was baffled by his refusal to let the Queers record the guitar and vocal overdubs that were fundamental to their Beach Boys-meet-the-Ramones style. He kept insisting that we needed to go for a more basic punk sound. I'd been talking with Joe about this record for months. A more basic punk sound was not at all what he'd had in mind. But Ben was a hard guy to say no to, especially in light of all he'd done to help the Queers. "It's your record, not his," I said to Joe. "I can talk to him for you." Joe sighed, and told me there was no point in bringing it up, that it would just end in a big argument. Dissatisfied with Weasel's stylistic approach, King and Livermore made plans for another recording session with Giorgini at his Sonic Iguana Studios in Lafayette, Indiana later that summer to work on songs with fuller arrangements, resulting in the Surf Goddess EP. Beat Off would be the last Queers album produced by Weasel. One of its songs, "Ben Weasel", was a tribute to him, with the lyrics "Ben Weasel – 'He's an asshole' / Ben Weasel – 'He's a jerk' / Ben Weasel – You just hate him 'cuz he don't hafta work". "Mirage" is a cover version of the 1967 song by Tommy James and the Shondells, and was later re-recorded for Surf Goddess. Some of the other songs dated back several years: "Live This Life", "Half Shitfaced", and "Too Many Twinkies" had been recorded in May 1991 for a demo tape the Queers had made for Weasel, in hopes of convincing him to work with them (the contents of this demo were later released on the 1999 compilation Later Days and Better Lays). Removal of Vapid's tracks Although he had recorded guitar and backing vocals for Beat Off in the studio, was credited in the liner notes, and was included in photographs on the album sleeve as a member of the band, Dan Vapid was surprised to learn, after the album's release, that Weasel had removed his tracks from the final mix. He did not learn this until royalty payments were issued for the album's sales and he, unlike the other members, did not receive any: Of course I thought this was a mistake at first, so I called Lookout Records to find out what was going on. They had