Gothic Theatre

Mad Action

Just like Dylan and The Band escaping to upstate NY to live and record in the infamous BIG PINK, Ryan Cobb, Paul Cobb, and friends escape to Bucks County, Pennsylvania to record in the basement of Paul’s parent’s house. As teenagers, it was a house with an open door policy where our group of friends gathered to hang out. At the house you would smoke your first cigarette, make out with girls on the pool table, smoke pot in the crawl space, watch Black Sabbath videos till 4 o’clock in the morning, talk incessantly about music and most importantly, rock out to the wee hours of the dawn. And all the while, Paul’s mom literally dished out the hospitality by serving lemonade and iced tea during grueling recording sessions and in the form of huge dinners where everyone was served and satiated.

Even though all the characters have since grown up and moved to the nearby city of Philadelphia, to this day, the house is still a recording mecca for various bands that grew from the neighborhood. It was the place where many musically incestuous unions were formed and continue to grow.

Most importantly, it gave birth to Mad Action.

Already during a brief caree, Mad Action has endured name changes, legal rumbles with the estate of a psychotic baseball superstar, and played gigs inside a white box. Simultaneously, they’ve also produced a slew of fractured songs that arrived so thick and fast in their conception that an editing process—aided and abetted by erstwhile pop maverick and Lightning Seed, Ian Broudie—savaged an initial batch of 200 rock sketches to a mere 13 for the band’s startling debut, ...And Begin.

Then, of course, there are the numerous comparisons to rock defining names such as The Who, Guided By Voices, Sonic Youth and the Beatles. All of which makes Mad Action a band with more than the lion’s share of public intrigue.

Of course, we have all heard stories of bands getting into trouble with the law. Paul ticked this particular rock and roll box at an early age, almost spending time up at the big house as a youngster for stealing all the musical instruments he could get his hands on from the elementary school across the road for his house. After a quick trade at a local music store, Paul had his first guitar, bass, and a new drum kit. It was now time to play. All he needed now was his neighborhood pal Ryan Cobb.

Having peddled a head-rattling attack of proto grunge with Philadelphia band, The Trip (which also featured Paul’s sister), Ryan and Paul began recording a number of lo-fi tracks in Paul’s basement away from the band. The duo simultaneously learned how to write and record songs at a tremendous speed while ingesting a diet of US indie rock, particularly the likes of Pavement, Sebadoh and gloomy Scottish pedal pushers the Jesus And Mary Chain.

Almost immediately the side project proved more rewarding than their primary band.

They thought of a new name—Ty Cobb, after a ruthless and sometime violent baseball player who courted public notoriety after battering a fan with a set of crutches. Now, with a name and a shit load of tunes, buzzing with the hiss of cheap recording equipment, Ty Cobb compiled a 20 track record entitled Trophies For Lovemaking in 1999 on their own Mad Action Records imprint.

Following “Trophies”, in 2002, the pair received rave reviews in the British music press for their next ep entitled 7y Co66, which was released on Black Rebel Motorcycle Clubs Abstract Dragon imprint. It was a limited pressing of only 200 copies.

But it was not until years later when a worrying note pop through the letterbox from the Ty Cobb estate. It basically said Òchange the name or else waste money and time in court. They had no money and time was definitely not on there side, with an 8 song ep entitled Teac Attack scheduled for release on LOOG records.

This was only a minor blip however, and the band settled on the name Mad Action, after the first song the pair ever written and recorded.

Prolificy has never been a problem for Mad Action, and when they first ambled into the offices of new home Loog records, they presented over 200 completed songs. From this collection, the band released two EPs within a few weeks of each other in early 2004. With 18 quality compositions between the two records (Teac Attack and Just Like Fresh Air), it was no surprise that the band won many fans among the media and people who inhabit the real world. Those limited edition releases, both on very sexy one sided vinyl are now collectors items Ð as much for the quality of the songs as their rarity. Touring the UK at the time with The Fiery Furnaces, The Open, and The Blueskins, the band featured Paul, Ryan and a silhouetted drummer within a white box. A sight to behold indeed, but probably never to be seen again.

Of now, of course, there is the album And Begin. An hour long pop blast that veers from heart bruising ballads (Smile) to propulsive feedback rockers (Wheel, Waiting, Wondering). Recorded at London’s RAK studios with Ian Broudie (The Coral, The Zutons), the main problem facing Mad Action was whittling down a suitcase of demo tapes into a package that fitted onto a single album.

The results, one of the underground releases of 2004, is released in July this year.

Now with the addition of their close childhood friend Jay Mehler(bass and backing vocals) and ex. Boggs member Brad Conroy(drums), Mad Action is by far more a band then ever before. No longer a duo.

And is if all of this wasn’t enough, Paul and Ryan are also twiddling the knobs behind the desk of the new album by Black Rebel Motor Cycle Club in the basement of Paul’s parents magical home.