Sirhan Sirhan
Sirhan Sirhan's demo tape
Time to exorcise some demons. 1984, Brother Murphy’s 10th grade biology class. I do something stupid, and Eric Fontana—the quintessential class clown—gets blamed and takes a slap in the back of the head for me. Murphy just assumed it was Fontana being Fontana, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to correct him. Thanks, Eric, I owe you one.
Besides being the class clown, Fontana was the quintessential musician as well. He always had a Stratocaster slung over his shoulder, and he played wherever and whenever he could. He was destined to become a performer, so it was no surprise to anyone that he went off to Berklee. I met up with him again in early 1991, only now he was playing a Gibson ES-175 hollowbody. He found his way back to Rhode Island, and with tongue firmly planted in cheek, he joined Sirhan Sirhan, the genetically mutated brainchild of Jay Capaldi (Bloke Splatter) and Pete O’Rourke (Danny Vermin). Jay and Pete assembled a quartet of misfits (yeah, had to get that in somewhere), made-up to look like corpses, vermin, psychotic murderers, and, uh, tools. Their mission was to raise the undead, make music, and get people to hate them. They recorded an eight song, 16-minute long, ‘demo’ (not sure we can even call it that), and went on tour (well, they played six gigs—at the Full Moon Saloon in Warwick, at The Channel and Green Street in Boston, and at AS220 in Providence). I was at the AS220 show in January 1991. Musically and visually—from the over-the-top feedback from Fontana’s hollowbody, to their cover of the Sex Pistols’ Belson, and all of the coffins, fake blood, and sound effects in between—the show was a blast. They played a short set, then settled back into the crypt for eternity.
Fontana has since stopped pissing the Whistler off, and has become a celebrity in the Rhode Island rock club scene. Check him out at his myspace page.
Sirhan Sirhan were:
The Whip (Eric Fontana) on guitar
Bloke Splatter (Jay Capaldi) on drums
Danny Vermin (Pete O’Rourke) on vocals
Ron Dandeneau (SkrewDriver) on bass/flute, replaced by:
John Jones (Reverend Jon Jim Jones) on bass
01 My Girlfriend’s One of the Dead
08 Belson (Sex Pistols cover)
May 30, 2009 at 7:33 am
It’s great to hear these songs again.