Subterranean Miscellanea: Wounds

Paul Casteel (photo by Rebecca G. Wilson)

Wounds (sometimes spelled Woundz) formed after Paul Casteel and Chris Coon split from the early SF punk band (Impatient) Youth.  Paul played bass in (Impatient) Youth, but became the singer for Wounds.  Chris Coon (drums) also played briefly with SF trio No Alternative. Wounds self-released a 12" EP in 1981 (with now famous producer David Kahne). Wounds also appeared on Let Them Eat Jellybeans, the Eastern Front live LP, and Subterranean's Red Spot comp. 

Another SF band called Tanks made a 1981 single "Bongo Congo" b/w "March Of The Slugs". The b-side was cowritten by Casteel and Wounds flautist Susy Delkman. Casteel and Tanks guitarist Susan Miller were also on the Bruce Lose single. Susan Miller later played with Bad Posture and Frightwig. Tanks' bassist and drummer joined Pop-O-Pies -- more Subterranean connections!

Black Athletes
(photo by Jennifer Patterson)

Paul Casteel later formed SF bands Black Athlete (who appeared on Thrasher Magazine's first Skate Rock tape), House Of Wheels (Skate Rock #6), and Touch Me Hooker (with Jimmy from Crucifix Tony Guerrero from Free Beer). Casteel was one of the first skaters on Jak's Team (along with Johnathan Henrickson from the Toiling Midgets). In 2007, Casteel sang with No Politics at a benefit for Mabuhay Gardens' owner Ness Aquino. No Politics was a one-off SF "supergroup" that included East Bay Ray (DK's), Steve DePace (Negative Trend, Flipper), Dave Chavez (Sick Pleasure, Code Of Honor, Verbal Abuse), and Bruno de Smartass (Red Asphalt, Sluglords, Bad Posture, Flipper). In 2008, Casteel sang with the reunited Negative Trend (DePace, Craig Gray, and Paul Hood). 

In the late 1970's -- while Casteel and Chris Coon were in (Impatient) Youth -- Negative Trend and The Sleepers spawned Flipper and the Toiling Midgets. Steve DePace and Will Shatter (both of Negative Trend) formed Flipper with Ricky Williams (Sleepers) and Ted Falconi (whose band SST made a 1978 EP produced by Tommy Tadlock!) Flipper soon replaced Ricky Williams with Bruce Loose. Tim Mooney (Sleepers) and Craig Gray (Negative Trend) formed Toiling Midgets with Paul Hood and Johnathan Henrickson, and Ricky Williams joined as singer.

Anyway, back to Wounds...  Wounds was Casteel (vocals), Chris Coon (drums), Susy Deikman (flute), Anthony Fisher (guitar), and Jay Lehman (bass). The four song self-titled EP is my rip, and I added the tracks from Red Spot and Eastern Front, plus the Black Athletes song from Thrasher's Skate Rock tape. The latter four songs were recorded by Tom Mallon (bassist in Toiling Midgets, American Music Club and the final lineup of Negative Trend). Tom Mallon recorded many SF punk records for Subterranean and other labels). He died in 2014. You can peruse Mallon's incredible list of recording credits here (which include the first Wounds demo, possibly the source of the Red Spot songs).

Wounds (photo by Chester Simpson)