The Cartridge Family documented on vinyl

Ask any 2000s Lansing rock-show promoter about booking the Cartridge Family (tCF) and you will surely get an interesting response, or at least a troubled look. Every gig the band played consisted of wild shenanigans, including (but not limited to) flying debris and historical reenactments. The large “band” also consisted of a large crew of plush-costumed chaos starters whose main goal was to consume the entire venue with a party vibe. Every concert was a theatrical low-budget happening, with the music serving as the soundtrack to the bedlam — which ended in 2011 after the outfit’s final show.

With a heavily rotating lineup (no single band member played every tCF show), it’s hard to trace the exact lineage of the group, but core members comprised founding members Craig Horky (guitar) and Gabe Rehklau (drums), as well as other long-term players like Nick “Ozzie” Oswald (lead vocals), Scott Bell (vocals), Cale Sauter (keyboards), Gabe Rehklau (drums), Ryan Horky (drums/percussion) and Nick “Otis” Pierce (bass).

Ben Hassenger was an early member who joined to perform impromptu stunts to the music, and would often brainstorm theatrical gag ideas with the band. Meanwhile, Dan Fox was “the primary inhabitant of whichever of the nicer plush mascot costumes we had,” according to Sauter. The result was some of the most bizarre, sometimes unsettling, gigs this city has ever seen. 

However, with the upcoming release of “Party City Devils,” the first ever full-length retrospective on the defunct band, this new (dark purple) vinyl LP sonically encapsulates the group’s batch of lo-fi punk recordings. The long-shelved songs were compiled by Benjamin Pereogi, owner of Scumbros Records in Arizona. It’s being co-released by local label Bermuda Mohawk Productions — who’s operated by a few tCF members. This first release in years serves as an overdue bookend to the band’s long-out-of-print EP, split 7” and DVD.   

The result is a sort of “greatest hits” collection and will be officially released on Aug. 13, 2021. The online orders come with a digital download of the album, some puzzles, games “and a bunch of other secret digital download goodies,” according to Pereogi, who met tCF years ago while playing shows in his former hometown of Toledo. 

“Cartridge Family shows were, to me, always just unbridled fun,” Pereogi recalled. “They were a whirlwind of energy and excitement — and partially naked people. You never knew what to expect. One show would be a Gettysburg address recreation, the next would have a moon bounce castle in a venue along with a slam dunk contest, another might have 20 bags of popcorn thrown around. For me, it was always a positive experience.” 

“The guy who would book them in Toledo was fully supportive of their shenanigans, and by the time I was seeing them at Mac’s Bar, they were accepted there,” he added. “I never really experienced the shows where venues would get angry.”

Perhaps one reason the band got away with making messes was that it was always in good fun, according to Sauter, who said “having fun” was the only constant rule for its laundry list of members.

“With people’s experiences playing in bands that were more stressful or contentious, the band was sort of founded under the single rule that everyone had to be having fun,” Sauter recalled. “It didn’t seem that unique of an objective at the time, but the format it took was. If someone wasn’t having fun, they left and someone else joined. 

“Eventually, musicians wanting to just have fun started joining when we didn’t even have needs with any of the on-stage instruments,” Sauter added. “We didn’t turn anyone away, we just challenged them to find something to do that would add to the live shows. Clearly this got out-of-hand quickly. Or at least well beyond I think anything we initially anticipated. 

Seemingly, it wasn’t until tCF grew out of control that the band truly took shape. 

“It created a carnival atmosphere with the live shows,” Sauter said. “It was really easy to embrace the next step by adding more party features like Moon Bounces, cakewalks, cotton candy machines, and all that. The extra bodies also allowed us to do some more theatrical things like doing a Halloween set where we staged a ‘Clue’-esque murder mystery and somehow found a way to incorporate that and actually playing our songs. The extra bodies came in handy for other things too, like picking up and moving a stranger’s car when they double-parked a friend’s car outside of a show we played.”

Sure, the good ol’ days might be behind tCF alumni, but Sauter said he is happy their vaulted material will finally be properly documented on wax.

“Being a band with a much bigger reputation for antics and crazy live sets, recording and releasing music was really sort of secondary — if even that high of a priority,” Sauter admitted. “Really, the whole second half of the band’s existence went by without a release aside from a joke ‘beefcake’ calendar. But we love Ben from ScumBros Records and trusted him to do it justice, so we teamed up to do the release.” 

For more information on “Party City Devils” vinyl, visit: scumbrosrecords.bandcamp.com