Inside the Head of... Mr. Atom was a Man or Astro-man? 7" EP released on Estrus Records (ES765) in 1995 (recorded in late '94, released in early '95). It was recorded by Steve Albini. This was the first recording to feature Captain Zeno. The cover art and design was by Art Chantry (Sort of--scroll down for some of the source artwork). The back cover states "This single is dedicated to the vital memory of the band Bolt Thrower." The picture sleeve was made from medium weight, folded and glued cardstock with very high gloss printing on the front and back.
There were two distinct pressings of this EP. They are easy to tell apart because the center label is different. The early pressing has a red and yellow center label, and the later pressing has a black and silver center label. The vinyl color varies a lot as well. The early pressing was available on clear green vinyl (200), opaque marbled purple vinyl (500) and translucent black vinyl. Here is a scan:
The later pressing was available on opaque black vinyl and opaque marbled gray vinyl. Here is a scan of these two:
There are also a few transitional pieces of this second pressing, like this copy that is mostly black but has a few white streaks:
The front cover artwork and the name of the single were taken from a 1940s science-fiction novel by Pat Frank. Hopefully Art Chantry split his paycheck with Frank's estate. Here is a scan of the book:
The back cover is a colorized screen capture from the 1931 version of the film Frankenstein. Here is a screen capture of the same scene without any of the superimposed text:
Curious fans can stream this version of the film online by clicking this link. This scene occurs just before the nine minute mark. (a big thanks to Benjamin Brinkman for all of the cover information)
On a personal note, I also found a rather rough, but autographed copy of Mr. Atom at a record store in Chicago a few years back. I've scanned the four signatures below. I can pick out Birdstuff, Coco and Star Crunch, but the fourth one confuses me. It looks like it says "Zeno X" -- which would be a hybrid of two different rhythm guitarists: Captain Zeno and Dexter X. You can see how this would confuse me. What do you folks think? Probably just Dexter having a laugh.
I'd assume that was Dexter X "signing" for Cap'n Zeno - Dex did not play on these recordings.
ReplyDeleteDex X had weird sense of humor.It was definitely him who signed it!
ReplyDeleteWhat idiot would sell a autographed copy?
http://historical.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=65801&Lot_No=74406#Photo
ReplyDeleteLook familiar?
Thanks for the input. If you've wondered what Dex has been up to, suffice it to say: no good.
ReplyDeletehttp://corrections.utah.gov/services/offender_search.html
Search under inmate #188159
The inmate number is no longer current. Not to be too voyeuristic, but what was the rap all about?
DeleteHe has been released. I'm not sure why he was in prison. I know a Servotron tour was cut short because of his temper and that he'd previously gotten in trouble in Georgia for fighting with a cop. Maybe something similar?
DeleteIn any case I've always loved the guy and I hope his troubled years are behind him.
Found an autograph of Dexter X signing as "Deleto X": http://michael.kepler.net/kepler.net.1999/asr3k/moa/archives/images/MOAMDexter_t.gif
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, the show at which Dexter X signed this autograph was on July 13, 1996, at Satyricon (RIP) in Portland, OR. I was also at this 21+ show, having waited outside the bar all afternoon, hoping the astromen would find a way to sneak my 16-year-old self inside. Not only did they find a way, but they also spent the four or five hours outside the club with me while I interviewed them. It would be the second time I'd seen MoA?
I'm proud to count that night as one of the highlights of my life.
Anyhoo, about a year prior to that, they did an in-store at Ozone Records. I'm pretty sure it was their first tour with Dexter X and he autographed my "Return to Chaos" 7" as "Dexter X", so I'm pretty confident the later "Zeno X" and "Deleto X" signatures are just his sense of humor. I have a tape recording of this in-store that I will eventually put up. It was my first time ever seeing them in person.