First track on 1994 Weedpuller EP/demo: "Congenital"

My God It's A Woman

CSUDH multi-track demo from 1985 with Steve Deppe on Keyboard, Elaine Donaldson on vocals, Dave Codde on bass and rhythm guitars, Mike Morton on guitar, and Howard Roth on drums. Lyrics by Elaine Donaldson. Music by Steve Deppe and Dave Codde.

Digitized (by Rob Swindell)from TDK High-bias (chrome) mix-down cassette with Dolby-B noise reduction.

Elaine's lyrics as heard/transcribed by Rob Swindell (corrections welcome!):

Tell the truth, don't lead me on
Temptation puts you to trial
Give some thought to why you have changed
Tell the truth, with no denial

Answer me with true or false
These questions are always on my mind
And looking back steals too much time
Let persuasion lead us straight by our design

Tell the truth, or don't deceive
I can't see through this cloud of doubt
Anxious for more than words
to tell no lie cause your eyes will tell on you

Taking chances, my only hope
How was I to know I'd walk on this tight rope
Of conscient choice to look the other way
Surround reality with relentless confusion

Nightmare delusion has tried me on
Vision's desperate imagination runs wild

This feeling gives no warning sign
From deep inside it reaches out
Anxiety still takes its toll
'til I could scream but there's no sound

Closer it comes, the silver arrow
And pierces through the lies unknown
I wonder if your words will bring you power
Or will they deal the final blow

This is your last chance, no holding back
Just give some thought and tell me who you are
You need it too so tell the truth
Don't hold on, tell the truth

Dresden: Tell The Truth

Great cover track recorded for the recently released "Weedpuller" album recorded between 1996-1999. This track was not included in the final album release due to licensing issues (red tape and all that).

Surrender (Cover) by Weedpuller

Hit track from Dresden demo, circa 1984, with:
Steve Deppe (keyboards)
Elaine Donaldson (vocals)
Karl Johnson (guitars)
Dave Codde (bass guitar)
Howard Roth (drums)


"Shades Of Grey" from Dresden, with Steve Deppe, circa 1984

Garage rehearsal recording from 1985: cover of Iron Maiden's "Wrathchild"

Wrathchild Cover By Mark Miller, Gary Sebourn, Rob Swindell, Shelly Hawley - 1985

Radio interview with Rob Swindell (at the time, of Digital Dynamics), author of Synchronet BBS software.

I apologize in advance for the "spin" given during this interview, but at the time we were pretending to be a big software company. It's a bit embarrassing now, but for posterity's sake, I thought it was a good idea to make available to the public Internet (some 25 years later!).

Synchronet Radio Interview Part - 2

Synchronet Radio Interview Part - 1

Rehearsal tape (no vox) of the unnamed Brea, California hard rock band consisting of Mark Miller on guitar, Gary Sebourn on bass, and Rob on drums, circa 1985. I think this song was called "Valhalla", but I could be wrong.

Valhalla

Rehearsal tape from 1985: "Bloodbath" written by Gary Sebourn and performed by Mark Miller (guitar), Gary Sebourn (bass) and Rob Swindell (drums) in Mark's Brea California bed room, across the street from Brea Jr. High School.

Bloodbath

Rehearsal tape: Unnamed (Black Sabbath-influenced) song from the unnamed Brea, California metal band consisting of Mark Miller (guitar), Gary Sebourn (bass), and Rob Swindell (drums), circa 1985.

Sabbath Song

In 1987, Neil Peart held a contest through Modern Drummer magazine whereby amateur drummers (like myself, 17 years old at the time) were encouraged to make an audio tape of a short drum solo and submit it to Modern Drummer after which Neil, presumably, would listen to all the submissions (as it turns out, he only actually heard the top 46 after filtering by the MD editors). The top 3 winners won Neil's older drum sets (whoa!). I prepared and practiced for this, believing I had a serious shot at winning one of Neil's large, historic kits! But I also procrastinated and I think I recorded this on the day that it had to be postmarked and in the mail (!). I didn't win, the winning performances were honestly better than mine, but here's my submission for posterity's sake. RIP Neil.

Rob Swindell

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