"Ooooh, that smell! Can't you smell that smell?"
~ Lynyrd Skynyrd on Stench
Origins
Ralph Featherstonehaugh formed Stench as an attempt to get free airfare and a good seat at the renowned HBGB (hee-bee-gee-bee’s) club in Newark, New Jersey. “Philthy” Phil Franklin was a recently unemployed ex-member of Lobe. Featherstonehaugh approached Franklin with a plan to create the most anti-social, anti-establishment, anti-corporate, anti-pro-anything group the world had ever seen. Franklin’s enthusiastic reply came: “I’ll do anything for a buck.”
A few phone calls later, Stench was born.
Members & Instruments
- Ralph “Eat Me” Featherstonehaugh ~ Anti-establishment ranting
- Xavier “Zed” Woolfardisworthy ~ 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5-string electric guitars
- “Philthy” Phil Franklin ~ Ukelele, electric washtub bass, armpit noises & harmony grunts
- Hei Yomama ~ Accordion, cello, coronet, timpani, & gong
- Brenda Dickinson ~ Burt Reynolds® impersonator
Band Practice
To capture and maintain the essence of true punk sound, practice was expressedly forbidden. Members were required to re-audition for the band weekly, in order to prove that their musicianship had not improved. Hei Yomama was nearly dismissed on several occasions, but quickly learned to adapt by changing his playing techniques once he developed adeptness at anything. His radical invention of rectum coronet playing begat a wild trend of punk rockers exposing themselves at concerts everywhere.
Art credit: Mhaille
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