The Living Archive
Of Underground Music
The early experiences of
Dino DiMuro (artist,Campau collaborator, DiMurotapes label)
Zan Hoffman (prolific artist, collaborator, zidsick label, zh27.net label)
It was 1984, my sophmore year at Drake University and I was packing up to go home for the summer when I recieved Suburban Galexy 32a by Sombrero Galexy from Al Margolis. I was both excited as this was the first tape in trade to arrive by post, and anxious as I didn't have equipment yet to duplicate a tape to send him in trade. I enrolled at University of Louisville that summer and eventually used the high-speed duplicating machines in the School of Music to duplicate my 1st copies of The Subtle Art of Puddle Pushing by Zanstones. In November that year I got my first piece of gear, a dubbing deck with mic-line input for overdubbing. This arrived right before I made my maiden home-taper visit to meet Hal & Debbie at their Cause & Effect studio in Indy.
http://zh27.net
Though I had been recording "tape albums" from about age 8, I never
seriously considered trading or selling to anyone until I had the
ability to duplicate.
In 1982 I finally had access to a couple decent cassette decks and the
xerox machine at KPFK-FM, the Los Angeles Pacifica station where my
girlfriend Ahna was subscriptions director. I sent copies of my
cassettes to my old bandmate John Gibson in Oregon, but I very much
hungered for new, like-minded musicians to trade with. I remember
seeing a couple of unsolicited cassettes at KPFK; I sent tapes and
letters to those people, hoping for a trade, but but was crushed when
they never wrote back.
In mid-84 I was listening to the independent music show FRGK (Funny
Rock God Knows) and Host Brent Wilcox announced a new indie music mag
called OPTION that would be reviewing cassettes and homemade vinyl. I
subscribed, and immediately scanned the first issue's cassette section
for addresses of like-minded tapers. Among that first group were Tom
Furgas, Al Perry, Zan Hoffman, and Ken Clinger. I didn't know it but I
had stumbled onto four home taping giants, each of them stylistically
unique and incredibly influential within the network.
My first response was from Al Perry of Tucson, Arizona. I had sent THE
BEST OF DINO DIMURO, a compilation of 4-track recordings from 1983-84, to
his Addled Recordings, thinking it might be a real label. His
letter back to me was friendly and complimentary. The tape he sent,
Fish Karma's TO HELL WITH LOVE, LET'S GO BOWLING, was exactly the kind of
music I was looking for: smart, funny, and off the wall, yet highly
listenable. I remember going a little crazy with Al's tape, playing it
all the time and turning my friends on to it. Al followed up with his
own solo tape, as well as a vinyl album by his band THE CATTLE. In
later years I was honored to see Al play live and hang out with his
band during his visits to Los Angeles, and my highest honor was when
Fish Karma himself recorded a cover version of my tune BIG PENNY.
When I look back upon that time, I have a sense memory of my one-room
apartment in the Glendale Hills (where the Hillside Strangler used to
strike), looking at Al's red tape cover, reading his letters with the
cow ink stamps, and laughing my ass off at Fish Karma's lyrics. Al's
cassette would soon be followed by Zan's BOB THE DOG collection
(encased with real dog hair) and tapes by Tom Furgas and Ken Clingler;
but Al Perry will always have the honor of being the first cassette
artist to pass through my mail box.
www.doncampau.com
