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I remember the very first time I heard Black Rotten Swamp Matter’s
debut album, Out of the sludge and into your ears. It just
blew me away. Before that, all I had listened to was Niel Sedaka and
Slim Whitman. They were great but they couldn’t compete with Black
Rotten Swamp Matter’s first album, which debuted in 1976 on Stay-Smell
records. In fact, their legacy still lingers on. I had gone to see them at a benefit concert they did for Halitosis Patients without Health Insurance, a local charity. They blew my mind! That’s when I saw the lead singer/guitarist, Willy Maykitt, for the first time. He didn’t have but four teeth in his mouth but what he lacked in dental hygiene he made up for with enthusiasm. That’s when I decided to become a musician. I had absolutely no talent whatsoever but I was inspired. I went out and bought a used electric guitar. My father flipped. He couldn’t believe that I would spend a whopping $11.95 for a guitar. He said: "Son, that’s a carton of cigarettes." But I didn’t care what he thought, I just wanted to be like my hero, Willy Maykitt. I played that guitar night and day, for months. Sometimes I would put on Black Rotten Swamp Matter albums and pretend I was jamming alongside of them, in front of a crowd of millions. It was great. I carried my guitar around and sang my favorite Swamp songs. Even when all of the strings popped, I would still pretend I was playing the guitar. My parents thought I was a little strange but I was just a young kid of twenty-three at the time, so what harm was there in pretending? Then one day I heard that they were breaking up, after only five albums. I was devastated. My life seemed to have no purpose. How could the world continue to turn without Black Rotten Swamp Matter? But four months later, Willy Maykitt released his first solo album, What’s the Matter? The funny thing was that it was better than anything he had ever done with The Matter. The album shot straight to the bargain bins and became affordable within weeks. $1.99 for a two-record set, what a deal! After three solo albums and heavy drug use, Willy teamed up with his former Swamp Matter drummer, Stix McCracken, to form the psychedelic band, Badd Tripp. They released their first album, Tales from the Swamp, on Tone-deaf records. They did two years of heavy touring and heavy drinking. That’s when disaster nearly struck. Stix had consumed too much Old Milwaukee after a concert. He nearly choked on his own vomit while eating a roast beef sub with provolone, lettuce, tomato, onion and extra mayo. After the roast beef sub/vomit incident, they took a four-month break and started to put new songs together for their next studio album. Then they were asked to perform at a charity event for webbed-toe awareness. But little did they know that their former bassist for the Matter was to be there. Since the breakup of Black Rotten Swamp Matter, bassist/keyboardist, Budd Wype, had been recording and touring with his own group, Hairy Mole. They had a top 100 hit in 1982 called "Rock and Mole Star". At the end of the charity event, three of the four former members of Black Rotten Swamp Matter performed together for the very first time since they had broken up. The audience loved it! Budd Wype began working in the studio during the recording of the remaining tracks of the project Willy and Stix had begun working on. They released: The studio album started by Willy and Stix, joined later by Budd album. They launched a twenty-city tour after that. But what ever happened to the former lead guitarist of the Matter? Well Shredd Meisterman had settled down, gotten married and started his own septic draining business. But after putting up with crap for years he decided to wash his hands of the whole industry and start playing music again. He was approached by a representative of Badd Tripp, to see if he would join them on their current tour. He agreed. So then all four members of the Matter were touring together for the first time since the breakup, but were touring as Badd Tripp. Additionally, they didn’t perform any of the Matter’s material. Heeding public demand, they decided to go into the studio and record a new Black Rotten Swamp Matter album. They were to follow it up with a world tour. Fans could hardly wait. Unfortunately, tragedy struck. While engaged in a night of serious binge-drinking and excessive buffoonery, Budd and Stix were killed in a fishing incident. There would never be another Swamp Matter studio album. The music world was shaken and Willy was shattered. Willy dropped out of sight. Nobody knew where he went. I had started several bands and recorded a few CD’s under my own label. I was a local music hero and God’s gift to the local music scene. Realizing that my band wasn’t good enough for me, I started playing solo gigs. My agent booked me for a gig in which I was to warm up for this guy called Willy Jones. I never heard of him but I was never one to turn down a gig. Well, Willy Jones actually turned out to be none other than Willy Maykitt. I couldn’t believe it. Nobody knew what had become of him and here he was disguising himself and playing as someone else the whole time. At the end of the show, he asked me to come backstage and jam with him. It was great. Backstage, he told me he would like to get something going with me. I told him that I wasn’t gay but the offer was flattering. Then he said: "No, that’s not what I meant, you idiot!" He told me that he wanted to get a band started with me. I was excited and relieved. My musical hero was asking me to start a band with him, not making unwanted advances towards me. Two days later I received a phone call from a friend of mine, telling me that Willy had died in a freak basket weaving accident. I couldn’t believe it. I had just spoken with him two days earlier about starting a band with him. Now he was dead. I decided that he should not be forgotten. I immediately began to put together a show for the purpose of honoring and remembering him. The event is set to take place at the Guzzle and Go Pub in Stillwater, NJ, on the evening of April first. Hope to see you there. |
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