Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Causey Way Live Shows? Napster-Era MP3 Stuffs, Your Help Is Requested

UPDATE JANUARY 13, 2013: Track #5 added to "The Other Album." Thank you, Bobby!

So the music project imploded.  It happens.  Anyway, let's move on.  Hello, person who also likes The Causey Way and/or other bands who dressed up as robots or space people or superheroes and hopefully can explain what it is I found on Napster like eleven years ago.

Does anyone out there know anything about some live Causey Way MP3s that were circulating on Napster in/around 2000-2001?  I never got whole concerts, but I got close on one and... one track off another.  I'm curious if anyone else out there has these, knows what they are, and so on.

ONE ALBUM - Labeled "Portland, OR 012401"
I SWEAT. Track #12, 4:31.
Presumably January 24, 2001.
That's all I got.  Do you have any more information?

THE OTHER ALBUM - Not labeled. Quality's good but obviously not perfect. Tracks are:
Causey Way, The - [01] News.mp3 - 3:05 - ??? Unreleased song/live only/no name I know of
Causey Way, The - [02] Natu.mp3 - 1:55 - Natural Disasters (God's Black Box) from WWCD
Causey Way, The - [03] New1.mp3 - 1:30 - Commandments from Causey vs. Everything
Causey Way, The - [04] Plan.mp3 - 3:56 - Plan C from WWCD
Causey Way, The - [05] I Sweat.mp3 - 2:39 - I Sweat from With Loving and Open Arms
Causey Way, The - [06] Mess.mp3 - 2:52 - Message From The Pulpit from With Loving and Open Arms
Causey Way, The - [07] Pers.mp3 - 2:26 - Personal Hygiene from Testimony
Causey Way, The - [08] The .mp3 - 2:30 - The Electronic Church (You Sell God) from With Loving and Open Arms

  • Track 5 was initially missing, I got it from a dude named Bobby in January of 2013.  Thank you, Bobby! Took me over 12 years.
  • Track 1 is a unique song I've never heard on any of their 4 CDs, I'd love to know what it's called, or if it even had a name.  It's about 22 seconds of static/electronic rumblings, before guitar rumblings, and vocals come in around 57 seconds.  "You've got your feet/you've got your hands" are the opening words, if I hear correctly.
  • If memory serves I got this in late 2000/2001.
  • I believe this was before Causey vs. Everything as the new songs from that album were labeled "New Song" but apparently got truncated as "News" and "New1." Thanks for nothing, MP3 labels of 11 years ago. 
  • Bobby speculates this might be part of a "Universal Buzz Radio Show" program.  Can anyone confirm? I have a Servotron one, but never heard of a Causey one. Confirmation would be awesome!
If you have any information, please leave a comment/contact me via twitter (adam16bit) or email (go to 16bit.com, I'm everywhere).

In the efforts of Google-fu, Causey Way was a fun band where Scott Stanton (pro skateboarder, artist, presumably a nice dude) sang and the high-concept was that they were not a cult.  He went on to be in Pilot Scott Tracy (also fun!) and did a few folkey songs (and nifty paintings) as "Panhandle Slim"  but that's all I've got so far.

The drummer for Man or Astro-Man (Birdstuff/Boy Causey/Brian Teasley) was also on a few Causey Way tracks, so I figure this is another chapter in a coffee table book or 'zine or something that someone needs to write about this whole thing some day.  I like this stuff.

If for some odd reason you found this and don't know anything about The Causey Way, and you like Devo, or perhaps Man or Astro-Man?, locate and purchase WWCD?.  As far as I know the band only released 4 albums (2 LPs, 2 EPs) and at least 3 other recordings were in some state of development from the labels With an X and What Else? records around 2000 or so.

Thanks for reading!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey I used to play drums fr the causey way and am stoked u have stumbled over this live stuff. Is it videos or recordings? I am also in search fr old recordings and footage As none of us have any I'd b happy to answer any questions too Glad to see someone taking interest n such a fun time in music

Adam16bit said...

Hello Boy Causey/Will of Causey/and/or Youth Causey (I assume)!

What I have are just some MP3s but they're pretty nifty. I don't have any video, I was just perusing for any recordings because the band had a few items that never came out and my other hobby includes ferreting out unreleased merchandise... it's a sport!

If you see this again please feel free to contact me as I run a web site and would love to interview you as I'm kinda nutty about my favorite bands from that era and of course, mp3 files.

adam[at]16bit.com

davor said...

I'm a huge TCW fan (took the name Fruit of Causey and proudly wore the whites at shows). The first time I saw Scott was when he played with This Bike is a Pipebomb. I yelled some sort of DEVO slogan at a show in response to the sticker on his guitar and we made a True Soul Connection.

I don't have any MP3s, just have the official releases I had no idea about the Panhandle Slim stuff. Do you have a download link for this stuff?

I checked out the previous post - I totally love Knodel, the Pulsars and Tyro, too. Haven't heard the others, thought I've heard the names. Kind of awesome to see someone else bring up these bands in a post.

Billy Beverage said...

Hey Adam
Just chiming in
I may have some old VHS footage of live shows. Will search around and post if I find them
Button
bryon66@gmail.com