Haskels, The "S/T" LP
Splunge Communications Inc.
Hearing this artifact of the original Midwest first-wave punk era is akin to finding a treasure buried amongst shards of glass in the sands of time. Meticulously restored from the original, never-before-mixed master tapes, The Haskels lost studio album, recorded on one cold October day in 1979 at Milwaukee's soon-to-close Solar Studios, should set the record straight on perhaps the most important lost gem of the era birthed from the Midwest, US, or otherwise worldwide.
Milwaukee's Haskels were kings of the late 70's punk scene, centered at Zak's North Avenue nightclub, sharing the stage with bands like the Lubricants, Blackholes, Orbits, Plasticland and others that have found their way onto bootlegs and posthumous releases of their own.
Their sound was a combination melded from the roots/glam/Detroit-inspired, naive retro pop sound of godfather/scenester Presley Haskel and Richard LaValliere's surreal dream-based narrative genius compositions, fleshed out by Gerard LaValliere's precise guitar attack and Guy Hoffman's unorthodox but dance-inducing beats. The band's chops as well as their charisma carried the day, as they filled clubs and held court at the Haskel Hotel, their headquarters in the run-down Brady Street area of Milwaukee's lower East side.
