Sonic Nightmares started as a live radio show in 1995 on a listener supported radio station in Bern, Switzerland called, ‘Radio Rabe’. The show ran for 4 years and became infamous for prank phone calls, high energy Punk and Garage
Rock and Roll and spontaneous skits. Everything was against us in those days.
The Techno sound here in Europe was at its peak and the music we were playing
was considered very un-cool and just plain weird which was just fine and dandy
for us.
The show was hosted by El Tiki (now @ magnolia.ch), Robert Butler (Bob on the Knobs, now @ pantichrist.com), Lightning Beat-Man (Now Reverend), and Gringo Starr (aka Chris Rosales). In over 3 ½ years of shows, all four of us
were present in the studio and very rarely missed a show. Once a month the
Nightmares crew also broadcasted an all night show (12:00-06:00) called, Sonic
Insomnia.
The shows were simultaneously presented in English and Swiss German dialect which added to the mayhem and confusion that the show normally caused. We were taken hostage one night when a group of four black-clothed and hooded
musician/terrorists broke into the studio and demanded that we play their new
demo on the air or they would trash the studio. We were almost kicked off the
air for good when a prospective news presenter called in for a job and we put
her on the air and quizzed her about Rock and Roll. During that time, Beat-Man,
Robert and I were making the Lightning Beat-Man and the Never Heard of ‘Ems
record and decided that instead of paying extra money to master the recordings
we would play the D.A.T. live on the air and record the result which would hopefully turn out as a
nicely compressed radio signal (it worked,kinda). Apartment Wrestling Rock and
Roll features many Sonic Nightmares moments as well as the song, ‘Sonic
Nightmares’ that was recorded live on one of our shows.
A small archive of about 30 of these shows still exist and could be available as a separate podcast sometime in the future (if there is any interest?).
And let me take this opportunity to personally thank Sasha Blumer/El Tiki who single-handedly started the whole Sonic Nightmares idea along with coming up with the name of the show. And the nightmares continue on December 14 with the first episode of Sonic Nightmares for the GaragePunk Podcast. Be there or be a total square. Thank you, thank you, thank you and fuck you Ladies and Gentlemen…..
Gringostarr
