CLEFT PALATE

While many of the 1980s New Brunswick-area bands looked to their 70s and early-80s heroes for inspiration, William Tucker was usually looking ahead. If the improvised and alarming output of his duo Cleft Palate (Christopher Chang was the voice) didn't seem like fun, you could just let it smash into you and enjoy the post-accident adrenaline flow. Their "Brain Squeeze" was a key inspiration for Martin Atkins to produce his first Invisible Records comp, What You Can't See Won't Hurt You. Writes Atkins of Tucker, "he was simply setting fire to the scene in New Jersey, his band Cleft Palate changed radically for each performance." Tucker spread his influence all over the place as well, lending production support to Leather Studded Diaphragm, Moby Dick, and 15, and inspired many others. Cleft Palate was but one Tucker project, preceded by Regressive Aid and Scornflakes (which also included Chang). After CP's demise Tucker moved to Chicago to take part in, and help shape, the fast-morphing world of Industrial and its offshoots. And to desert it as well: Tucker hated to repeat himself, and the scene got stale for him in a hurry (or as he once said, Industrial isn't dead, it just smells that way). His constant state of motion never caught up with him, but chronic and relentless pain did, and he killed himself in 1999.

Given Tucker's unique approach to music, I'd be surprised if he promoted any of his New Brunswick shows. This flyer was for a bill with the False Virgins, an appropriate pairing for a night of chaos.

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