of that debut led to a deal with the record company Relativity Records and the release of 1987's Dali Does Windows. Produced by Randy Burns (Megadeth, The Flaming Lips), Dali Does Windows was reviewed as "a straightforward rock album, albeit one with the staunchly idiosyncratic Tyson Meade at its heart." Eventually, artistic differences created a power struggle between Meade and Walker. The result was Walker being asked to leave the band and Defenestration falling apart: “Todd Walker and I had the usual power struggle, and the other guys and I kicked him out,” Meade says. “When we got another guitarist, things were just awful. We started working at an algae farm because we were so broke. It was basically slave labor with 12-hour workdays at $5.00 an hour no overtime. I started to have a breakdown.” Though he dove headfirst into writing songs, it became apparent to Meade that the new incarnation of Defenestration was lacking something. Frustrated and demoralized, Meade packed it in and returned to Norman, where he took a job at indie shop Shadowplay Records. Defenestration was no more. Chainsaw Kittens While working at Shadowplay Records, Meade met Trent Bell, “a regular customer and loiterer,” and eventual lead guitarist to Chainsaw Kittens, who also won a Grammy as a producer in 2012. Bell informed Meade about a group of high schoolers that had a band and were about to kick out their singer. Bell suggested that Meade's songs would be perfect for the band. Meade recalled, "I thought it was ridiculous, but I didn't have any other options I could think of, so I decided to play the kids my songs." After holding practice session for a month in 1989, Chainsaw Kittens were born, their name a nod to their trashy punk guitar sound and baby faces. [id] Along with the other founding members—guitarist Mark Metzger, bass guitarist Kevin McElhaney, and drummer Ted Leader—Chainsaw Kittens recorded a demo and received a contract offer almost immediately from Mammoth Records. Whereas in Defenestration it was all tempered with a vaguely mainstream rock sensibility, Todd Walker's main contribution to the band—the Chainsaw Kittens dove enthusiastically off the deep end, into the extreme waters of glam-pop-punk, full-on transvestitism, and openly gay lyrics. And while it had a lot do with creative statement, it was also the work of Meade's increased understanding of his chosen industry: “I had a definite [idea] of