Wednesday, September 3, 2014

The Fleshtones, Gibus Club, 1985

I came across this priceless cache of photos taken by MaxWell Max of the Fleshtones at the Gibus Club in Paris in March 1985, a two-week residency during which the band was recorded—by Richard Gottehrer!—and a live album produced and for sale at the club within a week. An Instant Record, indeed. Read all about the epic residency—featuring a bombed-out Johnny Thunders, a bathroom set on fire, piles of heroin, and Super Rock—in Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, America's Garage Band.

Below is a taste of the mayhem. The rest of the photos can be found here.
l-r: Peter Zaremba, Gordon Spaeth, Keith Streng
Zaremba, Spaeth
l-r: Spaeth, (Bill Milhizer, hidden), Zaremba, Streng, Marek Pakulski
Zaremba, Streng
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ScottishTeeVee has unearthed this terrific footage shot during the Gibus residency, an interview with the band (minus Spaeth, plus wig) at a recording studio, presumably Le Grand Arnet, and a killer version of "Way Down South" recorded at the club before a show. ("Way Down South" wasn't included on Speed Connection, I or II;, Robert Warren played bass on the studio version cut the following year, so here's a rare chance to see original bassist Pakulski buckle in.)


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Here are a couple tracks from Speed Connection II: The Final Chapter, soundtrack to the nuttiness:


3 comments:

Robert Jaz said...

Wonderful piece and really gives a sense of these crazed shows especially after hearing the albums and reading about them in Sweat. Thanks Joe!

Joe Bonomo said...

Thank you, Robert!

Alan Rudy said...

They played Swarthmore College in 1982(?) and it was the most raucus, sweaty, pure, unadulterated, gleeful fun show I ever attended. The contrast with Young Marble Giants, who played the lame spot around that same time, couldn't have been greater.