Osgood Slaughter were a San Francisco rock band that existed from 1986-1993. Formed in Oct. 1986 by ex E-13 members John Lyons (guitar) and Tim Murphy (bass), Chewy Marzolo (drums) and ex Moose Lodge founding-member Bruno Bersani (vocals). Osgood Slaughter were designed to be a cross between the attitude of The MC5, the quirkiness of Devo and raw sonic power of Motorhead. Their first show as Osgood Slaughter with Bruno as the vocalist was in Oct 1987 at the long since defunct Farm with Verbal Abuse and R.K.L.

By the end of 1987 they had released a 7'' titled "Battle Of The Super-titans b/w Tin Splendor" on Fatal Erection Records and began to record a full length record at Razor's Edge Studios with Engineer Jonathan Burnside. Ex Malefice / Media Disease / Hippie Bitch guitarist John Cobbett was brought in in early 1988 to add lead guitar tracks and was eventually asked to join the band. The tracks recorded (Osgood Slaughter S.T.) were: Robots, Weirdo On Your Block, Omnipotent Eyeball, Locked It In The Cellar, Springtime In Germany, Twas Immortal, Image Conscious Motherfucker, Circle The Wagons, Beelzebub Rocks and Tin Splendor. The unpaid for master tapes were shelved for 7 years or so, and sometime in the 90s were rescued by Malcolm Conover of Fatal Erection Records. They were then neglected in the din of Malcolm's basement for a decade, and finally retrieved again in 2005 by John Lyons.



In 1988 the band covertly gave out self-pirated cassettes of the self-titled recording and without the help of a label release, but up a small but faithful underground fan base and a gained a mean reputation as an ass-whooping live act.

In early 1989 John Cobbett left to join L.A. prog rock band King Of Kings. He was replaced by Barry Dalive of Rich Kids on L.S.D.

By the end of 1989 John Lyons moved to New York City. The band decided to continue with remaining original members Bruno, Tim Murphy, Chewy and Cobbett replacement Dalive.

In Oct.1989 the band got a bizarre offer to tour the island of Guam and decided to do it with replacement guitarist, Chris Beacaste of The Mission U.K. The Guam tour was supposed to be a month and turned into 2 1/2. They arrived in Dec. 1989 were stuck there until Feb. 1990. The return engendered the firing of both Barry Dalive and Chris Beacaste. Chewy briefly moved to NYC and the line-up was in an undetermined state of disarray, however, while in Guam, Osgood met a shit-hot 19 year old local guitarist named Rich Morin and mentioned that there might be a need for a new lead guitarist when they returned Stateside. Through mail correspondence they forged the deal and Rich moved to San Francisco and officially joined the band in the summer of 1990 saving Osgood from yet another near extinction. John Cobbett was brought back into the band having moved back to S.F. from L.A., Chewy came back from N.Y., and the Mach 3 era of Osgood Slaughter began.

In August 1990 they recorded their second unreleased record at House Of Faith Studios in Palo Alto with Bart Thurber titled "Take This All Of You and Eat It" . The tracks were: Ack Goes The Badger, Deutsche Puss Puss, Freddy and Stinky's Big Surprise, Aqua Velveeta, Daniel Boone, Brain Bucket, Barney, Class Act, Time To Be a Transient and Pass The Mush-recorded in 2 sessions of 3 days each. Only 1000 copies were made (paid for by Bruno's mom, Bronci) and from the end of 1990 until 1993 the band toured relentlessly up and down the West Coast and completed an infamous tour of the East Coast in Oct.1990.

In mid 1992 and early 1993 Osgood recorded in bits and pieces, again at House Of Faith, between 2-3 week tour runs. Those bits and pieces would eventually become their third unreleased record titled "Cockadoodle Moootherfuckers" recorded in 3 sessions, 2 days each. The tracks were: Chet's Lament, Tonka Truck, It's Time For Breakfast, Crabs, Savory Wafer, Pet It, The Stick, The Way I Like It, I Am The Devil, Extortion and Bees.

Osgood Slaughter broke up in April 1993.

Songs and writers:

Bruno Bersani-Vocals, John Cobbett-Guitar, Rich Morin-Guitar, Tim Murphy-Bass, Chewy Marzolo-Drums. All songs copyright Osgood Slaughter:1991-1992. Front cover photo: Jay Blakesberg. Back cover: Alyssa Wendt.