tom ellard is the creative force behind australian post-punk band severed heads. in 1982 he self-released two cassettes of solo material, “80s cheesecake” and “snappy carrion”. these cassettes document the transitional period between the early experimental severed heads’ albums “clean” and “blubberknife” before the start of something new with “since the accident”. with the advent of the then new roland tb-303 bass synthesizer, a machine synonymous with the acid house sound, tom began to write more beat driven material. the rhythms are made by a tr-808 drum machine, kawai s100f and sh-1 synthesizers, plus various televisions, radios, cassette decks and pedals. two songs from these cassettes would later appear on the b-side of the “dead eyes opened” single.