HARDCHOIR
“Hardchoir”
by Peter Marston
I love having a good story behind the record albums in my collection. I have shared some of these stories in previous Lost Treasure posts, but I suppose there is always room for one more. I make my living as a teacher and last semester I had a student who, after I had mentioned my long career of writing and recording music, told me that her dad had been in a band in the ’80s. Curious, I did a bit of googling and discovered the band was called Hardchoir and when the student emailed me a couple mp3s, I was surprised to hear that their music was a sort of spare and tough power pop. Well, on my usual rounds of the used records stores in LA, I asked if anyone had ever heard of the album—no one had. An apparent cold case. For whatever reason, the mystery lingered in the back of my mind. Last week I travelled to St. Louis to visit the National Blues Museum and some other music sites (including the house where Chuck Berry wrote the Great 28). While stopping at the Record Exchange—a huge, rat-packed, but surprisingly well-organized used record store—I checked out the H section and, sure enough, there was a copy of the album. $5 across the counter and the deal was done.
Patrick Maroshek was the principal singer and songwriter in Hardchoir. His first successful stint as a musician was playing bass in Fenwyck, a three-piece garage band formed in Arcadia, California. The band ultimately hooked up with singer Jerry Raye, releasing the single “Mindrocker” in 1967 (found on the Rhino Nuggets box set). Raye wanted to be a star and Fenwyck wanted to be a band, so they parted ways, with Maroshek and guitarist Pat Robinson going on to form the band Back Pocket, this time with Maroshek on drums. Back Pocket released two albums, Have a Nice Day on Allied Records in 1970 and Buzzard Bait on Joyce Records in 1976. This time Robinson was becoming the star and Maroshek went back to the drawing board, forming Hardchoir with guitarist Mark Easterling and bassist Steve Hess. The band was signed to Danny Bramson’s Backstreets label and was sent into the studio with Waddy Wachtel producing. The resulting self-titled album was released in 1983.
After giving the album a few spins, the name Hardchoir is no affectation—it’s an entirely fair description: the music is edgy, full of eighth-note chugging and well, hard, while the vocals are lush and the harmonies stacked like, shall we say, a choir. As it is with Shoes and Off Broadway, the overall effect is pure power pop. The opening track, “All Right,” alternates tense verse material with a terrific pop chorus and a searing guitar solo. It is punctuated by Maroshek squealing “Hey!” in a way that will strike some listeners as dated and that will take others right back to their club-hopping days. It’s all a matter of perspective, I suppose. “All My Life” is one of three songs written by Easterling and also one of the album’s highlights: again, an angular verse meets hooky pop in the chorus. While the harmonies throughout the album are excellent, the vocal arrangement on this track is especially effective, particularly in the breakdown. “Getting Closer” deviates from the formula a bit by offering killer hooks in both the verses and the choruses, along with a great period-perfect guitar solo. “Girl I Need You” is the requisite ballad, if you couldn’t guess from the title. It’s a solid tune, with an unexpected Fleetwoods turnaround in the chorus (cf. “Come Softly to Me”). Fans of the decade will appreciate that the album also includes a couple songs that hit on themes that were hot in early-’80s new wave (“For the Money” and “Fallout Shelter”); fortunately, both songs are also top-flight power pop. Indeed, the only real clunker here is the album cover which brings ’80s mannequin fetishism dangerously close to necrophilia.
Only one single was released from Hardchoir, “All Right” b/w “I Think You Know That.” Neither the album nor the single charted and the band would not release any further recordings. Watchel did bring the band along to provide backing vocals on Ringo Starr’s Old Wave LP, which is a pretty sweet credit. After Hardchoir, both Easterling and Hess relocated to Nashville, where Easterling went on to play guitar with country artist Steve Azar and where Hess works with his vocal trio, Southern Salvation. Sadly, Maroshek passed away in 2008.
As you would probably guess, Hardchoir has never been reissued on CD and no legit digital downloads are available. As I write this, a few copies are available on the second-hand market at around $10 (guess I got a bargain!). It’ll definitely be a bit of a hunt to track this one down, but if you are a fan of Off Broadway and Shoes, you’ll be glad you did!
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Pop Pioneer and “Lost Treasures” writer, Peter Marston is the leader of long-running power pop band, Shplang, whose most recent album, “My Big Three Wheeler” has been described as “the Beatles meet Zappa in pop-psych Sumo match.” Peter has a new project in 2015 under the name MARSTON. Marston have a track on the latest “Power Pop Planet – Volume 5” compilation just out now and available at: www.PopGeekHeavenStore.com.
CHECK OUT SHPLANG out at this link: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang
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LINKS:
Wikipedia:
Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/Hardchoir-Hardchoir/release/1866793
Short blog thread: http://gdm.glorydazemusic.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=2453
Discography of Backstreet Records releases: http://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Backstreet%20Records&item_type=topic
Short post on Rate Your Music: http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/hardchoir/hardchoir/
VIDEO:
Sorry, there is absolutely nothing I can find on YouTube….
