written by John Hovorka. From the unreleased LP 'Empire State' [interested labels should contact John at www.metalsnowball.com ].

produced by Joe Harvard, eng. by Mike Caiati.
Recorded on 8-track 1/2" tape at Coyote Recording Studios, Brooklyn NY when it was a two-room office in a truck garage
Mixed at the second Fort Apache South, Roxbury MA by JH & JH.
Transferred from a cassette dupe. Hopefully one day there will be a version available from the mix master, but for now this will have to do.

Joe says: "If I recall correctly, before leaving Ireland Tom McCrum and Broz Broznan of Hovorka's rhythm section had performed in a Dublin group whose other members went on to become the Hothouse Flowers."

Producer / second guitarist Joe Harvard was in the midst of a serious narcotics relapse during the making of the record:
"I was on a tear at the time and very strung out, which made it sort of insane to go to NYC for a week. But I loved working with John on the Turbines 'Magic Fingers and Hourly Rates' and the opportunity to play on his new songs was too good to pass up. I stocked up on dope, which was a crazy thing to have to do if you were going to New York, a Coals to Newcastle sort of thing. But already by '88 the climate had changed in the old drug-tolerant neighborhoods like Alphabet City so it was better safe than sorry. As it was my habit was so out of control I had to pull over to 'tune up' again before I got to New York City -- and it's only a 4-1/2 hour drive."
'

"I had done my pre-production homework already, though, and the sessions went smoothly. I stayed at Tom McCrum's place above the Portugese Social Club, and it's a mark of the times that his Williamsburg rent was so cheap he had an extra empty bedroom to offer the odd journeyman dope fiend-producer a crash pad. The band shot pool down in the Club sometimes, so there was a warm welcome from the domino players out front whenever we turned up."

On the studio where the basics were tracked, Joe relates:
"Coyote was situated like a dispatcher's office right in the middle of a truck garage, using a Ramsa board meant for live purposes, with an adjoining little office for the band to set up in. No control room window, just close the door and get on with it -- very much a new and fledgling operation, although they grew quickly and became a well known establishment in much better digs soon after. I don't think they remained an eight-track facility too long, either. It wasn't long at all before I was hearing all sorts of great stuff from there, but I remember thinking then 'wow this makes the Fort seem high tech and sort of luxurious'. They must've just opened."

Harvard continues:
"The mess I was in accounts for that slight extra junkie feel to the rhythm guitar tracks -- I'm using a Traynor YBA-1 bass head through a Vox Buckingham 2-12" cab coming through the left side more on the mixes, while John's 100w Marshall 4x12" is louder, slightly more rightward, and with more high end for clarity. All the soloing is John. We played the parts together, I was looking to add that Keith-and-Mick weaving, two-guitars-as-one feel to John's foundational parts, which tend to be more sort of squared off. The old snake slithering around the tree thing. That week took a lot out of me, but I love the way the record came out. I wish someone would release the thing, it still sounds contemporary, but then I think most of John's work is inventive and original enough that it defies a time stamp."