PETER LAUGHNER 5 LP/CD BOX SET
OUT NOW ON SMOG VEIL RECORDS
For a decade or more, the rumors of a Peter Laughner retrospective box set have been hotly debated and speculated, with many fans wondering if in fact such a release would ever see the light of day. Peter Laughner, a 5 LP/CD box set plus bonus 7” EP is out now.
Focusing on the 1972 to 1977 period of Laughner’s career, Peter Laughner features previously unreleased performances by Laughner’s bands Rocket From The Tombs, Fins, Cinderella Backstreet, Friction, Cinderella’s Revenge, and The Original Wolverines as well as solo and collaborative efforts. In addition to the material uncovered over the last decade, this box set also includes some significant sonic upgrades of material that was previously released on various out-of-print and bootleg compilations. With 61 tracks in total, the release is the definitive statement of Peter’s career. Twenty five bandmates and collaborators are represented on this release.
Peter Laughner includes a book featuring extensive previously unpublished images and a collection of Laughner’s writings, reviews, and poetry for publications such as Creem, Exit, Zeppelin, and Star spanning 1973 – 1977.
Best known for being a co-founder of Cleveland’s legendary “avant garage” band Pere Ubu and a significant member of proto-punk trailblazers Rocket From The Tombs, Laughner had a musical career that stretched back to the mid-1960s and continued through to his untimely death at age 24 in 1977. Laughner did a little bit of everything in his music career: rock, folk, blues, punk, jug band, experimental, and even jazz fusion, drawing on influences as diverse as Chuck Berry, Jimmy Cliff, Brian Eno, Richard Hell, Michael Hurley, Robert Johnson, Lou Reed/The Velvet Underground, and Television. His original and collaborative compositions have been covered by artists as diverse as Guns ‘n’ Roses and Mission of Burma and lyrics from his signature composition “Amphetamine” were used by Jeff Tweedy in Wilco’s “Misunderstood”.
Perhaps even more importantly, Laughner was a catalyst for the Cleveland underground music scene, stating his conviction bluntly in a 1974 piece for the Plain Dealer: “I want to do for Cleveland what Brian Wilson did for California and Lou Reed did for New York.” In some ways, 41 years after his death, Laughner has done just that.
ABOUT SMOG VEIL RECORDS
Smog Veil Records was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1991 and focuses on underground, challenging and bombastic music. Platters du Cuyahoga, Series 1 contains the following three records — X__X : Albert Ayler’s Ghosts Live at the Yellow Ghetto (2014-2015); Mr. Stress Blues Band: Live At the Brick Cottage 1972 – 1973; Robert Bensick Band: French Pictures In London (1975). PDC2 contains The Schwartz Fox Blues Crusade: Sunday Morning Revival (1967), Allen Ravenstine: Terminal Drive (1975), and Hy Maya: The Mysticism of Sound & Cosmic Language (1972-1973). The Smog Veil roster includes Rocket From The Tombs, Batusis (Cheetah Chrome and Sylvain Sylvain of New York Dolls), Pere Ubu, Complaints Choir, This Moment In Black History, OBNOX, Tin Huey, Easter Monkeys, Pistol Whip, Unknown Instructors (Mike Watt, George Hurley, Joe Baiza, Dan McGuire, Raymond Pettibon, David Thomas), Teacher’s Pet, New Christs (featuring Rob Younger of Radio Birdman), The Guns, Rubber City Rebels, among others. The label and various bands on the roster have been featured in esteemed publications including Rolling Stone, Wire, SPIN, The New York Times, Artforum Magazine, Audubon Magazine, The Economist, and CBS Sunday Morning.
The release is exclusively distributed by Amped/AEC.
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