Mr T Experience "Making Things With Light" LP OOP Operation Ivy Green Day NoFx

$

25

Mr T Experience "Making Things With Light" LP Lookout! Records (US)

Vinyl is NM, Jacket is NM still in shrink

Out of Print!

Original Press!

Track Listing:

The Mr. T Experience (sometimes abbreviated MTX) is an American punk rock band formed in 1985 in Berkeley, California and currently recording for Lookout! Records. They have released ten full-length albums along with numerous EPs and singles and have toured internationally. Their music is best classified as pop punk and is intentionally playful, comical, and satirical, often dealing with issues of love and relationships. The band's name is taken from actor and television personality Mr. T.

The Mr. T Experience serves mainly as the creative outlet for singer/guitarist "Dr. Frank" Portman, its primary songwriter and sole continuous member throughout multiple lineup changes. The band is closely associated with the Berkeley and greater San Francisco Bay Area punk rock movement of the late 1980s and the 1990s, revolving around the 924 Gilman Street venue and the Lookout! Records label, through which they have released all of their albums since 1990. They are contemporaries of numerous other groups who emerged from this same "scene," including Green Day, Operation Ivy, Rancid, Jawbreaker, The Donnas, Tilt, and NOFX. They also share stylistic similarities with other bands not native to the Bay area but closely associated with this movement, including The Queers, Screeching Weasel, and the Groovie Ghoulies. Over the years the Mr. T Experience has performed, toured, and shared a record label with many of these bands. They also share a heavy Ramones influence, which was more prevalent in the band's early albums but is still evident in their recent work.

1985-1989: Formation

Prior to forming The Mr. T Experience, members Frank Portman and Byron Stamatatos had played together in a band called the Bent Nails while in high school in Millbrae, California. The two kept in touch after Portman moved to Berkeley to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where he met Jon Von Zelowitz who was a fellow DJ at the university's radio station KALX. He was also introduced to Alex Laipeneiks, who had been a high school friend of Portman's younger brother. In the summer of 1985 the four formed The Mr. T Experience with Portman on guitar and vocals (under the pseudonym Dr. Frank), Zelowitz on guitar and vocals, Stamatatos on bass, and Laipeneiks on drums.

The band released their first album Everybody's Entitled to Their Own Opinion in July 1986 on local label Disorder Records. They began to build a local following through small tours and airplay on college radio stations and quickly became part of the thriving late-1980s Bay Area punk rock movement centered around the 924 Gilman Street venue. A second album, Night Shift at the Thrill Factory, followed in 1988 through Rough Trade Records. It was around this time that Portman began a tradition of introducing each of the band's songs with the throwaway line "this song is about a girl..." at each of their performances. The EP Big Black Bugs Bleed Blue Blood followed in 1989, after which Stamatatos left the band and was replaced by Aaron Rubin. Rough Trade Records went out of business shortly after releasing the EP.

1990-1995: Lineup changes

In 1990 the band signed to the fledgeling local punk label Lookout! Records, which they would remain on throughout the rest of their career. They collected the results of several scattered recording sessions into the album Making Things With Light, which was the first CD album released by the Lookout! label. Milk Milk Lemonade followed in 1992, after which they embarked on their first tour of Europe. While in Spain the group recorded the EP Strum ünd Bang, Live!? Shortly after returning to America Zelowitz left the band, leading to a near-breakup. They attempted a reunion with him a few months later but elected to continue on as a trio, releasing the Gun Crazy EP in 1993. The album Our Bodies Our Selves soon followed and a tour was planned, but Laipeneiks declined to tour and soon left the band. Another near-breakup ensued as Portman considered returning to graduate school and Rubin joined Samiam.

Portman continued writing songs, however, and in 1994 Rubin returned from working with Samiam and recruited drummer Jim "Jym" Pittman. The trio recorded the EP ...And the Women Who Love Them, which instilled some creative rejuvenation to the group. Soon, however, Rubin returned to Samiam and Joel Reader joined the band as his replacement.

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