E.C.A.
(ELECTRIC COOL AID)
aka
CHIP'S PATROL
aka
HATE
ELECTRIC COOL AID was the first band we formed after moving from Chicago to Peoria, IL.
There were no punks, no skaters, no scene. It sucked. I had switched to drums at this point, out of necessity. My brother Barry (who was previously in Negative Element with me) played guitar, and my brother Steve (who played with Rights Of The Accused while we were still living in Chicago) played bass. In the beginning, Barry sang, including singing on the tracks that were released on the Empty Skulls comp.
We found a cool local record store and put up an ad for a frontman.But, we only got one response to our ad, from a guy who called himself Bloody F. Mess. He was an odd character, to say the least, but a great frontman. ECA eventually would morph into CHIP'S PATROL, then THE UNACCEPTED, and later into an obnoxious FEAR style band called HATE (All of these bands can be found on some various old obscure punk comps, but I don't have any copies anymore). The line up never changed, just the name did.
HATE has the dubious distinction of opening for GG ALLIN the first time that he ever defecated onstage.
But, for better or worse, we were slowly building a punk scene in the bowels of redneck Illinois…..
There were no punks, no skaters, no scene. It sucked. I had switched to drums at this point, out of necessity. My brother Barry (who was previously in Negative Element with me) played guitar, and my brother Steve (who played with Rights Of The Accused while we were still living in Chicago) played bass. In the beginning, Barry sang, including singing on the tracks that were released on the Empty Skulls comp.
We found a cool local record store and put up an ad for a frontman.But, we only got one response to our ad, from a guy who called himself Bloody F. Mess. He was an odd character, to say the least, but a great frontman. ECA eventually would morph into CHIP'S PATROL, then THE UNACCEPTED, and later into an obnoxious FEAR style band called HATE (All of these bands can be found on some various old obscure punk comps, but I don't have any copies anymore). The line up never changed, just the name did.
HATE has the dubious distinction of opening for GG ALLIN the first time that he ever defecated onstage.
But, for better or worse, we were slowly building a punk scene in the bowels of redneck Illinois…..
These are the tracks E.C.A. did on the EMPTY SKULLS compilation, released in 1984.
Me, Barry, and Steve on these tracks. Nothing but Stepe Brothers doin' what they do...
E.C.A. was reunited for one last performance at the Punks In Peoria music fest on 9/5/2021. We just did the same tracks that were released on the Empty Skulls comp.
We may be a whole lot older now, but still nothing but Stepe Brothers doin' what they do...
This is a recording from a practice (I think) of CHIP'S PATROL. The date on the CD version I have says 5/17/1984.
This is a live recording of HATE from that now infamous GG ALLIN show, believe it or not. I can't believe that out of the bits and pieces of past bands that I have in my collection, I actually have a copy of this. We cover "Jesus Entering ..." by Feederz, as well as "Sex Bomb" by Flipper, and "I Don't Care About You" by Fear at this show.
It was supposed to be over-the-top obnoxious, by design. My brothers and I, with our shared warped sense of Stepe Brother humor, played it tongue in cheek, while I think Bloody was really in his element and took it a bit more serious. If you're easily offended, you may want to skip this one. I believe I was 16 years old at this point. Enjoy.