MYSTERY DATES were from San Antonio, Texas and released 3 7″s (one of them came out posthumously and had previously unreleased material. It’s said to be the best the bands best and I would agree on that).
There’s nothing I can tell you about the band or its history – I’ll leave that up to you. The 5 songs on the debut 7″ range from great to so-so qualitywise. “Mystery Date” has that typical Texas-mood to it, a catchy lead guitar and heavily focussed on the chorus. It’s the hit song here, no question. “All or nothing” has that crime-story-soundtrack thing going and whenever a song does that trick, I can’t resist to its kitsch-factor. “Silk Stocking” and “(Don’t wanna) Grow up” are a bit too 70s-rock for me. “World War III (is calling me)” leans toward the more HC sound, fast and tight and the dry rhythm section makes me think of Really Red a bit.
The back of the cover is water damaged, as you can see.
Mystery Date.mp3
All or Nothing.mp3
Silk Stocking.mp3
(Don’t wanna) Grow up.mp3
World War III (is calling me).mp3
12 Comments
He he Peter Pop
. Myster Date is as great as swizz cheeze. The top song for me is World War III here. Amazing.
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Great to see your taking control of your own site. I love coming here for the little gems of music I would never have heard before. Awesome site!!
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The lead singer of Mystery Dates, Frank Pugliese, was also the lead singer of an earlier San Antonio punk band called the Vamps. They opened for the Sex Pistols when they played San Antonio in 1978. Frank is now the lead singer of the Dead Boys-influenced band The Sons of Hercules. At 55 he is still rocks. The drummer, Arthur Hayes, went on to drum for the Hickoids, an amazing cow punk band in the mid 80s. BTW EV Records put out a 7″ EP of unreleased MDs songs back in 1996. It includes a true scorcher, “Man in the Middle.”
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Thanks Scott. The HICKOIDS were great, totally forgot about them. Might be a good idea to post their EP or LP (which is even better).
BTW the 3rd MD 7″ is mentioned in the post …
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Excellent site – thanx for all the pogo! Hickoids would be great. Have the Hicktown 7”, but never got the chance to listen to their Album. Cheers!
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This EP is a mixed bag to me- the 1st, 3rd and last songs are catchy in a quirky kind of way especially the 1st song. The 2nd and 4th songs are clunkers for me. Nice cheesy art on the cover though! Damn, the posthumous EP of unreleased stuff that came out on EV (thanks Ryan) in 1996 was superb– raw guitars, fast and looser. On this EP it’s almost like they toned things down (especially the guitars) so they could get more “mainstream” appeal or something. It would be nice to hear from an old band member so they could explain.
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Mucho Gracias for posting this.
This record and the second one, titled Self Inflicted Sex, were indeed improperly recorded(like most punk rock was). If you listen to the post-humous 1996 EV Records release you’ll get a glimpse of what the band actually sounded like. I used to have a very lo-fi literally recorded on a boombox umpteenth-generation cassette of them live at the Raw Power Club in San Antonio and even with all the hiss on said tape I can assure you this band ROCKED! A very tight and well rehearsed group. It’s a shame they never got to release an album. I’d heard somebody’s girlfriend ran off with the tapes or some such.
I speak with guitarist David Norwood on the phone occasionally. He’s playing in a band with Ty Gavin(The Next) called S.A. Creeper who are due to release a CD. For the past year I’ve been in correspondence with drummer Arthur Hays who, unfortunately, is serving time in jail. Arthur’s also undergoing chemo treatment as we speak due to liver cancer. Frank is definitely still rocking out in the Sons of Hercules who’ve been at it for over 15 years now. Frank’s brother Joe, who was also in the The Vamps and ran Beehive Records, still works in the entertainment industry and manages big name acts on tour. Flynn used to supervise the Burning Man Festival up until recent. Marc was last heard of residing just outside of Ft. Worth.
I’ve got a website trying to document San Antonio’s old punk rock scene and have some Mystery Dates flyers on there- http://www.satxpunk.com I’ve got some other goodies to add to the site, but they’re on hold for the moment.
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Here’s a clip of the Sons of Hercules covering a Mystery Dates song ‘Easy Action’- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLBX6yb15xA
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OMG I still have a Mystery Dates t-shirt packed in a box somewhere. *shivers*
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Oh and for anyone who was in SA at the time…
WALTER SEZ!
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Hi Erich- how are things, I have not posted many comments lately but still visit your blog all the time. I just posted the Mystery Dates’ 2nd EP “Easy Action” from 1983 on my blog:
http://punkbusinessmanager.com/2010/03/03/mystery-dates.aspx
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I lived next door to these guys when I was in the eighth grade. They were cool guys and actually inspired me to learn to play guitar. It’s 28 years later and I am still grateful for having known them. Lead screamer Frank Pugliese went on to front Sons Of Hercules. They are rocking every weekend at local venues.
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