west coast punk Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Screamers “Demos 1977-78″

sfilzen — Wed, 17 May 2017 15:51:43 +0000

Screamers “Demos 1977-78″ on blue vinyl, bootleg release on Sob Records, date unknown. This is another recent acquisition – Mother’s Day gift – and until now I was not familiar with the Screamers, but for good reason: they never released an official recording during their ‘77-’81 run. Joe quipped it was because they were so punk that an official release would be too mainstream. Perhaps, but it’s also likely they were just too far out there for any labels to take real interest or maybe the band line-up was too unstable.

Demos 1977-78 is demo quality – lo fi with way up-front vocals and musically jerky and weird with the use of synthesizers, but also beat-driven with elements of both bright punk pogo and what would soon become the signature dark West Coast punk snarl. The Screamers were part of the first wave of Cali punk, contemporaries of The Germs and the Weirdos. (In fact, the Screamers have a version of the Germs’ “Sex Boy” on this record, which Darby Crash wrote around 1976 and appeared on their Live at the Whiskey, 1977 recording.) According to Allmusic’s bio of the Screamers, “On the basis of a demo tape and a set of photos, Slash, L.A.’s first punk fanzine, lionized the group and they played their first show at a loft party in early 1977 to approximately 500 people. The Screamers soon became the hottest band on the Los Angeles punk scene and the group’s ambitious and striking live shows, which employed props, unusual lighting, and video screens, also won them a great deal more attention from the mainstream press than their peers.” Founder/frontman Tomata du Plenty’s (David Harrigan) art performance background provided the base for the wild shows; originally from New York, he spent time in the late 60′s and early 70′s in San Francisco’s and Seattle’s underground theater and drag scenes before starting the Screamers in L.A along with Tommy Gear, K.K. Barrett and David Brown.

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Black Flag “My War”

sfilzen — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 15:39:11 +0000

Black Flag “My War” 1983. SST Records. Today, February 13th, is Henry Rollins’ birthday (b. Henry Garfield, 1961). Rollins joined Black Flag in 1981, taking over vocalist responsibilities from Dez Cadena (who had taken over after Keith Morris left in 1979) A Black Flag fan, Rollins had joined the band onstage briefly in 1980 while the band toured the east coast and then famously quit his job at Haagen-Dazs in DC (where he worked with Ian MacKaye) and moved to L.A. to join the group. Internal band tensions and Rollins’ hyper-macho antagonistic stage personality changed the band from a straight-up west coast punk band to a sludgy heavy-metal infused hardcore group, resulting in My War. (Dez Cadena had left Black Flag by this point and Greg Ginn fired bassist Chuck Dukowski and took over the bass parts on My War). According to a wiki article, the change in musical style, members and hair (now long), Black Flag fans were pissed and “focused their displeasure on Rollins by punching him in the mouth, stabbing him with pens, or scratching him with their nails, among other methods. He often fought back, dragging audience members on stage and assaulting them. During a Black Flag concert, Rollins repeatedly punched in the face a fan who had continuously reached for his microphone.” The change in musical style did, however, have a profound influence on later 80′s/early 90′s grunge, inspiring the punk-metal fusion sound of bands like Mudhoney and Nirvana (Kurt Cobain’s first punk show was Black Flag during the My War tour and he cited the album among his favorites).

Side A of My War is filled with screaming guitar solos, screaming Rollins, and a few relatively upbeat, albeit dark and menacing, punk songs, especially the title track “My War” (which, incidentally, was written by the now-fired Dukowski). Allmusic calls the B-side “a totally worthless second side. Featuring three tracks [“Nothing Left Inside,” “Three Nights,” and “Scream”] of slower-than-Black Sabbath muck with Henry Rollins howling like a caged animal, it was self-indulgence masquerading as inspiration and about as much fun as wading through a tar pit.” That said, it is easy to hear the direct link to the more ponderous grunge recordings that came later that decade.

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M.I.A. “Murder in a Foreign Place”

sfilzen — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 12:51:55 +0000

M.I.A. “Murder in a Foreign Place” 1984. Alternative Tentacles Records. Originally from Las Vegas and active from ‘82-’88, M.I.A. relocated to California early on and helped solidify the west coast punk/thrash sound of the mid-1980′s. Less east coast Ramones-tinged power-punk-pop 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4!! – though still furiously fast (like “Reality is Killing Me” or “All I Know” for example) – M.I.A. piled layers upon layers of anger and sweat and politics into their west coast scene along with contemporaries Seven Seconds and Dead Kennedys.

Run-off groove etchings: Side A – “The weather will not change” Side B – “The cancer of time is eating us away”

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