003: Bill Baker

Published On March 5, 2015 | I’VE KNOWN YOU TOO LONG, PODCASTS

Dave met Bill Baker (JAYHAWKER, SLOWSIDEDOWN, Incision Records) on the mean streets (playgrounds) of Bellingham in the 1970s. They formed a bond that carried them through violence and revenge, attempted murders, and classroom behavior that would get a kid expelled and/or heavily medicated today. It was really fun. Later they got into skateboarding, punk, hardcore and Straight Edge, formed bands, put on shows, started record labels, and had various other adventures of the sort you can only have with someone you’ve known forever. And that’s what they talk about here.

Follow Bill on Twitter: @krackmonkey

Follow Nobody’s Nose on Twitter: @NOSEYNOBODY

Most of these conversations will contain shorthand speech and insider info that both parties will be familiar with and won’t necessarily stop to explain for the listener. Whenever possible, Dave will provide some after-the-fact definitions and descriptions. Like your own personal eavesdropping translator.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

BANANA SPLITS THEME SONG: The Banana Splits Adventure Hour was a show from the late 60’s that we watched endless re-runs of throughout the 70’s. I have the theme song stuck in my head to this day, and sometimes I doubt even death will release me from its grasp. You can hear it for yourself here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQTq88Ie5sU

Bespin: This is the “cloud city” in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

“The Yeagers basement was like Hogwarts”: YEAGER’S SPORTING GOODS is a store in Bellingham, WA that had a basement toy department. HOGWARTS is the magical school in the Harry Potter books.

“Missile from the Viper”: The Colonial Viper toy from the original series of Battlestar Galactica originally came with spring-loaded missiles which would fire a few feet and were very cool. Stupid kids choked on these and ruined all the fun for everyone. Enjoy your lukewarm coffee.

“They were hanging out on Cornwall, on the benches”: In downtown Bellingham there were these benches on the sidewalk, on Cornwall Ave, in front of Woolworth’s. In the mid 80’s, you could usually find an odd assortment of weirdos hanging out there.

TAKE CHARGE: A punk rock band from Spokane. They later became WATERSTREET and were the 2nd release on Excursion.

ADD ODDS: A punk rock band that Dave Larson sang for.

EXTREMITY: A punk rock band that Bill Baker sang for.

Jason and Brett: They get mentioned a few times in this episode. Jason Lambert and Bret Van Horn. They played in a punk band called THE LAWNMOWERS who became FILTHY MCNASTY who then split up when Jason and Bret went Straight Edge and formed FIRST STEP. Crucial dudes.

SECOND NATURE: A slightly later punk rock band that Dave Larson sang for. Not to be confused with Dan Askew’s Zine & Record Label.

RESOLUTION: A post-BROTHERHOOD hardcore band featuring Ron Guardipee and Dan Hoerner.

STRAIN, SPARKMARKER: Hardcore bands from Vancouver, BC.

FUGAZI: A really quite very important band.

SHELTER: A Hari Krishna hardcore band. Every bit as asinine as that sounds. Also, put on one hell of a show.

DRIVE LIKE JEHU: ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT’s evil twin band. Too good to be adequately described by my weak words.

ECONOCHRIST, BORN AGAINST, RORSCHACH, DOWNCAST, RAIN LIKE THE SOUND OF TRAINS: These are all bands. Really good bands, from the point of view of people who like those kinds of bands. I’ll bet there are killer youtube videos of them posted, if you were so inclined to search.

VERBAL ASSAULT: A nearly perfect example of the beauty and power that a truly great hardcore band can deliver.

BRIAN BAUER: Ran a label called SCORCH and later a little bigger one named RX REMEDY. Put out records by AMENITY, RESOLUTION, GALLEONS LAP, and HARRY DEAN STANTON. (Yes, that guy)

“The INTEGRITY LP”: Specifically, “For Those Who Fear Tomorrow”, the original OVERKILL RECORDS release from 1991.

MIKE MITCHELL: Drummer. Actor. Man about town.

* A LOT MORE BANDS GET MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE. You can probably figure them out by context.

GILMAN ST.: 924 Gilman Street. An all-ages, collectively organized music club in Berkeley, CA.

ADAM: Adam Paysse. Ran ROME PLOW RECORDS. 1st singer for HEIRESS. Owns a brewery now, I think.

“Tail end of THE PARADOX shows”: THE PARADOX was a small theater at the north end of University Avenue in Seattle that helped give rise to the post-90’s NW Hardcore scene revival. The exact same building is also where MARS HILL church got started. So, there’s that.

EXTREMITY in Bill’s Garage:

INSIDE OUT in Bill’s Garage:

SHELTER in Bill’s Garage:

CRUMBLE/FRAGMENT:

JAYHAWKER:

SLOWSIDEDOWN:

BILL ART:

BILL ZINES & FAXES:

California trip 200?:

Larson, Baker:

Larson, Good, Baker:

Larson, Baker, Paysse:

(Whitney was there too. She took the photos.)

I think we might be 9 and 10 in this picture:

This one might be harder to explain:

I’VE KNOWN YOU TOO LONG

David Larson is a screenwriter from the Seattle area who ran an independent record label called EXCURSION for many years. Over the course of the last three decades, Dave has formed friendships with a large number of people who have made an artistic impact, mostly in the world of Punk Rock and Hardcore music. Many of these people have gone on to greater and more varied adventures in the worlds of art, film, music, politics, and activism. In this podcast, Dave uses the timeline of their first meeting to explore back and forth through their histories to try and gain a better understanding of how they came to be the people they are today.

They say history is written by the conquerors, and while none of these campaigns are complete yet, it is time to get some of these tales nailed down before they are lost to time and age.

Check out Dave’s episode of the WORD ON THE STREET podcast HERE.

Check out Dave and Ron Guardipee’s episode of the EDGELAND podcast HERE.

DIG THAT INTRO MUSIC?

That’s Polymorph, a project by my friend Bryar Herrick. He has a ton of stuff you can check out here:

https://polymorph.bandcamp.com/