Avengers | |
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Background information | |
Also known as | scAvengers |
Origin | San Francisco, California, United States |
Genres | Punk rock, hardcore punk |
Years active | 1977–1979, 1999, 2004–present |
Labels | Dangerhouse, White Noise, CD Presents, Lookout! Records |
Members | Penelope Houston Greg Ingraham Joel Reader Luis Illades |
Past members | Danny Furious (Danny O'Brien) Jonathan Postal James Wilsey (deceased) Brad Kent (deceased) Danny Panic |
The Avengers are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in San Francisco, California, United States. [1] The band recorded an EP, We Are the One (1977) and, after opening for the Sex Pistols, worked with Steve Jones, but had not released an album before breaking up in 1979. [2] After the breakup an EP with the Steve Jones-produced songs was released (The Avengers), [3] and later an album, Avengers, in 1983. Their lead singer, Penelope Houston, is also a folk singer who has a solo career. Since 1999 a number of other albums were released with studio and live tracks, and the band has come together for various occasions. [4]
Drummer Danny Furious (Danny O'Brien) and guitarist Greg Ingraham decided to start a band, and Furious approached Penelope Houston to be their singer, who agreed. [2] They finished their lineup with Jonathon Postal on bass, although he was replaced shortly after by Jimmy Wilsey. [5] Their first release (and only release while the band was originally together) was We Are the One , a three-song EP which was released on Dangerhouse Records in 1977. [6]
The Avengers opened for the Sex Pistols in San Francisco at their final show at Winterland, [7] which led to Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones producing a recording session for the band. [6] In January 1979, Ingraham left the band and was replaced by Brad Kent, although the band only lasted a few more months until June 1979. [5] An EP, titled Avengers , was released on White Noise Records a few months after the band broke up, which included songs from the Steve Jones produced session. Houston went on to record as a solo artist. [6]
An album called Avengers (sometimes referred to as the Pink Album, including by Houston herself) [8] was released in 1983. It featured tracks recorded through the band's whole time together, and was compiled by drummer Danny Furious. [5] The album was out-of-print for a long time due to being in "legal limbo", during which time Houston sold the album in CD-R format directly through her website. The album was re-released in 2010.
In 1999, a compilation album called Died for Your Sins was issued by Lookout! Records. In addition to original unreleased studio recordings and live tracks, three tracks were newly recorded in 1999 by the scAvengers, featuring original members Houston and Ingraham with new members bassist Joel Reader (The Mr. T Experience, The Plus Ones) and drummer Danny Panic (Screeching Weasel). To support the album, the scAvengers did a few shows. [9] In 2003, a live album titled Zero Hour was released in Italy. The next year, The American in Me was released, featuring all of the tracks from Zero Hour plus four other unreleased studio recordings. Houston and Ingraham again joined with Reader and new drummer Luis Illades to perform some record release shows, and this lineup has performed sporadic live shows since. [9]
On July 16, 2006, Houston and Ingraham joined Pearl Jam to perform "American in Me" at the Bill Graham Civic Center. By January 2017, they were recording in Berkeley with Robert Shimp.
Bradley Grant Kent was a Canadian musician who played guitar with many of the early Vancouver punk rock bands, particularly Victorian Pork, the band which spawned D.O.A., Pointed Sticks and the Subhumans. Later he went to San Francisco to play guitar for the Avengers with Penelope Houston.
The Dils were an American punk rock band formed 1976 and active until 1980, originally from Carlsbad, California, and fronted by the brothers Chip Kinman and Tony Kinman. They appeared as the second act in the "battle of the bands" sequence in Cheech and Chong's film, Up In Smoke, where they can be heard before being seen performing "You're Not Blank".
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is an American crossover thrash band that formed in Houston, Texas in 1982 and would later relocate to San Francisco, California. The band is currently composed of two of its founding members, lead vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as bassist Greg Orr and drummer Rob Rampy.
James Calvin Wilsey was an American musician. He played bass with San Francisco punk band the Avengers, but became better known as the lead guitarist for Chris Isaak's band Silvertone. He featured on Isaak's albums Silvertone,Chris Isaak,Heart Shaped World, and San Francisco Days, and is widely remembered for his distinctive guitar tone and technique, being dubbed the "King of Slow" by fans. After leaving Isaak's band, Wilsey pursued various solo projects while struggling with drug addiction and, toward the end of his life, periods of homelessness. He died from multiple organ failure related to hepatitis and drug use.
The Nuns was an American rock band based in San Francisco and New York City. Best known as one of the founding acts of the early San Francisco punk scene, the band went through a number of hiatuses and periodic reunions, lineup changes, and changes in style. Overall, The Nuns performed and recorded on and off from the mid-1970s into the 2000s. While the band was centered on Jennifer Miro and Jeff Olener through its various incarnations, Alejandro Escovedo, who went on to later success as an Americana and alternative country musician, was also a key member during its years of fame in late 1970s San Francisco.
Lexicon Devil is a three-song EP and the second release by American punk rock band the Germs. It was also the debut output of Slash Records, and of Geza X both as a producer and as a recording engineer. The record was named after its leadoff song.
Dangerhouse Records was a punk music record label based in Los Angeles, California.
Penelope Houston is an American singer-songwriter best known as the singer for the San Francisco-based punk rock band the Avengers. She was raised in Seattle. In the mid-1970s she attended Fairhaven College in Bellingham, Washington. In 1977, Houston moved to San Francisco, attended the San Francisco Art Institute, and shortly after became the lead singer and songwriter for the Avengers. That band released one album, their eponymous debut in 1983.
The Zeros are an American punk rock band, formed in 1976 in Chula Vista, California. The band was originally composed of Javier Escovedo on vocals/guitar and Robert Lopez on guitar, who were both attending Chula Vista High School; Hector Penalosa, (bass), and Baba Chenelle, (drums), who attended Sweetwater High School. Sometimes compared to the Ramones, the band was considered a pioneer of punk rock on the West Coast.
Negative Trend was an American punk rock band active between 1977 and 1979. Before they disbanded, the band released one self-titled EP in September 1978.
Black Randy and the Metrosquad was an American punk rock band from the late 1970s and early 1980s in the Los Angeles punk scene. They gained notoriety not only for their surreal and smutty sense of humor, but also for their amalgamation of proto-punk, 1970s porn, pop, and avant-garde music.
Dan Sullivan, also known as Dan Panic or Danny Panic, is an American punk rock drummer from Chicago.
We Are the One is the first EP by the Avengers. It was released on Dangerhouse Records in 1977. It is sometimes known as the Dangerhouse EP, referring to the label that released it. It was recorded in October 1977 at Kitchen Sink Studio.
Avengers is the second EP from rock band Avengers. Released by White Noise Records in 1979 after the split up of the band, it was produced by musician Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols. It is also known as the White Noise EP, a reference to the record label. The 1983 album Avengers features identical versions of "White Nigger" and "Corpus Christi", while there are different versions of the other two tracks.
Avengers is a compilation album by the American punk group Avengers. It was released on vinyl in 1983 by CD Presents. It is the closest thing to a studio album the band has, although it was compiled by drummer Danny Furious from various recordings the band did in their three years of existence.
Died for Your Sins is a compilation album by the Avengers. It was released on February 23, 1999, on Lookout Records. The album is composed of four studio recordings from 1978, three studio recordings from 1998 recorded by The Scavengers and fourteen live tracks recorded in 1977 and 1978. Two of the songs on the album are covers: "Joker's Wild", originally by The Ventures, and "Money", originally by Barrett Strong.
Zero Hour is a live album by the Avengers. It was released on a vinyl in 2003 on the Italian label DBK Works. The album features a recording of the band's final concert that took place at the Old Waldorf, San Francisco, CA on June 13, 1979. The same concert was released a year later on the compilation album The American in Me.
The American in Me is a compilation album by the Avengers. It was released on April 20, 2004, on DBK Works. The album is composed of four studio recordings from 1978 and a live concert recorded at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco, CA on June 13, 1979. The concert was previously released on Zero Hour one year earlier.
Live at Winterland 1978 is a live album by the Avengers. It was released through online music stores on February 16, 2010. The album features a recording of their set on January 14, 1978 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, CA, when they opened for the Sex Pistols on what would become the Sex Pistols final show, before reuniting years later. The Sex Pistols' set has been released on an album of the same name. Songs from this album were previously released on a couple 7" bootlegs titled Penelope and Summer of Hate.
Live Collection is the name of a Japanese 1987 four song live Bruce Springsteen EP. The EP features two tracks that did not make it into the Live/1975-85 collection: "For You" and "Incident on 57th Street". The River Tour performance of "Incident on 57th Street" released on this EP was the song's last outing until their 1999 reunion tour and has helped make this song a live favorite. The original LP included a fold-out color poster, and lyric sheet with the lyrics to all four tracks in English, and Japanese. The album has since been re-released starting in 2001 on compact disc.