The Nails
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nails were a six piece New Wave band that formed in Boulder, Colorado during the mid 1970’s. In Colorado, they were originally named The Ravers. A young man named Eric Boucher was their roadie at the time; he later made his own name (literally) for himself in the music business as Jello Biafra.
The Nails moved to New York and by the late 1970s had established themselves on the club circuit. An EP recorded in 1981 (Hotel for Women) contained an early version of a song that caught the attention of RCA. The song, "88 Lines About 44 Women" was re-recorded for RCA in 1984 on their full length debut LP “Mood Swing” and received regular airplay despite a number of double entendres and lyrical references to masturbation and sadomasochism. [1]
Two years later they released "Dangerous Dreams", also on RCA. Both Mood Swing and Dangerous Dreams made the Billboard top 200 album chart but after the release of Dangerous Dreams RCA dropped the Nails from the labels roster. "88 Lines About 44 Women” continued to appear on compilations 20 years after its release and was featured in a Mazda Advertisement that played in the late 1990s.
The Nails were composed of vocalist Mark Campbell, bassist George Kaufman, saxophonist Douglas Guthrie, drummer Mike Ratti (Dennis McDermott on Mood Swing), keyboardist Dave Kaufman and guitarist Steve O'Rourke.
In 1988, the band reconvened (without Guthrie and Dave Kaufman) to record a third album, "Corpus Christi." The LP wasn't released until 1993, and received little exposure.
The Nails were signed to RCA By Bruce Harris, also known for bringing The Clash to America. Harris was responsible for producing The Doors box set. He began his career at Elektra Records with Jac Holzman. Bruce Harris was also a songwriter but he was best known for his fairness as an A&R man. He died in 2002.
