St. Vitus' Dance

Talent Show Audition Tape, 1975.

Brian Cox of Deerhunter / Atlas Sound had this on his blog.

“Tommy now recalls driving to Tommy and Anne’s house on a snowy evening in April, 1975 to record this, one of three total songs committed to tape by the band. He drove his Mom’s Volvo and the moonlight shined on the broken leather with the foam showing in the backseat. There was a book of constellations laying in the floorboard. Tommy was supposed have been doing his astronomy homework that night.

His only memories of the evening are that the snare drum presented much difficulty. It was the loudest thing in the room and sounded like a dry cough. Tommy convinced Anne to put one of his Playboys on it and the sound became far more manageable.

The room was filled with cigarette smoke. Tommy’s reel to reel made a lot of noise and the black lights hung along the walls caused a certain amount of interference with Pat’s bass amp.

Finally, at two in the morning, they listened back to their three song discography. They were full of excitement and hopefulness. Sue kept going on and on about how it was a little rough now but they would practice away the rough edges. They were all just so excited to have made something. 

The next day during discretionary, Tommy took the tape by the library and gave it to Miss Calson to give to the review board for the talent show.

A few days later he received the rejection letter in his locker. His initial excitement at what he thought were a few more valium pills was replaced with a weird since of failure and sadness. He stared off into the hallway where bright light reflected of the snow outside a window. Lots of people were passing by carrying their books, rushing off to classes. The final bell rang and he relaxed his eyes and let the hallway go out of focus.”

Talent Show Audition Tape, 1975.

Brian Cox of Deerhunter / Atlas Sound had this on his blog.

“Tommy now recalls driving to Tommy and Anne’s house on a snowy evening in April, 1975 to record this, one of three total songs committed to tape by the band. He drove his Mom’s Volvo and the moonlight shined on the broken leather with the foam showing in the backseat. There was a book of constellations laying in the floorboard. Tommy was supposed have been doing his astronomy homework that night.

His only memories of the evening are that the snare drum presented much difficulty. It was the loudest thing in the room and sounded like a dry cough. Tommy convinced Anne to put one of his Playboys on it and the sound became far more manageable.

The room was filled with cigarette smoke. Tommy’s reel to reel made a lot of noise and the black lights hung along the walls caused a certain amount of interference with Pat’s bass amp.

Finally, at two in the morning, they listened back to their three song discography. They were full of excitement and hopefulness. Sue kept going on and on about how it was a little rough now but they would practice away the rough edges. They were all just so excited to have made something. 

The next day during discretionary, Tommy took the tape by the library and gave it to Miss Calson to give to the review board for the talent show.

A few days later he received the rejection letter in his locker. His initial excitement at what he thought were a few more valium pills was replaced with a weird since of failure and sadness. He stared off into the hallway where bright light reflected of the snow outside a window. Lots of people were passing by carrying their books, rushing off to classes. The final bell rang and he relaxed his eyes and let the hallway go out of focus.”