Exude Recordings

Exude was formed during a frigid winter in Mackinaw City Michigan in 1978. I was fascinated with the advent of electronic instruments and I knew it was a whole new world. At that time it was possible to buy "Heath Kit" synthesizers that would come in parts with the manual and instructions that would tell you how to assemble them. These are the same type of kits that Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs played with before they built the first Apple computer. My brother Vince was in the band and he played saxophone in the high school marching band, innovative keyboard. We played around with fiberglass molds and made our own guitar shaped keyboard, before anything like that was out on the market. The only problem was our model weighed about 35 to 40 pounds and was a hefty load to carry on a strap around your neck. We also tried to make an entire drum kit out of Synare electronic drums. Each one was a synthesizer that you could make sound differently. (more)

3340 In The Garage by Exude

3340 In The Garage was produced as a cassette only and sold at the band’s shows to their fans and friends. These are rare and are only available a few places online. At some point in the future I may locate the original master for this recording, have it digitally mastered and make it available online. 3340 In The Garage refers to the model of the 4 track reel to reel Tascam recorder that the album was recorded on. These tape recorders were among the first semi pro quality tape machines widely adopted by musicians for their own personal recording studios. When I get a chance to track down a copy and listen I will be able to fill out the names of the musicians who played on this recording. (more)

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Nu-Rock by Exude

NuRock was a single that Exude self manufactured, and distributed to their fans directly. It features Chatanooga Choo Choo. The video for this song was featured on MTV’s Basements tapes. The B-side is a "recorded live" version of "If You See Kay," a double entendre song that is rated as an extreme rarity in online vinyl trading sites. This early incarnation of the band features a photo of Robin Canada´s sister, Kristy Canada, who briefly performed backup vocals with Exude in the early 1980´s. Vinyl versions of this record are hard to come by, however, Powderworks of Australia has digitally remastered this recording and made it available on iTunes, Amazon, etc. (more)

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Boys Just Want To Have Sex by Exude

Boys Just Want to Have Sex was what made Exude burst upon the scene in the early 1980s. A rough four track demo of the song exploded overnight on radio across the country. When this EP was released it debuted on the independent record charts at number two. The track was recorded at Gopher Baroque studio in Garden Grove and paired with songs recorded at Rusk Studios and Skip Saylor Recording. A Canadian (A&M Records) "single" version of Boys Just Want To Have Sex contained alternate tracks on the Rusk sessions and is now is extremely rare and sought after. Originally the first release by Greenworld Records, the rights have been acquired by Powderworks Media of Australia who has digitally remastered and made this recording available digitally. (more)

Life Is by Exude

The Life Is album is a 12 inch single, which was meant to be a stopgap between Exude's Boys Just Want to Have Sex and their first full-length album, Play With The Boys. Reworked from early demos the studio version featured a huge kickfoot (for its day). Life Is was mixed with KROS's Swedish Egil at Gopher Baroque studios. A video for the song was shot by director Robert Jacobs. Engineered by Michael Mikulka and Steve Kempster. Resplendent in 80's dance rock sounds, the song is a time capsule of early 1980's synth sounds from the OBX-a and the Cat Synthesizer. The B-side includes a cover of "Get Your Shit Together." (more)

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Play With The Boys by Exude

Play With The Boys is Exude's first full-length album. Most of the songs on this album were partially recorded in the band's rehearsal studio, and then more recording and assembly of the tracks was done at Gopher Baroque studios in Garden Grove, CA. The photograph on the cover of the album was shot by Frank, Vince's cousin. The band labored meticulously over this album, knowing that it was greatly anticipated following the huge success of Boys Just Want to Have Sex. Unfortunately, the staff at the label expected demand to deliver more parody songs. Even worse, nearly as soon as the album was delivered from the manufacturing plant, Remove Records was locked up (literally) by the sheriff in bankruptcy. It took years for the band to recover its records. (more)

Safe With You by Exude

Safe With You was a "Safe Sex" anthem which was rare in the mid 1980's. People were dying and it had only recently been discovered that a new virus was afoot. The record contained more mixes of Life Is, this time working with Chris Modig, a brilliant Swedish high school student who would meticulously edit reel to reel tapes into remixes. The dawn of the digital age is evidenced by the cover of this 12 inch. The band found a salesman in a computer store that sold the first version of the Macintosh computer and in 20 minutes, and with very little artistic ability, had him mark up one of their publicity photos - which they used for the cover. It was about this time that the band was... (more)

Testosterone Tapdance by Exude

Testosterone Tapdance was probably the first record that was completely recorded in Exude's garage studio. With no label deal in sight, Frank, Vince and Robin set out to self-produce a record in their garage that could stand up against the big guys. They polished their songwriting chops and delivered some of their catchiest and most upbeat pop to date. Recording on 1/4" 8 track tape, syncing MIDI drum machines and keyboards and mixing down to an oddball VCR that recorded audio in a 14-bit digital format. (more)

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NC-17 Recordings

The Happiest Place on Earth by NC-17

The Happiest Place on Earth was the first album by Frank Rogala, Vince Rogala and Robin Canada as NC-17. Having been around the LA club scene the better part of a decade, Exude found that the attitude of the industry towards them as "been there, done that." This was the dawn of the 90's and "pre-grunge" music, the airwaves were glutted with "hair bands" that made rock sound like pop music. Hungering for the heavier, more serious and creative sound made in earlier years by Pink Floyd, the Beatles and truly heavier rock from the likes of Black Sabbath - Frank, Vince and Robin decided to secretly become NC-17, a psychedelic, melodic rock band that was propelled by the huge noise that using guitar distortion on Fender Rhodes piano made. (more)

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Live at Club 5902
(Looking For A Copy Of This)

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Live at Club 5902 by NC-17

Live at Club 5902 was recorded during a live performance of NC-17 at now-defunct Club 5902 in Huntington Beach, California. Now, featuring Ron Perron on Bass and Chuck Hohn on drums, NC-17 could move beyond the studio and play live. Video recordings of that performance eventually led to a full-length feature documentary "Won't Anybody Listen." Recorded on not only the equipment the band had, but whatever they could borrow from friends, the slapdash set up ended up working quite well. Copies of this album are extremely rare. The original purpose of this album was to introduce NC-17's new electric violinist, Robert Aviles. Having just spent two years recording The Happiest Place on Earth, the band was loath to enter the studio again, but was anxious to show off the amazing addition that Robert's violin made to their sound. Recordings from this show can be heard in the film "Won't Anybody Listen."

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Hellhead by NC-17

Hellhead is NC-17's first studio recording featuring Ron Perron, Chuck Hohn and Robert Anthony Aviles. Chuck Hohn managed the studio for George Tobin and Chuck's engineering skills were top-notch. The band covered "Purple Haze" with Robert Aviles' violin taking the Jimi Hendrix parts. Even though this was only a self-produced, self-released EP, it was positively reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, which compared one of the songs to a classic Brian Eno recording. Hellhead became the standout single. NC-17 had just done an appearance on 18-year-old Dov Kelemer's "Rock America" live music cable TV show. The show will mark the introduction of the band to Kelemer and led to him eventually directing a documentary featuring NC-17 titled, "Won't Anybody Listen."(more)

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Listen by NC-17

Listen is the album comprised of songs that you see NC-17 writing in the documentary feature film "Won't Anybody Listen." Making the film was a six-year trial that strained the band to the breaking point. Ron Perron and Chuck Hohn had moved back to their native Denver, CO. Vince Rogala had returned to Michigan. Robert Aviles's solo career was taking flight. Robin Canada remained local and it was with his help that Frank could finish the album. Frank Rogala was left with solid drum and bass tracks, and songs that have been outlines, but it ultimately ended up being left up to Rogala to flesh out the melodies, instrumentation, lyrics as well as to mix the songs. (more)

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Frank Rogala's Solo Recordings

Crimes Againast Nature by Frank Rogala

Crimes Against Nature, Frank Rogala's first solo album, was done during a hiatus in the production of the documentary "Won't Anybody Listen." Using nearly everyone in NC-17 as well as a few local musicians like Nick Pyzow, Rogala recorded this critically acclaimed album in his garage studio. The concept of the album was to take songs that had a decidedly and culturally out of step, female point of view - and to sing them straight without changing any lyrics. The idea came to Rogala about 15 years earlier as he watched Dinah Shore singing I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo on the Merv Griffin show without changing the gender. Knowing that no male artist would do the same thing, Rogala was intrigued, but sat on the idea. At the urging of his brother Vince, Frank began the album selecting such "girl group" songs as My Boyfriend's Back. (more)

Mixes Againast Nature by Frank Rogala

Mixes Against Nature is a remix and is sometimes a complete re-recording of songs from Frank Rogala's Crimes against Nature. Frank depended solely on Vince Rogala's rhythmic talents to create this call out to late 1980's classic house music. Working on an early version of a Roland audio editing workstation, Vince cut and pasted the original live tracks into new tempos and beat perfect club arrangements. Even though the record charted in the top five of dance charts of nearly a dozen US cities, Frank was unable to obtain a distributor for the record. A favorite of DJs in gay clubs, the album became a cult classic. (more)

Don't Cha ("Hot Like Me" Mixes) by Frank Rogala

Don't Cha ("Hot Like Me" Mixes) is in the same family as the songs on Crimes against Nature, in that songs that were meant to be sung by a female are left intact and sung by Frank Rogala in a masculine voice. "What happened was I heard this song, and it struck me that it would have been right at home on Crimes against Nature," explains Rogala. "I was learning how to record with Pro Tools at the time, and the original of this song was written by and recorded by some of the music businesses best and brightest. So in this particular case, for the first time, I tried to break down the song piece by piece, and re-create it. (more)

Boys Just want To Have Sex - "1999 Remixes" by Frank Rogala

Boys Just Want To Have Sex - "1999 Remixes" were created in response to a request from PowderWorks Media of Australia. Playing with samples of Bill Clinton's famous public "I have sinned" admission of guilt in the Monica Lewinsky matter, Frank re-sang the vocals and created a dark electronic reimagining of the song. Also experimenting with rootsy acoustic sounds, Frank sampled Nick Pyzow's dobro and slide guitar for the original "That Boy Just Wants" song. Rogala designed the cover playing off of the famous evolution of man illustrations. Illustration and touchup of final artwork by John Barrick.

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TwinkleU

TwinkleU by TwinkleU

TwinkleU features countertenor vocalist Cris Law whose musical training centered on Baroque and Renaissance music. TwinkleU, however, is a straight up modern pop album. Six years in the making, producer Frank Rogala struggled with an illness that left him bedridden for nearly 2 years shortly after starting this project. The shock of the illness to Rogala's nervous system left his brain unable to listen to or create music. "I couldn't bear the sound of music, it was really disturbing to someone to whom music is so important." (more)