Tales of Terror (band)

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Tales of Terror was a Sacramento punk rock band which was active from 1982 until 1984. The much loved band released a self-titled LP in 1984 on the label CD Presents. The LP is rare, and no CD version has been released. Tales of Terror is also featured on "Skate Rock 2" comp LP (Thrasher, 1984); "Rat Music for Rat People V2" comp LP (CD Presents, 1984); and on "Them Boners Be Poppin' comp LP (Boner Records, 1995). That compilation includes Tales's songs "Texas Against the World" and "LSD for Africa."[1]

The band consisted of:

Pat Stratford (guitar)
Jeff Magner (vocals/bass)
Lyon Wong (vocals/lead guitar)
Mike Thorpe (drums)

Contents

[edit] Reviews

Tim Yohannon reviewed "Tales of Terror" for Maximum Rock and Roll in 1984. He wrote: "Totally drunken, power-chord punk rock, folks. It's straight out of the DEAD BOYS/STOOGES school of intense, fuck-it-all, snarl and self-destruct. These Sacramento's are good at it too. Recommended."

[edit] Influence

The album is listed in Kurt Cobain's Journal, in his Nirvana Top 50 and the song "Chambers of Horror" is in a list of songs.

Tales of Terror influenced Seattle grunge band Green River, who covered their song "Ozzie," which appeared on their LP Dry As A Bone. Alex Vincent, Green River's drummer, attended high school with Stratford for two years before moving to Seattle.

In 2008, Seattle band Mudhoney released The Lucky Ones. The ninth track on the said album is titled Tales of Terror in honor of the Sacramento band.[2][3] Mark Arm, the lead singer of Mudhoney, was also the lead singer for Green River.

[edit] Lyon Wong

Lyon Wong died of head trauma he suffered on the night of January 5, 1986. As Wong was standing outside Club Zebra, a carload of teenagers from Sacramento High School drove by and began cursing at him, then exited their vehicle to confront him. When Wong wasn't looking, one teenager (purportedly the football quarterback) punched him; knocking Wong to the pavement and causing him to strike his head on the ground. He was pronounced dead at 2:14am, January 6, at Sutter General Hospital. Wong was 22 years old. The murderous jock received a 6 month sentence, and still gets death threats to this day for killing one of punk's best guitar players.[4]

[edit] Geff Magner

Geff Magner, aka Boots Magner, aka Dusty Coffins, [3] who played bass guitar with the influential Sacramento-area punk band "Tales of Terror" reportedly died in early 2004 of a drug overdose. The dealer who sold him the drugs was never put on trial.[citation needed]

[edit] Track Listing

1.Hound Dog

2.That Girl

3.Possession

4.Deathryder

5.Evil

6.13

7.Romance

8.Over Elvis Worship

9.Tales of Terror

10.Jim

11.Chambers of Horror

12.Ozzy

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.nokilli.com/inbred/bands/tales-of-terror.htm Info at "City of a Beer: Sacramento Inbred Band Project
  2. ^ Sub Pop: Mudhoney[1]
  3. ^ CMJ News Story [2]
  4. ^ MAN, 22, DIES OF HEAD INJURY FROM CLASH; Sacramento Bee; January 6, 1986; Section: METRO; Page: B12

[edit] External links

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