Album Notes

Pete Tangredi, singer for The Cool Mothers, talks about the ideas behind Fall to Earth

When I was a young man in 1977 I threw myself whole-heartedly into the punk rock scene of London Ontario. This album is largely a reflection on that time when I was eighteen years old and suddenly initiated into a whole new world of emotional extremes. Fueled by multiple intoxicants, my body, mind and soul were set ablaze by all the new concepts and experiences that were introduced to me by the beautiful freaks that inhabited the Blue Boot hotel on any given night to see London's first and foremost punk band the Demics. Of course it could be called drugs, sex and rock and roll, but that cliché seems so superficial and trite. These were real flesh and blood young people, many who seemed damaged to me. They were contradictions costumed in their intimidating punk regalia, but with their heart on their sleeves. Young kids really, embracing a nihilist "live for today" mantra while at the same time delving into idealistic politics and utopian religious philosophies (Now don't get me wrong … of course there were those that were just there for the drugs, sex and rock and roll, but for others it was much more than that.) and of course falling into sexual relationships that left many with hearts bloodied and battered. During that time I experienced soaring highs and soul sucking lows. There seemed to be no middle ground. My laughter and tears were at extremes. I suppose this story in many ways is not very different from what many young people go through, grappling with conformity, ideology, sexuality, morality … and trying to come to terms with what kind of person you eventually want to become, but those days at the Blue Boot hotel seem like a perfect storm of elements coming together and focusing on a tiny little scene in London Ontario. It seemed like worthy material for an album.