Acid Bath-"What A Drag" demo (1987)

Download "What A Drag"

Acid Bath was a punk/hardcore band from New Orleans that existed in the late 80's. Yes, there was another band with the same name from South Louisiana that came around in the 90's and put out a couple of albums, but this isn't about them!

Here is an interview with former bassist Kevin Thomas.

Who was in Acid Bath throughout the life of the band?

 The original lineup featured Steve Mott - guitar/vocals, Brad LaBorde – drums/vocals, and myself – bass/vocals. After parting ways with Mott, David Labruyere took over on guitar. When Dave made his exit, Jack Elder was his replacement.

How/when did you get together?
In early 1986, I ran into my old grade school buddy, Mott at a Dead Milkmen/Graveyard Rodeo show at Capp’s on Carrollton. He asked if I was playing music, and I had been playing guitar. He said he had a thing going with a friend in Marrero, and they needed a bass player. So, I borrowed my brother, Kyle’s bass and amp, met them at Brad’s house and we easily cranked out stuff like “Wild Thing” and “Blitzkrieg Bop”. They already had the name picked out, and PRESTO! We were a band!

What style of music did you play?
It was pretty typical 80s hardcore stuff. The earlier material (little of which was ever properly recorded) smacked of The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys type stuff. When Dave joined, the songwriting changed a lot. We were playing better and becoming more creative, more unique, I think. That’s most of what’s on the demo. Jack introduced a twist of psychedelic to it and by then, the sound was completely different than at the band’s inception. Damn shame we never recorded any of that stuff. “Mind Control Disintegrates” was brutal. Parts of it actually ended up in a Mooncrikits song.

Talk about your "What A Drag" demo.

With the money we made from gigs, we finally saved enough for a few days at Stonee’s Studio. Stonee was a dude in Metairie with a studio in his backyard recommended to us by Shell Shock and Exhorder. It was a hell of a learning experience for a bunch o’ rookies, man. Young, excited and impatient gave way to a lot of, ‘Man-I-wish-we-wouldas’. Personally, I learned that forcing vocal tracks with the flu leads one to sound much like a bullfrog doing his best Roger Miret impression. That cover came out of a stack of drawings my friend, Eddie Lancaster was constantly cranking out. It made us laugh so hard, it HAD to be the cover. I cut and pasted (literally, with scissors and a glue stick!) the “AB” in the character’s hands and couldn’t think of anything else to call it but, “What a Drag”. The caricatures on the inside of the cover and on the T-shirts were done by Reynard Rochon. I think only 4 songs from the original lineup made it to the demo: “Somebody Castrated My Dog”, “Crotch Itch”, “Diseased Between the Knees” and “Final Thoughts”. I still think “Newborn Corpse” was our best song. Dave’s opening riff still gives me da chicken skin. He was reluctant to record “Banana Road”. It was just some personal shit he’d piddle with while sittin’ around. Kinda like an exercise, or something… both hands on the fretboard. It took some arm twisting, but I’m glad he gave in. It’s one of my favorite tracks.

Was there anything else recorded?

Well, we used to sit around playing quarter-bounce and farting into a tape recorder. Does that count?

What are some of your favorite memories from the 80's NOLA underground scene both on and off stage?

Jeez… Where do ya start with this one? All day jam sessions in Brad’s garage followed by all night beer sessions, going to shows with the truck loaded up in case a band didn’t show (happened a few times!), getting to open for bands like Aggression, Agnostic Front, The Descendents, Naked Raygun… Of course, the VFW days were some golden times. I miss that scene. One of my best memories of those days, period, is the Virul Nihils. It’s an absolute crime those dudes never recorded. Once, some out-of-place-looking fatherly type fella told me, “Fuck you” when I asked for $5 at the door, strolled in and dragged his mortified daughter out by the arm. I’ll always remember how the place went ape-shit when we whipped out GBH’s “Diplomatic Immunity”. Skyler set his face on fire. Vinnie led an angry mob to chase off a bunch of preppie types for taggin’ some trailers on the property. Bruce and pals were serving beer to anyone. I learned that standing in ant piles and tripping are a HORRIBLE combination. Hell, St. Vitus played there, man! Some serious shit went down at that place. It was hard for any hardcore act to get booked at the good clubs. I’m glad that’s different, now. Before the Blue Crystal became the big, happenin’ club it was in the 90s, we booked a gig there with The Rosicrucians. The original owner of the club flipped out, shut it down before Reynard and co. could even start their second song and threw everyone out. We loaded up, went over to the Artist’s Café and set up on the tiny stage behind the bar. Brad said the house drums were like playing wet boxes. I could get really long-winded on this one!

What did the members of the band do musically after Acid Bath disbanded?

Brad and I got together with David Main (Exhorder) and Paul Prickett to form The Mooncrikits. Brad was

replaced with Craig Nunenmacher and went on to form Gus the Plumber. Mott has been involved with several of his own projects over the years, including HAMMER with me on bass and Joey Lacaze (RIP) on drums. That was some kick-ass shit. Dave ultimately landed a gig as the bass player for John Mayer (you may have heard of him). Yeah, that bass track on “Your Body is a Wonderland” is none other than the guitarist on “American Pervert”. Oh, the irony! I’m sure Jack is still floating in the stratosphere with Lucy, her diamonds and some King Crimson records.

Are you and other former members active in the music scene today?
Currently, I have no active jams happening. In 2008, I changed my name to ‘Daddy’ and stay focused on that. Haven’t been on stage since a Floodgate reunion in January, 2007. I plan to change that over the next couple years, though. I can’t speak for the other guys, as I have very little contact with them. 2 or 3 years ago, we tried putting an Acid Bath reunion together as an opening act for a Shell Shock reunion, but it never came together.

As most of us know, another band from the Houma/Morgan City area came along in the 90's and used the name Acid Bath and they got a good bit of popularity. Was this consensual, or was there any drama behind them using the name? 

Never heard of ‘em. HAHA! How did I KNOW this was gonna come up??? Jimmy Kyle and I chatted over beers about this. He told me that when they were going through a name change (another band had the rights to what they originally went by), they were sifting through an old flyer collection for ideas, and came across one of ours, liked the name and we hadn’t been active for years, so they rolled with it. There was never any drama or butt-hurt twisted panties about it. They’re an awesome buncha dudes, I love those albums and I was happy to see the name being used. We (Floodgate) played some killer shows with those cats. I miss ‘em.