The first time I saw Matt Sabo front a band was back in the 80’s, and the band was the Bulus. It was at Ruth and Irv’s Astrological Fish & Steak (I was managing Cousin Al at the Time). The band’s name was Swahili for friend, I was told. And they rocked! Matt Sabo was a perfect front man. Matt channeled an Iggy mojo in an off-hand manner that was all his own.
This was one of the first of many versions of the band that I would see… they evolved from the Party Dogs (with R.U. Sirius) and would later morph into (plus or minus a few members) Five Star Buffalo, Big & Pretty, Family Love Probe, The Bootlickers, The Mommies and then SLT. I was an ardent fan of these crazy musicians from Brockport and was psyched when Pat, Ken and Hugh consented to work with Chaz and I on what would come to be known as Lotus STP.
Outside of Chuck Irving, every member of SLT has an LSTP connection. Pat Lowery and Ken Frank were founding members of Lotus, Ken named the band during one eventful Memory Pit episode at Hugh Flynn’s apartment. Phil Marshall jammed with us for a while in the galleries at Pyramid Arts Center. Matt Sabo played guitar with us when Pat re-joined the band (Lotus version 3, if you’re counting).
We recorded the majority of LSTP’s first album “Million Dollar Ring” before imploding; Ken left to join the Colorblind James Experience, Pat moved on to other projects and Hugh continued to live in Holley (his VW bus had died so it had been hard for him to continue practicing with us city dwellers).
Bands being what they are, we would later regroup with Pat and add Matt on second guitar. Matt’s blistering solos can be heard on some of our demos from that era; “Crazy Bird” and “Queen of England.” Pat’s writing was at an all-time high and several songs carried through to other groups. “Sweet Bloodhound” would later become part of the Rat Kings repertoire, and “Crazy Bird” was radically reworked for Big & Pretty. I’m still partial to the Lotus versions, natch.
All good things come to an end, some not as smoothly as we would like. LSTP version three, unfortunately, did not end well. Around that time I began to pull out of the music scene and concentrate on making a living, getting married and starting a family. It was shortly after the birth of my daughter that SLT’s Luke Warm OD’d. I stopped by the tribute show at Freakazoid to pay my respects. When I arrived, Koo-Koo Boy was in full swing and I felt so disconnected. It truly felt as if a chapter in my life had closed. The flame, once lit, seemed to have sputtered out like a depleted sparkler.
But the Rochester rock and roll connection kept the embers glowing… with help from the connection Pat Lowery made with Dave Anderson (who produced the first Lotus STP album). Before his hiatus in Austin, Pat deposited the SLT sessions at Saxon Studios. Upon his return, Pat, Chuck and Matt began working on them in earnest. The result? Dirty Sleep. A timeless slab of silicon that barely contains the raw energy that SLT possessed. Awesome.
So, yeah, I’m looking forward to the show tonight. And the CD that is forthcoming? Hell yeah.
