I mentioned Michael Parker‘s highly influential Fort Worth psychedelic band, Hydrogen City, in an post a few weeks back. Well as it turns out, he has released a 35th Anniversary streaming version of their one lone album this week. Rare and collectable, the only version I’ve seen for sale in person over the past decade was priced over $100 while the only online Discogs vinyl for sale fetches close to the same. It was literally nowhere online, not a video or live clip available until now. It’s a tight album that I personally have not heard in decades until last week. I have a bit of personal musical history tied up in the album, Michael, a dear friend from the 80’s who’s music I followed before we were introduced. I always thought that they would be the band that would emerge from our little scene first; hitting national shelves, touring in the major leagues, pushing their sound forward with each new album. As I always say, THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN FUCKING HUGE!

In the mid 80’s, there was a seminal band around my hometown called The League Of None. They had graffiti tags and fliers all over town, held court on Wednesday nights at the infamous Bluebird Blues club in Como, and opened for quite a few touring bands in the early Deep Ellum scene. They were the only real working post-punk band in Cowtown besides our peers The Fort Worth Cats. The League of None had their own fanbase and scene, their music dark, driving, and artfully blurry. Robert Ealey sat in with them! They opened for Screaming Blue Messiahs! Though I never struck up a conversation with anyone in the band, I was big into their sound and saw quite a few shows. Then, they disappeared just as fast as they came about! A few months into the Summer of 1987, I found their bassist again, this time at Garage Cafe where he was fronting with his new act, Hydrogen City. This was a couple of steps above the League musically, with a tighter power-pop art-rock focus, burning guitar solos, as well as a psychedelic light show. Finally, someone else in town working similar areas as my band, ESP! At setbreak, I approached him and finally introduced myself, eager to get to know this like-minded musical iconoclast. Loading up after the gig, he says he heard Elton John piping loudly out of a VW bus in the parking lot, and inadvertently met our guitarist Steve. We all became fast friends within a week; ESP and Hydrogen City got on like gangbusters! We supported each others’ gigs, hung out afterhours, and had a complete blast together. Their van was even stolen from in front of our band house! Michael lived in this kick-ass apartment on Seventh Street on the hill above the entrance to Monticello and worked at the infamous Caravan of Dreams nightclub. He was equally as versed as myself in obscure bands, literature, and forward thinking artistic perspectives. He also had this flair for wearing colorful batik clothing made by the iconoclastic Wind Blown Duck, the first person I ever saw wearing it. He was a modern day post-hardcore pre-apocalyptic science-fiction quoting Renaissance man!

Hydrogen City sounded like an amalgamation of latter-day Velvets, West Coast post-punk, contemporary UK psychedelia, with a slight hard-rock edge. Sound confusing? It was glorious and very modern! They were mesmerizing on stage, with John Ford’s lights bathing the stage in swirling colors and synesthesiac hues. I saw them a few times with their original bassist Jeffrey Jackson in the ever perfectly tight rhythm section led by the bombastic Sir Van Eric Martin. Their guitarist Gene Swank had a effects-laden shoegaze tone that was years ahead of that term or sound. And Michael fronting things with both swagger and succinct vision, his guitar sonics grounded in a Sunn Beta Lead 2 x 12 amplifier, the same one that Kurt Cobain later favored during the Nevermind era. When Kid Daniels from Fort Worth Cats joined on bass after Jefferey split, things really took off. Their gig schedule filled up quickly: Prophet Bar, 500 Café, Theater Gallery, Caravan of Dreams, Club Bowie, The Basement, as well as out of town trips to Kansas and Missouri. They held local court as much as possible at The Hop, packing the place regularly. Hydrogen City was quickly the most popular rock band in town.

It was around at this time that they decided to record an album to capture what they were laying down live in concert. They spent some time at Planet Dallas getting it all on magnetic tape, the results of which were dynamic and contemporary sounding. When the record was finished, I pushed my luck by trying to get them signed, whether it be distribution or possibly a contract with SST Records. Mike Watt had told me that the label was always signing “crazy new shit that wasn’t punk or from California”. So I got their office number from him thinking that ESP might have a chance to sign at one point, though we had never made the proper recordings to even get that far back then. I figured I would pass the favor to my pals in HC! And so one Friday afternoon, I called them up with Michael beside me and we actually got Chuck Dukowski on the phone. “We don’t take unsolicited demos, we have to know you.” But Watt told us to call and gave us your number. I was not going to take rejection easily. “Alright dude, send it to our address with a press kit in care of me”. Wow! Was it really that easy to get signed by the mighty SST or just get placated on the phone? We went to the post office and sent off a tape of the album that same day. To my knowledge, they never heard anything back. Michael went forward pressing and manufacturing the album for their own imprint, H1 Productions. It was completely DIY…record your music, make your own cover, pay and send it off to get pressed, and push it out there in the marketplace yourself. At one point, Michael got Steve to let him pillage through his history books for classic photos to make the cover collage, sitting at the ESP House coffee table cutting out images. It was officially released in August 1988 with a record release party in a huge Southside warehouse. They were on their way!

Original Fort Worth bands by 1988 were starting to come out of the woodwork, ready to take a chance at the only place in town that would book original music, The Hop! But Michael had already played there and Deep Ellum dozens of times, so his new band spread their wings much wider than many of us. The lack of nearby venues soon forced the band to start renting out large empty warehouse spaces in Southside, throwing their own shows. Michael and Gene were already a total publicity machine with endless fliers, brilliant artwork, and a constant push into the local limelight through news outlets, college radio, and high-profile opening slots. So they rented the fledgling MC Club at 407 South Main Street twice; once for the HC record release party while another time for a glorious local band showcase. When the showcase sold out even despite the snow and icy conditions, it was apparent to everyone in our little scene that a permanent venue was needed. Which led to him and his brother Kelly to the opening of the Axis Club in early 1989.

Axis Club was home to many of us in Fort Worth. It was BYOB with no concessions or security. It was dirty, echo laden, dark, and quite stark. I swear that every working band in the Fort Worth vicinity played there at least once, because Michael and Kelly were open to anything new, fresh, and original. There was underage punks mingling with indie rockers, hippies, straight-edgers, with vanguard players and novices sharing the stage sometimes on the same night. My Dad, visiting once, told me that it reminded him of the old North Beach beatnik hangouts of the early 60’s. It was one big local family spilling out into the street and all the way down the block from the venue every weekend. Sadly, Hydrogen City only got to play their “home club” twice before the shit hit the fan. Early on, they lit up a Saturday night there playing their hearts out to a packed house, nothing awry or amiss. Their second Axis gig was a public Joe Louis Punch Out on stage, ala The Makers or Brian Jonestown Massacre. Fists were swung, members went to the ground in a pile, and then it was ALL OVER. Done. Legendary to the end. They have not played together since. After the band broke up, Michael left The Axis to Kelly after he figured out that everyone in town wanted to get in for FREE and it wasn’t worth the headache to barely survive month to month. He then turned his attention towards finally making that move to Los Angeles. He always talked about it, the HC album actually mentions the place, and he was putting the plan into action. He got me hired as his replacement at Half Price Books on Camp Bowie, where we worked together for 2 months until he finally split town for California. He also suggested to me that I join Toadies whenever our mutual pal Guy Vaughn (their original drummer) split for El Lay as well. For the past 30 years he has been busy on the Production side of things, along with hosting the popular podcasts Dark Matter, The Electric Pyramid, and Antidote in various formats over the years (collected here). He’s still active in the musical world recently collaborating with artists Remo Conscious, Fogmachine, as well as new producing solo music as London, TX. We recently spoke on Zoom for the first time in decades, and plan on a musical collaboration together in the near future. Stay tuned!

Check out the Hydrogen City album below; it’s a gas!