In 1983, 4 musicians came together from various pasts to create something new in Austin. Featuring Jesse Sublett, founder of Austin's punk scene, with such venerable bands as The Skunks and the Violators (the latter featuring Kathy Valentine, later of the Go-Go's), the band also included drummer Kevin Tubb, of Austin's X-Spandex, and multi-instrumentalists the late Gary Guthrie (a childhood friend of Jesse’s, and previously a member of Talmadge D'Amour) and Jeff "Todd" Campbell.
Jesse's original search for musicians listed influences such as Roxy Music and Yazoo (an offshoot of Depeche Mode) along with Otis Redding and Raymond Chandler. Answering this call as probably no one else could, Gary and Jeff put their own band, Almost Anyone, on temporary hold to help Jesse bring his vision to life.
Kevin joined after a couple of gigs with another drummer, completing the original, and arguably the best of the Secret Six lineups.
This lineup is featured on the posted songs "Smell the Rain", a studio recording and "(Don't Start) The Fire", a live recording.
The band toured the Southwest throughout 1983, playing often at Austin's Clubfoot, and opening for such well known acts as Gang of Four, The Call, PIL's Jah Wobble and Joan Armatrading to name a few.
As described by Kevin Phinney in Austin's American Statesman newspaper, "Secret Six incorporated the Skunk's garage-band urgency and dressed it up in streamlined layers of synthesizers, lush yet rhythmic."
By the end of 1983, however, the lineup was shuffled, with Jesse and Jeff forging ahead with new drummer Max Crace (previously with the Van Wilks band), and continued for a brief time as a trio but adding temporary percussionists and backing vocals for gigs and studio work. Max was the first drummer in Texas to own a much sought-after Simmons electronic drum kit, which dominated the hit sounds of the day. Max also occasionally played bass guitar with his own drum in sequence, allowing Jesse to further explore his role as lead singer.
Under the new lineup, the band recorded for Electra Records, resulting in the song "No More Weekends in Warsaw" being released on a compilation called Ten from Texas: Herd it Through the Grapevine.
By the time of it's release, Max had departed from the group, and a picture of the group with following drummer O.T. Loflin was pictured on the cover. It is, however, the trio version of the group with Max on drums, featured on "No More Weekends in Warsaw".
In mid-1984 Max Crace was replaced by OT Loflin on drums and two new members came on board, Bruce Hughes on bass (later to be in Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker and many others) and Nancy Reynolds on percussion and backing vocals (Nancy would later marry Jeff and they would form their own band, Tanz Waffen).
This new lineup came close to matching the energy of the original lineup, and yet added a layer of musical complexity and depth. The group explored a funkier, more soulful sound that reflected the changing musical climate.
This version of the group is featured on the posted song "The Other Side of Midnight", again a live performance.
Jesse was already beginning to veer toward his later profession, as a noted novelist, when he wrote this passage, describing the sound and the mood of a Secret Six gig during this era: "The club was full, full of chattering people, clinking glasses, cigarette smoke and broken dreams. People danced, as O.T.'s drums sounded the pulse of a heartbeat pounding out an S.O.S. People swayed along with the ebb and flow of Jeff's electronic orchestrations and Nancy's stormy percussion. She sang along with me and faces mouthed the words of songs they'd never heard before, songs that were postcards from some faraway romance."
Lastly in late 1984, the group saw its final change with the departure of both Bruce and O.T., and with the latest technology of the time, the group continued for another five months with Jesse, Jeff and Nancy and a drum machine. This last phase, in some ways more musically radical due to the strong reliance on synths, happened to be the opposite direction that the Austin music scene was heading, with its continuing fascination for the unplugged sound, so-called new sincerity bands and, of course, all things Willie (Nelson, that is).
During its two years of steady gigging and recording, Secret Six only released one song -- No More Weekends in Warsaw – of a varied and prolific catalog of material, but did leave behind six studio songs and a host of high quality live recordings. The best of these are featured here for the first time ever.
Jesse is still, of course performing regularly both solo and with The Skunks, but also spends the majority of his time writing for Televison and writing novels and has been quite successful at all of his ventures. He lives in Austin with wife Lois & son Dashiell. Jeff is preparing to perform with the guys from Talmadge D'Amour, who are planning to reunite next Summer, but is otherwise long since out of the music business. He lives in Dallas with wife Cassandra and daughter Astrid. Max was and is a noted photographer & artist, and still resides in Austin, Bruce has played with everyone, OT's whereabouts are largely unknown, Kevin was and is an award-winning chef, and is currently living in the Midwest and performing country & western under the name "Tex" Tubb, and Nancy is currently writing and rehearsing in Austin after taking a break from music.
Thanks to: Lois Richwine, Brad First, Wayne Nagel, Richard Luckett, Kerry Crafton, Liam Sternberg, Tom Zutant, The Austin Chronicle, Ed Ward, and many others.
