Many years ago I picked up a 7″ by a band called Flower Gang. I had no idea what I was buying but it wasn’t expensive and looked indie enough to me. Turned out to be a fine record.

This was the “Guys with Glasses” 7″ that was released by Boy Crazee Records (BC 001) in 1990. This was a US band and probably this was a self-release. On the back of the sleeve we see a P.O. Box address for the label, one located in Mansfield, Massachusetts.

The band was a trio formed by Dan (real name Donald Brendan Larson) on guitar and vocals, Jack (real name John Patrick Hanlon) on bass and vocals and Matthew Edward McLaren on drums. The songs on the record were “Matt’s Dilema”, “Metzger’s Farm” and “Army Man” on the A side and “Guys with Glasses”, “Lightning Detector and Rog.” and “Shit Fish” on the B side. The songs were produced by Bob North and the band.

It is also worth mentioning that there are many different colors for the sleeve. At least there was an orange, red, blue, green and yellow sleeve.

2 years later the band signed to spinART Records from New York. They would release with them a double 7″ titled “Junkdrawer”. This one is also easy to track down.

The songs were “Apples” and “Mt. Zion Song” on the A side, “P-Whole” and “Mcnutt” on the B side, “Shiny Grease” and “Crocodile Attack/Chips” on the C side and “50’s Rocks” on the D side. This time around the songs were engineered by Joe Moody. Also the band had added the vocals of Erin Elizabeth Sharicz.

The band doesn’t have any compilation appearances listed on Discogs. Strange. Those early 90s would see bands on compilations all the time.

What else I could find? I believe Matthew McLaren was in a band called The Barnacled. At this point maybe he had relocated to Providence, Rhode Island. Also Jack Hanlon would pay in the bands Royal Crowns and Mole People.

Then I stumble upon quite a find. the user Changebear has uploaded 11 tracks by the band to Soundcloud! These include the songs from the “Junkdrawer” double 7″ but also four live recordings on WFMU radio: “Splinter”, “Blacktop Dad”, “Fuchinlee Fuchela/Shit Fish” and “26 Hours/Gilligan Jesus”.

I also notice someone mentioning that he saw the Flower Gang supporting The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Boss Fuel. Doesn’t say the date or venue though.

Also according to this article Flower Gang reunited to play a gig at Met Cafe in Pawtucket on April 14th 2012 with Small Factory and Honeybunch. What a gig that must have been!

Cool!

Anyways, that’s what I could find about them, so of course, please share any other details on them!

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Listen
Flower Gang – Metzger’s Farm