Gay Cowboys in Bondage
Owen Marshmallow Strikes Again!
(Sublapse Records)
myspace.com/gaycowboysinbondag
By now, if anyone were to scroll through these Blast From the Past columns, one key note would be the inherent humor that many musical acts from this great state have embodied through time.
One of the better and more reactionary outfits to challenge the notion of Florida's sense of humor was Gay Cowboys in Bondage.
Last July, we examined the band's first release, a demo cassette titled We're Not Gay but the Music Is!. And while those Cowboys were still at the height of youthful immaturity, this follow-up EP, Owen Marshmallow Strikes Again!, is a slightly more refined affair.
By refined, of course, we mean this crew sounds a little tighter than before. They clearly rehearsed these tracks before committing them to tape. Between 1983 to 1984, however, they changed their lyrical work from cheese, XXX lunches, and the Muppets to baloney sandwiches, being sick, and Kool-Aid. The six tracks on this record do them justice.
Opener "Big Fat Baloney Sandwich" is youthful hardcore with some nice guitar work and solid drumming. It steams with teen angst that you know is comical because you can picture singer Mike "Milo" Lesser constantly pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. This is sweaty and funny hardcore punk that does not take itself too seriously. Ravenous Gangrene (drums) and Eddie Nothing (bass) hold down the rhythm section while Pete Moss' guitar work foreshadows the multi-instrumentalist role he would eventually undertake with many South Florida musical acts before his untimely death in 1997.
"Crime & Violence" is an attempt at tackling issues. (This was the Reagan '80s after all.) And "The Illness" follows it with a nice one-two punch to close Side A. On the flip, "More Bruises" gets it going in a slightly more rock 'n' pop direction with solid guitars by Moss. Next, "A Funny Red Moustache (of Kool-Aid)" indulges a bit of country twang before we return to a Dead Kennedys-inspired hardcore piece, "Fist May Follow."
This EP was recorded in 1984 by Mickey Miller at Sync Studios in Miami and it was released on Sublapse Records bearing the Lap #2 cutter. We're unsure of the press run. But you can still score the Burrito Records CD, The Complete Silly Discography, and it includes this EP, the demo cassette, and a live set at Flynn's Ocean 71 in 1984. This EP can be downloaded on its own via Blood Junkies.
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