Where Yellow Turns
To Gold!
in the great music city
of Cleveland, Ohio
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Banana Records Stable of Artists Les Vincent & MZ7
Back in “The Day”, Les Vincent headed the renowned
party rock band “Les Vincent & The Tree Toads”.
His reputation as a high-energy singer and crowd-pleasing
performer is legendary in Cleveland, Boston, and numerous Midwest
college towns. Les (aka Tom
Richissin) however, put performing on hold while he concentrated on
raising a family in Boston with his wife, Liz. Recently, Les rekindled that rock’n’roll fire in his
belly. Always abreast of
new music, Les was drawn back into the scene by assisting his old
friend, Banana Records President, Jim Butterfield, as a backing vocalist
on the new Butterfield 8 releases.
Les, who had a few original compositions in his hip pocket,
worked with Jim and Handsome Studio Producer Paul Nickels to finally
release his own album. The
8-song disc, titled “It’s Hardly Ever Just Black & White”, contains old
and new original tunes, as well as select cover songs that he has always
wanted to record in his unique way. Les is a multi-year winner of the coveted “Best Male
Vocalist” Zabby Award, and he is a welcome addition to the Banana
Records stable of artists with Cleveland roots.
Jinni Fontana
Native Clevelander Jinni Fontana (her REAL name, even
though it seems like a dream stage name for a female rock and roller!)
first made a name in music as a member of the quirky new wave Cleveland
band The Rubburheads, with whom she wrote, sang, played keyboards and
percussion, in the heady days of Cleveland’s original club music scene.
During this time Fontana had the opportunity to meet and collaborate
with a number of Cleveland’s leading musicians like her favorite bass
player Stutz Bearcat (The Generators, Armstrong/Bearcat Band). Riding on the momentum of her Cleveland experience,
Fontana headed to Los Angeles, where she wrote and released her first
album, “The Game of Love,” produced by Gary Mraz for the fledgling
Cleveland label Banana Records. The album was very successful—Billboard
magazine proclaimed her to be a “strong vocalist with a penchant for
writing unusual but still commercial dance tracks.” The title track was
an unexpected hit, especially in Europe, where it became (and remains) a
fixture in dance clubs. After living in various western locations, Fontana
returned to Cleveland from Reno, Nevada in 2018. She hooked up with
Cleveland’s beloved punk/glam band Vanity Crash (under the pseudonym
Virginia Plain Crash) from 2019 until 2023, playing percussion and
providing backing vocals. While enjoying the gig, she found herself
increasingly interested in rekindling her passion for writing and
recording her own material. During her time in Reno, Nevada, she hooked
up with Stutz Bearcat again, where they spent a week of twelve-hour days
laying down demo tracks. After concluding her run with Vanity Crash,
Fontana refined the tracks that eventually became “Oh, Cleveland!”: a
seven-song EP of “unusual” but catchy pop songs that echo her
experiences growing up in Cleveland. “It was a bout with homesickness that fueled my
writing,” Jinni recalls. “I was lucky to have some very interesting
experiences living in different places, but I never forgot my roots in
Cleveland.” Not only did Fontana return to her hometown, but she
also returned to Banana Records, the Cleveland-based label that had
issued her highly successful debut album, as an homage to her roots. She
collaborated with Banana CEO Jim Butterfield and Handsome Productions
studio head Paul Nickels to finish up the tracks that comprise “Oh,
Cleveland!” “I’ve always felt that Cleveland had a sound, a feel,
and a rich history of music that’s unique,” she commented. “My true love
is writing songs that bubble up the subconscious mind and meld with the
real world. And many songs tend to be inspired by my life in Cleveland.” “It’s been a real pleasure having Jinni back in the
Banana fold and I can’t say enough about the quality of these new
songs,” said Butterfield, who lent some guitar tracks to the project.
“Now that she’s got ‘Oh, Cleveland!’ under her belt, I anticipate even
more great music to come.” “Oh, Cleveland!” is available on most streaming services, including Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, and is available for purchase as a physical CD on the home page here.
The Leisure Set
The Leisure Set was the first artist to be released
on the Banana label. The
first version of the band was actually two bands. High School friends
Jim Butterfield and Bob Burford had both always wanted to release a
record, and after they graduated from college they encouraged each other
to do just that. Not sure
how to go about it, they decided to pool their resources and have each
contribute one side to the 45. The problem was, they lived in two
separate cities 250 miles apart. Bob went about it the more conventional way, by
gathering a group of friends and actually recording in a professional
studio. Joining Bob on “There’s No Teardrops” were Mike Holeman on lead
guitar, Bruce Ellis on drums, and Les Vincent on background vocals. The other side of the double-plug single was
Butterfield’s “That’s Enough”.
It features Jim on guitars, bass and vocals, which he recorded on
his new toy, a TEAC 4-Track reel-to-reel in his Cleveland apartment.
La Farrell, vocalist of the band The Fondells, provided
background vocals. The drum
tracks were recorded by Peter Bell (Luxus, Thunderbirds Are Go) in his
newly-constructed Tube Layout Studios. The resulting disc was a Christmas present to the
world in 1982…..The first Banana Record! After the success of that first single, Jim
Butterfield decided to team up with some old friends to make The Leisure
Set a “real” band. La
Farrell agreed to join the project as lead vocalist/keyboards along with
Joe Klubert (Silverhorse) on bass and Chris Jacobs (Les Vincent & The
Tree Toads) on drums. This
version of the band played the Cleveland club scene extensively over the
next two years. They
released a 7” 45 in 1983 with “Eddie & His New Girlfriend” b/w “Over &
Over”. The disc was produced
by longtime Butterfield friend Kevin McMahon (Lucky Pierre, Prick).
“Eddie” featured La on lead vocals and proved to be a club and
local radio favorite. Mark Nolan replaced Joe on bass in 1983, and the band
continued to play the Cleveland club scene extensively before disbanding
in 1984. Toward the end of
their run, Kevin McMahon joined the group as a second guitarist for a
few gigs. Here is a pair of videos made by the The Leisure Set
at the height of their run! There's No Teardrops
That's Enough
Butterfield 8
In 1984, Butterfield 8 released a 7" 45 that was
recorded in Jim’s Cleveland apartment and at Tube Layout Studios.
The record featured Eva Dilcue (The Generators, Bunji Jumpers) on
lead vocals on one side, and Jim providing the lead vocals on the “B”
side. No longer performing
live, Jim decided to move to New York City and try his luck in the big
city. It was there that
Jim’s old friend, Kevin McMahon (Lucky Pierre, Prick) convinced Jim to
return to Cleveland for a couple of weeks and record some of his
ever-growing catalog of songs.
The result was the 5-song, 12” EP “Just Listen”. Kevin produced “Just Listen”, and rounded up some of
Cleveland’s best musicians to support Jim in the effort.
This version of Butterfield 8 included Rick Christyson on guitar,
Dave Pichler on bass, and Dave Zima on drums.
Eva Dilcue and Les Vincent added backing vocals, and the band
performed only once in support of the EP before Jim returned to NYC. In 1987, Jim traveled to San Francisco, to Kevin
McMahon’s Poolside Studio, where he and Kevin worked on 10 more
Butterfield-penned tunes.
Eva Dilcue even joined them to lend her vocal support.
Things went awry in SF, and the 10 tunes were indefinitely
shelved after two weeks in the studio.
Some of those songs eventually resurfaced in later Butterfield
projects (including “Don’t Close That Door” by the Clifton Beat).
Unfortunately though, most of the songs were scrapped, and people
in the Mab Zab/Banana community still refer to the San Francisco album
as “The Travesty”. In 1990, Jim was back in Cleveland and working with a
new group of musicians. The
band played live occasionally under the Butterfield 8 moniker, and Jim
had enough new material to return to the studio.
Having a number of studio sessions under his belt, he decided to
try his hand at producing a full-length album himself.
The band that he assembled at Suma Recording Studios in Cleveland
included the same lineup as the 1985 “Just Listen” EP.
“Euclid Ave” was released in 1990, and the band played together
only once in support of it.
Jim was then summoned by The Big Banana to move his record label’s home
to sunny Florida, and Butterfield 8 began a very long hiatus.
Jim is currently working with Paul Nickels (Clifton
Beat, Backdoor Men) at Paul’s Handsome Studios in Cleveland on a new
Butterfield 8 album that is due out later in 2021.
Bunji Jumpers
Bunji Jumpers is a 2-person band consisting of former
Generators Eva Dilcue and Jimmy Lee.
In 1985, when Eva and Jimmy decided to set out on their own, they
turned to friend Jim Butterfield at Banana.
Jim had been a huge Generators fan for years and was happy to
welcome Bunji Jumpers to the Banana roster. Their first single “Brilliance!” b/w “Maybe?”
highlighted Eva’s strong songwriting capabilities and was quickly
followed up by the 4-song; 12” EP “A TWO Z”.
The Bunjis produced the EP along with Gary Mraz, who also
produced Banana artist Jinni Fontana. It was recorded at SRO Studios in
California. Eva still lives in Cleveland, and can occasionally be heard at local clubs jamming with her old Generators buds.
Lucky Pierre
The first Lucky Pierre Banana release was 1984’s “Muchacha
Latina Today” b/w “Birdman”.
Kevin played all of the instruments on this release, with Danielle
Lawrence adding backing vocals, and Bear on trumpet.
Kevin spent most of his time during this period recording other
artists at his Poolside Studio in San Francisco, but he continued to
write. In 1988 the band released a 12’; 5-song EP entitled
“Communiqué”. This record
was Kevin’s last release on Banana before he assumed the Prick persona.
The disc features some of Kevin’s favorite musicians from his
past, including John Guciardo, Leonard Marcel, Dave Zima, Denis Devito,
Tom Lash and Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails).
The title song had been released in other versions by Kevin, but
this version, featuring Tom Lash and Trent Reznor on backing vocals, is
the definitive version. Kevin McMahon currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
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All Contents © Mab Zab Ltd.,
2023. Content may be reproduced or shared with permission only.
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