That Thing - Nixons Revenge (1982)Much has been made of the decision by Nixons Revenge to play a song once and then retire it from live performance. Although at first this was designed to frustrate those that hungered for another listen of "We Don't Need Watkins", the truth was that nobody really cared whether played any of their songs more than once. In fact, after three or four gigs, no one really cared if Nixons Revenge played, including most members of the band. Mr. P was one of the members who was trying actively to expand the Nixons Revenge universe, if only because he was beginning to find his way as a songwriter, and after the failure of The Blortemus, Nixons Revenge was all he had left, band-wise. By 1982 no one was paying much attention to the band. Only a few venues, like Art's Building in Pomona, would even allow them to perform. However, someone managed to get a show at the Unitarian Church on Monte Vista in Montclair, next to the Montclair Plaza. Mr. P had several new songs for that show, including "Who'll Cover Frank?" (about pickup basketball games), "Dog Scene" (about getting "dogged" by girls) and a curious song entitled "That Thing". What was curious about "That Thing" was that, unlike most Mr. P songs which had some element of humor, irony or cynicism about them, and had a good amount of structure, "That Thing" was basically a guitar riff, played over and over again, accompanied by minimalist lyrics. At the time, it may have been the least regarded song in Mr. P's repetoire, and as no document or lyric sheet has ever turned up, possibly even an improvisation. It was played at the Unitarian gig, and a tape survives of that, but of very low quality. However, Alan Waddington sensed something about the song that made it stick out and, improbably, he recommended to Mr. P that it be the "exception" to the Nixons Revenge rule - to work out a stronger arrangement and play it at the next Nixons Revenge show at Mt. Sac. That show (of which the only documented video footage of the band was ever recorded) featured an expanded musical lineup which included Stratus bass player Rod Curtis. Unfortunately, even though that show was recorded on tape, it is also of low quality (a Nixons Revenge trademark). Whether or not Stratus was still playing at this point is not readily known. Probably not. When Stratus finally retired, one new band that sprang up in its wake was The Thunderbirds, a backyard party band consisting of Alan on drums, Rod on bass and Jeff Nixon on guitar. The Thunderbirds played a handful of gigs and what made them noteworthy was that they played an eclectic mix of cover songs like Pete Townshend's "Emminence Front" and a King Crimson song. They also worked up a definitive arrangement of "That Thing" and allowed Mr. P to come up and guest sing. Some of the places that "That Thing" was performed were a house party in Diamond Bar, a Lorbeer Junior High School dance, and Keith Misumi's wedding reception. Whatever Waddington saw in "That Thing" was justified by the crowd reaction to the danceable, infectious song, which seemed to increase in enthusiasm with each performance. By Misumi's wedding, in which Keith's brother came up to Mr. P and said, "That was one of the best songs I've ever heard, you're a star!" (or words to that effect), Mr. P was convinced that the time was ripe to pursue a new band, for which he already had a name - Desperation Squad. Thus it came to be that "That Thing" was recorded in Santa Monica at Eric Sklar's studio, with the same lineup - Waddington, Curtis, Nixon and Mr. P, about the fall of 1983. This was the first known instance of a Desperation Squad, although technically they were not a band yet, as Curtis was about to depart from band life on a more or less permanent basis, and after the recording nothing more happened until February 1984. However, the dye was cast. "That Thing", the only Nixons Revenge song to be played twice live, became the first official Desperation Squad song, and a band was born! That thing, that thing Ooh baby, you don't know what you done |