Daffodil Army
Pineapple Up, Downside Cake Trillmart Records 1989
The D.A.s began in 1979 when a trio of friends lead by Troy Molloy, influenced by the popularity of the movie Grease, got their start as a Du-Wop revival group. After graduation they picked up instruments and within six months were playing local clubs under monikers like Don't Answer, The Drive-Aways, Drunken A-holes, and Dick Attack. Over the span of six years they managed to release a half dozen 7" singles, one full-length album on Weasel Records, and were included on the compilation It Only Hurts When I Swallow, with mostly tepid reviews. It seemed like Molloy and company were doomed to becoming footnotes in LA punk history when a drunk-driving accident nearly wiped out the band one night after a show. The band survived with minor injuries but Molloy, unconscious for three days following the accident, was shaken by the experience. The result was Daffodil Army.
In late 1987 a four-song 12" white-label EP release announced to the world that The D.A.s were now firmly part of the growing Paisley Underground. Swirly organs and spacey guitars muted and mumbled like hippie dirges, with lyrics so buried in the mix as to almost seem incidental. The whole effect was like listening to out-takes from from The Monkee's soundtrack to their death-knell film Head. Cryptic press releases hinted at "big things happening behind the scene" and the EP was only the beginning. Rumors circulated that Molloy was the only remaining member of the band soldiering on, that he'd experienced some sort of near-death experience, and that he'd been seen wandering up and down Sunset Blvd wearing a sandwich board proclaiming "The Beginning Is Near!" The general consensus was that Molloy had gone off the deep end and the band was finished.
Almost two years later to the day, Daffodil Army's debut Pineapple Up, Downside Cake emerged laying to rest premature proclamations of the band's demise. In hindsight the EP, press releases, and rumors may have been an elaborate hoax created by Molloy to lay the groundwork for fans to either lower or change their expectations in preparation for what was to come. No matter what, no one could have imagined Molloy and company would deliver what is likely to become the best album of 1990...
Brad Tcheche, Wax On! January 1990