Voice of America 1990-2020 30 year anniversary
Part one- The Cover
The idea for the name of the album came from Roy at Nervous records. I had never even heard of the Voice of America radio show. I can’t remember if we had any other names or concepts in mind.
We liked the name because at that time, we were the only American band on the scene in Europe.(psychobilly)
We did the picture shoot for the cover at Trackmaster studio in Buffalo,New York where the album was recorded. We rented a giant American flag for the back drop.The photographer was Eric Jensen.
The guitar I’m holding belonged to Chris Van Cleve.(1) It just looked better with my outfit and the backdrop I did not use that guitar on the album. I also wanted to give the impression that I had more than one Gretsch guitar (which I did not). This was 1990 when they were very sought after and had not started to be made again.
The cover was put together by Nick Garrard who also did the first Quakes album. Our only complaint about it was he did not include a “THE” before QUAKES on the front. We were THE Quakes.
The album also came out on Planet records in Japan. The Japanese version had an entirely different cover scheme, different track listing and included a poster. The pictures on the front cover of the Planet version were taken at The Continental in Buffalo, New York.
The album was released on vinyl again in 2003 for Crazy Love Records in Germany. Everything was the same as the original Nervous pressing except for the label.
If you own the original Nervous pressing, there is a secret code etched into the vinyl near the label on both sides.
(1)The guitar is a 1957 Gretsch Corvette 6187 Ivory/Smoke Green. I think he paid about $300 for it.