Cracker-Shark
Greenhouse-Effect-Songs-LIVE "Precarious" JULY1989 Santa Monica CA - BMI MUSIC HOLLYWOOD. from Naruto Suzuki Japan on Vimeo.
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METAL JIMMY INTERVIEWS GE. !! OH MY !!
Hagins; No,..no,..54 ,..but I've got this thang with me legs,, now,..feels like Lou Gehrig shit,. I limp like fucking 72 and a half ,.,..or maybe Lou Reed,, lol
Metal Jimmy ; But bro,..admit it, be honest,..all kidding aside,..you're music is quite good,..every song takes a different turn,..you never really settle on one thing ,..in one place,.. YOU'RE MAIN Problem,,I have always felt,.. You don't take it seriously ENOUGH BRO !
Hagins; Yes,.. probably me favorite band,..SO LIKE,..just think of us ,..G.e ,..we're like today's Rutles,..to reality ,..instead of how they were just to the Beatles,.. we are the Rutles to like 50 different bands,..lol,..
HAGINS; WELL,..I was a kinda a young impish weirdo kid,.. immature,.. or maybe too grown up,..listenin' to my Beatles and my Stones,..MY Bowie,.. and all my weird artsy fartsy shit,..Flipper was into Deep Purple,.. guitar shit,..Zep , Clapton,..don't get me wrong,..I'm into that shit too,..I dig Cream,..only ,.I think i like the early Deep Purple with Rod Evans,..an fuck yeah,..later on,..I loved the CAPTAIN !! FUCK YEAH CAPTAIN BEYOND !! 1972 !! ALBUM IS AMAZING !!,,...And of course Zappa !!
Hagins; No fucking shit bro,.. that's how fucked up I was,..and I would always go to this dudes garage to get my shitty Vw's worked on,.,..and i would hear in the distance,..that Douchebag Ted,..jammin' with these 2 dudes,.across the park ,..I always thought Ted was kinda a back-stabbin' creep ,.me and him had a band before ,..we jammed with this dude Steve "Stevo" Stepanian,..from like 1984 til 85, 86' ,..Stevo was amazing,..we played this insane heavy blues rock,..it coulda gone some place,..great songs we had,..I arranged all of Stevo's shit,..and turned them into organized songs,..i had the mad skills ,..and we were like this tribute to the Who but like as good or even better than the Who; we were insane,..but it never really took off,..out of the garages,..I mean,..the potential was there,.. we smashed our gear and we even had like these mad cat punk rock moments,.. to be honest , it was a better band than G.e. ever was,..We called it "Soul Clinic" ,..we played this most unbelievable gig one night '86 in Lomita, I was just 21,.. where we opened for the Twisters, blew them the fuck off the stage,..! and they were the biggest band in Los Angeles,..a bit old by 1986 though ,..anyway ,..long story short,..Stevo liked to hang at the beach, get high, play volleyball, meet chicks,...then one day I heard he was movin' to Grass Valley way up North, ,..bummer the Soul clinic faded into oblivion ,..but then suddenly ,..the Mighty G.e. was born !!
Hagins ; I went over there,..and like Ted and Flipper were jammin' in Ted's room which was such the famous jam room, South Bay Torrance 'n all ,..and they were playin' with this pretty amazing John Bonham type drummer a kid named Rich Hebben,..a way better drummer than me ,..so I grabbed a mic,..and started singin' one night,.. then I showed up one day and they said Rich was bailin' the band to go to cooking school or some shit and suddenly I found myself doing what I love,..jamming with a Cream three piece ! AND PLAYING MY DRUMS !!,.,, like fuckin' Rush meets the Who,..Keegan was amazing on guitar and it's weird,..because I knew Phil longer than anybody ,..since like we were in first grade,..1971 '72 era,.,... Park Way Elementary School Torrance by the beach,..me walkin' there in the mornings and hearin' Nilsson "Without you" comin' from somewhere,..great memories,.. you could walk to a school then ,.. at age 7 ,, without being abducted,..LOL
Hagins,; "well ,..we jammed for what seemed like forever at Ted's house 1986 to 88' and "Precarious" seemed to be our signature original, we played it over and over,. ,..they had played it with Hebben for a while long before,.,..but with me,..it got even more powerful ,.. "Number One" was this Dorian Guitar amazing shit that Keegan wrote and would play just fucking insane ,.. these 2,..and a cover of the Yardbirds "Think about it",.. these were THE EARLIEST AMAZING EARLY WORKS OF GE !!
Hagins; We started to blow up kinda big and get a great reputation,... the whole scene in Los Angeles was Heavy metal ya know like Motley Crue Poison typa shit,..but we hated that shit,.. we kinda like Maiden though ( laughs ),..AND SLAYER !!! Bands that are kinda techical ,.. but,..WE were JUST three REGULAR DOUCHE guys who dressed normal,.. just t shirts ,..well ya know we dressed like shit ,..especially me n Ted,..we felt like shit,.,.Flipper was a little more normal HE had like this way better upbringing than us,.,..he had a clean demeanor , nice guy clothes, dude looked like Greg Brady but played a mean fuckin' axe !! it was like this total contradiction ,.a little reminded me of Angry Samoans typa vibe,..lol ,,
Hagins; I will probably find those and put them up soon someday ,.. lol,.."Actor" is kinda lame and cheesey ,..but I knew you might like that lame shit ,..lol, sounds as lame as like some Deep Purple metal tribute,..( Laughs ),..anyway,..the live gigs 88' were rad,..some legendary break through shit,.. We knew we had something totally unique, different, a full resurgence of like 1966 to 68' shit ,.. we started sending all this shit to labels,..indie AND MAJOR ,..WE KNEW WE WERE THAT FUCKING RAD,.. WE COULD sign with a major label deal ,...but I also knew,..We could improve too !!
Hagins; Yeah 89' was when I was turning 24 ,... listening to a lotta shit like Captain Beyond ,...and experimenting with weird drum beats,... I was getting a bit of a reputation for drums by 89 era,.. which I kinda hated because my singing was so important to me,. but I was a pretty rad drummer, no doubt,.. our three piece line up was BY THEN PRETTY MUCH unbeatable shit,..the way we looked, the way we stood there, rocked out,..my drumming definitely propelled those 2 clowns,..to a higher level,.. but being a singer from the drums,..took a lotta practice back at THE 251 garage,... I was a perfectionist ,..I had to nail the drums with energy exact like Keith Moon or Neil Peart ,..but I had to nail the lead vocals as i drummed,.. live, ,..AND,..the vocals were way different from the studio,..nothing like them,.. in fact,..much more bass in them live,..had to be,..to get above the drums,.. We were starting to play amazing shit live ,..but we totally struggled with "A Current Affair" ,, that weird beat ,..sorta like "Dancing Madly Backwards" By Captain Beyond,..I just couldn't pull it,..but all the 4/ 4 shit was very doable,..and we were insane live,.. THE BEST !! THE LOUDEST, THE SWEATIEST !!
Hagins: FUCK ,..DID HE LIKE IT ??,...he was completely Blown away and he said he would "give it to others" ,.he gushed to me that he had NEVER heard a sound like "Precarious" and "Number One" and all this shit,.. he said it was the highest Energy shit,.. like maybe the Yardbirds,..type shit,...very 60's vibe,..yet totally up to date,.. he mentioned that he was going to give all my stuff to this guy named Gary ,.. and he gave me an address in West Los Angeles,..to mail him more stuff that he needed,..8 X 10 glossies ,..etc,.. better pics than I had already given him,.. I put together one of our Promo packages,..which were always the best in rock ,.. and mailed all the Shit to the guy ,..then suddenly ,..I would see him down in the South Bay,..I would bump into him at record shops DOWN HERE,.. he seemed big interested in Redondo Beach quickly I saw,..lol , I remember telling him,..the odds at finding another G.e. around here are slim,..BUDDY ,.. and that we were a rare thing and that we "Were not the typical sound,..of the South Bay" lol,.. rummaging around Hermosa won't do ya much good !"
Hagins; I mean,..i would call the guy,..I did what I could ,.. but I didn't wanna bug the dude too much ,..shit,..sheesh,..believe me,.. bro,.I TRIED,..I AM ME BRO,..A PRETTY PESKY PERSISTENT ,..DUDE HERE,.. I remember I told Flipper and Ted didn't seem real interested JUST thought I was full of shit as usual,.lol,..,... We were drunks n stoners,..remember,.. but I "knew" we were onto something and that,..it WAS UP TO ME,.. !!,..ALSO I KNEW,..We had to keep moving forward,..with our music,..our sound,.. !!I explored 'other" connections too,.. I would meet up with ,..a guy named Larry Coven who said he was connected to Electra Records, etc,.. I mean dude shit,..bro,..I met all these people,.but you know L.A,..it's crowded,..it's tough ,..and it was ALL HEAVY METAL 1988, 89, 90, ,...EVEN Most of 91' !!
Hagins: yes,.. "The Four Song Ep" ,..cost me like 1000.00 $ to make ,..a lot of money back in 1989 !! ,..to still be putting out a vinyl !! I sold them all out though,..now,, I wish I had one,..( lol ),, My wife today Veleda,..she loves the song 3/4 which was about that chick named Tania ,..( lol ) who got married,..
Hagins; Yeah,..it was,..but things come and go,..ebbs and flows,.. the way I look back at it now,..1988 was a way better year,... no way to cut through that L.A Hair metal scene , and Bam Magazine shit n all,..1989,.. these were simply "Not" alternative rock or emo times,..at all,..lol ,, believe me,..a douchebag like you would have loved 89' ,..LOL !!
Hagins,.. By 1990, G.e. were playing bigger shows,... a huge gig at Wilson Park in Torrance in front of like 2000 people,.. and no doubt, Hollywood had taken notice of us,.. but the shit with Bam Magazine was weird , They fully took my shit out of context , printed weird shit, I was talking to Attorneys,..'wanted to sue these Losers,, ! ,..my sister died in May 1990,..right in the middle of our recording,.. all kindsa weird shit goin' down, alotta people hated me,.. South Bay drama shit ,.. but things were about to get really odd for G.e. ,... we were about to take a turn,..into the Twilight Zone,...
Hagins: Our egos had gotten huge ,... I made the stupid suggestion to put me at lead singer only and for us to look for a drummer,.. We found a guy named Mike,..this Mexican dude,..who was pretty good on drums,.. we found him in the Recycler Paper -the CraigsList of the day ( lol ),..AND ,.. a lot of people were like "Shark,..yer the Great Drummer,..why are you just singing,..? you are killing the special magic trio thing that IS G.E. " ,..I DIDN'T CARE,.. I wanted to get signed badly and I figured a more "Normal" 4 piece band was the way to go ,...
Hagins: yeah,..we didn't think it through,.. We didn't ,.like,.. know it at the time,..but I sorta did,..the Mike Valencia Version of the band was actually kinda Professional-ish live,.. trouble was,..G.e. were not Pro's,..we were HOBBIEST'S ,..very skilled high energy amateurs,..very erratic,.. yet tight also,..very exact !! Think like,..The 1967 ?Who !! Perfectionists ,..yet idealists,..performance art,..self destruction !! THEATRE OF THE ABSURD AND,...UH,... With Mike, we almost became like just any other metal band,.. and I wanted no part of metal !! I listened to stuff like Black Flag,.. AND,.. stuff like firehose or the Minute Men and their three piece,, very appealing !! I wanted to be in Flipside magazine ,..Not Bam !! I WANTED REAL CRED !!
Hagins "; Very awkward,.. I had all these songs at home,..THAT OVER MANY YEARS,..I had WRITTEN 'ON GUITAR",,..kinda secretly ,..sorta like a Dave Grohlish TYPE Douchebag,.. .. I wanted G.e. to go in the direction of a Flipside like Punker three piece,..yet still have long hair,.. I don't really know where this inspiration was coming from AS I WASN'T REALLY INTO THAT SCENE MYSELF ,.,.. all i knew was that I no longer wanted to jam with Flipper,..his stuff was getting way too metal,.. there was this awkward meet up where me and Ted saw him with another band at the studio,..very weird,..but in late 1990; America the Beautiful, Wilson Phillips, and Ben is Dead,..they had to be BORN !! AND THEY WERE !!
Hagins; Like I said,... building up a ton of demo songs from over the 1980's ,..jamming when I lived below Cindy in 1986, cranking Sabbath,..but also getting into Bowie, The Who, and GENESIS ,..THE GABRIEL YEARS,..AND JUST 'AFTER",..the first three Phil Collins Singing records,.. AND ROXY MUSIC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hagins: Yes ,..late 1990, some awesome music,..working with the late Billy Krodel,.. but then we met this guy named Andy Houston,,..amazing studio engineer,.. and on real minimal gear down there in Harbor City ,..we recorded "22nd Street" and all this aamzing shit !! But 1991, here is where the G.e. story gets weird man , Craig Aaronson comes back into the picture,..and I was like "Where the fuck have you been asshole ?? lol "
Hagins; No ,..that was all me,.. when I heard of all the racial shit in LA, the video taped beating of Rodney King all over the news, I was inspired to come up with this unusual amazing track I DO NOT KNOW FROM WHERE !,..it just came into my brain,..like a vision,..I carefully recorded every instrument on it,.. I knew I had something that day indeed !! Like G n R meets the Cure meets Def Leppard meets The Cult meets Bowie !! Ted knew it too, He plays the bass,.. Marty was one of the early people to hear the track; he was blown away !! So was Aaronson !! AND SO TOO ,..WERE LOTS OF PEOPLE !!
Hagins: Amazing,..ya know ,..I had to talk Marty into jammin' with us,.. I think he didn't think we were good enough,..but when he heard that tape,.. he was there like the next day ,.. and the very first time we ever jammed,.. we were insane tight,.. like we had been playing for 8 years or some shit !! all just from the three of us,..independently ,..listening to our tape,..
LOL,.. We were that good !!
Hagins: We should have ! We should have been more organized,..this was a key gig !! Somebody in the crowd filmed it ,.. but I've never seen it ,.. very tight,.."22nd Street" I remember was amazing ,.. Whole gig was insanely good gig,.. Me and Arronson arranged for Craig to be there,..but he never showed that day ,..bummer,..cause we probably woulda got signed ! That was June 1991 ,..an awesome month !! More amazing gigs would follow,..and then comes the legendary one we all know ,..at the Hermosa Saloon August 16, 1991 !! The one you have all seen online ,..all around the world !! THE CLASSIC !
Hagins; "Well ,...look at the footage from Hermosa Saloon,..that is EXACTLY THE WAY WE LOOKED SINCE ABOUT SEPTEMBER 1990 ,..ME, Ted, and a drummer,.. We would film ourselves, take endless pictures,.. record endless songs, albums, and everybody in town gloated about us,.. YOU TELL ME BRO !,, I THINK Nirvana had similar ideas about rock ,..because they were three guys just coincidentally,..who loved punk rock,..and hated metal too,.,..AND ALL THAT THAT WEIRD TIME !....only they weren't from Los Angeles,..which was all metal,..they were from Seattle !! a better place to be from,...at that IMPORTANT time,..IN ROCK'S HISTORY !! WE MADE THE critical mistake of being From Redondo ,..lol,.
METAL JIMMY; THAT GIG AUGUST 16, 1991,..it sticks with me,..and alotta' people,..so many people,..because of the similarities,... both you and Kurt had these troubled family and childhood backgrounds shit,.,..so alike !! Both weird poets,..!! So strange man,.
Hagins; Yeah,.. I remember ,..We mailed that to Craig ,, we printed up all these copies of that show,..because I "Knew" it was so amazing , My brother Geoff filmed it,..he never liked my band,..but he understood that gig; HE LIKED THAT SHOW !! ,..we had played thousands of gigs,.. but that one was so small and intimate,,.SO SPECIAL ,...it really displayed my genius , vision, for the future of G.e. ,..the future of ALL ROCK !! BUT THEN,..'IT' HAPPENED,..
Hagins; Yeah,..Flipper confronted me,, he chased me around some cars saying he was gonna beat my ass,..he said; "You got our whole shit stolen Hagins" ,.I'll never forget it,.. I called Aaronson and left him threatening voice-mails,."I was like what the fuck dude,..? You guys can sign us too then !!" Then I found out who this Gary was; "It was Gary Gersh THE A & R GUY AT GEFFEN,. ,..the guy who SIGNED NIRVANA ,... I THINK Craig gave him all our shit,..they built it from there,..they saw how organized we were, that we filmed all our shit, took pics,.. We were pros at a level and we didn't even know it,... nobody at the time thought indie rock could do anything,.. these guys "Knew" from STUDYING G.e. ,..OUR FILMS, OUR PICS, OUR BAND,.,..that alternative rock ,..COULD WORK !!!,..AND IT DID TOO !!
Hagins: I don't know what or WHY it all happened bro,..just God,..or maybe the Rock gods,.. and it's so weird,..because it's just like me and a few close intimate people who really know and talk about this shit,..at all,..it's really weird,.. I will never really understand it ,.. many nights thinking about it,..it's like Dave Mustaine being kicked from Metallica type o' shit,..or Pete Best,.. Beatles,.very odd ,.. Later, when I found out Kurt killed himself in that Greenhouse,, that was quite ironic, poetic, and stunning,..almost like there is a Monster God of Our Universe,..who messes with every one ,..or maybe just me,..like the Truman show,.. I once had this dream,, God appeared to me, and He was like " I got yer back bro",...
Hagins: 1992 was like this desperate year,.. I just threw out all the stops ,..and went for it,...recorded like 50 songs,... but it was too late,.. G.e. were the "Leaders" of the whole scene ,..but suddenly, we were like complete unknowns,.. I mean people didn't even laugh at us,..We were gone,..from first,..straight to last,.. Grunge and Alternative were suddenly all over the radio AND MTV,.. ,, not just Nirvana ,..but all that other weak shit,..I mean I hated Pearl Jam and those other bands,..to Kurt and ME; WE KNEW FAKES,.. and Eddie Vedder was a fucking FAKE ,..IF EVER THERE WAS ONE !!
Greenhouse Effect Songs ; The Hermosa Saloon gig August 16, 1991 ; The future of Rock. (Grunge). from Naruto Suzuki Japan on Vimeo.
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