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about
When I met the guys in Lunkheads they were playing one of their first shows at the Nibbley Gardens Church Rec Hall at one of our all-ages punk shows. There aren’t a lot of punk bands in the Hyrum area so when the kids organizing the show asked me to open with an acoustic set I had to oblige. I have been a punk rocker since I was 15 years old, so I broke out some old-school pop-punk hits from my heyday (Enemy You, No Use For A Name, and Ghotti Hook to name a few). All 3 local bands that played that night were fantastic but it was the last band that really piqued my interest, they billed themselves as “Hyrum Ramones Style Punk” and I gotta say I was excited to hear them. See, punk rock these days feels a little too eclectic to an old punk like me. It was refreshing to see a band that had decided to anchor their ship so securely to a specific sound and ethos… and these kids were anchored! As a matter of fact, three of them had the EXACT same Ramones t-shirt on at the show. I later found out that it was sheer coincidence.
That night Lunkheads played a blistering 13-minute headlining set to about 30 kids and one youth pastor who went home humming their tunes. A few months later they booked another local show and I felt led to attend. I had just finished remodeling “Light of Life” studios at the church and frankly, I was tired of recording praise and worship acts. I went to that second Lunkheads gig with the sole purpose of offering to record them for free. While that would indeed come to pass, I was in store for so much more. That second show was a lot of fun. The boys opened for a local band called “SKAmadore 64: The One-Man Electronic Ska Band” (who would go on to be featured on the song “She Likes Ska” on the album). Once again, the band played a 15 or so minute set that was full of energy and charisma. The Bass Player “Monke”, also known as James, was wearing a gorilla mask, jumping around, and generally playing quite sloppily. Gideon “Lunky” was wearing a Ramones t-shirt that looked about two sizes too small and was charming the crowd with his goofy, class-clown stage presence while the other members, “Clunkee” and “Plunkey” (Ezekiel and Caleb) laid down a pretty solid foundation of 8th notes and down-picking. That night the band ended their set by announcing that it was Caleb’s last set with the band. He was leaving the next week to attend the Pensacola Christian College. I was happy for Caleb but if I’m being honest, my heart dropped a little. I approached the band after the show, introduced myself and asked “you guys have another guitar player lined up?” “No”, they said “you wanna play with us?”, they asked. And before I knew what was happening “YES!” came flying out of my mouth. So, that night I went home and informed my 2-month pregnant wife and 3 kids that I had just joined a Highschool punk band… and that we were recording an album.
Two months later we were in the studio and recording the first Lunkheads full length. During the process, I made very sure not to interject too much into the songs (all but 2 of which were written before I joined). I didn’t want to pollute the purity of the music with my old, preconceived notions of what punk rock was. I didn’t want the band to overthink the process. There is a really special time in the life of a punk rocker, it’s that first year or so after you pick up an instrument. It’s a time of limitless aspirations mixed with limited ability that makes for a divine combination (the first Ramones record is a good example). I wanted to capture that energy in a semi-professional studio setting, while still keeping things raw. To accomplish this, I recorded my guitar, Gideon’s vocals, and Ezekiel’s drums live, all together. James would come in later and track his bass in what ended up being two ADHD filled sessions where I would fight with him about refusing to take his monkey mask off while recording. In the end, James did a great job and grew as a musician. Once the first 11 songs were finished, we added the finishing touches of guitar leads, a guest spot from the band’s friend, Josh B., from a great band from Nibley called “The Mandibles”, a guest vocal spot on “Hey Mr. Obelisk” by Zeff from a Salt Lake City street punk band called “The Urchins”, and finally we enlisted the help of Richie Godson AKA “Skamadore 64” to create the horn section on “She Likes Ska”. And just like that, we had all the elements of a great 11 song punk record!
Recording the album only took a couple weekends but the mixing process ended up taking a lot longer. Family, youth pastoring, and the aforementioned recording of praise and worship groups, all took precedence over working on the album but it was coming along. A few months into the process, I had the whole band over for game night and general fellowship and I could tell that something was off. Gideon showed up late and separate from the other guys. He only stayed for an hour or so before he left and he had become distant. That night the band told me what had happened. Gideon’s girlfriend had given his promise ring back to him just before she left for college. To some adults a breakup sounds trivial, but to a teenager with those “limitless aspirations mixed with limited ability” that I mentioned earlier, this is devastating. Over the next few months, Gideon, our goofy and charismatic “Lunkey Lunkhead” would morph into a very different person. Gideon was sad, he was angry, and he had lost all faith in everything he had previously believed in… all except for music. During this time, Gideon wasn’t responding to calls or texts, wasn’t coming to Wednesday service or all ages shows, but he was coming to band practice. When Gideon brought in 4 new songs for what would end up being the “Brainchild” Ep, we all saw it as a light at the end of the tunnel. The songs were good, but they were not representative of what the band had previously been, and the language and subject matter of the songs was not representative of the beliefs and feelings of the rest of the band. At this time my desire to respect the purity of the process and my desire to steer him away from the resentment, anger, and despair that he was putting into this album, were at odds with one another. Some days the process won out (as evidenced by the movie clips that Gideon insisted on adding to the songs) and sometimes my own personal convictions won out (when I refused to let Gideon use a screenshot of a text from his ex-girlfriend as the album cover). The recording process was a little tough but it was fruitful. The songs are different but they are uniquely Lunkheads. My wife asked me if I feel comfortable seeing “Guitar by Pastor John” on an album that opens with “You’re s**t and I’m champagne”. After some thought I’ve decided that I’m more comfortable with that than I am with abandoning someone when music was the only thing keeping him going. Maybe these two releases are the last you’ll ever hear from Lunkheads. I tend to think otherwise. I’m an old punk and I have faith in the process.
-Pastor John
credits
released November 25, 2022
Lunkheads
Lunky - Vocals
Monke - Bass
Clunkee - Drums
Recorded at Light of Life Studios
Mixed and Mastered by Pastor Ken Jensen
Released by Mom's Basement Records
license
all rights reserved
