Design and Additional Photography by David Holifield
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My hope in posting a few I-Rails tunes here on YouTube is to provide old fans with a dose of nostalgia and a chance to reconnect with old friends, to allow newer Primitive Radio Gods fans to finally hear some of these long-lost tracks, and hopefully create some new fans as well. This is great music which is sadly becoming harder and harder to find and deserves a second chance to be heard. If you have any I-Rails or Primitive Radio Gods stories to share or have any song requests to make, please feel free to do so in the comments!
Thanks to Mark, Neal and Dave for helping to get this music to me and for taking the initiative in preserving a bit of history.
The I-Rails were formed in 1985 by childhood friends Chris O'Connor and Jeff Sparks. Later joined by drummer Tim Lauterio, they were a staple of the local Santa Barbara live scene in the late 80's along with contemporaries like Toad the Wet Sprocket and the Mudheads. After releasing four cassette albums and a vinyl single without much notice, they called it quits in 1991. Chris continued working on music and in a stroke of luck managed to secure a record deal and a massive international hit with the song \"Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand\", released under the new moniker Primitive Radio Gods. The remaining I-Rails members, along with former Mudheads guitarist Luke McAuliffe, were re-recruited to perform for the tour in support of \"Rocket\", the first PRG album, and have been contributing members ever since.
Primitive Radio Gods still play and record together, and released their most recent album, \"Out Alive\", in 2010. You can visit their website, where much of their back catalog is available for purchase, at http://www.primitiveradiogods.info.
Jeff Sparks, who left PRG in 2001, has also been keeping busy with various side projects, including Duplex, The Limes, and the White Fires of Venus. He can be found at http://www.houseofsparks.com
