Mikal Waters and The Bay Bombers – The Lost Tapes ’79 – ’82

Mikal Waters is in his 70s and lives quietly in a bayside suburb of Melbourne. Back in 1978, in his world travels, he was residing in San Francisco and was part of that city’s bustling punk rock scene, singing with the band Negative Trend. They released one 7″ EP, which has subsequently been reissued by Henry Rollins’ 2.13.61 label, as well as Superior Viaduct, and were a huge influence on a young Jello Biafra. Steve DePace and Will Shatter from NT soon formed the legendary Flipper after the group split in ’79. Over the next few years, Mikal recorded sessions with friends – alumni from the Flamin’ Groovies, Jim Carroll Band, Roky Erickson’s Aliens and Sylvester(!) drummer, Jack Reiner. 5 years ago, while rummaging through a trunk at home, he found these tapes, had them transferred and mastered and pressed up 200 copies on vinyl. That’s what we have here. This is one fantastic lost-in-time document, the music a mix of power-pop, street-rock and anthemic punk, very much a mixture of the collaborators’ influences.