Know Yer Band: Great Plains

Band: Great Plains

Members:
Vocals/Guitar - Ron House
Guitars/Vocals - Matt Wyatt
Keyboards/Vocals - Mark Wyatt
Bass - Hank O'Hare (Don Howland), Mike Hummel, Paul Nini, Bill Bruner
Drums - Robert David Green, James Castoe

Releases:
1983 - The Mark, Don & Mel E.P. 12" (New Age)
1984 - Born In A Barn album (Homestead Records)
1985 - Naked At The Buy, Sell, And Trade album (Homestead Records)
1985 - Slaves To Rock 'N' Roll Live! album (Not On Label)
1987 - Sum Things Up album (Homestead Records)
1987 - Dick Clark 7" single (Shadowline Records)
1987 - Before We Stop To Think 12" single (Shadowline Records)
1989 - Exercise 7" single (Homestead Records)
1989 - Colorized! compilation album (Diabolo Records)
2000 - Length Of Growth 1981-1989 double compilation album (Old 3C Records)
2008 - Live At WFMU album (Old 3C Records)
2012 - Directions To The Party DVD (Old 3C Records)

Newcity Music: Quotas System - Mike Rep and Tommy Jay’s Creative Life is Best in a Basement

True Believers wasn't the last time Mike "Rep" Hummel and Tommy Jay played and recorded together, not by a very long shot. This article at Newcity Music from 2013 digs into their history, here's a snippet:

The music whizzing around Rep and Tommy Jay eventually found itself synthesized in scores of recordings—the overwhelming majority of which remain unreleased. What got set to tape during those formative explorations didn’t become immediately available. 

And when “Rocket to Nowhere” showed up in 1977, it seemed like no one was listening.
“We were more influenced by our isolation than by being part of a scene, pre-’78,” the multi-instrumentalist says of his first few years tinkering with recorded songcraft. 

Rep, though, was undeterred and continued recording at a prodigious rate, woodshedding in basements, goofing off with his friends but only emerging later in the decade as a member of the True Believers—a group orchestrated by Tommy Jay. 

The band issued its lone recording, “Accept It” on Rep’s fledgling New Age imprint. It was 1980. The three songs toss off a surprising range of music, considering the players seemed wrapped up in punk concerns. Even the title track reveals a gentle melodicism alongside the genre’s quick pacings. 

Rep, again deferring to Tommy Jay’s talents, says the album ranks as an UR-recording and that his companion’s recognition is usually glossed over by virtue of the Quotas using Rep’s surname. 

By the time the True Believers were kicking around, though, Rep says a concerted scene had begun to coalesce around groups like Ron House’s Twisted Shouts and Jim Shepard’s Vertical Slit. There were even a few venues daring enough to host performances. Rep and Tommy Jay persisted, this new enclave serving as proof that what they were blindly pursuing had pent-up meaning. And someone cared, somewhere.

HoZac Records: True Believers

HoZac Records in Chicago are responsible for the reissue of the True Believer's 1980 single Accept It! originally released on New Age. They posted an nice write-up about the release, here is some of that:

What exactly is the germ of Columbus “weirdo” rock? There have been many left-of-center acts around the Heart of It All (i.e. Ubu, Eels, Devo, Numbers), but what sparked those in Columbus, or better yet, greater central Ohio? Was it the Beatles-mocking talent shows (faithfully preserved as Acid Archive relics) at Northland Mall? Terry Davidson and the Barracudas? The appearance of the Velvets at the once revered and now (somewhat) defunct Valley Dale Ballroom? The day Shep stepped off of the Santa Maria from distant Florida? 

There were Slits and Shouts and Urges permeating in Columbus back in the day, but none more unified in sound and vision as the True Believers. The True Believers, who existed in the capital from 1979 to ’81, consisted of dudes who would go on to amass a string of records that laid the blueprint for home-recorded freak-rock. For the city, and the various bucolic ’burbs that make-up Central Ohio, these were men well versed in records and “alternative” universes, rituals, and barbiturates. We do live within extreme proximity to the Serpent Mound, a well-known refueling station for aliens and depleted soulless souls. Then there’s Harrisburg. That mythical po-dunk has been the home base for these misfits: Tommy Jay, Mike “Rep” Hummel, Nudge Squidfish (the “Indian” of the group), and a guy they call The General. Before all of that—the Quotas and Bugmen—naughty things were being done with tape in basements in Bexley and Grove City. Counter cultures were being waxed and pontificated upon with pills.

New Additions: Accept It! 7" single by True Believers

Truth be told, this isn't actually that new of an addition. When I first started the book project in Spring/Summer 2018, Kyle at Lost Weekend Records advised me to pick this up, and I'm glad I did. First, I had never heard of the band, it would have taken me a while to backtrack to it without Kyle's advice. Second, it's one of the rare instances of a hard to find 70s/80s release getting reissued with a bunch of info, so that's helpful.

Know Yer Band: True Believers

Band: True Believers

Members
Tommy Jay - Drums, Guitars, Vocals
Gen.Robt.E.Lee - Bass, Vocals
Mike Rep - Guitars, Air Organ, Vocals
Also - Nudge Squidfish

Releases
1980 - Accept It! 7" single (New Age)

Know Yer Band: Vertical Slit

Band: Vertical Slit

Members
Jim Shepard - vocals/guitar/piano/tape/other
Dan Juranko - bass/vocals/tape/effects
David Mikula - drums/percussion

Releases
1979 - Urban Imprint 7" single (Not On Label)
1980 - New Thrill / New Pill 7" single (New Age)
1986 - Under The Blood Red Lava Lamp album (Old Age)
1988 - Basement 2215 album (Iron Press)
1990 - Vertical Slit And Beyond compilation album (Ropeburn)
1991 - Your Wife Is Licking My Strobe Light And Grinning album (Iron Press)
1997 - Twisted Steel And The Tits Of Angels album (Spirit Of Orr)

MAXIMUMROCKNROLL: Thank You, Mother Dear Album Review

Although now only an online concern, MAXIMUMROCKNROLL has a long and storied history covering punk and hardcore going back to the 1970s, including a review of Human Sufferage in the January 1985 Issue 21. Although an image of the review isn't online, I was able to track down a transcription via the JimmyButtons Blog:

HUMAN SUFFERAGE - "Thank You, Mother Dear" 12"
The production on these acidic thrash compositions is
extremely basic, as on their debut LP, but HUMAN SUFFERAGE
earn high marks for improved songwriting and a sense of
passion that's almost tangiable . "Take It for Granted" is a
snappy hardcore number worth special mention, but the lyrics
on all these songs show that this band is extremely articulate,
too . A must-get . (SS)
(New Age Records, 1585 N . High Street, Columbus OH 43201)

New Additions: Thank You, Mother Dear album by Human Sufferage

Reading Steven Blush's book "American Hardcore: A Tribal History" was one of the inspirations for taking on this project. Although Columbus doesn't get its own section in the book, and the midwest overall is underserved, the city provided a number of contributions to the 80s hardcore scene, including Human Sufferage. Though hard to find, I was able to track down a copy of their second release, the 1984 album Thank You, Mother Dear that was released via New Age. It's a nice slab of youthful hardcore that sounded fresh and energetic to this day.

Know Yer Band: Human Sufferage

Band: Human Sufferage

Members
Vocals - Adam Santelli / Scott Fagerston
Guitar / Vocals - Tom Byrne
Bass - Tom Byrne / Steve Locklear / Matt Campbell
Drums - Greg Block

Releases
1983 - Human Sufferage 12" EP (New Age)
1984 - Thank You, Mother Dear Album (New Age)

Know Yer Band: Screaming Urge

Band: Screaming Urge

Members
Vocals/Guitar - Michael Lambert
Bass - Mike "Myke Rock" Nixon
Drums - Dave Green

Releases
1980 - Homework 7" (New Age)
1980 - Screaming Urge 1st s/t album (Garner Records)
1981 - Screaming Urge 2nd s/t album (Rawdeal Records)
2002 - Impulse Control: Complete Recordings 1980-1981 (Hyped To Death)