Justin Little, Exercises in Breathing, Mollycuddle, Read Palms, the Kickass, the Ladderback, Reason of Insanity, DS13, Municipal Waste (super early on), Hank Earl Carr, Bread & Water, Otophobia, Diskonto, the First Step, JRS, Wheelbite, Pretty Little Flower, Berzerk, Crash Smash Explode, Legend of the Overfiend, Party of Helicopters, the Convocation Of..., If It Doesn't Kill You, Question Rig, Prelude to Damnation, Crimescene 13, Wesley Willis, and a ton more i can't seem to think of right now.  Ill post more as they come to me.
Anyway, the other night, I found this little video that either me or our buddy Biggs put together for like an old geocities site in like 1999.  Its got some RARE footage of the Robot Condor, and 3 songs from our only released album.  "Intro", "LOFI", and "Genitalia".  there is a TON more footage that i have on VHS buried somewhere that makes this look even more like shit than it already does... but  I'm pretty sure there are people who will appreciate this.  LO-FI Conspiracy created some stepping stones for us to be where we are today, and when I watch this over ten year old footage, it kind of blows me away how time flies.  LO-FI was: Herbie Abernethy- vocals, Tyler Wolf- bass, Brendan O'Donnell- drums, and DJ Griffin- guitar.  Enjoy, and post thoughts and old pics below if you have any! thanx.
***update: thought of a couple more bands! secret life of machines, and sullenspire. probably more to come.  i should also mention that the whole scene, Peasants, The Percolator, the Attic, the Corner, the "blue room" and all the house parties made the whole vibe for those days something to remember.  thanx for all the feedback!***

Lo-Fi Conspiracy (1997-2000) from valient himself on Vimeo.



8 comments:

  1. dude, I remember my first show attendance at Backdoor was the last show LoFi did. but it was by far one of the best. I remember herbie comign out in stilts dolled up in a preying mantis costume. White Wolf wore 20 foot wings and played on a full stack. all while I was trying to cllimb quarter pipes to get a glimpse of the madness. That was probably the first month or so of my college career but it was one of the best nights of my time there.
    on a side note, I remember playing the first Valient Thorr show at Backdoor. my band at the time (Murder Me Dead) opened for you guys. I think we played with Acerima and the kickass if Im not mistaken. that was a great night as well. Good times and good bros.
    thanks for the memories brother

    Matt Kerley

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  2. ah! the Robot Mantis vs. Ghost of the Robot Condor show. epic. everyone waited for like 35 mins for me to actually get into Backdoor, cause the costume was so nuts and there were SO many people there. i have the whole thing on tape. There are like 3 or 4 songs played @ that show that never were recorded & only played live a handful of times. Someday I'd love to make a second album w/ all the extra live and unreleased recordings. thanx man!

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  3. Woah man, that's some ancient stuff right there. Super early Valient Himself with the Professor.

    So, VT's true identity... it's Herbie, Tyler, Ben, Ricardo(?) Montalban, and the ever elusive Lucian. Right?

    (I own the Kickass album and have looked at Voiden's Golden Axe). It's cool to know the names behind one of my favorite bands is all.

    "Sally was a girl with a dream. All she ever wanted was a band to make her cream. Then she came down to our show, had an orgasm in the front row..." Made me lol.

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  4. Andy from the KickassSeptember 28, 2009 at 8:24 AM

    dude. playin shows with you dudes was nuts every time, and you all killed it. the house party by the old mainstreet bar was out of control and amazing. still got the shirt with all the holes in it to prove the party.

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  5. Those were the days. I still think EIB has claim on softest band to play in a skatepark. Love the videos thanks for that mr.Valient.

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  6. Thats great stuff there! Those shows looked insane. Christ, those stilts had to be next to impossible to walk in, especially with a fucking full mask and wings on!

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  7. Ive got that promo vid you gave me to help you book shows so long ago. I used to play that genitalia song LOUD in the Redeye office... ah, good times...
    Favorite LoFI memory: ECU Battle of the Bands, the fake condor, the axe, the disputed final judgement...

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  8. My favorite memories were playing in New Bern on the Dock and bieng told we couldn't use profanity. So you came up with the new title, "bad mammer jammer" The best part was Herbie's backspin on the dock with no shirt on.

    That and the brontosauras underwear. I started laughing so hard I almost couldn't play drums for a minute.

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