THE LONG AND SORDID HISTORY OF THE EUNUCHS
The Eunuchs are a punk/garage band from the Jackson, Mississippi area that was formed by four idle teenage losers during a lazy summer in 1993. Their first gig was at the Jaycee Hall in Clinton, playing inept covers of the Dead Boys and retarded originals for a friend’s Sweet 16 birthday party.
Soon the band found itself losing to a 14-year-old country singer at the talent competition at the Mississippi State Fair (under the moniker “The Jason Sickle Rock Band”), and not long after, the band’s original yelper, Clif “Think I’ll Put My Socks on First” Eunuch left the band and the core lineup of Carey, Josh and Jason Eunuch soldiered on despite the fact that no one in the band even knew what an E chord was.
1994 saw the release of their first self-titled, 4-track recorded cassette tape, that featured original songs like “UPS Guys” and “(I Have a) Golf Bag (On My Wall)” that are probably better left forgotten, and immediately after they gave the world the Man Daniel, That’s Nasty cassette that featured more inept goodness like “Up Your Nose (With a Rubber Hose).”
In ’95 the Eunuchs went into a real studio and emerged with Hazardous to Your Health, an 8-song – you guessed it – cassette that marked the first appearance of “Henry Rollins (Is a Dork)” (which would later appear on the 7” compilation the Best of Bumfuck Egypt on Molasses Grave Records alongside bands like No Fraud and Atomic Jefferson) and a recording of their flagship song “Dressed for Success” where their guitars were kind of in tune (a song that would be covered by Jackson-gone-Baltimore punkers The Sniff Shits).
In ’96 the boys headed up to Starkville, Miss., and recorded some songs that eventually became their first vinyl 7”, Songs About Girls and Shit, the first release on Jason Eunuch’s Blahll! Records imprint. It featured blasts of goofy teenage punk like “Christina Ricci” and “My Mother is a Meanie,” and made top ten lists when it was reviewed in Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll, (if that means anything).
In late ‘96 The Eunuchs, having gotten into more garagey, old-school rock ‘n’ roll from listening to Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly incessantly, recorded some demos of hair-raising garage rock and sent them to every record label they could think of. A tape sent to Eric O.’s Goner Records label in Memphis drew the attention of another Southern teenage rocker, Jay Reatard of Reatards fame, and another tape that made its way into the hands of Ryan Romano, the man who ran Kankakee, Il.’s Sack o’ Shit Records brought an offer to record an LP.
After becoming friends with Jay, he agreed to come down to Mississippi and record The Eunuchs LP. For the first time, lineup changes shook the band – half of the LP was recorded as a three-piece before original drummer Josh Eunuch left to play with his other band The Comas full-time. The two remaining members recruited the drummer and bassist from Not Dead Only Frozen, a rockabilly punk band from Crystal Springs, Miss., and completed the album as a four-piece, with Jason Eunuch moving to guitar. Two songs from the recording sessions were released on a split 7” EP with Not Dead Only Frozen on Blahll!, and their completed LP, Revved-Up Youth on a Thrill-Rampage was released on Sack o’ Shit in 1998.
Unfortunately, because of girlfriends, college and other nonsense, The Eunuchs broke up, playing one show in Normal, Il, (with Reatard filling in on drums) in support of the LP before calling it quits.
Going their separate ways, The former Eunuchs went through various states of college, real jobs, other bands, marriage, and kids for a number of years, until, in late 2004, after realizing that they were were getting old and bored, they thought the time was right for a reunion show.
Josh, Jason and Carey, brought along Bobby Eunuch (who at one point was a member of Not Dead Only Frozen) to play a reunion gig at Martin’s Lounge on January 21, 2005, that was a vertiable revue of their songs. The following week they performed at the first-ever Goner Fest in Memphis, marking the first time they ever played in Bluff City.
The Eunuchs are a band again, but like everything in the world of Eunuch – be it a snare drum head repaired with duct tape or a guitar string held in place by toilet paper – things could fall apart at any moment. Stay tuned here for future developments.
DISCOGRAPHYThe Eunuchs – S/T (cassette) (Alien Nose Records) 1994? out of print
The Eunuchs – Man Daniel, That's Nasty (cassette) (Alien Nose Records) 1994? out of print
The Eunuchs – Hazardous to Your Health (cassette) (Blahll! Records 001) 1995
(Dressed for Success / Booger / I Hate Epitaph / It's Only Punk Rock / Chewbacca / Bustin' Records / Beach Blanket Bimbo / Henry Rollins is a Dork)
The Eunuchs – Songs About Girls and Shit 7" (Blahll! Records 002) 1996
(My Mother is a Meanie / Christina Ricci / Holy Shit! / Teenage Girl / I Can't Mosh / Beach Blanket Bimbo)
The Eunuchs / Not Dead Only Frozen split 7" (Blahll! Records 003) 1997
(Eunuchs: Rumble at Rockdale High / You Must Hate Yo' Self NDOF: Werecar / Rock 'n' Roll Teenage Vampire Killers)
The Best of Bumfuck Egypt compilation 7" (Molasses Grave)
(Henry Rollins is a Dork – also tunes by Connie Dungs, No Fraud, Operation: Cliff Clavin and Atomic Jefferson)
The Eunuchs – Revved-Up Youth on a Thrill-Rampage! LP (Sack o' Shit) 1998
(Pussycat / Shut Yer Hole / Rumble at Rockdale High (alt. version) / Rave On / Stupid Goddamn Sonofabitch / Big Titted Girlfriend / (I'm at My) Sexual Peak / Rip Off (All Your Clothes / You Must Hate Yo' Self / One Mo' Time / I'm Going Mad / (My Baby is a) Wild Ride / Cigarette for Breakfast / Blue Collar Blues / Psycho)
Drop us a line here on Myspace or email theeunuchs@seductive.com if you're interested in snagging a copy of any of these records!
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