Forgotten (except by me and John Boden)?

Brian Smith (the Scares That Care Board Member Emeritus, rather than author Bryan Smith) is stopping by tomorrow with copies of the two sole releases by Central PA rock band Chyld, who formed in 1985 around guitar virtuoso John Joseph, released a self-titles EP, followed by the full-length album Conception, and then broke up by 1989.

It should be noted that those to vinyl copies were originally mine, but then I sold them to Other Brian Smith aong with the rest of my vinyl some years ago, and now I am getting back into vinyl again, and Brian is kind enough to sell those two back to me.

Chyld were a remarkable band — a hybrid of grunge, progressive metal, and sludge/doom metal before any of those things were even things. True innovators, all but forgotten to time except to hardcore local music fans like myself and probably John Boden.

There are several other bands named Chyld (with the same spelling) but the Chyld I’m talking about here are unique. The best, most complete biography I’ve found online is by Andy Hinds, over on iHeart, but amusingly enough, while the bio is for the Chyld I’m talking about, the music iHeart is offering to go with it is something entirely different.

Hinds bio reads, in part: “Pottsville, PA's Chyld sprang to life in the mid-'80s, led by prodigious singer/guitarist/songwriter John Joseph. The four-piece band started as a pop-metal outfit, but over the course of three demos their sound evolved immensely, becoming a deeply textured and virtuosic variation of progressive hard rock -- and a precursor to grunge. Their one and only full-length platter, the masterful Conception, was released by New Renaissance in 1988. Unfortunately, the band and label folded by the end of the decade, never to reconvene.

In 1985, Pottsville native John Joseph (born John J. Lutsky) was a teenaged guitar prodigy influenced by the metal stylings of Michael Schenker, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Def Leppard. When one of his extraordinary home demos caught the ear of talent scout Mike Varney that year, Varney encouraged him to travel to Boston to join forces with an up-and-coming metal group called L.A. Twist, who then needed a guitarist….

Back in Pennsylvania, Joseph assembled the first incarnation of Chyld, tapping the local talents of Sal Saunders (co-guitarist), Bib Haslam (bass), and Mike Radka (drums). The quartet started rehearsing, gigging locally, and writing more material; they quickly completed a second demo, using a pair of cassette decks for primitive multi-track recording. The new material retained the pop-metal essence of Joseph's first demo, but also introduced acoustic textures and a more lyrical sensibility on songs like "Fool for You" and "The Lady Is You." Additionally, the band had begun to incorporate more progressive instrumental segments into their popular live shows; as an opening band, they often upstaged headliners (including Cinderella, then on the verge of stardom) through their sheer virtuosity.

By the end of 1986, Saunders had quit, and the band immediately returned to the studio with new guitarist Rez (born Stephen Resnick) to record an ambitious full-length demo. Shortly after the completion of the demo, Chyld signed a deal with indie label New Renaissance. By now, the band was digging deeper into their rock influences, taking more cues from Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd than from Ratt and Def Leppard.

Chyld recorded Conception in their own 16-track studio in 1987; by this time, Joseph had become quite a proficient engineer and producer, and the band worked alone. They carried over a couple tracks -- "What You Came For" and "Conception" -- from the last demo, but otherwise focused on all new material. Moving even further away from pop-metal, they de-tuned their guitars massively (creating an earthy, sludgy depth that anticipated the Seattle grunge sound by several years) and explored decidedly more progressive territory on sprawling tracks like "November" and "Far Away (From Yesterday)," fleshing out their arrangements with more complex interlocking parts and sometimes delving into dark psychedelia. Joseph's lyrics now tackled real-life subjects like drug abuse ("What You Came For") and suburban blight ("Marion "), which reflected life in a dead-end town more accurately than the lighthearted stuff of the early demos….

The album received positive marks in the underground rock press, and the band did some minimal regional touring and radio appearances to promote the record. But unfortunately, by the end of the year, New Renaissance had gone bankrupt, leaving the band without a label once again.

By the year's end, the band had effectively split, leaving behind brilliant, unfinished demos of new songs like "All the Drinkers" and "Mary Jane." Conception remains the band's only official release, and has become a sought-after cult item.”

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Anyway… very excited to get those two records back again tomorrow.

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My pal Marcos Repolle — a very talented young filmmaker — is hosting this event in Central PA on December 5th. I will be there, as will Mary, and filmmaker Mike Lombardo. If you can join us, it will be a good time.