Moldy Ghetto
| Moldy Ghetto | |
| Genre: | Indie, Noise Rock |
| Theme: | Experimental, Indie, Lo-Fi, Noise, Rock & Roll |
| Years: | 1993 — 1996 / 2016 — now |
| Country: | United States |
| City: | Orange County, California |
| Labels: | Completely Gone Recordings, Hot Damn! Tapes |
| Gears: | Amps, Bass, Drums, Effects Pedals, Electronics, Guitars, Recording Equipment, Tapes, Voice |
| Members: | Josh McCurdy : Guitar, Vocals Tim Whiteford : Drums |
| Side Projects: | Completely Gone Recordings, hCrink, Hot Damn! Tapes, Kosmik Leprechaun, Rusty-Like, VL |
| Contact: | [1] Contact MG at Bandcamp |
| Site: | [2] Moldy Ghetto at Bandcamp |
Contents
Biography
Moldy Ghetto was a Southern California-based experimental, lo-fi, indie, noise-rock group formed by singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Josh McCurdy (aka Kosmik Leprechaun),drummer Tim Whiteford and bassist Jeff Hassett (aka hCrink) while the three were still in high school. It was McCurdy's second fronted group, following the demise of his first project, the indie-grind duo VL. The original line-up was active from 1993 — 1996, publishing and releasing a more than a few 4-track cassette recordings of hard and noisy songs, via McCurdy's early label, Hot Damn! Tapes (later known as Completely Gone Recordings).
A good portion of Moldy Ghetto's live shows were highly impromptu, with many gigs happening mere hours after acquiring them earlier that day. Some of these gigs gained a large audience, while other's had very few people at all. In 1995, McCurdy and Hassett started working with singer, songwriter Deny Samoree as his rhythm section, forming the trio Rusty-Like. Rusty-Like often opened many Moldy Ghetto gigs, with McCurdy performing double duties on drums for Rusty-Like, and then on vocals and guitar with Moldy Ghetto.
In 1996, due to lack of interest, the members of both groups went their separate ways, not performing together again, until a brief spate of reunion gigs and recording sessions under the Rusty-Like name, in 2003 (successfully yielding 4-track cassette demos for their 2005 "Pirouette" album). Since 2007, all surviving Moldy Ghetto (and Rusty-Like) material has been remastered and re-published, in digital format, by Completely Gone Recordings.
In 2016, McCurdy reunited on guitar with original MG drummer Tim Whiteford, recording demos of new material, some of which was released.
Original Members
Josh McCurdy: Artist, Bass, Drums, Engineer, Guitars, Keyboards, Photography, Producer, Vocals (1993 — 1996 / 2016 — now)
Jeff Hassett: Artist, Bass, Drums, Engineer, Guitars, Keyboards, Tapes, Vocals (1994 — 1996)
Tim Whiteford: Drums (1993 — 1995 / 2016 — now)
Auxiliary Musicians
Anne Hassett: Artist, Drums, Photography, Vocals (Live) (1994 — 1996)
Mike Foster: Drums (Live) (1995-1996)
Deny Samoree: Guitar (Rehearsals) (1995)
Rob Rizzo: Drums (Rehearsals) (1995)
Dan Seida: Drums (Rehearsals) (1995)
Heather: Viola (Rehearsals) (1995)
Jane: Drums (Rehearsals) (1996)
Discography
- Demos ~ Cassette (1993)
- Live at Totally Coffee EP ~ Cassette (1994)
- Lavender Disaster ~ Cassette (1995)
- 4-Track Demos ~ Cassette (1996)
- Live at The Whisky A Go Go ~ Video (1996)
- Free Sessions EP ~ Cassette (1996)
- The Giving Tree EP ~ Cassette (1996)
- Lavender Disaster (Deluxe) ~ Digital reissue of all surviving material (2007)
Contributions
Compilation Appearences
- Punk-A-Rhea ~ Cassette on Hot Damn! Tapes (1995) – provided the "Live at Totally Coffee EP"
- Kosmik Leprechaun Addendum ~ Digital release on Completely Gone Recordings (2018) – provided cover of "Ex-Chest" by Slug