This is a re-post from April the 3rd 2006. Added more scans, new rips, Paddedd Cell and Tumor Boy.
There’s no doubt that these punk rockers are mentally ill. How well they capture it in this fuzzy buzzy manic sing along punk rock anthem. Where are the psychos in punk nowadays? Recommendations? No not The Spits I don’t like them.
Country: USA
Year: 1979
Label: Autistic
Format: 7″
Songs:
Gacys Place.mp3
Paddedd Cell.mp3
Tumor Boy.mp3
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Haha, I take it you read my Spits post? Have you heard the recent Alt-Tent reissue of this?? It’s supposed to have a bunch of extra/unreleased stuff…
Ha ha ha you’re right. But I’ve heard other comparing The Spits and Mentally Ill and I think The Spits is higly overrated though they have a cool attitude. People had been talking about Spits and I’ve got one of their first 7″‘s for free and I was just like “uhhh?? what the fuck this sucks.”
No I haven’t heard the reissue.
this 7in is hamms.here’s the A.T. one for free even better then the 7in.
http://www.alternativetentacles.com/octopodes/852/NHJueyHajPQqsNm9smD/The_Mentally_Ill-Not_Quite_Dead_Y.mp3
Holy crap! That song i actually better then Gacy’s. Is that from their second release?
try the Homicides from perth Australia, they are a bunch of psychos! and they play sleazy punk rock n roll which fuckin rocks
there are a few songs and pics on http://www.myspace.com/thehomicides
Hi Claire! Thanks for the tip but The Homicides was way too generic for my taste.
There’s a handful of songs that they redid the vocals for…other than that it’s pretty solid. I’m not sure what song you’re talking about…but i guessing it’s “Cum Twat”…shit rules!
I remember reading (about a year and a half ago) about AT’s plan of releasing the Eat disography? Anybody know what’s going on with that???
oops…i guess it was “not quite dead yet”
Spits 2nd album has their best track imho: “Black and blue”
ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE PUNK BANDS. FUZZY, BLOWN-OUT GUITAR, KILLER VOCALS, COOL LYRICS, AND THE DRUMMER SOUNDS LIKE HE’S PLAYING ON CARDBOARD BOXES!!
OH, AND THE SPITS FUCKING RULE! THEY MADE PUNK FUN AGAIN, AND HELPED GET RID OF(FOR THE MOST PART) THAT GODAWFUL “STREETPUNK”/TOUGH GUY GARBAGE AND WANNA BE HEARTBREAKERS BANDS FROM THE LATE 90’S/EARLY 2000’S THAT LABELS LIKE TKO SEEMED TO LOVE(SAVE FOR THE BODIES FROM SONOMA, CA. – THEY RULED TOO).
I don’t think I’ve ever heard Mentally Ill’s 2nd 7″ – Sex Cells. Why was it not reissued on the AT CD? There’s a session on the CD from the 1990s when Mentally Ill briefly got back together but not the 2nd record??? That makes no sense to me at all. Can anyone shed some light on this or direct me somewhere I can get a rip/copy?
uhh….The Spits whoop ass…
I seem to remember an advertisement that the Mentally Ill placed in Trouser Press many years back…it was something along the lines of $5 for the single, $1005 to have the single personally delivered by a band member.
amazing! Sort of like a like
low-grade “Nervous Breakdown” EP. I love it. I wonder why the label like Subterranean, Posh Boy, and SST did not help out this band. I guess Posh Boy was too busy trying to cash-in on new wave with Los Microwaves. Subterranean probably would have not supported a band outside of California.
It’s amazing this came out of Deerfield, IL.
Do you have the second Mentally Ill 45? It wasn’t included in the AT comp. I have only heard on side of that.
These guys actually played their one and only gig in Chicago recently and did a respectable job of it. They were (and are) a bunch of rich dudes from the northern Chicago burbs who were just fucking around, trying to be offensive back in the day. I got all the original studio tracks from this session from a guy who was in a band with the original drummer along with an unreleased album recorded in the late 1990’s by Steve Albini that is OK. Never even heard the AT release but those 1979 “Starbeat Sessions” kick ass. They went on to form another band called The Men which is worth checking out, as well, and actually tried making a go of it in the music biz with their Autistic / Snat5 record label in the early 80’s, attempting to push their weird brand of “industrial” “dance” music but the shit was just too weird for the times and they faded into oblivion (their lyrical content actually got weirder with time!). They even had an office in the South Loop which ain’t cheap.
mrpoopy, thanks, very informative, i bought the alt-tent cd a few years ago, and they remain to be one of my all time favorite bands. unfortunately, i could never dig up any info on them. Any more info/anecdotes about the band would be much appreciated.
I went to college in a suburb near the Mentally Ill’s home base of Deerfield, Illinois. Um, Deerfield is not a total richy rich suburb- I have a few friends who currently live in “normal” areas of that ‘burb. But there definitely are some richer areas to it. About 12 years ago, I saw a picture of the other pressing of the Gacy’s Place EP- it printed an address on Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago on the back of the sleeve, and I went on a mission because I worked not too far from there at the time. Um, I couldn’t get past the security guard at the front desk of the small brick office building so my pipe dreams of uncovering copies of the EP were unrealized. Since the Mentally Ill were kids when the EP was released, perhaps the Wacker Drive address they listed was not their office space but maybe the business office of one of their Dads (?). The office had a nice location overlooking the Chicago River and not too far from the Chicago Opera building and all that. The “Gacy’s Place” EP is otherwordly and blows my mind every time I listen to it- the guitar sound and vibe on it is simply amazing. “Gacy’s Place” is my favorite track of course and “Tumor Boy” is my 2nd fave– the guitar solo on it is a jaw dropper. “Padded Cell” is good but just OK. To my ears, their 2nd 7″ (“American Dream/Soldier 19”) and the cassette in a can from the early 80’s blow compared to the 1st EP. A friend of mine in San Diego was supposed to release the unreleased 1979 “Starbeat Sessions” as a 10″EP on his label back in like 2000 but it never happened and came out on Alt. Tentacles instead in ’04. I have a few copies of the “Spank The Bottom Red” CD from ’99 with the funny 3D sleeve and it’s OK musically but has a pretty demented vibe to it. There is a local live music/dance cable show for kids here in Chicago called “Chic-A-Go-Go” (helmed by Jake Austen from the always-cool Roctober ‘zine), and the Mentally Ill played on the show in the late 90’s. I didn’t see the episode but I have seen photos from it and it’s pretty odd to see little kids dancing in front of the demented-looking band. Funny stuff.
One more thing- here is a link to an early 80’s review by Jeff Bale of their 2nd 7″:
http://www.operationphoenixrecords.com/mrrissue02_19MusicReviewsandTheEnd.pdf
I was glad to find Gacys’ place on e-bay. I lived in Deerfield when it first came out. It was at
Lauries’ discount Records where the 45′ was being
sold, and if i remember correctly, one of the band members worked there. Gacy was on one side,
and Tumor Boy and Padded Cell on the other. I was
really glad to find this cd. My record player broke in 2000, and i figured it was too much to get it fixed, so i went to cds’. So it has been long since i heard it……
I must add that “Soldier 19” is on Bloodstains across the Midwest. The 2nd Mentally Ill record is awesome in my book but the EP they did as the Men was weak, I think it was like saxophone wave or something.
Yeah Brian, both the a AND b side on the second MI is great. I’ve already ripped it so hopefully it will be posted in a year or so ha ha.
These guys are the nowadays mentally ill, check their shit out. What the fuck.
http://www.myspace.com/theabusivestepdads
Hey their Jay,
Your wrong.
and by the way Soldier 19 is floating around the net.
Its not very good. The singer sounds way different. everything is way to clean sounding too.
Mitch, I beg to conquer! The Soldier 19 7″ is GREAT! I have it and it will be posted someday. Don’t know why people keep lying about it not being any good. Totally false.
Dude, post it already! Also, if anyone out there has the cassette in a can as mp3, I’ve been trying to track that shit down for 10 years.
Post it, please please please, my sweet prince.
So i’ve been talking to Larry the singer of the Mentally Ill latley, and it turns out that Soldier 19 isnt even really the mentally ill. Its just the same guitarist and bassist with a man by the name of Art MacQuilkin on vocals and Reggie Mars on drums.
That explains why you dont see it around as much as the other hits
Hey,
I have a copy of the MI’s gacy’s place i bought back in the day at Lauries records-in fact, i think the guy jsut gave it to me ’cause i was a kid.
Is this 45 really selling for a lot of $ these days? Any idea what it’s going for? I’m not selling, but just curious.
cheers
You could get a little over 100$ for it.
WOW ! DIDN’T THINK THIS BS WOULD SURVIVE THIS LONG !
ANY QUESTIONS ?
WHAT THE HELL REGGIE? YOU THINK YOU WERE IN THE BAND OR SOMETHING???!?!?!?
P.s. Thank you Lizzard, Tony, and others for the great comments. You all are all helping to pass the torch to the next gen.
Fuck, man. Soldier 19!
Yeah James next up Soldier 19 after the Tits.
My ears are burning! Anyone ever track down the cassette in a can?
Been up on eBay a couple of times. Been tempted but after Justin/CollectorScum had a copy and told me it wasn’t that hot I skipped it. Still would like to hear it.
You don’t like the SPITS? Shit. To each his own I guess. Their first self released EP will be on a Killed By Death comp. in the year 2017 for sure!
good record. i don’t know who the spits are. thanks peter for this slab.
By far my all-time favourite punks. Thank you so much for this post. My copy of the reissue CD is on its way in the mail and I’m scrounging around ebay to see if the 7″ gets put up for bidding anytime soon.
Does anyone know of ANY band this weird and wonderful?
You should also try these:
https://kbdrecords.com/2009/07/27/the-nubs-st-7/
https://kbdrecords.com/2009/01/17/destry-hampton-and-the-wolves-from-hell-st-ep-7/
https://kbdrecords.com/2006/10/01/maids-maids-in-bataan-7/
you heard of useless eaters? newer band from memphis, tn. theyre kinda fuzzy, kinda reverby kbd style punk. myspace.com/uselesseatersmemphis
Great to hear this again! My friend Sue’s older brother owned a copy of this 45, and we used to listen to it repeatedly back in 1981. I remember Bob Mould stopping by Sue’s house, and after listening to it, said “Wow” -something like that.
Of course it was stolen by someone during a party. We know who stole it.
Watch VOMIT BITCH HERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyRpddNhZwU
Its also missing the Man in A can cassette tape release. Still been dying to hear it, but nobody seems to have it.
You think it’s totally ok to link directly to the mp3s here and use the scans without any credit?
And by the way the Mentally Ill discography CD is STILL available for sale through AT.
Sorry Nick. Had to delete your comment since you email adress was bogus. You’re welcome to post again with a valid email adress.
Yeah,sorry.Have now rectified the error,and included a link to KBD. It was easier than uploading the tracks myself,sorry but i’m a lazy sod.
Linking directly to mp3s on here won’t work. Your visitors will get an 404 Error.
a lot of your links are posted there in his posts.
I love this!
No they do work,but anyway i’ve now uploaded them to the box.net….and (Zach)yes a few recent links are mirrored on KBD.But records are not the personal property of certain individuals,and i want to write about them. This,i am told is not a crime.
well i don’t give a shit, as long as you give credit on where you got them.
This has been rectified.Now i leave you to be the internets moral policeman. Self-righteousness is not a crime either.Go in peace my friend.
i was just stating facts.
No Nick they don’t work. They work for you cause you’ve listening to them directly from the site. Try to clean your webcache and cookies and then click the links from your site.
Concidering the amount of work some blogers, like myself, put into ripping the vinyl and doing the scans… But sure if you want to be a person who just mirrors other works I don’t see why you just write about the record and then provide a link directly to the posts here?
You know,maybe you’re right.But Its not all rip offs from other sites,i do 50% of my own records,so i wanna maintain a consistant look. Thanks for the advice though.I will credit you for any future exploitation of your graft. As for the links,i have made my own now on the Box.net. Keep up the good work, and dont let people like me put you off.
So now you’re having mp3s from this site on box.net. Why not point to the post here where you downloaded them from?
Here’s my recommendation:
Existential Nightmare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHs8ayFjaWU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THBSP3Dtwjw
How interesting. A band trying to copy Rudimentary Peni. Next.
They’re certainly not a clone. However, they do have that psychotic element and yes, more than some of that early Rudimentary Peni vibe. Just thought I’d point them out because it’s slim pickings as far as “psychos” in punk nowadays as you said. However, the s/t EP itself has a slight bit more diversity and a little more divergence from the sound that just those two songs capture. Of course, you can tell who they are inspired by though.
Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll did a favorable write up of the EP that I found online:
“EXISTENTIAL NIGHTMARE – CD
What a fucking mess this is. Starts with someone screaming and never really lets up. This is really fucking abrasive. Two people, Cam contributing vocals and guitar and Donnie with the bass and drums. Leads me to believe they learned to play and write songs based on a mix-tape with just the first CRUCIFUCKS LP, an assortment of DRUNKS WITH GUNS, and the first RUDIMENTARY PENI EP. Just heavy and noisy and its giving me a head-ache, but I’m totally loving it. Song titles are pretty out there too:”Fathomless chaos of Eternal Night?” “Psychosexual Immortalizer?” What? Cover art is a bit generic, but ultimately that kind of adds to the whole package of the band. It seems as though the only way to buy this is through eBay for $5. This is like, whoa. (VL, Maximum Rock N Roll)(Suggestive Phantasm)”
I also found a bad review online from Razorcake magazine:
“EXISTENTIAL NIGHTMARE:
Self-titled: CD
Have you ever seen a TV show where they use the words “punk rock†to describe a bunch of actors playing sloppy music with some dude making stupid screaming sounds over it? This sounds kind of like that. –Bryan Static (Suggestive Phantasm, no address)”
Also, I found this (which might slightly change your overall perception):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qiz5VL6RYWQ
So anyway if you don’t have the EP you’re missing hearing 4 songs still. Crucial ones as well that separate them a little more from Rudimentary Peni. However, obtaining the EP as of now seems rather difficult anyway.
If you write them off as a sort of clone or a bad attempt to sound like or pay homage to Rudimentary Peni that makes some sense but still I would argue they are a bit more than that.
Anyway, it’s a kind of love it or hate it thing, especially with those vocals.
Some of your questions will be answered here:
http://t.co/35yd7Y2m
hello. to my memory, the mentally ill ‘cassette in a can’ thing is along the lines of the 2nd 7″. i don’t have the originals of either but have them on copied cassette from my trading days … somewhere … if nobody managed to sort this out yet, i’ll aim to remember to dig it out of ‘the box’ (there’s 1000+ tapes in it!) ASAP and try to rip it for you. in all honesty, i wasn’t into either release but of course i can understand why people want to hear them. i also have ‘strike the bottom red’ the album with albini but that is pretty bad too. it includes re-recordings of ‘tumor boy’, ‘padded cell’ and more and they really are infinitely inferior to the original versions. i was surprised to see this album was reissued on vinyl last year by a label who also reissued ‘gacy’s place’ as a 7″. now on the plus side, the ‘gacy’s place’ 7″ is absolutely one of my favourite punk records ever, easily in my top 10 – everything about it is perfect – i completely freaked out when the AT cd came out. after hearing of the existence of unreleased tracks for so many years, the entire ‘gacy’s place’ session really was as amazing as i hoped/imagined it would be, and the raw crawlspace session was amazing too, but i really wasn’t into the middle section session with the more recently recorded sax and crap vocals. the mentally ill even had a website for a while in the early 2000s and there was a video of a track from ‘strike the bottom red’ on it. all i remember is that it was really ‘wacky’ and sorta cheesey, and it’s possible it could’ve been the tv appearance mentioned above. well whatever it was, trust me, you’ll live without ever seeing it. anyway, post back if people are still after the cassette in a can thing.
infact, the video on the old mentally ill website was the chic-a-go-go tv appearance mentioned above.
Thanks for supporting The Mentally Ill all these years! Alternative Tentacles has reissued these songs as part of a band authorized release. Please support the band by substituting http://www.alternativetentacles.com/product.php?product=745 for the existing download link. For a promo track contact Alan Schneider at comm@alternativetentacles.com. Thanks very much!
excellent pictures of entire discography here :
http://recordcollectorsoftheworldunite.com/artists/mentallyill/mentallyill.htm
absolutely brilliant love it!