https://youtu.be/8bBDFGwOZA8
When I was a senior in high school, we would cut study hall some afternoons and sneak over to my friend’s house to watch DEVO videos on VHS.
This one is a classic.
I’m Working Too Hard
So this is it, the only material The Nerves officially released. One lousy EP in 1976, which, in mint condition, can now fetch upwards of $600 on eBay.
Sakuran Zensen
The band’s name is Sakuran Zensen. Sakuran means ”crazy” (sort of) and Zensen means ”front of the line.” So Sakuran Zensen means ”front of the line of the crazies.” In an interview with a publicity company, the singer told them that they did not pick this name for any other reason than ”it sounded cool.”
The Sexiest Collarbone You’ve Ever Seen
And a song I’ve had on repeat for a little bit. How did I miss Lisa Hannigan?
Anyway, thanks for the heads-up, Aashish!
What’s Your Sign Girl?
Chilton was an underrated guitarist. Feeling nostalgic for the late Nineties today …
From 1999 performance at Memphis’ Cooper-Young Festival. With Ron Easley – bass & background vocals, and Richard Dworkin – drums. Video by David Julian Leonard.
The Babies
The Babies were a side project for Cassie Ramone (Vivian Girls) and Kevin Morby (Woods). They lasted about two years, and sometimes they had the magic sauce. I like them much better than Morby’s solo stuff, and better than their ”real” bands.
How do you tell someone their side band rules and we need more of it?
The Film 2020 Deserves
Shipping In Late July
In a just world, this guy should have been huge. I’ll be pre-ordering this shortly, the package which includes a 45 of the demo versions of “There She Goes” and “Walking Out On Love.”
After two long years of painstaking research and development, we present to you, the first major memoir covering the birth of DIY Power Pop, from Paul Collins. From it’s initial conception as a film script to it’s re-birth as a full-bore rock & roll revelation, this is one crazy story from beginning to end. Outlining the first National DIY cross-country tour by an unsigned band in 1977, and by default, creating the pathway for the true indie underground network of the 80s to take as a template. It wasn’t even a second thought for Collins and bandmates Peter Case and Jack Lee, but the underground rock & roll world is a better place for it. But until now, the real details of the origins of The Nerves, Breakaways, and The BEAT have eluded most of us, so with this tome of incredible survival stories from the trenches, Paul Collins opens up and reveals all the drama, victories and defeats with such an impassioned voice, you won’t be able to put it down. The coverage of the pre-Punk 1975 landscape of both LA and San Francisco is unmatched, and your mind will be BLOWN.
Featuring TONS of previously unseen photos, flyers and ephemera from the earliest days of The Nerves lineup as a FOUR PIECE, to the legal documents challenging The Paul Collins BEAT vs The English Beat, to the ill-fated Nerves reunion, and so much in between. Truly a smorgasbord of juicy details and revelatory discoveries await, balancing the failures with triumphs from the mid 1970s to the mid 2000s, when Paul returned to the touring circuit. From literally renting out a space for the first documented Punk show in Los Angeles in March of 1977, to The Screamers story about buying a copy of The Nerves EP at the Capitol Records swap meet and smashing it to pieces- it’s all in there, along with so many more soon-to-be-legendary tales from the real trenches you don’t usually rise out from unscathed….
And here he is more recently. Fuck yeah!
Out of My Brain on 5.15
Happy Who Day, mods.
“Pete must be on Ozzy levels of coke!”
What Makes “Just Like Heaven” Great?
I’m so glad you asked.