The Lexington Connection

Lexington, Kentucky’s influence on what would become the Huntington, West Virginia music scene can hardly be overstated.

The fact is that they had their shit together long before Huntington had a clue.

The scene in Lexington that would flourish in the early-1990’s, and have a profound effect on Huntington began in the mid-1980’s, and could likely be traced to the release of Vale Of Tears’ album ‘Songs From The Bible Belt’ in 1986.

(Vale Of Tears' 'Songs From The Bible Belt', Cryin' Time Records, 1986)

The album proved to other Kentuckians that it was, in fact, possible to record and release music on your own terms, but it was a student at the University of Kentucky and an idealist with an ambitious idea that both embodied the Do-It-Yourself ethic that influenced a number of hopeful novices whom would form the nucleus of Huntington’s own scene.

David Angstrom was a student at U.K. when he made his first foray into the Lexington music scene as a member of the short-lived bands The Mange and JB & The Five Blind Boys, but it wasn’t until his third attempt at this concept that he hit pay dirt.

Skinny Bones was a three-piece featuring Angstrom on guitar and vocals, Jon McGee on drums, and David Barrick on bass. (Barrick would soon exit the band, however, to focus on his fledgling recording operation, and Mark Hendricks was added as his replacement.)

(Jon McGee, Mark Hendricks and David Angstrom)

It was also around this time that the band re-christened themselves Black Cat Bone, and began gigging locally and building a reputation as a formidable live attraction.

Meanwhile, David Butler was hatching a plan of his own, and an audacious one at that.

His idea was to create a venue in Lexington that would afford local musicians the opportunity to perform their original material in a live setting, and it came to fruition in the fall of 1988 when The Wrocklage opened its doors to the public.

(Martin Shearer, Bill Bruening and David Butler)

Butler’s own recently formed band, Stranglmartin, would also be among the city’s first acts to tour nationally, as well as overseas, after embarking on a trek to support their self-titled 1990 debut album.

Nine Pound Hammer, with one album already under their belt (1988’s ‘The Mud, the Blood, and the Beers’), also began making headway nationally and would prove to be one of Lexington’s longest-running outfits. (Guitarist Blaine Cartwright later surfaced in the cow-punk band Nashville Pussy.)

Black Cat Bone, on the other hand, was prepping its first record (with Barrick in the producer’s chair) that would initially be released on Angstrom’s newly-formed, independent imprint, Coda Records, a record label that would go on to release the debut albums of such Lexington bands as 10 Foot Pole and Candy Says, as well as the ‘Bigger Than You’ compilation.

(10 Foot Pole's 'Fuel To Keep Us Cool', Coda Records, 1993)

(‘Truth’ would be re-released in 1992 after Black Cat Bone inked a deal with Chameleon Records, the parent company of Dali Records, then home to a little-known band by the name of Kyuss.)

This fertile 1991-92 period also produced Groovezilla’s ‘Search for Neverland,’ The Blueberries’ ‘Dinner’ and Nine Pound Hammer’s sophomore effort, ‘Smokin’ Taters!’

All the while, Butler continued to pull double-duty, overseeing the success of The Wrocklage (which was now booking bands on an almost nightly basis) and putting the finishing touches on Stranglmartin’s second, and best, album, 1993’s ‘Wiregrass,’ which would be released on his own Wrocklage Wreckords.

Stranglmartin’s third, and final, album, ‘For the Sake of Argument,’ was released in 1995, and the band called it quits not long thereafter.

Following Black Cat Bone’s major-label record deal, the band flew to New York and filmed a music video for ‘Truth’s lead track, “The Epic Continues,” and though it received some airplay, the band would not breakthrough nationally, but instead disband following the recording of their second album, the Chris Goss-produced ‘Real.’ (The album would go unreleased for more than 10 years, only seeing the light of day, via an independent label, in the mid-2000’s.)

Angstrom then assembled Control Freak with Abusement Park members Elwood Francis (guitar) and Will Pieratt (bass), and recent Lexington transplant Chuck Nicholas (drums), formerly of Huntington’s Guru Lovechild.

Control Freak had a relatively brief existence, but eventually led to the formation of Supafuzz, Angstrom’s most enduring vehicle, and a band that would also have its own brush with nationwide recognition, beginning with the release of its debut album, ‘Pretty Blank Page,’ in 1997.

David Barrick’s modest recording operation would morph into Barrick Recording, and he would continue to produce a number of Lexington bands over the next 20 years, and also became the go-to producer for the vast majority of Huntington bands that released albums in the early-to-mid-1990’s.

Sadly, The Wrocklage would cease operation in the fall of 1996, and all but bring a close to this era in Lexington’s music history.

Fortunately, the bands from this period spent a great deal of time making the two-hour drive to Huntington and performed frequently at Gumby’s, ensuring that their legacy and influence would be far more reaching than they could have possibly imagined.

Here's a baker’s dozen of the finest Lexington had to offer during the years 1989-1998:

Stranglmartin – Stranglmartin, 1990

Black Cat Bone – Truth, 1991
Nine Pound Hammer - Smokin' Taters!, 1991

Various Artists – Bigger Than You, 1992

Candy Says – Kaleidoscope, 1992

Black Cat Bone – Real, 1993

Stranglmartin – Wiregrass, 1993

10 Foot Pole – Fuel to Keep Us Cool, 1993
Groovezilla – Groovezilla, 1994

Nine Pound Hammer – Hayseed Timebomb, 1994

Nonchalant – The Long Bus Ride, 1995

Supafuzz – Pretty Blank Page, 1997