Rettsounds - Last Laugh

For anyone to argue that Harry Howes has been doing anything short of the Lord’s work by reissuing long lost punk nuggets on his Last Laugh imprint is sheer, drool-slurping stupidity. He started cracking with the label sometime last year when he re-issued the infamously juvenile “Bummer Bitch” single by California’s Freestone, and since then he’s been re-upping classic late 70s and early 80s singles by the Shit Dogs, The Normals, Joe Hebert, The Zeros, Puncture, The Embarrassment, Critical Mass, and many others. These are the types of discs that go for high money from all those record dealers who consistently smell of hoagies. Howes has freed you from the virtual shackles of those stinky loads, so buy him a drug and a whiskey next time you see him, you ungrateful shit.

I recently ran into Harry here on the North Shore of Long Island when he was doing some sleuth work, trying to track down members of the obscure late 70s Greenvale located power pop band, The Beta-Caro-Teens. We had a few drinks and here’s what he had to say.

VICE: When and why did you decide to start Last Laugh?
Harry Howes: Absolutely no thought went into it. I just woke up one morning and decided I would try to contact some bands. I messaged about five and received enthusiastic responses from three. This is all in the first day. I found Billy Demoya [Freestone], Shep Ginzburg [Reactors], and some others on Myspace. The hardest part in those early days was trying to come up with a name. After much debate, I thought it best to separate the reissues from what I already had going on with my other label, Almost Ready.

Why did you decide to start off the label with the Freestone “Bummer Bitch” single?
What better way to start a punk reissue label? Seriously, “Bummer Bitch” has gotta be the crudest minute and a half you'll ever hear. Speaking of which, I was lucky to have first heard “Bummer Bitch” while still in high school. My friend recorded a punk radio show that played that along with a few other songs from Killed by Death Volume Two. I was hooked.

How do you go about tracking down the bands you reissue?
I check the bathrooms of department stores or look on the theslammernews.com. If that doesn't work, there’s always the Yellow Pages.

How do people usually react when you ask to reissue their band’s record 30 plus years after its release?
Last March I went down to New Orleans to sign the papers on The Normals’ album, and while I was there I decided to try to put the squeeze on Emeril Lagasse at his Delmonico restaurant. I was there to talk to him about releasing the 1975 demo by his band Winston Conrad, who later went on to release a power pop record without him under the name The Crowd. I told the hostess that I had gone to high school with his daughters, and that got me access to the kitchen. And there he was, sweating over a computer, staring at speedboat motors on eBay. I tried to explain my idea for the record, but before I could get two words out he asked why I wasn’t in uniform. I told him I wasn’t there to bus tables, I was there to make a record. His eyes glazed over and he began to shake. Apparently something I said really struck a chord in him because next thing you know he was throwing things about the kitchen. Pots and pans. Dishes and glasses. I got outta there quick.

What kind of “deal” do you provide these punk rock fogies?
I throw them a blow roast in the back of Kellog's Diner

How do you decide what to put out on Last Laugh?
I let my interns make those decisions—they hold staff meetings every Wednesday. I'm always looking for replacements, so get in touch!

How does Last Laugh differ from your newly launched label, Mighty Mouth? Is Mighty Mouth exclusively for rereleasing stuff by that leather daddy Glam/Disco king Laurice?
Last Laugh is strictly for punk, and I guess a little power pop. With Mighty Mouth, anything goes! The Mighty Mouth name was handed down from Laurice, but The Psychopaths’ Till The Stroke Of Dawn / See The Girl reissue on Mighty Mouth is completely unrelated to Laurice. That one’s a killer—moody garage single from Boston that was originally released in 1967. The next release, with the 1966 Bakersfield, California classic “Be A Cave Man” by The Avengers charts similar territory.

What's in the future for all your labels?
For Almost Ready, I'm going to bring the World's Lousy with Ideas compilation series out of hibernation. Volume nine returns to 7" format and will feature Thee Spivs, Psandwich, and Cheater Slicks. Before or after that will be a single from Montreal's Grand Trine and a split LP from Australian heavyweights Eddy Current Suppression Ring and UV Race. Kevin is supposed to be sending me new Pink Reason recordings soon.

For Last Laugh I’m working on a CD version of The Normals’ Vacation to Nowhere. The CD adds the Almost Ready/Hard Core single and a full live DVD. The packaging is in 3-D and will even include 3-D glasses! There will also be an LP from Mulletto, which was Pat Garrett, aka Rand McNally's [Dangerhouse, Randoms, Dils, Black Randy & The Metrosquad] first band. More from The Embarrassment, starting with the Celebrity Art Party 12". Also, we’ve got a bunch of other singles on the way.

With Mighty Mouth, I’m working on The Best Of Laurice Volume 2, which will include the original demo version of “When Christine Comes Around.” Unfortunately, all the cuts have to be painstakingly mastered from acetates. I’m also going to see that all the David Arvedon recordings make it to vinyl.

What's your dream release for Last Laugh?
The ultimate release would be John Holmes’ 1974 proto-punk masterpiece with his band, Swine Cops. It features an uncredited Joe Walsh on bass, and only two known acetates exist.

Anything you want to bring up that I forgot?
Nope. I think you did a good job of bringing things up that I would rather forget.

Previously - My Mushroom Gravy Mix