1313 Mockingbird Lane

Oddly enough, it was a punk from Portland, Maine, that gave 1313 Mockingbird Lane their first taste of blood from the garage rock monster. A band called the GoreHounds happened to be touring through Albany, New York, when their lead singer, Jordan, played a Back from the Grave-style mixtape of ’60s punk. Upon hearing this, our unsuspecting heroes were driven to thievery. They had to steal that tape. The crime came with a price when, upon repeated listening, it dawned on them, “We should form a band and sound like this!”

The first thing the newly rechristened Haunted Hausmann and Kim 13 did was to enlist a good friend, Robin Graves, to play bass. They quickly, in less than one month, recorded their first single, Hornet’s Nest b/w My Hearse... (Is Double Parked). Two originals. They hadn’t even played a gig yet.
 
They needed a steady drummer. Marty Feier had toured with Link Wray, appearing on Link’s Live in ’85LP. The way he tells it, “I first got a copy of their 45 and I was blown away. Being a fan of raw rock’n’roll, monsters, and Batman/Munsters-type camp humor since I was in single digits, made hooking up with these guys and gal an easy choice.”

Marty joined just in time for their second EP, The Second Coming of 1313 Mockingbird Lane. So, in roughly half a year, the band released six songs on two 7-inch slabs of wax. It was time to make a full-length. They entered Hyland Studios with a $500 budget. Hyland was/is, literally, a studio run out of a converted garage on a backstreet in midtown Albany, and, over the course of two recording sessions, this band of (besides Marty Feier) completely inexperienced musicians turned their passion for primordial rock’n’roll thud into a fuzz-filled, walloping, rollicking fright-fest of garage punk awesomeness!

1313 Mockingbird Lane would continue on for several more years. They’d go on to share the stage with East Coast luminaries of the genre like the Cynics, Chesterfield Kings, and Lyres, and win accolades from all. They would put out two full-length LPs, including one on NYC’s mythical Midnight Records, along with several sensational 7-inchers — all because of that stolen that tape.

Gut wrenching fuzz punk in the tradition of The Avengers, Unrelated Segments and the Seeds. Tough punk with powerful keyboards, fuzz guitar, pounding bass and drums and vocals with enough snarl and snot that you have to clear your throat after each tune. In other words, prime slime... — What Wave #18, 1989