A Brief History of the Mortal Micronotz

The History of the Micronotz, page 2

The six songs on the Fresh Tape 101--in order, "The Controllers", "Blonde Haired Ghost", "The Police Song", "Individuality", "Daydream" and "Subterfuge"--were recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder in the loft apartment of Frank Loose and Kenny Fulk at 615½ Massachusetts, overlooking downtown Lawrence. It was fitting that the songs for the first official Micronotz release were recorded there--the band made significant strides and growths, playing a number of parties at "The Loft", as it was known, from 1981 to 1983. With the paucity of live venues and the young ages of both the band and its fans, the Loft was perfect for all out bashes.
Reviews of the "Fresh Sounds" tape were mixed. Many reviewers took the opportunity to exclude the Micronotz from serious review, citing the band's youthful age and the production qualities of the cassette recording. On December 12, 1981, the release date of Fresh Tape 101, Dean was 15, Steve and John were 16, and David was six days short of his 18th birthday. Also, the production qualities of the tape recordings were questioned--the most frequent adjective used in reviews was "murky", as well as "muddy" and other less-than-flattering adjectives.
John can explain why the Fresh tape turned out the way it did, in an interview conducted in December of 96:

Mike: ...which is also symbolic of a four track that was recorded in somebody's loft apartment. John: Well, that's what it was! (laughs) Yeah, that whole recording was really strange. Because the original recording sounded pretty cool, it wasn't even a four track, it was direct to a tape, direct to a cassette, and Marc Koch, he mixed it, what there was to mix! Not much. But there were some weird things like David got off time at the end of some song, it was "Blonde Haired Ghost", the bass was backwards, but it kinda fit so we just left it. And there was no echoes. So when we took it in to put it together with the rest of the songs on the tape, at Ramona, for some reason it sounded great on Marc's tape deck but Marc's tape deck played fast. It recorded fast. So when we took it to their machine it was slowed down. And so that why it sounds kind of bassy, and slow....it wasn't actually that slow, almost that slow. Mike: It almost sounds kinda atmospheric. John: They also dumped a whole lot of reverb on it at Ramona. And that's why it sounds so... Mike: Spacey? John: Spacey. Yeah. That's a good word for it. Cause you know how we sounded, we didn't sound like that.

The Fresh tape did create a buzz about the band. The most prominent, and the most favorable review came in the New York Rocker, which was the heavy hitter of American magazines in the pre-Spin era. From their awful name to their awful, lost-in-the-cellar, half-speed hardcore, the Mortal Micronotz are pure rock and roll. The oldest of these Lawrence high schoolers just hit 17; the other three are way back in 10th and 11th grades. These kids grew up worshipping Johnny Ramone and Sid Vicious which means one chord change is enough and sometimes too much. "The Police Song" and "Blonde Haired Ghost" are wonderful, grungy fun, but "Subterfuge" is classic. From its impossible-to-sing title, the B-to-D# Alice Cooper/Doors vamp, the song and the group's blustery attempts at sounding mysterious are brash, presumptuous, nearly liturgical. And as long as that kind of honesty--no, faith--is invested in rock, it's future seems secure. There were several other laudatory reviews--Tim Anstaett of the Offense, for instance, loved the songs: let's hope they don't just get older and think they have to play a lot faster / right now it's slow, soary, nice soft spoken voice However, while the Fresh Tape 101 recordings do have their endearing qualities and are still favorites of mine, they were not an indicator of the direction the band was heading. The band was quickly gaining cohesiveness and stamina, and began to emerge from the shackles of being labeled an "inept band of high schoolers".