The Linus Pauling Quartet: space, dope, monkeys and D & D

Promo photo by Rose Guerrero

Known globally for hip-hop acts like the Geto Boys, the R & B of Destiny’s Child and Beyoncé and the radio-friendly alt-pop of Katy Perry, Houston has been on the musical map for decades. But the city has a thriving underground rock scene that occasionally breaks out with noisy aplomb.

Falling somewhere on the noise rock spectrum apart but linked to the industrial Goth inspired Pain Teens, psychedelic soundscapers the Linus Pauling Quartet have made their mark on the rabid fans of Hawkwind styled rock and roll everywhere.

The LP4 sprang into being in the mid-90s in the wake of noise luminaries Dry Nod. Schlong Weasel and The Mike Gunn.

The collaboration that would eventually become LP4 began in Clear Lake, home of NASA, in the 80s. Ramon Medina and Clinton Heider had a band called Fear of Roaches that birthed the later LP4 track “Man with the Bleeding Head.”

“But I think the first band of significance was Schlong Weasel which started with me, John Cramer, Kyle Phillips, and Mike Gunn,” says Medina. “That band eventually split into two factions: the Clear Lake Faction and the Houston Faction.  Somehow the fact that there were two Schlong Weasels didn’t seem to be odd to either group. 

“Kyle and John led the Clear Lake one and that had a rotating cast of characters that basically made pure unabashed noise while taking as many drugs as humanly possible.  The other group was largely from the University of Houston and while the band tried to play songs the equipment was so bad and our skills were so dodgy that it always collapsed into noise as well. 

“The Houston Schlong Weasel consisted of (among others) me, Clinton, Jim Otterson, Tom Carter (Charalambides and the Mike Gunn), Larry [Liska], and Scott Grimm (Mike Gunn/Dunlavy).   Most of the better Schlong Weasel songs like 'Mournebong' from the first LP4 album and the Mike Gunn’s version of 'Song About Horses' have seen some re-recorded release.”

With the demise of Schlong Weasel came Bongtooth including Medina and Cramer, a band that almost didn’t even form.

“John had had a terrible acid trip and had gone into hiding as a result so it took a lot of work to track him down in some apartment but, when I did, he somehow agreed,” says Medina.

That band finally dismantled for what in retrospect were unknown reasons and Smile 69 was formed. That band was rife was problems according to Medina and when some of the songs were taken over to LP4, the sound finally gelled. “Larry just beat the [crap] out of his drums like a beast and it was like ‘Ahhhhh, see that’s what that song needed!’

To clarify, Medina says, “Let me just say if you see more cymbals than drums in a kit, run away.  Finesse is fine but ultimately drums are about violence and any drummer who doesn’t understand that you are hitting something needs to step away from the kit and pick up a lute or something equally wuss.”

Medina and Steve Finley on bass finally founded the Linus Pauling Quartet.

“We were the worst auditioners ever,” Medina explains. “We wouldn’t tell people they weren’t working out but instead would tell them ‘Uhhh, yeah the band broke up but thanks.’  Once we got Clinton and Larry we were gold.  The trick with Clinton was to lie about playing live shows (he has always had stage fright).”
Liska was a mutual friend that played in many of the same bands and Charlie Horshack (a.k.a. Charlie Naked) was originally brought in to play saxophone on a few tracks. “Not only did he play sax, he also played guitar, and before long he joined us full-time,” says Liska.

The band is named after Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling, a chemist and anti-nuclear testing activist that holds the distinction of being the only person to win two of the awards in separate fields.

The band wanted the name Linus, but there were already a few bands with that name in existence.

“For some reason we were fixated on ‘Linus’,” says Liska. “But we had found out that some other band called Linus had just released an album, and we figured it would not be good to have name ambiguity when we were trying to promote a new album of our own.  So we were considering different names as well as variations on the Linus theme.  I was pulling for ‘El Grupo de Linus’, but that didn't win out. Clinton had suggested ‘Linnaeus’, another scientific name, but that didn't win either. I can't remember who came up with Linus Pauling."

Photo by Eric Schuman

The relatively obscure Pauling was settled on as the namesake over beers at Harvey’s (later to become the Axiom).

“Maybe it just shows what geeks we are that to us Linus Pauling ISN’T obscure,” says Medina.

The Quartet finally solidified as a five-piece consisting of Medina on guitar, Finley on bass, Liska drumming, Heider on vocals and guitar and Horshack on guitar, sax and vocals.

Two keyboardists and electronic manipulators, Flip Osman and Carol Kelly, occasionally round out the line-up but they “play or record only when they damn well feel like it,” quips Medina.

The Hawkwind comparison is almost too easy and obvious and the band is no one-trick pony. Heider sites more classic rock influences such as “Sabbath, Stooges, Blue Cheer, Zeppelin and Cream,” while Horshack says that only naming a few bands as influences is limiting, “so I'll concentrate mostly on influences on my approach to guitar:  Neil Young, The Velvet Underground, Mick Ronson, The Pixies, and Mercury Rev.”

Black Sabbath seems to be a constant with much of the band. Other groups like The Jesus Lizard, Devo, REM, Joy Division and Fu Manchu are bandied about.

Finley includes The Minutemen “because I play bass!”

Liska claims to not really follow specific drummers with the exception of jazz skin slapper Art Blakey.
                                                                                                                                                                     Medina touts The Replacements as a top influence because “that was the best rock and roll show I ever saw,” and names Houston’s Party Owls’ Rock Out EP as his Holy Grail. Dry Nod and Hearts of Animals are two more local acts he sites and bows to psychedelic pioneers Bevis Frond.

“The show we played with [Bevis Frond] was one of the best shows ever – [eff]-ing phenomenal it was.”
The Bevis Frond also springs to Heider’s mind as one of the best shows the Quartet played, and most of the members agree that Terrastock 7 (an annual psychedelic noise fest held around the country) was a highlight.

But the city near the bay itself plays a huge role in the band’s personality. All five members of the Quartet have a philosophy regarding H-Town’s role.

Heider says, “Houston is big, ugly, industrial and swampy, but it has a lot of soul.  At our best, I would hope we reflect some of those same qualities.”

“Houston is big and diverse,” Finley says, “which kinda mirrors our sound.”

Horshack agrees and goes on to say, “I think there's another big impact living in Houston has had... I've discussed this with many people many times over the years, and I think an important part of making music in Houston is the knowledge that Houston music is largely ignored outside of Houston, though obviously some bands (including ours) have gotten some attention outside of the U.S. 

“But that feeling that we're not Los Angeles in the late 80s, or Seattle in the early 90s... we're not a "scene" that's going to break and get big and have a bunch of major labels swoop down on us and pick the place dry... that understanding that outside of Houston you're very unlikely to be noticed in any significant way really allows bands to not even try to "hit it big", and instead just do whatever they want.  Houston's produced some amazingly weird music, largely because there's absolutely no reason not to follow whatever impulses come along and lead a person down the rabbit hole.”

“Houston for various reasons is about lacking any pretense of making it.  I will say a lot of the younger bands in Houston though are a bit more ambitious than we and other older cats have been.  They get out and tour and slowly - piece by piece - get the word out about what is happening here,” Medina says, standing with his cohorts in cacophony.

Photo by Rosa Guerrero

“I mean I can name tons of great Houston bands like Charalambides, Jana Hunter, Papermoons, or Ume who’ve simply picked up and left for various reasons but many others like Young Mammals, Buxton, Giant Princess, PLF, Golden Axe and many, many more still keep pumping away at getting their music heard beyond the beltway but they all understand that at its core music should first and foremost be about having fun.  I think the ambition in Houston is never fame but a love for the art and wanting people to hear what you have to say.”

Medina also credits growing up in Clear Lake, home of NASA, “which may have something to do with our fixation with space, dope, monkeys, and D&D.”

Or, to put it simply, “I think it [is] great not having an established scene to stand in judgment over us. Houston is more laid back, low pressure--so low-pressure that it borders on indifference.  But, we have thrived in this climate,” Liska extrapolates.

This attitude, as well as “the tireless efforts and networking skillz of Ramon,” says Liska, has served the band well in finding distribution for their material. German label September Gurls has released a good chunk of LP4’s catalog. The label had previously released a Mike Gunn record.

“Our first release [on SG] had a joke where it said “The Mike Gunn presents” that was based on the fact that Prince had been introducing all these artists and it seemed that each said Prince presents Appolonia or Vanity Six or whoever the hell he was pumping that week but The Mike Gunn really didn’t have anything to with that album except that they giggled when we mentioned it,” Medina jokes.

LP4 has also worked by Camera Obscura and Fleece Records.

Normally, LP4 prefers to work with hands-off labels that simply release the material as provided, even though Michael Demmler and Eva Kohler at September Gurls “hated the obligatory Linus garage or punk song” Medina says.

The one exception occurred on the double LP when “Michael Demmler actually made an editorial comment and suggested we trim a song and we took it under consideration after we trimmed like maybe 8 minutes of noodling and sliced the remaining ends together we agreed the song was much tighter and better,” Medina says gratefully.

“We can be pretty wanky so that was very much appreciated suggestion.  But I think that’s kind of how we work with the labels - very loose and friendly.  It’s not very professional I guess which can get problematic at times but that’s just how we are – laid back.”

Earlier LP4 recordings were done at the KTRU (the well-known Rice University station) studios and Sweatbox in Austin, but now the band records solely at Digital Warehaus, Finley’s studio.

Because it is Finley’s studio, the work is pro bono, “which is nice for us because we can take our time to get songs how we want them, whether that’s recording or mix wise. Although, it does have its drawbacks. Sometimes we spend too long working on material,” he admits.

At the end of the day, however, the band lives up to their attitude of making music for themselves and enjoying the process.

Each sums this up similarly but in his unique and sometimes sarcastic way.

Heider jokes (?), “Lack of talent doesn’t excuse you from playing.”

“Throw everything at a wall and see what sticks,” is Horshack’s philosophy and on a variation of the same theme, Finley says, “We like writing sounds, playing them, recording them and seeing what happens.

Says Medina, “Our mission statement is to have fun and not take life too seriously.  Music is about friends, booze, drugs, life, and having fun.  In music as in life it should be about drinking like a Viking.  You think drowning your sorrows would fly at a mead hall?  Hell no, you grab that drink, you gun it, and slam it down on the table to cheers from all around in hopes the Valkyries will take you away after battle.  That’s what it’s about.  Get out, do it, and have fun or to quote the Butthole Surfers, ‘It’s better to regret something you have done than regret something you haven’t done.’”

Or to keep it short and sweet, as does Liska, “have fun and rock out.”

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