Victoria's Real Secret - Sample Tape (1992)

As a follow up to a previous post which discussed VRS’s band history and Pasta album, this post explores some earlier songs which pre-dated Pasta. Actually, two of the songs, “Been Around The Block” and “Fish” are two of the songs that made it onto Pasta, but the remaining two were never released on anything more than demo tapes for prospective gigs. These songs give some good insight into the raw and highly unpolished sound that VRS possessed in its early days.

Track 1: This sample tape is introduced by a dedication from Marty (master of time) Menes to Papa John’s Pizza—the most common provider of midnight snacks to Notre Dame students in the nineties. Following the “shout out” to Papa John’s (and the guy across the street), CD begins strumming the main guitar pattern that appears throughout the first song, “Pickpocket”. I soon jump in plucking some complimentary bass notes, and the remaining band members follow in a high spirited, energetic, but fairly derivative romp through some comical lyrics about pickpocketing the world. The song is raw, as is the production (recorded on a four track in the basement of “The Swamp”), but it is a good representation of where we were as musicians and songwriters during the infancy of VRS. Everyone starts somewhere...

Track 2: “Been Around The Block” is the next track, and as written in the previous post, this song predated VRS and was penned by the members of Schwa (including Steve, CD, and Marty). It’s a great grooving song, and this version is a bit rawer in its production than the version on Pasta. I’ll re-post what was previously written about the song to save the reader the trouble of flipping back to a different blog post:

“Been Around the Block” has a straight forward song structure like “Backwards”; however it triggers a more effective emotional response. I’ve always been a fan of hypnotic grooves, and this song brings a Fugazi-like bass line that tries its best to get your head subtly bobbing. For this alone, I enjoy this song. Although I’m not crazy about the guitar’s flange effect on the recorded version, I think this helped the mood of the song when played live. Given this song was a remnant of Schwa (that’s a whole ‘nother review), VRS sure got a lot of mileage out of it.

Track 3: The third track is the same recording of “Fish” that made it onto Pasta. As I previously wrote in the past blog:

“Fish” is another one of the first songs written by VRS. Steve conceived the song’s lyrics to chronicle the cyclical romance of two of the band’s close friends. It contains poppy and lively guitar with some acoustics layered in. The rhythm section pushes the tempo, but generally allows the guitars and vocals to carry the song. Although a simple composition, this was just an up-tempo song we always had fun with. Ryan throws in an over-qualified guitar solo to complete the song, and thus, the album. I feel that ending the album with such an early song was an appropriate reflection of how the band started, and an acknowledgment of how far we had come.

One thing I failed to mention before is that “Fish” easily became a fan favorite for VRS followers. For better or worse, this became our “Freebird” at every local show we played. I’m sure this had something to do wish this single being featured on one of the ND campus music compilations (Incubus 1993), as well as the fact that “Fish” was one of the early songs that we continued to play for a couple of years.



Track 4: The Sample Tape ends with “Ryan’s Lonely”, a crude commentary about the self-pleasuring habits of VRS’s guitar soloist. In defense of poor Ryan, I will say that he had “mad skills” around women. He played the sensitive, troubled, creative genius role perfectly, and figured out early that playing a classical guitar in one’s bedroom is a phenomenal tool to have in one’s tool box. In other words, I’ll stick up for Ryan and say that the basic theme of this song is mis-guided. This song begins with some guitar “noise”, but soon kicks into an in your face tempo, a driving drum beat, catchy guitar rift, and rapid slides up and down the neck of Ryan’s guitar. A performance note: Ryan’s action of sliding up and down the neck intentionally ties into the overall theme of the song, and he tended to exaggerate these movements when performing live. Like many VRS songs, this one contains a consistently repeated guitar rift around which the other components of the song are built. We mix in some dynamic changes, but we basically play the same parts throughout the song. Nevertheless, it is a fun and lively way to end this collection of songs, and who can’t appreciate ending it on the lyrics “Better touch myself and smile!”

In conclusion, this sample tape is a good snapshot of the early stages of Victoria’s Real Secret. Although not as polished in both content and production as Pasta, it provides a good benchmark from which one can measure the progress of our band. As I previously posted:

More than anything else, I remember VRS as a band that was FUN to see live. We always had a great time stirring the audience into a frenzy and playing off each other.

This sample tape, if nothing else, reminds me of the fun and lively shows we put on. That’s a memory I will always treasure. Thanks for reading and listening! Questions or comments? Feel free to contact me at wil.freve@comcast.net.

--Wil Freve


listen/download:


see also:
Victoria's Real Secret on MySpace
Victoria's Real Secret - Pasta

V/A - Incubus 1993: ND Music Compilation

LISTEN UP!
A new campus band CD is on the way
by Pete Dedman

"Somebody said the music was not good enough to play"
--"Green, Red, and Blue" by Brian, Colin, and Vince

Well, apparently somebody was sorely mistaken. Not only is good, original music being produced here at Notre Dame, but the music scene has developed, especially over the last year, into a rich and diverse assortment of bands ranging from punk to folk to jazz. Two years after the WVFI Jericho Sessions were released, a new CD [Incubus 1993], sponsored by S.U.B., is in the works, documenting the present campus music scene through the work of 16 bands playing their own original material.

The bands are as diverse as they are talented and have all played a major role in creating a vibrant music scene at ND. The CD will feature popular and established groups such as Dissfunktion, Chisel, The Sister Chain, Brian, Colin and Vince, Palace Laundry and Victoria’s Real Secret, as well as younger bands fast on the rise, including Grope For Luna, Bother and Bovine Solution. Rounding out the playlist will be Mr. Head, 2-10, the Porkchoppers, Emily Lord, Access Denied, XYZ Affair and a jazz group, Thee Accent. The CD, as of yet without a name (though an accompanying booklet has been designed by Peter J. Pultorak), is due out soon after spring break, according to co-producer Steve Sostak.

"There’ll be a final mixdown of all the songs on March 10. Then we’ll take the masters down to the Sony plant in Terre Haute, and, if all goes as planned, we’ll have it out a couple of weeks after break," Sostak said. Sostak, who is also the lead singer for Victoria’s Real Secret, has found the work as producer to be easier than expected. He added, "Most of the real work was already done by the end of last semester, thanks to [co-producer] Ryan Hallford," who is on a leave of absence this semester.

Hallford was also instrumental in the success of Acoustic Cafe, which has been taking place regularly in the LaFortune basement each Thursday night for over a year. Acoustic Cafe features an open-mike setting, which allows for musicians to experiment and try out new songs before a live audience. "Especially with Acoustic Cafe, Ryan’s been very instrumental in trying to push original music," he said.

Joe Cannon, lead singer and guitarist for Mr. Head, credits the recent success of an original music scene on campus to certain artistic fountainheads. "A few very original, talented and active musicians have sparked a large interest in creating original bands/music, especially among the younger students," Cannon said.

Ted Koterwas, assistant producer for the CD, is more specific in giving credit where it is due. "I think the success of Brian, Colin and Vince really opened up the way for original music being accepted more readily." Koterwas, who plays drums for Grope for Luna, added, "Joe Cannon has been something of a powerful original musical force as well."

The rising acceptance of original bands on campus has also been spurred on by the success of St. Mary’s Dalloway’s Coffeehouse. Each Wednesday and Saturday night, the Coffeehouse, charging little or no admission, had presented full-length shows by acts featured on the CD such as Brian, Colin and Vince, Chisel, Mr. Head, the Sister Chain, Grope for Luna and Bother, as well as brilliant performances by other bands such as emiLy, and most recently, Severinsen.

As opposed to Acoustic Cafe, Dalloway's is a forum for bands who have already proven themselves to perform in a full show setting, when an optimum number of people can be expected to come. On Saturday nights, while the rest of campus is partying themselves senseless, the Coffeehouse draws 100 people on average. "I’ve been pleasantly surprised by its success," remarked John Dugan, drummer for Chisel, whose performance at the Coffeehouse in January drew 175 people.

With such live successes, stated Dugan, "there‘s obviously enough interest out there for original music." Dugan hopes that the success of the new CD will result in organizations getting more cooperation from the Student Activity Council, in terms of being able to get smaller bands to play at Notre Dame, "so that our campus bands can get a chance to play with them. This will give these bands more exposure to playing live, as well as a chance to get their name passed around the larger music circuit," he said. Last fall Victoria’s Real Secret opened for They Might Be Giants and Chisel will open for Velocity Girl on March 31 in the LaFortune Ballroom.

For many, though, just the CD itself is a huge accomplishment. Everyone involved expects this compilation to enjoy more success than 1991’s Jericho Sessions. As Cannon described, "Yeah, this should be better. The idea behind this is campus bands. As a result, almost all the bands are very well-known. Jericho Sessions, on the other hand, was originally meant to be a sampler of acoustic acts, and there ended up being more of a hodge-podge of musicians just recording for the sake of contributing to the CD. At the same time, (former WVFI station manager) Kevin Flaherty’s work with The Jericho Sessions was indeed seminal."

"The Jericho Sessions certainly paved the way for what's going on with the current CD," concurred John Dugan.

Dugan, Cannon and other musicians who appeared on The Jericho Sessions, have agreed that the recording studios for this effort are far better facilities than those used on the last sampler. Most of the bands have been recording over the past two months at Miami St. Studios in town. The recording process gave several of the musicians their first opportunity to put down their music in a studio environment. Miami St. engineer John Nuner was very helpful in making the process rewarding for the more experienced bands as well as the "rookies."

"For the most part he [Nuner] took direction from the bands, and allowed them to come up with their own sound, the sound they wanted on the CD," said Cannon, who was quite pleased with Mr. Head’s recording of "Weather," their offering to the CD. Cannon also attributed the ease of recording to the fact that "an analog recording was made first, instead of recording directly to digital, so it was a more natural recording process." Mr. Head bassist Dave Holsinger, for whom the recording process was a first-time experience, found himself quite pleased with the outcome as well. "We heard some bands took 9 or 10 hours, so relatively, I found the whole process to be somewhat easier than I'd expected," said Holsinger.

As Bother bassist and Dalloway’s Coffeehouse manager Kelly Daugerdas attested, "It was a lot more work than expected, at times even tiresome, but by the end, we really felt exhilarated." The band is also elated at the success of their recording for the CD, "Kill the Popular Kids,” even before the CD has been released. Their explosive song has garnered enough airplay on WVFI to crack into the station’s weekly Top 20, and thereby warrant mention in the nationally distributed College Music Journal.

For other, older bands, the CD is a chance to document what may be swan songs, as members graduate or leave. For Brian, Colin and Vince, whose co-founder, Brian Muller, transferred to Boston University at the end of last semester, the CD is just that. Featuring the a capella intro, "Yahtzee," the band has recorded "Green, Red, and Blue" for the CD, with astonishing success. "The recording fortunately occurred at a peak for us as a band,” said guitarist Colin Clary. "‘Green, Red, and Blue' is a bit more serious than our other songs but it's really almost beautiful, and I don't use that word a lot; well, I do, I guess, but it was really good," he eloquently added. Later this spring, Clary says he will finish a CD of Brian, Colin and Vince’s last semester together. To be titled Bucket o’ Fun n' Stuff n' Yeah, the CD will feature at least 15 songs from the band.

Whether half the campus knows it or not, the music scene is alive and well at Notre Dame. A large amount of ignorance is due to the fact that many bands play at private parties rather than overcrowded bars, and some people just aren’t open-minded enough to pass up those bars for a show at the Coffeehouse on a Saturday evening. Nevertheless, the campus CD is for all to enjoy, so, as your spring break tans begin to fade, keep your eyes open for great original music that’s been under your noses all along.

-- from the March 4, 1993 edition of Scholastic, Notre Dame's student magazine. The musicians pictured in the article are members of Grope for Luna.

---------------

It's funny to have this Scholastic article come back to light. I was a little haunted by it in hindsight - and by hindsight I don't mean sixteen years down the road, I mean a month after it was published. That is, I rued not having spent more space presenting the featured bands in an in-depth way. Although to my mind, Chisel, Brian Colin & Vince and so many other of the acts were by that time household names, that familiarity may have only been present for hundreds of devoted fans on campus. This article was an opportunity to really introduce the excitement of the 'SB Power 90s' scene to the uninitiated thousands. I missed that opportunity a bit, but hopefully the music took care of my understated oversight!

--Pete Dedman, October 2009


Track Listing:
1. "Fish" - Victoria's Real Secret
2. "Dream Bar" - Chisel
3. "Angelina" - Emily Lord
4. "Kill The Popular Kids" - Bother
5. "Yahtzee/Green, Red And Blue" - Brian, Colin and Vince
6. "Follow Me" - Access Denied
7. "In The Crowd" - Grope For Luna
8. "Take Me To The Funktion" - Dissfunktion
9. "Peter Pan Syndrome" - XYZ Affair
10. "My Name Is Sky" - The Sister Chain
11. "Weather" - Mr. Head
12. "Smitherman" - 2-10
13. "I Don't Look Back" - Thee Accent
14. "Never Had The Time" - Palace Laundry
15. "Pyramid" - The Bovine Solution
16. "Punch The Clown" - The Porkchoppers

listen/download:

Victoria's Real Secret - Pasta

Victoria’s Real Secret (“VRS”) was the precursor to the later, better known band, Sweep the Leg Johnny (“Sweep”). VRS featured the creative nucleus of Steve Sostak on vocals and Chris Daly (aka “CD”) on guitar. Ryan Hallford supplemented this pair as a hybrid “lead” guitarist and occasional vocalist. Marty (Master of Time) Mennes on drums and yours truly, Wil Freve on bass rounded out the lineup. We played as VRS during our sophomore year at ND (1993-94). This band was young, inexperienced... metaphorically in its adolescence. The members brought some semblance of individual talent, though admittedly less than we all thought (save, perhaps, for Ryan). We shared a love of playing music; however we lacked a cohesive creative direction. Each of us attempted to pull the band towards our individual musical interests and styles; our songs reflected this, becoming syntheses of many rock ‘n roll styles including indie, alternative, progressive, punk, blues, and classic rock. Everything we did was a new experience, and frankly, a musical experiment. VRS developed a reputation as a unique, eclectic, and stylistically diverse band.

Fifteen years later, I listen to some of VRS’ songs and instantly remember the individual who crafted the song’s main concept, and the creative battles that ensued. Albeit counter-intuitive, I personally believe this stylistic tug-of-war became the primary strength of the band. The resulting musical library was a melting pot of musical genres, styles, and influences. In the end, we all agreed that whatever musical styles would be combined within a song, they would be done so with intensity. This became the unifying concept for our music. Perhaps it was this intensity, and our predictable unpredictability that shored up a consistent (and passionate) following for VRS’ live shows. Although I look back on our music and think it unpolished, and sometimes clumsy, it represents a musical time capsule that appropriately captures our early development as musicians. Much like reading a term paper written during high school, listening to Pasta reminds me how green we were, and how much we grew in the years to come.

It has been ten plus years since I last listened to this album. One thing in particular struck me when hearing it again: I loved the layering and interplay of the guitars in this album. Both CD and Ryan complemented each other extremely well. From their styles and training right down to the gear and stage presence, each brought unique contributions to the band. Although I generally consider our VRS compositions to be of lesser “quality” than those of Sweep, being able to play with a tremendous guitar duo was a definite bright spot of my experience with VRS, and something that was noticeably missed with Sweep.

Track 1: This album starts with the driving and energetic song, “It Depends.” VRS did its best not to have a consistent, signature “sound;” although, if we did, this song embodies what that would have been. After a brief guitar introduction, Marty, Master of Time, reveals the songs true tempo with a punishing, percussive barrage. CD kicks in with the song’s primary guitar rift, and he is eventually mimicked by Ryan (playing it with a blues-twist, of course). These crunchy, Marshall-produced power chords are underlain with a bouncy, octaval bass line that has an annoying habit of falling one chromatic step short of the root note... an unexpected juxtaposition of indie-rock accidentals with major-scale, blues chords. For this song, VRS borrowed from traditional blues theory, then sucker punched it, turned up the tempo three notches, ran away and never looked back.

Track 2: The album starts in fifth gear, but “Stained Glass Window” dramatically downshifts, showcasing certain band members’ “emo” influences (in fact, the song’s name is a tribute to Buffalo Tom, who had a knack of randomly naming their songs). The songs ethereal introduction begins with Ryan’s restrained and melodic guitar part accompanied by CD’s screeching background guitar and my harmonic tappings (inspired by Alex Lifeson’s harmonics in the song “Red Barchetta”). When the drums and bass finally kick the song into full swing, I still get chills down my spine. The song progresses through a fairly conventional song structure, rewarding the listener with variations of the main melody and some notable textural breaks. When the song resolves back to its final chorus, this transition feels nothing short of triumphant (Marty’s syncopated ride cymbal is like icing on the cake). I always loved this song...although it is more a “mainstream” than we were used to. This song has an organic quality and just seemed to “work.” During the creation of this song, our musings were operating at a higher level, and it felt like the song wrote itself. The end result was, in my humble opinion, powerful and expressive. My biggest regret of this song was trying to cram too much into my bass part. I learned later in my musical study to appreciate moments of understated bass and the incorporation of rests and silence. Used appropriately, these concepts can be powerful additions to a song, augmenting rhythms and varying texture. I wish I recognized this better before recording this song; the end result might have been very special.

Track 3: “Why Ask, ‘Why Ask Why?’” begins with an obviously Chilli-Peper-esque bass introduction. Although I love the funk & slap style of bass, this song represents the one time Steve and CD let me bring (ehh... bastardize) that style into one of our songs. What can I say... we made the most of it and had lots of fun with our funky selves. Eventually all of us indulged our funky sides and viewed this song as a welcome departure from our other work. My favorite part includes the popping and tapping bass breakdown in the middle of the song, followed by a tidal wave of distortion and percussion that crashes in, culminating in a blistering guitar solo by Ryan. As a side note, at the end of his solo, Ryan was unhappy with his track and he casually slid his hand up his guitars neck, thinking he would be re-record the solo. CD and Steve liked the way this sounded and eventually persuaded him to keep this in the recorded version.

Track 4: “Backwards” is the final song on the first side of the album. This song mimics the mellow feel of “Stained Glass Window,” but in my opinion falls short on energy and intensity. When I first heard CD’s guitar part, I thought it sounded like a rift that The Edge from U2 would play. Therefore, as a quasi-tribute to that band, I modeled my bass line after Adam Clayton’s simple, legato style. I don’t regret experimenting with our music, but with such one must expect a few failures. In my opinion, this song is the weakest on the album. It has an overly simplistic structure, a completely uninspired bass breakdown, and an incredibly misplaced distorted guitar part at the very end of the song (every time I hear it, I think of the old theme song for “Entertainment Tonight”). This song had potential, but overall, it severely underachieved.

Track 5: “Proper pH” thankfully picks up the tempo on the second side of the album. This work features lightning fast guitar riffs, alternating tempos, and a pulsing, intentionally staccato bass line. There’s a lot of dynamic variations in this song, and at times the bass switches from being intensely “in your face” to being a rolling, subdued ditty, on which the guitars gradually rebuild the song’s intensity. I feel obliged to point out that the slowed bridge portion of this song was intentionally crafted to be “cheesy” and “poppy”... a satirical counterpoint to the unconventional remainder of the song. After hearing many fans’ critiques of this part, I am convinced that the members of VRS were the only ones that were “in on the joke.” This song is a fitting introduction to the second half of the album, and provides a representative foreshadowing of the tempo and dynamic changes that would eventually become mainstays of Sweep.

Track 6: The final three songs on the album are older songs whose creation predated my time in VRS. When I came aboard, I was asked to respect their original bass lines, so these remained largely intact. The first song, “The Green Iguana,” needs to be listened to, as no description will do it justice. I might futilely try to describe it as acid-numbed Primus meets Pavement, getting their asses kicked by a speed metal band strung out on cocaine. The inspiration for the song came from Steve’s pet iguana, and he penned lyrics that contemplated living life crawling around like an iguana. It’s weird. Just listen to it.

Track 7: “Been Around the Block” has a straightforward song structure like “Backwards;” however it triggers a more effective emotional response. I’ve always been a fan of hypnotic grooves, and this song brings a Fugazi-like bass line that tries its best to get your head subtly bobbing. For this alone, I enjoy this song. Although I’m not crazy about the guitar’s flange effect on the recorded version, I think this helped the mood of the song when played live. Given this song was a remnant of Schwa (that’s a whole ‘nother review), VRS sure got a lot of mileage out of it.

Track 8: “Fish” is another one of the first songs written by VRS. Steve conceived the song’s lyrics to chronicle the cyclical romance of two of the band’s close friends. It contains poppy and lively guitar with some acoustics layered in. The rhythm section pushes the tempo, but generally allows the guitars and vocals to carry the song. Although a simple composition, this was just an up-tempo song we always had fun with. Ryan throws in an over-qualified guitar solo to complete the song, and thus, the album. I feel that ending the album with such an early song was an appropriate reflection of how the band started, and an acknowledgment of how far we had come.

In conclusion, Pasta was a joy to record. Not all the songs were first rate, but it’s a good demonstration of the diversity of styles, tempos, dynamics, textures, and moods that VRS brought. More than anything else, I remember VRS as a band that was FUN to see live. We always had a great time stirring the audience into a frenzy and playing off each other. This album is a product that I feel is still pretty unique, and I’m thankful for having my experience and memories with the band. Questions or comments? Feel free to contact me at wil.freve@comcast.net.

-- Wil Freve

listen/download:


see also:
Victoria's Real Secret on MySpace