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daggerzine · 7 years ago

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From Lifeboat, Tackle Box and beyond, Greg “Skeggie” Kendall spills the beans….

I had met Greg “Skeggie” Kendall as a person before I even knew about his music. Sort of. He was road managing The Chills when I saw them in about 1989/1990 or so. I was backstage doing an interview with The Chills’ Martin Phillipps (for my zine, DAGGER) and Skeggie brought him a big salad (not “the big salad” like on Seinfeld but a big salad nonetheless) and faked this posh British accent when he put it down in front of Martin and stated, “Your dinner sir.” I laughed and Skeggie and I chatted bit that evening. He seemed like a real friendly, jovial type, completely unlike some other road managers types I had met throughout the years.

So I’d already missed the boat on his band Lifeboat though I’d heard of them and was sure I’d heard some Lifeboat songs. Then missed his next band, Tackle Box until my pal Jeremy Grites told me I had to hear them which was in the late 90’s or maybe 2000. I picked up copies of those cds, On and Grand Hotel (both released in 1993, if I have my story straight, and both on the Rockville label. They also released “The Wheat Penny Single” 7” the same year on Rockville. Fun fact: his rhythm section on those records, Brian Dunton and Sean King Devlin went on to work with Mary Timony in Helium) and both are filled with the kind of at times loud/ at times soft rock music that too many people missed but really should have heard. As you’ll read below he’s done plenty of other stuff, musically speaking.

You know here at DAGGER I like to dig a little deeper, go for some more obscure folks to interview and it was on a whim that I’d reached out to Skeggie to see if he might want to answer a few questions. Thankfully he did and by reading below you’ll learn about the long strange trip that Mr. Greg Kendall has been on all these years. Long live Skeggie!

John Surrette (Boy's Life), Peter Buck (REM), Skeg Kendall (Lifeboat) 1986, at The Rat in Boston, MA (photo by Paul Robicheau)

Where were you born? Did you grow up in the Boston area?

I was born in Norwalk, CT. In the three years following, my family moved to as many states: from Norwalk to Santa Barbara, CA.; Santa Barbara to Red Hook, in upstate NY; Red Hook to Huntsville, AL. I mostly grew up in Huntsville, but our family did weird satellite missions to other places for awkward fragments of school years. There was half of third grade in Atlantic Beach on Long Island, and before that, a 1968 Cocoa Beach summer at the Del-Ray Motel that stretched beyond the first day of school because my father worked for the space program at Cape Canaveral. Eight months for eighth grade in Gaithersburg, MD, then washing up in Middletown, RI in 1973. So, to answer your question, no, I did not grow up in the Boston area. I moved there in 1981, when I was 21.

Do you remember the first record you ever bought?

I was lucky to have an older brother who was way into music, so I was exposed to scads of great music from very early on. Simply, AM top forty radio WAS my childhood. I tried, but didn’t buy the first record I wanted to buy. There are many tales of the infamous Columbia Record Club. Our family returned from a vacation in what, 1968?, to find a package at our front door I’d ordered from the back of a magazine. “The Birds, The Bees, and The Monkees” is the one I remember. My parents were pissed and had to undo the bad deal and returned that record and the other two that were delivered. I eventually bought that album, and of course loved it. The Monkees are the best band ever.

When did you first pick up an instrument? Was it a guitar?

5 years old. Ukulele. Soon after, the guitar. Cat gut string. My first gig was in kindergarten in Huntsville singing “My Old Kentucky Home” with my brother and sister. There are some uncomfortable lyrics in that tune for three little kids to be singing in 1965 Alabama. (It was only recently that I discovered the origin and intent of the song. Interesting history.)

Lifeboat in 1985, the Living Room in Providence RI

Was Tackle Box your first band? If not tell us about bands prior to it.

Lots of bands before Tackle Box. That was like 1992-93. It’s hard to list the catalogue without supplying background in order to provide fun context. You gotta understand that back in the day we were in the middle of the suburban punk rock expansion explosion, jumping off of what we were gleaning from the CBGB’s scene of the late 1970s and the Detroit thing of MC5 and the Stooges, and also Blue Oyster Cult’s early stuff, not to mention most importantly Lou Reed. I worked backward from “Rock n Roll Animal” to the Velvet Underground in 1975-76. It was mind-blowing. It’s impossible to encapsulate in a brief answer. I moved into the upstairs of a nightclub in Newport RI in 1978. I lived there for two years. I was like 18 and 19 years old. I saw a load of wild shit, ingested a ton of drugs, and had a lot of fun. Johnny Thunders was a regular. I hung out with Sonny Terry and Brownie Magee, J.B. Hutto, and Max Romeo. I held court with Carl Perkins. I played regularly with Jonathan Richman, Mission of Burma, Human Sexual Response, and The Neighborhoods. What else can I say, except that I’m sure there’s a bunch of cool stuff that I can’t remember, plus can’t believe I don’t have Hep C or some other nasty affliction. Our band, Bob Lawton’s Boots —look it up—we were there from the git-go of punk rock. Just sayin’.

Tell us about seeing bands in Boston the 80’s? With the amount of amazing talent there back then you must have had some magical nights!

Yes. Some great nights were involved. “Magical” is a good adjective. I moved to Boston in 1981. It was an exciting time in local music to be there. “Magical” because one had to invent one’s scene if you didn’t dovetail easily into an existing one. A Boston rock scene was in full play, with the ‘Hoods, Mission Burma, Lyres, Neats, Del Fuegos, etc, etc., but to bust into that world required stamina and songs, particularly if you were in a jangly pop band like mine —Arms Akimbo, which became Lifeboat. We had much more in common with the North Carolina and Georgia music scenes than the grittier Boston sound. We had to work hard to prove ourselves, and we pretty much did. That band broke up in 1987.

Tackle Box on Oct 2014 at The Middle East, Cambridge MA (Photo by Johnny Anguish)

How did Tackle Box come about?

The Brothers Kendall were a thing after Lifeboat’s varied successes and failures. My brother Bobby and I wrote a bunch of songs and played a bunch of gigs in 1988-89, maybe 90? I don’t know. We made a record for Bar None with Peter Holsapple from the dBs that never came out, mostly because the record sucked, (through no fault of Peter’s). But, tell you what, I loved that band. We made some music I’m quite proud of. The core of that band became Tackle Box. Shawn Devlin is an amazing drummer I’ve been playing with since the Newport days; Mike Leahy is a genius guitarist (he’s played with Juliana Hatfield, Buffalo Tom, and Pell Mell, among others); and bassist Brian Dunton, (with Devlin, the original Helium rhythm section) are great to work with.

When I (briefly) met you back then you were a tour manager for The Chills. Had you been making your living doing that? If so what other bands did you tour manage?

Wow! Where/when did we meet? That was a goofy gig. If anyone ever asks you, “Hey, should I consider a cross-country tour that requires road managing, driving the van, being the sole roadie and — get this—opening solo act?,” you’re answer should be, “No, definitely don’t do that.”

I also went out as a roadie for the bands Big Dipper, The Feelies, and for the longest stretch, Throwing Muses. I love all of them, very much. So many tales to tell.

How did the deal with Rockville Records come about? Who ran that label (I only knew about Homestead back then).

Jeff Pachman signed us. It just happened I guess because he heard our songs and liked us. I honestly don’t know any other reason.

When/ why did Tackle Box end? Did you have any bands after that?

We all got busy with other stuff, and honestly I was becoming ambivalent about what had started to feel like asking people if they liked me through music. After all those years, I guess hit sort of a mental roadblock. I had a new family, with back-to-back sons, and that had an impact I’m sure on my commitment to touring and other time-consuming aspects of being in a band. But I found a new musical outlet when I fell into scoring film. Doug Macmillan from the band the Connells introduced me to director John Schultz, who enlisted me to write songs for his film Bandwagon, and then asked me to score it. The film screened and was bought at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, which eventually led me to score Schultz’s 1998 Drive Me Crazy for 20th Century Fox. It was a fun, exciting and satisfying time, despite the steep learning curve.

Who are some of your favorite current bands or musicians?

My son’s projects are what I’d like to talk about.

DJ Lucas https://soundcloud.com/djlucasma

Weird Dane https://soundcloud.com/weirddane

They’ve got a whole lot stuff going on. Their collective, called Dark World, is knee-deep in music making, video projects and fashion design.

Care to tell us your top 10 desert island discs?

It’s hard to get it down to ten, but let’s go with…

Velvet Underground (self-titled third album)

Velvet Underground “Loaded”

New York Dolls “New York Dolls”

New York Dolls “Too Much Too Soon”

Jean Jacques Perry “The Amazing New Electronic Pop Sound Of Jean Jacques Perry”

Yo La Tengo “I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One”

Joni Mitchell “Blue”

Chet Baker “ Let’s Get Lost”

David Bowie “Hunky Dory”

Brian Eno “Music For Airports”

(Plus any and all releases from Gram Parsons)

Tell us about the reunion gig that Tackle Box recently played. Will there be more?

That was super-fun. I hope for more. I love those guys, and I think we rock real nice together. We fell into playing together as if we hadn’t taken over twenty years off.

What is it that you do now? Something in the film industry?

From 2002-2012, my wife Connie White and I booked documentary films into cinemas as Balcony Releasing. We distributed over twenty films in that period. Currently, I’m working with my wife’s company Balcony Booking. She’s the film buyer for eighteen independent art houses and three film festivals.

Check out our new site here: https://www.balconyfilm.com/

Skeg behind a Rhodes in Bellows Falls, VT

Any closing comment? Final thoughts? Anything you wanted to mention that I didn’t ask?

It’s been a long and interesting trip, including my recent graduation from college in May 2016. With all that music stuff going on, I completely forgot to go to college, so I entered in 2012, and graduated four years later from UMass Amherst with a self-designed BA in Historical New England Documentary Studies.

Also, I’m about to embark on a new musical adventure— or I should say, a potential adventure. I’m going to Raleigh, NC to hang with my buddy Doug MacMillan from the Connells. If it works out, we’re thinking about planning a two-hander that explores the odd lives we’ve led in the music business, including stories and songs in a fun and reflective show. We’ll see. I hope it happens. I love those Connells songs.

BONUS QUESTION: Did you ever hear from Mark Lindsay about the song “Mark Lindsay’s Ponytail?”

I have a signed copy from Mark Lindsay of the Tackle Box “Wheat Penny” single that has “Ponytail” on the B-side. He says he liked it. I’m proud to say that one of my songs, “Eeenie Meenie Miney Moe,” originally recorded with Tuffskins, (a fun post-Tackle Box mini-project) was rehearsed by the fantastic Los Straitjackets with vocals by Mark Lindsay for consideration on an album. Alas, a release was not to be. But still, that feels really good, and the song was eventually recorded and released as a single by Rochester, NY garage-rockers Ian and the Aztecs. So, all’s well, that ends well.

www.balconyfilm.com

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thedeadthree · 3 years ago

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— KENDALL LAWTON the oscar winner who mistook the ad for a role but is having fun making new buds anyways, body count

stop saying i look like arthur campbell he’s MEAN and he’s a coward and im NOT A COWARD!

template by @wayhavens, x, playlist, @bodycountgame ❤️

#manifesting him and arthur become best friends when the show ends ✨😌#look over there! it’s a bird! it’s a plane! it’s the himbo that read the ad wrong his best friend/his agent gave him!#and his agent! his bestie and then his agent gave him an ad and he! still! didn’t read the whole thing! dweeb!#HIS BIRTHDAY WAS ON THE 28th IN NOVEMBER HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY KENNY YOU BEAUTIFUL IDIOT ✨🥺🤍#c. kendall lawton #leg.ocs #leg.edit #if. body count #body count #body count if #bc #body count game #interactive fiction #I hope it was okay to tag you jude! this template is STUNNING i had so much fun with it! next in the list is narcissa! ✨😌🎀💖#his friend has a startup in london so he was a office temp until his friend could find someone permanent!#he was doing it for a role he was looking at until he saw the ad and went OH BOY I WANT THIS #wait NO KENDALL ITS NOT AN ACTING ROLE ITS TO BE A CONTESTANT ✨🥴#but now he’s excited to meet new people! is planning to use the money he wins to support his family nyc A CHARITABLE HIMBO #his family and others who need it! the people in ny were EXTREMELY supportive of him and his career and helped him out with finances #<- and meeting people/agents/casting directors/ etc!#it’s the best way he can give back to the people who did SO MUCH for him ✨🤧#hes coupled with syd! he really likes them and LOVES that they can talk about movies they’ve done ❤️!#i LOVE HIM he’s so pretty ugh! put me in the show charlie i wanna marry him ✨😌🍂🤎#i have another hc that he and syd were talking and they told Kenny they were one of the stunt doubles for a movie he was in!#and he was like NOO WAY REALLY SMALL WORLD SHIIT ✨😱🤍#saw the darn ad TWICE and still didn’t read it ✨🥴#another fun fact is that he double majored at nyu in biology and acting! love a man with range!#long tags

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thedeadthree · 3 years ago

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🍓🍓🍓 for Elin, Mina, Liudvina and Kendall! 💕💕 (+ Extra for Elin hehehe ✨)

ALYAAAA DEARLY BELOVED THANK YOU FOR THE ASK YOU TREASURE YOU ✨🥺🤍. i hope your doing well and taking care of yourself hun! here’s these for youu lovely! 🤍

give me a 🍓 and one of my ocs, and i’ll tell you some random facts about said oc!

— ELIN WISEMAN, mind blind

🍓- her fc is also how i imagine her voice sounding in canon/the story! in this video especially from vogue! ( x ) also in the video is EXAAACTLY how i imagine elin reacting to achieving her goal of becoming the future mrs zarneki and i think that’s just lovely for miss elin ✨😌! “my boyfriend… *looks at her hand” oh sorry my FIANCEEE. AHAHAAAA YES! *happy dance*” PLEASE ELIN STOP BEING CUTE

🍓- 10 things is her and sally’s favorite movie right? elins personal favorite movies are the devil wears prada, breakfast at tiffany’s and anna karenina! Ive only seen the devil wears Prada but i for sure think that those would be her faves hehe! if Maia would like to have a movie marathon she would be HONORED to invite the bb ✨🥺! she can lecture her about fashion and things awould absolutely be over the moon if kenzie and the girls came by or she stopped by his place and they watched them together ✨🥺 (more fic ideas my brain needs to slow down asdffgjfj but i LOVE this idea)

🍓- she’s a polyglot! she’s fluent in quite a few languages! she spent a lot of time learning languages as a hobby of hers (also learning art and modeling!) in and out of hospital tests and things! she learns polish after things get official with them in the hopes of impressing her future in laws and grand in laws at the next zarneki family Christmas dinner ✨🥺 they will adore her as kent does! they will she swears it!

— MINA MORGANTHAU, when twilight strikes

🍓- OK building off this ask i also had a hc that rooftop crème brûlée’s with silv also means that she gets to hear mina and her (loving) rants about her family and the hunters and the crippling pressures of being born into prestige and the need to maintain that. finally having someone in her life that GETS IT? and brings her crème brûlée too? those kind of friendships are one in a lifetime you know?

🍓- she has a lot of pride and ego to get past but she does deep down actually want to end the rivalry and become friends with blane? or at least better acquaintances? especially after the media room scene she realizes they’re more alike than she assumed and that the two can maybe, possibly find similarities in each other? the two top hunters at the IAOS becoming besties is a very lovely thing ✨🥺 a lovely thing that she is more than willing to work towards achieving!

🍓- it genuinely was love at first sight meeting kian in that infirmary for mina hehehe! she’s greatly interested in people who can intrigue her and kian absolutely fits that bill! she’s very stoked to be partnered with him on this assignment and get to know this warlock better ✨😌🤍

— LIUDVINA VITKUS, novaturient

🍓- so olesya! i am going with the hc that my baby from 180 also exists in vinas canon as a former mentor and a surrogate sister to vina during her days as an agent for the organization they were both in! (I’m thinking that it may have been asphodel? something else? the organization? still working that out aha!) seeing black widow and nat and yelenas sisterhood and realizing how similar yelena and vina are as characters and how FITTING it would be for vina to have a sister u know? ✨🥺

🍓- vina is wearing this STUNNING roberto cavalli dress (x and x! ) worn by the immaculate zendaya to galas, events and stars in LV with Noah heheheh that lucky duck noah! marrying a fashion icon isn’t he! she walks into the ballroom the guests and noah are just AWESTRUCK u know?

🍓- ghislain, (the JERK that nearly put her in the grave to protect his back and as she knew too much about her former employers true plans for what they were doing) is currently laying low in a classified location living with the crushing realization and constant reminder that vina is alive, and at any moment will hunt him down as if it were a sport and get her vengeance ✨😌 it’s what she deserves! and who’s fault was it to wrong vina HMM ghis? we love a queen with a plan!

— KENDALL LAWTON, body count

🍓- kenny was born in brooklyn but he grew up with his dad and older brother in clinton (or hell’s kitchen) in nyc! kenny’s brother was an insurance investigator and his dad passed when he was younger but he was a chef at one of the restaurants there! and after that his brother raised him!

🍓- sure he’s a bit nonchalant but the boy is SMART got a full ride scholarship to nyu tisch (a VERY good acting school in ny uni!) and his minor was in biology! he needed a fall back plan in case the acting thing didn’t work! WHICH BOY IT DID. got his big break when he was 19 and 5+ oscars later is one of the TOP actors 🥺! (still cackling that this boy had not been told once but TWICE no wait charlie brought it up too that means THREE TIMES that this was to be a cast member not a role and yet he still walked on thinking he was in a role ajdmksk we love a dork that doesn’t read the directions! following directions? in this decade? never ✨🥴!

🍓- at the beginning of the story kenny had throughly decided that arthur is his arch nemesis! it mainly started from one of the cast mates pointing out how ALIKE they looked asddkdk he’s petty. and kenny just wasn’t a big fan of his attitude? so the two have this trading playground insults relationship throughout and in time these two will become besties who go to parties sip fancy wines and trade playground insults while making fun of the guests in no time babeyyy ✨😌!

— ELIN BONUS TRACK BC BELOVED ALYA SAID SO! ✨😌🤍

🍓- so when elin goes out and sees something that the doggies or kenzie may like she’ll pick them up and will as true to who she is, say little and glare upon you triumphantly ✨😌! well! kenzie and elin begin a competition on who can bring eachother something first and outdo the other. neither says anything and both are determined to win and it’s the SWEETEST THING EVER. our babies really are the sweetest thing pls I love them so MUCH 🤍

#🌛: alya #anotherbeingsworld #ALYA DEAREST YOU TREASURE YOU I HOPE YOU LOVE THESE AS MUCH AS I LOVE THEM HERES these for lovely! ✨🥺🤍!#THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK LOVE! and I hope your doing well hun you deserve it ✨🥺🤍!#and i hope u enjoy the bonus track it’s a very big fave of mine and i very much love it ✨😌#c. elin wiseman #c. mina morganthau #c. liudvina vitkus #c. kendall lawton #if. body count #if. novaturient #if. when twilight strikes #if. mind blind #loveeee these darling babies with every fiber of meeee ✨🥺!#put the rest under a read more bc these puppies got long ehehehe ✨😌🤍

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thedeadthree · 3 years ago

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🌼🌈💧for Elin and Kenny beloveds! 💕

🥺✨✨!!!!! HIIII BB! i hope ur doing well and taking care of urself! THANK YOU FOR THE ASK I ADORE U SM! here’s some kenny and elin facts love! 🖤🖤

SEND AN OC AND AN EMOJI (x.x)

🌼- what’s your favorite thing about this oc?

i could write an essay SHES MY BABY AND I LOVE HER. the calmness she has when she herself is put under INTENSE STRESS is something i ADORE, like? THE COMPOSURE SHE HAS!!!!! IN THE MOST HECTIC OF MOMENTS! HER LOVE OF THE NUMBER ONE BEST GIRLS ANNIE AND CASS! her empathy and thoughtfulness with kenzie! her knowledge of art! HER GALAXY BRAINED SENSE OF FASHION. so many things!

🌈- what does this oc like or dislike about themselves?

elin loves her taste in fashion and art! she knows its immaculate she won’t debate! her ability to stay calm under pressure is a fav of hers, her achievements in acadmia, her determination to find who hurt nick, and that she’s a perfectionist! putting her all into everything she dedicates herself to! which can also be something she isn't too fond of too! she needs to remind herself she isn’t right ALL the time and that she isn’t flawless at EVERYTHING. that’s why she appreciates having rosy and sally as a figures in her life! a friend that tells calls you out is a HUGE one for her!

💧- what is this oc most passionate about?

art and fashion are for sure things she has STRONG opinions on and is veery passionate about as we know hehe! there’s also the importance of proper pet care as she demonstrated in first meeting the love of her life, finding who hurt saint nick, that she doesn’t want to see her mom again if she can help it, pursuing her dream of modeling, and cookies! to name a few!

🌼- what’s your favorite thing about this oc?

THE WAY i could do an essay with mla citations in a double spaced 12 point font in times new roman on my favorite things of kenny and elin hjdsahjfb BUT for sure would his the way he carries himself! i WISH i had his confidence/extrovertedness u know? he has this INFECTIOUS personality that’s so endearing like its no wonder he’s as successful as he is! he’s everyones best friend that stands up to bullies and i love LOVE it.

🌈- what does this oc like or dislike about themselves?

i think the thing he likes the most about himself is that he never lets his celebrity get to his head, he’d credit his brother dominic, and the friends/neighbors he grew up with in nyc for a lot of that! with how much people around him like his late dad and now his brother brother, sacrificed to get him there, he owes it to them and himself to give back and to not let the lights get to him? what he would dislike about himself is that he needs to lay off and take a break or he’ll overwork himself and break down? like since he started it’s been NONSTOP since? his “break” doing that desk job at his friends startup in the uk, was SUPPOSED to be that until he saw the body count ad! (which i will remind he misread THREE TIMES ahbfdhjg! dork!) TAKE A VACATION KENNY LIKE MAYBE SANTORINI SMHH.

💧- what is this oc most passionate about?

the HUGEST thing that kenny is the most passionate about is striving to give back to the people and city that got him to where he is in his life now! and standing up to bullies! he has a platform to give back to his loved ones and the people he grew up with and it’s HUGE for him to do that! and anyone with a bad attitude or uses their celebrity, standing to push people down is no friend of his :) he’s always been an eat the rich kind of person dsjabj go baby boy go!

#🌛: alya #anotherbeingsworld #the rest is under the cut bc I could talk about them for YEARS I love them so much AHH #hdsbak thank u for enabling me to talk about my beloveds!#AND ONCE AGAIN I ADORE U AND THANK U FOR THE ASK ALYA!!!!!!!#I hope you liked these! I need to make kenny’s and finish elin’s notions so this helpedLOT #leg.asks #leg.ocs #c. kendall lawton #c. elin wiseman #kenny is also near and VERY dear to my heart which is a fav thing about him for mee as well!#he was a verse hopping oc for a while until I think I threw him in as a like haha what would happen if he was in bc and then I got ATTACHED #we love it when ocs as a what if thing become a canon thing! it happened with lhysa being in dai AND her witcher canon too! and now kenny!#god kennys banner is *MUAH* so good!!! he’s like the ideal bf too I LOV U KENNY #elin ‘im flawless with the correct opinion on everything’ wiseman its okay to not be perfect! or be wrong! its okay bb!#kenny has heard the many dissertations on her art and fashion knowledge and opinions! its like interestingly enough very endearing!#he loves it the most about her for sure! the way she can convince someone so eloquently!#I and my mutuals want to raid ur closet elin you have IMMACULATE taste bb!#its what she deserves!!!!!! go elin go!

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