Eerie Materials

Lore & Background

Eerie Materials was started in the early 1990s by individuals connected to the band Eeyore Power Tool, which had formed in the late 1980s. That band, whose members included Troy Fiscella and Tristana Fiscella, used multiple names for its releases, such as 'Eeyore Fiend Magnet,' 'Eeyore Prayer Tool,' and 'Eeyore Crypt Orchid.' Eeyore Power Tool became an important influence in cassette culture and spawned other projects, including Cave Clown Microwave (which involved contributors from Wheelchair Full of Old Men, Thought Balloon Tapes, and Nauscopy) and Kingdom Scum, which later released LPs and CDs on Eerie Materials as well as on Staalplaat and Turn of the Century. Eeyore Power Tool releases included a split 7-inch with Sockeye, another with Caroliner, an LP with hand-decorated covers, and a video release titled 'Eeyore Grumpy Ghoul: Scenese From the 1902 Virgin Scary Tour' (where '1902' denoted 1992).

Reader's Guide

Eerie Materials occupies a niche in independent music history as a label that grew out of the cassette culture of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Its roster included notable experimental acts such as Negativland, Evolution Control Committee, Faxed Head, Brown Cuts Neighbors, and Hemorrhoy Rogers and the Rrhoid Boyz, as well as many others listed in its partial artist roster. The label's significance is heightened by a 2000 legal incident: CBS threatened legal action over the Evolution Control Committee's 7-inch 'Rocked By Rape,' which used sampled music from AC/DC and spoken words by Dan Rather to critique television violence. The threat outraged members of the Evolution Control Committee and Negativland, but Eerie Materials discontinued sales of the record, and no further legal action occurred. This episode reflects the tensions between copyright law and artistic parody in the underground music scene. The label's legacy is tied to its support of unconventional, often confrontational music and its role in the broader network of small, artist-run labels.

Did You Know?

• Eerie Materials was first based in Richmond, Virginia, and later in San Francisco, California.
• The label's founders were connected to the band Eeyore Power Tool, which used multiple names for its releases, such as 'Eeyore Fiend Magnet' and 'Eeyore Crypt Orchid.'
• In 2000, CBS threatened legal action against Eerie Materials over the Evolution Control Committee's single 'Rocked By Rape,' which sampled AC/DC and used words spoken by Dan Rather.
• Eeyore Power Tool released a video titled 'Eeyore Grumpy Ghoul: Scenese From the 1902 Virgin Scary Tour,' where '1902' was their way of saying '1992.'

Origins in the Fiscella Siblings' Musical World

Eerie Materials did not emerge from a vacuum of business planning. Its roots lay in the late-1980s creative ferment of Richmond, Virginia, where brother Troy Fiscella and sister Tristana Fiscella, together with friends Mark, Frances, and Scott H., built a band that cycled through a dizzying array of names—Eeyore Power Tool, Eeyore Fiend Magnet, Eeyore Prayer Tool, Eeyore Crypt Orchid—depending on which release was being pressed. This collective became a significant force in the cassette culture of the era, and their creative energy spilled into side projects like Cave Clown Microwave, which drew contributions from Wheelchair Full of Old Men, Thought Balloon Tapes, Nauscopy, and numerous others, and Kingdom Scum, a group that would later earn LP and CD releases on Eerie Materials as well as on Staalplaat and Turn of the Century. The band's output included split 7-inch records with Sockeye and Caroliner, an LP featuring hand-decorated covers, and a video titled "Eeyore Grumpy Ghoul: Scenese From the 1902 Virgin Scary Tour," in which "1902" was the group's playful code for 1992. By the early 1990s, this web of collaborations and DIY ethos naturally coalesced into the label itself.

A Roster Built on Provocation and Play

Once established, Eerie Materials cultivated a roster that leaned heavily toward satire, absurdist humor, and confrontational commentary. Alongside the Fiscellas' own projects, the label put out records by Negativland, Evolution Control Committee, Faxed Head, Brown Cuts Neighbors, and Hemorrhoy Rogers and the Rrhoid Boyz. The broader artist list also included names like Anachronauts, Breathilizor, Caroliner, Colon On The Cob, Dum Dum TV, ENE, Eeyore Gorilla Cookies, Friendly, Gang of Pork, Nudibranch, Sludgecrypt, Sockeye, Sonique Rabbit Fists, Teenage Larvae, and The Popsicle Melts. The label's geographic footprint shifted over time, beginning in Richmond, Virginia, before relocating to San Francisco, California. This migration likely reflected the broader indie and punk scenes' westward drift during the 1990s, but the label's identity remained anchored in the same do-it-yourself, irreverent spirit that had driven Eeyore Power Tool's cassette-era output. The roster's sheer variety—spanning parody, noise, and experimental territory—signaled a label uninterested in genre boundaries.

The 2000 CBS Confrontation

The most publicly visible crisis in Eerie Materials' history arrived in 2000, when the label issued a 7-inch by Evolution Control Committee titled "Rocked By Rape." The record was a pointed parody and critique of the way violence is packaged and broadcast on television, incorporating words spoken by news anchor Dan Rather and sampling music from AC/DC. CBS, the parent company of the network associated with Rather, responded by threatening legal action against Eerie Materials on copyright-infringement grounds. The threat provoked fierce backlash from within the label's own community: members of Evolution Control Committee and Negativland both expressed outrage at what they saw as a major media corporation attempting to silence a small independent operation through the machinery of intellectual-property law. In the end, Eerie Materials chose to discontinue further sales of the record, and CBS did not pursue additional legal steps. The episode became a touchstone for discussions about the vulnerability of small labels when they cross paths with corporate legal departments, even when the underlying work is clearly satirical.

DIY Aesthetics and Lasting Influence

Eerie Materials' cultural footprint extends well beyond its discography. The label's early output was steeped in the tactile, hand-made sensibility of the cassette culture that defined the late 1980s and early 1990s underground. Hand-decorated LP covers, split 7-inch pressings with fellow small bands like Sockeye and Caroliner, and a video release whose title playfully encoded 1992 as "1902" all underscored a commitment to personal, low-budget creativity over commercial polish. The Fiscellas' side project Cave Clown Microwave demonstrated how porous the label's creative boundaries were, pulling in contributors from Wheelchair Full of Old Men, Thought Balloon Tapes, Nauscopy, and many other acts. Kingdom Scum, another Fiscella-associated project, outlived the label's most active period, eventually scoring LP and CD releases on Staalplaat and Turn of the Century. The label's official website, press materials, and the scattered Discogs and Lost Frog entries for its artists remain the primary archival trail for anyone tracing this particular strand of 1990s independent music.

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