18. Love Canal 1990–1998 (Fort Lauderdale)

Love Canal: Mk. V: Left to right: Jody Martin, Chad Pheobus,
Stephen Carroll, and George Fotiadias.

 

Fort Lauderdale’s Love Canal was an outgrowth of Beat the Press, a jangly power-pop concern that played many dates at the popular, local alt-rock club, The Reunion Room, courtesy of their local radio hits, “Take the Time,” “Paint a Picture,” and “Tuesday Didn’t Happen.” That radio airplay, as with Randy Bates’s Talk of War, also led to Beat the Press opening major concert appearances for UB40 and Dreams So Real, affording them the opportunity to play in front of 3,000 people at The Sunrise Musical Theater.

Sadly, a well-deserved deal wasn’t forthcoming for their Elvis Costello-inspired, Brit-pop leanings, as alternative rock began its grunge transition in the early ’90s. Realizing a change with the times was an artistic necessity, Beat the Press—with drummer Rob Costello replaced by Alan Mitchell (ex-locals A Perfect Murder/Purple Mustard)—vocalist Mark Scandariato, guitarist Stephen Carroll, and bassist George Fotiadias debuted their harder-edge sound at The Reunion Room. (Mark and Rob were formerly of The Terminals (1980 to 1984), which appeared in the Johnny Depp film, Private Resort; they shared stages with Depp's band, the Kids on the local scene.)

Beat the Press at the Button South, December 1988.
Top left, clockwise: Stephen Carroll, Rob Costello,
Mark Scandariato, and George Fotiadias.

 

Beat the Press, 1989, with Mark Scandariato, left,
from Love Canal, Mk. I. George Fotiadias, right.

Stephen Carroll and George Fotiadias with
Beat the Press, December 1988.

Beat the Press shares the stage at Summers on the Beach
with Mary Karlzen and Vesper Sparrow, February 1989.

Mark Scandariato and his pre-Beat the Press band, the Terminals,
with one of their many appearances at Flynn's Ocean 71,
at some point during their 1980 to 1984 tenure.

That first version of Love Canal formulated in 1990 was short-lived: Mark Scandariato’s pop sensibilities—via an anonymous old Fender clone salvaged from a thrift shop gifted by his father who transformed the find into a “Fender” by inscribing the company logo on the head stock using a magic marker—didn’t transition to the band’s new amalgam of ’80s AOR hard rock and ’90s alternative. So, he returned to the pop side of the spectrum, working with a solo-bound Mary Karlzen of Vesper Sparrow, which also featured ex-Talk of War drummer, Wayne Glass: the group came to be signed by Atlantic Records.

Love Canal’s new leader singer came in the form of North Carolina-transplanted vocalist Chad Pheobus (ex-Kidd Vicious). Jettisoning their Scandariato/Carroll-penned tunes, the revitalized quartet penned a new batch of tunes that made up their first EP demo, Flush, self-produced by the band in 1991.

Love Canal, Mk. II, with
drummer Alan Mitchell, left.

Love Canal, Mk. III, with
drummer Alan Mitchell, bottom left,
George Zhen, (hat) top.

 

By 1993, with two years of shows under their belts, Love Canal caught the attentions of Sony Records by way of non-com radio disc jockey Keith MacIntosh, who sent a batch of local music to an old college friend working at the label’s Atlanta offices. Intrigued with the Flush demo—and the single-potential of “Might,” in particular—the label fronted money via a publishing contract for recording and touring of the Southeastern United States (as well into the Carolinas, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee). Sony paired the band with Tom Allom (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Krokus) and his go-to engineer, Patrice Levinsohn (Jetboy, Ted Nugent). At this point, the band expanded into a quintet with the addition of ex-Some People’s Children founder, George Zhen. The new, keyboard-backed roster re-recorded new arrangements of “Might” and “Building God,” along with three new tunes: the popular “Ashes,” along with “Throw No Stones” and “High,” for their next demo, Suburban Freezeplug (1993).

Love Canal, Mk. III, with
drummer Alan Mitchell, top,
George Zhen, top left.

 

The designer of all their album covers, packaging, and promotional materials: graphic artist by day and bassist at night George Fotiadias, explained how the titles of Love Canal’s three demo EP cassettes came to be.

“We rented a new warehouse and fixed it up; soundproofed it with carpeting. Alan Mitchell was obsessed with the pieces of carpeting being ‘flush,’ thus the title. Suburban Freezeplug is a reference to the old, 15-seat Chevy Suburban that blew out its radiator freeze plugs, dumped antifreeze all over a Denny’s parking lot, and left us stranded during an upstate show in Tampa. It could have been worse: we could have titled it after the ‘heel buddy’ that was left under the seat: one of those ‘heel protectors’ ladies use when driving a car. If the freeze plugs didn’t blow, we probably would have.”

So, what about the third demo, Remembrance of Love?

“It’s a parody on those old K-Tel and Ronco compilation albums of love songs you could buy from the television back in the seventies.”

George Fotiadias during a Beat the Press
gig at the Miami Rocks Too! conference,
January 1989.

Love Canal, Mk. IV, 1994, with Alan Mitchell's replacement, right,
and George Zhen, left, wearing hat.

 

While the Allom sessions for their first Sony demo (but second overall) didn’t lead to a full signing, Sony continued to back Love Canal’s recording and touring activities, which lead to Keith Rose (Yngwie Malmsteen, Foreigner) producing the band at Miami’s Criteria Studios, during his 1989 to 1998 tenure (he also produced local releases by the Goods, Diane Ward, and Vandal, just to name a few). Those sessions bore a new version of “High,” along with three new ones: “Wormhole,” “Glass Car,” and “Home,” as Remembrance of Love (1993).

For whatever reasons: after those two Sony-backed demos, the label passed on the band. Alan Mitchell was soon replaced by two drummers: one, quickly gone and forgotten, soon replaced by Broward County-born skinsman, Jody Martin.

Love Canal,  Mk. IV, with Alan Mitchell's
replacement on drums, left, next to George Zhen.

 

While one of the band’s outtakes, “Shotgun Revolution,” in a live version—appeared on an edition of the local artist Live at the (Washington) Square compilation series (Vol. II, 1993), “Wormhole” found its way on two nationally-distributed, unsigned artists compilations, Propaganda! and Rock the Vote!, issued by the Gainesville, Florida-based Phisst Records (1994). As the label came to release the band’s full-length debut, Embers (1995), college and then-budding alt-rock stations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, programmed the band’s advanced singles. South Florida stations—the educational outlets WVUM and WKPX, as well as the locals-only programs on the commercial “active rock” outlets of WSHE and WZTA, and WJRR in Orlando and WXTB in Clearwater—also supported the effort. The encouraging airplay inspired Love Canal to embark on another, aggressive multi-state tour with shows in Alabama and Louisiana, including a prestigious October appearance at the Georgia’s South by Southeast Conference as precursor to the January 1995 release of Embers.

Sadly, the success was short-lived: Phisst went bankrupt by 1996 and with no other deals forthcoming, the band’s line-up returned to a keyboardless quartet for their self-released, second full-length effort, Home (1997). The release brought back the fan favorites “Throw No Stones” and “Might” from their Sony demo sessions.

Love Canal, Mk. V, without George Zhen on keyboards,
and drummer, Jody Martin, second from left, 1995.

Love Canal, Mk. V, Jody Martin, second from left, 1997.

Love Canal, Mk. VI, with bassist
Mick McConnell, left, and Jody Martin, right, 1998.

Love Canal, Mk. VII, becomes Moonfarm, Mk. I.
Left to right: Jody Martin, Chad Pheobus,
Stephen Carroll, and Dimitri Proano (bass), right.

 

Love Canal went through more changes as George Fotiadias (a Fourth Annual South Florida Rock Awards “Best Bassist” winner, 1992) joined ex-Saigon Kick founder Jason Bieler’s new concern, Super Transatlantic—which featured the rhythm section of Fort Lauderdale’s Naked Rhythm. Love Canal’s new bassist came in the form of Mick Who, aka Mick McConnell, from South Florida’s popular, alt-rock/funk collective, The Itch. One of the group’s major gigs during this period was opening the West Palm Beach tour stop for Queensyche at the request of the band’s label, Virgin Records, who heard the single “Might” as part of Zeta Rocks: Vol. 1 (1997; there were no other volumes, as the station flipped formats from “active rock”). Another of Love Canal’s major gigs during the Home promotional period was opening the Subrosa (the ashes of For Squirrels) and Creed 1998 tour at The Chili Pepper in Fort Lauderdale for 94.9 WZTA-FM’s Zeta’s T’aint Ball.

Love Canal’s founding members Stephen Carroll and Chad Pheobus—with three new members: drummer Mike Sivo, bassist Paul Affanto, and second guitarist David Siclari—continued as the reconstituted quintet, Moonfarm, releasing the self-produced effort, In the Unlikely Event . . . (2010). 

The duo of Carroll and Pheobus—during the Love Canal and Moonfarm phases—also played locally as the acoustic duo the Mos Eisley Brothers (based on Carroll’s cinematic and literary sci-fi obsessions) featuring unplugged versions of their catalog.

Moonfarm: Left to right:
Mike Sivo, Stephen Carroll, Chad Pheobus,
Paul Affanto, and David Siclari.
Rotating members included bassists David Majeski
and Dimitri Proano, and drummer Jody Martin.

Love Canal makes the pages of
Billboard, August 1995.

 

* * *

Love Canal Essay-Interview, 1995

During the early-to-mid-’90s I was writing on music for local-to-state publications, aka those ragazines you could pick up for free as you exited your favorite music retailer or record store, profiling both local and national bands. One of the local bands I pitched for a featured article was Love Canal, to promote their debut album, Embers, released in 1995.

The piece never ran, as planned: The editor disliked the “sci-fi angle” and “writing myself into the piece”—which, in my opinion, brought out the personality of the band members.

So, here’s a digitized scan of that 1995 essay-interview—completed on a Brother typewriter, no less—with Love Canal. Come on, now: you can handle another 1,700 words (the limit set was always 2,500).

After the essay, a detailed discography of the Love Canal catalog, follows, to end this artist profile.

LOVE CANAL: ALIENS, WORMHOLES, AND ROCK ‘N’ ROLL

When first entering the southeastern Fort Lauderdale headquarters of Love Canal, you’re introduced to a mechanical monolith perched on an over-the-makeshift stage loft at the rear of the group’s cavernous warehouse. Accented with luminescence from a couple of 110-watt light bulbs swinging from a water stained ceiling surrounded by sagging brown carpet on the walls (not cut “flush”), your dilating pupils soon discover the sinister device—known to the band as “Doctor Theopolis”—is actually a Chinese Pinball Machine. 

“It reminded me of the character from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,” says Stephen Carroll, the band’s sole guitarist who can crunch a rhythm or scorch a lead with L.A’s sleazy, cock rockin’ best, as he wraps up formal introductions. “I just had to have it, even though it doesn’t work.” Carroll continues as he cups his hands to his chest, “Remember how Twiki, Buck’s robot, connected Doctor Theopolis to its chest?”

Conversations fueled by Carroll’s science fiction references suddenly take a left turn into music, courtesy of Jody Martin, the band’s third and newest drummer (and hopefully, their “last drummer” and “forever drummer,” according to the band), mentioning shredder Paul Gilbert’s Racer X, causing the remaining members of the ’80s AOR-meets-’90s alt-rocker hopefuls to cringe.

“There’s no way I’ll ever reduce myself to playing that way. It has no feeling, no soul. Yeah, they’re more technically proficient than I’ll ever be, but I’d rather go sweat my ass off in a warehouse,” opines Stephen Carroll. This confession to musical scruples inspires lead vocalist Chad Pheobus, a recent North Carolinian transplant, formerly of the oh-so-metal named, double-letter monikered Kidd Vicious, to belt out a couple of measures of Dio’s “Rainbow in the Dark” and “Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” that, even in a jest: were very impressive, indeed. When I ask if he knows any Saxon in return-jest, Pheobus steps right up: “. . . living my fantasies, at 20,000 feet /20,000 feet, yeah!” from the Saxon catalog.

“I have no problem with bands like Racer X or Iron Maiden, especially Maiden, because Steve Harris, like Lemmy [Kilminster] from Motorhead, have a uniqueness unto themselves with the bass,” interjects bassist George Fotiadis. He receives nods of approval from his fellow Canalers when he rattles off references to New York, Los Angeles, and British punk bands that influenced his own approach to the instrument.

“Elvis Costello is the absolute shit when it comes to lyrics. People go on about Bob Seger, rightfully so, but Costello: his albums never leave my turntable,” says Stephen Carroll. “I always spun him on my radio show when I was a DJ at WDNA [at 88.9 FM, when it was an eclectic “community radio” outlet; now it’s a “serious jazz” outlet]. But let’s never forget the band’s influences from that wicked, autoharp-playing space hippie from Star Trek, you know, from the episode when the hippies stole the Enterprise and went to the planet Eden.” To which Carroll and I puck our air-harps to the refrain: “We are heading off to Eden . . . yeah, brother,” to the roll of the other Canalers’ eyes.

Yes, somehow, this eclectic, merry band of five longhairs swimming in a sea of bad metal, cheesy television, obscure science fiction references, and musical talent forms the adhesive musical unit known as Love Canal.

Since their November of 1991 inception, Love Canal’s members earned nominations for their respective instruments of choice at the recent, 1993 South Florida Rock Awards held at The Plus Five in Davie: winning in the bass and keyboardist categories for George Fotiadis and George Zhen, respectively, as well as the “Best Rock Band” category. Three nominations in those same categories at the Orlando-based Jammy Awards soon followed, in addition to well-received appearances at the Miami Rocks, Too music forum and the Southeastern Music Conference in Tampa, held in 1993 and 1995, respectively.

The winter of 1995 will have Love Canal embarking on an aggressive tour of the East Coast—which the science fiction-inclined Carroll has dubbed as the “East Coast Probe Tour ’95” —in support of their ten-song debut compact disc, Embers, available on the independent label Phisst Records based in Gainesville, Florida. Their first release on Phisst was the hard-rocking single, “Wormhole” (there goes the sci-fi references, again), on the label’s Propaganda! compilation to benefit the Rock The Vote Foundation.

Those in the audience at a recent Button South gig in Hallandale, learned the meaning behind the band’s single, thanks to some clarification from vocalist Chad Phebus. “This one’s called “Wormhole.” If you watch Star Trek, you’ve probably heard about those anomalies in space.”

Guitarist Stephen Carroll jumps in, “Watch out for Klingons, Vulcans, and Cardassians,” as the first, chunky rhythmic crunches wail from the club’s P.A system.

Regardless of the song’s lyrics or hidden messages, “Wormhole” earned regular rotation airplay on South Florida modern rocker 88.5 WKPX, 95 WCHZ in Augusta, Georgia, and WJRR 101.1 in Orlando. Supporting independent bands is old territory at WJRR: they’re the station responsible for breaking Collective Soul during their pre-major label days, as well as Seven Mary Three and Matchbox Twenty.

Love Canal’s musical romance with the South Florida music scene began with their 1991, three-song EP, Flush, along with an appearance on the now rare local compilation, Live at the Square: Vol II, with the non-demo cut, “Shotgun Revolution.” That gave way to their five-song demo, Suburban Freezplug, issued in 1993. That effort, as well as their next five-song demo, Remembrance of Love, was recorded for Sony Music Publishing; Tom Allom of Judas Priest and Def Leppard fame produced the second; Keith Rose of the world-famous Criteria Studios of Miami, produced the prior. The band self-produced their three-song debut.

When asked about the admittedly odd titles of their demo tapes—which, I am told: I have the “really rare versions,” the ones that weren’t pressed for public consumption: the “demos of the demos,” as it were—George Fotiadis, who handles all of the band’s artwork for flyers and releases, weaves the titling tales.

“During a road trip in our Chevy Suburban, the radiator plugs, the freeze plugs, cracked and dumped antifreeze all over the parking lot of a Denny’s in Tampa. Remembrance of Love is just a goof on those old Ronco albums of love songs you’d buy from TV. Flush is because our first, old drummer was obsessed with things being cut ‘flush’ when we soundproofed and carpeted the new warehouse we just moved into. Thanks for helping by the way [I did, in fact, team with George to fix up the warehouse; he bought me Wendy’s as payment], but your carpentry skills are also questionable, but better than you know who.”

Upon completing the digital journey of Love Canal’s newest effort, Embers, you’ll notice a continuing pattern of one-word song titles, such as “Embers,” “Birth,” Oblivious,” and “Frank,” the latter a homage to the Pixies’ Frank Black. George Fotiadis explains the reason behind the titles is that Chad Pheobus comes into the warehouse three times a week with great lyrical ideas, but without any titles to identify them.

“When we compose music for his lyrics, we started tacking on easy-to-remember titles, temporary names to distinguish one song from another—and they just stuck,” says George Fotiadis.

“The titles are actually weirder with our newer stuff for the next album; newer material that we are just starting to perform live, with the titles “Flaccid” and “Milhouse”—and that’s not Richard Nixon’s middle name, but Bart’s friend from The Simpsons,” adds Stephen Carroll.

“Well, don’t forget: I have the word ‘fallopian’ all set for the next song we write, even if it has nothing to do with the reproductive system,” finish Fotiadis.

The band’s knack at “musical terminology” also came in handy when naming their production company. Steve Carroll takes the blame for christening it: Alien Shelf.

“That’s inspired by my collection of science fiction novels sitting on a bookshelf I have at home. It’s always been known as ‘the alien shelf’ by various roommates.”

In today’s expanding alternative radio market, all new bands fall under two generic labels of sound: sloppy Seattle grunge or cleaner Los Angeles cock rock, aka nu-metal (e.g., Warrior Soul, Galactic Cowboys, the Beautiful, Collision, King’s X). The geographical classification of the music industry’s topographers will obviously conduct a survey of Love Canal: discovering strange valleys of a throat contortionist who cites his respect for screamers like Ian Gillan or Rob Halford and a guitarist who can’t make it through a sentence without an obscure cross reference into the bands of his youth: Motorhead, Hawkwind, and UFO.

Then how does Love Canal explain the enthusiastic response to a recent gig at The Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando, where kids in the audience are more familiar with Soundgarden than the European-based classic rock of Gillan or UFO?

“I’ve never been in band where I have given away so many drum sticks. This is the first band I’ve been in where I’ve felt ‘like a rock star’ when I get off stage and audience members walk up and complement my drumming,” Jody Martin ventures a guess as to Love Canal’s statewide appeal.

The desire to showcase these live responses and even more newer material not available on the new Embers effort has now evolved into a soon-to-be-released live EP.

“Since New River Studios is a next door neighbor to Squeeze, they’ll be able to mix the show in-house while we’re onstage,” teases Chad Pheobus about the planned recording at Fort Lauderdale’s, well, Broward County’s, leading “alternative music” spot that will become Love Canal’s third release for Phisst Records—after the Propaganda! compilation and the full-length Embers effort.

Whether witnessing Love Canal in a live setting or in a digital format, it’s evident—well, at least to this journalist’s ears—that the Embers compact disc can break the band out of the local boundaries that hinder and stifle new bands who desire larger audiences at bigger clubs and larger fan bases across the state—and upwards into the Southeast’s new musical “hot spot” of alternative music: Atlanta, Georgia.

The unadulterated punk of “Savior,” the mellow grooves of “Enemy,” and a new-recorded version of the hard-rocking Propaganda! single “Wormhole,” construct a new musical gauge to plot the contours of the next generation (a little Star Trek for you, Steve) of these hopefully-rising MTV’ers from the wilds of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Besides, any band with a musician that makes the following, startling discovery is destined for greatness: “Did you ever notice that during any Henry Rollins video or live performance, when Henry strains his neck and shoulder muscles, he bears an eerie resemblance to an alien Cardassian from Star Trek: The Next Generation?” finishes Love Canal’s in-house “resident alien” (transplanted to the U.S from London), Stephen Carroll.

So goes this Love Canal tale of aliens, wormholes, and rock ‘n’ roll.

END

 * * *

Discography

Flush
3-song EP/indie demo (1991)

1. Monument
2. Might
3. Building God

Suburban Freezeplug
5-song EP/Sony demo (1993)

1. Ashes
2. Building God (second version; w/keyboards)
   
3. Might (second version)
   
4. Throw No Stones
5. High

Remembrance of Love
4-song EP/Sony demo (1993)

1. Wormhole
2. Glass Car
3. High (second, new version w/o keyboards)
   
4. Home

Thirteen Floor Conspiracy
10-song indie demo (1995) — not commercially released

1. Wormhole (new, second version)
   
2. 13^th Floor
3. Frank (PWLM)
4. Shine
5. Oblivious
6. Birth
7. Truth
8. Enemy
9. Savior
10. Embers

Embers
Phisst Records/Navarre (1995)

• 10-tracks, as above, in different order

Home
13-track self-released album (1997)

1. Grand Design
2. Gutterball
3. Boy Genius
4. Flagellum
5. Flaccid
6. Might (new, third version)
   
7. Open Window
8. Saving Face
9. Tree
10. Throw No Stones (new, second version)
    
11. Get Ugly
12. So Relative
13. Are You Experienced

Live at the Square Vol. II
Square Records (1993)

• Shotgun Revolution

Propaganda!
Rock the Vote!
Phisst Records/Navarre (1994)

• Wormhole

Zeta Rocks Volume 1
WZTA-FM 94.9 (1997)

• Might (third version appearing on Home)
  

In the Unlikely Event . . .
11-track self-released album by Moonfarm (2010)

1. Heading West (Early Morning Conversation)
2. Happy Procrastinator
3. Kansas (What’s the Matter With?)
4. Leave Your Angst on the Porch
5. Blue
6. Cave
7. The Doldrums
8. Dairy Queens and Trampolines — an old Love Canal song played live
   
9. Post Modern Miracle
10. Just Like Heaven — a Cure cover
11. Home (Rachel’s Song)

Billboard: October 1995, from a two-page advertisement for the Navarre catalog.

Love Canal, 1997.

Moonfarm, 2010.

 * * *

You can listen to the full-length albums Embers (1995) and Home (1997) by Love Canal, as well as In the Unlikely Event (2010) by Moonfarm on Over the Edge Radio You Tube, where we also feature a playlist of live and demo tracks by Love Canal.