Search - California Speedbag :: The Fire of Misery

The winding history of California Sppedbag begins with guitarist Gary Lupico, bassist Russell Sherman Jr., drummer Jeff Benik and guitarists Brian Cox and Dan Morris. Lupico and Sherman, along with Chris Yarmock, rode out the end of the '70's in the punk outfit Kneecappers, a noisy outgrowth of the thundering nextwave of Cleveland punk originally inspired by the Rocket From the Tombs/Pere Ubu axis. This criminally underdocumented unit was anthologized in 1997 with the LP "Urban Kill 1978-1980". In 1980, Kneecappers disintegrated along with everything else in the rustbelt capital. While Yarmock went on to the Easter Monkeys, ongoing recording projects with Lupico and Sherman continued resulting in a backlog of about 50 never released compositions. In true Spinal Tap fashion, Lupico, Sherman and Benik hooked up to form California Speedbag, a hardcore honky tonk outfit that predated the sniveling alt-country movement by many years. Hailed by many and purchased by few, the Speedbag garnered the reputation as one of Cleveland's more rollicking live acts . The band managed a few rare comp appearances, and is now fully realized with this set of 12 new recordings.