The Lemmings

Band History

Berkeley Party Band

I joined The Lemmings sometime in 1982. My memory is a bit hazy around this period, so I may get some of this wrong. If anyone who reads this can set me straight, please email me.
When I came on board the band was already established and doing well playing east bay clubs, co-ops, and greek parties around UC Berkeley. Several members of the band, and our sound man lived in a co-op called Barrington Hall. Barrington was the wildest house of the Cal co-ops. There were (I believe) four stories plus a rooftop hangout. Each floor was a long hall and all the walls were murals of an extremely psychedelic nature. Think laughing gas and LSD and you get a pretty good picture of what I'm talking about.
They used to have a monthly event called "Wine Dinner". Basically it was a big party and they would always have a band play. As you might guess, The Lemmings did a lot of these parties.
Here's the lyrics to a song Guy and Charlie wrote called "I'm On Sound" about Barrington:
         There's a place in town 
         Where the people hang around 
         Not far from the school
         Close to the avenue 
         There's a hundred rooms
         Everyone's playing tunes
         When you walk in the door 
         They know what you're looking for
         
         Those that know don't say 
         Those that say don't know
         Those that know don't say 
         Those that say don't know
         
         When you walk down the hall
         You see murals on the wall 
         When you turn your head
         Someone's listening from the bed 
         There's a scene going here 
         But the directon seems wierd
         When the clever hang around 
         Will they ever go down?

         Those that know don't say 
         Those that say don't know
         Those that know don't say 
         Those that say don't know
We played the Starry Plough and the Berkeley Square a lot. We opened for Wall of Voodoo at the old Stone in Palo Alto (now The Edge) and a ton of other shows that I can't remember.
A year or so after I joined, Three of us (Guy, Tom and myself) joined up with Terry Barnes to form a band called The Ape Cult. The Lemmings still played for about another year or so before we broke up.

The Record

Produced by: The Lemmings
Engineered by: Richie Moore (Toast, Running, Lost Not Plost)
               Jeff Kliment (Brains, Walk Along)
               Matt Brady (Murphy's Law)
Live Sound: Grey Wicker
Cover Art: Barry Spencer and Matt Wold
Photography: Alessandro Beretta

Guy Brenner: Guitar, Vocal
Tom Dean: Bass, Vocal
Kurt Schleunes: Drums, Percussion
Jeff Silberman: Piano, Organ
Chris Walcott: Drums
Charlie Walter: Guitar, Saxophone

Cover Art Front