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It was the Golden Age of North Carolina Rock music. 1981 thru 1984 brought together a group of extraordinary music and recording artists that reverberated around the world and beyond their time. North Carolina artists such as Arrogance, The dB's, the Fabulous Knobs, Glass Moon, The Spongetones and others would directly influence R.E.M., Hootie and the Blowfish, the Georgia Satellites and more.

Christened "Comboland" by Mitch Easter, the scene would wind up being well documented by Steve Boyle. Steve had come directly from the New York Punk scene of the mid to late 1970's and by pure accident would arrive in Raleigh in late 1978. Steve enlisted in the burgeoning Raleigh music scene by shooting broadcast quality footage of band performances as well as formal music videos that would air nationally during the infancy of the music videos channels.

Some twenty-plus years later, Emmy awarding winning Steve Boyle now blows the dust off his archive and shines light on some of the best music you may have never heard.

With a wealth of unique archival footage and an intimate update of interviews and performances, RETURN TO COMBOLAND is a High Definition documentary work-in-progress. This Web site offers video samples of the original Comboland music scene along with some great memorabilia and brief artists biographies.

When completed, the RETURN TO COMBOLAND documentary will be an entertaining and enlightening look at an explosive era of North Carolina music - creating a permanent document of an extraordinary period of the North Carolina Arts.

 
 

Mondo Comboland Montage

A sample of the Return To Comboland music video archvie from 1981 - 1984. See each individual artist's page for complete videos and more!

 

ROUGH CUT No.6 - David Enloe / The Fabulous Knobs (2007)

 

ROUGH CUT No.5 - Nantucket / PKM (2007)

 

ROUGH CUT No.4 - The Spongetones (2007)

 

ROUGH CUT No.3 - Arrogance (2007)

 
 

ROUGH CUT No.2 - The Accelerators (2007)

 
 
A sneak peek Rough Cut of the Return To Comboland documentary as a work in progress.

 

This Web site is under construction.

Some pages are incomplete.

Please check back for updates.

 

 

NEWS & UPDATES

12.15.07   Peter Holsapple / RTC Christmas Music / Allan Handelman PETER HOLSAPPLE • Peter played a rare solo gig at a small club / restaurant in East Nashville last Friday. Peter was also kind enough to let me shoot his show for inclusion in the RTC documentary. Standout tracks were AMPLIPHIER, LONELY IS AS LONELY DOES and HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. You can listen to Peter's Christmas song on the RTC MySpace page. I thought, since everyone is running around doing last minute shopping (like me!!), I would offer some great Christmas tracks from some of the RTC artists. You can find the music player at the RTC MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/returntocomboland or you can open the player in the background right now by clicking here. • Here's a rundown of the music: Peter Holsapple (the dB's) HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. This dB's holiday classic was recorded live last Friday (12.13.07) at The Family Wash in Nashville.  Arrogance  THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS / THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY (Medley). Two tracks from the vinyl only limited edition release of the 1981 45 RPM record. The Spongetones IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR / THE LITTLE WIPED-OUT DRUMMER BOY (Medley). Two tracks from The Spongetones MERSEY CHRISTMAS CD. [available at www.spongetones.com] The Accelerators BLUE CHRISTMAS . Offered as a promotional only Christmas present from Dolphin Records as a 12" vinyl release in 1984. The Spongetones CHRISTMAS BOY. A third track from The Spongetones MERSEY CHRISTMAS CD. [available at www.spongetones.com] The dB's HOLIDAY SPIRIT / FELIX NAVIDAD (Medley). Two tracks from the dB's & Friends CHRISTMAS TIME CD. [available at www.thedbs.com] • ALLAN HANDELMAN SHOW • A special THANK-YOU to Allan Handelman for inviting me on his show Friday (12.07.07). It seems that the phones were swamped before we started. It's great to know there are still a lot of fans who care about the artists featured in the RTC project! Thanks for your calls!!

12.01.07   RTC Rough Cut No.6 - David Enloe / The Fabulous Knobs (2007) • With the recent death of David Enloe of The Fabulous Knobs, I thought I would offer a tribute to David with comments from his peers for ROUGH CUT No.6. Remembrances and insights are from Peter Holsapple (the dB's), Rod Abernethy (Arrogance / Glass Moon), Jamie Hoover (The Spongetones), Dan Baird (Georgia Satellites), Terry Anderson (The Fabulous Knobs), Jack Cornell (The Fabulous Knobs), Dave Adams (The Fabulous Knobs / Glass Moon), Debra DeMilo (The Fabulous Knobs), PeeWee Watson (PKM).   Also included is a very rare look at The Fabulous Knobs in the studio recording DARE TO LIVE (1982).

11.23.07   Rough Cut No.5 - Nantucket / PKM (2007) Wow, what a trip! I shot some wonderful interviews and bits of "where are they now," and thought I would share some more Rough Cuts starting with Nantucket and PKM in Rough Cut No.5. While in Raleigh last week, Nantucket happened to be playing the Lincoln Theater. The band was kind enough to let me shoot the entire show as well as shooting some fun (and quick!) back stage interviews with Mike Uzzell and Tommy Redd. As you may know, PKM was a spin-off of Nantucket and so Mike and Tommy talked about the power trio. I also had a chance to catch-up with PeeWee Watson of PKM at Harry's Guitar Shop in Raleigh. Look for a great performance of the Nantucket hit HEARTBREAKER, plus PKM's IT DON'T TAKE MUCH as well a first look at PKM's AMERICA LOVES FOOTBALL. RETURN TO COMBOLAND ON THE ROAD I've had a great time catching up with some wonderful folks while shooting the RTC documentary. Tony Madejczyk and his family was kind enough to put me up while Tony and I ran around North Carolina chasing down some of the Comboland artitsts. Here's diary of who we had a chance to videotape on this trip. • WEDNESDAY 11.14 (Charlotte) Jamie Hoover at his recording studio to talk about The Spongetones. • THURSDAY 11.15 (Raleigh) PeeWee Watson at Harry's Guitar shop for an interview about PKM. Rod Abernethy at his recording studio for an interview about Arrogance. • FRIDAY 11.16 (Raleigh, Durham) Gerald Duncan at his home for an interview about The Accelerators. Laurie Wolf for an interview about Barney's Army (Laurie was the producer and voice of Barney). Dave Adams on the carousel at Pullen Park for an interview about Glass Moon. Man Bites Dog Theater to shoot Laurie Wolf performing in her latest play. • SATURDAY 11.17 (Raleigh) Terry Anderson of The Fabulous Knobs and a quick interview about David Enloe. Tommy Redd and Mike Uzzel of Nantucket for an interview about PKM. Nantucket performance at Lincoln Theater. • SUNDAY 11.18 (Durham, Winston-Salem) Peter Holsapple interview about the dB's. Debra DeMilo interview about The Fabulous Knobs. This has been a pretty full schedule! Everyone was warm and wonderful. Shooting this documentary has been like a family reunion for me. • DAVID ENLOE • David Enloe of The Fabulous Knobs has been very sick with Hepitius C for a number of years. He has also had an alcohol problem. Between the two, his liver has become extremely damaged and so he is in a hospital in Raleigh. When I first saw him on Thursday he was highly medicated and barely talking. By Saturday he was chipper and joking with me, quoting Mark Twain, "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." It was nice to see David come around, but he is still very, very ill and very weak. I hope through the miracles of modern medicine and the power of prayer, he can survive this so that the rumors David joked about become just that. It was also great to see David surrounded by his many friends and family. For a daily update on David and his condition, please read Terry Anderson's blog at http://whassupta.blogspot.com/ Terry has been a close friend of David's since High School and has been checking on him every day.

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