Oct 9, 2025 Tom Dyer and The True Olympians – History Of NW Rock Vol. 2 1970-1980
This is Dyer’s third “history” album, following History of NW Rock Vol. 1: 1959-1968 and Olympia: A True Story, so he is sorta a history guy nowadays. Keep in mind, these are not unbiased histories, these are a reflection of Dyer’s experiences, preferences and tastes. This one runs from 1970 to 1980, with the majority (thirteen of the sixteen songs) coming from the punk rock days of ’77-’80. Only one of the songs, “Crazy On You” was a hit, the rest were and remain obscure. Dyer picked the songs, made new arrangements and got to work.
This series started in 2015 with Volume 1. Vol. 2 first poked out its head in 2023, with a single (included on the album). It wasn’t until 2025 the train really got rolling. The decision was made to use alternating drummers, Michael Stein, who played on Olympia and Jeff Parkhurst, who has been on everything recorded since. Singer Lisa Ceazan, who was featured on “Frozen Darling” would end up singing lead on 12 of the 16 songs. Bassist Gene Tveden was rock solid as always. Joe Cason was a meandering butterfly on keys. Guest superstars were brought in: Grady Eddins of Von Cube tears it up on three tracks; Christine Gunn’s cello stars on Hendrix’s “Peace in Mississippi”; Jim of Seattle is a whole damn horn section by himself on “Found A Child.” Dr. Kat D. and Rockin’ Stevie T add vox and lead guitar to “True Detective”. Dyer is an overdubbing behemoth on this album, playing at least eleven different instruments.
Volume 2 is in the can. Check it out and check out the originals that inspired this labor of love.
Bands Covered On History of NW Rock Vol.2: 1970-1980
The Accident
https://www.chuckieboy.com/theaccident
Members 1979: Doug Cram, Trent Kelly, Lisa Nansen, Mike Stein
USA punk band from Bellingham, WA. Released a 7″ single in 1979 “Kill the Bee Gees” which has become much sought after by collectors. It was the first release on Fastback Kurt Bloch’s No Threes label. They released videos for both “True Detective” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t60JHT6q4h4&list=RDt60JHT6q4h4&start_radio=1 and “Kill The Bee Gees” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3adalXADJM. In 1996 a 10-song CD of their collected 1979 recordings was released on Chucky Boy Records https://www.chuckieboy.com/. In 2024, it has been re-released on 12” vinyl. https://pukenvomitrecords.com/collections/pnv-label/products/accident-kill-the-bee-gees-new-lp-clear-split-w-white-vinyl-1
Ballin’ Jack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballin%27_Jack
Members: Ronnie Hammon, Luther Rabb, Jim Coile, Tim McFarland, Billy McPherson, Glenn Thomas, Jim Walters, King Errisson
Ballin’ Jack was an American horn rock group formed in Seattle, Washington in 1969 by Luther Rabb and Ronnie Hammon. They released four albums from 1970 -74 Luther played in high school bands with Jimi Hendrix.
Jim Basnight
https://www.jimbasnightmusic.com/bio
PNW rock musician, former Moberlys front man, born in Philadelphia, PA. At a very young age, his family moved to NYC, then moved to Seattle. He started recording in the late 1970’s and led a pre-grunge original rock and roll scene in Seattle. His band Meyce opened for the first Ramones show at the Olympia Hotel Ballroom. His first single “Live In the Sun”/”She Got Fucked” came out in ’77, followed by his great “Jim Basnight & The Moberlys” album in 1979. He continues to perform and release new music today.
The Beakers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beakers
Members: Francesca Sundsten, George Romansic, Jim Anderson, Mark H. Smith
The Beakers were an American art punk band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1980. Although the band only existed for twelve months, they were considered influential on the local underground music scene. Jim Anderson next played in Little Bears From Bangkok. George and Mark went on to form Three Swimmers, George followed that with Danger Bunny. Their collected works were released by K Records. https://thebeakers.bandcamp.com/album/four-steps-towards-a-cultural-revolution-klp163
The Blackouts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blackouts
Members: Roland Barker, Roland Barker, Erich Werner, Paul Barker, Eric Werner, Mike Davidson, Bill Rieflin. The Blackouts were a punk rock band formed in Seattle in 1979 by singer/guitarist Erich Werner, bassist Mike Davidson, and drummer Bill Rieflin (later of King Crimson), who were all former members of a local punk band, The Telepaths. “They had an implosive intensity and were the antithesis of the bar bands that dominated Seattle’s anemic local music scene”, famously playing a show opening for The Heats at the Showbox where they came out clothed in diapers and ketchup. Their collected works were released by K Records a few years back. https://krecs.com/products/klp164
Chinas Comidas
https://ffanzeen.blogspot.com/2015/11/chinas-comidas-inside-look-rocknroll-in.html
Members: Brock Wheaton, Cynthia Genser, Dag Midtskog, Richard Riggins
Chinas Comidas were an early art punk band from Seattle, Washington, that formed in 1977 and disbanded in 1980 after having moved to Los Angeles. The group combined no wave and proto-punk musical influences with frontwoman Cynthia Genser’s feminist poetry.
The Colorplates
https://greenmonkeyrecords.com/artist-the-colorplates/
Members: Bob Blackburn, Tom Dyer, Deanne Tawney, Harvey Tawney, Howie Wahlen, Adam Woog
Band with Tom Dyer circa 1979-82, loosely connected with the art/punk scene. They were equally (though not exclusively) inspired by Ornette Coleman and the Dave Clark Five. Their collected works can be found here: https://thecolorplates.bandcamp.com/album/agony-and-ecstasy
The Enemy
http://pnwbands.com/enemy.html
Members: Damon Titus, George Gleason, Michael Wonderful, Paul Hood, Peter Barnes, Suzanne Grant
The Enemy was one of the key groups in the NW punk scene, along with the Moberlys et al. They even had a well-respected single, “I Need an Enemy”/”Trendy Violence” and started the first punk club, “The Bird”, which was closed down by the police (You can hear cops busting heads at the beginning of “Trendy Violence”). They evolved into the group “Big Fun” with David Surkamp of Pavlov’s Dog and put out a cassette. Barnes went on to found Clatter and Din Recording Studios in Seattle for many years and recently put out a collection of his ‘80’s recordings on Green Monkey.
Heart
Members: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Roger Fisher, Howard Leese, Steve Fossen, Michael Derosier
Heart was founded in Seattle in the early seventies. Their 1975 debut album on Vancouver BC’s Mushroom Records was a hit when PNW bands were not having hits.
The Heats
https://the-heats.com/aboutMembers 1979-80: Don Short, Keith Lilly, Ken Deans, Steve Pearson
The Heats dominated Seattle’s airwaves and captivated fans in venues around the country in the late-1970s and early 1980s. They help open bars to original local live music. GMR has made their “Live At The Showbox” available on Bandcamp for years. It was released on vinyl and CD in 2024. They reformed and put out a new album. “The Heats”, in 2024.
Jimi Hendrix
From one of two controversial Hendrix LPs produced by Alan Douglas. On Crash Landing, basic tracks were laid down by Jimi with lotsa posthumous edits and overdubs by session guys. Sometimes successful – as on “Peace In Mississippi” and “Stone Free”- and sometimes not. The best no-shitty-overdubs version is on the “Voodoo Soup” comp. An unedited version can be heard on Valleys of Neptune CD single, that was sold exclusively at Walmart.
The Macs
Members: Colin McDonell, guitar and vocals, his brother Angus McDonell, bass, and Neal Erickson, drums
The first time The Macs entered Seattle’s Triangle Recording studio in 1980, they recorded what proved to be two-thirds of their total recorded output: sides A and B of a 45rpm single. It was the band’s first time in a studio.
Red Dress
https://jivetimerecords.com/northwest/red-dress/
Members: Bill Bagley, Bill Shaw, Gary Minkler, Jerry Anderson (7), John Olufs, Pete Pendras
“Red Dress infuses absurdity with the pure joy of funk, jazz and R&B. The result is far from what one would expect from looking at it on paper.” Dennis R. White. Gary and the boys are putting out new albums and still out playing in town – go see them!
Student Nurse
https://www.studentnurseband.com/
Members: John & Helena Rogers plus others
Formed in 1978 by John & Helena Rogers, the band went through 4 major personnel changes before giving up in 1984. There was a pop side, and an improvisational side, but it was always fiercely original. They have since re-grouped and are playing around the Northwest.
‘S Nots
https://www.discogs.com/artist/2310532-S-Nots
Members: Drake Eubanks, Jeff Gossard, Sheldon Gomberg, William Rieflin
AKA the Snots. Seattle punk band who released one single in 1977. They were a “sister band” of The Lewd; both were formed from the ashes of the previous Knobs (and the Snots’ Drake Eubanks played drums in the first lineup of the Lewd). Jeff Gossard is a cousin to Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard. Discogs
Telepaths
http://pnwbands.com/telepaths.html
Members: Erich Werner, Geoffrey T. Cade, Kurt Werner, Mike Davidson, Reid Vance, Bill Rieflin
The Telepaths are now considered by many to have been Seattle’s first true punk band — although, truth be told, they were influenced as much by early-1970s progressive rock as by the likes of the MC5 and the Stooges; after all, they took their name from an early Blue Öyster Cult song: namely, 1974’s “Flaming Telepaths.” Jeff Stevens
Stephan Tow’s book The Strangest Tribe is a good resource on the period. https://thestrangesttribebook.wordpress.com/
EPK: https://greenmonkeyrecords.com/artist-tom-dyer-true-olympians/
https://greenmonkeyrecords.com/artist-tom-dyer/
Bandcamp: https://tomdyerandthetrueolympians.bandcamp.com/album/history-of-nw-rock-vol-2-1970-1980
Links to the original versions can be found on the Bandcamp page for this release.
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063541451469
Oct 7, 2023 Lisa and the True Olympians Single Released
All-new versions of PNW classics by The Telepaths and Heart, featuring the wonderful Lisa Ceazan on vocals. One plain weird and one just plain sultry.
What’s the scoop? Last January, coming off the marathon that was “Olympia: A True Story”, I was thinking what next? Hadn’t written a song since the previous May (a long time for me) and was not feeling inspired. At the same time, I figured I needed to do something to keep The True Olympians busy. I decided to take on a project I have contemplated for a few years, History Of Northwest Rock, Vol.2 (1970 – 1986), my follow up to 2015’s History of Northwest Rock Vol. 1 (1959-1968). I made a list of my favorite obscurities from that period, picked a few of those and started rehearsing the band to record them. I quickly lost interest and set the project aside, except for two songs. The Telepaths’ “Frozen Darling” and Heart’s “Crazy on You” (not obscure!), for which we cut basic tracks. Those two languished as I got involved in some other studio projects and the True Olympians prepared to play what were probably our last two shows (we are on an indefinite sabbatical).I finally got around to finishing them and here they are. I am most pleased with them. I think Lisa is fabulous on them. I am so pleased with them that I have decided to slowly resuscitate Vol.2 with Lisa as lead singer for the whole thing. That said, it will be a pretty casual approach to recording – there will probably be the occasional single or two before it ever becomes an album. I have other irons in the fire.
TD
May 5, 2023 The True Olympians Play The Olson Brothers
The True Olympians Play The Olson Brothers Band. What’s up with that? Last year or so I figured out that a hard workin’ Nashville song writin’ contest winnin’ many giggin’ country band existed right here in OlyWa. Capitol HS grads, like former TruOly drummer and KGY radio star, Michael Stein. Whoda thunk, here in the land of Olympia-has-everything? Over the last year I’ve played them a bunch on my FreeFormNW KAOS radio show (which you can stream at kaosradio.org if you ain’t in Oly) – even interviewed them (twice) while they were driving back from an Ashland, Oregon gig. My favorites tunes are “I Bleed Evergreen” and “Kill Your Mom” (as in “It Would Kill” …). I dig them so much we decided to give them the True Olympian treatment and have now released them as an attractive limited edition CDr single. These are performed from the heart!
Dec 19, 2022 TV Story on King 5 Evening.
Tom Dyer & the True Olympians release concept album about Olympia | king5.com
Dec 8, 2022 Tom Dyer on KGY with Michael Stein! 
Tom Dyer Interviewed on Olympia’s KGY with Michael Stein Thursday 12-8-22 by GreenMonkeyRecords (soundcloud.com)
Dec 7, 2022 Tom Dyer on NPR station KUOW 
Soundside show. KUOW – A musician’s love for Olympia inspires a 40-song album
New video by Marc Sterling for Olympia My Home
Nov 17 Review:
THE STATE OF THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC (2022): People, places and some capital songs
Elsewhere by Graham Reid https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/absoluteelsewhere/10504/the-state-of-the-northwest-pacific-2022-people-places-and-some-capital-songs/
Nov 14 Sweet review in the Terrascope
Terrascope Reviews for November 2022 ‘”Let It Rain’ is the perfect ending to this musical travelogue – lots of wet, steamy guitar soloing, raspy-throated childhood recollections of delivering newspapers in the rain, and a finger-shredding guitar onslaught that’ll have Neil and Crazy Horse fans freaking out. Next stop: Broadway and Olympia: The Musical!” Jeff Penczak
November 13, 2022 Wonderful article in the Olympian. New album is Tom Dyer’s love letter to hometown of Olympia | The Olympian https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article268210872.html
October 12, 2022
TOM DYER INTERVIEWED ON PARALLEL UNIVERSITY
Stream Parallel U: Kim Dobson interviews Tom Dyer about Olympia: A True Story by GreenMonkeyRecords | Listen online for free on SoundCloud
New video for Arts Walk (Mossy Bottom) by Jeff Kelly
Sept 3, 2022. Great article in Thurston Talk.Tom Dyer: Musician, Owner of Green Monkey Records and a True Olympian – ThurstonTalk
https://www.thurstontalk.com/2022/09/02/tom-dyer-musician-owner-of-green-monkey-records-and-a-true-olympian/
Oct. 14, 2022. Tom: A project started exactly 4 years ago with the tender longing of “Olympia My Home” has arrived in my hand. It is tangible. Real. Glorious.
The day it arrived was rather stunning to me. A ridiculously large project, a ridiculous amount of work and effort, not just by me, but over 100 Olympia musicians, several photographers, proofreaders, my designer Rosie and of course the dedicated and beloved True Olympians, Gene, Joe, Lisa, Michael, Jason and Jeff.
October something. Longtime Oly drummer Jeff Parkhurst has taken over the drum throne. Brit Jason Homewood has joined the True Olympians as a second guitarist!
The scoop (in case you didn’t know already):
Olympia: A True Story, a 40-song, 47 track, 3-CD box set with 80-page book, is a loving ode to Olympia, Washington. It tells the story of the greater Olympia area going back 2 million years. Recorded over four years thru the pandemic, it is a heady brew of eclecticism writ large. It is monumental.
When I moved back to Olympia in 2016, I was most impressed by the Sylvester’s Window collection at the downtown Olympia Library, a series of eight Olympia cityscapes ranging from 1841 to 2001. These drawings really got me thinking about Olympia on some sort of time continuum in a way I probably hadn’t before.
I was at least partially inspired by David Scherer Water’s entertaining little Olympia book, first encountered in the spring of 2017, where I first learned about things like Bordeaux and the 1959 downtown train station crash. I grew up here and had never heard of either.
By 2019, the yet unnamed Olympia album was a thing, a concept in my head – a work in progress. The other book that really kicked this off for me was Olympia: A Peoples’ Almanac. Out of print, I got it from the library early on and it inspired further digging. It was the first place I had read much of anything about Little Hollywood, Olympia’s shantytown in the 20’s and 30’s and where I saw the picture that directly inspired the lyric.
We tracked our first five songs for the album in August, 2019. We did not suspect a pandemic was around the corner and how difficult that would make everything. Three years, three drummers, three Tom Dyer solo albums, and one True Olympians Holiday album later, it is done. Hallelujah!
This is not any sort of complete history; it is a collection of sonic sketches reflecting my particular take on the many-headed beast that is Olympia. We hope our little entertainment will inspire people to dig deeper into the story of our hometown and have provided many references you can pursue for more information.
I’d like to give a giant thank you to all the Olympia musicians who donated their time and skills to this undertaking – on their behalf, we will be donating a portion of our proceeds to the not-for-profit Olympia Arts + Heritage Alliance.
On October 28, I did a radio interview with Kim Dobson about the album that can be heard here: Stream Parallel U: Kim Dobson interviews Tom Dyer about Olympia: A True Story by GreenMonkeyRecords | Listen online for free on SoundCloud
January 13, 2022: UPDATE Work on our Olympia: A True Story album continues, with a recent blizzard of Olympia music guest stars, including Arrington De Dionyso from Old Time Relijun and Dave Harvey from Nudity. One of the tunes (with Arrington), “It’s Mud” appears on the new Ball of Wax comp – #66, where we got this great review:
Ball of Wax 66 Songs: Tom Dyer & The True Olympians – “It’s Mud”
“It’s Mud” is a wild ride through that very delta, a pop song treading the depths of the aural spectrum where the bass, drums, guitar, and even Dyer’s vocal beat the bedrock like it’s the final barrier to getting every last ass in the place out of its seat and wagging with the rhythmic rumble of the sonic flood. Joe Cason has his hands full keeping this tectonic leviathan from cracking through to the mantle, but his electric piano does so admirably (love the way everything sinks away at the end, leaving only the keyboard to remind you that some things can never stay submerged) and gives the beat a touch of syncopation.
Tom Dyer’s vocals are always a blast, but on “It’s Mud” he sounds more like a man possessed than I think I’ve heard, hooting, hupping, and growling every lung-collapsing line in a frenzied competition with the True Olympians’ guest artist, one Arrington de Dionyso, who takes the title of the song as literally as possible and all but blows his bass clarinet to bits (gods bless the little reed that pulled off the Herculean task of being channeled from one to the other of its instrument’s four-plus octave [I’m including overblowing because I’ve heard other de Dionyso material and the man favors pushing his woodwinds to and often beyond their limits]). In fact, Dyer gives his guest complete freedom and lets de Dionyso exorcise every spirit in the immediate vicinity, clearing the nooks and crannies in double-tracked stereo glee (I hope, anyway—otherwise there’s a lot more black magic happening here than bargained for) for 30 seconds before the band explodes into action, at which point his guest kicks into high gear, coming up for air maybe twice over the next three minutes.
As a whole, “It’s Mud” is spiritually and emotionally (and almost physically) cleansing, washing over everything in a deluge of delirious sound, and Levi’s choice to close this volume of Ball of Wax with it is simply inspired. In fact, this has been one of my favorite volumes yet, and each time “It’s Mud” ends, I have to catch my breath and shake off the silt before realizing that another spin of this whole Ball of Wax is desperately needed.
Ball of Wax Volume 66 | Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly (bandcamp.com)
Dec. 8, 2021: We decided last week to put out a Christmas album so here it is. All the True Olympian Xmas tunes bundled up in one sweet-n-jolly package. Also, as you may have noticed in the genuine JC Penny Photo Studio picture, Lisa Ceazan has joined the band on vocals. All this will be on display at our McMenamin’s Spanish Ballroom in Tacoma show Thursday Dec. 23.
Summer update: There have been changes. The pandemic came. A new drummer came – Michael Stein. We are working on a new record – Olympia, a thirty-five-plus song concept record (remember those) about you-know-what. Scheduled for release in 2023.
We also did another xmas single last year “Pandemic Christmas” (our third), which was sorta jolly.
Here’s all the old news.
File under Rock.
Tom Dyer and The True Olympians released their debut album 12 New Recordings on August 17, 2018. To warm you up they released a video for “The Ballad of Donald John Trump”. The album features all-new material written 
by Dyer and recorded by the band in the spring of 2018, ranging from the super-pop of “The Grey” to the brilliantly obtuse sludge of “In The Light.” Some of the songs are pointed like “Hegemony,” “The Ballad of Donald John Trump” and the not-quite sacrilegious “Wibblin’ For Jesus.” (Hey – it’s just the true facts, ma’am.) Some are vague and some are wistful. Probably none of them fall in the “pretty” category. The majority of the band’s efforts could easily be clumped into the “cruddy rock” category. The True Olympians are too old to care what anyone thinks about their music. They just do what they gonna do.
The True Olympians are Tom Dyer, vocals and guitar, Joe Cason, keyboards and vocals, Gene Tveden, bass and vocals, Lisa Ceazan, vocals, and Michael Stein, drums and percussion and vocals. Tom Shoblum was the drummer on 12 New Recordings. As a band, their beginnings go back to high school in Olympia, Washington, where Tom D and Gene played in teen bands together. After high school, Dyer left town and eventually started Green Monkey Records, releasing his own solo and band albums, while Gene stayed in Olympia and played with a number of bands. He was a union man. Joe and Michael are also natives who have played in pile of Oly bands. Joe currently plays around town when it suites him in The Crescents. This band got its start when Dyer moved back to Olympia a couple years ago and reconnected with Gene. Scott Vanderpool of the Green Pajamas ( a Greener) introduced Tom to Tom and away they went. At the practice pad, there was a pile of keyboard stuff in the corner – Tom asked Tom “who?” and Joe was in.
The True Olympians are not a particularly ambitious bunch. Their first masterpiece is done and they plan to play at least one show this year. Perhaps more, but they ain’t no spring chickens and don’t like to haul gear that much, so we shall see. Regarding the “True Olympian” business, while it is true they all are from Olympia, they are neither nativists nor exclusionary. They understand 
rather that True Olympianism is a state of pure existence available to any being on this round planet, with enough focus, work and clarity. You too can be a True Olympian. And they like to do the rock. Yes they do.
The band released a digital single (now a video) from the album in May, “The Ballad of Donald John Trump,” Dyer’s second editorial commentary about Mr. Trump. The hope was to get it out before Trump could do anymore dumb/evil stuff that required writing new verses. Dyer’s previous single and video, Trump-ville, was released one year ago in June of 2017. Mr. Dyer is hopeful it will not be necessary to write a third song on this unpleasant topic next year.
The True Olympians made their debut last December with the wonderful and secular “Christmas In Olympia/Christmas Is Love” single.
Despite living in the Land of Trump, 
The True Olympians work hard to maintain an optimistic vision of the future.
Joe Cason – Organ, Piano & Vocals
Gene Tveden – Bass & Vocals
Lisa Ceazan – Vocals
Jeff Parkhurst – Drums & Percussion
Jason Homewood – Guitar