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Crash Coffin (Darwin Dorsey)


Cleveland, 1950s-

Neal Coffin started playing in the late 1950s and early 1960s, forming a rock-n-rll band  in his home area of Olmsted Falls/Columbia Station. The band recorded some demos which were released in the 2010s.

We don't know much about what he was doing in the mid 1960s. The next time he shows up on the radar for us is on a 45 credited to Darwin Dorsey. He wrote the song "The Color Of Your Soul". The 45 came out in late 1969 or early 1970 using Cleveland Recording Company as the label name, one of the very few records using CRC for a label. It was pressed at Pama.

By the early 70s he was playing in local clubs as Crash Coffin. In 1974 he recorded an LP at Musicol that was about as unique a local LP there is. The LP came in a plain Musicol stock cover, wtih a fair number of copies that had his name written in script. The LP covers a lot of ground, from moody psych to early rock-n-eoll, blues and country, and lyrics that are one of a kind.  There's some great tracks and doesn't sound like anything else.

To promote the record he placed ads in the Scene. I'm not sure how many were sold but there seems to be a good number of used copies around.

Crash contuned to make occasional recordings, two 45s in the late 1970s/early 1980s, and another LP in 1984. The first 45 was recorded at Musicol. Not sure where the others were recorded.

During the late 70s and early 80s he played around Cleveland fairly often, billed as "Crash Coffin and the Cuyahoga Sludge". In 1984 he issued another completely DIY LP with more rock/country/blues craziness, about as far away as you could get from the MTV stylized pop and hair metal music of the time.

Crash is still actively performing in the Cleveland area.

Discography:
LP - S/T - No label, CC69, 1974
Backseat Rodeo / Fingers - Police no # (Musicol 102357/8)
I Don't Need It / Frustration Blues - Police 71443 
LP - Crash Coffin and the Official United States Yahoo Funky Punky Jug Band - Cuyahoga no #, 1984