Certain General

Certain General is an American post-punk band formed in 1980 by Parker Dulany, Phil Gammage, Marcy Saddy, and Russell Berke. BOMP! Records has called them "NYC's 80's cult favorite". In the liner notes for Introduction to War (2001), their former manager, Stephen Graziano, called them, "... the baddest, craziest, most misbehaved but mind bendingly brilliant band that was walking the Earth." This coincides with Mojo magazine's assessment that "the story of Certain General is one of triumph, tragedy, and often dazzling music."' Drawing on a tradition established by New York rock bands such as the Velvet Underground, Certain General has recorded and performed extensively in the United States and Europe. Although various personnel and label changes have occurred over the years, Dulany and Gammage, along with Kevin Tooley, continue to record and perform. With one foot firmly planted in the post-punk sound of the late seventies and the other in the emerging new wave, at the outset, Certain General's quirky, kinetic, rhythm and sound owed more to the "dead disco and happening hip-hop," as parleyed by such emerging New York entities as James Chance and the Contortions than the moody, psychedelia-gone-mad direction that would follow. However, from the start, their unique mix of evocative lyrics and a consistently frenetic live show quickly earned the band widespread acclaim when they began to play shows in 1981. As Boston Rock noted at the time, they were "superbly energetic, the last time the band played here the crowd almost tore the walls down." New York rock critic heavyweight Christgau from the Village Voice weighed in that the band produced "rolling, ambitious, somewhat mannered art pop that is totally original." And his colleague, Van Gosse, maintained that "this band so fervent and young has come to stand for something. That notoriety would eventually extend to Europe, where they would release November's Heat in 1984. Considered a seminal album of the 1980s and one of the defining New York rock records, November's Heat would earn the band many accolades, especially in France. Certain General came together as a band in late 1980 after meeting in Manhattan's East Village. Before playing their first club date at New York's Hurrah, the band had already created a buzz among the downtown Manhattan music and art communities. Loft parties, art openings, and after-hours shows in lower Manhattan served as their springboard and they quickly became one of the darlings of a downtown scene based in the Club 57 social club inhabited by such artists, actors, and musicians as Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Sex, Wendy Wild, and Ann Magnuson, among others. Bassist Russell Berke (Carla Bley), drummer Marcy Saddy (Toronto's the B-Girls), and guitarist Phil Gammage (the Corvairs) collaborated with painter and poet Parker Dulany to create a live show that captivated the local New York press. New York Rocker quickly proclaimed them "the most kinetically exciting new band." By 1981 and 1982 the band was performing in East Coast venues and colleges from Canada to Texas. Early shows found them sharing the stage with fellow New York and Boston bands such as DNA, Bush Tetras, Liquid Liquid, Mission of Burma, Raybeats, and Swans. Their prominence grew as their presence was increasingly felt within the downtown scene and the band found themselves at various times serving as the house band at both CBGBs and Danceteria, venues that are both now gone, but nonetheless remain legendary for the pivotal role they played in the club scene at the time. Certain General were almost synonymous with that scene, becoming ubiquitous hosts at such other venues as the Mudd Club, the Peppermint Lounge, The Rat, 9:30 Club, and downtown's Hoboken, NJ annex, Maxwell's. They would remain staples of this scene for several years. In a review of a show for These Are the Days (1986) at Danceteria, Richard Grabel of the New Musical Express wrote "in a wall of ingenious noise Parker seems like a fallen angel out of a page by Rimbaud." In 1982, the group signed with the New York independent record label Labor Records and recorded their debut, Holiday of Love. The five-song EP was produced by Peter Holsapple of The dB's and mixed by Michael Gira of fellow Labor Records label mates Swans, "an interesting pairing if there ever was one." Holiday garnered rave reviews, among them a Trouser Press piece that cited the disc as being created "for all the teenage devils of the world." In 1983, original bassist Berke would depart to be replaced by roadie and all-around funster, Joe Lupo, and the band would begin work on recording their first proper album. While the bass work of Berke was widely regarded as brilliant, Graziano remarked that Lupo was "the plutonium rod that fueled the Certain General party reactor. During this time, Certain General would catch the attention of British music journalist Kris Needs, who championed the band and later served as their host during their first UK visit. At the suggestion of Needs, Far Away in America (1984) was conceived as a collaboration of sorts and the LP was shared with another New York band, friends and musical colleagues Band of Outsiders. Independently released on SourMash Records in April 1984, it featured two live and two studio recordings by each band. The two groups furthered the co-op approach and toured together in the spring and summer of 1984 in both the United States and the United Kingdom to promote the record. Highlights of the UK dates included shows at Alice in Wonderland (where in his typical exuberance Dulany smashed his hand through the asbestos ceiling) and the Batcave in London, as well as the Hacienda (with James) in Manchester. The album, coupled with their New York and London performances, would also draw the attention of Chris Parry and his London-based Fiction Publishing. This coincided with a change in management, when the band signed on with Ruth Polsky (the booking agent for New York clubs Hurrah and Danceteria) and her agency, Blind Dates Management. They also began work with the new French record label L'Invitation au Suicide (I.A.S. Records) and made plans to license a newly recorded second LP to the label. The band leveraged the Parry relationship and agreed to appear in support of The Cure, who were already signed to Fiction, at New York's Beacon Theatre on November 14, an appearance that would be a 1984 highlight. Fans of both bands would maintain that since there was some common ground in the respective sounds of the two bands at that time, the pairing certainly made sense from a musical standpoint. However, their respective positions in the musical pantheon of the day was another issue indeed. Certain General's innate hunger to perform and desire to move forward would serve them well in the context, which became something of a pattern for the band. Rising to the opportunity presented by the Beacon gig, by all accounts the band certainly delivered. David Fricke of the Melody Maker wrote of this performance "Certain General defy equilibrium in their abrasive velvet descended attack and by set's end they are a revved-up dance engine with juggernaut possibilities." Self-financed from earnings saved from performances at New York's Danceteria, November's Heat was released in France in November 1984 by I.A.S. Records. This would prove to be a major turning point. When they arrived in Paris on February 3, 1985, the French daily Libération welcomed the band and marked their arrival with front-page coverage and three interior articles, with a headline above a front-page photo that announced: "Certain General: Nous Voila (We Are Here)." Calling the band "Jim Jarmusch's and William Faulkner's America," and referring to Dulany as "desperately beautiful," Libération declared Certain General "best new band" and awarded "1984 album of the year" honors for the release. Although the next two years saw the band tour and make television