Help me find rare Texas rock music

• Help me find two super-rare 1980's recordings from Dallas/Ft. Worth-area bands: My Three Sons and The White Shapes. In the late 80's and early 90's I used to stay up late taping songs from punk and indie-rock radio shows that were broadcast on KNON 89.3 FM and KTCU 88.7 FM. On the tapes I made, I have recordings from two bands, The White Shapes and My Three Sons, that I never was able to see perform, and I have never been able to track down actual recordings by them. Here's what I know about the bands: THE WHITE SHAPES formed in the mid-80's and played most of the usual Deep Ellum venues such as Trees and Prophet Bar. Their sound was a washed-out, jangly, guitar-based garage-y pop-rock, with harmomized vocals. Kind of a c86-meets-shoegaze with a touch of Husker Du thrown in. The White Shapes songs that I taped from the radio are called "Crystal Smiles" and "American Spectator." MY THREE SONS were, I believe, based in Fort Worth. They played venues such as The Axis and possibly The Hop. They were around in the late 80's and possibly early 90's and had a reputation for frequently being too drunk to put on a reliably good show (at least that's what a high school friend of mine told me). The My Three Sons songs that I taped from the radio are called "Stop" and "Feels Like Fire." Their sound was also characterized by jangly guitars but their music was darker and more agressive, featuring bass-driven melodies, twangy disaffected vocals and a slight psychedlic edge a la early Bunnymen. It is quite possible that neither band had an official release, but as I heard them/taped their songs from the radio, I know that recordings were made, at least in demo form. I have been trying to locate these recordings for over a decade. The first place I tried was Bill's Records and Tapes in Plano. No luck. From time to time I check back with Bill's either through email or on MySpace, but I rarely get a response. I live in New York now, so scouring Dallas record shops is not an option. Occasionally I will email a record store or two in Dallas to see if anyone can help, but to no avail. I have met people on-line (MySpace, mostly) who were part of the 80's Deep Ellum scene but no one has been able to help me locate a recording or give me names of people who were in those bands. The closest I have come is meeting a guy who used to book acts for Trees and Prohpet Bar. He remembered each band and said that he used to have their demos in a box in his mother's attic. But when he went in search of them they were not there. So...this is probably one of the longest shots ever fired on AskMe, but I have seen you people do some amazing things on these green pages. If anyone can direct me to where I can purchase a cassette, LP, or even a CD-R, from either of these bands. I would be much obliged. Alternately, if I could somehow learn the names of people who were in these bands, that might be a start.

• Answer:

  MDS35 - I just shot you an email. I might be able to help you - I'd like to try, anyway. Will keep following this thread.