Crime | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | San Francisco |
Genres | Punk rock |
Years active |
|
Labels | Crime Music B-Square Solar Lodge Swami FYBS Kitten Charmer Superior Viaduct |
Past members |
|
Crime was an early American punk band from San Francisco, California, United States. [1] The band was formed in 1976 by Johnny Strike (vocals, guitar), Frankie Fix (vocals, guitar), Ron "The Ripper" Greco (bass; ex-Flamin' Groovies), and Ricky Tractor (Ricky Williams) (drums). [2] Their debut, the self-financed double A-side, "Hot Wire My Heart" and "Baby You're So Repulsive", appeared at the end of 1976, and is the first single released by a U.S. punk act from the West Coast. [3]
The band's sound was characterized by simple rock-and-roll arrangements played at intensely high volumes. Michael Goldberg, critic for New York Rocker , wrote in 1978: "Crime play loud. So loud that the plate glass window at the opposite end of the club shakes, tables tremble and people hang onto their drinks. Loudness may be Crime's only musical raison d'etre. This band is a literal translation of the concept 'minimal.' Drummer Hank Rank thumps out a simple Bo Diddley beat that is only adequate in the context of the rest of the band. Bassist Ron the Ripper coaxes a thick rumble from his amp that reminds one of the thunder of a bulldozer rolling over rugged terrain. And the guitar playing of [Johnny] Strike and Frankie Fix make you feel like you've been forcefully held underwater for the full 25 minutes of the set." [3]
In Issue #13 of Ugly Things Magazine, critic Mike Stax wrote: "CRIME's music didn't conform to the norm either. They didn't use the standard-issue highspeed buzzsaw guitar approach. Instead their noisy attacks were an unpredictable stew of clanging, howling guitars and shuddering rhythms - more of an intense sonic RUMBLE than anything else." [4]
In the following years Crime changed their line-up several times. Ricky Tractor was fired (later appearing in groups such as Flipper, Toiling Midgets and The Sleepers) and was succeeded by Brittley Black (Larry Black) in 1977. After releasing one single, another double A-side, "Frustration" and "Murder by Guitar", Black was replaced by Hank Rank (Henry S. Rosenthal) that same year. In 1979, Greco left the band and was replaced by Joey D'Kaye (Joey Swails) on bass, who had been the band's sound engineer. [5] [6]
Greco and Black both returned for Crime's last release, the single "Maserati/Gangster Funk" in 1981, while D'Kaye moved to synthesizers and produced the recording. [6] [7]
The band split up the following year. Strike and D'Kaye briefly formed an electropunk duo called Vector Command, while Fix attempted to start a solo career, with a back-up band called The Rockabilly Rebels. Neither produced any record releases at the time. [6]
Ricky Tractor died in 1992, Frankie Fix in 1996, Brittley Black in 2004 and Johnny Strike in 2018. [8] [9] [10]
Over the course of their career in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Crime officially only released three 7" vinyl records. But many bootleg recordings of the band's live performances and demo tapes were sporadically produced throughout the 1980s.
San Francisco's Doomed , a collection of studio recordings and rehearsal tapes, was released with the approval of the band members by Solar Lodge in the United Kingdom in 1991 on vinyl and CD. Fix, Strike and Rank played on all the songs, with Greco playing bass on side one of the LP, and D'Kaye on side two. [11] The album was re-released as San Francisco's Still Doomed (with added tracks and remastering) in 2004 by Swami Records.
In 1979 San Francisco video company Target Video produced Crime: Live in San Quentin Prison, a documentary of a live performance by the band at San Quentin State Penitentiary in California, where they played for the prisoners wearing exact copies of the uniforms worn by the prison guards. [12]
Sonic Youth featured a cover of "Hot Wire My Heart" on their 1987 release Sister .
Electric Frankenstein featured a cover of "Frustration" on their 1993 release "Action High / Sick Songs".
In January 2010, a book of Crime's early photographs and posters, The Band Crime: Punk '77 Revisited by James Stark, was published by Last Gasp Books. [13]
In July 2013, a compilation album of unreleased studio recordings, Murder by Guitar: 1976 to 1980, was released on the Kitten Charmer label, remastered under the direction of Strike, Rank and D'Kaye and released on CD and iTunes. [14] After distribution problems with the LP record release, the album was re-released in August 2014 by the Superior Viaduct label, with a limited release of the first 500 on clear red vinyl. [15] [16] The album has garnered mostly positive reviews, [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] including "four-stars" by UK music magazine MOJO, which wrote: "This important release restates CRIME's place in the punk pantheon and fills in the history of a lost pop moment. It also celebrates the diversity of the proto-punk groups: that fascinating moment when change was at hand but the rules were not yet set. Murder By Guitar is a testament to that sense of discovery.". [22] MOJO also rated the album as one of the "10 Best Reissues of 2014". [23]
In a 2007 interview with Resonance Magazine, Johnny Strike stated a boxed set of Crime recordings was to be released by a Spanish label. [24] In March 2015, Munster Records released the box set, Crime - 7x7 with seven-inch 45RPM single records, each with a distinctive record cover, including a medley of 1950s cover tunes, "Be Bop A Loola" and "Peggy Sue" previously unreleased anywhere. [25]
In 2001, Strike formed a new band, The Johnsons, with Jimmy Crucifix (now Jaycee Frances Schmith, bass/vocals) and Biff O'Hara (drums). [26] They changed their name later that year to The Venus Hunters and eventually shortened it to TVH. In 2002 they released the album Night Raid on Lisbon Street on Flapping Jet Records. [27] The unofficial Crime fan site, San Francisco's FIRST and ONLY Rock & Roll Band, reported that Hank Rank had joined TVH in late 2002, replacing O'Hara on drums. [28]
Crime was re-formed in 2005 to headline the Road to Ruins punk festival in Rome. Original members Strike and Rank were joined by: Mickey Tractor on bass, and Pat 'Monsignor' Ryan (formerly of The Nuns) on guitar. In 2008, Crime recorded a new album of rare, older material entitled Exalted Masters, available on LP only, after Ryan was replaced by Count Fink (Brett Stillo of The Flakes) on guitar. [29] They played a half dozen shows in 2008 to support their new album, and collaborated with the Moroccan group the Gnawa Express. [30] A 7" Single, "Extortion/Crazy Beat" b/w "Suwani", with Gnawa Express, was released in 2009. [31]
The current members of Crime have also performed in San Francisco under the band name "Remote Viewers". [32]
Strike published numerous works of fiction in recent years: Ports of Hell , which is listed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library, and A Loud Humming Sound Came from Above. With Bold Venture Press, he published the novels Name of the Stranger (2016), Murder in the Medina (2017), The Exploding Memoir (2021). Society of Ghosts (2021) was posthumously published.
Rank has produced numerous films (under his real name, Henry Rosenthal) including the hit The Devil and Daniel Johnston . Ron "The Ripper" Greco is active in San Francisco and released his new album 'Greco's Back with The Dark Gyspies' September 2014.[ citation needed ]. D'Kaye (under his real name, Joey Swails) continued to work as a Bay Area recording engineer and producer, notably with pop vocal group Destiny's Child and Bay Area R&B band Tony! Toni! Toné!. [33]
In 2015-16, former Crime members Johnny Strike, Hank Rank and Joey D'Kaye, with collaborators Roger Strobel and Michael Campbell, formed the band Naked Beast and released one self-titled LP vinyl album (also available on Bandcamp) on Guitars And Bongos Records. [34]
In the fall of 2018, the original studio tapes of Vector Command were remastered under the direction of Joey D'Kaye and released by HoZac Records as a vinyl LP titled, "System 3". [35]
Rocket to Russia is the third studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones, and was released on November 4, 1977, through Sire Records. It is the band's last album to feature original drummer Tommy Ramone, who left the band in 1978 to focus on production. The album's origins date back to the summer of 1977, when "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" was released as a single. That summer was known as the peak of the punk rock genre since many punk bands were offered recording contracts. The album's recording began in August 1977, and the band had a considerably larger budget with Sire allowing them between $25,000 and $30,000; much of this money went toward the album's production rather than recording.
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver. They are often referred to as being among the "founders" of hardcore punk, along with Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, Germs, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore.
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".
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in San Francisco in 1995. The band's lineup consists of Spike Slawson, Fat Mike, Joey Cape, and Dave Raun. Chris Shiflett is a former member.
Poison Idea was an American punk rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1980.
Milo Goes to College is the debut studio album by the American punk rock band Descendents, released on September 4, 1982 through New Alliance Records. Its title refers to singer Milo Aukerman's decision to leave the band to attend college, and its cover illustration introduced a caricature of him that would go on to become the band's mascot. Milo Goes To College was Descendents' last record with founding guitarist Frank Navetta, who quit the band during the hiatus that followed its release.
Leave Home is the second studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was released on January 10, 1977, through Sire Records, with the expanded CD being released through Rhino Entertainment on June 19, 2001. Songs on the album were written immediately after the band's first album's writing process, which demonstrated the band's progression. The album had a higher production value than their debut Ramones and featured faster tempos. The front photo was taken by Moshe Brakha and the back cover, which would become the band's logo, was designed by Arturo Vega. The album spawned three singles, but only one succeeded in charting. It was also promoted with several tour dates in the United States and Europe.
Swingin' Utters is a Californian punk rock band that formed in the late 1980s. After U.S. and European tours supporting the release of 2003's "Dead Flowers, Bottles, Bluegrass and Bones", some band members concentrated on raising their new families. From 2003-2010, the band played frequently, though mostly limited to the west coast of the United States and Canada, taking a break from any longer, comprehensive touring or recordings. During this time, they released the "Live in a Dive" double live album on Fat Wreck Chords (2004), and "Hatest Grits", a b-sides and rarities compilation (2008). After a seven-year gap in the release of any new, original recordings, the band released the "Brand New Lungs" 3-song 7-inch ep in 2010, followed by the "Here, Under Protest" LP (2011), and have since released four more records, and have resumed touring internationally.
The Vindictives are an American, Chicago-based punk rock group, founded by singer and songwriter Joey Vindictive in 1991, releasing 12 EPs and albums by July 1996.
Doom are an English hardcore punk band from Birmingham whose first lineup were together from 1987 to 1990. Despite its short existence, the band is considered pivotal in the rise of crust punk, a genre of punk rock that takes influence and elements from extreme metal. They recorded for Peaceville Records and are cited as an early precursor to grindcore. Doom were also a favourite of BBC Radio DJ John Peel.
Robert Scott Weinrich, better known as Wino, is an American singer and guitarist. He has been highly influential in helping develop and codify doom metal's trademark sound, and is also considered an influential figure in the stoner rock genre.
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.
Sore Throat were a British crust punk band formed in Huddersfield in 1987. They are known for being one of the earliest exponents of the grindcore subgenre known as "noisecore", as well as for launching the careers of several prominent members of the British heavy metal community.
The Mutants are an American band, notable in the history of San Francisco punk rock and new wave music. They are known for their theatrical performances which often include elaborate props, projections, and comical antics. They are credited with being one of the first "Art-punk" bands in San Francisco, and were one of the most popular bands of the San Francisco punk scene during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Filth was an American hardcore punk band from East Bay, California. Formed in 1989, Filth was a crustcore band that helped define the "later East Bay hardcore" style. The band combined upbeat, sometimes poppy guitar with harsh screamed vocals.
Really Red was one of Houston, Texas' first punk bands and existed from 1978 through 1985.
Brainoil is an American doom and sludge metal band from Oakland, California. Brainoil members have been long-term contributors to the East Bay underground punk and metal music scene.
Mechanical Man is a semi-official EP by new wave musicians Devo, released in 1978. It includes four 4-track basement demos by the band, recorded before they were signed to a record contract with Warner Bros. Records.
San Francisco's Doomed is a 1978 LP album by San Francisco band Crime.
Between 1993 and 2000, a series of Ramones covers albums were released by Selfless Records, an independent record label based in Garland, Texas specializing in punk rock, on which bands influenced by seminal punk group the Ramones performed cover versions of entire Ramones albums. Under the Selfless label, Screeching Weasel, the Queers, and the Vindictives respectively covered the first three Ramones albums: Ramones (1976), Rocket to Russia (1977), and Leave Home (1977). Selfless then became Clearview Records and continued the series, with Boris the Sprinkler, the Parasites, the Mr. T Experience, the Beatnik Termites, and the McRackins respectively covering End of the Century (1980), It's Alive (1979), Road to Ruin (1978), Pleasant Dreams (1981), and Too Tough to Die (1984).