Featured Artist of June 25, 2022
with the  Album: Curse of the Easily Amused


Web site http://www.sfmutants.com

Artist's Biography

It's hard to let go of a good thing. More than four decades after the Mutants first appeared on the San Francisco underground music scene, four of the original members are still playing shows together under that name in 2022. After all, mutants are known to mutate, and that's what this colorful and energetic musical collective has been doing off and on since 1977.

Perhaps even more surprisingly, the sessions for their lone album, 1982's Fun Terminal, continue to bring forth lost nuggets. You would be forgiven for concluding that the ten bonus tracks featured on 2002's expanded edition CD of Fun Terminal would have bled the vaults dry, but this new collection of previously unreleased material manages to introduce eight Mutants songs that have never appeared before on LP, CD, or cassette.

In punk and new wave lore, Fun Terminal is considered a troubled project. Prior to the album's appearance, the Mutants had released only one 7-inch single — 1980s' The Mutants EP — and the band also had songs featured on two local compilations. Both the EP and one of the compilations were issued by 415 Records, the legendary Bay Area indie that made the jump from the new wave trenches to the majors when they signed a deal with Columbia Records in 1981. Many scenesters felt that the Mutants should have begun album sessions for 415 immediately after the EP, but that didn't happen.

Hopes were high when the band did eventually sign a deal with Mutiny Shadow International (MSI). The Mutants traveled south to Malibu in the fall of 1980 for a demo session with producer Paul Wexler, who was riding high on the "We Got the Beat" single he had recently cut with the Go-Go's. Three of the Mutants songs recorded during that session now appear on Curse of the Easily Amused with new mixes: "Odd Man Out," "Too Much Too Soon," and "Love Song." Despite these early successes, sessions for Fun Terminal proved to be prolonged and costly, with much of the anarchic spirit of the Mutants' live shows failing to be captured in the mix. Just when it looked as though the album might be abandoned, Bay Area experimental musician Snakefinger (Philip Lithman) stepped in to save the sessions. Fun Terminal was eventually released in 1982.

Each of the 14 tracks on Curse of the Easily Amused has either been remixed, or sourced from previously unreleased tapes. "From the band's point of view, each cut is a substantially different version than what might have appeared before," explains current Mutants bassist and project producer Peter Conheim. "Eight songs have never been officially released on vinyl or CD in any form. The versions of 'Think Think Think' and 'Tribute to Russ Meyer' feature radically different approaches than what was heard on the Fun Terminalreissue. We recently rediscovered a tape reel that included those songs. The Mutants discarded or forgot about a ridiculous amount of music during its first eight years. Audio quality for all the tracks here is superior to anything that's come before. No overdubs were used in preparing this release."

The eight previously unissued songs on Curse of the Easily Amused arrive from various Bay Area sources. "PARTY!," "Sofa Song," and "W.A.S.P." date from 1979. The first two were cut at Crying Wolf Studio while the latter was recorded at Tewksbury Sound. "Space Song" (1980) and "Noises and Numbers" (1981) are live performances recorded at the Mabuhay Gardens and the Savoy, respectively. "Modern Conversation" and "The Other Government" date from the Fun Terminal sessions, both initially produced by Paul Wexler and later reworked by Snakefinger. Finally, "Missing in Action" was cut in 1985 at Different Fur with Snakefinger.

Bill Kopp devotes a chapter to the Mutants in his 2021 book, Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave (Hozac Books). He writes, "Perhaps more than any other band in the Bay Area punk and new wave scenes, the Mutants embodied the art school aesthetic. Several of the group's members were, or had been, students at the prestigious San Francisco Art Institute. Fellow students included Avengers vocalist Penelope Houston, Jonathan Postal of The Readymades, and Debora Iyall, later of Romeo Void. But the Mutants were the artiest of them all."

For this essay, Mutants' guitarist John Gullak elaborated further." David Carothers (drums), Sue White (vocals), Sally Webster (vocals) and I all met when we attended CCAC (California College of Arts and Crafts) in Oakland," said Gullak. "Fritz Fox (vocals) was at SFAI (San Francisco Art Institute). We were all fast friends and collaborated on various art projects, performances, videos, and parties. Joe Reese and Jill Hoffman of the future Target Video were also in that circle as was Ted Falconi of Flipper fame.

"In 1977, David and myself had a big party at the warehouse studio we had just moved into in West Oakland. Everybody previously mentioned attended. David, Sue, Sally, Fritz, and I decided we should start a band. Jeff Brogan, the original bass player, was also in attendance. Jeff came up with our band name before he left the group due to personal matters. His wife Keetja sang with us once, at our first Mabuhay gig. Sue and Sally knew Brendan Earley (guitar) from work at Viking's Sub Shop and recruited him. Brendan reluctantly agreed, not knowing what he was getting himself into. Charlie Hagan took over bass, also a SFAI alumnus. By that time, David, Sue, Sally, Fritz and Charlie were all attending SFAI."

In addition to the punk rock sounds emanating from various tight-knit scenes at the time, the fledgling Mutants also found inspiration in Andy Warhol's Factory, John Waters' Dreamlanders, low budget filmmakers George and Mike Kuchar, and perhaps most intensely, San Francisco's glitter-andmakeup adorned performance art troupe, the Cockettes.

During the late 1970s and first half of the '80s, the Mutants made frequent trips to Los Angeles to play such storied venues as the Whisky a Go Go, the Masque, the Starwood, and the Hong Kong Café. Gullak also remembers an awkward opening slot for Public Image Ltd at the Hollywood Palladium. "Let's just say the crowd was there to hear Sex Pistols songs," recalls Gullak. The Mutants also embarked on four east coast tours that included stops at Danceteria and Hurrah in New York City, the Rat and No Name in Boston, and the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

At the time of this writing, Earley, Fox, Gullak, and Carothers continue to perform together in the Bay Area. They are joined by an ever-evolving lineup of new Mutants with histories in such groups as Tuxedomoon Negativland Frightwig No Alternative the OFFS the Next and others Like the title of ....

About the Album

See biography for details about the album.
YEAR: 1978-1984
GENRE: New Wave, Pop, Punk

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