[Cover photo credit to Terry Hammond]
Cincinnati, OH-based Rock band Mad Anthony, which was the musical project of John K. Schwab, Larry Doston, and Carl “Mad Anthony” Richards, made a name for themselves in their local scene in the 70s, and in 1975, the group recorded a handful of tracks which proceeded to sit untouched for over forty years.
Eventually, the recording did reach the ears of Schwab’s son, Benjamin Schwab, now a musician himself with the bands Drugdealer and Sylvie, the latter of which has been influenced by his father’s band. Benjamin Schwab spent seven years convincing Mad Anthony members to return to the project and now they will be releasing The Lost Tapes, due in Spring 2023, via Earth Libraries. They’ve also released the single “Rina”.
Speaking on the single, Ben Schwab writes:
The inspiration behind ‘Rina’ is a romance my dad with a girl named Rina when he was visiting Israel in the 70s. My dad wrote the song and plays piano/sings harmonies and my uncle Carl sings the lead vocal. Rina’ is my favorite song off the Mad Anthony album. Really excited the world finally gets to hear this.
John Schwab comments on the collection:
I used to tell my son, ‘You can play all the hot licks, be the Eddie Van Halen of your neighborhood, but nothing will last as long as a good song. We didn’t have the ability to properly record in 1975, but Ben reminded me that it’s the quality of the songs that matters, not the recording.
