Something About Tomorrow - Featuring Matt Skirpan

During Summer 1988 when The Secret Society (Rev 2) was recording songs for their debut release at Horse and Buggy Highway Studios, we recorded tracks with various guitarists.  The other day I unearthed an unreleased recording with Dirk Frey.  Today's find is an unreleased version of Something About Tomorrow with Matt "Scrap Pap" Skirpan on guitar.  Enjoy!

Ttam Troll · The Secret Society - Something About Tomorrow (MS Gtr Mix)

How Do Rocks Multiply? (Solution IV) - Featuring Dirk Frey

During Summer 1988 when The Secret Society (Rev 2) was recording songs for their debut release at Horse and Buggy Highway Studios, we recorded tracks with various guitarists.  One such guitarist was Dirk Frey from The Secret Society (Rev 1).  This mix of How Do Rocks Multiply (Solution IV) features a recently unearthed recording with Dirk Frey on guitar.  

Ttam Troll · The Secret Society - How Do Rocks Multiply? (Solution IV) (DF Gtr Mix)

P.S. The photo is taken from The Secret Society (Rev 1) performance in early 1987 during Winter Carnival at Shippensburg Area Senior High School.

Care Package

A care package of pandemic era Floating Fish Studios releases for Tommy T Rapisardi at DSBP Records.

FISHCD013 - Imbued Vagary - Solstice
FISHCD014 - Any Questions? - Illegitimate Release 1990 (Special Edition)
FISHCD015 - Imbued Vagary - Captured Moments 2
FISHCD016 - Imbued Vagary - Live 2
FISHCD017 - Imbued Vagary - Noise 2
FISHCD018 - Imbued Vagary - Wheels of Steel
FISHCD019 - Imbued Vagary - Captured Moments 3
FISHCD020 - Imbued Vagary - Noise 3
FISHCD021 - Any Questions? - Don't Ask (Special Edition)
FISHCD022 - Any Questions? - Darkness (Special Edition)
FISHCD023 - Imbued Vagary - nIVg
FISHCD024 - The Secret Society
FISHCD025 - Vizator - Land of Glass Towers (Demos 1990)

The Secret Society CD released!

The Secret Society CD and Digital Album have just been released on Bandcamp.

Release Notes:
Before the Industrial music Any Questions? and the Electronic music of Imbued Vagary, there was the Electronic Rock of The Secret Society.  These earliest recordings of Ttam Troll (Matthew R Norcross), mC2p4 (M Scott McConnell), and others from 1985 - 1988 were compiled in 1989 for a cassette only release but have now been re-compiled from the best quality existing recordings for this CD release.  Synths, samplers, guitars, drum machines, electric basses, electronic drums, vocals, tape hiss, and a whole lot of weirdness fill the audio spectrum on this release.  Something for everyone!

Track Listing:
01 It's Coming 0:18
02 Progressions 4:18
03 Chunklet of Cheese 2:02
04 Monster Man 3:38
05 Pung 4:12
06 Idea H-2-12 3:48
07 Make My Mind Soar 0:34
08 Something About Tomorrow 3:36
09 TA 2:50
10 Synth Bass 0:14
11 How Do Rocks Multiply? (Solution IV) 5:14
12 Cry For An Early Dawn 3:10
13 I Was Playing Normally All of the Time 0:58

The Secret Society members revealed on this release:
Kendal T Chandler - Vocals
Larry Lee Fiber - Electronic Drums
Lonny Fiber - Drum Programming
Tim Harrell - Electronic Drums
M Scott McConnell - Synthesizers, Samplers, and Vocals
Matthew R Norcross - Bass, Synthesizers, Drum Programming, and Effects
Matt Skirpan - Guitar

Original release compiled by Matthew R Norcross - Summer 1989
Re-compiled by Matthew R Norcross - Fall 2022

Mastered by Tommy T Rapisardi at DSBP Records

Cover Design and Layout by Matthew R Norcross

Copyright ©2022 Floating Fish Music

FISHCD024

info@floatingfish.com | www.floatingfish.com

The Secret Society CD Unboxing

The Secret Society CDs have arrived!  Official release date is 10/28/22.  If you haven’t ordered your copy, you can get them here.
 

The Secret Society on CD!

Before Any Questions? and Imbued Vagary was The Secret Society.  These recordings from 1985 - 1988 were compiled in 1989 for a cassette only release but have now been re-compiled from the best quality existing recordings for this upcoming CD release.  Synths, guitars, drum machines, electric basses, electronic drums, vocals, tape hiss, and a whole lot of weirdness fill the audio spectrum on this release.  Something for everyone!

How Do Rocks Multiply (Solution IV)

Here's another live in the studio track unearthed from the FFS Vaults. This version of How Do Rocks Multiply (Solution IV) was recorded at Horse and Buggy Highway Studios in Shippensburg, PA during the recording sessions for The Secret Society debut release in Summer 1988.

As in yesterday's post, this performance was recorded in between the "serious" recordings for the release and features the line up of M Scott McConnell (Synthesizers), Matt Norcross (Bass), Tim Harrell ("Live" Drum Machine), Ken Chandler (Vocals), and birthday boy, Kevin "Bart the Fart" Wilson (Guitar).

The occasion for this recording was Kevin "Bart the Fart" Wilson's birthday. Though none of his guitar work made it onto The Secret Society official release, we celebrated his birthday with a day (and night) music making and partying. Though by listening to this and the other recordings from this day, you may wonder which we did more of but, suffice it to say, we made sure that we did plenty of both.

Without further digression, I present to you the dueling guitar work of Kevin "Bart the Fart" Wilson.

P.S. The photo was taken at the This Mistress performance in Scotland, PA in the Summer of 1988. Pictured (L to R) are Kevin "Bart the Fart" Wilson (Guitar), Matt Norcross (Bass), M Scott McConnell (Synthesizers), and Ken Chandler (Vocals).

Progressions

During the sweltering Summer of 1988, The Secret Society convened at Horse and Buggy Highway Studios in Shippensburg, PA to record songs for their debut release. This rev (Rev 2) of The Secret Society was comprised of members from This Mistress and concentrated on recording original songs written by M Scott McConnell and Matt Norcross.

When we weren't sweating to death (there were no air conditioners in the studio) or doing "serious" recording, we would sometimes roll tape and record some live versions of the songs with whoever happened to be visiting the studio at that time. This recording of Progressions is one such recording. It features M Scott McConnell (Synthesizers), Matt Norcross (Bass), Tim Harrell ("Live" Drum Machine), Ken Chandler (Vocals), and Kevin "Bart the Fart" Wilson (Guitar). It was recorded direct to a Fostex X-15 cassette 4-Track. It's distorted and sonically poor but still a fun listen. I hope you enjoy it.

P.S. This photo was taken at the This Mistress performance at Wynn Ruffin's Birthday Party in Summer 1988. Pictured (L to R) is the line up featured on the recording. Matt Norcross (Bass), Kevin "Bart the Fart" Wilson (Guitar), M Scott McConnell (Synthesizers), Tim Harrell (Drums), and Ken Chandler (Vocals).

First Photo Session

These pictures were taken at our very first photo session in Fall 1987 at the infamous "F*** Up Plot" on the outskirts of Shippensburg, PA. At this time, we were known as The Secret Society. It wasn't until Fall 1989 that we formed the electro-terrorist unit, Any Questions?.

Pictured are Matt Norcross (top) and M Scott McConnell (bottom).

The Secret Society revisited

This is a follow up to last week's blog entry about The Secret Society.  In that entry, I spoke about how at 8:00pm the powers that be "pulled the plug" on our show and we never had a chance to finish our set.

If you notice the clock in this picture, you'll see that it is exactly 8:00pm and we are in the middle of playing a song.  Seconds later it was all over...

The Secret Society (rev1)

This is the first incarnation of The Secret Society which had it's first and only performance in early 1987 during Winter Carnival at Shippensburg Area Senior High School. This line up included (from left to right) Scott McConnell (Synthesizers), Matt Norcross (Bass), Dirk Frey (Guitar), and LarryLee Fiber (Vocals and Drums).

The set list for this ill-fated performance included Monster Man (The Suburbs), Pung (an original song), and All of the Law (The Psychedelic Furs). When we began to play our next song (an original song by Dirk Frey), the clock struck 8 o'clock. This is important because, at 8:00pm, a DJ was to begin the dance in the cafeteria. So, as fate would have it, the powers that be "pulled the plug" on our show and we never had a chance to finish our set which also included Bullet The Blue Sky (U2) and Progressions (another original song).

To this date, no audio or video has been obtained from this show but it is known that Shawn Mailey (son of SAJHS gym teacher, Marshall Mailey) did, indeed, videotape the performance. Any help in tracking down this footage would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. Long overdue thanks are in order for Zandra Fosbre who took the only photographs that documented this event.

Idea H-2-12

This is one of those happy accidents of the recording and mixing process. The original music tracks were recorded by Scott in early 1987 using a Korg DW-6000, a Casio SK-1 (on loan from the Fiber family), and recorded onto a Fostex X-15 Multitracker 4-Track Cassette Recorder.

Later in 1987, the infamous DSL sessions were recorded. For these mind altering sessions, Scott and I ended up using the other side of the cassette from the Idea H-2-12 recording.

Now, jump forward 2 years to the Summer of 1989 when I was mixing tracks for final release of The Secret Society project. Though most of the songs for The Secret Society release were recorded during the Summer of 1988 at Horse & Buggy Highway Studios, I was looking for additional material to include on the final master. This is when I stumbled upon the cassette with Idea H-2-12. I popped the cassette in the X-15 and hit play.

Here's where the happy accident occurred...

The previous song that I had been mixing was a 4-track song and had all the levels wide open so, as the 2-tracks for Idea H-2-12 started to play, the 2-tracks from the other side of the tape were also audible. However, those 2-tracks from the DSL sessions were playing backwards! I thought it sounded "so cool" that I mixed it all together and we created our first (and only) backwards masking song.

Now you can be the judge of whether or not this song is as "cool" as I thought it was at the time and you'll also get bonus points if you can decipher the backwards masking vocals and sounds from the DSL sessions. But be warned, you may not want to know what the backwards masking vocals and sounds are!

*BEFORE* Floating Fish Studios

In a land before time (Summer 1988) and before the construction of Floating Fish Studios, a small band of musicians formed The Secret Society.

During one extremely hot summer (with no air conditioning), The Secret Society gathered at Horse & Buggy Highway Studios in Shippensburg PA. Aptly named for the Amish who would frequently gallop by in front of the studio. While packing the contents of Floating Fish Studios (Sunrise Lane), I came across some gems from the past. Here's a tasty morsel called "Progressions" which was recorded live to a Fostex X-15 cassette 4-track by M Scott McConnell (Synthesizers), Matt Norcross (Bass), Tim Harrell ("Live" Drum Machine), Ken Chandler (Vocals), and special guest (and birthday boy), Kevin Wilson (Guitar). This was part of a cassette called "Happy Birthday Bart".

Enjoy...