26 Aug 2009

Wurm Baby / Grand Mal

Grand Mal was just Wurm Baby with a different name. It started out circa 1982 being part of the amazing early 80s harDCore scene, sharing gigs with bands like Government Issue, Marginal Man, Second Wing and Bloody Mannequin Orchestra. The band was formed by Joey Aronstamn – voice, Malcolm Riviera – guitar, Don Diego – bass, and Linda LeSabre – drums.

Wurm Baby / Grand Mal, 1983. Pic by Cynthia Connolly

Recently, I had the chance to get in touch with Malcolm via email, and he was so extremely kind to share with me some early Wurm Baby / Grand Mal songs. I do think “Silent Scream” is really great, and it's a shame there was no Wurm Baby release back in the day.

“That was an early song that never made it to record, only demo. I think it set the tone for future Wurmbaby/Grand Mal songs: inner angst, negative emotions, that kind of stuff. The darker side of pop music. No love songs on the Wurmbaby set list! For some silly reason we didn't consider it high quality enough to release, but listening to it these many years later, it's really not bad and I wish now that we'd done a Wurmbaby 7" at least.” Malcolm Riviera


Grand Mal – Silent Scream [Demo song, recorded @ Inner Ear Studios, 1983]


Grand Mal – Binge Purge [Demo song, recorded @ Inner Ear Studios, 1983]
It appeared on the Grand Mal's Binge Purge LP, released by Fountain Of Youth Records in 1985.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool post. Just learned of Grand Mal through an old Rites Of Spring/Gray Matter gig flyer. Definitely enjoyed the demo tracks. Thanks for the blog.

J. Eric Smith said...

One of my favorite records from early '80s DC . . . glad to see it getting some love here! I was a midshipman at the Naval Academy in Annapolis when it came out, and proudly posted that truly horrific album cover on the bulletin board over my bed as a "keeping it real" move . . . it's great to hear it again, all these years on.