Joyful Noyz – Run

Joyful Noyz
Run
1992 Tangent Records
Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Todd Underwood – Guitar, vocals
Paul Smith – Bass, vocals
Tommy Corbin – Drums, vocals

Side One:

1. Run
2. Here to Stay
3. It’s Yours
4. To Be with You
5. 10th Century Reasoning

Side Two:

1. Greater Is He
2. UR
3. Waiting to Talk to You
4. Only One
5. Love That Goes On

The first time I saw this tape, I thought it was a pop album due to the band name and colorful clothes. There is also a rap group with the same name from about the same time. But a closer look at the band photo it seems they might be taking more of an Enuff Z’Nuff or Living Colour style approach. The transfer I was sent is ROUGH and hard to hear (if anyone can get a clearer rip from a better tape, please let me know), but I do hear a kind of funky soulful take on hard rock that would be a good mix of those two bands with a hint of King’s X thrown in. Also reminds me slightly of Lovewar at times. So probably a bit less glam rock than Enuff Z.Nuff, and a bit less eclectic than Living Colour. There is variety to the sound though – they dip into rock and a couple of ballads as well.

Christian – Demo ‘92

Christian
Demo ‘92
1992 (no label)
Chicago, Illinois, USA

1. For Those of Rejection
2. Regions of the Damned
3. Battle Rages On / Worthy
4. The Dive

As far as I can tell, this is the only band that I know of that just went by “Christian.” This is also a very non-thrash sounding band name for a thrash band. At first I thought the drums were programmed, but as it goes along that is obviously not the case. The recording quality is a bit rough, so that may be the cause of my mistake. This leans a bit to the technical side of the thrash, with kind of sung but gruff vocals (somewhere between Megadeth and Testament, with some death metal growl leanings here and there). According to The Cutting Edge, this was the band’s second demo, but I don’t have any information about the first demo or any follow-ups. Also don’t have any information on members of the band

Missing Information: Who played on this?

Image – Drivn’ All Night

Image
Drivn’ All Night
1992 (no label)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

1. In My Dreams
2. Drivn’ All Night
3. Fly Away
4. Tell Me Why

This release appeared on various streaming services as an unreleased demo. I had noted that the band’s previous demos – Heads or Tails from 1989, and In the Middle of Nowhere from 1988 – sounded like hair metal that leaned towards pop metal. This one seems to go even more pop by adding piano or keyboards to most songs, while still keeping a pop metal edge. The last song probably being the closest to hair metal. The singer reminds me of Brett Michaels at times. I can’t find any information about the band members for this demo, but they do have a history of changing members. So I don’t know if they changed members or not.

Missing Information: Who played on this?

Jigsaw Jungle – Demo

Jigsaw Jungle
Demo
1992 (no label)
Detroit, Michigan, USA

Side A:

1. Rain
2. Remember

Side B:

1. Cinderella
2. Back to the Bone

I was holding back on some of the Scene and Unseen Music Club YouTube videos in case some more information came to light, but I haven’t seen any new information on the few that I have left. So I will dive into those now. This one starts off with an early 90s heavy metal sound – a time period when heavy metal was trying to get away from hair metal trappings and try something different. This one leans into groove metal a it as well as gritty alternative rock. Kind of like Band Tango meets a serious Green Jelly. The last track does get more into traditional heavy metal. But that is all I know.

The Shroud (early Luxury) – Tinsel

The Shroud (early Luxury)
Tinsel
1992 (no label)
Tocca Falls, Georgia, USA

1. Honeymoon
2. I Don’t Hate Her Anymore
3. How Strange
4. Touch
5. Collier’s Fame

If you weren’t aware, all of the early Luxury demos are up on their BandCamp page, so I thought I would go through them and add them to the site. As far as I can tell, this is their first demo when they were known as The Shroud. It seems they changed that to just Shroud for 1993’s Candy, Darling?. If you can imagine Luxury’s sound from 1994 rewound a couple of years, that is what you have here. A bit faster and more youthful in places – you can see how much they matured by their major label debut. But don’t take that to mean it’s bad – you can still get their sense of crafting melodies and artful indie rock songs. “Touch” was re-recorded for Candy, Darling?, but it seems the rest of the songs are only on this tape (unless they were re-worked so much that I just can’t recognize them). The artwork above is what came with the BandCamp download – I wasn’t able to find a scan of the full tape artwork anywhere. Also of note is that “Honeymoon” and ” I Don’t Hate Her Anymore” were also included on the Nude at Last collection tape.

Teflon Brain – Deeply Symbolic

Teflon Brain
Deeply Symbolic
1992 Non-Stick Ministries
Manhattan, Kansas, USA

Ryan Unruh
Chad Mercer
Matt Jansen
Scott Mueller

1. Underwear of Joy
2. Waldorf Casserole
3. Final Void

Somewhere a long time ago, I found all the mp3s online for this band and their follow-up bands Smudge and Trip Sofa. A picture of the tape was recently shared online with some more details, so I decided to give the mp3s another spin. If you could guess from the name, the band was a bit on the goofy side. Kind of a Primus influence, but they did go in a different direction. But it’s still that funk rock/metal/spazz sound that was popular at the time. At least, in some circles. The first song starts off with an off-kilter scripture reading that transitions into an admonition to wear the underwear of joy. “Your underwear is on backwards!” Complete with chicken noises. Members of the band pointed out the band got better after this, but there is still a fun aspect to this tape that helps despite the DIY recording. “Waldorf Casserole” was two instrumentals that the band combined into one song because the guy recording them charged per song. The last song is a bit of an epic song that crosses more into a metal song, complete with an almost death metal breakdown.

Missing Information: Who played what?

White Stone – Love Looks Back

White Stone
Love Looks Back
1992 (no label)
Cedar Falls, Idaho, USA

Janelle Pini – Vocals (side one)
Adam Brinkmann – Piano and keyboard programming (side one)
Anna Brinkmann – Vocals (side two)
Matt Brinkmann – Drums (side one); Keyboards, drum programming, vocals (side two)
Jim Coates – Guitars; bass and background vocals (side one); vocals (side two)

Side One:

1. Runaway
2. Walk Down Member Lane
3. April Without Rain

Side Two:

1. Love Looks Back
2. Do What You Want Me To
3. 180°

This tape starts off with some very 80s AOR style keyboards – but starts layering in some much heavier guitars and darker parts on the first song. Then jumps right into two piano ballads. Then there are two rock ballads. Finally, the tape ends with another hard rock song. So overall it seems to balance out at rock, but you kind of wish they included more hard rock songs because then do that pretty well. There are male and female lead vocals throughout, but mostly female. Other than that, I don’t know much about this band.

Burning Bridges – Devil, This Means War

Burning Bridges
Devil, This Means War
1992 (no label)
Evansville, Indiana, USA

Kevin Barnett – Vocal, keyboard
JT – Guitar
Rock Williams – Bass
Steve Bennet – Drums

Side One:

1. Devil, This Means War

Side Two:

1. Battlefield

This short two song tape starts off with a metal song that doesn’t quite fit into an easy category, even though it is still commercial metal. The main riff is almost U2-influenced in how it is played, but the song it put together in a ealry-90s commercial metal fashion. The second song is a more galloping traditional metal song, but with some commercial metal leanings. The tape indicates that a full length was coming out later in 1992, and from what I can find on YouTube – it looks like it did.

Masada – ‘Til the End

Masada
‘Til the End
1992 (no label)
Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Ron Wilcoxen – Lead guitar, lead vocals
Larry Wilcoxen – Guitars, vocals
Shane Wilcoxen – Drums, percussion

Rev. Patrick Hillstrom – Bass
Tina Hillstrom – Additional harmonies on “Hold On”

Side One:

1. Hold On
2. Visions of Highways
3. There Is One

Side Two:

1. Tears I Cry
2. Your Only Way
3. ‘Til the End

There are a couple of bands named Masada, one from Nebraska and one from Ohio. This is the one from Nebraska. They look like a metal band, but the jangly acoustic nature of the first track seems to contradict that assessment. The second track even starts with an acoustic guitar, but soon the distortion kicks in. It’s a rocker that slows down occasionally, but it is still metal. They do start rocking out with a commercial metal / hard rock sound for the rest of the tape (well, with one more ballad, of course). It also seems that there are two versions of the cover for this – the one above and then a full color one on Discogs as well below.

LMX – No Turning Back

LMX
No Turning Back
1992 (no label)

1. Show Me My Heart
2. No Turning Back
3. Blinded
4. Feel the Rain
5. Touch of Your Hand
6. One Night

LMX stands for “Lewis Miles Expedition” in case you were wondering. I’m guessing Lewis Miles is the lead singer and guy in the center of the cover photo? Or it might be someone else – not much information online. Not sure what they are exploring either, other than faith maybe? The name seems to indicate progressive music, and there does seem to be a hint of that here and there. But the style is mostly pop-leaning rock. They do rock out a bit on songs like “Blinded,” so it’s not a CCM demo by any stretch. This might sound strange, but they kind of sit somewhere between Vector and Petra. I hope I am not making this sound bad – I kind of liked it. Nice bass guitar work on it as well.

Missing Information: Who played on this?