HUNGRY & HOLLOW SESSIONS GUIDE: COLORFINGER

---

Recording: Late 1989 – Early 1990
(? – San Francisco, CA)

Band Members: Arthur Alexakis (vocals, guitar), Buz Rico (bass)

Recorded:
[X] Culver Palms or (Why I Don’t Believe In God)
[X] Others
[?] Kill Jerry Garcia

Sources:  This session remains unsurfaced.

Notes:  Art was still managing Shindig Records when he picked up an album that changed his life.

“I remember when Doolittle came out, which I think is one of the best records. A lot of major rock critics panned that record. Rolling Stone gave it two stars. Now a lot of those same critics are calling it one of the best records of the last 15 or 20 years. That record changed my life. When Doolittle came out, I almost quit my job that day. I went at lunch time. I was working in downtown San Francisco. At lunch time, I bought the tape, started listening to it on my walkman, walking back to work in my suit and my little ponytail, got to a phone, called in sick, said I'd thrown up at lunch time, got on a city bus, rode around for four hours listening to that. I went home that night, told my first wife I was going to start a band. And then I started a country band. But it wasn't the matter of doing that type of music. It was just...man, there's still viable music coming out now, music that has its own voice. And if they can do it, I can do it too.” (58)

Buz Rico, who was into punk and industrial music, responded to a flyer Art posted.  He said, “Art and I tried to start a band together first after I answered a flyer he put in a club in S.F. mentioning the Pixies and Big Black. A lot of the Everclear stuff that I have heard, has roots in [these] sessions.” (27)

Though Buz was not into the cow punk scene, he played with Art because of his dedication and the possibility to make music his living.  “I really only worked for Art because he had his "act" together, got the shows and tours booked and made things happen. I was tired of playing only shows in SF (and mostly in basements) and wanted more tour and big show experience. It was (at the time) my only opportunity to actually make some money playing music.” (63)

The band they formed was known as the ‘Killjoy Combo.’  Buz Rico recalls, “Killjoy Combo was just a working name for when Art Alexakis and I played together in a studio in San Francisco for less than a year. We never played out as a "band", but we did record a lot of 4-track tapes and spent a lot of time looking for drummers and other people to join.  Some of the songs we did then turned into Colorfinger songs later and even Everclear songs after that.  Art did write most the music and all of the lyrics, but at that time, I wrote almost all the bass lines and we collaborated on almost everything to some degree or another.” (63)

Buz later left the project, but would later come to play some of the songs they recorded together earlier on the Colorfinger album.

---

Recording: 02/XX/90 - 03/XX/90
(Sound And Vision Studios - San Francisco, CA)
Recorded by: Kevin Army, A.P. Alexakis

Band Members: Arthur Alexakis (guitar, bass, lead vocals), Karl Maruyama (guitar, backing vocals), Buz Rico (bass), Keith Owings (drums).

Recorded:
[O] Kill the Sun
[O] Anita Sonic Love
[O] Eleanor Young
[O] Carolea
[O] 13 Years
[O] Culver Palms (or Why I Don't Believe In God)
[O] Separation
[O] The Color Pit
[O] Chucklehead's Lament
[O] Static
[O] ? (The Gay Bar Song)
[O] Kill Jerry Garcia
[O] The Marrying Kind
[O] The Not So Easy Hoe (Fun With The Gay Bar Song)

Sources:

Source	Quality	Complete	Runtime	Lowest Gen	Tracks Featured	Notes
SBD #1a	10.0	No	0:37:59	Official CD (Colorfinger – Deep In The Heart Of The Beast In The Sun)	• Kill The Sun • Anita Sonic Love • Eleanor Young • Carolea • 13 Years • Culver Palms (Why I Don’t Believe In God) • Separation • The Color Pit • Chucklehead’s Lament • Static • ? (The Gay Bar Song) • Kill Jerry Garcia	Released on both CD and Cassette off Shindig Records.  Only 1000 CDs were made.  Most of those lost when their distributor Rough Trade went bankrupt.
SBD #1b	10.0	No	TBC	Official Cassette (Art Alexakis – Deep In The Heart Of The Beast In The Sun)	• Kill The Sun • Anita Sonic Love • Eleanor Young • Carolea • Culver Palms (or Why I Don’t Believe In God) • 13 Years • The Marrying Kind • The Color Pit • Chucklehead’s Lament • Static • The Not So Easy Hoe (Fun With The Gay Bar Intro) • ? (The Gay Bar Song) • Kill Jerry Garcia	Roughly 50 handmade cassette copies were made to promote his album before the official Colorfinger album was released.  This album features rough mixes of the songs that would be on the Colorfinger CD.

Notes:  After the ‘Killjoy Combo’ project failed, and more songs written, Art had enough songs to record for his first solo record. 
Art called a few of his old friends to play on the record.  Karl Maruyama had played with Art in Los Angeles in Shakinbrave.  Keith Owings was another one of Art’s friends from LA, and Buz Rico played with Art as the ‘Killjoy Combo.’ 
This originally was meant to be a solo album but while touring to promote the album, it eventually turned into a band.  Buz recalls, “Art called me to be a hired hand and play bass on the Colorfinger recording. I was not going to join the band, just do the “session work.” After the CD got out, he called me to see if I wanted to tour since he could not find a bass player, but I don't think he really looked. The rest (as they say) is history.” (27)

Eric Neves got involved with Art and Colorfinger while the recording session was in progress.  Eric recalls, “I had been heavily involved with the Alt country scene that was going on at the time in San Francisco. I was following around this band called Sliver Threads, trying to get my friend John in the band as the drummer, and I was interested in recording them for a record at the time, this guy Art shows up and starts talking to me about working with Sliver Threads because I was doing sound for them and by that time my friend was the drummer...to make a long story short he was doing ‘Lazy Loud and Liquor'd Up’ and wanted them on the compilation.  During the Lazy sessions is when I approached him. At the recording sessions for Lazy and Deep In The Heart, he was doing both CDs at the same time, so during each band break he would record a little of his stuff. I remember he was doing ‘Eleanor Young’, and the pedal steel guy was doing the track, so I put on the headphones to listen. I liked it, when he took a break outside, I remember it exactly, he was sitting up on the stairs and I approached him and said something like "If you ever needed a drummer for the stuff let me know I would be glad to play for you live or recording". That was the start of it; I wasn't hired on the spot. He came out to see me a couple of times. Then I went to Europe on tour and came back and we struck up a friendship and slowly we formed as a band.” (28)

The album was done in less than a month. Buz Rico recalls, “I think it [recording session] was over 2 weekends. Maybe 3 or 4 days for me. Art and Karl did some more work later. It was fun. [It was] nice to be in a small, but pro studio. [It was] pretty standard stuff.” (27)

‘Deep In The Heart Of The Beast In The Sun’ is an autobiographical account of Art Alexakis’ life. “It's about California. Growing up in California, [in] which I grew up in LA. I grew up in some of my adulthood here, and I'm still growing up in San Francisco. There are songs that come from both places." (31)

‘13 Years’ is the story about his brother’s voice saving him from committing suicide. ‘Kill the Sun’ is a song about fighting his addiction with drugs.

‘Eleanor Young’, a grim pedal steel lament about Art’s mother. When asked about his mother Art responded said, "Tough little hillbilly woman. She went though a lot of shit. And she was mistreated in life. Through it all raised us kids. Put a lot of fears and weirdness in us, but I think brought me up with a real toughness." (2) "I've written a lot of music about my mom. There was a song called Eleanor Young, in a band called Colorfinger, that's one of the best songs I've ever wrote." (48)
‘Culver Palms’ is a somber acoustic guitar ballad written about his upbringing courtesy of a single mom and three siblings. (32) ‘Culver Palms’ was later re-recorded by Everclear and re-titled ‘Why I Don’t Believe In God.’

‘Anita Sonic Love’ is a love song written about Art’s first wife Anita. ‘The Color Pit’ is also another biographical account of Art’s struggle with drugs.

About the song ‘Kill Jerry Garcia’ (the music was co-written with Buz Rico), Alexakis said, “‘Kill Jerry Garcia’ means myth-wise, just what the song title implies, summarizing a new rock generation's attitude in the line, "I wanna punch Marty Balin in his eye." (32)

Even though the album was released on Art’s independent label, Shindig Records. Art sent the album out to former Capitol Records president Gary Gersh, who was an A&R man at Geffen Records at the time. "He sent me a letter saying I think this stuff sounds kind of dated but I think your voice is cool and I think you write really great songs. Please keep sending me new stuff. He wrote by hand, 'Gary.' I sent it to him 'cause he was the guy who had signed Sonic Youth, which I thought was pretty cool." (2)

---

Recording: 09/XX/91 - 10/XX/91
Dancing Dog Studios - Emeryville, CA
Recorded by: Damien Rasmussen, A.P. Alexakis

Band Members: Arthur Alexakis (guitar, vocals), Karl Maruyama (guitar, vocals), Buz Rico (bass), Eric Neves (drums).

Recorded:
[O] Heartspark Dollarsign
[O] The Twistinside
[O] I Fall to Pieces
[O] Rocky Mountain High
[O] George Bush Part 2: Mr. Greenjeans Evil Twin
[O] Big Black Boots

Sources:

Source	Quality	Complete	Runtime	Lowest Gen	Tracks Featured	Notes
SBD #1	10.0	Yes	0:15:48	Official Cassette (Colorfinger – Promotional Demonstration EP)	• Heartspark Dollarsign • The Twistinside • I Fall To Pieces • Rocky Mountain High • George Bush Part 2: Mr. Greenjeans Evil Twin • Big Black Boots	Released on Shindig Records

Notes: This was the last recording session that featured Buz Rico on bass. He left earlier in the year.  “There was no animosity, it just was not what I wanted to do anymore and it wasn't going anywhere. I showed the new bass player some of the chops and that was it for me. I don't know anything after that.” (27)  Buz actually came back to play for this recording session because Andy was not up to speed in time for the recordings.  (63)

Andy Marauder was the newest member of Colorfinger.  He joined the band during the summer of 91, after answering an advertisement put out in the S.F. Weekly. (31)
 ‘The Twistinside’ also made its debut in this studio. Alexakis said of the song. “It’s about growing up in the city and not dealing with it too well.” (31)

This session features two interesting covers, ‘Rocky Mountain High’ originally by John Denver, and ‘I Fall To Pieces’ by Patsy Cline.

"I love John Denver," Alexakis said. "I mean, I grew up with it. It's one of those closet things that a lot of people will tease you about if they go through your record collection, but when I was a kid, John Denver was very cool to me. I liked his melodies, and he wrote good songs." "Before Everclear, this band Colorfinger recorded a version of 'Rocky Mountain High' that was pretty rockin' and pretty fun," Alexakis said. "It was a big encore for the band when we would play it and a big deal.” (25)

---

Recording: 11/XX/91
(Brilliant Studios - San Francisco, CA)

Band Members: Arthur Alexakis (guitar, vocals), Karl Maruyama (lead guitar, backing vocals), Andy Marauder (bass), Eric Neves (drums)

Recorded:
[U] Trust Fund
[U] Hateful
[U] Invisible

Sources:

Source	Quality	Complete	Runtime	Lowest Gen	Tracks Featured	Notes
SBD #1	10.0	Yes	0:06:14	REEL(M)-DAT(1)	• Trust Fund • Invisible • Hateful	Invisible was originally known as ‘Break The World’

Notes: The actual date of the session is still uncertain but it can be assumed that it was recorded around the time of the show at CMJ in New York on 11/2/91.
“This was actually before because SBK Records paid for the session and Art and I [Myke Destiny] were meeting with the president of SBK while in New York.” (29)

Eric Neves remembers differently, "Trust Fund, Hateful, and Break the World, was recorded with Andy the new bass player later on after we got back from the CMJ. We went into the studio for those three songs that would later show up on Everclear." (30)

This show was very important to the band as it was trying to sign onto a major label and was performing in front of several labels. Karl broke a few strings and the show ended up to be a huge disaster. (30)

‘Trust Fund’ is different from the rendition found on ‘World of Noise.’ It features slightly different lyrics and harmonies throughout the entire song.

---

Recording: XX/XX/92
(Illegitimate Studios - Fremont, CA)

Band Members: Karl Maruyama (guitar, vocals), Andy Marauder (bass, vocals), Eric Neves (drums, vocals, guitar).

Recorded:
[U] What In The World
[X] 2 others

Sources:

Source	Quality	Complete	Runtime	Lowest Gen	Tracks Featured	Notes
SBD #1	8.5	No	0:02:50	ANA(1)	• What In The World	Eric Neves Song

Notes: Art at this point in time, had been traveling back and forth from Portland to San Francisco to see the band. Due to distance and other tensions between the members, the band decided to break up.

This session features the rest of the members of Colorfinger without Art.

“Andy, Karl and I practiced and recorded a 3 song demo right after the break up. We all took a song and sang it, each of us backing on the tracks. Cool stuff because we had just gotten off the road, and we were tight. This was done at my home studio, Illegitimate.” (28)

‘What In The World?’ was written by Eric Neves. He sings, plays guitar, and drums on the song. Andy, Eric, and Karl each wrote a song to record. This session lasted about 3 days. (30)