Evolution of the Equipment

Much has been written about Punching Memory. Most of it regarding their impact upon the late 80’s alternative scene. Their ‘do it yourself’ attitude and maverick music making made them one the most influential bands to ever play.

How they played their music is just as important as what they played. Over their ten year career, their choice of instruments heavily influenced their sound and even their writing. It’s sometimes impossible to even discuss their music without at least mentioning how they created their unique sound and what instruments they used.

Can anyone imagine discussing “Fanfare for the common girl” without a brief discussion of Tommy Mac’s heavily chorused guitar? Nate Reynold’s distorted bass playing so dominated the album “Spider Baby” that every review of the album mentioned it.

Who could forget their early shows where their use of tape players helped create their legendary status as the best live band ever.

Their never ending acquisition of equipment would culminate in a stage littered with tons of musical machines. It was of course their “Eternal Midnight Splendor” tour that would showcase a stage packed with synthesizers, ethnic percussion, amplifiers, and everything else a musically ambitious band would want.

The band origins can be traced to the classrooms of the East Central High School in central PA. There Tommy Mac and Joe Kinney met during auditions for the school play the first week of their freshman year. I wouldn’t be till the next summer that they would begin to create music.

“The summer of ‘82 that I got my first job working at local AM radio station,” Tommy would remember in an early interview. “All I did was vacuum, sort records and tapes, and crap like that. BUT on Thursday night, they’d let me and Joe do our own show.”

That show would become a local favorite during the summer. Friends and fans would stop by during the show and introduce songs. “We were partying a lot during that time,” Joe remembers. “People would drop in and we’d sneak out onto the fire escape to smoke pot. Then we’d come back in and whoever was there would introduce the next song.”

One person who became a regular was then high-school senior Brett Lawson. Not only did he share the boy’s taste in music and partying, he also worked at The Blue-Note Music Store that was across the street from the radio station.

“Brett started telling us he could get us a deal on a guitar and stuff,” Tommy said. “So I got a white Strat-copy and a Roland amp.”

The guitar turned out to be a Tokai Springy Sound, one of the best Fender Stratocaster copies on the market. A guitar that looked and played so much like a vintage Fender that the company would eventually sue Tokai for trademark infringement.

The amp of course would become one of the cornerstones of the band’s sound: the Roland Jazz Chorus 120, or JC-120.  “All I knew was that the Talking Heads and Adrian Belew used them, so for some reason that was good enough for me,” Tommy remembered.

“Yeah, I could have bought a car for what I paid for that amp,” Tommy said. “My dad was so mad. He kept yelling ‘I could have built you an amp for half what you paid for that thing’.” Tommy’s father would soon build more than amps for the band.

Kinney would spend his summer’s earnings on a set of