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SLAM WHITMAN – 4 DEAD IN OHIO (1985)
1. Woke Up
2. State of Nature
3. Crime Against Humanity
4. Ronnie
5. Covert
6. Hiroshima
7. Fashion
8. Hollywood Preacher
9. Euthenasia
10. Urban Death Song
11. Daze
12. Billy
13. Warfare
14. Ohio
Slam Whitman was a hardcore punk band that was active at Ohio University in the southeastern town of Athens, from 1983-1987. The band was comprised of Jeff Burnett on vocals, Matt Gruber on guitar, Tom Schwarm on bass and Greg Johnston on drums. The band was born from the ashes of a group from Read Hall East Green called Hooch Newklear. In this group Matt and Tom as freshmen would jam, make up songs and drink. One day Matt discovered that there was a campus radio station called ACRN. Greg and Jeff were hosting a radio program there that featured alternative music of the day. Jeff was the music director of the station with one of the biggest record collections known to man (over 3 thousand records that ranged from original copies of every punk/post punk, hardcore band to OG Jazz to the avant-garde stylings of Throbbing Gristle and everything in between). Greg was the more straight up punk barrowing every LP Jeff had and getting a first-class musical education. When Matt found out Greg was a drummer, the discussions began of forming a band. Greg drafted Jeff, Matt drafted Tom and Slam Whitman was born.
In the early 80’s punk was still a young and growing medium. The late 70’s bands of The Clash, Sex Pistols, and Ramones had inspired thousands of bands to jump into the fray. The first decision to be made was what the new band would sound like. Matt was a metalhead, Tom was into Neil Young, Jeff was alt and Greg was punk. Could 4 guys with really different backgrounds gel? Greg provided Matt with a basic library of influences including Minor Threat, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, Replacements, Circle Jerks, and Husker Du. The first few Slam songs, “Daze”, “Warfare” and “Billy” made it clear that whatever this was going to be, it certainly was going to be fast, loud and aggressive. The typical song creating scenario was- Greg would start a beat, Matt would come up with the music, Jeff and Greg individually or often together would write the lyrics…and Tommy was in charge of the most important job of all…bringing beer to practice! We jammed in the basement at Jeff’s house ready to unleash our punk rock powers. The campus of Ohio U was primed for the aggressive racket that Slam was providing with local bands like Nuclear Theatre, Blue, and One Man’s Head (featuring future Columbus alt pioneer Marcy Mays who would form Scrawl).
In the winter of 1986, on break from school, Slam would play their only tour. The highlight was a set at the legendary CBGB’s in New York City opening for School of Violence. Other dates on the tour included the Infamous Electric Banana in Pittsburgh, and DC Space in Washington.
Slam Whitman’s recorded output was only available on cassette until now! The tape “Four Dead in Ohio” was released in 1985 and was only available at School Kids Records and Haffa’s Used Books in Athens…along with a few that Greg gave to the famous Bleeker Bob’s in NYC on consignment. In true DIY fashion, we hand pasted the covers and dubbed each copy one at a time on a cassette-to-cassette machine Greg owned. The title came from the inclusion of the CSNY song “Ohio”, done by Jeff in mock Neil Young voice, which exploded into a speedy rant about nuclear war and Ronald Reagan. Matt and Greg were Radio and Television majors and used the university’s sterile recording facility and outdated gear to record for free, with these recordings kicking the ass out of the college studio! The recording was done in the RTV building studio and 14 songs were recorded in a straight 2 hour shot. There were no overdubs. Engineering and Mixing on the first recordings were handled by O.U. student Charles Dye who would go on to fame for engineering the smash hit “Livin’ La Vida Loca” for Ricky Martin!
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