19. Panic 1985–1990 (Coral Springs)

Totally acceptable young lads your daughter can bring home to dinner:
Jon Somerlade, left, and Hank Edney, second from right,
with (not in order) Mike Craig, Gavin Graves, and Peter Joseph.

 

The weekends for teens in the Northwest Broward County enclaves of Coral Springs and Tamarac—at such venues as the weekly concerts at Club Soda (inside the warehouse-section of an abandoned Winn Dixie supermarket in the Holiday Springs Plaza), Coral Spring’s Mullins Park (inside a portable-trailer band shell), and the Coral Springs Skating Center (1981 to 1995;  now home to a Pep Boys)—weren’t complete without one of the ubiquitous triple bills from the thrash metal outfits Panic, the Ethiopians, and Amboog-a-lard: the latter two bands with their own levels of notoriety-recognition by way of the bands’ guitarist-in-common, Jeordie White, who joined Marilyn Manson (still known as “and the Spooky Kids”) in December 1993 upon the dismissal of bassist Gidget Gein, aka Brad Stuart (who replaced the original bassist, Brian Tutunick, later of Collapsing Lungs).

As is the case with any high school-bred bands making their way out of the garage: the early sets of all three bands consisted of thrashin’ covers by Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, Nuclear Assault, Overkill and Slayer . . . where Panic’s specialty, courtesy of Bobby Z’s scream, was “Metal Trashing Mad,” while the Ethiopians tore it up with their version of Nuclear Assault’s “Brain Death.”

Metal thrashin' Club Soda, August 1989.

Another Club Soda gig, October 1989.

During the earliest days of Panic, their first vocalist, Bobby Z, was backed by founding members Hank “Shredney” Edney on lead guitar, guitarist Gavin Graves, and Jon Somerlade: a drummer who gave Leeway’s Phil Varone—one of Broward County’s most unique drummers, even then, before wowing everyone in Saigon Kick—a run for his money; Jon also spun metal tunes in the DJ stage loft at Club Soda.

From the “Vivid Memories Department” (that might not be so “vivid”): Panic opened that life-changing Paramoure Club Soda gig . . . the cherished flyer of the show lost due to moving or whatever growing pains I had at the time.

As Panic began writing originals, by 1989, Bobby Z gave way to a new vocalist, Mike Craig, and bassist Peter Joseph who, upon the demise of Panic, transplanted to Tampa, Florida, as the guitarist in Demogoth, (Flesh Consumed, 1992 demo), Bone Saw (Till Death Do We Part, 1993 demo), and Hate (1993), eventually earning respect in the thrash metal community for his ten-year tenure with the Absence (albums in 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2010).

The three-song 8-track demo, left;
the 16-track demo, right.

 

Revitalized by Mike Craig’s Joey Belladonna-styled vocals, Panic’s first, three-song demo (1989)—recorded on an 8-track and featuring the originals “Crushed by the Badge,” “Laughing in the Dark,” and “Fear Eater”—broke the band out of its Coral Springs environs as their shows at the popular metal bar, The Plus Five in Davie, Florida, led to booking shows across the state. Encouraged, the band re-recorded and reissued their demo on a 16-track (1990). That second, more widely self-distributed tape was well-received by the world’s underground metal community to the point the band was featured in Metal Forces magazine (#49, April 1990), while “Fear Eater” earned placement on Metal Hammer magazine’s Shape of Things to Come album series (1989; alongside Fort Lauderdale’s soon-to-be-signed Young Turk). As part of the band’s self-promotional push: a music video was produced for “Fear Eater,” as an audio and video class production project by Mike Craig, Hank Edney, and Gavin Graves, all who attended the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.

Metal Forces #49, April 1990.

The 1989 artist compilation.

Early mention for Panic in the pages
of the radio trade, The Hard Report.

July 15, 1989, at Hallandale’s infamous The Treehouse.

 

Sadly—even with an improved demo and accompany video proving that Panic meant business—no label deal was forthcoming in the then healthy thrash/death metal scene. Undeterred, Panic grew once again: they expanded their sonic palette by incorporating elements of funk for a crossover/thrash metal sound courtesy of their third vocalist, Patrick McAuley: equally skilled on guitar and keyboards, and a new bassist: Paul Affanto.

Revitalized, Panic reimaged as the harder and funkier Type-Zero. FUBAR, their equally well-received, seven-song demo issued in 1991—complete with a metal version of Madonna’s pop-hit, “Holiday”—not only became a hit on the magazine-based, underground tape-trading circuit (as did Panic’s demo), it also earned Type-Zero a spot on the nationally-distributed Underdogs Vol. I: The Best of U.S Underground, alongside South Florida’s own Naked Rhythm (part of the Super Transatlantic axis), as well as the soon-to-be-signed Meliah Rage (Epic), Wrathchild America (Atlantic), and Watchtower (Noise International).

While Panic and the revamped Type-Zero released their 1989 to 1991 demos but remained unsigned, the Ethiopians—from their common “Coral Springs Metal” beginnings—absorbed into Amboog-a-lard, which led to their releasing the well-received-on-the-tape-trading-underground, back-to-back demos in 1991: a 3-song “white album” soon expanded into a 7-song “green album.”

Sorry, mom . . . we ain't the Beatles,
"White Albums" be damned.

Amboog-a-lard becomes part of the Manson Family,
August 1991. Courtesy of Spooky Kids.

Kenny Kerner's "A&R Report" in the pages of
Music Connection, Vol. XV, No. 8, April 1991, Page 11,
courtesy of World Radio History.

 

By 1993, Jon Somerlade replaced original drummer George Kokkoris in Amboog-a-lard in time for their third demo: a five-song EP that led to the national distribution of their full-length, 10-song album, A New Hope. The band splinted when guitarist Jeordie White—who, while with Amboog-a-lard, was part of the Marilyn Manson side projects Satan on Fire (1991-1992) and Mrs. Scabtree (1993; with members of the MM satellite band, Jack Off Jill)—accepted an offer to join Marilyn Manson as a full member for the writing and production of the band’s debut effort: 1993’s Portrait of an American Family, released on Altantic/Interscope/Nothing Records.

Type-Zero, left to right: Patrick McAuley, Hank Edney,
Paul Affanto, and Jon Somerlade.

The members of Panic/Type-Zero and Amboog-a-lard have all since retired from the music business . . . but what great times we had during the “metal days” of Coral Springs, Florida, in the bowls of a Winn-Dixie and where a Pep Boys now stands . . . and what city official in their right mind thought turning over Mullins Park to a bunch of metal thrashing mad hooligans was a good idea?

And where in tarnation are the Panic with Stage Fright at Mullins Park, Club Soda and Summers on the Beach “Innards Across the Strip” with Paramoure, the Tuff Luck and Saigon Kick flyers at Club Soda, as well as Joe’s Diner at the Coral Springs Skating Center? I specifically saved those flyers with the Panic and Amboog-a-lard flyers, above: alas, it seems my pack rat skills have failed me. It’s always that one thing—amid all the crap we keep—that you really wanted to keep . . . that vanishes.

Sadly, copies of those very flyers I posted at the Coral Springs Metal Facebook group are also gone, as result of that page no longer existing. . . . Does anyone have those images or the originals?

* * * 

The lone video from Panic and the full-length release by Type-Zero are embedded below. You can find both demo tapes by Amboog-a-lard on Over the Edge Radio You Tube. A new, digitally remastered version of a A New Hope will see release in 2025 on the retro-reissues label, Trashback Records, which you can listen to on You Tube.

The September 2025 issue of the career-spanning
compilation, Fear Eater: Demos 1987 - 1989.