When I first learned about a group this Amarillo artists that formed an experimental band in 1970, I am pretty sure I involuntarily wiggled my head in disbelief like an outtake from a Tom & Jerry cartoon. Upon learning that they were going to be playing a live show at Caliche Co. (2311 SW 7th Ave., Amarillo) on Friday, October 4th for their CD release party, I knew I had to see if one of the band members would join me on air to share some of the history of this surprising endeavor.
While something like Onions might not seem a likelly element of the late-20th century music scene of the Texas Panhandle, it's somehow not surprising if you take a breath, zoom out, and consider the singularly psychedelic landscape of the flatlands. And after my conversation with founding member and multi-instrumentalist Leinad Kralc, I realize that I should have Tom & Jerried at the idea that there weren't more outfits like Onions peppering the plains.
Music lovers of the High Plains, you are all are invited to this FREE SHOW at Caliche Co's outdoor space, so please bring chairs, blankets, cushions, beverages, friends and positive energy. Doors open at 8p, and Andrew Weathers of Full Spectrum Records will be on site (and hopefully performing). Plus, you can pick up a copy of the new album, Layers: 1975-2004.
To hear our ful interview, click the link at the top of this page — and check out the band's music below. Here's a recording of "EARL!! We become what we think about."
For further reading, here's an essay by Lienad Kralc on Onions: "Growing up in Texas, I liked a variety of music, including any electronic sounds. Back in 1967 one of my main influences was a musicians, artist, and electronic wiz…Robert Fuentes. A couple of years older than me, Robert was making recordings of electronic compositions using oscillators that he had built, as musical instruments. These recordings are lost forever. After getting a drum set for Christmas in 1969, Robert and I talked about the possibility of me drumming to his electronic music. However this was not ever to happen because Robert died in November 1970 under strange and tragic circumstances. In December 1970 I began to record experimental tapes using one of Robert’s oscillators.
A mutual friend of Robert’s named Greg Cain and my myself began to record tapes in a shed behind my mother’s house, using Robert’s oscillators and other devices. I spent a couple of years in Austin making tape loops, but when I returned to town Greg and I resumed recording. People would show up at all hours of the night to my shed where I had a stack of tapes waiting.
We were soon joined by pianist Lindall Cain and later Keith Montgomery. It’s Keith screaming the word “onions” over and over at one session that inspired us to use Onions as a band name. While Greg and I had not intended for Onions to be a tribute to Robert at first, that is the path we would soon take. Sadly, other members had never met Robert. Other people would play on sessions from time to time, including lead guitarist Blackie Leopold and Jody Detton. A system of playing soon developed with no leaders or rules, people were able to explore unrestrained by convention. Suggestions were made from time to time but the recordings took off in their own way. After a while we had a method of doing things and not doing things that seemed to make Onions work. Pianist James Hatfield joined in May 1979 and was on more sessions over the years than anyone else. Between 1977 and 1985 we tried several directions and then stopped recording for seven years.
On July 25th, 1992, Onions had a reunion after seven years of silence. Blackie couldn’t make it, however Jody, Greg, James, Keith and myself recorded in that same shed again. We did our first live shows on stage in 1994. One show was played in a field in the country north of Amarillo. Our sound and light show was so loud and strange that nearby residents called the sheriff. They came in three cars to shut us down. Just as we finished and turned off the power they came onto the property to ask “what the hell was going on?” With hundreds of watts of power and slides of art and meat and stars projected on big screens around us, the sheriff wanted answers. I walked over and told him we were filming a Halloween video. He scratched his head, got in his car and they drove away. I am not sure how much they heard. Jody’s neighbors never spoke to him again. Musician August Smith joined in the late nineties.
Along with computers, samples, and other instruments he also brought keyboardist Mike Kimbrough into the group. Artists Tom Boberg and Carli Scales, and drummer Danny Miracle joined on some sessions.
Over the years, Onions had a way where members would build up musical structures in our live improvisations and other members could feel free to alter those structures, creating tension and shifts in the music. We always seemed to build up to a climax at the conclusion of each session. We sometimes used tape loops, but all Onions performances are recorded live with no overdubs."
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Album info: Onions - Layers: 1975 - 2004
Disc One: 1975 - 1996
Track Listing:
01) Dark Loops (Sept 74 - Dec 75)
02) Root Beer on My Carpet (June 1977)
03) Sickest Choir (Summer 1978)
04) Is God A Clown? (May 1979)
05) Bike Spoke Straw (Nov 19 1980)
06) El Warpd (Winter 1981)
07) I Should Crave Nothing (April 1985)
08) Dog-A-Tronics (Nov 1980)
09) What Are We To Do? (7-25-92)
10) Roach (5-30-93)
11) Smashing Sax (9-30-94)
12) Buffalo Lake (3-18-95)
13) Glass in My Pants (5-12-96)
Disc Two 1995 - 2004
Track Listing:
01) The First Five (3-31-99)
02) Twinkling (3-31-99)
03) Opening (4-1-01)
04) We Are Going (11-23-03)
05) Holiday in Bangkok (7-5-04)
06) M.F. Rolling (7-5-04)
07) Opera and Frogism (10-9-98)
08) Orchestral Piece (3-26-99)
09) Organ Quartet (3-18-95)
10) Winding Up (2-19-00)
11) Organized (3-26-99)
12) American As It Seems Part 2 (4-8-00)
Leinad Kralc (Dan Clark) - loops, vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, oscillators, tremeloa, drums, trombone, abuse deck, effects
Gerg Naic (Greg Cain) - vocals, clarinet, keyboards, percussion, clocks, bike spoke straw, clackers
Keith Montgomery - screams, sounds, magnus chord organ, junk
Lindall Cain - piano, organ, percussion
James Hatfield - piano, keyboards, voice, sampler keyboards, sounds, percussion
Blackie Leopold - keyboards, lead guitar, voice, devices, tapes
Jody Detton - keyboards, routines, percussion
Also…
August Smith - keyboards, vocals, samples, percussion, computer
Tom Boberg - screams, sounds, glass breakage on Glass in my Pants
Mike Kimbrough - keyboards on America As It Seems
Carli Scales - keyboards, percussion on Smashing Sax
Danny Miracle - drums on Smashing Sax
Photographs by Debbie Tingley and Lienad Kralc
Recordings Engineered by Dan Clark
Artwork by Dan Clark
Layout by Ryan McGreer
Mastered by Andrew Weathers
(c) 1975-2004 Jubal Clark Songs (BMI)
