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He needs more recognition, perhaps 6Music should play him more on the Freak Zone.
John Battles said:
J. Henry Timmis IV ( His first name was John.) was a "Bedroom Recording Artist " , like Jandek , in Chicago , in the 70's and 80's , maybe into the 90's. His decidedly lo-fi (Before it was trendy.) recordings included Acid - Punk with a nod to "Raw Power" Stooges and even some more laid - back Psychedelic slow groovers , obviously influenced by Bolan and Bowie.
Timmis IV performed live as "Frankenstein" , taking a visual cue from David Carradine's great characterization of the same name in "Death Race 2000". which meant he wore a black leather mask on stage , ostensibly to hide a burn or crash injury that never happened , as per Carradine's example in the movie. Reportedly , he did'nt play out with a band , instead , opting for tapes of his own music.
I suggested he be included in the Chicago Punk Bio , "You Were'nt There", but , that never happened. Timmis died , probably penniless , 10 or 12 years ago , roughly. I spoke to the one personal friend of his that I knew. All I could get out of him was that J. Henry Timmis IV "Took a lot of drugs" . This was coming from a man who probably took enough drugs to fill Soldier Field. An extremely limited, somewhat recent , reissue of his original LP compilation will probably set you back hundreds of dollars on e-bay , but , I hope some of you have the chance to hear his music. A Chicago original.
