Here is a great description of the band stolen from Nice Popper fanzine (I think)- Kitschchao were thee best punk band in Philadelphia during the early nineties. They released one 7″ single on Compulsiv Records and have an unreleased album floating around the East Coast on CDr. Singer Tristan Egolf went on to write 3 well known novels. Members of Kitschchao ended up in the bands Woodland Fruits, More Fiends, Apollo Creed, Dagobah System and D.T.O..
For my part in 1992 I attempted an ill-fated / not anywhere near enough cash to move – move to San Francisco which later called a vacation with all my stuff. In those maybe 2 months I was gone Kitschchao had started getting everyone’s attention and were reinvigorating the philly scene with some much needed influx of punk and fun. They were a great band to see live and you never knew what was going to happen. If you don’t believe me hopefully the pictures and video below will give you a glimpse of it. Tristan Egolf -Vocals Dan Gill – Bass Jason Clouser – Guitar Dave Stauffer – Drums
photo with bernie (marc bernstein). left to right: bob dickie, allen fiend, bernie, rocco sacco, elizabeth fiend. it's from a mini-tour we did with the ambush bugs in ohio, same time period.
Mark Bernstein- Bernie to us – was a New Yorker who came to Philly to go to Penn and gravitated to the West Philly punk scene. He moved into the Stickmen house on Buckingham St., which, of course, was known as Buckingham Palace.
We started hanging out in 1981 and played music together, Bernie on drums and the two of us on guitar. As an unnamed unit we played at the great basement parties at the Buckingham Palace and at a few other West Philly houses. For one show at the Radio Church of God we transported all of our equipment in shopping carts.
Early punk rock was so seat of the pants. The three of us had such a good time in those days. Having plenty of free time (aka no jobs) we’d watch soap operas and Dr. Who, go for long, meandering walks in Fairmount Park, and go watch bands wherever they might play.
After leaving Penn, Bernie went back to New York. After the first official version of More Fiends broke-up Bernie returned and we started playing again. At a party in some spooky apartment in Germantown we jammed with his friend, Matt Forstater, on sax. The four of us became the new More Fiends. With a crazy new sound we did great shows at Abe’s Steaks, the Community Education Center (CEC), more basements, Penn frats. At a show in Atlantic City some bozo locked the car keys in the trunk and we were stuck there for hours. We drove to Athens, Ohio for one show! Bernie would stay with us in our apartment. Which was great (despite those stinky Converse sneakers).
With that classic crew cut and the stripped t- shirts, and the bright smile Bernie was a great band mate. We miss him. –Allen Fiend
After Mudd Helmut Dan-O formed Rocket 69 with ex More Fiend Ron Kitagawa. Rock Koplin on guitar and Scott Schuppert on drums. This post has 2 of their Philly shows from the Khyber and Upstairs at Nick’s. Rocket 69 release a cd Demolition Diary on Snake Oil Recording and a split 7″ with Dion Blade & The New Kings Of Rock.
Thanks for the tape files Brett Noise Addiction II
This post was originally on Noise Addiction blog – I have re-posted it (with a few changes) – Check out more Noise Addiction posts at Noise Addiction 2
Kremlin Korps were around for about 1 years – 1983-1984 – and released one 7″ ep in that time. When they split 3 members formed Homo Picnic. The More Fiends were a very unique sounding band that started in 1985. They released two albums, are the only Philly band to record a John Peel Session and one of the few Philly bands to tour Europe. This early live show is with the original line up – guitar/slide guitar/drums/sax – and they have a more No Wave sound which is much different than the more Punky sound they are known for. This line up never released anything but apparently they did record some demos. Ruin need no intro. They were the best band to ever come out of Philly. On this show they played for almost 90 straight minutes. Seeds Of Terror existed from 1982 to 1984 and only had two songs on the Get Off My Back Philly Hardcore comp. though they did record a full albums worth of stuff. All I have is this one song which is about the Philly DJ Lee Paris.
More Fiends sound is hard to describe. Here’s an attempt to describe them from the Sounds magazine (London): An explosion of vivid colours both in looks and personalities, More Fiends prove to be illuminating musically too. With superfuzz thrash, disoriented voodoo rhythm and gloriously camp vocal extremities, they have come up with one far out wild party. The powerful effect of the Fiends’ multi-ingredient homebrew is a drug free buzz for quality kitsch lovers everywhere. I know for me they expanded my musical horizons further than just the faster & louder hardcore that dominated the 80’s all ages scene (not that I didn’t like that as well)
To me they are one of the Philadelphia bands most in tune with the true spirit of punk. The idea of early Punk was bands setting out to be their own weird thing. More Fiends achieve that – they sound like no one else and you couldn’t pigeon hole them into some category (i.e. hardcore, crossover, emo & all the ridiculous labels that exist today.)
The core of the band was Elizabeth and Allen Fiend plus many other people over the years. Here are at least some of the other members: Ron Fiend, Rich Poor (Total Fucking Destruction, Brutal Truth). Bob Bludgeon, Julie, Tony, Dave Fiend (Kitschchao) & Bob Fiend. Elizabeth for some time now has been making the amazing tv show BiG TeA PaRtY BiG TeA PaRtY is about a funky, elegant, healthy and ecological lifestyle. Use our web site, videos, articles, recipes, projects and photos to inspire your transformation to a happier, livelier existence. Click to read our Mission. Below I have 3 cd’s worth of More Fiends. Music From Big Tea Party (the musical backdrop to the show. – some of which I believe is solo Allen stuff), Dark Side Of Genius (Like an explosion through a maze of sound with jagged schizophrenic convulsions. The weirdest of all More Fiends music. Demented and abrasive lo-fi basement recordings. Your Mother won’t like this one! – Mostly the later Dave & Bob Fiend era) and Nibble (live recording mostly from 1992/1993 see the notes below the tracks for info on who was in the band and where it was from.) Below that I’ve collected a bunch of flyers for your viewing pleasure.
★ House of Beats Studio (Meth 25 – Produced by John of Meth 25) with Julie and Tony (Track 14 – written by Julie)
❄ 40th Street Underground – Christmas Party 1993 with Tony and Bob.
❽ 40th Street Underground – Halloween Party 1993 with Bob and Tony
⌘ 4 in 1 club Delaware with Julie & Tony (Track #7 in response to Nazi Skinhead audience members)
❀ 1985 show with Matt & Sandy
➢ Bunker House Hamburg Germany (Produced by Peter from Alien Boys) with Ron & Rich
◉ Kauffman Kitchen Studio with Martha
To the best of my knowledge all of the music links are for recordings that are out of print but if you enjoy what you hear, buy other records and support the artist(s) and/or labels: if you don't approve of having your material displayed and would like to have it down...
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