Band Rosters 1997 - 1999
The Pseudo Coda Era
"(NOT) THE SLASHTONES" (1)
(Circa: Early January, 1997)
| Slash | Hecht | Kohn | Bondy | Lawler | Steven | Sullivan |
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| vocals | sax | guitar | guitar | guitar | bass | drums |
(02/22/04 - "OK, I forgot about this one too until Frank Fortune recently reminded of it.)
It was a few weeks after I broke up The Slashtones and joined the 9 to 5 world, when we all inadvertently got together during a jam night at "Fat Tuesday's" in Manhattan. Six now former Slashtones got on stage together, with G-man from Hitmeister on drums, and played three of the older tunes we did. It wasn't the roof of Abby Road Studios, but it might as well could have been. This was to be my last, albeit unscheduled endeavor within the world of music. My own coda if you will. Or so I thought.
"The MaskedTones" Studio band.
(February, 1997)
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In early February of 1997 when I recorded some tunes for ECW, (with Richie Scarlet and Steve Budgie from 'The Ace Freehly Band' and Andy Abbene from 'SoulCrush' at Eddie Whol's 'The Palace' recording studio in Westchester, NY) and was back in music, again...
The "I Spoke Too Soon" Era
LiFE?! (2) Studio band.
(February 26, 1997 - Circa: May 1998 *)
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I brought in Roderick Kohn to continue working on the ECW tunes with me and we then began recording original music under the band name "LIFE?!". At that point, the band was more of a duo, with Roderick and myself playing most of the parts except live drums, which were played by Budgie. Tony Moore and Arno Hect were to be brought in as needed. This version of Life?! was going to be a studio band, with live shows being secondary. The Slashtones were a live band that couldn't seem to be able to finish a single damn song in the studio and I would have none of that this time. I liked the creative freedom of the studio and working with fewer players. The music we were making had a hard edged, industrial metal vibe. For me, the campy and comedic Slashtones were a dead issue at that point, and I had no desire to revive them...
The Slashtones (8) "Simply Ravishing" April 1997
| Slash | Kohn | Bondy | Hecht | Levee | Steve Budgie |
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With: Francine: lead vocalsIt was during the recording of "Simply Ravishing/The Stripper" (for the late Rick Rude) that we ended up reuniting the original version of the Slashtones. It was going to be just Roderick, Budgie, Arno and myself on this tune, but, after Arno's saxophone tracks were done, we knew the recording would really go left field if we dubbed in a frettless bass, so in came Even Steven. While Roderick could have easily bird-dogged the melody line over Arno's horn parts, we figured "Why not?" and called in Bondy to do it. By the time Francine secretly sang the campy lead vocals, the tune was pure "Slastones" silliness, and it was the only piece of music by the original Slashtones that made it out of the studio as a final product. (The six song promotional EP we released in 1995 doesn't count because those tunes weren't meant to be the final mixes.)
Recording the tune and "re-re-re-re-reforming" the band led the inevitable, "booking another gig...". Even Steven was hosting acoustic jam sessions at 'The Gaslight NYC' at that time. Page and Plant had just done "Unleded" and I wanted to play "untoned' so to speak. We rehearsed an acoustic version of the comedy set, without Francine that is, and booked a date at the Gaslight for the very low key show.
Uni-Tone (Almost a band)
(Circa. June 1997)
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I had forgotten all about the "Uni-Tone" band until I started writing this. It was an idea some of us had to do a low key conceptual live show while Rod and Arno were on tour with other bands. We had the acoustic show ready to go and booked for July, but Bondy, Even and I wanted to do something before then. We got together and discussed the concept. The music would be rearranged and done more like Tom Waits meets Kenny G in the 1940s, unplugged alternative folk music. I pitched the idea to Gregg Gerson, and while he wasn't on the best of terms with one of the others, he did want to give the experimental concept a try. We rehearsed once, then it all kind of fell apart when one person forgot about the second rehearsal and slept while the rest of us stood in the rain while his doorbell rang, and rang, and rang... Not much ever happened with that concept, but it did sound pretty cool at the one and only rehearsal...
(Not) The Slashtones (2) “Un-Toned 1”
(July 27th, 1997)
| Slash | Kohn | Bondy | Hecht | Steven |
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The concept was, "Life?!" and "The Slashtones" were going to be two different bands with some of the same members. A conflict of schedules prevented Steve Budgie from making the gig so we really went "unplugged" and played without a drummer. It was a lot of fun to be honest, but not something I wanted to do again right away. I kept recording original music under the "Life?!" banner and put the comical "Slashtones" on hold for a while.
LIFE?! (3) Studio band.
(August - December 1997)
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Some more time spent in the studio. Roderick would play most of the parts and then we'd bring in Budgie for live drums and Arno for the sax parts.
The Last Dance Era
The Slashtones (8.1) “Un-Toned 2”
(January 11th, 1998)
| Slash | Kohn | Bondy | Hecht | Levee | Budgie |
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Even Steven Levee pushed for us to get together and do another unplugged show. Sadly, this would be the last performance of the original Slashtones. The band had to start one hour late because someone in the band had forgotten about the show even though we rehearsed for it 48 hours earlier. The (dismal) show itself was an experiment to see if The original Slashtones and Life?! could be merged into one band, utilizing both the comical and the serious material. The answer was "no" and I permanently disbanded the original Slashtones that night. I continued to record with Roderick and various former members of the Slashtones under the band name "Life?!".
The New Day Era
LIFE?! (4) Studio band.
(February - June 1998)
| Slash | Kohn | Hecht | G-MAN |
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With: Taz: vocalsTaz wanted new music and I had a few other tunes I had written that I wanted to record. Using this as an excuse, I booked some studio time, but Steve Budgie was on tour in Europe with 'TANG' and wouldn't be back for several weeks. By that point, Roderick would be on the road with The Buddy Miles Express and Arno would be off with someone. (Arno was always touring or recording with someone...) We brought in Garry Sullivan, Roderick's drummer from 'Hitmeister', who had just gotten off the road with the B-52s. This time we were joined in the studio by Taz, who was always on tour with ECW.
* LIFE?! = The Slashtones = Harry Slash & The Slashtones
(Circa: June 1998)
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Also at that point, "Life?!" was a non-band, having only played live once and did not have a regular roster. It was a bit of a joke that I'd gotten a non-band on a nationally released CD, and what better band to play that joke but the "Kings Of Comic Rock", The Slashtones. I added the 'Harry Slash &" part to the name because I wasn't sure who was going to be in the band, and because I had an ego and wanted to show up all those that held the original Slashtones back.
"I don't get mad and I don't get even, I just let Karma do my dirty work." - Harry Slash
The Slashtones (9) or Harry Slash & The Slashtones (1) or LiFE?! (4) “ECW: 'Extreme Music' CD”
(October 1998)
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This would technically be the band, according to the track listings on the ECW CD. Garry only did one recording session with the Slashtones while Budgie was on the road with another band. It was 'Huka Blues' from that session that was picked for the CD. While not properly credited, we had sampled Steve Budgie's playing from another track of ours for use on the Extreme Theme.
"The Slashed-Tones/Los Slash-Tonos" (1) Studio band
Or (Almost) The Slashtones (10) or Harry Slash & The Slashtones (2)
(August, 1999)
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I had had my yearly fight with Roderick in July of 1999. Roderick and I would fight once every year since we started working together, but this time the yearly brawl came right before I got a whole bunch of studio work. Out of spite, and the necessity to show Roderick up, but mostly out of petty spite, I formed another 'Slashtones'.
I wrote the tunes with Mickey Leigh, and hijacked Sperry Sound & Picture for some marathon recording sessions. Arno was in, and I brought back Even Steven and Bondy from the original 'Slashtones'. Budgie wasn't available so I recruited Frank Sannuto from 'Reckless Fortune' on drums and keyboards. (I recycled Budgie and Richie Scarllet's drum and bass tracks from 'The Palace Sessions' in 1997 for some of the tracks from these sessions.)
A few days after the initial sessions, Mickey and I discussed performing live and chose a band roster. Other than making a few call to try and get everyone together, nothing ever happened with this lineup, which is too bad because the tunes from the sessions were pretty cool and the live potential could have been fun. (Rod and I patched things up, again, and kept working together, again...)
The Slashtones (11) or Harry Slash & The Slashtones (3) Studio band
(September - November 1999)
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And more time spent in the studio. This time we kicked out a few commercials and again, contemplated playing live. I was going to invite Jimmy Fury from "Redbelly" and "Vibrasoul" to join us on bass when Tony Moore was not available. But Jimmy retired from music and became a NYC Fireman and I was too lazy to call tony Moore back, so we scraped the idea of playing out..
The We Don't Like To Talk About This Era
Reckless Fortune (with members of The Slashtones Family) Studio band
(December 1999)
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ECW needed some more tunes and I used this as an opportunity to give exposure to our brothers, Reckless Fortune.
1993 - 1994 / 1995 - 1996 / 1997 - 1999 / 2000 - 2003 / 2004 - ?