On October 31, 1983, The Cheepskates, a four-piece group which spawned from the
"Garage / Psychedelic" movement of the time, performed two forty-five minute sets at a midtown Manhattan nightclub named "The
Dive".
With the release of their first single titled "Run Better Run", the
group was set to embark on a project that would expose their band, as well as a burgeoning (60's type) New
York club scene to a much wider video audience. Cable TV was in its infancy, and a local New Jersey UHF channel catering soley
to music videos including "indie bands"(a kind of poor man's MTV named U68), was just getting started.
The performance was captured on three amateur VHS video cameras. The audio was
primitively recorded on a "home stereo" cassette deck, putting all three vocals on one track, and all of the music (using
only one strategically placed microphone) on the other. Unfortunately, because of these limited formats, the project was scrapped
put away and forgotten. Lying dormant.....until now.
With the advancement of modern digital technology, this "Cheeply" recorded performance can
now be fully realized. But even though the audio has been remixed, the video footage is "raw" and up to now,
had yet to be refined.
The footage is currently being edited and enhanced to produce various results.
A story to showcase this footage has been written and a screenplay is in the works.
An edited three-song DVD demo of this raw footage has been completed
and is currently being circulated within the "Garage / Psych" community. You can view a brief preview of
this demo below.
