by JeffreyWettig | September 20th, 2014
Joel, Carl, Greg, and Jeff outside the old practice space across from Turkey Hill on Harrisburg Pike, Lancaster, PA. I think it’s a gated parking area now…………….
Welcome to the second episode of the Hootenanny Down the Hall Music Podcast, featuring The Incoherents. I managed this band shortly after they started in 1990 at Franklin and Marshall College on the outskirts of Lancaster City, PA. What started out as a college band playing at parties and campus clubs, they emerged onto the Lancaster County Hardcore scene after their second 6 six song Demo “Lunk” was recorded at the legendary Lancaster Studio, The Catbox, run by Suddenly, Tammy! bassist Ken Heitmueller. Contemporaries of Brom Bones, No Ones Hero, The Oogies, Spirit Assembly, Deadlove, Wax Mountain, among many others, they were part of an exciting, up and coming music scene in the region during the early part of the 1990’s, which was paved in the 80’s by bands such as the Sharks, Innocence Mission, and the Ocean Blue, and culminated in bands such as Live and Suddenly, Tammy! They played clubs from the Chameleon club, all the way through Central PA, the Jersey Shore, Brooklyn, and up to the end all be all, CBGB’s.
Playing a party at Ray’s “Cove Bar and Spill.”
An enduring legacy of the scene was Paul Dengel, whom I shared a microphone at WIXQ 91.7 at Millersville University. He went on to start Motherbox records and ended up featuring many of the bands from around South Central PA Hardcore scene on his label well into the next century.I often hoped to get the Incoherents on Motherbox vinyl. Unfortunately The Incoherents had to call it quits in 1993, but I tried to keep the legacy alive, releasing two volumes of “The Lean Years” digitally in 2010. I tried keeping up in the scene as a manager, helping a band called Bighorn, and writing my own Fanzine, “Spastic Et, Loud” up through the mid 90’s. I wrote for Millersville University’s campus newspaper “The Snapper” as an entertainment columnist up through the turn of the century, when I coverted to the digital age with a blog site called “SpasticNation.”
Please enjoy the Pod, hopefully I can get he guys back together someday!
Remember, The Sharks are playing a reunion show on November, 29th, 2014 at the Village in Lancaster. Tickets available www.brownpapertickets.com
Hootenanny Down the Hall, Episode 2, The Incoherents
You can find The Incoherents, “The Lean Years, Volume 1 and 2 on Amazon.com and Itunes. You can also find more at The Incoherents Facebook page.
