{"id":28332,"date":"2024-10-25T05:30:40","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T09:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28332"},"modified":"2024-10-25T10:43:20","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T14:43:20","slug":"new-math-walks-among-us-again-part-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/25\/new-math-walks-among-us-again-part-2-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"New Math Walks Among Us Again (Part 2 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

Never one to shy away from calling out characters who make things difficult, Howie has only good things to say about New Math. \u201cSometimes,\u201d he says, \u201cyou get involved with people who are so tough to work with that you think, \u2018Oy, there’s not much that we\u2019re going to get out of this.\u2019 You have to put so much into it in terms of psychic energy or fighting with people.\u201d He says that New Math was \u201cthe opposite of that. They made everything so easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick says that the band financed the EP recording sessions, but it wasn\u2019t a major investment. \u201cWhen you combine a very small amount of money \u2013 maybe we would have saved $1,000 or something to go into a studio for a day or two \u2013 and the fact that it was just a local band, it was just a fun thing to do when you’re a young kid,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn’t know what we were doing,\u201d Patrick says. \u201cSo to economize as much as possible, we just did a few takes and maybe a few overdubs and [hoped we] captured it.\u201d What the band and producer Thompson captured was a kind of minor-key, gothic-flavored rock that owed a debt to The Psychedelic Furs. After the 1979 power pop single, the new EP represented a major stylistic change for the band.<\/p>\n

\"\"

photo by Duane Sherwood<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI think we just were like lots of kids,\u201d Patrick says. \u201cYou just tried to mimic your favorite band at the time, or your favorite sort of moment in music.\u201d By the time of the EP, New Math\u2019s tastes had \u201cmoved on to The Gun Club and The Cramps,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

After the EP\u2019s release, the band booked dates at New York City\u2019s Mudd Club and Peppermint Lounge. And through their association with Thompson, New Math was able to play dates all around the Northeast, opening for The Psychedelic Furs and Wall of Voodoo. \u201cThe general consensus,\u201d says Yockel, \u201cis that we held up own on the same bill with them, which is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in Rochester, the group was a popular opening act, placed on bills with The Ramones, The Pretenders and other nationally touring acts. Trainer also recalls that New Math did \u201ca tour for 415 Records,\u201d including dates in Milwaukee. \u201cWe all had jobs,\u201d he says. \u201cSo we did the tour on a long weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

The success of Romeo Void\u2019s Never Say Never<\/i> led directly to the 415 deal with Columbia\/CBS, taking Romeo Void along with it. But New Math\u2019s fortunes didn\u2019t follow suit; CBS didn\u2019t offer them a deal. \u201cI was surprised that New Math didn’t become more successful,\u201d says Chris Knab. \u201cWho knows why they do or don\u2019t sign certain artists?\u201d \u201cThey weren\u2019t interested,\u201d Patrick says, recalling that Columbia executive Don DeVito \u201ccame to see a show and decided they didn’t want to pursue it. And it ended there.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Math didn\u2019t exactly end; the band changed its name. \u201c\u2018New Math\u2019 didn\u2019t reflect what we sounded like,\u201d Patrick says, so the same lineup became Jet Black Berries. Signing with Enigma Records, the renamed band released three albums. Yet again, the group of Rochester musicians changed its sound. Trouser Press<\/i> described 1984\u2019s Sundown on Venus<\/i> as cowpunk, \u201can offbeat concept album that almost carries off an attempt to meld two familiar cultural idioms, science-fiction and westerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the musicians of New Math are more likely to identify as former members of Jet Black Berries; New Math is viewed as something of a footnote, a stepping stone toward their major-label incarnation. But Gary Trainer emphasizes his appreciation for Howie Klein. \u201cPeople like that at the time were sort of like patrons of the arts. Howie must’ve lost his shirt on our deal,\u201d he says. \u201cI am forever, forever, forever in his debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Postscript\/addendum:<\/b> In 2023, Propeller Sound Recordings released Die Trying & Other Hot Sounds (1979-1983)<\/i>. The 11-track compilation featured New Math material not included on their 415 EP. Early singles and some later tracks make up the set. And in 2024, the label reissued the original They Walk Among You<\/i> EP in a remastered and expanded edition. Pressed on CD and vinyl, the set appended the original five-song set with three self-produced studio recordings (including a cover of the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cWe Love You\u201d and three live tracks from dates at Scorgie\u2019s in 1983.<\/p>\n

Pressed on beautifully swirled purple vinyl, the 2024 Propeller LP features an inner sleeve packed with memorabilia images (gig posters, review clippings, photos and more). The sleeve \u2013 or the booklet on the CD version \u2013 features reminiscences about each track from Gary Trainer, Kevin Patrick, Roy Stein and Chris Yockel, and makes kind mention of my book Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave<\/i> of which this history you\u2019ve just read is the 28th<\/sup> chapter. \u2013 bk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… Never one to shy away from calling out characters who make things difficult, Howie has only good things to say about New Math. \u201cSometimes,\u201d he says, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28336,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,62,64,65,73],"tags":[4390,5534],"class_list":["post-28332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-post-punk","category-rawk","category-reissue","category-review","category-vinyl","tag-415-records","tag-new-math","cat-53-id","cat-62-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28332"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28337,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28332\/revisions\/28337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}