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Dead Milkmen

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The Dead Milkmen is an American satirical punk rock band formed in 1983. Their original lineup consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Rodney Linderman ("Rodney Anonymous"), guitarist and vocalist Joe Genaro ("Joe Jack Talcum"), bassist Dave Schulthise ("Dave Blood") and drummer Dean Sabatino ("Dean Clean").

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The Dead Milkmen are a punk band hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States that formed in 1983. The band have released ten studio albums since their debut in 1985, and are most known for their sardonic parodies of punk rock culture, and their 1988 breakthrough single “Punk Rock Girl”.

The satirical punk band began life as the home recording project of singer and guitarist Joe Genaro, and a friend of his from school called Garth. The pair came up with a fictional punk band called The Dead Milkmen, and began writing and recording cassette tapes of songs that were said to be written by this conceptual rock band. The project never really left Genaro’s bedroom but the duo wrote and recorded constantly until they reached college age, giving the budding guitarist an abundance of experience in writing tongue in cheek lyrics and jangly, three chord punk rock. However while Genaro left home to attend Philadelphia’s Temple University, Garth joined the United States Air Force. For the time being, The Dead Milkmen were, for lack of a better word, dead.

However, as many young musicians will tell you, there’s nowhere quite like university to find other young musicians, and through mutual friends Genaro met the future rhythm section of the band. Genaro started rehearsing with Dave Schulthise on the bass guitar and Dean Sabatino on the drums in 1981, and it took the trio a while to commit to it. They couldn’t get the band’s singer Rodney Linderman to commit to fronting the band until mere weeks before their first show in 1983, and after that the band immediately started making up for lost time. They played live all over the Philadelphia punk scene, were soon touring nationally and by 1985 they had signed to Restless Records, where they released their first album “Big Lizard In My Backyard”, the same year.

Since then the band have become one of the most beloved cult acts in punk rock, and for a genre that’s basically made up of them, that’s saying a lot. The group saw an influx of attention in 1987 when Jim Walewander, a Major League Baseball player, started talking the band up as his favourite band. The group followed this up with 1988’s “Beezlebubba” and its lead single “Punk Rock Girl”, one of the most deathless hits in American punk rock. Hilariously enough, the band secured a record deal that wasn’t just with a major label; it was with Hollywood Records, a label owned by the Walt Disney Company. Any crossover appeal that the label thought the band might have went to waste and they were soon dropped from it.

Not so hilariously, the band broke up in 1994 due to their frustration with music industry machinations and Dave Schulthise’s tendinitis, an affliction that made performing unbearably painful for him. Tragically, he committed suicide a decade after the band originally split in 2004, just as reunion talks were emerging. The rest of the group reconvened for a couple of benefit concerts in his memory and got back together full time in 2008, releasing two of their most acclaimed records 2008’s “The King In Yellow”, and 2014’s “Pretty Music For Pretty People”. Clearly The Dead Milkmen are a band that are far more vital and important than their parody-punk exterior suggests, look a little deeper and you’ll find a band truly worth following. Highly recommended.

Live reviews

The Dead Milkmen put on a kind of concert that is full of energy and downright fun. They bring the exhilaration to their music by playing in a fast paced, rambunctious way, but their lighthearted antics and carefree approach to performance makes the audience have a good time. Although The Dead Milkmen were disbanded for quite some time, they recently regrouped in 2008 to the glee of their fans and have been going strong ever since their reformation. Their music at times is sloppy, but this is just part of their style and is a part of their music that goes against formulaic conventions and makes their songs interesting. In songs like “Beach Song” they start off the music in a very melodic and catchy format, but later in the song they come in with obnoxious yelling and sporadic guitar rhythms and sing about how they have no desire to spend their summer like everyone else. Their lyrics are often ridiculous and hysterical, perfectly embracing the punk style of teenage angst and reveling in disobedience and strong-will.

The Dead Milkmen still perform with the childish frivolity that makes them so loveable and fresh. Lead singer, Rodney Linderman, runs around stage yelling his punk rock songs into the microphone and inciting all of his fans to jump into the fun. During live performances they are likely to play songs encompassing most of their albums including their hit song, “Punk Rock Girl”. They will also probably be playing songs from their latest album release, “The King in Yellow”.

The Dead Milkmen’s blend of punk and pop music mixed in with a hint of a country vibe makes their sound unique and engaging. Their fun attitude and strong passion to create energetic music makes their show a must see.

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Interview: The Dead Milkmen’s Satire Is Sharper Than Ever

• January 22, 2015
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Interview with Rodney Linderman (vocals, Keyboard), Dean Sabatino (drums), Dandrew Stevens (bass) and Joe Genaro (guitar) | By John B. Moore

After taking more than a decade and a half off, Philadelphia’s greatest punk band, The Dead Milkmen, surprised fans in 2011 with a new album. Many assumed it was the band’s swan song – including some in the group – but The Dead Milkmen are back with an even better follow up, Pretty Music for Pretty People .

After more than 30 years of making records, the band’s satire is sharper than it’s ever been and it’s playing a little less sloppy.

After so much time off, a lot of people were thrilled when you finally released The King in Yellow in 2011. I think many assumed that was the last album we were going to get. When did you decide to go back into the studio to record another full record?

Rodney Linderman : In my case it was a combination of a growing dissatisfaction with The King in Yellow and my deeply flawed personality. Don’t get me wrong; I love that album and think it’s filled with many great ideas. It’s just that, to me, many of those ideas seem kind of unfulfilled. I listen to it now and I think “We should’ve chopped a verse here or added a bridge or chorus (our in-joke with Ego Likeness: “We gave that song what it needed…a chorus!”). I think we were just so happy to be making an album together that we didn’t want to say anything that might endanger it. Songs are like children; telling someone that their song could use a double-chorus at the end is tantamount to telling someone that their kid could use a nose-job.

So I kind of wanted a do-over on The King in Yellow . Also, I was beginning to get an idea for the songs that I might contribute to a new album should tell a cohesive story. I got this idea while watching Project Runway . The collections on that show have to be cohesive. I wanted to hire Tim Gunn to produce the album and call it “Make it work!”

Also, I find it harder to not write songs than to write them.

Dean Sabatino : I don’t think any of us wanted to just play the old songs over and over again and then tour as an “oldies act.” We have all kept up our musical activities over the years in one form or another so it seemed natural for us to begin writing new material.

Dandrew Stevens: Someone had asked us if we were interested in putting out a bunch of singles on his label and we all liked the idea. Then we sent him some demos of songs we were working on and then that didn’t happen. But, we still liked the songs so we thought we would just borrow that idea .

How does writing and recording nowadays compare to when you guys were first starting out? Have you changed your approach to writing over the years?

Rodney: Thank Aqua-Buddha for DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations, for those of you with non-imaginary friends, sex lives, and no past history of playing Dungeons & Dragons). DAWs enable us to sketch out songs and then send to rough versions to each other for review. We can also send each other the stems (separate tracks, for those of you who actually had dates to the prom) so the other guys could replace my terrible parts with their better ones. DAWs have made it much, much easier for me to ask the other guys for help. I would just send out most of a song via email with the subject line of “Songwriting Help Needed”. For example, I got stuck while writing “Dark Clouds Gather Over Middlemarch,” so Dean sent a guitar part that saved it.

A word about “Church.” Many, many thanks and praise to my friend ZooG von Rock from Angelspit for teaching me about “Church”. Once-a-week, I devote 3 – 4 hours to songwriting. That’s “Church.” No social media allowed during Church. Just brew some tea, light some candles, write some songs. If friends try to interrupt you, just say “Sorry Jawn, I’m in Church.”

Dean: I agree with Rodney that it’s much easier to collaborate now using home studios and sites like Dropbox to exchange working files. We have a directory on there that we load up song ideas like firewood – ready to burn through. Even after this new record comes out in October, we’ll probably spend the winter writing even more new tunes for next year.

Dandrew: I didn’t originally write with these guys, but now that I have been it’s been pretty cool. Rodney does a LOT with VST’s and all that stuff, Dean has a nice recording area. I know Joe does, too, so we just kind of pass demos to each other through e-mail, usually. I have written music with other people before, but never in this way and I think it’s a really convenient tool for instant collaborating.

Leading up to this full length, you put out a few 7 Inches. Is that something you guys will do again in the future?

Rodney: I hope not. I’m not a fan of vinyl. Maybe that’s because I drink too much to properly operate a record player…or a butter churn. And maybe this is just me, but did you ever notice that people who are really into vinyl seldom know anything about aggressive music? Seriously, ask someone who’s really excited about owning Coldplay on vinyl what they think of the new Prude album and you’ll probably get the same look you would if you asked Jim Bob Duggar to operate an electron microscope.

Dean: I think the singles were a fun project, but I think we’ll return to full-length releases at least for the foreseeable future.

Dandrew: I’d pretty much record on any format with these guys.

Did you know all along those would all make it onto the bigger record?

Rodney: I always saw the songs as part of a larger work. Again, in my head they tell a story. There was talk about just doing the singles and then starting the CD from scratch, but I was violently (seriously, violently) opposed to that.

Dean: I see them all hanging together pretty well on the full length LP. There is some dark subject matter covered.

Dandrew: I think so.

Joe Genaro : Yeah. The idea from the start of the project was to eventually release them as a package, on an album.

When you guys reunited for those shows in Philly and Fun Fun Fest, did you know that the band was getting back together or did you look at it as a one-off reunion?

Rodney: I was so certain that that would be our last show that I tossed my beloved DX-11 synth into the audience. When I got home, my wife greeted me with “You dumb fuck, you might as well have thrown money.”

Dean: I don’t remember talking about keeping it going until after the shows. We didn’t want to jinx it maybe. We had fun playing the Philly warmups and then Austin –  and then meeting afterwards  it seemed like something we’d want to cautiously keep doing as long as it was still fun.

Dandrew: Rodney did, indeed, pass his keyboard out to the audience, had it sent back to him, and yet again passed it out to the audience, so I figured that might have been the end. But then when we were at Joe’s solo show at Beerland later that night Rodney said, “I can’t wait to record.” And I was like, “Yeah.”

Joe : I thought of Fun Fun Fun as a one-time thing. It was fun getting together to rehearse for it and play the warm-up shows. I’d no idea we’d be getting back together in the New Year until on the trip home from Texas when someone mentioned having a meeting on New Year’s Day to discuss the possibility of playing more shows.

Philly and South Jersey are experiencing a great punk scene right now. Are there any newer bands you are listening to?

Rodney: I would have to strongly disagree. In fact, I’d have to disagree so strongly that I’m currently wearing a straight-jacket and typing this with my schlong. Philly is probably the most inhospitable city on the planet towards underground music. In the 30 years I’ve lived here, I’ve watched Philly move from being a city dominated by terrible Classic Rock to a city dominated by terrible Alt/Indie/Dad Rock. There’s nothing more depressing than being on your way to see an underground band that you know might be drawing 50 people, and having to walk past an a venue where hundreds of people are lined up to see someone sing in child’s voice (grow some fuckin’ pubes already) while staring at their shoes. Who the shit decided that Hootie and Blowfish were too loud and aggressive, so things needed to be toned down even more? It’s enough to make you piss on a fixie. This is because the press in Philly has absolutely no interest in promoting underground music, and it’s why many underground bands skip Philly and play Wilmington or Lancaster.

Look; people have a right to enjoy shitty Indie Rock, but I also think they have a right to know what else is going on in town.

I think I reached my breaking point on this about two years ago when I went to see the iVardensphere/ESA/Ad-Var-Sary/End the DJ show. In any other city, that show would’ve received at least some press, but not in Philly. I was lucky enough to hang out with Rebecca Coseboom from Stripmall Architecture & DarkDriveClinic at that show and she kept saying “I can’t believe this show wasn’t written up in any of the free weeklies.” My friend Jim and I had to explain to her that Philly, sadly, isn’t like other cities.

OK, onto a happier topic: bands I like. Along with  the bands mentioned above (except for Hootie), I also enjoy are (alphabetically) Aaimon, Alter der Ruine, Amanda Palmer, Ambassador21 (name-dropped on the new album), Angels on Acid, Ashbury Heights (Dark Clouds is a nod to ’em) , Assamblage 23 (Tom Sure is a genius), Be My Enemy, Beauty Queen Autopsy, Belladonnakillz, Belzebass, Caustic, Cease2xist (Where’s your God now?), Cocksure, Crudbump, Dead When I Found Her, Die Sektor, Distorted Memory, God Module, Hanzel Und Gretyl, IAMX (Chris Corner is a genius), Junksista (Who couldn’t love them), Krystal System (If you don’t own “Rage”, you should get it immediately), Live Not On Evil, Ludovicho Technique, MC Lars, Pretty Addicted, Rasputina, ROME (The ROME from, Lux. Jerome Reuter is one of the best lyricists alive), Sage Francis, Santa hates You, ShiSho, Stiff Valentine, Vomito Negro, and XP8.

Apologies to anyone who should’ve been included. I tend to get carried away with lists.

Dean: We all have differing musical tastes so I might balance Rodney’s comments (though he is right that the Industrial/Goth scene gets ignored here for some reason) by saying that I do think there are some good things happening with the punk/indie scene in and around the Philly area. There are some good venues and I think that R5 puts some good shows on (though sadly it sounds like the church basement is on the way out).

We’ve tried to have some of the local bands play shows with us including Bleeding Rainbow, The Psychic Teens, S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D, and one of my very favorite Philly bands (when they were still together) The Party Photographers. It’s great to see bands like the Menzingers get some recognition and growing in popularity. I got to see them open for Rise Against a while back and they were fantastic.

Dandrew: I don’t really see a scene from where I am, but I know there’s a lot of great music happening in Philly. I can’t speak for New Jersey, but Bunny Savage & the Shallots are a scene of their own. And yes, S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D. will mesmerize you! Dean & I recorded with Madalean Gauze recently. And I don’t know if The Tough Shits are still around, but they were/are great!

Aside from this new record, what else are you and the others working on?

Rodney: We’re working on a few things, but they’re secret. Shhhh!

Dean: You’ll hear more from us later this year and into the spring…

I would also like to mention that I’m also playing drums on an album coming out this fall called Warm Seclusion Structure by a band called I Think Like Midnight. It’s for lovers of the lost art of the rock instrumental.

Dandrew: I’ve been working on a collaboration with the amazing MC Breath recently. Working on strange solo stuff. I’ll pretty much play music with anyone that wants to, and is at least relatively passionate about it.

Pick up  Pretty Music for Pretty People  here.

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The Dead Milkmen: A Journey Through Punk Rock History

The Hilarious Tunes and Fierce Songs of The Dead Milkmen

The Dead Milkmen are known for their influential and satirical approach to punk rock music. Formed in the 1980s, the band gained recognition for their humorous and often irreverent lyrics, and their contributions to the punk and alternative music scenes. Their album Beelzebubba and tracks like “Punk Rock Girl” are among their most renowned works.

Formation of the Band: Anarchy in the Making

The story of The Dead Milkmen begins when a group of misfits from Philadelphia came together to create something truly extraordinary back in 1983. Comprised of Rodney Linderman (“Rodney Anonymous”), Joe Genaro (“Joe Jack Talcum”), Dave Schulthise (“Dave Blood”), and Dean Sabatino (“Dean Clean”), they were fueled by their love for punk rock and a shared disdain for conformity. Their rebellious spirit and energetic performances quickly attracted a loyal following.

Release of Their First Album: Breaking the Sound Barrier

In 1985, The Dead Milkmen unleashed their debut album, Big Lizard in My Backyard , upon the world. This iconic release exploded with raw energy, witty lyrics, and a tongue-in-cheek attitude that challenged the status quo of punk rock. Fans and critics alike were captivated by their unique blend of humor and social commentary.

Highlighted Songs: Anthems of Rebellion

Let’s dive into the infectious sound and lyrical brilliance of some of The Dead Milkmen ‘s most iconic songs. “Punk Rock Girl,” a catchy anthem that celebrates the rebellious spirit of punk, resonates with its infectious melodies. “Bitchin’ Camaro” takes us on a wild ride with its humorous narrative and unforgettable hooks. “Stuart” and “Big Lizard” unleash their distinctive blend of satire and social commentary, providing a punk rock soundtrack for the disenchanted.

Notable Performances and Tours: Chaos on Stage

The Dead Milkmen were notorious for their electrifying live performances. From cramped basement shows to rowdy clubs, they tore up the stage with relentless energy. Their bizarre antics, irreverent banter, and infectious tunes captivated audiences, leaving them craving more. Each show was a punk rock spectacle that united fans in a frenzy of rebellion and liberation. Hit play on the video below to watch them live at The Patio circa 1985.

Role in Popular Culture: Punk Rock Icons

Beyond their musical contributions, The Dead Milkmen infiltrated popular culture with their irreverent and distinctive presence. Their songs and references found their way into movies, TV shows, and other media, solidifying their status as punk rock icons. Their cult following continues to grow, fueled by their unrelenting authenticity and their ability to capture the essence of punk rebellion.

Legacy and Influence on Other Bands: Punk Rock’s Torchbearers

The Dead Milkmen ‘s legacy extends far beyond their music. Their influence can be heard in the rebellious spirit of subsequent punk rock bands and musicians. They embody the essence of punk rock’s unapologetic attitude and continue to inspire new generations of artists to challenge the norm and embrace their individuality.

As we conclude our journey through punk rock history with The Dead Milkmen , their enduring legacy in the genre is undeniable. Their rebellious energy, infectious tunes, and thought-provoking lyrics continue to captivate and inspire.

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The Dead Milkmen

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An Interview With The Dead Milkmen

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You are either a long term fan or… what do you mean “Who are The Dead Milkmen?” Then allow us to introduce you. Starting in the late 70s, some guys from Philly were the satirical, silly, slightly pissed band playing in a raging punk and grindcore scene.

Throughout the years they gained a following, had lots of side projects, and lost a member. For a while they cooled off while new generations sprung up. A few years ago they reunited and started touring again and have since released two new albums. For their recent, completely sold out show at The Wonder Ballroom, Rodney (Anonymous), Guitarist and vocalist Joe (Jack Talcum) drummer Dean (Clean) and bassist Dan Stevens (replacing Dave Blood) went far beyond hits like “Punk Rock Girl” and “Bitchin Camaro” to play 23 songs and a 4 song sing-along encore complete with crowd-surfing cows. We are talking “Life Is Shit,” “Taco Land,” “Meaningless, Upbeat, Happy Song” and “If You Love Somebody Set Them On Fire.” And they did it with pretty fucking flawless execution, save for distorted vocals. But it’s a punk show! A classic show. Joe Talcum was playing with his eyes closed and a smile on his face. Dean hammered away, and the youngster in the band, Dan, was on point. The crowd and Rodney Anonymous ate each other up, and Rodney downed a couple of Red Bulls with a mischevious grin so he could pull off a DJ Set at the Lovecraft after. As Anonymous made his way with an entourage to a waiting car,  a guy in a cow-suit saluted him and yelled “MY WORK HERE IS DONE!” before coasting away on a bike.

What’s that? You want to know more? Pfft. Fine. Here’s an interview:

11: For all of the babies that haven’t heard you, tell us about The Dead Milkmen?

Dean: We have been playing shows since 2008, well two shows in 2004 in memoriam for our original bassist Dave. Then in 2008 we played the Fun Fun Fun festival in Texas. We decided it was Fun Fun Fun, and so we have been playing ever since.

We also wanted to write new material. Since then we have released two new albums and playing sporadically. This is actually the longest stretch of touring in a while.

11:  So you guys formed in the late 1970’s?

Dean: I was the last member to join in 1983. We played for a year or two and recorded the first album which was the Big Lizard album. We toured pretty solidly for about ten years.

11: Were you playing a different style among other hardcore bands?

 Dean: It was much cleaner sounding. We played on the same bill as those kinds of bands, but we didn’t really sound like them. I guess it is kind of unusual how we got lumped into that group.

Dean to Dan: do you remember who was on the bill when you met us? We played a show in Northeast Philly.

Dan: Well I seen you at The Troc [The Trocadero], and there was a singer in the other band, that just insulted the entire audience for coming to see The Dead Milkmen. Just trying to get everyone riled up. I also seen you at Touch Me Zoo show, in the nineties, at a YMCA. Touch Me Zoo is another one of Joe’s other bands.

11: So why do you call yourselves The Dead Milkmen, anyway? [Joe walks in]

Dean: Hahaha, Jooooe is to blame for that.

Joe: The name?

Dean: What story do you want to tell today? Joe had the concept for a band, before the actual band existed. We had this board game.

Joe: It was called Billboard Top 200. I was obsessed with charts and stuff. There was a game where you tried to put songs off the charts. It involved charts and cards. The cards represented stuff that happened to fictional bands, and there was monopoly money. I came up with the Jack Talcum character, and you could actually make up song titles. Way too much detail. But then we actually started writing songs.

Dan: Is there any truth to that Song of Solomon story? Rodney tells that all the time.

Joe: There is absolutely no truth to that story.

Dean: Tony Morrison wrote a book called The Song Of Solomon, and there is a character in the book called “Milkmen Dead.” But it’s a total coincidence.

Joe: And I was in the Wings Fun Club, and they sent out a newsletter four times a year–that is Paul McCartney’s Wings–and I was making fun of the Fun Club with the Jack Talcum Fan Club Newsletter. If you look at the early ones, they are online now, it sort of has the story of how this character merged in with this band called The Dead Milkmen.

Dean: So the band existed on paper before a live band actually existed.

Joe: To make the newsletter more interesting, I made tapes to go along with them. My neighbor Garth, my brothers and sister, a church youth director. Strange but we made this tape called The Dead Milkmen-So Long Seventies . The very last part of the tape was recorded on New Year’s Eve 1979. I was into punk music, and the idea, a funny concept, was that this was a punk-folk band. So Garth was passing this tape around at school, and Rodney heard it.

11: This Garth guy sounds interesting. How old were you guys?

Joe: 15 and 16. Rodney wanted to be on the next tape. So that’s how he came in.

11: So you say it’s all about having fun. How seriously do you take yourselves as a band?

Dan: We practice for two hours, two nights a week, weeks before we have a show. We play from beginning to end. That’s pretty serious. We all get along too, so we have fun.

Dean: But we all enjoy it. When we aren’t playing we also like to write and it’s fun to go in and learn new songs. When we are done with this bout of shows we will probably start in on that again if everyone is into it.

11: What d o you think of new punk? Do you think punk is dead?

Dean: I don’t know, there are so many bands now, and people have access to so many bands. With the internet, it’s not like when we started with college radio or underground radio or one show a week. We would all listen to what the DJ’s had access to, from England or Southern California. But now anyone can go and Google any band name that they hear and have instant gratification. I think there is still plenty of good quote-un-quote punk out there.

Dan: I think punk was a natural progression from The Kinks or The Sonics. And then it was actually named punk, and for me, I was born in 1978, and it seemed new and rebellious, experimental. Back then the punk bands don’t all sound the same, but I feel like now it seems they all sound the same. It’s like a cartoon or a parody of  the original movement. Now the old punk bands are touring, but aren’t necessarily writing new material.

11: Are you listening to or following any new music?

Dean: We think our opening band Lié is amazing.

11: Any collaborations?

Joe: The Shaking Through session was a collaboration with a band called Hot Breakfast. A band from Delaware. Rodney had the idea for the song, “Prisoner’s Cinema,” it’s weird he grafted what he calls a folk song, but it reprises a couple of times throughout.

Dan: He said he wanted folk, industrial, and trip-hop? So we blended it all, then he had this idea for the folk melody, so he invited his friend Jill and Matt. Our friends from Hot Breakfast. Jill did like 6 or 8 vocal harmonies. It was a lot.

We are open to all kinds of ideas. We all have varied musical tastes. We have had a lot of different projects. All kinds of influences and outside influences.

11: You guys have gone through some times, you have lost a band member. How has that influenced your music?

Dan: A lot of people say The King In Yellow has a lot of themes of death. But I dont think it was intentional at all.

YUVEES at The Lollipop Shop

11: Do you think as a band, you were processing some things?

Joe: I thought that album was more inspired by various books that Rodney read. he was reading about thirteenth century, medieval times, when everyone was dying anyway.

11: What about the new album, Pretty Music For Pretty People?  It seems fluffy and jingly.

Dean: It’s pretty dark, too. The song is upbeat, like “Anthropology Days” content is about the darkest of dark histories that people probably don’t know about, but Rodney does. What did Rodney say the next theme for the next album will be? Somehow in his mind he connects the songs, we don’t necessarily understand all of it, but he does.

11: So Rodney has a lot of the creative drive with the songwriting?

Dean: We all do collaborate on the songs, though, which I think is really cool.

Joe: I do some of the songwriting, but it’s more like Rodney pointing me in a direction, like  “why don’t you write a song about this,” or “I bet you can’t write a song about that.” Like he told me a story about something he read about how people used to entomb dead bodies with electrical plating so they would become statues. So thats where the song “Sanitary Times” comes from.

11: And with that, would you ever play a concert in a cemetery, again?

Dean: Yeah I think we will probably do that again, that was a lot of  fun. But we werent sure if it was going to happen. It was a lot of stress to pull it off.

Dan: And it was a beautiful cemetery.

11: How bitchin’ is that Camaro?

Dean: I don’t think I have actually ever been in a Camaro.

11: My friend Larry wants to know if you want to live in his basement, for free, forever?

Dean: How big is it?

Joe: Does it have plumbing?

Dan: Can I bring my kids? »

– interview by Brandy Crowe

More photos of The Dead Milkmen’s Wonder Ballroom set by Michael Reiersgaard below:

Photo Gallery – The Dead Milkmen at The Wonder Ballroom

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Quaker City Quiet Pills

By the dead milkmen.

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The Dead Milkmen Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Dead Milkmen make a triumphant return with their new single, a spirited cover of Heaven 17’s classic anti-fascism anthem “(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang". With righteous indignation and a thumping four-on-the-floor beat, the recording marks the legendary satirical punk band’s first new release since 2017’s Welcome to the End of the World EP. ...   more

• Jun 8 Fairplex Pomona, CA

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Based in Lafayette, Indiana

The Dead Milkmen's 'Stuart': A legendary West Lafayette trailer park, punk rock story

Finding frescas: how a trailer park punk rock promoter became part of dead milkmen lore on one infamous, west lafayette fourth of july. now he’s building psychedelic chemical compounds in canada.

Thanks to MatchBOX Coworking Studio for sponsoring today’s edition. MatchBOX is hosting the Sixth & South Fundraising Block Party on Saturday, June 25. Attendees will enjoy a performance by Ebony & the Ruckus, food by Revolution BBQ, bottomless beer and wine, a live silent auction and more. Plus, each ticket purchase supports over 150 growing local companies. Get yours by clicking the links below:

Programming note: I’m turning today’s edition over to Tim Brouk, an old Lafayette music scene reporting pal, for a bit of Greater Lafayette music scene history and a story I’ve heard told only in bits and pieces through the years. Meet Stewart … or, “Stuart” … immortalized in song after a Fourth of July trailer park show in the ‘80s in West Lafayette.

The Dead Milkmen’s ‘Stuart:’ ‘I’ve gotten more mileage out of that song, man’

By tim brouk / for based in lafayette.

“Ya know what, Stuart? I like you. You’re not like the other people here in the trailer park.”

The opening ramble to The Dead Milkmen’s 1988 track, “Stuart,” was inspired by an actual man named Stewart — spelling changed to sort of protect his identity — in an actual West Lafayette trailer park.

The bizarre song among other bizarre songs on the album “Beelzebubba” stands out as one of the scrappy west Philadelphia punk band’s more memorable tunes — after “Punk Rock Girl” and “Bitchin’ Camaro.”

But let’s rewind to July 4, 1985, one of the most infamous dates in Greater Lafayette rock ‘n’ roll history.

Old Purdue University pals Stewart Frescas and Dave Schulthise had kept in touch since their running around days, which included attending Dow Jones and the Industrials and other punk rock shows around West Lafayette in the early ‘80s, primarily at the Family Inn (long gone at the site of the Faith West Community Center) on Northwestern Avenue. Now going by the name Dave Blood, Schulthise called Frescas for a gig for the first national tour with his then new band, The Dead Milkmen.

“I lived in a pink 1957 trailer,” said Frescas from his home in Calgary, Alberta, in Canada.

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Mamoru oshii to oversee 4k remastering of 1985 animation ‘angel’s egg’ as gebeka int’l lines up cannes sales launch, madonna makes history with 1.6m crowd in rio on final night of tour.

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Madonna has brought her tour to a close with a free concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro , in front of a reported 1.6million fans.

It was the final night of her retrospective tour, marking her four decades in pop, which she has been taking around the world since last October.

AP News reported that she began the show telling the crowd : “Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world. This place is magic.”

2 million people singing madonna’ ‘like a virgin’ in rio pic.twitter.com/tvNjxfLmCY — 2000s (@PopCulture2000s) May 5, 2024

Rio’s tourism agency said that 1.6million people attended the concert on the famous city beach, where huge events have taken place in the past. The Rolling Stones performed there to 1.2 million fans in 2006, and Rod Stewart gave the biggest free rock concert in history there in 1994, drawing 4million people (although more than a few may have been there for the annual New Year’s Eve fireworks extravaganza). Madonna’s previous largest live concert crowd was 130,000 fans in Paris in 1987.

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