As you well know, Pittsburgh didn’t produce a Ramones or an X, but the city certainly had its own scrappy DIY punk scene in the late ’70s pioneered by such bands as The Shut-Ins, The Cuts, The Puke, The Dark, The Cardboards and, of course, Carsickness and The Five.
Another player in that scene was The Shakes, a band from CMU that will do a partial reunion this weekend at RePunk 3, the third gathering in the past decade of that late ’70s/early ’80s community.
RePunk begins, appropriately enough, with a Friday at Zarra’s, formerly the Electric Banana, the onetime go-go club run by Johnny and Judy Zarra, who gave the punks a homebase on Bigelow Boulevard.
The weekend will continue with a RePunk Art Exhibit of posters and photographs, a picnic in Schenley Park, a show at the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern and a brunch at Pittsburgh Filmmakers with a screening of live performance films.
Here is a conversation with New York artist Tracy Wuischpard, who formed The Shakes with Hugh Esten, Michael Gaertner and Bill Fancher.
First of all, tell me about The Shakes. When did the band form and what was the spark/concept?
The Shakes formed in the fall of 1978. Hugh Esten had spent the summer in NYC going to the clubs and seeing lots of bands like Television, Talking Heads, Blondie, Dead Boys and, last but not least, The Ramones. We were both going to the Fine Arts School at CMU, he in the theater department as a director and me in the painting department. I was interested in performance art, and this movement of artists taking up instruments lit a fire in Hugh. He came to Pittsburgh that fall with a stack of records, black jeans and ideas for the songs that would be the beginning of The Shakes.
What were the highlights during The Shakes run?
Playing, I think for the first time, at the famous apartment where Bill Bored lived above the Holiday Bar for a wild party — there were many wild parties. This apartment is documented in Stephanie Beroes’ film, “Debt Begins at 20,” about the Pittsburgh punk scene. It’s going to be shown at the RePunk. I also remember opening for Robert Fripp and The League of Gentlemen at The Decade, and later that night, I danced with him while Denise Dee and her fabulous band, Hans Brinker and the Dykes, played their hit “Two Fingers Wide.” It was surreal. We also had a wonderful experience playing onstage in a theatrical performance at Lion’s Walk of Hugh’s (school forbidden) rock musical “Bobby Angel” where we played on stage and were also a part of the scenes as actors.
How would you say Pittsburgh punk compared to other scenes? Do you think it just lacked exposure?
New York was full of great music and it also had great newspapers and magazines that wrote about — New York! So this cultural feedback loop had no need for Pittsburgh or Cleveland or even LA — which had its own powerful scene that never really had the same cache. Reid Paley’s fantastic band The Five went to Boston, but New York doesn’t care about Boston either. This is just my opinion. But bands like The Cardboards and The Shakes lived in a bubble in Pittsburgh because of the lack of powerful media there (at the time). But the people of the scene knew they had something extraordinary. They didn’t need a newspaper to tell them. We postered the streets at 3 a.m., we held parties in houses and apartments, we had our own fanzines and radio, and everybody danced like there was no tomorrow.
I should also mention The Rave-Ups, who played many shows and then went on to LA where they struggled with the record industry. Jimmer Podrasky and Michael Kaniecki are two of the finest writers I know. Now Jimmer is releasing a new album and is touring again. He’s getting amazing reviews. We are older but we’re still kicking.
The Rave-Ups were also in the “Bobby Angel” band for the performance of the play. Michael and Jimmer were also at CMU.
As for the vibe of the scene then, was there a feeling of camaraderie or competition? Where there different camps? I’m not sure I remember Carsickness and The Five hitting it off.
Were there “camps” in the scene? I think so. It made me really sad to realize it wasn’t all for one and one for all. Since my band was mostly CMU students (Hugh, Michael and I all went there) I heard some people from the scene saw us as privileged. Of course, it took a while for that to sink in. I was super busy with a double major of painting and independent study that encompassed film and performance art, plus I had a band that was playing regularly. It was a lot.
Jimmer always says he was kind of shunned by that scene
There was a divide. I felt it, and The Rave-Ups felt it, too. Such a shame because all of us from CMU came from middle-class families. No one came from real money. I had nothing, literally nothing. I was only there because I had a lot of scholarship money and had to keep my grades above a B average or I was out of there. As a result, I wasn’t going to every show or party. I had paintings to make in addition to a full class schedule. That didn’t help us politically. Some people let me know they noticed that we weren’t attending their shows. So, we were maligned by the “working class bands” who I will not name. It was stupid and small of them, but that’s what happened. At one point, someone from their camp spray-painted our band name on the wall of The Decade. We were banned from that club after that. It was a tough blow. After that Reid Paley got Phase III happening and the Electric Banana started to be a place where people went, but being kicked out of our home turf was really wounding to our momentum. It was already pretty hard trying to do it all.
But there were people in the scene who were our friends. We were very close with The Cardboards. Joe O’Lear was one of the most brilliant performers in the scene, and we actually lived in the same house for a year. Bill Von Hagen was a champion of all creatives publishing New Magazine and literally making something out of nothing. He wrote about our band, had us play at his famous apartment and was always a supporter.
I loved it when we helped each other. One time, we got a phone call from Joe O’Lear. The Cardboards had been practicing in Oakland and Bill Von Hagen had come up with some magic drum lick. They had no way to record it so Hugh RAN down there with a tape recorder, and Bill played the lick over and over until he got there. That was the kind of vibe that made me love that scene and there were plenty of people that shared that spirit.
So, how long did The Shakes last?
We played for three years in Pittsburgh. Then Hugh went to NYC, and I stayed in Pittsburgh for another year with Michael and Bill (our drummer). The three of us had a punk funk band during that time called Earthings. That band migrated to San Francisco in 1982 where we played the local clubs for a couple of years. Then Hugh came out to California where he did a play he wrote called “Big Bang at Bikini Beach” in LA with Bob McGrath’s theater troupe. Eventually, he came to SF where we reformed with a new drummer(s) and played for a couple of years doing shows at clubs like Mabuhay Gardens, and the I-Beam where we opened for Liquid Liquid.
And The Shakes never recorded?
No, we had done a session at a studio in Pittsburgh but at the time there was no money to press it and then when we were ready, the tapes had been stolen. But it was shocking to me at the last RePunk that people actually sang the songs while they danced. They knew all of the lyrics after all these years! Amazing.
How did this reunion come about?
[RePunk] contacted me. We had done a reunion 10 years ago (Hugh and I). John Shanley had set that one up, and he did a fantastic job. This year, Michael Gaertner, our bass player is joining us, so we’re very happy to all be together. Unfortunately, Bill Fancher, our original drummer, died five years ago.
Anything to add?
I am doing a “Band Family Tree” project at the RePunk. It is amazing how this scene has grown and grown. Long after we left Pittsburgh, kids continued to take up instruments and make their own music. This is one of the things that gives me the greatest satisfaction. We hope to make an online version to share.
Despite the differences people had (and we were all so young) I have great affection for everyone from that scene. We all witnessed such incredible performances and everyone knew how special it was. Now that many years have passed I have to say, I’ve haven’t seen anything to rival it since.
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RePunk also will feature a reunion of Bone of Contention, the band fronted by musician/writer Mike Shanley, whose older brother John formed The Shut-Ins and launched the initial RePunk (with Stephanie Vargo) in 2006.
Mike formed Bone of Contention in 1986, inspired by his brother and by the emergence of punk. “The last band he was in, I was in ninth grade and I just getting into punk rock, and it was like, ‘this is the most amazing thing ever.’ ”
BoC, which produced three full-length albums, ran through 1995, playing its final show as a trio at Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, where the reunion will take place.
With different members throughout its history all on board, the reunion will find BoC playing as a five-piece for the first time, with Mike Shanley joined by Barb Madaus, Lila Shaara, Sean Lally and Bart Wise.
“I didn’t think people in Bone of Contention would want to do it, just because it’s been a while, and I thought some people in the band might be afraid of getting on stage again, but they were really into it.”
RePunk schedule:
FRIDAY
5 p.m.: Dinner at Zarra’s, 3887 Bigelow Blvd., Oakland, with oud player Tom Moran and belly dancer Sahra DeRoy. 412-682-8296.
7-10 p.m.: RePunk Art Exhibit at Irma Freeman Center for Imagination, 5006 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. 412-924-0634. Poster display curated by Harriet Stein. Photographs curated by Dennis Childers. Performers: Ben Opie and Josh Wulff, and Standing Wave. Suggested donation $5.
SATURDAY
12:30 p.m.: Public picnic at Schenley Park Vietnam Vets Pavilion with Mickey Gentry, LPC, The Shakes (acoustic), Tom Moran and Stephanie Vargo, and members of the Rumhounds. (Bring something to grill.)
9 p.m.: Concert at Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, 4412 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. 412-682-8611. With A.T.S., Bone of Contention, Tracy & The Shakes, buster b (of Gates of Wrath). Suggested donation $10.
SUNDAY
Noon: Brunch and film screening. Pittsburgh Filmmakers, 477 Melwood Ave., Oakland. 412-681-5449. Live performance films featuring appearances by: Dress Up As Natives, The Five, Carsickness, Gates of Wrath, Moist, A.T.S., Da Shunts, and Actual Size. Suggested donation $8.
Scott Mervis: smervis@post-gazette.com; 412-263-2576. Twitter: @scottmervis_pg.
For concert news and listings in Pittsburgh, visit post-gazette.com/concerts.
First Published: July 20, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
