I discovered CBGBs the Fall of 1975. A few months later I was in a band call EARS. By 1977 EARS was playing CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City. We were called Punk but I always thought of us as a comedy Rock band - a sort of cross between Frank Zappa and Blue Oyster Cult. But, as I restored the EARS archives, I have discovered that, yep, we were Punk. . . although with a sense of humor. I left the band in late 1978 to move to North Carolina. EARS continued for another year without me. This page offers a few videos from my time in the band. As well as my very first music video, "Huh, What?!" (1977), created four years before the birth of MTV.
EARS (1976-1978)
John Del Gaizo • lead vocals / songwriter
Mike Salimbene • lead guitar (1976-1978)
Michael DeStefano • lead guitar (1978)
Steve Boyle • other guitar / other vocals
Ed Tracey • bass
John Gamble • keyboards
Jim Sheridan • drums (1976-1977)
Mike Newman • drums (1977-1978)
John Del Gaizo • lead vocals / songwriter
Mike Salimbene • lead guitar (1976-1978)
Michael DeStefano • lead guitar (1978)
Steve Boyle • other guitar / other vocals
Ed Tracey • bass
John Gamble • keyboards
Jim Sheridan • drums (1976-1977)
Mike Newman • drums (1977-1978)
EARS "If You Can't Win Fairly, Cheat" (1977)
Ultrasonic Recording Studio in Hempstead, NY had a demo special - if you show up early in the morning, you could buy a two hour recording session cheap. So, EARS showed up at 10:30am Wednesday, July 27, 1977. To set up my guitar, I had to move a grand piano with Billy Joel’s name on it. We ran through a handful of songs as fast as we could. We were willing to pay for an additional hour, but couldn’t buy it because there was another session right behind us. Engineer John Bradley quickly mixed our tapes, handed it to us and off we went. Two months later, I discovered that Billy Joel was the other recording session. Joel was working on his album, “The Stranger” and we had his studio and engineer. I’ll bet EARS was the talk of the Joel session later that afternoon! Ha!
vocals & songwriter: John Del Gaizo • lead guitar: Mike Salimbene • other guitar: Steve Boyle • bass: Ed Tracey • keyboard: John Gamble • drums: Mike Newman • performance location: Ultrasonic Recording Studio • Wednesday, July 27, 1977 • engineer: John Bradley • video released: April 18, 2021
EARS "Pass The Vasoline Brother Mark"
LIVE at CBGB's (1977)
Work pal, Tony Madejczyk was a fan of EARS. He took advantage of being a student at NY Institute of Technology and worked a deal to bring two 16mm film cameras and student crew to one of our CBGBs shows. The film was shot and given to me where it was lovingly stored away until 2017 when I finally had it digitally transferred. I then edited this bit of film together along with the live Nagra recording of the show. The song was part of an incomplete Rock Opera that John DelGaizo was writing about an escaped Nazi officer hiding in a monastery after the war. In this song, he finds himself frustrated with the monastic life. Ha!
lead vocals & songwriter: John Del Gaizo • lead guitar: Mike Salimbene • other guitar / other vocals: Steve Boyle • bass: Ed Tracey • keyboard: John Gamble • drums: Jim Sheridan • 1977 16mm film producer: Tony Madejczyk • 1977 CBGB’s house sound & recording mix: Charlie Martin • 2017 film restoration producer / editor: Steve Boyle • 2017 16mm film transfer: John Kuhn • 2017 film transfer facilities: CinePost, Marietta, GA • 2017 Nagra 2-track audio restoration: Alan Stoker • 2017 audio transfer facilities: Audio Czar Productions, Nashville, TN • performed LIVE at CBGB’s: April 11, 1977 • video released: June 16, 2017.
EARS "Huh? What?!" (1977)
I was working for ViaCom and so I hired their remote video truck and had video production friends crew the shoot at our favorite Long Island Rock club, Ubies OTJ. When I edited the video, I didn’t like the audio, so I used the audio recording from an earlier concert at Sachem High School. This is my first music video, created in 1977 - four years before the birth of MTV. I finished the video quickly but had nowhere to play it until we showed up at Max’s Kansas City. As I was loading into Max's, I saw Andy Warhol walking out the club door. He smiled and waved at me and then walked over to the Max’s restaurant. I dragged my gear up the stairs to the club and noticed the bartender loading video gear behind the bar. I ran over and asked what was up and he said that he was rigging TVs behind the bar so they could play video. I said that I had a video of my band and asked if he would play it. He then got excited. He said, “Yes! Please! I have nothing to play! Andy Warhol just dropped off a clip and so did the New York Dolls and that’s all I have!” So, the world premiere of my first music video - this EARS music video - was behind the bar at Max’s Kansas City between videos delivered by Andy Warhol and the New York Dolls.
lead vocals & songwriter: John Del Gaizo • lead guitar: Mike Salimbene • other guitar / other vocals: Steve Boyle • bass: Ed Tracey • keyboard: John Gamble • drums: Mike Newman • video producer, editor: Steve Boyle • technical director: Ed Ziemba • cameras: Tony Madejczyk, Nancy Ziemba • video LIVE at Ubies OTJ, West Islip, NY: Sept. 24, 1977 • audio Live at Sachem High School, Ronkonkoma, NY: June 1, 1977 • house sound & recording mix: Bill Kern • remaster transfer: CinePost, Atlanta, GA, March 2, 2017 • remaster post production: Steve Boyle, Nashville, TN, Feb. 14, 2021
SUFFOCATING IN SUBURBIA wtih STEVIE GB
guest Steve Boyle (2021)
Stevie GB is a New York video podcaster who likes to talk about the 1970s NYC Punk scene. Our conversation was mostly about my time as a member of the 70s NYC Punk band, EARS. If you check out the podcast you’ll discover how I reacted to Andy Warhol when he tried to do me a favor as I was loading in to Max’s Kansas City (20:05 into the video). Conversation also moves into my North Carolina and Nashville music videos. So, if you have almost an hour you’d like to kill, I hope you’ll check out my conversation along with some photos and music videos in this fun podcast. Special thanks to Stevie GB for helping to keep the memory of EARS alive!! • BTW - Stevie GB's podcast theme is EARS "Steve's Boogie" (1977).