Moondog
Moondog

Walter Schreifels:

I started Moondog in the spring of 1989 because I wanted to sing for a band. Playing guitar and writing songs for Gorilla Biscuits had always been fun but after a while I wanted to be doing something more.

The initial inspiration came from a demo vocal I laid down for “Start Today”, Gorilla Biscuits full-length album. It felt good to be singing the words I had written. As the tape of my performance got around, I was encouraged by the compliments I got from friends who had heard it.

By 89, Gorilla Biscuits had become a popular band within the hardcore scene. Because of that, I felt OK to start a new project and to keep GB going at the same time. I asked Luke from GB to play drums as we had excellent chemistry and to keep it in the Biscuit family.

In some ways the music was in reaction to what the hardcore scene had become. By no means was it big, successful or “sold out” in any mainstream sense, though it had become popular enough to support regular shows, start loads of new bands and record labels. In turn, the record labels started to be able to get their bands into the malls.

Those were the positive developments, sort of. For some the scene had become just big enough to want to take down. I was losing interest. In GB, I wrote for and about the scene. In Moondog, I wanted to branch out further. Having graduated high school, living in my own place, I had some new thoughts and experiences I wanted to write...

Walter Schreifels:

I started Moondog in the spring of 1989 because I wanted to sing for a band. Playing guitar and writing songs for Gorilla Biscuits had always been fun but after a while I wanted to be doing something more.

The initial inspiration came from a demo vocal I laid down for “Start Today”, Gorilla Biscuits full-length album. It felt good to be singing the words I had written. As the tape of my performance got around, I was encouraged by the compliments I got from friends who had heard it.

By 89, Gorilla Biscuits had become a popular band within the hardcore scene. Because of that, I felt OK to start a new project and to keep GB going at the same time. I asked Luke from GB to play drums as we had excellent chemistry and to keep it in the Biscuit family.

In some ways the music was in reaction to what the hardcore scene had become. By no means was it big, successful or “sold out” in any mainstream sense, though it had become popular enough to support regular shows, start loads of new bands and record labels. In turn, the record labels started to be able to get their bands into the malls.

Those were the positive developments, sort of. For some the scene had become just big enough to want to take down. I was losing interest. In GB, I wrote for and about the scene. In Moondog, I wanted to branch out further. Having graduated high school, living in my own place, I had some new thoughts and experiences I wanted to write about.

NYC during the Dinkins era, 40’s in the street, smoking allowed, squeegee men, Crown Heights, C squat, angel dust, Tawanna Brawley, Eric B. & Rakim, Peter Gatien, Club Mars, Lady Bunny, “Do The Right Thing”, Tompkins Riots, ABC No Rio, The Cro-Mags, Rock Hotel. I look back fondly on those pre-Giuliani days.

I had ideas for a few songs, the rest were made up in rehearsal as the mood struck. Luke and I got together only a few times before I called Don Fury to book studio time. Don had recorded pretty much all of the GB stuff so we knew that we would be comfortable working with him.

We booked six hours to complete the basic tracks. I played the guitar and bass parts. From there, the plan was to listen to the instrumental tracks, write lyrics, book more time, sing, mix, then send it out for a 7” on Revelation Records.

I named the band Moondog for the vegetarian hotdog place on 2nd Ave. and St. Mark’s that had opened and closed the summer before. Vegetarian fast food was new and rare then, so Moondog, the restaurant, quickly became a mainstay for vegetarian hardcore kids.

As word spread about Moondog, we were asked to be on a 12” compilation of new bands called “Look At All The Children Now”. I thought this would be a great way to introduce the band. Also, having a deadline for the comp. was a healthy motivation to complete at least one song with vocals.

The song I chose to work on was “Expression”. I thought it would be a good first song for people to hear because while it was true to basic hardcore formula it also showed some progression. I was taking notes from Santa Cruz’s B’last, who’s “In My Blood” album was my favorite at the time.

“Expression” came out great and on time for the compilation. I asked Melinda Beck to do the illustration artwork, which I was very happy with. Somehow, the standard imagery for hardcore bands had become very collegiate and suburban looking. I wanted to go against that. I thought Melinda’s illustration was scary in a Tim Burton kind of way that matched the music very well.

While this was going on, Luke and I were also busy putting together a band to play live. Luke wanted to play bass, so I asked Arman from the NYHC band Sick Of It All to play drums. On guitar, I asked Tom Capone, who would later play in Quicksand. On second guitar, we asked a friend we had met on tour with a good sense of humor, his name was Howie.

We played only one show together, at CB’s. It wasn’t packed but there was a fair amount of quality people to see us. We dressed in black, a new uniform. We played nine or so songs. To me, the show seemed to last about four minutes. I hadn’t written lyrics for any of the songs besides “Expression”, so I made them up as I went along throughout the show. I had an amazing time and the audience seemed to enjoy it too.

Within a few weeks, I was inspired enough to come up with five sets of lyrics for the eight pieces of music. It was enough to make booking more time with Don worthwhile. Knowing my voice wouldn’t hold up very long with all the screaming, we booked a few 2-hour sessions. There was a lot of trial and error with the pitches, mostly screamed, the rhythms and the words. My voice was pretty useless after 30 minutes or so. After that we would polish up what I had done from the session before to prepare for the next.

Only that session didn’t happen. Gorilla Biscuits went on tour in Europe and I got distracted. We had kicked Luke out of the band, which made working with him on Moondog uncomfortable. I figured it would be better to use the songs for a new project completely separate from GB. This is when Quicksand started.

The Moondog songs didn’t end up working for Quicksand as we were doing something else soon enough so the Moondog tapes sadly sat around until they were inevitably bootlegged by some asshole. Not to excuse selling music without the artists‚ permission or paying me, in a way I thought the bootleg served me right for abandoning those great songs we had recorded.

The good news is that through tape trading, bootlegs and file sharing, enough people have heard Moondog to keep the music alive. The sound quality is poor and artistically it’s not how I had envisioned it but people like it anyway. I’ve been asked the question for close to fifteen years “when are you going to put Moondog out?” or “Play Distance!”

By releasing these songs on Anthology, I feel as though I’ve finally made peace with this recording that wouldn’t go away. It’s taken me this many years to accept and appreciate it as is. Now, I enjoy listening to it, I think it’s great like I first did.