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Billy Harrigan and I knew and admired each other's work from hanging around the Albany punk scene. In 1981, we decided to start a band together - The New Shiny Things - which included Russ Brown on drums and Richard Fuller on keyboards. I played keyboards and sang. Billy sang and played some wierd guitar contraption.
We only played live a couple of times. Russ left, and then Richard, but Billy and I decided to finish the recording we had started, helped by an influx of cash provided by his mother. The single came out...and went absolutely nowhere. We were pretty naive and unfocused in those days and had no idea how to promote it.
Although he was a local legend more for his stage antics, Billy was, hands down, the most talented vocalist and songwriter I've ever worked with. During improvisational jam sessions, he would open his mouth and lyrics would pour out, fully formed. This year, I listened to about 40 hours of Billy's rehearsal tapes trying to find a third song for our Anna Logue Records reissue. What struck me most was Billy's voice - his pitch, his range, his brilliant phrasing, even during marathon, beer-soaked rehearsals he never faltered.
Sara Ayers, 04/12/2007
And this is the original press release, from 1982:
"Blotto Records is proud to unveil the debut vinyl by New Shiny Things, a 33 1/3 rpm, 7" single. New Shiny Things, the third act on the Blotto Records roster, features the unlikely collaboration of Billy Harrigan, formerly of The Dronez and The Outpatients, and Sara Ayers, founding member of The Dialtones, Real Danger and current leader of AKA/etc.
Several months of experimentation, combining two seemingly diametrically opposed sensibilities in a musicial marriage of heaven and hell, were captured in these two original compositions. Side A, "Changing Colors," is a moody reflection on love, dualism and confusion, featuring the counterpoint of two voices, military drums and baroque flutes. In contrast, "Breadlines and Dissidence" on Side B is upbeat and aggressive, dealing with alternating themes of disaster and continuing optimism with technopop quirkiness. Both songs were produced by Art Snay, who has done past work with Blotto, The Mechanical Servants and AKA/etc., among others.
Billy Harrigan is perhaps best known as the lead singer and driving force behind The Dronez, the heavy metal harbingers of doom whose now legendary exercises in terror left Albany audience gaping. He then started and led rockabilly nihilists The Outpatients for that band's brief existence.
Sara Ayers has long been active on the Albany scene, from playful punksters The Dialtones through the offbeat pop of Real Danger to the haunting, romantic conviction of AKA/etc., whose single "Waiting For You" b/w "We'll Just Keep Laughing" was featured on alternative radio across the U.S. and included on D.I.Y. Magazine's national compilation album."
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