LORD JOHN

Lord John was without peer in their Central Jersey approximation of what the west coast called the Paisley Underground, a.k.a. neo-psychedelia — a very 80s phenomenon. A four-piece (Thomas Gibson, Ray Normandy, John Figler, Thomas Stanton; former member Mark Francione went on to join Hip Shy) from Freehold, NJ, Lord John had the good fortune to sign with Bomp! Records in the mid-80s, making them one of the relatively few area bands to record for a major indie. Their 1986 LP, Six Days Of Sound, produced by Crossfire Choir's Eddie Freeze, suggested a bright future. But like so many New Brunswick stories, it pretty much ended there. A second batch of songs went unreleased, and Bomp! subsequently deleted the debut from catalogue.

In retrospect, it's strange how few Jersey bands were making music like this. Tiny Lights was touched by psychedelia, but that was just one aspect of their music. The Grip Weeds more so, but they leaned too far towards the pop spectrum. Lord John embraced acid rock wholly, with a sense of rhythm that might have placed them squarely in the shoegazer camp had they started out in, say, 1990.

Although I classify the 1985 promotion on the left as a benefit flyer, the artwork more than suggests (screams, actually) that it was produced or commissioned by the headliners. The peace sign is therefore possibly not intended ironically. As to the event on the right, I remain puzzled: Door prizes, fine, but BYOB suggests standards were a bit relaxed back then.

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