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Dementia Precox: Gyn Cameron’s Legacy

October 14th, 2011 No comments
Don published a nice article about Gyn … it hasn’t gone online yet, but Don let me post it here:
Pollard, Kizirnis talk Greg Stover’s legacy
BY DON THRASHER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Gyn Cameron

Gyn Cameron

On Saturday, Sept. 24, the world lost another unsung musician. That day, Greg “Gyn Cameron” Stover, the former leader of Dayton-based ’80s industrial-techno pop wizards Dementia Precox, passed away in St. Petersburg, Fla. at age 54.

Aside from two reunion shows in 2007, the band hadn’t performed since the mid-1990s, but is still remembered fondly by longtime fans. Some of the late musician’s friends, including local bands Dark Backward, Gem City Saints and former Dementia Precox members, will pay tribute to Stover and his music at Oregon Express on Saturday, Oct. 15.

We checked in with Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices and Nick Kizirnis, a former member of Dementia Precox, The Mulchmen and other bands, to get their thoughts on the legacy of Stover’s music.

 

Q What was your introduction to Dementia and what was your initial reaction to the band?

KIZIRNIS: “I found a copy of ‘Parts Unknown’ and was completely blown away by how wild it sounded. It was a completely different take on punk rock that both fit in with the intense, urgent music I was listening to like the Minutemen and Husker Du and yet sounded nothing like them. Shortly after that I got the cassette and I was surprised and excited to hear how the approach was morphing into some cool pop songs — with plenty of weirdness thrown in!”

Q Dementia was completely different than what you, or anybody else, were doing locally at the time. What’s your impression of the band’s music?

POLLARD: “At the time I wasn’t too crazy about Dementia Precox, but it sounds good, man. It was way better than what I was into. I was behind, dude. At the time I was more into jangle-pop and stuff and they were into the industrial stuff, like Chrome, which I wasn’t too crazy about but now I like it. ‘Parts Unknown’ aged well — I like that record.”

Q If Dementia Precox could be remembered for one song, what track would it be and why?

KIZIRNIS: “Gyn was not only ahead of his time, but was a terrific person to work with. He wrote many, many amazing songs — ‘Just For a Little While,’ ‘Nothing Lasts Forever,’ ‘TV Jesus,’ ‘Newar’s Eve,’ ‘Maladie D’Esprit,’ ‘Love is Headless,’ ‘Streets are Empty’ — but I’d pick ‘Tonight,” which was the opening number in the later years of the band. It was a perfect opening number, and really set the mood for the entire set. But as you can see, I find it hard to pick just one.”

Contact contributing arts and music writer Don Thrasher at donaldthrasher8@aol.com.

HOW TO GO:

What: A Tribute to Gyn Cameron with Dark Backward, Gem City Saints and special guests.
Where: Oregon Express, 336 E. Fifth St., Dayton.
When: 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15.
Cost: $5.

R.I.P Gyn Cameron and Dementia Precox

September 26th, 2011 No comments

I heard Dementia Precox for the first time when I bought their “Of Parts Unknown LP”. I was into a lot of punk and art-rock at the time, and I was floored. This came out of Dayton, Ohio?

I saw Dementia Precox for the first time at Canal Street Tavern, and they were different than that album. Heavier synths, more danceable tunes, but the metal percussion and raging guitars were still there. And amongst the fog machine, pin spots and strobe lights I heard these amazing (and at the same time very strange) pop tunes. Singer Gyn Cameron had evolved Dementia from a noise art-rock group to a dance art-rock group, and it was fine by me.

I heard a cassette of the more recent material at that time. Pop, synthy but then just downright strange, parts of it were similar to the first LP I heard.

Ed Lacy loaned me a copy of the “Mines/Dead on 2 Legs …” single. Crashing noise, craziness and catchy. And then an EP with a mix of everything, including a great song called “Maladie D’espirit.

So I started going to a lot of Dementia shows, and got to know the band. Bandleader Gyn Cameron was cool and aloof, but the more often I saw them the friendlier he became, maybe at first he was more cautious than other musicians dealing with some dudes always showing up at your shows asking a lot of questions.

Eric Purtle left Dementia and mentioned that Gyn had some gigs booked and might need some help. Gyn called and I ended up playing almost half a dozen very synthy, very foggy, very stroby, and very metallic-oil-barrel-banging-ly lod shows in Dayton and Cinci.

During that time Gyn gave me free reign to explore different ideas for his songs. He listened to everything, never insisted on anything, but encouraged me every time he heard somethng he thought was cool. He was reworking tunes feverishly, experimenting with new ideas, new gear, etc. etc.

Those were fun shows. Gyn put the band to bed, and except for one benefit performance he didn’t seem interested in playing anymore. The band was retired, well almost. Even if I wasn’t hearing from him anymore, he did put out a couple of 12″ singles.

He moved to Florida. He sent some emails, he made fun of me for missing the reunion show (which I totally missed, I don’t know how that happened, and that was it I never heard from him or about him again. Until Sunday October 25th when I heard from several of his friends he had passed away.

I won’t go on and on about how sad I feel about it. He was a friend, generous, and an amazing talent that influenced many people and many bands. Hi resume is out there if you’d like to see it.

Until then, listen to this: