Turbo Pascal: Dusting Off Songs From Yesteryear

• February 9, 2015
• Cassettes, D.I.Y., Music, Punk

 

Turbo Pascal formed in the summer of 1995.  Yes,  1995.  Guitarist Michael Marty,  bassist Danny John,  drummer James Treichler and I all met while attending MacArthur High School in the soy bean capital of the world,  Decatur, IL.

After spending countless hours driving around between Pizza Hut and Holiday Inn bus boy shifts expanding our musical horizons to the likes of Screeching Weasel,  Rancid,  Pennywise and XTC,  Mike and I were inspired to start a band of our own.  We got to work with the goal of writing catchy songs that fell in line with the guitar driven anthems of our heroes.  James joined the band after witnessing my failed attempt to do a kick flip on a skateboard wearing work boots.

The formula was simple:  Mike was the Jazz/Rock/Punk influenced song architect,  I added laments from my sticker-laced composition notebook,  James set the backbeat dial to hyper speed.

 

 

For a while we toyed with the name Five Finger Discount,  but even under our angst cloud didn’t want to gain reputations as thieving bandits.  Up to that point in my life the only thing I ever stole was a Jim Morrison poetry book because I thought that’s how budding lyricists were supposed to pay tribute to their elder statesman.

Turbo Pascal was originally going to be the name of my brother’s band before they became Disgruntled.  The name is an ode to our father Pasquale,  not a reference to the antique software development system as pictured above.

The three of us along with original bassist Dan Sample spent the summer writing songs,  playing basement shows to an audience of Treichler’s dog,  and crashing backyard BBQ’s.  We learned early on that playing half-baked songs in broad daylight while people stare at you is a perfect recipe for awkwardness.

We played our first real show in Mike’s girlfriend’s backyard for her Sweet 16 party.  It just doesn’t get any more punk rock than that friends.  I’ll never forget seeing that first handmade show flyer…it was like whoa….this is for real.  This is happening.  Thankfully the house was in the country so the only complaints were from a few squirrels chucking acorns in our general direction.  Many friends showed up and the reception was overwhelmingly positive.  I remember someone telling me I needed to scream louder,  a critique I welcomed but my household would soon resent.

In December of 1995 we went to Pieces of Eight Studio,  a 16-track analogue home-studio,  to record what would become the Turbo Tape.

 

 

Soon after,  friend and SST Records aficionado Danny John became Turbo’s new bass player.  Legend has it Mike coerced Danny to join the band with a plate of General Tso chicken.  We continued to write new material and play shows all around the Midwest  ( Ok,  mostly Illinois and Wisconsin,  but doesn’t  “all around the Midwest”  have a nice ring to it? ).

Our most memorable performance was playing a packed house at the historical Lincoln Theater in downtown Decatur with a few local bands.  In September of 1996 we recorded another four songs,  a cassette aptly called Demo,  which we gave away at shows and out of backpacks during lunch hour  ( this was pre-internet ).

 

 

Thanks to Pass Out Records in Hawaii,  the TP discography (The 10 original songs plus the 4 song demo) is available for the first time on iTunes. You can download some free tracks here.

So how does a band from 1990’s Decatur, Illinois end up releasing an album in 2010’s Hawaii?  Fair question.  I’m glad you asked.

After living in Chicago and singing for Threefold Cord and The Neumatics,  I moved to Honolulu in 2006 where I live with my lovely wife.  What began as approaching Passout Records to remove the hiss from the cassette recordings inspired an all out revitalization project of the Turbo Pascal catalogue.

Rather than allow these tracks to collect dust for 20 more years,  Passout Records partnered with TP to release these songs back into the wild.  They used their studio wizardry to even out the sound,  add bass,  and give my teenage nasal screech more whine power.  As much as we still dig cracking open a cassette case and being hypnotized by those two little reels spinning ’round as if powered by magic,  it does our adolescent-now-adult souls good to see these songs reissued digitally.   Just read this FB post from Mike the day of the release for crying out loud:

 

After the better part of two decades, Pass Out Records has welcomed my first band Turbo Pascal to its fantastic catalog.  The full 14 song discography is available on iTunes, CD Baby and from the Pass Out Records site.  This discography to us, is a glimpse into the past of young teens from a Midwestern town that formed to jam music in the most purest form.  We played what was on our mind in that moment and didn’t care to sound like anyone but ourselves.  We did what we wanted.  Over the course of time, that goal gets harder and harder to accomplish as you build an arsenal of influences and genre tastes that form the musician you are.  We didn’t have that yet.  It’s raw, it’s young, sometimes dumb, but honest and true.  Laugh a little, mosh a little, enjoy.

 

I mean if that doesn’t bring a tear to your eye you have a heart of stone.

 

 

Mike has lent his guitar shredding skills to several bands,  most notably Off Balance,  Big Big Shoulders and Hunting The Rabbit.  Mike and his bride moved to Boulder, Colorado in 2011 where he continues to wake neighbors and tame wild animals with his Les Paul.

Danny John writes and plays music in the Windy City.  Along with Turbo Pascal vintage van provider Ben Spannaus,  John played bass for Chicago band Royce.

James Treichler lives in Champaign, IL where he’s the man behind the dials at Earth Analog Studio.  Treichler yields versatile drum beats and legandary long hair to bands The Dirty Feathers and Elsinore among others.

All this reissuing business has naturally lead to talks of a reunion show.  A fire has been relit.  To put things in perspective the last time we played Bill Clinton was President and the average gallon of gas cost $1.23.  May take a little practice is all I’m saying.  Rehearsing in Treichler’s basement was much easier when we didn’t live in three different states,  yet I trust if we can release these songs anything is possible.

Whatever,  it’s not too much of a stretch,  I still wear Vans.  Now if only I could find my chain wallet and baggy pants…….

Update:  We reunited in 2015 at Earth Analog Studio and recorded a 3 song EP Awkward at Parties now available on Pass Out Records.

• cassettes
• D.Y.I
• indie bands
• Music
• punk
• remastering
• restoration