Friday, May 21, 2010

MALADY - Demos


We were supposed to release the second MALADY album, but mid-way through the writing process Chris Taylor quit since he felt the band hadn't considered his vocals when writing the new songs. Not long after, the remaining members kicked out Johnny Ward since his drinking was getting in the way of his drumming (and general life functionality). I don't really know the full story, so definitely take all that with a grain of salt... that's just what I was told at the time.

What I do know is that what was supposed to become the sophomore MALADY album shapeshifted into the VERSE EN COMA ep, which ended up being a financial disaster since we spent a ton on the recording and it was only really 5 songs that just didn't sell all that well. The band never performed live under that name or lineup, and I don't even know if VERSE EN COMA vocalist Brian Markham (who went on to form ANCIENT SKY) ever even met everyone in the band... kind of a weird situation. Oh well.

What I'm posting here are two sets of MALADY demos. The first of which is a *super* early practice tape that I dubbed off Nathan from CRESTFALLEN when Chris Taylor played it for both of us on Nathan's boombox in Richmond one afternoon. I dunno that anyone really knew I was copying it, but if I hadn't this probably wouldn't now publicly exist since this was just for the band members to learn/rehearse the songs to. You can tell Chris' vocals are kinda temporary in a few spots, so take all that for what it's worth. Three songs (that all ended up on the album in the end) all on one MP3 file, since that's how I ripped it a million years ago.

The second set of demos is kinda late-MALADY, proto-VERSE EN COMA era. I think this is the stuff they gave to Chris which he wasn't too happy with. I'm not sure, but there's no vocals on these. I think these all have Johnny on drums still, sounding a little rough. Cool to hear, but yeah you can tell the band is sorta unraveling with this stuff. Best to jam the "self titled" MALADY album and the VERSE EN COMA "Rialto" EP, which coincidentally we still have a pile of.

* download MALADY - Demos (via MediaFire)
* download MALADY - Demos (via RapidShare)
* download MALADY - Demos (via SendSpace)

Again, raw/rough demos so don't expect studio-quality stuff exactly. A lot of what these guys have released over the years is now out of print, but if you want some physical products that these guys have put out, try the following:

* PG.99 stuff in the Robotic Empire - Online Store
* PYGMY LUSH stuff in the Robotic Empire - Online Store
* VERSE EN COMA stuff in the Robotic Empire - Online Store

Three obscurities (download) posts of Virginia bands in a row, with plenty more for down the road at some point. Lots to compile from all different eras of these dudes bands, so while it'll probably be a while, hopefully they'll be worth the wait.

5 comments:

  1. Hey I really love this stuff and I love this band. Is there any chance these demos will ever be pressed to wax? I am probably just a whore for anything Brian Markham. I don't know why Malady wasn't bigger it seems that S/T is pretty much the perfect record. And Verse En Coma stood out and shinned with more than a couple of songs on Rialto. Thanks for posting these again!

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  2. Any possibility of selling copies of Verse En Coma - Rialto on CD, without the additional vinyl (similar to those Torche - In Return promo discs)? It's something I've always been interested in, but I don't collect LPs...

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  3. It's a shame the verse en coma didn't do well. That's one of my favorite albums.

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  4. malady was greater than verse en coma by far, and even better than pygmy lush to me. its the perfect encapsulation of the emotion in city of caterpillar with the intensity of pageninetynine. jaded into fierceness and emerald dreaming. nobody really ever picked up on how that record really shined, but anybody who i've shown it to thinks its a real gem.

    made videos for some tracks the other week since they were unrepresented on youtube to show someone.

    bad life / yeah
    http://youtu.be/XVVVe0CtEZ0

    bad life
    http://youtu.be/QuwE7kfbMCY

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  5. Verse en coma was the best thing ever. I really wish they did more than just those few songs.

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