NEGATIVE TREND THREE

RIK L RIK - VOCALS CRAIG GRAY - GUITAR WILL SHATTER - BASS TIM MOONEY - DRUMS

November of 78 found us without a singer again. We had heard F Word had broken up and Rik was looking for a band. The Sleepers had broken up as well and Tim Mooney was asked to take over drum duties. Almost immediately went to LA to record s demo with Poshboy, 5 songs in 6 hours. After a few gigs Will quit and was replaced by 16 yr old fencer Jonathan Henrickson. This version, Negative Trend 3.5, did a road trip to Austin after which Rik decided not to return to SF. The last 3 Negative Trend gigs had guest singers. The very last gig was at Mills College on April 20th 1979. Ricky Williams did most of the singing. Negative Trend was about to become Toiling Midgets....

Rik in Flipside 1980 “ I went to San Francisco and started playing with Negative Trend. We recorded some demos for Poshboy which became Beach Blvd which wasn’t representative of what we were doing or the direction we wanted to go.We were only together 3 weeks when we recorded that stuff. So I found out what I wanted to do and I couldn’t do it with Negative Trend because of the limitations of their musicianship.”

Nightmares Movie

Nightmares was a 4 part horror movie released by Universal in 1983. In one part called “The Bishop of Battle “ with Emilio Estevez as a teenage video gamer who listens to punk rock. Mercenaries and I Got Power were used in the segment but under the Rik L Rik moniker. Poshboy tells the story of their inclusion in answer to a question about their release on the blog theelectricsunshine :

“Nightmares" was the pilot for the short-lived 80's version of the Twilight Zone TV series. The Director was very keen to have cutting edge music in it (and this was waaay before the commercial acceptance of such music) and contacted me to round up a few groups for him, for which I was paid a fee as an unofficial and uncredited music supervisor.

Universal Pictures were insistent on owning the recordings, so the tracks were re-recorded on a Universal sound stage, with the musicians richly rewarded receiving union scale (and residuals). I was responsible for getting Black Flag (who were starving at the time) there as well as Rik L Rik (I picked him up from his parents' house!). Union rules stated that only Union players or members who had played on the original recordings could play ... so in Rik's case, we had the musician union members of Gleaming Spires/Sparks back him on those numbers. Yes, new wave guys to be sure, but they were pro's and knew Rik's music. You might notice that "Robert Shannon Fields" is credited in the closing acting credits ... this came about as I made sure I did background vocals on "Mercenaries" (as I had done on the original recording) and chose to work under SAG rules rather than the musician union's rules, thereby automatically getting me into SAG, the actors' union!

The bad news is that no soundtrack was ever released. The next time Universal asks me for something, I need to ask them for the rights to these recordings!"

Rik, Will, and Craig at the Deaf Club March 8 1979. This was Will’s last gig.

DISCOGRAPHY

TOOTH AND NAIL Compilation LP Upsetter Records released early 1979 vinyl only out of print

This was the only release of this version of Negative Trend as Negative Trend. Out of the 5 tracks recorded with Rik produced by Poshboy 2 tracks were used for this release, Mercenaries and I Got Power mixed by Chris DeJardin. Also in 79 Poshboy released a Rik L Rik single on white vinyl with Meathouse and I Got Power adding new vocals and bass. All 5 tracks were released as Rik L Rik on the Beach Blvd Compilation which came out later that year. The other tracks were Black and Red and Atomic Lawn. Beach Blvd is still available for download.

NEGATIVE TREND 1978 Digital Download Poshboy 2011

Actually released in 79 this download includes the Beach Blvd mixes as well as the Tooth and Nail mixes all released as Negative Trend.

I GOT POWER (Elrich/Gray)

Negative Trend mixed by Chris DeJardin from the original session. These recordings were supposed to be demos only never intended for release.

MEATHOUSE 7”

The first Rik L Rik release. I Got Power is the flip side. These are the same mixes as used on tne Beach Blvd LP.

I GOT POWER (Elrich/Gray)

The same session was mixed for Beach Blvd by Poshboy with new vocals by Rik and bass overdubs by Jay Lansford. He also did guitar overdubs on some songs. It was released as Rik L Rik.