Garage Sale

providing hot rockin' surf/garage/mod bug-music since 1994

Garage Sale is (left to right):
John Irvine - Guitar, Vocals
Big Dave Cawley - Bass, Vocals
Skizz Cyzyk - Drums, Vocals
Alex Fine - Guitar

Listen to Garage Sale and keep up to date with our activity. All you have to do is "Like" us on Facebook.
Here's a bunch of live video clips of Garage Sale that people have posted to YouTube, all compiled on one convenient page: http://www.beefplatter.com/GarageSaleOnYouTube.html
Here's some of our music on Soundcloud and Bandcamp.
Garage Sale is on the Garage Punk Hideout: http://garagepunk.ning.com/profile/GarageSale

Garage Sale at "Tunes At The Tower" (June 2011).

BAND BIO: In 1994, guitarists Dave McDonough and Pat Core founded Garage Sale to play surf, garage and mod rock covers & originals, heavily influenced by Link Wray, The Sonics, The Ventures, and The Kinks. Berserk's Skizz Cyzyk joined on drums, while Frankentractor's Paul Kelly and Jay Schlossberg took turns providing bass. In 1996, Berserk's Big Dave Cawley became Garage Sale's permanent bassist. The quartet gigged relentlessly and released their debut album, The Pointless Summer, in 1999. In 2002, Pat Core relocated to Hawaii, and was replaced by The Jennifers' John Irvine. The line-up remained consistent for the next ten years. In 2012, founding guitarist Dave McDonough left the band after 18 years, and was replaced by Alex Fine from Thee Lexington Arrows.

Garage Sale's The Pointless Summer
18 songs in 42 minutes!
(Beef Platter Records BP9901)

GO METRIC! issue #12, Summer 2000
One day your grand children will gasp in awe when they learn that you were alive in 2000.  They won't do so because it happened to be the first year of a new millennium -- new millenniums are a dime a dozen -- but because 2000 was the year Garage Sale's debut CD was finally released.  If you're among the enlightened, you'll pause, gather your thoughts, then regale them with tales of basking in the glory of Pointless Summer the year it came out.  If you weren't a member of the Garage Sale flock, you'll lie.  You'll push aside your pride, stare those innocent kids right in their trusting eyes and bullshit until you're blue in the face.  And you'll pray they take the bait too.  Anything but admit to missing the boat on Pointless Summer.  You may have made a mistake back in '00 but there's no need to bring further disgrace onto your family name.  Lie, you bastard!  Lie and take your shame to the grave.  Or take my advice and marinade yourself in the sounds of this CD.  Garage Sale is a band name that should have been used hundreds of times but, to the best of my knowledge, never has been.  Same goes for their sounds, there should be tons of bands trying to bring together the best of the '60s like Garage Sale does but no one does it like these guys.  Ventures-styled surf instrumentals, Sonics-like garage punk, even a bit of Mersey beat, Garage Sale have it all to offer.  I wish this were available on LP but, with all due respect to Marshall McLuhan, the medium is of little importance when the "message" is of this magnitude.  Magnificent!  (Mike Faloon)

NO COVER: Know Your Product, City Paper September 6 - 12, 2000
     The stalwart Baltimore quartet Garage Sale has at last come up with a recording that captures the essence of its feel-good live shows. That The Pointless Summer (self-released on the band's Beef Platter imprint) is the first recorded offering from former Berserkers Dave Cawley (bass) and Skizz Cyzyk (drums) is no less monumental. Anyone who's seen the band perform will recognize the bulk of the songs included here; for those who haven't, the album serves as a fine sampling of the veteran outfit's polished repertoire of surf instrumentals and garage rockers.
     Although the guitars have a consistent jangle to them, the band recorded the album in a couple of different situations, giving it some breadth of sound. One such departure from overall recorded cleanliness is a revved-up and distorted version of the live-show staple "One More Time," whose choppy Kinks/Who-style riffing benefits from the raw recording. More Anglophilia appears on the album's opener, guitarist Pat Core's catchy, Kinks-informed "Never Want to B Like U," and "Ain't So Groovy," which features Cawley departing from his usual boyish voice to adopt a distorted Howard Devoto-esque sneer.
     One thing that sets Garage Sale above other surf and garage bands is its reluctance to rely on covers. Rather, the band pays tribute to its genre in sly ways that might escape the indiscriminate listener. For example, rather than cover the old surf standard "Telstar," the guitarists briefly break into the song's signature line between verses of "Forgive Me." And thankfully, Garage Sale boasts the appropriate technical prowess often missing in many contemporary garage/surf bands. Core and McDonough seem to effortlessly unleash 64th-note solos, while Cyzyk keeps time with remarkable technical finesse, his backbeat always solid.
     More important than their good taste in influences or their tasty chops, the members of Garage Sale are simply fine songsmiths. The Pointless Summer, its title an earnest take on what summers are all about in the end, is rife with enough singable melodies and catchy choruses to get one through the other three-quarters of the year. (Hank Baker)

PUNK CATALOG, Summer 2000
GARAGE SALE: The Pointless Summer - This is a really cool one.  It's not for everyone, but don't take that as some sort of "damning with faint praise," 'Cuz this is a really cool one!  Here's the scoop: word of the day is eclectic.  Jangle garage pop in the vein of THE HI-FIVES smooshed with really rippin' surf instrumentals -- and let's be frank, hot surf is guitar rock.  Then the gears shift again for laid back geek pop.  Mike Faloon of EGGHEAD and KUNG FU MONKEYS is a big fan, take the hint.

Rock Beat International, issue no. 20 - Spring 2001
GARAGE SALE: The Pointless Summer - by Geoff Cabin. Garage Sale have been active on the music scene in Baltimore since the mid-nineties, releasing a few cassettes and contributing tracks to several compilation albums. They have recently released their first CD, The Pointless Summer, and it's an excellent effort that showcases the band's diverse musical strengths. Garage Sale consists of Dave McDonough on guitar and vocals, Pat Core on guitar and vocals, Big Dave Cawley on bass and vocals and Skizz on drums. The tracks on the album are characterized by highly energetic and enthusiastic performances and an agreeably goofball sense of humor. Garage Sale's music is nothing if not lots of fun. Things get started with a bang by "Never Wanna B Like U," a catchy garage-rock number driven by a Kinks-like guitar riff and energetic drum fills. "Testerosa" is a Dick Dale-style surf instrumental with rapid-fire doublepicking on the bass strings. "Couples Only" is a super-catchy surf instrumental with an infectious beat that is sure to fill the dance floor. Snotty put-downs have always been a specialty of garage-rock bands and Garage Sale upholds the tradition with "Aint So Groovy," featuring some smoking guitar and powerhouse drumming. The group changes pace a bit with "Change The Styles," a wonderfully catchy Merseybeat-style number. "Trying To Pretend" mines similar territory. "One More Time" is reminiscent of "Surfin' Bird," with a crazed voice repeating a single phrase over and over again on top of some fuzzed-out guitar and a hard-driving beat. There is lots of other neat stuff here as well. All in all, a very impressive effort. This album is sure to be the life of your next party.

excerpt from Surfari USA: Baltimore / What is a Surf Explosion? by Dennis Crolley
Garage Sale played a hepped-up set of ballsy pop and rock'n'roll. These guys might not be the slickest recreators of classic surf tunes but they sure know how to play fun music that makes you want to move. They are sort of like a post-punk Beach Boys but such a description doesn't do them justice. Their enthusiasm is infectious, speared on by Dave 2, their charmingly spastic bassist, and the relentless drumming of local legend Skizz. Dave 1 and Pat trade lead and rhythm guitar parts and everybody sings. Their self-produced cassette is really cool and I look forward to seeing these guys again soon. They did duplicate "Apache" from the Cossacks' set (oops, that means the Cossacks actually did four Shadows' songs: "Apache," "Find Me A Golden Street," "Man of Mystery," and "The Savage") and made it clear that they can do a song justice even if it is raw and less than reverently rendered. The same truism applies to their encore of "Squad Car" which was also performed by the Cossacks earlier.

Bruce Arntson, star of EXISTO says: Gadzooks! I sit here grinning maniacally at my computer, as I become ever more infected by the giddy-jaunty-naughty surf sounds of Garage Sale. These kids have authentically recaptured a lost summertime groove, an ebullience untainted by self-awareness or good taste. Skizz' flippant "Two-and" backbeats recall a time when the word "funky" referred primarily to an offensive odor. Garage Sale has triumphantly put the "um" back in summer! I love it!

hear songs from The Pointless Summer at The Official Atomic TV Houseband site

Order the CD.  Available through:
Atomic Books
Mutant Pop
Vital Music

Garage Sale discography:
Garage Sale cass. 1994 Beef Platter
"Exercise One" on Joy Division Tribute comp. cass. 1996
"Change The Styles" on "Listener Supported" comp. cass. 1996 You Say When
Shark Sandwich cass. 1996 Beef Platter
Book Us To Play cass. 1996 Beef Platter (a shorter, demo-version of Shark Sandwich)
"Flight Of The Emu" on "Shot Putting In An Empty Stadium" comp. cass 1998 Dizzy Records
"One More Time" on "Fuzzy Logic" comp. CD 1998 RPM Records
"Space Tour One: Mars" on “Day Dreaming With An Empty Station Wagon” comp. CD 1999 Dizzy Records
The Pointless Summer CD 2000 Beef Platter
“Buck Hill” on “Left Of The Dial” Replacements Tribute CD 2000 Face Down Records
"Ain't So Groovy" (a previously unreleleased version) on The Best of the GaragePunk Hideout, Vol. 6: Noises From The Hideout! compilation. 2011 GaragePunk Hideout
"Classical Trash" on Continental Magazine #31 compilation CD 2021 Double Crown Records

for booking info, email bfink2-at-gmail.com, or write to
Garage Sale c/o BEEF PLATTER RECORDS, 3700 Beech Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21211 U.S.A.

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