 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2010) |
Angst was an American band from San Francisco, California.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2010) |
Angst was an American band from San Francisco, California.
In mid-1978, brothers Joseph Pope and Jon E. Risk formed their first punk rock group, the Instants, in Boulder, Colorado. The band gigged in the Denver/Boulder area before moving to England in late 1979 where they lasted only a few months. In 1980 Joseph and Jon then settled in San Francisco and formed Angst along with drummer Michael Hursey (later replaced by Andy Kaps).
Angst played their first show in mid-1981, and by the end of 1982 had contributed songs to Sub Pop (when it was still a cassette magazine) and the Alternative Tentacles/Maximum RocknRoll compilation, Not So Quiet on the Western Front . From the outset the band gigged regularly in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and sometime in 1982 they played a show with the Middle Class and 100 Flowers in San Francisco. John Talley-Jones (Urinals/100 Flowers) was impressed enough with the group that he offered to release a record for them on his label, Happy Squid Records. Angst traveled to Los Angeles shortly thereafter and recorded seven songs at Radio Tokyo studios (engineered by Ethan James) that would become their debut, eponymous 12”, released in 1983. This EP included songs lampooning Neil Armstrong and Nancy Reagan. [1]
Though Angst played many venues with a wide variety of bands, the majority of their shows locally were within the punk/hardcore scene. Their eclectic mix of punk, country, pop, 1960s garage, etc. was not particularly well received by the strict hardcore audiences of early 1980s San Francisco. Angst actively sought out and played with many of Los Angeles-based SST Records’ bands (Minutemen, Saccharine Trust, Meat Puppets, Black Flag, et al.), and in 1984 was signed to the label by Joe Carducci, who subsequently produced the first two (of four) LPs that Angst recorded for the label (the latter LPs were produced by Vitus Matare of the Last).
These three guys are smart enough to know they have a problem—they can't sing. They're also smart enough not to let that stop them.
— Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990) [2]
The group's debut full-length, Lite Life, was issued in 1985, which Trouser Press praised as "prov[ing] Angst’s prowess for turning politically informed ideas into mature and witty tunes." [3] After releasing Lite Life, Angst began to play outside of California, and embarked on their first national tour. Over the next four years they toured America and Europe several times, as well as continuing to play regularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, though they were never able to gain any kind of following in their own home town. The group's final album, Cry for Happy, appeared in 1988. [4] By early 1989 the band had run its course, and broke up after their final European tour.
In later years, Angst would be cited by Black Francis/Frank Black of Pixies fame as a major influence upon his work. He covered “Some Things (I Can’t Get Used To)” on his Snake Oil LP, and wrote a tribute song to the band entitled simply “Angst” that appears on the UK-only CD release of “Robert Onion” as well as on the One More Road For The Hit collection of B-sides and rarities. When asked by Rolling Stone magazine what band he would like to see reunite, he stated: “Angst. I'm sure there are other bands called Angst, but this is an obscure one from SST in the mid-Eighties. They used to play at the Rathskeller in Boston -- that's where I first heard them. Then I bought all their records. They were a San Francisco trio -- high energy but not punk -- and they were very influential on the Pixies and on me. Lite Life is their best album -- good luck finding it”. [5]
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
Jealous Again is the second EP by American hardcore punk band Black Flag, and the third-ever release on SST Records.
Dicks were an American punk rock band from Austin, Texas, formed in 1980 and initially disbanded in 1986. After the first breakup, singer Gary Floyd formed the band Sister Double Happiness, with drummer Lynn Perko, then later fronted a project called Black Kali Ma. In 2004, The Dicks reunited and were active until 2016.
The Fat EP is an EP by the American punk rock band the Descendents, released in 1981 through New Alliance Records. It was the band's first recording with singer Milo Aukerman and established their presence in the southern California hardcore punk movement, with short, aggressive songs that represented a shift in style from their previous new wave and surf sound. The EP was re-released in later years as part of several compilation albums.
Subhumans were a Canadian punk rock band formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1978.
Outpunk enjoys the distinction of being the first record label entirely devoted to queer punk bands.
The Fartz were a hardcore punk band that was founded in 1981 and were one of the first well-known bands in their genre from Seattle, Washington. They were signed to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Record label. They were notable not only for playing incredibly fast and heavy music, but also for their politically and socially conscious song lyrics that criticized government policies, religious hypocrisy, racism, sexism, and poverty. Throughout their musical career they championed a blue collar, working class perspective on life.
Paranoid Time is the debut EP by American hardcore punk band Minutemen. It is also the second ever release by the SST record label, founded by Black Flag's Greg Ginn and Chuck Dukowski. The album cover is a drawing by the American artist Raymond Pettibon.
The Punch Line is the debut studio album and third overall release by American punk rock band Minutemen, and the fourth-ever release from SST Records. After their previous release, Paranoid Time, sold out its 300-copy pressing, Greg Ginn invited the band to record again. Less than half the length of most LPs, the total playing time for all 18 songs is a mere 15 minutes. The album was an early milestone release for the band and SST. The Punch Line hit record store shelves three months after the release of Joy, although Joy was recorded after The Punch Line.
Bean-Spill is the third extended-play single and fourth release overall by American hardcore punk band Minutemen.
Dog Faced Hermans were a post-punk band that formed in Scotland in the mid 1980s and remained active through the mid 1990s. They emerged from the UK anarcho-punk scene with a guitar/bass/drums line-up, but also incorporated trumpet and other instruments not commonly found in punk music at that time. Their composition style incorporated many genres of music outside of rock, including folk, jazz, ambient and noise music with often unorthodox instrumentation.
In a Car is the Meat Puppets' first recording. It was originally issued on L.A. art collective/record label World Imitation records as a 5-track 7-inch EP.
Victims Family is a hardcore punk band formed in 1984 in Santa Rosa, California, by bass guitarist Larry Boothroyd and guitarist and vocalist Ralph Spight. Devon VrMeer completed the trio as drummer. Their sound blended punk, heavy metal and jazz, making them difficult to categorize into a single genre. Allmusic says, "Since its inception, the trio has refused to be pigeonholed to any single musical style — incorporating elements of hardcore punk, jazz, funk, hard rock, and noise into its challenging sound". They were known as one of the most musically diverse bands in the San Francisco underground music scene. Over the years, Victims Family went through four drummers and two break-ups. Their name was taken from a piece by the cartoonist B. Kliban.
Vic Bondi is an American singer-songwriter and one of the founding members of political Chicago hardcore punk band Articles of Faith. He went on to form Alloy, and Jones Very after AoF's demise. At the time of AoF's original breakup Bondi was working as a history instructor at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Bondi's subsequent day jobs included working on Microsoft's Encarta as well as other projects in educational and media software. After a hiatus in the late 90s, Bondi resurfaced with new bands, Report Suspicious Activity and Dead Ending. He was featured in the documentaries American Hardcore and You Weren't There.
DC3 was an American rock and roll band formed by singer, songwriter and guitarist Dez Cadena in 1983 and active until 1988.
Lynn Perko-Truell is an American musician, best known as the drummer, bass guitarist, and co-singer for the San Francisco indie rock band Imperial Teen. She is also known as the drummer for the San Francisco-based blues grunge band Sister Double Happiness, and the San Francisco version of the hardcore punk band The Dicks. Perko-Truell was an iconic figure and a pioneering female in the American hardcore punk and alternative rock movements of the 1980s and 1990s and remains active.
Bonus Fat is a compilation album by the American punk rock band the Descendents, released in 1985 through New Alliance Records. It combines the band's 1979 debut single "Ride the Wild" / "It's a Hectic World" with their 1981 Fat EP and the track "Global Probing" from the 1981 New Alliance compilation Chunks. The compilation's cover combines guitarist Frank Navetta's illustration for the Fat EP with a caricature of singer Milo Aukerman drawn by Jeff "Rat" Atkins.
My First Bells is a compilation album by the American punk rock band Minutemen, released on SST Records in 1985.
You Kill Me is an EP by Canadian punk rock band Nomeansno. Recorded in 1985, it is the first Nomeansno record to feature the band's three-piece lineup, with guitarist Andy Kerr joining founding members Rob Wright and John Wright. Originally issued on the Undergrowth label, it was later re-released on CD with the Sex Mad album on the Sex Mad/You Kill Me compilation CD and cassette released by Alternative Tentacles.
Lawndale is an alternative surf rock instrumental band from Lawndale. The band was started in 1984 by guitar players and bassmen Rick Waddell, AKA Rick Lawndale and Jack Skelley and released two records on SST Records and some tracks on compilations. They split in 1987 but Rick Lawndale started up again in 1997 under the moniker Rick Lawndale Band with other musicians. Now, Lawndale and the Rick Lawndale band are both back together and playing shows. The L.A. Weekly described Lawndale as "The Ventures meet Led Zeppelin in Don Knotts' living room"
SIN 34 was an American hardcore punk rock band formed in 1981 in Santa Monica, California. The band featured a female front-person, Julie Lanfeld-Keskin. The band's rhythm section would go on to form Painted Willie in 1984, and sign with SST Records in 1985, and embarking on a six-month national US tour with Black Flag in 1986. Reforming out of the blue in 2008, SIN 34 would once again play shows primarily in their native southern California through 2012. Longtime member and primary songwriter Phil Newman died after an apparent accident on a sail boat, February 22, 2015; the band has no plans to continue. Singer Lanfeld-Keskin died April 4, 2018.
