by Jordan Minnick
Last week, we took a look at Frontier Nebraska’s LP Speed Nebraska, made and produced in 1995 by North Platte natives A.J. and Mike Mogis. So it’s fitting that this week we consider another Mogis brothers album from 1995 at WhoopAss Studios: Opium Taylor’s Boy-White City, also released by Caulfield Records.
This Lincoln band was active from ‘93-’97, during which they recorded a single, Sun Foil/Living (‘94), and two albums: Boy-White City and Fade Machine Fade Magazine (‘97).
Download Sun Foil/Living at TheBandBrokeUp.com.
Constant members included Chris Heine (vocals), Pat Noecker (bass) and Matt Focht (drums). The band also cycled through a few guitar players: Mike Mogis (‘93-’94), Matt Silcock (‘94-’97) and Jeremiah McIntyre (‘97).
Boy-White City marked Opium Taylor’s first full-length release, and almost their last, as the band broke up in ‘95.
“Opium Taylor’s last show was their CD release show,” recalled Caulfield label chief Bernie McGinn in a 2005 interview with Lazy-i columnist and HN contributor Tim McMahan.
The album was written and performed by Heine, Noecker, Focht and Silcock. Mike Mogis helped write and play guitar parts for the LP’s second track “Living,” which was recorded on an eight-track in North Platte. While learning to record in the ’90s, the Mogis brothers gathered enough funds to get a four-track recorder when Mike was about 15 years old, and then eventually the eight-track, which they still possess.
Read more about the Mogis brothers in this Lazy-i interview.
Songs “September 25th” and “October 27th” were recorded on a four-track in Tabor, Iowa. The remaining seven tracks were recorded in just over a day in Lincoln at WhoopAss.
The title track opens the album, displaying the singing capabilities of Heine, who’s vocal progressions are at a stop and go. The middle of the LP positions a nice fade from the piano-a capella “September 25th” into the countering riffs of “Autumn.” Boy-White City’s final song, “October 27th,” brings the same sound of “September 25th,” but with added elements from the country environment, like gusting winds and the barks and howls of dogs.
Opium Taylor’s Boy-White City is this week’s featured album on TheBandBrokeUp.com; head over to the site to download it in its entirety.
1. Boy-White City
2. Living
3. Aquaman
4. September 25th
5. Autumn
6. Toehead
7. Me and You
8. Plastic Hennepin
9. Six-Hands Untied
10. October 27th