Several years ago, a group of people set out to archive the fading world of the Christian Tape Underground. Building on the work of pioneers like Jeani Bond and Dan Kennedy, our goal was to catalog the various weird and wonderful recordings that most people had never heard of. We would digitize tapes, share copies of mp3s (to make sure there were plenty spread around the world), and somehow create an online data source for these efforts.
Many people have worked and contributed to this project through the years. Maybe someday I will get around to cataloging all that have helped out in some way (large or small). I’m not even sure if some people want their names attached to this project, so I’ll have to wait until I get their permission to name names. But at some point, access to the massive tape archives of Dan Kennedy was achieved, as well as many other rare tape collections. I became one of the people that was allowed to digitize and archive these treasures. At that point, the Christian Underground Encyclopedia was born.
We really archive anything that was “underground” from the 80s or 90s – mostly tapes, but also vinyl and CDs. Stylistically, we cover everything from alternative to punk to rap to metal to industrial to experimental. There are two parts to this: The Underground Encyclopedia itself and the blog where I review the tapes as I digitize them.
Since these are mostly demos, the quality of the tapes are okay to good. Every once in a while I find one that rises above the rest – but that remains a mystery as I can’t find any information about them. So I decided to feature some in a column in the zine. So this month I bring you:
Who is the mysterious Octover? I have no idea. I can’t find anything about them online. I grabbed their tape Looking for America out of a box of tapes because I thought the band picture reminded me of Black Carnation (of Blonde Vinyl Records fame).
In fact, they only list the first names of the band in the credits – Jeff, Joey, and Curt. Elsewhere in the liner notes, you can see that Jeff’s last name is Cole and Joey’s last name is Robinson, but no last name for Cole can be found. Sorry Cole.
Musically, the band would have been a great fit for Blonde Vinyl Records as well. The sound is generally alternative, but there are strong Gothic influences here and there. And to be honest, the first song is bit weaker than the rest. But once the second track kicks in, you are swept into a world of deep lyrics and well-written musical parts.
Other than that, I can’t tell you much more than that about the band. This tape was released in 1990 in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. So far, I have found no other releases by the band. Who knows – maybe they are out there somewhere and can give us some more information about their time together.
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