REVIEWS
GODFATHERS OF L.A PUNK
Review by Alex Henderson
Any way you look at it, Los Angeles was a great place for punk fans to be in the late '70s and early '80s. Los Angeles was the home of Black Flag, the Circle Jerks , the Germs , X , the Dickies , and the Alice Bag Band, and L.A.'s KROQ-FM was the most punk-friendly station in the United States -- KROQ was putting punk records in heavy rotation at a time when most rock stations avoided punk like the plague. One of the small indie labels that did its part to document the L.A. punk scene during that era was Siamese Dogs Records, a company co-founded by French producer Philippe Mogane (who is from Paris but was L.A.-based at the time). Assembled in 2005, this excellent compilation looks back on Siamese Dogs' contributions to L.A.'s old-school punk scene. From the Controllers (not to be confused with the Alabama soul group) to the Attitude to the Weasels, Godfathers of L.A. Punk brilliantly captures the excitement and urgency that characterized the southern California punk scene back in the day. This 57-minute CD boasts the Weasels ' infamous "Beat Her with a Rake," a sick but totally infectious exercise in dark humor that combines punk with hints of Black Sabbath . The Weasels weren't the only band that combined punk and metal in the late '70s, but they were definitely among the pioneers in that area. Speaking of pioneers, Godfathers of L.A. Punk also contains some tracks by Iggy Pop & the Stooges , including 1973's "Gimme Some Skin" (which is a perfect example of a punk record that was recorded before the term "punk rock" was invented). Pop wasn't a Californian -- he was from Michigan -- but he worked with Mogane and was way ahead of his time. Godfathers of L.A. Punk is a disc that fans of early punk should make a point of obtaining.Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
Review by John Owen
... So why did I just expend 500-odd words on jibber-jabber about DNA and Rhino Records? Because of a new compilation called Godfathers of L.A. Punk: Today Its Time To Wake Up Again America!!!, out now on Siamese Dogs records. The usual narrative of punk rock goes something like this: The Stooges begat The Ramones begat the Sex Pistols who begat Everyone Else, world without end, Amen. This is a neat little chapbook of a history that, while elegant, completely fails to explain what the Dead Boys and Rocket From The Tombs were doing in Cleveland in '74, how the Saints came from Australia, or why when the Sex Pistols went to California for the first time, there were punk bands ready and waiting to open the show for them. It turns out that -- surprise! -- there's more to the story. Siamese Dogs Records is the brainchild of one Philippe Mogane, a French photographer who, in the 1970s, found himself in Los Angeles with a bagful of high-end cameras and a serious jones for the Detroit-bred musical stylings of one James N. Osterberg, better known as Iggy Pop, and his band The Stooges. Mogane found himself in fact living in the same tatty building as The Stooges, and in time became sort of a go-between among the warring Stooge factions. The photos he took of the group were published in Europe, resulting in renewed interest in the group there. At the same time, Mogane became interested in the local bands that were following in The Stooges' footsteps, and with Stooges guitarist James Williamson founded Siamese Dogs records to promote these groups. Their first releases were a couple archival singles by the Stooges, "I Got a Right" and "Gimme Some Skin." By the time 1978 rolled around, the punk sound was on the breeze and Siamese Dogs was riding the first wave of Los Angeles punk, releasing music by (as Mogane styles them) "the Godfather of LA Glam Punk," The Max Lazer Band, "The Godfathers of LA Hard Punk," The Weasels, and "the Godfathers of LA Punk," The Controllers, among others. Mogane now feels the world is finally ready for the music he recorded nearly thirty years ago, and has revived the Siamese Dogs imprint to release Godfathers of LA Punk. One thing for sure is that the bands recorded by Siamese Dogs are clear ancestors of many great California legends. Godfathers captures something about Southern California, a feeling that would eventually play out in recordings by dozens of bands we know well. For example, The Controllers and The Weasels point the way straight to The Germs, Black Flag, The Weirdos, Suicidal Tendencies, Bay Area bands like Flipper and The Dead Kennedys and even Jane's Addiction. And though it is surely heresy to say so, you can hear in the glam of The Max Lazer Band a little bit of the strut and swagger that influenced the metal scene that spawned Guns 'n' Roses. In these latter cases, it's not so much a sound as a vibe, a creeping Californianess that colored each nascent scene and ties together bands as diverse as The Doors, X, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Suicidal Tendencies. But all this historical importance is of interest only to snotty record collectors who own Stiff Little Fingers LPs on vinyl and can name from memory the birth-names of all the Ramones, CJ included. Without decent music, no disc like Godfathers of LA Punk will be anything more than a curiosity, a mildly interesting document of a time just as well forgotten. Luckily, that is not the case. Instead,Godfathers of LA Punk is very worthwhile listening for any serious punk collector. Besides its historical value, there is just too much music here of surpassing quality to pass up. To begin with, the Stooges tracks, "I Got A Right" and "Gimme Some Skin (both alternates from the Raw Power sessions) are practically worth the price of admission on their own. But beyond the long shadow of Iggy is a surprisingly diverse collection that probably has something to please punk fans of every stripe. My personal favorites are The Weasels and The Controllers, who in particular anticipate merchants of gratuitous outrage like The Circle Jerks and The Dead Kennedys and the hard-boiled tales of X. The Weasels' biggest hit, "Beat Her With A Rake," is a song about a guy who beats his girlfriend to death for giving head to another guy again in public. Objectively, there is absolutely nothing redeeming about a song whose message line is "beat her with a rake and make her pay for her mistake." Indeed, it's only sorta-funny in the way that appeals to world-weary eighteen year olds. Nonetheless, over a trashy and muscular punk riff that is years ahead of their time, The Weasels sell "Beat Her With A Rake" and another domestic abuse single (this one with a Nazi twist!) called "I'm The Commander" to the hilt, reveling in their brazen crassness. Similarly, The Controllers' melodic proto-hardcore stomp "Do The Uganda" is about wanting to "get VD and be real mean, I wanna be black and look like Idi Amin," only to conclude that "You can't leave Uganda, yeah the joke's on you!" Mean-spirited joke songs like these seem indigenous to California's punk scene. It would be a surprise if a young Jello Biafra hadn't come across these records up in his Bay Area home. With such classically tasteless offerings as these on hand, it is no wonder that Philippe Mogane himself emailed me in response to my request for a review copy of this album, warning me that "it might be too staggering for your proper, nice and orderly mind." Well, fair enough. But I've heard songs like "Beat Her With A Rake" before, going all they way back to The Leaves' and Hendrix' versions of "Hey Joe," Jim Morrison's half-silly spoken word rants about killing his parents, and even John Lee Hooker's lovingly detailed torture-murder fantasy "Bad Like Jesse James." And if I can enjoy Snoop singing about how he "don't love these ho's" or the Meatmen singing about how crippled children suck, then I can surely get a thrilling transgressive frission out of the absolute awful, terrible wrongness of a chorus that goes, "beat her with a rake and make her pay for her mistake." Beyond the manic (but today fairly orthodox-sounding) punk of The Weasels and The Controllers, Godfathers is a gratifyingly diverse set. The Max Lazer Band enriches glam rock with saxophones and a punk edge, and if "Street Queen" isn't quite as ferocious as some of the other offerings here, it still glitters, writhes, and bites hard. More interesting still are the arty, jagged noise experiments of Nu Americans and the Attitude, both of whom even employ - gasp! - keyboards! The Attitude's cover of "Hound Dog," featuring some hot piano from Little Richard, is a nicely sacrilegious good time, and Nu Americans' bizarre "Listen To Your Heart" sounds like some unholy mix of The Slits, Devo and Captain Beefheart. That is, except for one thing: Devo and The Slits had yet to release their first records. (Indeed, this is just one of the many ways in which the bands on Godfathers of LA Punk were ahead of their time. Iggy Pop may have showed everyone the way as far back as '73, but even in 1978, the day of punk had yet to arrive.) Together the Attitude and Nu Americans remind me of a one-shot video I have of a band called the Steel Tips, who opened for the Dead Boys at CBGB in '77. The Steel Tips mixed Zappa with The MC5 and added some atonal riffing on top, in what I presume was an effort to sound like no other band ever. Having now heard The Nu Americans and The Attitude, I now suspect that bands like this were incredibly common in 1978 and have now been all but forgotten. And although I'm not personally in love with that sound, your mileage may certainly vary. If a French photographer had never shacked up with the Stooges in a grimy Los Angeles loft, the bands on Godfathers of LA Punk might never have been committed to wax. And if said French photographer hadn't decided that it was time for America to hear these sounds again, they would be lost forever but for faint memories in the minds of Los Angeles' oldest bartenders and punk progenitors. Godfathers of LA Punk isn't necessarily the alpha and omega of Los Angeles punk rock, but it is definitely of interest to any and all fans of the genre. More importantly, it helps shed some light on the murky beginnings of one of punk's most important scenes. Punk was the one of the last great gasps in rock and roll's evolution before its long, slow decline toward the millennium, and we owe it to future generations of truth seekers to give them the straight story. I'm sure that what Philippe Mogane has done in reissuing these songs could be done (has it been done?) in Houston, in Cleveland, in Chicago, and every little jerkwater burg in between. And even if all the music so rediscovered is not worth saving, it would be nice to make that decision consciously rather than let happenstance and obscurity swallow dreck and diamonds alike. One final note: Godfathers of LA Punk contains the answer to a question I didn't even know needed asking: what's the deal with Pauly Shore? Readers of a certain age will remember that in his MTV days, Pauly Shore would frequently refer to himself in the third person as "the wea-sel," with just that singsongy skip in the middle: "wea-sel." Well guess what? I think I know what Pauly Shore was listening to before he hit the big time, because The Weasels introduce themselves in the live version of "Beat Her With A Rake" as, you guessed it, "The Wea-sels." You learn something new every day.John Owen, Blog Critics
Review by Christopher, Blog to Comm
THE BAD NEWS ...all that punk rock you and I "grew up" with is now well-entrenched in the MUSIC OF EVERLASTING INFINITE HISTORICAL VALUE wing of collective Amerigan/world psyche along with big band music, fifties rockabilly and early-sixties surf toonz which means it's time for goofy people with horn-rimmed glasses to study the stuff just like it was a bug under a microscope. THE GOOD NEWS ...now that seventies punk rock is a past phenom to be looked back upon in hallowed tones of honor that means MORE and MORE "archival digs" will result in a flurry of compilations and upheavals none of us would have expected even twenty years back. This is but one of them...I guess the label in question is really called "Siamese Dogs" but I remember when it was "Siamese" and they released this Stooges single (credited to "Iggy Pop and James Williamson") taken from the RAW POWER sessions or something like that which had more'n a few 1977 punkers throbbing in anarchic ecstasy after repeated spins of METALLIC KO . Little did I know that there were more than a few records on this obscure label which, along with such competitors as Dangerhouse, Gulcher , Ork and Back Door Man (oops! sorry Jay!!!) documented the budding American underground scene at a time when it really needed documenting in the face of media blah. This disque does a good job of collecting the Siamese Dogs label's wares all in one neat place, not only with the Iggy stuff (including the alt. take of "I Got a Right" as well as the rarity "Rock Action") but with tracks courtesy the great Controllers (who got a nice review in the latest issue of my own crybaby reactionary fanzine!) as well as the Weasels who I originally assumed were just another buncha bandwagon punks but who in reality were a pretty hefty punk/metallic merger who actually had Van Halen opening their shows (and maybe VH coulda been this good had they forsaken the Los Angeles slicksterdom for Detroit high energy!) and other worthies of varying rockist degrees. Biggest surprise: The Attitude and their cover of "Hound Dog," featuring none other than Little Richard on the ivories! And I thought the guy was a no-talent bore after seeing him schmooze up to Phil Donahue on the telly!Christopher, Blog to Comm
P.L.M.B : DEAD MOVES NOT THE PUZZLE
Review by Jim Ody for ROOMTHIRTEEN.COM
New York's P.L.M.B. are the pioneers of what they describe as 'Grime Rock', and upon hearing the first song, 'Putra Juice', you get the idea as to what this genre may be like. It is a fusion of garage rock, with quick punk beats and glam vocals. The guitars are fuzzy, and the beats are punchy, whilst the vocals could well be described as undeniably unique, as well as a little like someone who has swum in a swimming pool of Jack Daniels who has Cat Scratch Fever and grabbed the first thing that came to hand, which was either fortunately, or unfortunately a microphone... 'Book Store' sounds a little like Pretty Boy Floyd after a good night on the razzle. It's a slow and gentle song with the fuzz-box guitars and some ear-splitting vocals. Next song 'Powmia' has more venom and punk rock attitude, and guitarist/vocalist, Buddy A screams out some fine lyrics, like "...Now I've said my peace fool! Let's move on..." he spits, whilst later on pointing out that, "...The platypus is a platypus // The powder puff is a powder puff // The animal is a animal // The cannibal is a fucking cannibal..." indeed, and you wonder whether reality is slowly slipping away...The penultimate song, 'Don't Skate' is relatively long in its 3 minute duration, as the first three songs only just reached past the 2 minute mark, and the last song flirts around the 90 seconds! Aside from being sound parental advice, 'Don't Skate' is a nice slow plod of a song, as our ears are given a rest from the screeching vocals, as Buddy A shows us that he does have a lower vocal range, and although things are pulled up to the nail-and-blackboard-range once again, it comes together quite fittingly. The last song is acoustic and glides around the airwaves with creative lyrics that spout out poetic-orgasms from the mind of a mixed up person. This isn't a bad thing, it's a great form of expression, and one that I'm sure would also leave you feeling dirty and guilty...
I'd love to be able to tell you what P.L.M.B stands for, but I can't find that information anywhere. Maybe it's Please Let Me Breathe, which could be why Buddy's vocals appear to get higher all of the time; or perhaps Prey Long My Brother, as a request for us, the listener, to help rid the singer of his personal demons; or maybe it's Psycho's Like My Band- whatever it is P.L.M.B. are an original band who have that DIY feel that is more associated with original punk rock, and we may jest at Buddy's vocals (that's of course Buddy A, and not Drummer Buddy B) but they are no worse than Axl Roses' or many of the glam bands from the 80's, and with the fuzzy guitars and punk beats it comes together quite nicely.
So you may question your sanity, and you may want to up the medicine dosage, but whilst the nurse is out of ear shot, P.L.M.B. really aren't that bad...
Jim Ody