NOTE: Scott has passed away, but his art stays here for your enjoyment and appreciation.
ATASCADERO NOW!
25 years later, L.A. band Scott Thomas Lowe & Atascadero breaks through. Can a band be 25 years ahead of their time? The ground will shake, the walls will rattle, the sound will make people stampede like cattle, and I will look for you amid the ruins of Babylon These lyrics, which begin the song Ruins of Babylon , send chills down your spine in the context of the post 9-11/ War in Iraq era. However, this song, and a catalogue of others, were created and recorded between 1978 & 1982. 25 years have passed since the seven original members, Scott, Pete, Sean, Brad, Dewey, Elaine and Ruthanne, first got together, and the deliverance of their new CD, Naked .
The band, whose legendary performances at The Blind Pig and The Troubadour in the Hollywood of 1979, were attended by the likes of George DiCaprio, (Leonardos dad), his lady, Peggy Ferrar, and William Forsythe, finally has an album of 19 songs out on the Surrogate label.
Scott chose to name the band Atascadero after the California prison for the criminally insane because, he says I believe the world is owned and controlled by people who are criminally insane. Atascadero also means stuck in the mud and a place where pigs are slaughtered in Spanish. The songs deal with issues such as consumerism, obesity, discrimination, pollution, corporate malfeasance, religion, Arab/American politics, and sex.
Before the demise of MP3, several cuts from this CD were available to listeners through the Web site, and for months, songs such as Thirty Pieces of Silver , The Main Train and You Eat were consistently on the charts of the MP3 weekly Top 200 playlists. In fact, a similar site in the Netherlands picked up on the music, and Scott Thomas Lowe & Atascadero is generating huge hits among listeners throughout Europe.
Why then, did it take 25 years for the Naked CD to get to market? As Scott puts it, This band was like hitching up a horse, a mule, a goat, a dog, a chicken, etc. to a wagon and trying to get them to pull together and get the damned thing down the road! Or as Brad Count Duke King Frost puts it, Atascadero was and is a big, sprawling group of creative individuals drawn together around Scotts lyrics and personality.
Their music is difficult to categorize, as well. Peter Von Shollys guitar work ranges from the hard-driving riffs of Jimi Hendrix to the funky rhythms of Bootsy Collins. Brads melodious passages recall Dire Straits. Scotts vocals evoke a mixture of Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison and Tom Waits meeting Frank Zappa. Atascaderos live shows crossed into the realm of performance art, with band members donning plastic head gear and jumping on pogo sticks during Sunset Punks . Followers tossed hamburgers at unsuspecting audiences during You Eat , and passed out airbrushed bananas during Bananaland .
The original seven members were all friends and/or lovers before there was a band. Three were native Californians; the others migrated to L.A. All were bright, creative, artistic types, eking out an existence in the Hollywood milieu, while pursuing their chosen art form, be it music, writing, comic book art, animation, fine art, or the art of homemaking.
Scott came of age in the 60s. He drove from Indiana to California in 1966. Soon after, Scott began singing in coffee houses such as The Fifth Estate, The Blue Grotto and The Epicurean. These places were the L.A. headquarters for the radical movement that was gaining momentum in the mid to late 1960s. Scott also contributed poetry to various underground publications. Scott organized the protest against the harassment of long-haired individuals by the police that became the Sunset Strip riot of November, 1966, and his picture appeared on the front page of both the Los Angeles Times and Saga Magazine. (Steven Stills wrote For What Its Worth about that riot). A week later, there was another protest/riot. John Drew Barrymore, Peter Fonda and Bob Denver were arrested in that riot. They were all bailed out in fifteen minutes and got their names in the papers while I was left to rot in jail and received no publicity from my organizing the original protest due to the fact that I didn't have a publicist like they did, remarked Scott.
In 1971, Scott met Dewey Martin, drummer of the Buffalo Springfield, (the band that recorded For What Its Worth ), in Barneys Beanery and the two became friends. Seven years later, Scott would call on Dewey to help form the bands rhythm section.
Scott is an artist, actor and poet as well as singer/songwriter, who has appeared in hundreds of television shows and movies. Most recently, he played the blind bathroom attendant in the first Austin Powers flick. Once, when someone at a party remarked, You sure look a lot like Peter Fonda , Scott spat back, Im better looking than Peter Fonda !
Scott met Ruthanne Gold at the Yellow Submarine restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard in 1975. He was drawing a picture on a napkin of Jesse James robbing a stagecoach, and she walked in.
Ruthanne grew up in Hollywood. Her father, Steve Gold, was friends with Jimi Hendrix, and managed War, The Chambers Brothers, Linda Creed, Leon Redbone, and Tanya Tucker. At the age of eight, she was singing in several of her dads clubs, accompanying headliners like Jimmy Witherspoon, Muddy Waters, and Hugh Masakela. She toured Europe with Jimi Hendrix and War. She was in the original cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show . In addition to Atascadero, Ruthanne also sang with Al Plumber, New Wave Rancheros, the Hundredth Monkey, and John Blanton.
Brad is another native Californian. Born in Inglewood to an actress/model mom and a dad who worked as head of the editorial department at Capital Records, Brad spent a happy childhood in Manhattan Beach, Van Nuys, Calabasas and Cardiff by the Sea. He returned to Hollywood in 1975 and began working in animation for Ralph Bakshi, Richard Williams, and mostly, Hanna Barbera, which Brad described as the worst kind of sweatshop. Brad: I drew Scooby Doo by day, and played guitar by night. . Brad wrote a song called Blood of the Young about his stint at Hanna Barbera, which basically went like this: Blood of the Young, Blood of the Young, Hanna Barbera drink the blood of the young. In addition to his guitar and vocal work with Scott Thomas Lowe and Atascadero, Brad has played laid back jazzy pop with The Meltones and acid/punk with The Hundredth Monkey .
Brad met Warren Greenwood, a comic book artist and animator, at Hanna Barbera, and was later introduced to Warrens pal, Peter Von Sholly. Warren was the first to make the move to L.A. Pete followed shortly thereafter. Both knew cartoonist Vaughn Bode, who suggested looking up underground comic book distributor George DiCaprio in L.A. As Pete recalls, George helped me stay alive the first few years . Pete and Tim Kummerow created a Timothy Leary comic book, among other early projects that would be distributed by George.
Sean Riley arrived in Hollywood by way of Chicago, Thailand and El Centro, California. Through a buddys girlfriend, Sean found a job as an airbrush artist. T.C.s airbrush studio was a large warehouse space on the corner of El Centro & Santa Monica Boulevards. T.C. was a colorful character, who would shout pick-up lines out of his studio windows to lure potential starlets upstairs. Hey! You want to be in the movies? Take that off, and put this on , he would say. (Insert lyrics to song Tinseltown here) Scott was the studios art director. Sean, Tim and Warren were his crew.
Sean met Warren on a bus rolling down Sunset Boulevard. Warren was sketching one of his Zero comics, and Sean and his friends had a look. Two weeks later, Sean would run into Warren again, this time, outside of the Howards Weekly rooming house where Sean was living, near Hollywood and Western. Sean suggested that Warren leave his dishwashing job and go to work as an airbrush artist at T.C.s. Eventually, Pete would move out to L.A. hook up with Warren, join the gang at T.C.s, and move into the Carlton Way complex with Brad, Warren & Sean.
One day in 1977, Scott burst into Sean and Petes apartment, clutching a newspaper containing the front page story on the yet unsolved Son of Sam murders. The paper had printed the letters that the unknown killer had written to the press. Scott was inspired, and started writing the lyrics to the first collaborative effort by Scott Thomas Lowe & Atascadero, Son of Sam : They said he lived a lonely and isolated life&He had no children, he had no wife& Pete picked up his guitar and started to form a melody around the words. Sean suggested that the song needed a bridge. This was supplied verbatim by the author known only as the Son of Sam: Huge drops of lead fell down on her head until she was dead. But the cats still come out at night to mate and the sparrows still sing in the morning .
Sean was told to Get a bass so that he could be the bass player. Seans girlfriend, Elaine Kolb, was asked to play keyboards, sing background and dance. Elaine arrived in L.A. in 1976, hoping to take on Tinseltown as a screenwriter. In the meantime, she found work as a cocktail waitress, film editor, booking agent, and publicist. She worked on the I Helped Hollywood campaign to rebuild the Hollywood landmark sign. It was through her job at the Whiskey A Go Go in 1977 that Elaine met the manager of a Memphis band called Stage . They were Seans next door neighbors. Sean and Elaine met while watching Super Bowl XII with Stage . All the connections that would form the band were now in place.
Rehearsals began in Ruthanne & Scotts living room. Elaines Hammond L-100 organ was moved in, as were Deweys drums. Pete, Brad & Seans amps rolled in and out, and Scotts harmonica was always at the ready. Scotts vision was to create a rock band that would be the electronic equivalent of Gypsy Flamenco, in terms of emotion and raw expression.
Soon, a repertoire of 25 30 songs was created, and the band was ready for public display. In the next year, the band would rehearse and record. Over the next several years, they would perform in Hollywood clubs such as The Blind Pig, Gazzaris, The Rock Corporation, The Corral, Madame Wongs. The bands final live performance was April 28, 1982 at The Ice House in Pasadena.
Their gig at Doug Westons Troudadour was perhaps the bands finest live performance. The following review by Sol Teper, appeared in the September, 1979 issue of Flash Magazine:
ARMAGEDDON, APOCALYPSE AND ATASCADERO LIVE ON STAGE
YOU HAD TO BE THERE! And those who were will never forget last Monday night when Scott Thomas Lowe and Atascadero stunned the audience at Doug Weston's famous Troubadour club in West Hollywood. The tension in the air was palpable; the room buzzed with anticipation that something awesome was about to happen. Then five young men and two hot young women quietly took the stage. The wiry lead singer picked up his acoustic guitar and strode to the mike like a gunslinger and nodded to the band. The sweet opening chords and harmonies of SWEETNESS AND LIGHT poured out over the audience. The music was beautiful, evoking sunshine, honey and butterflies. Then it softly faded to silence and grinning Buffalo Springfield drummer Dewey Martin pounded out the opening beats of ROADHOUSE RUBY. The mood suddenly changed as Scott Thomas Lowe came to startling life, unraveling his funny, edgy tale of a sultry, sexy woman met in a roadhouse (I could tell by the way she smiled at me that... she was one of those!) As Pete Von Sholly's searing guitar solo closed the song, the crowd took a moment, then shook the house with thunderous applause. Scott simply ignored the noise and counted off SON OF SAM, a riveting, terrifying ode to a human monster who took his orders from a dog! And the show was on! The band never let up, as the next song, FAT EMMY, told the incredible, sad, funny and embarrassing tale about a carnival Fat Lady and her crippled spastic freak lover who puts her on display. Then, it was time for jumping on THE MAIN TRAIN, a haunting momentum-building musical drama incorporating Pablo Picasso, Jack Kerouac and Muddy Waters. Next was a hilarious country ditty about an erection (Baby, ITS BIG!)! On a similarly comic note, Sean Riley's solid, thumping bass held the groove together with Martin's rock solid drums, while the gorgeous, body-to-die for Elaine Kolb tossed real Big Macs at the audience during Scott's snarling and accusatory rendition of YOU EAT, a story about consumerism and sloth gone wild! The beautiful and elegant Ruthanne Gold mesmerized the crowd with her rendition of BECAUSE . The towering Count Duke King's guitar roared and blazed through THESE THREE THINGS, as Scott ranted "White Sugar, White Bread, White People, Put holes in my head!" As the spellbound crowd tried to gather their wits, the ominous, relentless beat of SICKNESS AND DEATH drove them back into silence again. The Grim Reaper himself couldn't have been more terrifying, as Scott roared his deadly lyrics and Von Sholly actually staggered forward and vomited beer on the stage. In the feedback storm of chaos, local artist Tim Kummerow rushed the stage, and before anyone could stop him, grabbed Scott's mike and went into a raving tirade about pollution and hate. The incomprehensible screaming went on for 15 minutes, while the band simply continued to play behind him as though it was part of the show. At the climax, they fell to the floor, twitching like cockroaches that had been sprayed with DDT. When the song ended with a slam that sounded like a hammer blow, there was a moment of silence and then roaring applause and unheeded cries for more as the band left the stage without a backward glance. Doug Weston, observing the ovation, waited to shake hands with the performers. "My God ! That was the most amazing show we've ever had in this club!" he exclaimed. The bands return engagement is set for October 23.
However, Dewey Martin, suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from the scene.
Several drummers would follow, including Rick Kelly, Fred Allen and T.C. Buckman. The band appeared on The Gong Show , and performed their Country & Western spoof about an erection, Its Big . George Goober Lindsay claimed the members of Atascadero were his kind of people , and joined the other judges in awarding the band a perfect score.
Scott Thomas Lowe & Atascadero performed at a two-day festival in the desert hot springs town of Hesperia, California. It was during one of these performances that a bolt of lightning flashed, on cue, during the song The Main Train . The band would then travel 250 miles north on U.S. 101 to give a command performance at Atascadero State Hospital for the criminally insane, to rave reviews, (or at least, raving reviews), by the large, captive audience.
In order to boost the bands musicianship, Sean would be replaced by seasoned bassist Jim Fielder of Blood, Sweat & Tears. The band proceeded into the recording studio with this new musical blood. Yet, the music business, being the fickle, unpredictable monster that it is, would be slow to embrace the band. Elaine and Ruth would find new loves, and fly the coop; the chicks soon becoming mother hens.
Tim and Sean would form the foundation of Benedict Arnold & the Traitors , a noteworthy Punk band, that has, today, regrouped and is still going strong. In the early 80s, Sean would go on the road with The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo . Over the next few years, Scott, still hoping to hone the songs and get the material heard, would manage to get back into the studio with Pete, Brad, Ruth, Jim to record and re-record some of the bands material. Members of the band War sat in on these sessions and contributed their talents to a few of the songs. Eventually, Scott would leave L.A. to go off to the desert with his new love, Irene, where he continued to write songs and paint when not working in films. Pete and Brad would settle down and start families of their own, also continuing to work in music, animation and fantasy art.
And the music would lie dormant for another 20 years&until the internet explosion when Webmaster Tim Kummerow uploaded the recordings into digital format and placed several songs on MP3. At last, the public could hear the music.
The name Naked was chosen for the CD well over a year before the release of the Let It Be reissue of the same name. The CD was so named because the definition of Naked includes exposed , and being without concealment or excuse . Scott quotes Bob Dylan, who said many years ago, "A poem is a naked person, some people call me a poet." Likewise, on the CD, the songs have nothing covered up¬hing to hide.
In the final analysis, however, the songs must stand on their own merits. Listening to Naked , the new CD by Scott Thomas Lowe & Atascadero, it is apparent that the music does withstand the test of time.
E.L. Koshel
Related sites:
www.freshwidow.com/atascadero www.Vonshollywood.com www.freshwidow.com/thetraitors www.dmn.cahwnet.gov/statehospitals/atascadero www.freshwidow.com/enchant1.html
