The Resurrection of Real Gone Pale Face

Here it is, folks, what you've been asking for! Newly revitalized, remastered, and awaiting production, Real Gone Pale Face is being prepared for re-release this fall. The official date is Halloween, 10-31-2025, at Songbirds, Chattanooga. Real Gone Pale Face, a title inspired by the song "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus of Dr. Dimento fame, is The Unsatisfied's most requested album, unavailable for twenty-four years. A fan favorite preserved in limited hard copies, radio rotation, memories shared, fan art, film, and even immortalized in flesh and bloodshed - Luv 'N Blood, brother Paul - will live again!

Paul E. Jones of the El Caminos/Night Terrors posing with Eric at the Burnt Hickory Brewery music festival, Marietta, GA, Train Depot, April 2016. The bands frequently toured together, and the band members have a long history, having been friends for almost four decades. Paul paid homage to this brotherly bond with the amazing tattoo pictured above. RGPF is dedicated to the loss of El Camino's guitarist, Damon Moore, who died January 15, 1999, an important memorial that will not be forgotten in the revamp ~LVB, Damon~

The first pressing, a limited number of 100 copies, sold out within an hour at the release party held at long-gone and missed, Lizard Lounge, formerly KZ's Wings 'N Things, in May of 1999. Those sales funded another round of 100. The following pressings, always produced in limited numbers due to financial restrictions, sold out while the band was filming Ambition Withdraw at the end of 2000, for a final count of 400 copies ever published. Seven Inch Rock Scar would replace it in 2001, placing the album in permanent infamy despite its demand, and it would not be repressed until now, twenty-six years later. During each publication, slight variations of the back cover and liner notes changed, but the iconic cover, Phantom disc design, and the legendary tracks remained the same. This pressing will be no different and, following tradition, the run is limited to only 100 CDs & 100 12" Vinyls, bringing the total number of existing copies to 600.

The album was originally only available in jewel case CD format. The tracks could be heard on local and national radio on request, and some videos are available on YouTube; no other formats were available outside of private trade and eBay. No one expected it to reach such accolades and celebrated status, or have the demand and longevity it has had, but sustained interest in the album has remained consistent. Many of the album's songs are still on the band's set list as staples, being performed live. ".44 Caliber," "Loose Screw," and "Wendy Torrence" are sing-a-long fan faves and among the most requested titles at Unsatisfied shows. Real Gone Pale Face was originally recorded and mixed at Ultrasound Studios in Ringold, GA, engineered by Michael Johnson, produced by the same, and distributed by The Unsatisfied's label, Shame Records. The revamp is currently set for release under LyRic Unlimited Co., The Unsatisfied's new management & distribution label, however, negotiations for larger alternative distribution and label representation are being entertained for the future.

Half-sheet flyer distributed to promote the original release party on May 28th of 1999. Real Gone Pale Face was The Unsatisfied's first full-length album; the show and CD were a success!

The album featured sound clips from cultural artifacts that inspired its conception and reflect the band's underground, monsterfied, grindhouse, graveyard aesthetic. The album also welcomed some guest performers; Chavez (Catera), who created the haunting keyboard work in "Boney Fingers of Truth," "Loose Screw," & "Damn Saint," the latter song also featured talented local singer, Smooth (Catera), on soul-bending background vocals. At the time of the album's inception, The Unsatisfied was still a four-piece band and, along with Eric and Johnny, included Damien Lawles on bass and David Schenk on drums, all of whom starred in the rockumentary movie Ambition Withdraw, which began shooting shortly before the album was out of circulation. Subsequently, much of the album is showcased through video sequences in the film and included on the motion picture soundtrack, which was never released as distribution was stalled during the movie's tour in the film festival circuit. The Unsatisfied often played at these film release events to promote the movie, which enabled them to share Real Gone Pale Face songs in tandem. This opportunity gained them notable awards and press, including the prevalent Audience Choice Award and esteemed Joe Bob Briggs Drive-In Movie Review (four out of five stars!) for the movie, and the desirable Best Music Score for the songs. Watch for updates on the worldwide rerelease of Ambition Withdraw: Redux coming soon; until then, view it now on Amazon Prime and Roku. Read the reviews on the website EPK page.

Each time RGPF was published, it was only for a short run, and the back plate and liner art would change, sometimes dramatically. The original edition CD insert featured a small inset photo of Damon Moore and Johnny's cryptic and haunting Why Man conceptual artwork, while the rear J-Card listed the tracks against a B&W band photo. The second edition showcased Johnny's pole-dancing devil girl on the rear J-Card, a popular piece later duplicated as a B&W T-shirt design; only a minor change was made to the interior.

The songs chosen for the album are a perfect mix of fan favorites, most requested at shows, and new works, expressly representative of the band itself. Eric's animated crying solo in "Alcoholic Haze," a nod to Lux Interior in "Lonesome Town," is both illustrative of the band's sense of humor and a hat tip to The Cramps as The Unsatisfied's archetype. From fast-paced cowpunk favorite "Relationship Paranoia" to slow and moody "Boney Fingers of Truth," the songs each feature a compliment of poetic lyrical prose delivered in an angst-driven, primal vocal form, revealing esoteric life lessons and provocative personal truths against a curtain of masterful, crunchy guitar rhythms and iconic solos, heavy, mercurial drum licks, and brooding, articulated bass lines, intermixed with sound clips and movie samples surrounding the songs they prelude. The album opens and closes with samples that give its classic punk decadence and monster-infused branding a strong cinematic feel through the voices of performers who inspired the band members. Sound clips include Elvis (The Sun Sessions) opening the album with the title's namesake, Mick Jagger from Performance, Ben Vereen from All That Jazz, and Jack Nicholson from The Shining, which overtures "Wendy Torrence," infusing the aggressive chords and lyrics of the song with a sense of urgency and thriller sensibility symbiotically reflective of Stephen King's classic narrative and Kubrick's visual chaos.

These commanding tracks have been skillfully remastered by Black Angel Promotions, who also reengineered The Unsatisfied Live at The Earl, available now on YouTube. This label deals in rock, metal, and punk acts and has handled the remastering and album releases for bands such as The Tremors and Ghoultown with Lyle Blackburn. They fully understand the sound of The Unsatisfied; this remaster is testament to that. Please check out this professional, integrity-based, independent label; their work is of the highest quality, and their work ethic is second to none. We are certain you will enjoy the brightened sound on all fourteen of these beautifully renewed tracks; everything has enhanced power and punch, reviving the energy and passion locked within the original studio recording.

The original artwork on the cover, inset, and disc was created and inked by The Unsatisfied's lead guitarist, Johnny, who curated much of the artwork for the band's CD covers, flyers, and T-shirts. Johnny also painted the venerated Unsatisfied amp covers you see at shows on stage with the band - hang tight, a full tour of the band's artwork is coming soon! The concept art for the cover, Eric in whiteface representing his Rev. Holyflesh character, went through several renditions and variations before the band finally chose the darker color scheme that has become so iconic. The disc complements the cover, festooned with The Phantom in swampy green and yellow tones, a distinctive nod to the cultural inspirations which foster the album and a perfect contrast to the creative cinematic theming featured so poetically within the music.

Real Gone Pale Face inset variations (one more not pictured), before deciding on the far right image as the classic cover.

The original art faded a bit over the years, so the color was amped to full-pop for the reissue. The differences in the photo below highlight the changes made to bring the artwork back to full luster; however, some of these changes may undergo a few more iterations before going to press, as it is still in the restoration phase. Some revitalizations are being withheld for the big reveal, such as the new back cover design and the liner notes page. The clear green vinyl anticipated for the 12" will make this release a true collector's item, and that is the only sneak peek being revealed for the vinyl. Everything on the CD version has been condensed as it is not scheduled for a jewel case, but rather a more nuanced digipack form. This limited the amount of cover space available, therefore, the interior had to be redesigned, and the liner notes may be included separately as part of a bonus package created exclusively for this 25th Anniversary Edition.

A large part of updating the album for rerelease involved revitalizing the original artwork to "full-pop," which included resetting, brightening, recontrasting the archived art plates, and creating a dynamic new back cover and liner notes with complementary illustrations, photos, and credit/dedication reformatting.

The Unsatisfied hopes you enjoyed this walk down memory lane. We want everyone to be as excited about the Real Gone Pale Face resurrection as we are, and we appreciate all the love and support we have received to make it happen. The newly remastered version with fully optimized sound, revitalized art plates, and new specialty material will be offered in multiple formats: digipack CD & 12" Colored Vinyl (hopefully in eerie clear green!), firstly, then digital to follow, so it will never be out of reach again. We have also created some unique merch items to accompany the release, including T-shirts, fabric stickers, disc art buttons, magnets, and, quite possibly, the classic coffee mug; we may also offer some freebies, signed editions, and combo sets. We will keep everyone posted as these items become available, giving our Tribe first snag at all the collectible goodies and just maybe, a presale. Everything produced for the release will be in limited numbers, symbolic of Real Gone Pale Face tradition, and all proceeds will be directly applied to the Real Gone Pale Face Resurrection Project - it ain't cheap, but it's sooo worth it! Click the link above ^ if you would like to contribute cash to the reissue of this classic, Southern Gothic punk rock album, or purchase any of our MERCH via shows or our website to show your support, and be sure to join us at Songbirds on Halloween Night 2025 to buy your copy and have it signed! We want everyone to be able to own our most beloved album because it is you, Tribe, who made it so. :)

Real Gone Pale Face earmarks a moment for us, as for many of you. A place forever set in time, full of good feelings, emotional memories, youth & camaraderie, people past and present, soundtracked by The Unsatisfied. We want it to hold a place in time for the newest generation of Tribe members as one of their favorite moments as well. It is more than an iconic symbol of the heart and soul of The Unsatisfied or the underground punk scene that birthed them, it is a totem of all that is good about music and people coming together to create a scene and support a cultural movement. Music is transcendent; it has resonance and holds our place in time together; a history shared, preserved in moments. We hope Real Gone Pale Face continues to manifest that for you and that every time you play it, it resurrects your youth and reminds you of your time with us.

Til next we meet, Luv 'N Blood, forever Tribe!

Updated cover and disc for 25th Anniversary Edition, subject to changes at final proofing, of course!

COMING SOON...

To supplement this introduction, a short video of Eric and Johnny sharing details about the creation of Real Gone Pale Face, the vision, its inception, the struggles, ideas & hopes for its resurrection, and the process of taking it from dream to reality will follow soon. Watch for it here! To see it first, sign up for The Unsatisfied mailing list. If you have flyers, stickers, photos, news articles, or any other media related to Real Gone Pale Face or The Unsatisfied, consider sharing them with the band’s archive collections by sending them to the email below, or mail them to us at 4027 Meadow Ln, Chattanooga, TN 37406-1429. Thanks so very much for your contributions to our history, Tribe!

We want your feedback on this and all things The Unsatisfied. Please send us suggestions, comment on this Blog, leave a review on your favorite Unsatisfied album, or email us at theunsatisfied2020@gmail.com with whatever is on your mind. This release is for you; we value, want, and will consider your input before production.

THE UNSATISFIED THANK YOU, from the bottoms of our black hearts, for believing in us!