Hypnosonics – Drums Were Beating: Fort Apache Studios 1996 – Vinyl, LP, Morphine, Modern Harmonic, 2021
First ever full release of these sessions from Morphine’s Mark Sandman’s “secret band!”
Artwork created from Hypnosonics flyers created by Mark Sandman himself!
Includes a zine style insert featuring more Sandman art, photos, and liners from Hypnos sax man Russ Gershon!
Cut and pressed at Third Man Records in Detroit
Prior to founding the band Morphine, Mark Sandman launched Hypnosonics, built around a stripped down drum kit with no toms and a piece of plywood in place of cymbals, played by Jay Hilt. With funk in its heart, Hypnosonics was originally a five piece with Sandman on guitar and organ, Tom Halter and Russ Gershon of the Either/Orchestra on trumpet and sax, and Mike Rivard, who later founded Club d’Elf, on bass. After Morphine took off, Dana Colley joined Hypnosonics, Hilt added hi-hat cymbals to his kit, and the horn section started singing. In 1996, the same year that Morphine recorded Like Swimming at the legendary Cambridge, MA studio Fort Apache, Hypnosonics visited the Fort to play a live-in-the-studio radio broadcast on beloved local rock station WFNX. This album contains much of that session. We get to hear the band – known for its unpredictable live shows – stretching out a bit, as well as some choice snippets of Sandman’s witty stage patter. A full recounting of this period of the band by Gershon is contained inside this package.
GROUP CREDITS:
Mark Sandman: vocals and guitar
Tom Halter: trumpet and background vocals
Russ Gershon: tenor sax on all except soprano sax on “Born Again”; background vocals
Dana Colley: baritone sax and background vocals
Mike Rivard: bass
Jay Hilt: drums
