this is an article from my personal blog, www.davecolbert.com about my interaction with punk rock legend Jim Skafish.
Skafish and Me
My first (and most important) Home Entertainment System
I was born right at the time the Seventies were starting and because of that, I have witnessed Rock’n’Roll and specifically, punk rock with a first person perspective that if I didn’t have, I would envy. Eventually, I will fill the internet with my opinions and links to the music that has made me the person I am today, but for this post, I will focus on one album by one band. The band is called Skafish and the album is called Skafish.
Let’s go back in time. I can’t really remember a time before music was a part of my life. My first favorite band was the Beach Boys. Because I was five. My family had the greatest hits album that I would play on the family record player. (I also had a Sesame Street record as well but that will get its own post someday). The Beach Boys were easy to sing along to and fun… so much fun. Later on in life I would discover Pet Sounds and gain a whole new appreciation for them.
A few years later, Nancy, my older sister, discovered the Beatles and came down with a severe case of Beatlemania (which was strange for the time.. The band had been broken up for many years by then.) She filled the house with Beatles music. This was when records were a rare treasure and as she collected them, my own exposure to amazing music grew and grew. I still remember the day I picked up “Revolver” for her from Dick Jakes’ Five & Dime Store in Machias.
My older brother, Danny, sometime during all of this,… he would be the game changer. I don’t know how it all went down for him.. I’ll ask him… but through his influence, Punk Rock entered my life. He got into it, and since I looked up to him, I got into it. Probably The Clash at first, quickly followed by the Sex Pistols. Joe Jackson’s first album was huge… the beginning of punk for me could possibly be marked the time The Boomtown Rats performed on the short-lived sketch comedy series, Fridays:
My brother got their album The Fine Art of Surfacing and he put it on one side of a 90 minute blank cassette tape. When he did that, I became a Punk Rocker and I take that mantle today and to my grave. As time permits, I will discuss that album at length, … but now, back to Skafish.
As I got a little older, .. around sixth grade maybe, my brother went to college and was exposed to another batch of exotic music that simply couldn’t be heard any other way. Unless you lived in that era, I’m not sure you can appreciate how precious new music was. Radio stations in the eighties were firing DJ’s and replacing them with pre-programed song lists bought and paid for by the big record companies. Unless you lived near a college or big city, you had to scavenge for punk and new wave music. Anyway… Danny comes home from college and gives me a cassette of Skafish on Side A and Burning Sensations on Side B.
I put the cassette in my tape recorder and push play. Danny had listed the songs but didn’t include ‘introduction’ on the list. I always assumed it was a part of the second track.
I was (*am) a punk… not just because I like punk rock and new wave music, but because I had rejected my religion, my patriotism, and I questioned authority in every way I could without going to jail. So when the female voice came on talking about being a popular cheerleader, and then… BANG… Joan Fan Club. What a delightful song. So god-damn funny and sad at the same time… and it fucking rocks. Anyway… I fell in love with Skafish within the first two minutes of hearing them. Joan is written from a bullies perspective of how he plans on tormenting an overweight girl at his school. I don’t know if Dr. Demento ever played it or not,.. I kinda hope not. But if he did, it would have been right at home on his show. It’s hilarious as long as you don’t think about poor, poor Joan. It’s important to know when to take things seriously.
Going back to that introduction: Barbie, the narrator, encapsulated the attitude I could see around me and that I hated oh so much. Barbie was, has been, and always will be, my antithesis. It’s 34 seconds and every punk that ever heard it… ‘got it’. We all knew Barbie.
* If at all possible, listen to this on physical media. On a digital playlist there is a millisecond pause between Introduction and Joan Fan Club that shouldn’t be there.
I’m serious… It’s slight, but huge.
Maybe One Time
When an artist exposes personal pain.. You end up with exceptional, true, beautiful art. Maybe One Time is an example. At that time in my life I was deep into puberty, a little overweight, very clumsy, and awkward with the girls. My small town didn’t have a whole lot of them to choose from anyway. I didn’t have a girlfriend and I wanted one. Very badly. The word “crush” is the most criminally understated word in the English language. Wanting someone and not telling them… or worse, telling them and being rejected. The pains of a teenager.
What does all that have to do with the song?… For that answer you need to listen to it. The singer spills his fucking guts out and its a beautiful and painful and its wonderful…. And when you’re feeling all alone because you’re a fucked up teenage in love,… it was a friend.
Obsessions of You
Ditto.
(for privacy’s sake, I won’t name my obsession.)
We’ll See A Psychiatrist
I used to laugh at this one. … years later, when I started to address my own mental illness (bipolar) … fuck, it’s still funny. Great organ playing too!
I need to mention this. Over the decades, Punk has survived and mutated and it’s not going away. During the late Seventies and Early Eighties though, punk had a cousin… New Wave and the line between the two was blurry at best. New Wave took more chances than Punk.. it was less angry…. more innovative. That’s my take anyway. Some record companies put out crazy, crazy stuff that had no category so it would end up in the New Wave bin. It was wonderful and different. Music used to take so many more chances.
Romantic Lessons
Many years before I heard The Smiths or knew the name Morrissey, I heard this song and I wanted to give the singer a hug. That poor lonely man! It’s a sad song and if I played for a punk friend and said this is a punk band, I would have some ‘splaning to do. It’s not punk. It’s art.
Work Song
Now this is Punk. Socialist attitude, vicious guitar, driving drums.. Just a damn good song.
Guardian Angel
Another one that won’t pass the punk litmus test, but a lovely lullaby that helps bind the album together. Alright, you don’t have to love every song on an album for it to be a great album. It’s a song. Not my favorite, but it’s head and shoulders above the crap the rest of the world was listening to.
Disgracing The Family Name
Now we’re talking. This is the one that got way under my skin.. The one that ended up on dozens of mixed tapes. It’s the most punk rock song you can imagine. And it freakin rocks! How are the old folks at home? … funny. I’m the old folks now.
No Liberation Here
Another one cementing their place in the punk rock history books. WE ARE PRISONERS!… How many times have I wanted to shout that from the roofs?
Take It Out On You
This one is one of my favorites and a reason I simply love this album to death. Musically there is sooo much going on here. I wish I could dissect it… it would take a Frank Zappa or Trey Anastasio mind to get it all.. I just know I love the way it sounds. The lyrics are gruesome and joyful. And .. I used to listen to this on my Walkmen.. At the end the vocals quickly change from left to right channel, back and fourth, in a way that makes you glad you’re listening to it through headphones.
That cassette became a staple in my rotation. I never really got sick of it like I do with a lot of music that I’ve been listening to for that long.
And then, .. years later at the Record Town in Ellsworth, I found an album called URGH! A MUSIC WAR.
That album will need a post of it’s own. Anyway, Skafish was one of the bands listed and one of the few that I had heard of .. I bought it. ..again, I need more time to discuss that one… I’ll just say, it opened up my world.
All of this is to prepare you for this story about something that happened just the other day.
As a fan and Facebook addict, I follow the Skafish page. A couple of weeks ago I was struggling with a video I wanted to post on this site. (It’s the introductory video on the home page). It wasn’t quite what I wanted and I was stressing about it.
That’s when I saw this post, and responded:
The response came from Jim Skafish, the man responsible for the music I loved and grew up with, who was communicating directly with me! I admit, I’m star-struck. I mean… wow!.. That just doesn’t happen everyday.
So… I wrote him a fan letter. Just a little one. I could have written more and in a way, that’s what this post is… the more.
And when he saw it, a few days later, he wrote back!. A very nice personal message with links to the bonus track that has always been missing from my tape. I feel like I made a real human connection with someone who has entertained and helped me immensely over the course of my life.
I’m going to put in the effort and rediscover the music of Skafish that I haven’t heard.
Jim (Skafish), if you’re still reading… Thank you. I can’t thank you enough. You inspire me and that, my friend, is priceless.
Want more Dave?… he’s here:
