Biography
In the mid-'70s Akron, Ohio punk and new wave underground, Teacher's Pet stood alongside more prominent acts like Devo, Rocket from the Crypt, and Pere Ubu as part of a scene whose inventive spirit often went unrecognized. Emerging in fall 1977 from the remnants of the hard-rock cover group Wizard, the band initially featured guitarist Kal "Rex Lax" Mullens, drummer Mark Fisher, and vocalist Dave Marsteller. After Ron Mullens, known onstage as Pete Sake, exited the Rubber City Rebels ahead of their relocation to Los Angeles, he assumed frontman duties while Marsteller switched to bass. The quartet quickly began performing at local venues, gradually incorporating original material alongside covers and circulating demo tapes among nearby labels. Clone Records, based in Akron, eventually financed a session at Bush Flow studios and issued the debut single "Hooked on You" backed with "To Kill You" in early 1978, notable for Ron Mullens's atypical synthesizer contributions on a punk release. The record failed to gain traction, prompting Fisher and Marsteller to depart by summer 1979 amid frustration over mounting live commitments without corresponding success. The Mullens brothers spent the next several months auditioning and cycling through numerous players before locking in bassist Gary Elliot (Jack Hammer) and drummer Billy Tomazic (Billy Whipp) by the close of 1979. With the lineup finally stable, Teacher's Pet became active participants in Akron's independent circuit throughout that year, staging frequent shows and generating a substantial catalog of new songs distinguished by Ron's prominent synthesizer and Farfisa organ textures. Among these compositions, "Cincinnati Stomp" drew inspiration from the fatal crowd crush at the Who's December 3, 1979 concert at Riverfront Coliseum, its refrain "don't step on me" delivering characteristically irreverent punk commentary. Despite the output, no labels expressed interest, self-produced video attempts yielded little benefit, and dwindling bookings coincided with Kal Mullens's growing involvement in side projects such as the Bizarros and the Sodbusters. Teacher's Pet dissolved abruptly, its unreleased recordings left dormant for nearly three decades, with only a brief mention in the 1980 edition of The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll preserving any public trace of their existence. When the Mullens brothers later reunited the band for select performances alongside drummer Billy Whipp and bassist Dave Stephenson, Smog Veil Records in Cleveland arranged to issue the long-unheard 1979 material as a self-titled CD in 2008. The collection presented eight originals and seven covers recorded that year, together with videos the group had created in 1980, finally bringing a thirty-year-delayed debut to light as an essential artifact for punk collectors.
Albums