The Range Rats and Dead Moon
Toody, who had occasionally performed with Western Front and recorded a single with them, rejoined Cole for another country-influenced project, The Range Rats, in 1986. Drummer Andrew Loomis auditioned for this band, but it didn't work out, so Cole and Toody carried on with a drum machine. In 1987, while returning from Reno (their favorite vacation spot), Cole and Toody decided they wanted to play rock 'n' roll again. They called Andrew Loomis, who was a better fit for this project, and Dead Moon was born.
Dead Moon's music is a blend of dark '60s garage with punk rock; It was described by Robert Christgau as sounding "like the 13th Floor Elevators without the clinical dementia". Their early records, In the Graveyard, Unknown Passage, and Defiance, appeared on the band's own Tombstone Records, named for the music store Cole and Toody operated in Clackamas, Oregon. Cole mastered these records on a mono lathe from the 1950s that had been used for The Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie". These releases helped them gain cult followings around the United States and in Europe, especially in Germany, home of their European record label Music Maniac.
Read more about this topic: Fred Cole
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