Gael McGear -- Oldest and tallest of The Tarts, Gael plays a Black, Left-handed Strat and sings most of The Poptart lead vocals in her trademark powerful and dramatic style. Gael's main ambition in life is to be on a lunchbox. Gael has red hair, green eyes, and legs! Strawberry Frosted.
Cathy Kensington -- Besides playing her classic Red Sunburst 3/4 Rick, Cathy also sings occasional leads (her "Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow" is a set highlight), in addition to her angelically high back-up vocals. Cathy favors leather jackets, green sweaters, and Englishmen. Dutch Apple.
Margie Shears -- Known as the "Mystery Girl," Margie plays a Black and White Musicmaster bass, and is famous for "doing the Ventura" (a dance she originated) while playing. Don't miss Margie's exotic collection of shoes. Grape.
Susan Mersey -- Drummer Susan is the shortest and youngest of The Poptarts. Susan began as the Official Poptart Go-Go Dancer, but soon graduated to her Candy-apple Red Ludwigs. Susan's heroes are Ringo Starr and William Shakespeare. Chocolate with Sprinkles.
From the Original Poptart Pressbook, written by Gary Allen, 1979
New on these pages: full color photos of Our Girls, many taken on their road trip to Cleveland, the Rock 'n' Roll Capital of the World in August 1980. Enjoy!
The Poptarts formed in December 1978 in Syracuse, New York and began rehearsing the next month. That first rehearsal consisted of trying on each other's clothes and deciding who would play what. Meegan, who was dating Arty Lenin of The Flashcubes, appointed herself leader (she thought of the name), and designated Gael lead singer. Cathy had an acoustic guitar and so became lead guitarist. Margie borrowed a bass. Susan, who was a dancer by training, became the drummer (although for The Poptarts' first four or five gigs, Arty sat in while Susan was the "official" go-go dancer!). Our first gig was opening for The Dead Ducks (infamous now as Bobcat Goldthwait's first band) at The Firebarn in Syracuse, New York, April 1979; when we got on stage we realized that 1. We had never played with the drums, and 2. we had neglected to practice standing up (it makes a difference, especially when you are wearing a mini-skirt)! Nevertheless, we survived the gig, gained a manager, and within a month were opening for a national act. The Poptarts shared the stage with many local and regional bands, such as The Flashcubes, The Tearjerkers (with Tomcat Kenny), The Works (with Eddie Hamell, now of Hamell on Trial), The Ohms, The Drastics (with Chris Goss, later of Masters of Reality), The Four, Colorblind James, and The Most/1-4-5 (with Paul Armstrong), as well as recording artists The Yachts, Robin Lane and the Chartbusters, Laughing Dogs, Willie Nile, and The Tourists (with Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart), and played all over the East and Great Lakes area. During an extended tour of Cleveland, we were featured on The Afternoon Exchange (WEWS, Channel 5), appearing with Robert Reed, our favorite Brady Bunch dad. The Poptarts were also infamous for their Music Scene parties: the bash we threw for the visiting Records is part of local legend!
As you listen to these selections please remember that they were done with more enthusiasm than training, often in "primitive" (or bizarre) circumstances -- the first set was recorded after our drummer Susan had, literally, been playing the drums less than a week. But we were very young and totally fearless! All the music you hear (with the exception of one cover, one guest guitar lead by Arty Lenin, and any over-dubs done without our knowledge on the Murphy Sessions) was written and performed by five girls called The Poptarts.
June 24-28, 1979, produced by Ducky Carlisle (The Ohms) and Gary Frenay (The Flashcubes), Poptart Central, Ramjet Remote. This session was done for Gary Allen's "Off The Boat" program (WAQX-FM "95X" in Syracuse, NY) on the local "New Music Scene" (other artists featured were The Flashcubes, The Ohms, The Dead Ducks, and Dian Zain). Allen had been at our first gig and decided then to include us in the show. Session was done in the Poptart Apartment on a four-track TEAC machine that Frenay got for his birthday. Susan's new drums were set up in the living room, guitars in the dining room, and Margie on bass in one of the bedrooms! A few days later Allen interviewed us at the radio station. As a result of this appearance, Gary Allen became our manager.
"I Won't Let You Let Me Go" (Lead vocal by Gael -- this began as a song called "Baby Elvis"!)
"My Boy" (Lead vocal by Meegan; acoustic guitar by Arty Lenin)
"Glad She's Gone" (Lead vocal by Meegan)
August 1979, produced by Bill Murphy and Barry Rowe, Newhouse Studio, Syracuse University. Murphy was in town to record The Flashcubes -- in the middle of those sessions, Paul Armstrong was fired from the band and replaced with Mick Walker. Murphy decided to use his extra time to produce The Poptarts for his production company, Record Boy. We recorded about ten songs, five of which were completed and mixed. The other material is on reel-to-reels in a box in my closet. Needless to say, we didn't believe that Murphy's conception of the band matched ours: we saw ourselves as a female Raspberries, while Murphy seemed to picture coffee percolators!
"Jealousy" (Lead vocal by Gael)
"I Don't Want You Anymore" (Lead vocal by Meegan)
"Words" (Lead vocal by Gael)
"I'm Gonna Get You" (Lead vocal by Meegan)
"I Won't Let You Let Me Go" (Lead vocal by Gael; after spending weeks getting down basic tracks -- working at night when the studio was free -- I recorded all my leads, 7 or 8 songs, in one night so I could fly to Cleveland for my grandmother's funeral. Whenever I listen to these cuts I remember how I was crying as I sang.)
September 1979, produced by Gary Allen, The House on Church Lane, Home Recordo. Selections from the first set of basic demos for Harvey Leeds, Epic Records. These were done on a Technics tape deck with two Radio Shack pen microphones and just bass and two guitars plugged into a practice amp to show Harvey what one of our sets was like.
"It's Easy" (Lead vocal by Gael; we began our sets with this precis of the Poptart Philosophy)
"August Is a Wicked Month" (Lead vocal by Gael; this song turned out to be prophetic: the band broke up in the month of August.)
"Pop Dream" (Lead vocal by Meegan; our fantasy of stardom.)
"Sensation" (Lead vocal by Gael; the lyrics are open to interpretation -- there will be a quiz later.)
"Married Bliss" (Lead vocal by Meegan; this song and "August Is a Wicked Month" reveal our favorite author at the time: Edna O'Brien!)
"There's Always Something" (Lead vocal by Gael; I wanted to write a song that Dusty Springfield would be proud to sing -- the back-up vocals are too much, but the key change at the end is my favorite part.)
"The Poptart Theme" (Lead vocal by Gael; our encore -- based on an incident that occurred in a Ladies Room in a local, but well-loved dive, The Firebarn.)
"Happy Together" (Lead vocal by Gael; one of our few covers, with "She Hangs Out," "Baby, It's You," and "Baby, I Love You" -- now it's a cool song, but then everyone laughed at it.)
November 5, 1979, produced by Zenny Caucasian, The House on Church Lane, Ramjet Remote. After the "falling out" with Bill Murphy over his vision of the Tart Sound, we did some new demos at Gary Allen's house, with Zenny (of The Ohms) producing. Another "living room" production. I remember Gary's housemate's pet iguana hanging on a curtain next to my head while I was singing "I'm Sorry" -- it was a rather surreal experience.
"Glad She's Gone" (Lead vocal by Meegan; note Susan's incredible improvement from June!)
"Words" (Lead vocal by Gael; I never got tired of singing this song -- I love it.)
"Boy Crazy" (Lead vocal by Meegan; this is what they called Meegan -- does it sound like she cared?)
"I'm Sorry" (Lead vocal and acoustic guitar by Gael. Gary, our manager, suggested that we cover "Stand By Your Man" -- I said that we could write our own maudlin country song. Can you tell I'm a Catholic girl?)
"Piece of the Action" (Lead vocal by Meegan)
"Jealousy" (Lead vocal by Gael; as the finale of one set we did this song in less than 60 seconds -- Susan was on Jolt Cola that night -- and at the end of it we all fell down!)
February 20, 1980, produced by Gary Allen, The House on Church Lane, Home Recordo. Selections from second sets of demos for Harvey Leeds, Epic Records. Again, these were done on Gary Allen's tape deck with two microphones to show Harvey the new songs we were adding into our set. Harvey was involved with Cyndi Lauper's successful career. Meanwhile, our demos were making the rounds to different producers (including George Martin), and we were planning our first single, "Words" b/w "I Won't Let You Let Me Go," to be recorded in September 1980. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
"Think Once, Think Twice" (Lead vocal by Gael; this was our faux-Motown number.)
"If You Believe You Might" (Lead vocal by Gael; wrote this about my dog, Paul -- don't ask.)
"Sunday Afternoon" (Lead vocal by Gael; yes, we know it sounds like "98.6"-- so sue us!)
"Hello You" (Lead vocal by Meegan; Meegan was having trouble getting phone service.)
"Brightest Star" (Lead vocal by Meegan; our hope for the band -- ah, dreams.)
"Fooling Yourself" (Lead vocal by Gael; this was closer to the truth.)
"Last Straw" (Lead vocal by Gael)
"Kensington" (Lead vocal by Cathy; this and "Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow" were Cathy's big solo moments -- otherwise she seemed content to be the finest back-up singer on the scene.)
Meegan and Margie decided to leave the band at the end of August 1980 (the usual "personal differences"), and Susan, worn out by the stress she was under, left shortly after. The Poptarts continued with Gael and Cathy under a number of guises, including Only Desire, with a new bass player and drummer, but the conception and spirit of the group was not the same. In 1981 The Go-Go's released their album -- they seemed to have transformed from their former Punk personas to something that was oddly familiar -- oddly like The Poptarts. It always made me wonder...
In the mid-80s I wrote over 200 pages of a novel based on The Poptarts, but it was making me depressed, so I put it aside. Meegan and Margie continued with different outfits, including The Antoinettes, but none made an impact and Margie eventually left music. Cathy moved to San Francisco, then Chicago, got married, and is now working in publishing. We haven't heard from Susan in over ten years (Susan -- if you are out there, please call!). Our manager, Gary, is now in advertising, and is still our most dedicated supporter. After a decade of avoiding the music, getting my Master's Degree, rambling around, and teaching, I began playing again with my husband, Dave Soule (who I met when he was the rhythm guitarist in The Tearjerkers) and Mark Ronan as Knickers-in-a-Twist. When I discovered the Power Pop Group on America Online I decided to go back and listen to the box of tapes I had from The Poptart Era and result is this compilation. It is not meant to be anything more than a sample of a dream that five girls had at a time when there weren't many females in the "Music Industry" -- and none playing and writing the kind of music we wanted to hear. There still aren't. The people who believed in The Poptarts were few, but ardent: this is for them and for what-might-have-been. All we ever wanted was for people to hear our music. And to be on a lunchbox. Perhaps now the first, at least, will come true! And, as always: To the Toppermost of the Poppermost!
For more photos of The Poptarts go to Gary Allen's Photo Gallery !
Special thanks to Carl Cafarelli and his mention of The Poptart Legacy in his Goldmine Magazine Power Pop article on The Flashcubes (January 1996)
All selections © Plum Music Inc., written by Meegan Voss, Gael McGear, and/or Cathy Kensington, except for "Happy Together" of course. Photographs by Chris Modern (B&W) and Diane Daniels (Color). Notes and Web Pages created by Gael McGear Sweeney, May 1996.
This Site is dedicated to Howie Guckert who, long after The Poptarts were only a bittersweet memory, remained our most ardent and loyal fan. Rock on, Howie, wherever your spirit may rest.
Meegan Voss -- guitar, vocals
Gael McGear -- vocals, guitar
Cathy Kensington -- guitar, back-up vocals
Margie Shears -- bass guitar
Susan Mersey -- drums
Send GaelMcGear@aol.com any comments. I will try to respond to all questions if I can!