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| OKF 001 |
Kenneth Higney
Attic Demonstration LP
Attic Demonstration LP
SOLD OUT
Often considered the Holy Grail of "real people" records, Kenneth Higney's Attic Demonstration was never actually intended to be an official
release. It was recorded in New York City by Higney and his accompanist
Gordon Gaines (R.I.P.) as a vehicle with which to sell Higney's songs
to other artists and was only pressed to vinyl in 1976 when he grew
tired of duplicating cassette tapes. Apparently the Jandekian
dissonance of the A. Demo. sound was an unintended by-product of the
one take demo sessions. Be that as it may, Attic Demonstration is a
strange sonic world all of it's own. It is neither too weird to be
unappealing to "regular" music listeners nor is it one of those
"discoveries" that leaves you wondering what all the hype was about.
Acoustic guitar ballads of nearly atonal desolation mix readily with
rock 'n' roll numbers featuring hiccuping drums and alien sounding
electric guitar. Higney's vocals are by turns sneering and mournful as
he sings about lost love and the desire for fame all filtered through
his uniquely bent worldview. Although a few ads were placed for the
record in The Village Voice and The Aquarian, the fame that Higney sought eluded him (a semi-positive review in Trouser Press
notwithstanding). That is, until the album was discovered and
distributed by record dealer Paul Major. "Attic Demonstration" has been
featured in the Acid Archives
and copies of the original LP have soared in price over the years, but
you no longer have to pay $100, $200 or even $300 to obtain a copy of
this monumental album on vinyl. One Kind Favor and Kenneth Higney have
teamed up to bring you an official reissue of Attic Demonstration remastered, with all the original artwork and with liner notes by the
artist. The reissue was Volcanic Tongue's January 2012 Tip of the Tongue.
Kenneth Higney's LP was a
watershed moment for me... before that I was more focused on hard rock
bands, psychedelic music, garage punk and the likes, whether major
label or private press. The force of honest expression mixed with the
sound of that LP blew my mind as well as made me keenly aware of the
concept of someone putting their own record out. I felt like I was
inside the artist's head when I played it.
-- Paul Major (Endless Boogie)
"No Heavy Trucking" mp3
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| OKF 004 |
Limited Pressing of 500 copies AVAILABLE NOW
Official reissue of Kenneth Higney's 1980 private press 45rpm single. Compared to Attic Demonstration, the recordings are much more polished. Originally planned for release on Ork records, synthesizers and "pop sensibility" have found their way into Higney's music, and the more I listen to it, I'm convinced this could have somehow taken the world by storm in some sort of post-No Wave context. Don't get me wrong, this is still incredibly strange stuff, with Higney triple tracking his vocals in different registers. "Funky Kinky" is an especially unique come-on to a lady and "I Wanna Be The King" is an "ode or tribute, whatever you'd like to call it, to the NYC punk scene of Max's Kansas City and CBGB's in general and Johnny Thunders (the "King") in particular," according to the artist. "I wanna be the king, I wanna play guitar. I hate the sissy music of John Den-var." Higney goes on to say:
In June of 1980 Kebrutney released a seven inch single of "I Wanna Be The King" b/w/ "Funky Kinky." This was my shot at being a performing writer and these were my first recordings done with the intent of being released to the general public. They were not demos. My thinking was to release a "double A side," which was reflected by the catalog numbers on the label: "KBH-516RAS" for "I Wanna Be The King" was the rock ("R") side and "KBH-516FAS" was the funk ("F") side. A monster record which drowned in the swamp after being chased by the villagers. Read more.
Limited edition one time pressing of 500 copies in paper sleeves with polybag. Listen
One Story About Two Songs
by Kenneth Higney
This is the story – maybe truth,
maybe fiction – about two songs I wrote and recorded, “I Wanna Be The King” and
“Funky Kinky”. Both were released as a
“double A side” seven inch vinyl single in 1980. In my mind it was a double A side because I
knew both songs were going to be hits.
In that dream state I gave the release catalog numbers which matched my
fevered mind – “I Wanna Be The King” was KBH-516ras (the “r” meaning “rock”
with the “as” standing for “a side”) and “Funky Kinky” was KBH-516fas with the
“f” for Funky. Yep, it was the funky a
side of the record. I told ya,
“fevered mind”.
“I Wanna Be The King” and “Funky
Kinky”, on the other hand, were written and recorded with the full intention of
being released.
Not to get too deep into the “meaning”
of each song, but I would like to say that “King” was a sort of ode to the NYC
punk scene at the time and the “king” mentioned is Johnny Thunders. I loved that guy. I first saw him when he and the rest of The
New York Dolls opened for Mott The Hoople at Radio City Music Hall.
Todd Rundgren, who had produced the first Dolls album, came out and
introduced the band and from the moment they hit the stage, I was hooked. They were great – GREAT. When the Dolls fell apart, Johnny formed The
Heartbreakers (whose LAMF, in my mind, without a doubt, is the best album to
come out of that time). Of course we all
know that Johnny got heavy into heroine but I used to go see him in the heyday
of The Heartbreakers and loved every show I saw. I have great memories of him and the band
playing the NYC downtown clubs. I also
have to point out – as I always do when the opportunity arises – the line “I
don’t wanna be a nigger knocking at your door” refers to a band of the time,
The New York Niggers. The entire song
references bands at the time – “The Dead Boys”, “The Heartbreakers”, “The
Rolling Stones” as in “I wanna roll away some stones”, and on and on. Never believe that “nigger” was used for any
reason other than that it referenced the band and worked well in the lyric
line. Lately, I’ve been playing the song
and have changed “nigger” to “sinner” and “Polish” to “foolish” simply to avoid
any late night hassles.
As to “Funky Kinky”: in a very
vague way it is another “ode”. This one
to my younger brother’s girlfriend at the time. She was a great and funky dancer and she had
great long curly hair. I just happened
to think she was funky and kinky and used the title as a jumping off
point. The song, in fact, was written
with Grace Jones in mind. It is a very
s&m song lyrically and I thought it would be perfect for the Empress Jones
to cover it. Fit perfectly with her
image. Alas, never happened, but I still
love it.
After the songs were written, I
decided it was time to record them with a band in a “real” studio. Gordon Gaines, being the genius he was,
decided he wanted to play drums and so we enlisted Mark Volpe on lead guitar
and John Lynch for bass – both friends from Jersey City and both, like Gordon,
amazing guitarists. John was to be the bass
man while Mark was the lead guitarist and I was to play rhythm on “I Wanna Be
The King”. I figured it would be a
good idea to rehearse the songs but, if memory serves me correctly, we only did
so with “King”. I rented space in
Jersey City and the band and I took to it.
I taught “King” to the guys and, as soon as I counted it down, we were
locked in. It was the first time I felt
the power of a full band behind me and I was flying. It was amazing to have these three great
musicians playing my song, all together, with me being in front. Talk about “high” – very few days in my life
ever matched that moment for the amount of sky I was able to grab. It was truly an earth moving experience. It was pure ecstasy.
After the first and only rehearsal,
I knew we were ready – it was the so called “magic” that bands sometimes
find
and we had, for that song, found it. I
think I had already booked studio time at Fox Recording in Rutherford, New
Jersey and, so, when the scheduled time came, we were wired to create a
masterpiece.
After we did the first studio
take of “King”, setting levels and etc., I asked the engineer, Mark Adams (who,
I learned later on, when we were recoding Jerry Rooth’s single of “But You
Loved Me Anyway” and “But You’ll Try… Again”, was an absolutely brilliant jazz
influenced guitarist) what he thought and his response was, simply, “It sounds
a million times better than anything on “Attic Demonstration”. Yep, the power of the band.
So I counted it down, rode the
bottom E string, screamed, Gordon hit the snare and we were off. Again, if I remember correctly, it was a one
take recording and, on another day, I later tripled my vocal. Brilliant playing by the other guys, with me
just being me. When you hear the recording, or if you already
have, you will notice, before the bridge, I scream and then ask “Did it sound
like it came in right?” This happened because, during the playback,
with just Mark Adams and I in the studio, I felt the break down (which I had
arranged to be a drum solo) before the bridge, just slowed the entire song
down. Since I was the only one from the
recording at this particular session, I could not redo the drum solo and so, as
is my way, I screamed over the drums and the “happy accident” of my question to
Mark brought it all home on time. To
this day, “I Wanna Be The King” is still one of my favorite recordings.
Two quick and short quotes
regarding the song/recording:
Someone asked Gordon why I counted off the
song, as it wasn’t necessary since I then screamed and the snare was hit -
which actually started the song – and the very dry humored Mr. Gains simply
replied “You don’t get the joke, do ya?”.
Gordon got it and always did.
About two days after I had given
the pressed recording out to some people, I was walking along West Side Avenue
in Jersey City and John Lynch was driving by with some friends and spotted
me. All he did was lean out the window
and scream “Hey king” but it made me feel so cool that I laughed. By simply calling out to me with that
phrase, he let me know he was proud and happy to have been a part of the
recording.
As to “Funky Kinky” – I taught
the song to the band while we were in the studio. It is a one chord thing and we decided to
just let Mark play the “funky” rhythm and I would do only the vocals on the
initial take. It worked out well when
we tried it out and so we went with it.
We did the take – again, one time – and listened. I had arranged the song to have two lead
solos and Gordon suggested that Mark Volpe do the first solo and John Lynch do
the second. Brilliant! It was done.
I could go on and on about the
single. It has not reached the cult status of “Attic Demonstration” but there
are so many stories in my head about things which happened after the release of
the 45 rpm monster. Offers from cool
indie labels which fell through, world tours which were offered but never
materialized and much more. Maybe
truth, maybe fiction.
"ATTIC DEMONSTRATION" LINER NOTES
by Kenneth Higney
by Kenneth Higney
Over the years, the collection of music on this disc has gathered a bit
of a cult following and it is always fun to hear from someone who
tracked me down because of the album. Always amazes me that the songs
are still in people's minds and everyone is very kind when speaking
about them. Now, with the reissue of this material it seems like a good
time to set the record straight - no apologies - simple explanations.
"Attic Demonstration" (KBH-516 A&B) was not released. As the old
joke goes, "it escaped" in September of 1976. The songs were not
recorded with a release in mind and are one take demo versions of things
I had hoped to get covered. At that time I did not think of myself as
a performer but rather as a song writer for other artists.
"Attic D.", "A.D.", "Attic Demo" and/or "A. Demo", as the collection has
come to be known, was pressed simply because I got tired of duplicating
cassette tapes whenever I sent a song or two out for consideration. I
figured if I had the nine demos on one piece of vinyl (this is long
before compact discs) I would just send a copy out to whomever I thought
would be interested and point out what tracks they should hear.
After the records were sitting in my house I had the brilliant idea of
trying to sell some copies and did a bit of very low budget advertising.
Iremember placing ads in The Village Voice and The Aquarian and sending
review copies out to a few magazines. Didn't get a lot of reviews (in
fact, didn't sell a lot of records) but one of them, in the now defunct
magazine "Trouser Press", stated that I "stagger into chaos and
dissonance"and sound like a "cross between Lou Reed and Neil Young
without the aid of melody". Even "without the aid of melody" it was fun
reading my name in the same sentence as Lou Reed and Neil Young.
Lost in the fog of time are the names of the original studios where
"A.D." itself was recorded. I do know the first batch of recordings -
which songs they were is not remembered - were recorded in the basement
studio of a house in Brooklyn and the second set of recordings were done
in an attic studio somewhere in mid-town Manhattan. "An attic studio"
where demo recordings were made. Seemed like "Attic Demonstration" fit
as well as anything.
All of the recordings were basically one take with the obvious over dubs, if memory serves me, also done in one take.
If you read the musician credits, you will see that the heart and soul
of this collection was a great friend of mine named Gordon Gaines. I
wrote and arranged the songs, chipped away at the lyrics and tried my
best to sing, but Gordon's amazing talent, friendship and love helped
bring them whatever life they may have. He was one of the most
brilliant musicians I ever met and remains, in my mind, as the epitome
of what a musician and friend should be. He could play anything but his
main instrument was the guitar and, during his lifetime, no one could
surpass him. These recordings do not even hint at his talent.
Unfortunately, this good man and great friend died in 1997 at the age of
forty one. He is sorely missed not only me by me but by thousands of
friends and fans. If you'd like to know a bit more about him, please go
to http://www.bobbyshred.com/gordongaines.html.
Like a lot of song writers, I prefer not to be too specific about the
meanings of my songs, although a lot of what is on this collection is
pretty obvious and, with this essay, I think some of the record is now
straight. Seems like a good time to end this little bit of fun and
maybe leave some mystery hanging over "Attic Demonstration".
Thanks for enjoying whatever you enjoyed out of this.
© 2012 – Kenneth B. Higney
– All Rights Reserved
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Review in Ugly Things magazine for both Kenneth Higney reissues:
Kenneth Higney – Attic Demonstration (One Kind Favor) LP
“Funky Kinky” b/w “I Wanna Be the King” (One Kind Favor) 7”
Long-regarded as an “outsider” grail, ‘A. Demo’ finally sees its way to an easily found slab of wax. Named for one of the locations of the two studios it was recorded in, the album was originallyreleased in September of ’76 on Kenneth’s own Kebrutney label as a means to put Higney’s demos in the hands of publishers and artists for use (seeing himself as more songwriter than performer). The thought in mind being a pre-made vinyl product bearing his bearded face would be an easier option than tapes made for every pursued instance. After a time, New York via Jersey native Higney also began selling the album in a few trade papers and received a decent review in Trouser Press—one of few reviews penned contemporaneously—before the release vanished into the collections of avid diggers yearning for the wild and whacked.
Attic Demonstration, musically speaking, isn’t an album so strange and “out” to offend the tastes of listeners not acquainted with a view from the outside, but Higney’s shaky, amelodic vox may not warm right up for some (though, all sounds a-ok to these ears and wears a ‘60s punk gone part mellow vibe). This is an album filled with singer/songwriter isolationist dementia and the sound of “smoke” addled, red-eyed road workers on a weekend bender creating positively damaged rock’n’roll numbers slathered in fuzz—courtesy guitarist Gordon Gaines, who Higney has expressed truly gave the music its “legs”—with a nothing left on the floor feel. Less skeletal, but still rambling on to a ramshackle groove of Indian love chant drums and strummy guitar, “Night Rider” lays Kenny’s rock’n’roll heart on the line establishing the duality on display, quickly followed by the mellow “Children of Sound” carrying heavily masked guitar tones coming off like burbling noise or a jew’s harp behind Higney’s Lou-esque delivery (Reed, natch) weaving a tale of the world where within all here are kin, the place where God exists as a perfect musical note. Referential to the man’s way of pay at the time “No Heavy Trucking”—appropriately where the set ends— is where mellow and mania all coalesce in a miasmic fireball building steam toward its intended drop, skidding off the rails with near No Wave chugging fuzz and barely contained meter before the whole ride evaporates into the ether. Pure magic… Over nine tracks you receive ear-grabbing ferocious fuzz and a darker, desolate take on the singer/songwriter idiom ranging from tossed off minimalism to maximum proto-punkian meandering towards an intended place in the shine.
Also making its way to the marketplace is KH’s only flamin’ 45 from 1980, with a more “produced” feel than the demo sessions and trying to tap into the hit machine. Living in another world the A-side, “Funky Kinky,” (writ with Grace Jones in mind) could’ve lit up the No Wave/New York post-punk underground, but as it stands is a slice of fragmented, funky disco that could win over even the most anti’s in earshot if they’re open. While B-side, “I Wanna Be the King,” (a tribute to Johnny Thunders) continues the same amelodic vocal style we’ve come to love over a slowed, glammy groove and the phrase “I wanna be the king, I wanna play guitar. I hate the sissy music of John Den-var.” Just wait for this duo to light up the under areas dancefloors…
It’s curious to consider who the ‘A. Demo’ songs were to be intended for, but with the nods to Thunders (and the Dead Boys) on “King”, one has to wonder if this hirsute fella aimed to pitch in the punk league. The forward, fractal quality of the album stands apart from your standard bedroom demo takes via a cast-off ‘60s disjointed punk jangle and naivety that is hard not to be consumed by. You simply gotta grab these releases with no haste if any of this interested you. Step into a world…
Jeremy Cargill
It's Pschedelic Baby interview with Kenneth Higney
Volcanic Tongue Tip of the Tongue: Kenneth Higney "Attic Demonstration"
Dusted review of Kenneth Higney "Attic Demonstration" (CD version)
Mark Prindle video review of Kenneth Higney "Attic Demonstration" (CD version)
Village Voice Best Reissues of 2012 list
Victim of Time by Jeremy Cargill
Village Voice Best Reissues of 2012 list
Victim of Time by Jeremy Cargill
