Champaign Kisses and Urbana Dreams! The Outnumbered-Surveying The Damage

Young Fresh Fellows

When I first got out of the habit of listening to mainstream music, I quickly found that I could not easily get the music I wanted. It was not in any record stores near my home. So I would take the train or drive into New York, and get records at Midnight Records over on 23rd. They had a lot of interesting records, and I was into garage/psychedelic stuff a lot at the time. I recall buying a compilation album Battle of the Garages Volume II, that I really liked which may have been put out by Bomp! records. One of the tracks that stood out for me was a track by some band called The Outnumbered. Contrary to many of the other bands represented on the comp, the song actually sounded like it could have been recorded back in 1966. The song had a brooding intensity to it, an accurate distillation of teenage angst, anxiety, and boredom.

Boy on a Roof
Hot Summer night
Thinks of jumping off
Confused about his life
The future ahead he can't see
For that moment, he's unhappy....


Skip ahead a few years, and I find myself going to school in Champaign-Urbana, in the heart of corn country. When I was out there, the first Farm Aid was put on by Willie Nelson and John Melloncamp. I was a big fan of music then as now, and having the Record Stop within walking distance was a real luxury. Great music store. Well, in any event, I was interested in finding out about the local scene. There was a bit of a reputation. But when I was out there, the Elvis Brothers had disbanded as had the band Turning Curious (their album was never released on Cd). But new bands replace old bands, the circle of life....There were bands like The Arms of Someone New, The Farmboys (Adam Schmitt),Secret Goldfish, and variations on what was to eventually become Velvet Crush.



And of course The Outnumbered. They were a band that I already knew about, so when I heard they were performing I made sure I was there. I was surprised that there was not a great turnout that night. When I heard them play I was even more surprised as they were a terrific live band. I went to another of their shows at Mabel's later on and there was a much better turnout. Very entertaining. It seemed that the band was calling it quits though, either right then or in the very near future. I remember them winding the show down with a kick ass cover of Scott McKenzie's Going to San Francisco! It was so good that I wondered whether they ever recorded it. My impression at the time was that the singer, Jon Ginoli had decided to move out West.

After all this The Outnumbered to a degree dropped off my radar. I didn't realize till years later that when Ginoli went out West, he founded Pansy Division, the trailblazing overtly gay band that started the whole Queercore movement. I found out when I bought the great Rhino Cd, Punk Rock XMAS, where I noticed Ginoli's name under the hilarious Pansy Division tune, Homo Christmas. Caught me a little by surprise, but mainly because its not something I waste my time thinking about. My criteria for music is about the quality, not about somebody's orientation, or appearance, or how they vote. Have to admire his bravery--people are more tolerant overall now then they were back then.



According to the liner notes The Outnumbered were an attempt to blend the Ramones with The Byrds.
Punk rock aggressivenes with pop smarts. They were also a band with a high degree of social consciousness.
Their stance was anti-war, anti-misogyny, pro-tolerance. Thought the other issues are a stock part of the rock and roll canon from hippie/folk days, the anti-misogyny issue was a pretty unique take at the time. Unfortunately in rock iconography their is a tradition of women as a form of accessorising. And while they dealt with these topics in all seriousness, they still managed to maintain a sense of humor. Hell, in their own liner notes they make fun of their haircuts! But they were basically a voice of sanity a cornfield of mass stupidity, something needed as much today as back then. They also managed to address these issues wrapped up in a neat hook-filled package, which other similar idealistically minded bands might have ignored in their zeal. In addition to Ginoli, Paul Budin played Bass and sang, Tim McKeague was on lead guitar, and had Ken Golub on drums at first, and then Jonno Peltz, who was probably their drummer when I saw them live.

Heartland Jangle-Punk. That's what I hear on this album. I was surprised by Ginoli's comments in the liner notes about how disappointed he was when he heard Husker Du's New Day Rising album and felt a sense of failure. They were doing what he wanted to do, only better. It was a comparison that I had never really seen until then, but it makes perfect sense, only Husker Du came out of a hardcore background originally. But they also melded the sensibilities of 60's pop with punk rock, starting with Zen Arcade. The obvious example is their magnificent cover of 8 Miles High, my favorite cover song ever. A kick-ass version of a Byrds tune that also seems to be filled with subtextual meaning, a manifesto in a way. This was a beginning that was perfected on New Day Rising and Flip Your Lid. But until now I didn't see the obvious connection.

The Outnumbered released three albums in their career, Why Are All The Good People Going Crazy, Holding the Grenade for Too Long, and the posthumous Work...Buy...Die, all out of print. But good folks at Parasol records have compiled highlights of these records on Surveying the Damage, available at a very affordable price. In addition to Boy on A Roof, which is a garage rock classic, you have raveups like Why Are All the Good People Going Crazy?, and the opening track I Feel So Sorry Now. Paul Budin takes the mike on several songs here and comports himself quite well on the fiery Away From Here, and most notably on his profound take on the unequal role of women in society Passive Voice. Ginoli also contributes to the discussion with The Other Way Around and Sit With Me In The Dark. Also included here is Ginoli's anti-war tune Cover Me With Flowers, replete with Beatley "Tomorrow Never Knows" guitar.



One of my favorite songs in addition to the aforementioned is the love song Inspiration, another Budin tune.
It's definitely on the warm and fuzzy side, and a very satisfying pop confection.
After the Outnumbered, Budin and McKeague formed Last Straw, what today would be called an Alt-Country Band, but back then such a thing did not exist. They recently did a reunion show in Champaign-Urbana, where they were selling a 2 CD collection of their old cassette and unreleased songs. I thought that maybe Parasol might be hawking this, but apparently not at present. The Outnumbered held a reunion show back in 2009, some of which can be seen here, still sounding great after all these years.