It was Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five and everything that was done had been done before, but not what was really supposed to be done. They hung out, drank alcoholic beverages, smoked cheap tobacco products, drank coffee boiled in a sock, and cooked hot dogs and miscellaneous meat by-products with sticks over a hand-fabricated grill of unidentifiable automobile parts and farm machine remnants. Their objective was to create, or replicate (they were never sure which), a traditional sound using traditional instruments in a traditional musical recording environment. Hence, the 'Chicken Shack Chronicles' were conceived in a chicken coop on a defunct chicken farm in a swamp in New Jersey.

The musical equipment used was a 1957 Hammond B3 with Kreuger Bass modifications through a Leslie 31H, a Milton Tom Thumb 64-note acoustic piano, a 1954 Fender Telecaster through a matching cigarette-burned Fender Champ Amplifier, and a drum set compiled from no less than five different antique drum kits from assorted manufacturers.

The microphones used were a blend of well-worn, used, and mal-aligned Neumanns, RCA, AKG, and Shure models which were plugged into a custom, rebuilt, and rusty mixer that was thrown out of some unknown studio. All this terminated in a Tandberg two-track vacuum tube tape recorder and a vintage Teac two-track tape recorder. It took them years to gather this collection of equipment, and the equipment was acquired with the sole intent of providing EXACTLY what was necessary to produce 'THE SOUND'. It was a miracle that anything was produced at all. In fact, deep down inside they knew they weren't qualified to take on the task, but what the heck, they were very determined.

The concept was realized in late 1984. The whole project required diligent group and solo practice, detailed study and analysis of previous attempts by musicians to perform in this style, incredible amounts of the previously mentioned stimulants and sedatives, not to mention a trillion miles of recording tape to perfect and capture the delicate acoustical mix they were attempting to record. The United Snakes of Amerika were to be an anomaly in their own personal space and time. An organ, drum, and guitar trio that would finalize and exemplify the sound and flavor of a Chicago blues idiom, circa 1954 - 1957, in a bar, on a Saturday night, in the heat of the summer.

They made sure they rehearsed without air-conditioning to enhance that sweaty feel. After a year and a half of rehearsal, they had finally perfected a repertoire that they felt confident and comfortable with, to do successive recordings of single takes of songs. There were to be no overdubs. Every measure of emotion and blues nuance was rehearsed. All the engineering settings and tasks were documented on paper. Even musical notation on manuscript was generated to help retain previous consensual successes and musical objectives. These three selections represent the best of the salvage of the final Chicken Shakx Bunker sessions.

Of these sessions, it is unfortunate that several additional tracks titled, "Don't Mess With Tucker (He's a Mean Mutha Fukka)", "Roadrunner" by Junior Walker and The Allstars, and a complete arrangement of "Blue Memphis Suite" by Memphis Slim were lost, stolen, or simply vanished in the vacuum of time. Also, keep in mind that these sessions were arranged and directed by the drummer who sang the selections while playing the drum kit. He also wore the only available headset to monitor the recording process.

The "Snakes" took a long sojourn after these sessions. Lack of booking and appropriate venues to perform proved discouraging for the ensemble. The "white boy" blues phenomenon that was to sweep the eastern seaboard had yet to occur, and the group's patience, stamina, and interest in pursuing that effort had run its course.

In 1986, Paul Goodberg, a producer from Highland Park, New Jersey, produced a video session of "The Snakes." In a record-breaking time of eight hours, "The Snakes" along with Guy DeRosa of Trenton, New Jersey on harmonica, Jack Miller of Atlantic City, New Jersey on tenor saxophone, and Gerry Beckles, from New York City on Fender Bass produced a seven-song video set. The only available take from that session, titled "SinSation," survived the scourge of time.

"SinSation"
7.5 MB WMF Video

"SinSation"
14.5 MB Ogg Vorbis Video

The "Chikun Shak" - 1985

The original chicken shack studio space was built on a twelve by twenty foot section of the coop that was the original "incubator room" on the farm. Several sheets of 5/8" firecode sheetrock were plied to the walls as added security from the neighboring "motor heads" that occupied the adjacent coop "pen." The links below are a rare glimpse into the studio in its original production state for the previously mentioned sessions. The cat in the video, named "Peepo," was hired to control rodents that enjoyed living in the Leslie speaker cabinets and amplifiers.

Chikun Shak
4.3 MB WMF Video

Chikun Shak
7.4 MB Ogg Vorbis Video