Cover photo of Ed Dobek taken by his brother Tom (used in a Joey Did gig poster)
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Last updated: November 28, 2017
An ExplanationThe Malibu Kens (originally called Joey Did & The Necrophiliacs) formed rather casually while we (Mike, Ed, Dennis, and I) were in high school. We never intended to be a proper musical group; we were just a bunch of guys that liked punk rock and who were looking for something fun to do after school. During the Joey Did era, I made an effort to record many of our practice sessions, and even a few gigs. We never had a proper P.A. system at our band practices to allow us to hear the vocals. At our first practice it occurred to me that we could use a cassette tape deck as a microphone pre-amp. Plugging the deck output into a stereo system, or a guitar amp, allowed us to then hear the vocals. By putting the deck into record mode, I was able to record our practices onto cassette tapes. Following each session, I would then listen to the tapes and make an archival copy of whatever I considered to be an amusing incident or a well played song. I managed to collect almost four hours of material, most of it during the first 12 months of our career. These tapes become known as "the basement tapes" since most of the material had been recorded in Ed's basement or my basement. In 2002, I revisited these tapes with the intention of converting them to CD before they deteriorated any further (as cassettes do after 20 years). The recording quality varied considerably from one track to another. Several tape decks and numerous borrowed microphones had been used to create the original recordings. We never used proper recording equipment such as compressors or equalizers; everything was recorded directly from microphone to stereo tape. Tape dropouts were rampant. I used various tools to clean up the sound as well as possible during the conversion to CD. I used the same titles for the CDs as was used on the original tapes. I had never made artwork for the tapes, but I managed to scrounge up a few embarrassing pictures of the band members from 1980/1981 to use as artwork for the CDs and released them under the name Joey Did & The Necrophiliacs. This disc covers the period from January 1980 to May 1980 and includes numerous "firsts" for Joey Did: the first sounds we ever made from room 266 1/2, the first band practice, the first song, the first gig, and the first demo tape. Along the way there are numerous spoofs and improvised performances. The disc begins with several recordings of improvised, experimental music played on a piano and various pieces of wood and metal in a storage room at our high school. Most of these pieces (I Wanna Rape The Queen, The Peasants Are Revolting, and The Tree) were only ever performed once. Eventually we moved to Ed's basement where we picked up real instruments (although we couldn't play them) and began to write proper songs. Highlights from this era include our initial attempts at Comic Relief and Faggot Killer. Despite writing proper songs, we never stopped improvising and continued to create gems such as I Am The Anti-Christ and X On My Forehead (both songs were captured on tape and never performed again). Following a successful audition after only one month of playing our instruments, we played our first gig at our high school where Time Warp and Anarchy In The UK were both preserved. Not satisfied with the outcome of that gig, we prepared a demo tape of all our original songs and an amusing version of Bodies. These recordings would lead to a successful bid to play a hall party with the Modern Minds and the Modernettes. The players on this disc were:
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