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Teen-Beat 128.

Vomit Launch

Not Even Pretty +

Stillness
Star Trekking
Dumpster Queen
Sweatbath
Swelling Admiration
Hallways
Beyond the Mirror
Turn Back
Up and Down
Knock Yourself

Malignant Humour
Relapsation
Slits
Every Pretty Girl
Blood On Me Eggrolls
Block of Wood
Heart of Darkness
Vertigo
Harm

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DESCRIPTION

A re-release of Vomit Launch's debut vinyl L.P. Not Even Pretty, plus a selection of songs from singles and compilations.

ORIGINAL TRACK SOURCES

Fishbutt
cassette

label: Rat Box
1985
recorded by John McKinley at home.

1. Stillness

Not Even Pretty
vinyl LP

label: Rat Box (Rat Box 001)
1987
recorded by Greg Freeman
    at Lowdown, San Francisco, California, USA.

2. Star Trekking

3. Dumpster Queen

4. Sweatbath

5. Swelling Admiration

6. Hallways

7. Beyond The Mirror

8. Turn Back

previously unreleased

9. Up And Down

Knock Yourself
split 7" vinyl 45 with Idiot (The)

label: Rat Box
1987
recorded by Greg Freeman
    at Garage D'Or, San Francisco, California, USA.

10. Knock Yourself

outtake from Exiled Sandwich

recorded by Greg Freeman
    at Lowdown, San Francisco, California, USA.

11. Malignant Humour

Relapsation
7" vinyl 45

label: Teen-Beat (Teen-Beat 29)
March 17, 1989
recorded by Mike Acre
    at California State Univ., Chico, California, USA.

12. Relapsation

13. Slits

14. Every Pretty Girl

outtake from Mr. Spench

recorded by John Baccigaluppi
    at Enharmonik, Sacramento, California, USA.

15. Blood On Me Eggrolls

Of
7" vinyl 45

label: Teen-Beat (Teen-Beat 52)
September 11, 1990
recorded by Jason Devore, Kevin Temple, Todd Donohoe
    at California State Univ., Chico, California, USA.

16. Block Of Wood

17. Heart Of Darkness

outtakes from Dogeared

recorded by John Baccigaluppi
    at Enharmonik, Sacramento, California, USA.

18. Vertigo

19. Harm

LINER NOTES

PLAYERS

Steve Bragg, drums, percussion

Lawrence Crane, bass guitar, guitar, vocals, piano

Patricia Rowland, vocals, guitar

Lindsey Thrasher, guitar, vocals, piano

GUEST PLAYERS

John McKinley, guitar, drum machine on 1

Doug Roberts (Stanky Poon), cornet, trombone, trumpet on 9, 10

Phil Smoot, trumpet on 11

PRODUCED BY

Greg Freeman

RECORDED BY

Greg Freeman,

on an Otari MX-5050 1/2" 8-track,
mixed to 1/4" 2-track
at Lowdown Studios, San Francisco, California, USA
September 12 - December 6, 1987

VINYL MASTERING BY

George Horn,

at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California, USA

MUSIC COMPOSITION

Vomit Launch

except
1 by McKinley, Thrasher, Williams, © 1985

10, words by Seymour Glass,
music by Bragg, Crane, Rowland, Thrasher © 1985

14 by Barbara Manning,
published by Meown Music © 1988

16 by Robert Scott/The Bats © 1987

17 by Pere Ubu

COMPILED BY

Mark Robinson

COVER ILLUSTRATION

Scud Mandrill

BAND PHOTOGRAPHY

?

DESIGN

Mark Robinson, Teen-Beat Graphica

ET CETERA

An outtake from the same session that did not make it onto the album was titled "Chewing Cloth."

REVIEW

"Teenbeat's always given a home to bands who didn't fit in anywhere else, and they've issued or reissued the entire catalogue of this perverse Chico, California, quartet, including this collection of their first EP, a handful of singles and more. Vomit Launch alternated dreamy-sounding jangle-pop and headlong punk during their 1985-1992 existence, and Patricia Rowland's trembling, gulping voice was their sour-and-sweet signature. They also loved to push people's buttons by doing things that were, as they put it, "intentionally lame" (Example A: their band name), and had an angry streak a yard wide. Caustic isn't even the word for the lyrics of "Knock Yourself" and "Slits," and the Barbara Manning cover "Every Pretty Girl" has blood dripping from its nails."
- Douglas Wolk, eMusic

RECORDING NOTES 1994

"Vomit Launch is a stupid band name," everyone said.
Take your pick as to why we chose it:
A. We knew it was stupid, but didn't care.
B. We knew it was stupid, but mistakenly thought it was "cool."
C. We knew it was stupid, but thought it was funny for awhile (seven years).
D. We weren't daring enough to use "Truckload of Fuckers."
E. All of the above.

We were poor (as in quality and monetary status) musicians in need of some fun, so we decided to start a band in 1985 as a joke and an excuse to drink beer. This C.D. compiles our first E.P., "Not Even Pretty," with some other out-of-print and long-lost-on-purpose tracks from later years. Enjoy the ride and please use the barf bag when you feel the urge.

"Stillness" is Lindsey and John, our first drummer (1985-86), on a home recording of a found poem written by someone under the age of 10. It appeared on Fishbutt, our first cassette (1985).

Tracks 2 - 8 are from Not Even Pretty, a self-released E.P. from 1987. "Star Trekking" is about an episode of that show.

"Dumpster Queen" is a a pretty ode to a friend (Larry plays guitar instead of bass, and Lindsey plays a couple of notes on piano).

"Sweatbath" refers to the sweltering heat of our old practice shack. "Swelling Admiration" was a minor college radio hit and probably our best intentionally lame song.

"Hallways" is a bad joke because we conned Lindsey into singing instead of Trish.

"Beyond the Mirror" is the least favorite song of more than two band members.

"Turn Back" is a song with more ptential than we could deliver live, captured perfectly in the studio (we think).

"Up and Down" is an outtake from Exiled Sandwich (1987) with Doug (Stanky Poon) and Phil (from the Whitefronts) on manic horns.

"Relapsation" and the next 2 tracks were released as a 7" (Teenbeat 29).

"Slits" is a Barbara Manning song we borrowed from a few years.

"Blood on Me Eggrolls" was an outtake from Mr. Spench (1990).

"Block of Wood" is a Bats song and we covered it on a 7" (Teenbeat 52) along with our version of "Heart of Darkness" by Pere Ubu.

"Vertigo" and "Harm" were outtakes from Dogeared.

Anyway, in November 1992 we decided to quit, for many reasons, and played our last gig in Chico, California on December 11, 1992. And we were done. Thanks to everyone who helped...

Love,
Vomit Launch

RECORDING NOTES 2008

I believe Mark Robinson at Teenbeat Records and I had been talking about possibly re-releasing the long out-of-print Not Even Pretty album before Vomit Launch broke up. When it became a posthumous release, we decided to gather up the Teenbeat singles and other tracks on a CD with the first album. I'm really glad we did, as probably not many people would have had access to this music otherwise. I think Lindsey wrote the funny liner notes and I wrote the boring stuff."

- Lawrence "Larry" Crane, Vomit Launch.

THANKS TO

Mark and Teenbeat,
Greg Freeman/Lowdown,
Rich,
John and Eric at Enharmonik/Mad Rover,
Adam Wakeling,
John McKinely,
Toni Smith,
Tim Smyth,
Seymour Glass,
Tom Tapp,
Doug Roberts,
Phil Smoot,
Barbara Manning,
Robert Scott,
Mike Acre,
Jason Devore,
Scud Mandrill,
Idiot (The),
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Walkabouts,
28th Day,
The Bats,
Pere Ubu,
The Whitefronts,
and about a million other bands,
pals and new friends we met along the way.
So long.

RELEASE DATE

January 3, 1994

FORMAT

compact disc

LENGTH

58 minutes, 1 second

19 tracks

CATALOGUE No.

Teen-Beat 128

DETAILS

1,100 pressed.

BOOKLET:
8-page booklet and tray card (black ink on white paper).

JEWEL CASE:
with standard black tray.

LABELS:
purple and olive green ink.

Printed and pressed by
Skybow, Nashville, Tennessee.

DISCOGRAPHY

SINGLES

Knock Yourself
Relapsation
Of
Boltcutters & Beer

ALBUMS

Live in Chico
Fishbutt
Not Even Pretty
Bone-Us
Exiled Sandwich
Fuckerbarf
Don't Say Nein
Mr. Spench
Dogeared
Not Even Pretty +

COMPILATIONS

Devil in the Woods #1
Devil in the Woods #2
At Dianne's Place
The Thing That Ate Floyd
Jesus Junkies Strung Out on Heaven
California's Got It #2
What Ears See: A Ten Band Compilation
Teen-Beat Fifty
Wakefield: Volume 1
Wakefield: Volume 4
Wakefield: The Teen-Beat Boxed Set
Live From the Afterworld

SOUNTRACKS

My Degeneration
The Wackness

ALSO

Teen-Beat's 20th Anniversary [Larry solo]

RELATED

Exiled [record store] Tape Op [magazine]

SONGS

All Fouled Up
Answering Machine
Bad Acid
Beyond The Mirror
Block Of Wood
Blood On Me Eggrolls
Bug Under A Magnifying Glass
Chewing Cloth
Clowns Are Whores
Curl Up and Dye
Dog Sauce
Don't Ask Questions
Donut Ass Me Butt
Dripping Walls
Drunk Autograph
Dumpster Queen
Every Map
Every Pretty Girl
Exit Lines
Flies
Go Your Own Way
Ha Ha Ha/Sex Bomb
Hallways
Harm
Harry Monk in the Boatrace
Heart Of Darkness
Hence the Box
Hospital Blunder
In Her Darkness
Kill the Bouncer
Killing the Weeds
Knock Yourself
Life Sucks
Lift
Looney Tune
Malignant Humour
The Man Whose Head Expanded
Medley
Oh, That One
Old Peculiar
The Only Way Is Down
Out Of The Way
Paint It Black
Paint It Jam
Pay Your Rent
Postcard
Pretty Paper
Proven Parts
Rat Box
Relapsation
Scraping Willows
She's Lost Control
Siamese Twins Visit Their Two-Headed Brother in the Hospital
Simon Says
Slits
Smile
Smokebreak
Spinach
Star Trekking
Stillness
Story of My Life
Sweatbath
Swelling Admiration
Swelling Admiration (Bloated Swollen Re-Mix)
Swirly Song
Switch
Take It Outside
Theme Song
Turn Back
Unsafe with Fewer Drinks
Up And Down
Useless
Vent
Vertigo
Virtual Oblivion
Walk Don't Walk
Wane
Weight Down
Weird Song
What Cross
You Killed My Love