THE DILS, Communist poster boys for “New Wave New Weapons”. Front page of a 1978 San Francisco fanzine that doesn’t seem to have a name.
Images
New acquisitions in the Dynamite Hemorrhage ‘zine library.
UXA and MX-80 (SOUND) playing in Berkeley circa 1979.
I remember when opener THE JARS’ 45 came out a year or two later – it was all over Berkeley, with posters, window displays and so on. The Jars! Now-forgotten local heroes, but the impression I got at the time was they were the biggest thing going in the New Wave. Then I heard the single, and it was total blandoid surf rock. Check it out here.
Here’s a piece I wrote about record shopping in Berkeley back in 1981.
BAGS and OFFS, live at Club 88 in Los Angeles, March 1979.
VERSUS – featuring The Lewd’s Olga De Volga, and who only put out recorded material as VS. – in an early flyer, live in San Francisco, likely from 1979.
“Prototypes of the Future Female Race”
March 1979 at The Deaf Club, San Francisco. Easy to imagine going to at least ten of these gigs.
The NY underground invades San Francisco and Target Video – December 1979.
I made a compilation for you over on 8Tracks called Authority Complex: Dynamite Hemorrhage’s Best of 2015 by DynamiteHemorrhage.
It stays in the vein that the podcast has mostly mined: raw, sub-underground rock music of a lo-fidelity or otherwise challenged bent. 18 tracks, all available to stream right now over here.
Track listing:
THE COOLIES – Scorpio 10
HONEY RADAR – Niacin Man
CCTV – Paranoia
LITHICS – Lizard
RAW PONY – Bo Diddley
RAYS – Model or You?
MANSION – Fleshed Out
CALAMARI GIRLS – All The Celbrities
BENT – Skeleton Man
LIME CRUSH – Graveyard
CONSTANT MONGREL – The Law
URANIUM CLUB – The Collector
WET BLANKETS – No Carrots
ERASE ERRATA – History of Handclaps
PSYCHIC SOVIETS – Authority Complex
POLIO CLUB – Light as a Feather
PARKAY QUARTS – Pretty Machines
DANCE ASTHMATICS – Liquid Lunch
Even though I was a bit of a “new waver” in the early 80s with a serious Siouxie & The Banshees, Bauhaus & Simple Minds addiction, I also tuned in every Tuesday night at 8pm to the early Maximum RocknRoll radio show on KPFA, whose signal we could barely pick up at my house in San Jose. It’s where I learned about hardcore, early LA punk, and all sorts of bizarre leftist political agitprop for the very first time.
For those who hadn’t picked up on it, it’s also where the whole “And now stay tuned for Jay and the gang” ripoff intro that I do on Dynamite Hemorrhage Radio came from. Here’s a flyer I scanned yesterday from the Prelinger Library announcing the debut of their radio show, which I think came on for the first time in 1981.
I visited the Prelinger Library in San Francisco today. It’s a vast archival collection of printed ephemera comprising subcultures, political movements, maps, landscapes, histories and so much more. I’ve lived in San Francisco 26 years and didn’t know this was here for the past 11+. Thank you Public Collectors for letting me know about this treasure trove that’s mere walking distance from my place of employment.
Naturally I spent my time with my nose buried in the late 70s/early 80s punk flyers & fanzines. I scanned a bunch that you’ll see in coming days here, including this one – Noh Mercy/Pink Section/Peccadillos at The Mab, San Francisco, likely 1979.
AGONY SHORTHAND 