SLAM WHITMAN “FOUR DEAD IN OHIO”

Slam Whitman was a hardcore punk band that was active at Ohio University in the southeastern town of Athens, from 1983-1987. The band was comprised of Jeff Burnett on vocals, Matt Gruber on guitar, Tom Schwarm on bass and Greg Johnston on drums. The band was born from the ashes of a group from Read Hall East Green called Hooch Newklear. In this group Matt and Tom as freshmen would jam, make up songs and drink. One day Matt discovered that there was a campus radio station called ACRN. Greg and Jeff were hosting a radio program there that featured alternative music of the day. Jeff was the music director of the station with one of the biggest record collections known to man (over 3 thousand records that ranged from original copies of every punk/post punk, hardcore band to OG Jazz to the avant-garde stylings of Throbbing Gristle and everything in between). Greg was the more straight up punk barrowing every LP Jeff had and getting a first-class musical education. When Matt found out Greg was a drummer, the discussions began of forming a band. Greg drafted Jeff, Matt drafted Tom and Slam Whitman was born.

In the early 80's punk was still a young and growing medium. The late 70's bands of The Clash, Sex Pistols, and Ramones had inspired thousands of bands to jump into the fray. The first decision to be made was what the new band would sound like. Matt was a metalhead, Tom was into Neil Young, Jeff was alt and Greg was punk. Could 4 guys with really different backgrounds gel? Greg provided Matt with a basic library of influences including Minor Threat, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, Replacements, Circle Jerks, and Husker Du. The first few Slam songs, "Daze", "Warfare" and "Billy" made it clear that whatever this was going to be, it certainly was going to be fast, loud and aggressive. The typical song creating scenario was- Greg would start a beat, Matt would come up with the music, Jeff and Greg individually or often together would write the lyrics…and Tommy was in charge of the most important job of all…bringing beer to practice! We jammed in the basement at Jeff’s house ready to unleash our punk rock powers. The campus of Ohio U was primed for the aggressive racket that Slam was providing with local bands like Nuclear Theatre, Blue, and One Man’s Head (featuring future Columbus alt pioneer Marcy Mays who would form Scrawl).

Slam Whitman's first gig was a Battle Of The Bands in the ballroom of the student union, Baker Center. The winner got to play on the main stage at Springfest, which was the small-town Ohio University equivalent of Coachella…but with only one headlining act and various local openers…hahaha. Slam was last on the Battle Of The Bands bill, not because no one wanted to follow them, but because the organizers were unsure of what chaos might erupt. The band gave a great first performance but won next to last place in what was clearly a biased victory. No punk rock was going to grace the stage at the massive Springfest that year headlined by UK new waver Paul Young. Undeterred, Matt pulled a few strings based on the band’s showing and Slam Whitman's second gig ever was to open for one of their punk rock heroes The Ramones! Matt talked the organizers into letting us open based on our one show, and the fact that we were the only band in town that could play as fast as The Ramones…if not as well.

This generated a lot of local buzz for the band leading up to our third gig and an event that caused Slam to be banned from the Ohio University student union bar “The Frontier Room” cementing our punk rock status. Back in those days there was a lot of hatred thrown at anyone who looked different or were thought of as punks. In classic fashion during this gig an angry student who didn’t like our earring wearing punk rock ways decided to rip out the metal of a fan’s ear causing lots of blood, a big fight, and us being banned from the venue…clearly establishing our punk rock cred! Hahaha!

The shows that would follow in Athens helped to establish a healthy DIY punk rock scene centered around the Union Bar and Grill. The Union would be one of few places that would open their arms to the punk scene with shows produced by a collective of students under the banner of Fallout Productions. At The Union, Slam performed with any and all punk/hardcore acts that would come through Athens, including D.R.I, Corrosion Of Conformity, MDC, Toxic Reasons…along with many other bands from the Midwest and East Coast.


In the winter of 1986, on break from school, Slam would play their only tour. The highlight was a set at the legendary CBGB's in New York City opening for School of Violence. Other dates on the tour included the Infamous Electric Banana in Pittsburgh, and DC Space in Washington.

Slam Whitman's recorded output was only available on cassette until now! The tape "Four Dead in Ohio" was released in 1985 and was only available at School Kids Records and Haffa's Used Books in Athens…along with a few that Greg gave to the famous Bleeker Bob’s in NYC on consignment. In true DIY fashion, we hand pasted the covers and dubbed each copy one at a time on a cassette-to-cassette machine Greg owned. The title came from the inclusion of the CSNY song "Ohio", done by Jeff in mock Neil Young voice, which exploded into a speedy rant about nuclear war and Ronald Reagan. Matt and Greg were Radio and Television majors and used the university’s sterile recording facility and outdated gear to record for free, with these recordings kicking the ass out of the college studio! The recording was done in the RTV building studio and 14 songs were recorded in a straight 2 hour shot. There were no overdubs. Engineering and Mixing on the first recordings were handled by O.U. student Charles Dye who would go on to fame for engineering the smash hit "Livin' La Vida Loca" for Ricky Martin!