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The hyper punk-pop of this Carey Peak-fronted trio (where he doubled on bass) birthed with the popular South Florida alt-rock quartet, Dore Soul (1990–1994), managed and produced by local rock entrepreneur Gary Styder of locally-famed Gled Studios whose work in the marketplace dates to the early days of Tuff Luck.
Courtesy of local college and commercial radio airplay for their catchy, radio-friendly songs “Breathe” and “Full in You,” Dore Soul’s popularity grew on the region’s early-to-mid ’90s, burgeoning alternative club scene alongside the newly-formed, alt-gothic metal outfit Marilyn Manson and the rap-metal crossover concern Collapsing Lungs. Signing a management deal with local impresario John Tovar — again, who negotiated the careers Nuclear Valdez and the Mavericks to major label deals — Dore Soul garnered interest from Sony (home to the since dropped Nuclear Valdez), Interscope, and Atlantic; the latter two signed respective deals with Marilyn Manson and Collapsing Lungs, instead.
Resolute, Dore Soul self-released two full-length, controversially-titled cassettes: Bl*w J*b (1993) and The New Sh*t (1994); however, by that point, national, as well as local interest in the grunge-inspired alternative scene, cooled; label interest in the band waned, once hot local clubs were closing. So Dore Soul split.
The reconstituted trio-version of Dore Soul as the C-60s played their first show opening a 1997 Fort Lauderdale club date for Self: a chart-rising alt-rock band fronted by Matt Mahaffey. Impressed, the multi-instrumentalist and producer offered a deal on his Mufreesboro, Tennessee-based imprint Spongebath Records, itself a subsidiary of Enclave Records operated by (yep, there he is: again) Tom Zutaut: a former A&R executive with Geffen Records best known for signing Guns N’ Roses and Mötley Crüe.
Courtesy of Peak’s kinetic, infectious writing and singing, “Remote Control,” the lead single from the C-60s self-titled debut (1998), was quickly accepted by college radio; a commercial crossover was on the horizon.
That was until Enclave’s parent company, Dreamworks Records — founded in 1996 by David Geffen as a subsidiary of Dreamworks Pictures, itself a motion picture studio founded by Geffen, along with studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, and filmmaker Steven Speilberg — split from Dreamworks Pictures.
Then,
Enclave’s new distributor, EMI Records, folded the imprint into Virgin
Records, leading its June 1997 shutdown (and that EMI shuffling
contributed to the Hazies losing their deal). Mercury
Records reactivated Enclave later that year; their parent, Polygram
Universal, shuttered Enclave, once again, for the last time in 1999. The
changes left the still-operating Spongebath as a struggling independent
label unable to offer distribution, radio promotion, or tour support — rife with rumors of behind-the-scenes money mismanagement and alleged embezzlement scuttling the label once and for all.
So, the C-60s broke up.
In November 2021, the music of the C-60s previous incarnation, Dore Soul, appeared on the soundtrack for the Showtime original series Yellowjackets (S1:E1), with “What If . . . ” from their second cassette. In 2023, “Just,” from their debut cassette, appears on the soundtrack to the Canadian-produced, independent drama, Seagrass. Both of Dore Soul’s tapes have since been digitally remastered by Phoenix, Arizona-based Fervor Records, an independent label specializing in acquiring previously released and unreleased demo catalogs of unsigned bands for the purposing of offering affordable music licensing alternatives to advertising agencies, as well as low-budget cable television and streaming series.
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You can enjoy the reissued and digitized version of the Bl*w J*b and The New Sh*t cassettes from Dore Soul, as well as self-titled debut by the C-60s, on Over the Edge Radio You Tube.
Below is the big local hit, “Breathe,” which should have been a huge national alt-rock hit alongside the likes of Possum Dixon with “Watch the Girl Destroy Me,” the Toadies with “Possum Kingdom,” and Tripping Daisy with “I Got a Girl,” as well as so many other MTV 120 Minutes delights. The same holds true for “Remote Control” by the C-60s: right up there with the still-programmed — on “classic hits” radio, no less — “Sex and Candy” by Marcy’s Playground and “Closing Time” by Semisonic.
Too bad The MTV Basement Tapes weren’t around in the 120 Minutes ’90s . . . Dore Soul would have won their semi-final round, then taken the recording contract grand prize (denied earlier to South Florida’s own Slyder and Z-Toyz) by an overwhelming landslide. No doubt: the writing and composition skills of Carey Peak were that good.
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