Revision as of 01:10, 16 July 2007

Lunch Boxes & Choklit Cows is the first remasters compilation album by Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids, released on May 28, 2004 by Empire MusicWerks. Guitarist Scott Putesky (formerly known as Daisy Berkowitz) obtained the rights to these recordings in a lawsuit against Marilyn Manson, and has revealed that this release is only the first in a planned series of Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids records. The lawsuit granted Putesky the rights to 21 of these songs. Some are from demos and others have never been previously released. These are digitally remastered and Putesky says they sound better than the original cassettes because of it.

The album originally came packaged with a bonus DVD and slightly different artwork. The original cover had five cartoon figures of the band drawn by Marilyn Manson. However, after another lawsuit was filed, Putesky removed the artwork and the DVD (which contained footage of Manson and keyboardist Madonna Wayne Gacy) and re-released the album. The re-released cover features the same background as the original, albeit with the cartoon characters absent from the artwork.

Copies of the original pressing have been known to be sold on eBay at exceptionally high prices.

Track listing

1. "Red (in My) Head" – 4:24
2. "Dune Buggy – 4:20
3. "Insect Pins" – 5:48
4. "Learning to Swim" – 4:11
5. "Negative Three" – 4:38
6. "Meat for a Queen" – 3:02
7. "White Knuckles" – 2:24
8. "Scaredy Cat" – 3:22
9. "Thingmaker" (Live in rehearsal studio) – 4:12
10. "Thrift" (Live in rehearsal studio) – 6:24

Bonus DVD chapter listing

1. "White Knuckles" (Video)
2. "Meat for a Queen" (Video)
3. "Dune Buggy" (Video)
4. Spooky Gallery

Album credits

THE FAMILY JAMS

I didn't think anything would come of it. No sooner did Brian Warner and I agree to
"put a rock band together and make a million bucks" (an idea I did not take seriously)
than I found myself looking out over a packed room wondering; "why are all these people
here?" We had no drummer (just drum machine), we weren't particularly metal, not exact-
ly techno and in no way pop. Our live show was a psychedelic cartoon with a good spatter-
ing of horror movie. We used stage names combining a famous female for the first time and an
infamous killer for the last. Our show flyers were often bizarre and offensive. There
was just no logical reason for people to like us - but they loved us - well, some hated us
but even if they did they sure talked about us. We were a breath of fresh air for aging
glam rockers and metal-heads and a torch of hope for industrial rock fans, I guess.

It was the early 90's and Seattle was still known only for software and rain - but not
for long. In South Florida though, bands like Young Turk, Saigon Kick, Nuclear Valdez
and the Mavericks were helping to put a place no one expected on the map. After a few
years sweating it out, practicing in a dirty old warehouse, we were the next to "make it" -
but getting signed is never what it's cracked up to be. Bands that never get signed just
barely outnumber bands that get signed and dropped. Warner was a writer for the South
Florida magazine "25th Parallel" and had interviewed Nine Inch Nail's Trent Reznor - who
let us open for NIN at Miami's Club Nu July 4th, 1990 (just a few months after making
our first demo Big Black Bus and three months after our very first show, April 28th 1990
at Churchill's Hideaway in Miami). The Club Nu show was also Brad Stewart's (Gidget Gein)
and Stephen Bier's (Madonna Wayne Gacy a.k.a. "Pogo") debut performances. Despite rotting
meat pinatas, nativity scene thefts, fire extinguisher fiascos and crowd-surfing paper
mache' (or "choklit") cows we kept getting shows. We even attended a rally protesting then-
sheriff Nick Navarro's bringing obscenity charges against 2 Live Crew and a record store
owner for selling their album. By the end of 1990 Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids
brought in live drummer Fred Streidhorst (Sara Lee Lucas) and had won Best New Band at
the south Florida Rock Awards. This is when I started to get the feeling we would
mutate into something much bigger that kids would love and parents would hate.

How did we do it? You could say that we had a wild show and that we brought theater
back to rock. You could say that we had a distinctive and original sound. You could say we
were a flash-in-the-pan that people wanted to keep on burning. I would sheepishly agree
with all those assessments but then I would remind you of the most important reason. We
developed a following of particularly loyal fans who we took to calling - very inclusive-
ly - "the spooky kids". Dressed in baggy black shirts, heavy eye liner, colored and
spiked hair, striped leggings, and thrift store boots (among many other clothing combi-
nations) they emulated the band not just in make-up and clothes but by carrying lunch-
boxes (I, however did not - I chose to be the rebel among rebels and only occasionally
carried a gas can). They bought our tapes and t-shirts and stickers and came to every
show they could. I'd like to take this time and space to thank all of you for making us
happen - a band goes nowhere without its fans and the more rabid, the better.

Daisy Berkowitz

1. RED (IN MY) HEAD (4:24) recorded January 1990 *
(Warner, Putesky) Carducci Theft Music (BMI)

2. DUNE BUGGY (4:20) recorded August 1990 **
(Warner, Putesky) Carducci Theft Music (BMI)

3. INSECT PINS (5:48) recorded February 1993
(Warner, Putesky, Stewart) Carducci Theft Music (BMI)

4. LEARNING TO SWIM (4:11) recorded March 1991 ***
(Warner, Putesky) Carducci Theft Music (BMI)

5. NEGATIVE THREE (4:38) recorded December 1991 ~
(Warner, Putesky, Stewart) Dinger And Ollie Music (BMI)

6. MEAT FOR A QUEEN (3:02) recorded August 1990 **
(Warner, Putesky) Carducci Theft Music (BMI)

7. WHITE KNUCKLES (2:24) recorded March 1990 *
(Warner, Putesky) Carducci Theft Music (BMI)

8. SCAREDY CAT (3:22) recorded November 1993
(Warner, Putesky) Carducci Theft Music (BMI)

9. THINGMAKER (4:12) recorded July 1992 # (live in rehearsal studio)
(Warner, Putesky, Stewart) Carducci Theft Music (BMI)

10. THRIFT (6:20) recorded January 1992 + (live in rehearsal studio)
(Warner, Putesky, Stewart, Bier) Dinger And Ollie Music (BMI)

* from the Big Black Bus demo; ** from the Grist-O-Line demo; *** from the Lunchbox demo
~ from the After School Special demo; # from the Family Jams demo; + from the Refrigerator demo

Special thanks to:
Brian Warner, Stephen Bier, Brad Stewart, Fred Steidhorst, John Tovar,
Frank Callari, Glenn Richards, Frank "Rat Bastard" Falestra, New Times,
City Link, WVUM, WKPX, 25th Parallel, Tonight Today, High, & Barb, Kurt Moody,
the Major Wiggins crew, Squeeze, The Plus Five, Washington Square,
The Button South, The Reunion Room - DJ Tim Galahger was the first to play
the Spooky Kids in any club - he now joins all the rock stars who left the
stage too early - he will be missed.

Produced by: Scott Putesky
Executive producers: Paul Klein and John Tovar
Mastered by: Mike Fuller at Fuller Sound
Art direction: Aldo Venturacci
Album design and DVD authoring: Sean Weeks
Memorabilia courtesy of John Tovar
Project coordinators: Sharon Slade, Rama Barwick
Legal: Richard Wolfe
The Spooky Kids online: www.threetongate.org/spookykids.html

THE SPOOKY KIDS

Mr. Manson: voice
Daisy Berkowitz: guitars
Gidget Gein: bass
Maddna Wayne Gacy: keys
Sara Lee Lucas: drums

Photo courtesy of Laura Warder Kokus

volume one: lunchboxes and choklit cows

Personnel

• Marilyn Manson – vocals, artwork
• Daisy Berkowitz – guitar, producer, liner notes
• Gidget Gein – bass
• Madonna Wayne Gacy – keyboards
• Sara Lee Lucas – drums
• Paul Klein – executive producer
• John Tovar – executive producer, memorabilia
• Mike Fuller – mastering
• Aldo Venturacci – art direction
• Sean Weeks – design, DVD authoring
• Sharon Slade – project coordinator
• Rama Barwick – project coordinator
• Richard Wolfe – legal