YOUR LIP IS ON FIRE (I'LL STOMP IT OUT)

Pure Mayhem Tape (aka Anything for a Rhyme) wasn't the first batch of songs I ever wrote. But it was the first time I actually organized my new songs into an album format. And perhaps more importantly it was the first time I ever made tapes of my songs for other people to listen to.


your lip is on fire
I'll stomp it out
your lip is on fire
my own piss is worth more than you

I think I was writing & recording little made-up ditties as far back as 1985. Maybe before that even?

Pure Mayhem predates all multitrack recording for me. Most of side one was done with a mono cassette recorder. It sounds like the Casio PT-3 keyboard was propped up, facing the recorder's built-in condenser mic, with the guitar amp facing from the other direction. And I was probably standing over the whole shebang, vocalizing down to the mic. All the volume levels had to be manually worked out beforehand, otherwise, you get a recording like this one. One element dominates. Side two features some early live-to-two-track recording via the home stereo I had at the time. Which had two little mic inputs on the front.

Ian C Stewart "Your Lip's on Fire (I'll Stomp it Out)" MP3

I continued recording in that manner... with the two little mic inputs until I got my first four track in August 1989. During which time I recorded many tens of hours of horrible fake songs, many of which will probably appear here in the coming weeks & days. Warned.