Eugene Chadbourne - Nazi Punks
previously unreleased

"A seemingly endless-and endlessly eclectic-series of releases made Eugene Chadbourne one of the underground community's most well-known and well-regarded eccentrics. Chadbourne had a definite singular style, comprised of equal parts protest music, free improvisation, and avant-garde jazz, topped off with his absurd, squeaky vocals."* His topics ranged from Lee Harvey Oswald to David Crosby to the Pope and his instruments varied from the guitar, the banjo, the electric rake (which he invented and invited audience members to play), and even to a wire bird-cage (which he would play with the cage surrounding his head--see photo). He blended jazz, country, and folk and would be at times both captivating and grating, but always hypnotically baffling. Besides his solo work (and countless home-made tapes) he is also known as being the frontman for Shockabilly (an early '80's rockabilly revisionist outfit) as well as joining members of Camper Van Beethoven to form Camper Van Chadbourne (or as they were also known-Eugene Van Beethoven). During his heyday in the mid- to-late 80's, Eugene resided in Greensboro (I think he still does) and became a popular attraction on the NC music scene.

*Part in quotes is courtesy of the "All-music guide".

By Patrick Richardson