My Musical History Part 2 -- #Blaugust2021 Day 11

Part 2 . . . The Industrial Music Years

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Armed with a limited knowledge of music theory, I started to write songs that went beyond just plucking random notes out of the air. My old friends and I from our small town made a synth band called Decussion Council -- it was like "Discussion" and "Percussion" mashed together with all the 80's vibes in-between. 

Our highlight was being featured on a local radio program called Local's Only with a 20-minute interview. Being on the radio was monumental and felt like we pulled off something that we shouldn't have been able to pull off. Collectively our favorite song we wrote was called Don't Stop. I have an early iteration of that song loaded up on Soundcloud. (Last year I even made a remake of our old jam during quarantine.)

Tom Purdue · Don't Stop

As High School ended, we all separated and went our own ways to different colleges and universities. I ran into a new group of drummers at the local university and made fast friends. They asked me to play synths for their Pink Floyd/Cure-esque band called Deep Anna. I wasn't very good at playing the synth live, but I did it anyway.  (The guitar player, Sean Young, in the band ended up being a really solid musical ally and best friend for the next several years . . . he even ended up being the best man at my wedding!)

To be honest, I was more about creating/producing songs that could be sequenced on-board my good ol' Ensoniq DPM Sampler/Synthesizer with a miniscule 8 tracks to mess around with. I totally mastered that art of onboard sequencing with a synthesizer. Keep in mind that this all was 1989-1990. I didn't even own a PC yet (and I certainly wasn't writing music on my old Commodore 64).

Then came a fateful day for me . . . I failed a pretty important Music Theory test in college, and that was it.  I was a drummer that didn't know how to transpose flute to tuba. I didn't have perfect pitch or a musically trained ear.  I was done with school, and in my mind, so what, I didn't want to become a high school music teacher anyway. With my hopes of being a music major over, instead I dropped out of college and decided that I'd try being an industrial music dude instead.

So I wrote an album of my own flavor of industrial/dance music and used my 1990 tax return to fund a run of 200 copies of a tape I called Darkest America. (which I uploaded to Bandcamp recently if you're curious.)

Cover photo of Darkest America

I even paid to have them shrink wrapped with a little onion skin paper insert with lyrics that came with the tape.

I originally wanted to go with a band name for myself instead of just "Tom Purdue," but my friend Sean talked me out of it and said I should just own it by making it my name. I kind of regret that a bit in that using your own name was a very folk artist thing to do. Sean loved the music of Bob Dylan and Kate Bush and any number of artists who used their name. I don't think you really ever saw that in Industrial Music. I remember hearing that the hosts of a local morning radio show show spent several minutes making fun of me because they were sick of saying my name when they had to announce upcoming local concerts as part of their show. Anyway, my choice was made, so I stuck with it. (It made it easier for people to track me down later -- but that's a story for part 4.)

I started playing local clubs here and there and selling my tape in local record stores. Most of the spots I played were total dives: The Pompadour club (and old church converted to a concert hall), Perseus Opera (an old bowling alley converted to a concert hall), etc. I actually have some old concert footage up on my YouTube channel and recently went through all my old video tapes. I may do something with all that footage in the future sometime.

An Ancient Concert flyer from when I opened with a band called Fractal Method.

I would send out copies of my tape to record companies that I found in the 1990 songwriter's market handbook and got back a lot of rejection letters. I was living on my own at the time, just trying to survive really, and distracting my girlfriend (future wife) who was going to college. They were magical yet confusing times, and when I wasn't making music, I was playing my Super Nintendo or working as a Checker at a local grocery store.

A year later, I wrote a second album of my own flavor of industrial music, using my 1991 tax return and funded a run of 250 copies of a tape called Freeze. (Also uploaded to Bandcamp for your amusement/enjoyment). The cover of Freeze was super noteworthy in that it was almost like a work of art. It folded out several times with lyrics and a newspaper clipping collage by my friend Sean Young. I spent some extra money on that, but it was totally worth it.

I only played one gig after its release. It was a big show though . . . I was one of six or seven local bands chosen to play at "Localpalooza" in a "Lollapalooza" format. I was the token industrial act.

Again, all I really got back from this endeavor was rejection letters. It wasn't for trying though and some good did come out of my efforts.

Cover photo of Freeze

There was one fella (Carl Howard) I connected with who listed me on his tape exchange mailing list and we made a special print-on-demand release of Darkest America on his label aT Tapes, but . . . I don't think there was much interest for it generally. I definitely didn't see any money from it.

I wrote one more album of less-industrial-more-experimental music over the next two years that probably never will be heard past my own ears . . . because that tax return money went toward a ring for my future wife! And, yes, the music was still there, but the dream of being an industrial music star kinda died as Grunge took over the world. 

Tune in tomorrow for Part 3 where I transition from being an Industrial Music dude to being a poet, a writer, a dad, and a Techno Christmas music producer?! 

Happy Dueling!