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The Penetrators: Basement

Anthology: 1976-84
By Stephen Haag 28 July 2005

Living in cold and snowy Syracuse, New York, in the mid-70s

may have been the best thing to cultivate the musical tastes
of Eliot Kagan and Jack Lipton. Had they been somewhere

The Penetrators

hipper, they ran the risk of being exposed to synthesizer-

Basement Anthology: 1976-84

soaked prog opuses (opi?) and glammy boys in eyeliner. As it

(Swami; US: 26 Apr 2005; UK: 25 Apr

2005)

wasfortunately for fans of cult-level garageLipton and

Kagan were hunkered down in upstate NY with some old soul

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records and a love of 60s garage. As legend has it, there was
little else to do in Syracuse, so the two formed the
basement rock band the Penetrators and set out to conquer
the citys rock scene and have some fun in the process.
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Short as it may be, thats the entire story of the Penetrators,

and it shines through in the best possible way on the music found on Basement Anthology:

1976-84. The Penetrators never tried their hand at national, or even regional, stardom
(though in 1982 they submitted a video of their tune Shopping Bag to MTV, which rejected
itand thats saying something, since MTV played anything in their wildcat days), nor toured
anywhere outside of the Syracuse bar circuit. But the recordings on Basement Anthology are
so infectious, so fun, and made by guys who cleared loved the music they were making, that
the disc cant help but be a winner.
Conventional wisdom holds that the best garage rock is kinda crappy: recorded on old, beat up
equipment, full of guitar performances that threaten to collapse like a house of cards, but
never do, and an overall tossed-off vibe. The Penetrators meet all those criteria, and their
songs are all the better for it. The earliest tunes on the disc, the 60s teen pop homage Gotta
Have Her and a cover of the Animals Its My Life, were recorded in August 1976 at Cheese
Studios in Syracuse a location better known as Kagans parents basement. The songs sound
like shit and theyre absolutely perfect.
Time and again, the band pieces together a song with some scotch tape, popsicle sticks and a
rickety guitar lick and every time the tune is a garage classic. Opener Teenage Lifestyle, as
the hilarious liner notes penned by Swami Records honcho Swami John, claim, is a
declaration of confusion and irreverence and couldve been written by the Dictators Andy
Shernoff (I wanna stay out / At least til 11:00p!). Shopping Bag shouldve been a hit, with a
catchy chorus and a guitar hook thatll wedge in your brain (boy, MTV really blew that one),
and Rock n Roll Face and Stop Action suggest (as the liner notes put it) the Rolling Stones
on Cheetos and beer instead of heroin and blowjobs. If that means something to you, you
should go find Basement Anthology immediately.
And as for the soul influence mentioned earlier, check the cover of Arthur Conleys Sweet Soul
Music and the original tune The Scandalizer, both recorded live in 1980 with band buddy
Curtis Seals on vox. Garage-soul bands like the Dirtbombs and the Detroit Cobras can thank
the Penetrators for blazing that genres trail.
Maybe its just as well the Penetrators never got big. Their music, catchy and accessible as it is,
was never meant for mass consumptionsomething special wouldve been lost if Kagan and

15.12.2014 2:01