In April 2003, Lana Dagales went into Lucky Cat Studios in San Francisco to record an LP with Kurt Schlegel. Greg Wilkinson played bass and sang. Etay Levy played drums. They finished the session, had it mastered at Mr Toad’s in San Francisco, listened to what they had and left it alone.
For the next two decades, Etay thought there was little point going back.
“We were always under the impression that it wasnt salvagable until one day I decided to take a crack at it and get the 2″ tape digitized,” he said. “I payed some money, got it done and when I listened to the tracks I realized that the raw tracks were actually pretty cool sounding.”
The problems were still there, but the raw recordings were much better than he remembered.
“There was some issues with them but it wasnt as bad as I remembered which means that something wasnt right with the original mix… we basically waited until digital technology was up to snuff, haha.”
Daniel Zaidenstadt remixed and mastered the LP in February 2024. It went up on Bandcamp on 18 October that year, nineteen tracks from a band that was already winding down by 2003.
Until then, the session had never circulated. Etay remembers playing it to friends and asking what they thought, but says neither he nor Greg made copies for people.
The Bandcamp version credits Greg with bass, vocals and field recordings, Etay with drums and tape loops, and George Mathews and Jon Kortland with live noise samples.
Etay remembers feeling uncomfortable at Lucky Cat almost immediately.
“It was a fairly large warehouse and i dont recall much sound treatment anywhere in the live room so my drums sounded weird to my ear and my concerns sort of went unnoticed.”
He later listened to some of Kurt’s previous recording work and wished he had done that before agreeing to the session.
“My biggest mistake was not doing some preliminary work before the session and listen to other bands he previously recorded which i did after the fact. Had I done that beforehand i would’ve never agreed to it.”
Both Etay and Greg had wanted to record at Polymorph Studios with Dan Rathbun of Idiot Flesh and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Rathbun had recorded the Lana Dagales stuff that later appeared on their split LP with Iron Lung, and Etay still speaks about those sessions with a lot of affection.
“Dan rathbun was and still is a musical genius!”
Both sides of the Iron Lung split were recorded by Rathbun at different times. Etay also remembers Polymorph as the studio behind many Prank Records releases from that period.
The problem was money. Enterruption Records was paying for the Lucky Cat recording. William “Will Rage”, who ran the label, suggested Kurt and the band went with it.
“We didnt really have the funds and Will was flipping the bill so we went with it.”
Etay does not have anything personal against Kurt. Quite the opposite.
“Other than not being stoked with the recording, Kurt is a super cool guy! One of the nicest humans and a great live engineer.”
Will later told Etay that Kurt had been doing live sound for Swans. During the 2003 session, Kurt was working live with The Melvins. They walked into the Lana Dagales session, then, bizarrely enough, walked into another session Etay was involved with in Los Angeles years later.
“They are very nice people.”
There was also a technical problem Etay could not let go. Noise kept appearing across the drum recordings. He initially thought it came from the floor drum mic, then heard it moving in and out of several channels.
“I made Kurt aware of them but he said he didnt hear them. Its clear as day on the raw tracks, haha! It drove Daniel crazy during the remix!”
Daniel was one of very few people to hear those untouched tracks. Etay may have played him a little of the old mix beforehand. Daniel thought it lacked energy and was too dark.
Etay gave him a much simpler reference for the new version.
“I mostly pointed him towards the split and the only guidance was make it sound as close to the split as possible.”
They worked on editing and noise together and added samples from Lana Dagales’ last shows. John Kortland from Iron Lung and drummer George Mathews helped them with live noise, a setup Lana Dagales had already used at some of those final performances.
Etay has no photos of the Lucky Cat session.
“Remember this was a time before camera phones was a thing.”
The tape survived, though. Greg held onto the 2-inch reel. Etay kept the mastering tape from Mr Toad’s.
Greg Wilkinson remembers the same album quite differently.
When Lana Dagales started, Greg and Etay lived together. First in an apartment, then in a rehearsal space. They were around each other constantly, recording and writing all the time.
Some recordings came out. Plenty did not.
“It was a benefit having a two piece band with recording engineers in it,” Greg said. “Some recordings we kept and some we threw away.”
By 2003 that routine was gone. Etay was living away from the Bay Area. They had already lived apart while finishing the Iron Lung split, but were still playing together frequently at that point. The distance was harder by the time they made the Lucky Cat LP.
“Our vision and focus wasn’t the same anymore.”
Enterruption had asked Lana Dagales to make an album. Greg remembers the label as more artistically minded, and the band decided to push the new stuff further in that direction because their own interests had changed too.
William suggested Lucky Cat.
“In the end, Kurt was awesome and did a good job but by the time we really started mixing, I didn’t feel the connection to this album like I did to the previous releases we had. It felt creatively forced in some way that I can’t explain. That’s on me since I wrote the bass parts and lyrics.”
For Greg, then, the mix was only part of the story.
“Etay and I have reels of recordings we did that we trashed because the vibe wasn’t right. I guess I just kind of walked away from this one chalking it up to another solid attempt we would bury.”
He is still glad Etay eventually finished the job.
“That being said, I am grateful to Etay for following through with this.”
When Greg answered our questions in August 2026, he still had not listened to the full remixed album. He had been busy working on new records.
The planned release fell apart around the same time as the band.
Enterruption paid for the recording. Etay remembers Lana Dagales paying for the mastering. William was changing his life and wound the label down. Etay remembers Life is Abuse being interested in picking the LP up, but the band still chose to shelve it.
Greg remembers no big final meeting or dramatic decision.
“It honestly more-so just died on the vine as they say.”
Brainoil were promoting their self-titled album. Greg started a recording studio in January 2004. Etay was gone. Lana Dagales were no longer in a position to work like a normal band.
“With Etay gone and no real chance of being a functioning band I didn’t have the energy to complete this album.”
Their habit of recording themselves went back almost to the beginning.
Both were interested in noise, strange music and recording before Lana Dagales existed. Greg had a Tascam eight-track Portastudio. Etay had worked with four-tracks. A mutual friend, Geoff Evans of Skaven and Asunder, told them about recording engineering school, and they decided to go together.
For their final project they got access to an Ampex MM1200 24-track 2-inch machine and recorded Lana Dagales. Those sessions became their first CD and 7-inch release.
After graduating they kept using the school. Etay thinks they recorded enough for roughly another full-length, but only a handful of tracks got out, including compilation songs released through Slap-A-Ham and Deep Six.
“Even back then we had high standards of what was good enough to release and what would get scrapped. It was dumb, we could’ve had alot more music out in the world. Oh well.”
For Greg, going to that school ended up changing his life.
“One thing we did together that was amazing was going to recording school so we could record ourselves on expensive gear. It turns out that really changed the trajectory of my life and grateful for our time together.”
Lana Dagales were also the first band where he had to handle all of the vocals himself.
“It was the first band where I was the sole vocalist which forced me to step up musically. We did so much together and have so little to show for it.”
Etay had already been playing hardcore for years before he reached California.
His first band was Nekhei Naatza, a political hardcore band in Israel active from 1992 to 1997. He calls them “sort of a prelude to the anti zionist movement we know today.”
“We weren’t very popular to say the least but thats a whole other story!”
He met Greg because of Your Mother.
Your Mother travelled to Israel and played there as a three-piece. Nekhei Naatza and several other local bands shared shows with them. Etay was already planning a US tour and wanted to make it to California afterwards, so he stayed in touch with one of Your Mother’s members.
When Etay finally got there, that connection led him to Greg and Matt Viscovich of Fleshies.
The three played around together for a while. Greg and Etay quickly started spending whole nights writing fast songs.
“It was a tight fit and it was clearly meant to be.”
Etay remembers being impressed immediately by Greg’s recording abilities and by what he could do on bass and vocals. He knew they were going to start a band.
Lana Dagales were busiest from roughly 1998 through 2001, with more touring and shows continuing until 2003. Greg remembers playing with Noothgrush, Exhumed, Godstomper, Lack of Interest, Gasp, Spazz, Dystopia, Melt Banana, Bad Acid Trip, Benumb and Laughing Dog.
A 2000 tour with Godstomper supported “Heavy Metal Vomit Party” and was one of the band’s last major runs before living in different cities made things harder.
Gilman was everywhere in Etay’s memories from those years.
“It was our second home at the time. ive seen more shows at that space in a short period of time more than any other venue on earth.”
One of the Gilman flyers includes Jeff Leppard of STFU, whom Etay remembers as “a bay area power house.” Leppard died in a motorcycle accident in 2012.
Greg remembers Gilman, the 40th Street warehouse, Covered Wagon and Mission Records among the main Bay Area rooms for Lana Dagales up to about 2001. Some disappeared. Others started booking different kinds of music.
Burnt Ramen came along around then and kept underground shows going for close to another decade. Death By Excess warehouse appeared around the same period and later became Hazmat.
Etay sent us a stack of old flyers and then spent several emails working his way through them from memory.
One came from Urban Guerilla, an Oakland zine run by Jay Unidos. Etay initially remembered the person behind it as Pete, then emailed again to correct himself. Urban Guerilla also put out some releases and organised shows around town, including several that Lana Dagales played.
One of those was Speed Trials at Burnt Ramen in Richmond. Bands were limited to fifteen-minute sets and judged partly on how quickly they moved between songs.
“We totally lost, not sure who won and who cares anyway? haha”
Another Guyana Punchline show happened at Etay’s house.
A Reno show was the first time Lana Dagales actually met the people in Iron Lung. Etay and Greg were already fans of Joe Preston and Thrones, which made that trip stick in Etay’s mind.
There is one date disagreement in their memories. Etay originally gave the wrong year and later corrected the Lana Dagales and Iron Lung tour to 2002. Greg remembers touring together in 2004 in support of their split LP.
The Lana Dagales songs on that split had been recorded at Polymorph with Dan Rathbun in 2000.
A Seattle date from the same period paired them with Teen Cthulhu and Tion.
Etay remembers it as one of the best shows of that trip.
“Tion were amazing!!! their logo was basically stolen from Incantation. i thought its hilarious!”
High on Fire were practising in the same studio as Lana Dagales around this period. Before High on Fire had even played their first show, they invited Lana Dagales in to hear some songs.
Another surviving flyer comes from what Etay remembers as High on Fire’s fourth or fifth show.
They later shared another bill.
“When they played you couldnt because they were louder than hell!!”
Melt Banana turn up several times too.
Lana Dagales’ first attempt at playing with them never really happened. A dispute involving Melt Banana’s tour manager and Black Queen meant Melt Banana did not play that night. Etay remembers them being visibly unhappy about it.
The next time worked.
Lana Dagales later shared a bill with Melt Banana at Slim’s in 2003, and Etay has uploaded footage from the show to YouTube.
A second surviving live clip comes from a show with Ruins. Etay remembers one exchange before that set especially well:
“bass drum, too big, why so big???”
His response today is still basically the same.
“say thank you and shut the hell up!”
He still remembers enjoying the show.
Greg knew the last Hemlock Tavern show was the end.
Etay was living down south. Brainoil were touring. Greg was playing elsewhere and preparing to start his studio.
“The tether connecting our musical inspiration was weakening. I don’t either of us wanted it to, but it was too much of a logistical nightmare.”
For a while it looked as if even getting Greg’s side of this story might be difficult. Etay said they had not spoken in years. He sent Greg access to the LP and initially got no answer. At that point he assumed Greg had no interest in getting involved with the record again.
Greg eventually did answer, and his version of 2003 makes clear why returning to the LP was never simply a matter of fixing a mix. He had already moved into Brainoil, Earhammer and other work. Lana Dagales had run its course for him.
Asked what lyrics, artwork or masters he still had, Greg thought Etay had everything.
The rest of Etay’s flyers fill in what those few years around the band actually looked like.
There is the final Fiesta Grande hosted by Chris Dodge of Slap-A-Ham Records and Spazz. Man Is the Bastard had already broken up and did not play. Etay thinks Kralizec, which he remembers as Iron Lung’s first band, jumped onto the bill.
“It was a blast even though my favorite band of all time did not play…”
There is a Cocodrie show in San Francisco that he remembers as a good venue with a particularly good bill.
Another Gilman flyer has Guyana Punchline and Dystopia.
“Guyana Punchline was amazing and Dystopia which ive seen many times never played a bad show!”
One Pirate Punx flyer takes Etay back to a run of shows organised by Marcus and the Pirate Punx crew. They put on Lana Dagales many times and, in Etay’s words, “loved to ‘party’ and have a great time.”
His Hero Is Gone headlined one of those nights.
“His Hero Is Gone headlined and played no more than 15 minutes!!! it was killer!!!!”
Another Pirate Punx flyer comes from around 2000. Mound Shroud cancelled and Lana Dagales took their place.
One flyer documents a short West Coast tour from what Etay remembers as early 2000.
“No one cared but it was fun for us!”
Noise had been part of Lana Dagales from early on.
Greg’s big reference was Wendy Carlos’ “Sonic Seasonings”. He carried a MiniDisc recorder and taped nature, heavy machinery, creaking gates and whatever else caught his ear. Then he would run synthesizers, circuit-bent pedals, measuring devices and other electronics through a mixer and perform over those recordings.
He described it as trying “to paint a sonic visual of a situation.”
Greg and Etay made their field recordings and noise separately for the Lucky Cat album. One noise part for an instrumental song was done live. The final 2024 version also contains live noise from George Mathews and Jon Kortland.
Both kept working with recording and noise after Lana Dagales.
Greg stayed in Oakland and opened Earhammer Recording in January 2004. He has remained involved in music and recording there ever since.
Etay left for Los Angeles, then spent two years in Baltimore, where he played with Drugs of Faith. He returned to Los Angeles and has stayed there.
He describes much of what came afterwards as guest work because he rarely sticks around in bands for very long. Those bands include Gallows of Sedition, Prophylaxis, Of the Dead, Ancient Altar and Qaalm.
His noise project was called Programmd Cell Death from the 1990s. These days it is Obsolete.
He is also working on a new band with two friends. They may or may not have settled on a name yet.
“Tbc…”
Even the artwork for the recovered LP had disappeared along the way.
The cover now on Bandcamp is a close-up photograph of a wooden artwork Etay made. The original proposed LP artwork came from the same artist who did the cover for Neurosis’ “Times of Grace”.
Etay remembers the original as being much better. He thinks Will Rage may have repurposed it for another release once it became clear that Lana Dagales were not using it. He later said he would ask Will what happened to it.
The archive Etay sent us also includes photographs by Etay himself, Greg Wilkinson, Jon Kortland, Jensen Ward, Godstomper and someone he only remembers as “some LA Mike guy”. He does not have reliable enough information to attach individual credits to each photo.
Looking back, Etay thinks Lana Dagales threw away far too much.
They had access to recording school equipment. They had reels of unused recordings. They had compilation tracks, 7-inches, a split with Iron Lung and one more album sitting on tape. Their standards for what deserved release were high enough that plenty simply disappeared.
“It was dumb, we could’ve had alot more music out in the world. Oh well.”
The Lucky Cat LP nearly joined that pile permanently.
Daniel Zaidenstadt was the first person outside the original session to get deep into the untouched recordings when Etay finally had the reel transferred.
“What daniel heard which literally no one else other than greg, Kurt and I is the raw tracks.”
Now the rest of it is sitting on Bandcamp too.
