The Moon Patrol
"The Moon Patrol" started out in January of 1996 recording some songs under the name "Oven Hits" and "Tom Shoveling Snow". We played basically every Windsor venue and a few outside of Windsor, including The Embassy in London and The Shelter in Detroit. We got to open for some pretty big bands at the time like Tricky Woo, Rhymes with Orange and B.T.K.. I played guitar, Darryl Ulch ("Dim") played bass and did vocals, and Eric Schiller ("Schill") played drums and also did vocals. For a few years, the band hosted a radio show on CJAM 91.5FM called "The Local and Indie Extravaganza", and were voted "Windsor's Favourite Band" at the radio station's annual Jammy awards in 1999. We recorded a full length tape called "Tape", an E.P. and a full length CD which probably would have been called "CD" if we got around to releasing it before the band broke up.
Homemade Badge (by Dim)
Presskit 8x10 (photo by Melissa Stewart)
Sticker 1
Sticker 2
Sticker 3
Unnamed CD (2000)
This was the only recording I've ever done with a budget (around $400 I believe), and it was meant to be released on CD. Unfortunately, wee never got around to doing so and then the band broke up. However, some of these tracks were online at audiogalaxy.com, where they compared the music to "Mudhoney, Gashuffer, Flipper, Pavement, Black Sabbath". The song "Can't Go Back" was in their top 10 for a few months and now seems to be listed on quite a few spam/spyware filled websites. This stuff was recorded in my basement on a Fostex Model 80 8-track 1/4 reel-to-reel unit, through a rented 16 channel mixer and with a few rented SM57's. At the Sound Foundry studio, I dumped all the tapes to ADAT and then mixed it to PC and DAT. 4 of these songs are updated versions of the songs on FTBTTBEP. "We Don't Care" contains clips from an episode of 'Jenny Jones'. "Dead Cells, Dead Bodies" contains clips from 'The Juice Man's Power of Juicing' tv commercial. "Tomorrow Never Knows" is a cover of The Beatles. The last song was going to be a hidden track of us playing under the name "White and Ashamed".
Full Album Download [ZIP, 67.0 MB]
From The Basement To The Bedroom E.P. (1999)
This was a 4 song demo we recorded because we had 4 new songs to record. We used it mainly for attempted promotion and had all the tracks online and a CD available at mp3.com (I bought the only one). I decided to try the recording in my bedroom instead of in the basement. This was originally recorded on two 4-track cassette machines, bouncing tracks between them and mixed onto a standalone CD burner.
Full Album Download [ZIP, 26.2 MB]
Tape (1998)
This was The Moon Patrol's first release, 200 cassette tapes with colour photocopy inserts. The 4-track recording was originally mixed straight to DAT, and from there a CD was made which I used to dub all the cassettes three at a time. These MP3s were made from the original DAT, transferred to PC through s/pdif into an Aardvark Q10. "Tape" was 'Album Of The Week' on CJAM 91.5FM, and managed to reach #3 on College Radio charts in Chart Magazine. From the liner notes:
recorded: by mike in his basement (on dims 4-track) between june 1997 and february 1998.
mixed: in mikes basement by the moon patrol
cover picture: from 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'
gotten taller: contains sounds from 'Encounter'
where's my hotdog?: compiled from 'The Crunge' and 'Black Dog' by Led Zeppelin. as well as clips from 'The Great North American Slim-Down' info-mercial
meet me at the van: contains sounds from 'Sexual Outlaws'
uno mexicaso: contains sounds from 'Spanish II' audio cassette
Full Album Download [ZIP, 52.2 MB]