Pre Fix – Underneathica // Ectomorphine (Subterranean Records) 1981. One of the more obscure acts on the amazing Subterranean label out of the post-punk paradise that was San Francisco in the early 1980s, Pre-Fix were actually a Tuscon, AZ band. Its not surprising that many of us have mistaken them for a SF act. The music is completely in synch with seminal SF acts like Inflatable Boy Clams and Bay of Pigs. Apparently, this was recorded in San Francisco by the engineer who produced a lot of the early Tuxedomoon stuff so there is a San Fran connection beyond the label. I found this all out while doing research on the band. The A-Side of this single was the inspiration for John Manyjar’s amazing Underneathica blog and there is information on the single there. The single is also available on the always impressive Systems of Romance blog. So why am I posting it here? Because I already have typed this much and I am too far into this post to exit easily. So what can I add about Pre-Fix that these two awesome web resources haven’t already covered? Not much. But let me point out that both sides of this amazing single are the kind of rubbery, sinewy weirdness that would be hard to duplicate today. For more context, there’s a great photo on the Phoenix Punk Scene website that outlines the instrumentation of the band; a clunky Danelectro guitar and a fretless bass. Combine that with some whacked out percussion and some truly oddball vocals/lyrics and you can almost hear the band by looking at the picture. It’s like Remain in Light era Talking Heads on about 50 hits of microdot. Like singer, John Glenn says, “I’m a sociopathic weirdo, I can’t get along with you”. At least he’s honest about it.