User:Abcny/Sandbox

Abcny (talk) 04:22, 24 November 2007 (UTC) 1. http://cdbaby.com/cd/theskabs 2. http://www.hungryeyerecords.com/ 3. http://www.last.fm/music/The+Skabs/+wiki?action=view 4. http://www.matwrecords.com/skabs.html 5. http://www.myspace.com/theskabsnyc 6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qLmBG6ZNbw

THE SKABS!!

A Who’s Who of THE SKABS:

• Helen Ghastly - vocals & lyrics
• Edward - guitar, founding father
• Ania a.k.a. - synthesizer & mechanical programming
• Remi - bass, founding member
• Adam, ‘93 to ‘97 - acoustic drums
• Christian, ‘97 to ‘98 - second guitar player in ‘93, founding member, acoustic drums

• • Christian of CNG Digital Productions has done the mastering, duplication and pressing

for the band’s A Series of Myoclonic Jerks ep/cd, and has played in the bands Huasipungo, A.R.A. and En La Olla.

• Kuba, ‘98 to ‘99 - acoustic drums
• Rahne, ‘00 to ‘01 - acoustic drums
• Chris Riggs - roadie for ‘98 U.S. tour

• • Chris, one of New York City’s most prolific painters, is known for organizing art shows

and other events in the Lower East Side.

Biography: THE SKABS, New York Punk Legends: 1993 - 2001 R.I.P.

Liberty spikes and studded leather jackets, dread locks and ferrets were all the rage in New York City’s Punk scene from the late ‘80s to the early ‘90s. Some cried, "Where is the Liberty?" It took a band like The Skabs to defy the imposition, by doing something as trivial as adding keyboards to their Punk sound. While English was the accepted norm in vocalization, the foreign sounds of Greek, Polish and Spanish were unusual at the time, mainly because the combination of these languages were never applicative to this kind of musical arrangement. The Skabs didn’t see why they should have to limit their artistic expression, or ignore their diverse cultural backgrounds.

In the beginning, The Skabs had more than a few failed attempts at finding the right frontman. MS. HELEN GHASTLY was the concrete choice to cement the band’s formation. Her lyrical ruminations are a breathing testament to the encouragement of greater thinking. There is no denying Ghastly’s startling vocal prowess is an acquired taste. Male or female, if anyone was a striking central figure with stage presence, it was Helen. Some whispered she was too confrontational for the band’s good, but then, Helen didn’t mind being the topic of conversation.

The Skabs’s most memorable song is the crowd pleasing I Thought Wrong, Helen Ghastly’s homage to the original Boop-Boop-a-Doop girl, Helen Kane. The simplicity of Remi’s opening bass line struck a chord with nearly everyone. It became obvious to The Skabs that most people were hungry for something different. The Skabs embraced their uniqueness without hesitation. The timing was right, the setting was perfect, or so the band thought to themselves. None of the members had any formal musical training to work with; it was guitar player and founding father, Edward, who first took notice of a growing problem that would soon hinder the band’s musical growth, and alter their course dramatically.

Somehow, The Skabs never found a fifth member that could play the drums properly. It appeared to their audience that the band changed drummers almost as often as a pair of drawers. A machine was the only solution to an ongoing problem. The solution seemed to complement the synthesizer. Ania operated the machine and adopted it as her own. This was to be the new member that would automatically cooperate without the tiresome drama of drummers past. The evolution to a more electronic sound seemed perfectly natural to a band that never played it safe, and stuck to their Punk principles. Of course, their detractors had a field day in attempting to strip The Skabs of their hard-earned Punk credibility.

By this time, The Skabs were blighted in music reviews that were slanted from the start, and the perils of personal politics began to take a psychological toll on all four members. Outside of New York State, some people were either too quick to draw their own conclusions, or too reluctant to understand what The Skabs were about. This prejudice may be due to a total ignorance of the band’s history which began in Abc No Rio, a Punk haven in the Lower East Side where The Skabs played numerous benefit shows, helped run and maintain the place, and participated in events such as Food Not Bombs.

In time, other bands would follow with a combination of contrived male/female and multi-cultural line-ups, employing keyboards or any instrumental oddities to differentiate themselves with, and to ultimately draw a vacant but well-dressed crowd. Suffice to say that The Skabs, a band ahead of its time, paved the way for much of today’s music coming out of New York City and possibly elsewhere. Music connoisseurs can easily forget that one band’s struggle is another band’s convenience. The influence is evident, if an informed ear gives a careful listen.

These creative young people came together in a scene that was once a thriving proliferation of what could have become a space for genuine, open-minded artists. Instead, the scene changed hands, and was overtaken by the arbiters of political correctness who promoted a sterile and oppressive environment where flaky non-New York newcomers were able to take a stab at undermining The Skabs’s efforts. So much for solidarity. Only in New York can a band like The Skabs come into existence, in the time before Mayor Giuliani’s transformation of Times Square into Disneyland made folks complacent. Today, the story of The Skabs remains undocumented. Where are THE SKABS now when the world needs them most?

Tours & Shows:

In the true Punk spirit of D.I.Y., The Skabs booked two U.S. tours entirely on their own. The Skabs embarked on their first tour on September 11, 1998; their second tour season began on May 17, 2001. The band took off both times with a show in their second home of Philadelphia, PA. where they were well-received at Stalag 13 and The Catbox. The Skabs had a third home; they regularly played the downstairs bar area of a well-known transvestite club called Jacques Cabaret in Boston, Ma. The Skabs visited and urinated in a total of 48 states, and have gladly seized the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of driving through Maine and Vermont in the middle of a typically dark and gloomy night, looking for a clean truck stop to take a shit and get some sleep. In the Fall of ‘94, The Skabs played the annual Beer Olympics in Williamsburg Brooklyn, and the Art Punk Festival in Abc No Rio. A couple of showdates at the long established Punk Mecca, CBGB, gave The Skabs their legendary Punk status.

The Ultimate Skabs Discography

• 1994 American Dream, extremely rare demo tape
• 1995 SKABS, the very popular demo tape produced in limited numbers
• 1996 Junk Punk, a cd compilation released by Awesome Dawson Records, featuring 2 of their

hit songs, Dictator & Holy Hygiene

• 1997 The Greatest Hits, A collection of Timeless Classics, their first 7" released

on WACP Records in Somerville, MA

• 1997 obscure videotape entitled New York’s Finest captures live footage of the band

playing I Thought Wrong, released by Welfare Records (?)

• 1998 I Love Me on Punk Uprisings Volume 2, a compilation released by GoKart Records
• 1998 Sexy Ass on Solidarity, a benefit for Abc No Rio, a compilation released by Dead

Alive Records

• 1999 CONTENT, a split vinyl ep with Philly’s own Anal Sausage and their trademark

Black Market Sausage released on Schuylkill Records

• 1999 A Series of Myoclonic Jerks, a D.I.Y. limited edition ep, this time on cd format
• 2001 Aged to Perfection, a full length cd released on Mad At The World Records

Miscellaneous:

For Punk photos of The Skabs in their infancy, have a look at www.alephnull.net.

Catch a glimpse of an authentic Skabs sticker in all its raucous glory!

See independent film director, Kevin Smith’s 1997 film, Chasing Amy, or go to www.moviefone.com for a full synopsis. Look for the famous sticker in a downtown Manhattan bar scene for a stroll down Memory Lane, Lover’s Lane, Cherry Lane, or everyone’s favorite Piss Alley in New York, NY, the way it used to be.

A Final Note to the Reader:

Visit The Skabs’s MySpace page at www.myspace.com/theskabsnyc.

See The Skabs live in action on YouTube!

Do not forget to take a quiet moment for yourself and inhale the lovely panoramic view of The Skabs’s defunct website, www.skabs.com.

Sources:

• Cd Baby. "Cd Baby: The Skabs: Aged to Perfection". Retrieved 23 November 2007.
• Hungry Eye Records. "The Skabs". Retrieved 23 November 2007.
• Last.fm. "The Skabs Biography". Retrieved 23 November 2007.
• Mad at the World Records. "The Skabs". Retrieved 23 November 2007.
• The Skabs. "The Skabs Myspace Page". Retrieved 23 November 2007.
• Wholly Ghost, You Tube. "The Skabs Pt. 2 At The Catbox, Philadelphia, May 17". Retrieved 23 November 2007.