Dianne Chai | |
---|---|
Genres | Punk rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Bass, vocals |
Years active | 1977-1988 |
Labels | Dangerhouse, Time Coast |
Dianne Chai is an American bass player. [1] She was one of the founders of the L.A. punk rock band The Alley Cats. [2]
Chai formed The Alley Cats with then-husband Randy Stodola [3] and drummer John McCarthy. [4]
Chris Morris (former senior writer at Billboard , music editor at The Hollywood Reporter and critic at The Los Angeles Reader [5] ), writing in John Doe's book Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of L.A. Punk said, "They made some of the toughest, most nihilistic music on the scene." [4] Violence at shows featuring bands such as the Bags and The Alley Cats caused Madame Wong's restaurant to stop featuring punk bands [1] and switch to slower tempo new wave acts. [6]
Chai along with ex-Alley Cats John McCarthy and Randy Stodola formed The Zarkons in 1985 [7] for which Chai sang and played bass. [8]
Chai eventually remarried to the manager of The Alley Cats, Marshall Berle, and began working as a travel agent in Florida. [4]
X is an American punk rock band formed in Los Angeles. The original members are vocalist Exene Cervenka, vocalist-bassist John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom and drummer D. J. Bonebrake. The band released seven studio albums from 1980 to 1993. After a period of inactivity during the mid-to-late 1990s, X reunited in the early 2000s and continues to tour as of 2023.
John Nommensen Duchac, known professionally as John Doe, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, poet, guitarist and bass player. Doe co-founded LA punk band X, of which he is still an active member. His musical performances and compositions span rock, punk, country and folk music genres. As an actor, he has dozens of television appearances and several movies to his credit, including the role of Jeff Parker in the television series Roswell.
Jane Marie Genevieve Wiedlin is an American musician and singer, best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist of the new wave band The Go-Go's. She also voices Dusk, the drummer and backup vocalist of the fictional rock band The Hex Girls. She also had a successful solo career.
Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs were an American rock and R&B band that emerged from the Los Angeles punk/roots music scene of the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. Music writer Chris Morris dubbed them "L.A. punk's house band." This scene also produced bands such as The Blasters, X, Los Lobos, The Gun Club, The Knitters, The Circle Jerks, and The Plugz.
The Flesh Eaters are an American punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, United States, in 1977. They are the most prominent of the bands which have showcased the compositions and singing of their founder, punk poet Chris Desjardins, best known as Chris D. While Desjardins is the group's only continual member, the Flesh Eaters' lineup has drawn from some of the most famous bands of the L.A. punk scene, such as the Plugz, X, the Blasters, and Los Lobos.
Suburban Lawns were an American post-punk band formed in Long Beach, California in 1978 by CalArts students William "Vex Billingsgate" Ranson and Sue "Su Tissue" McLane. They later recruited Richard "Frankie Ennui" Whitney, Charles "Chuck Roast" Rodriguez, and John "John Gleur" McBurney.
Dangerhouse Records was a punk music record label based in Los Angeles, California.
Robert Alan Lopez, better known by his stage name El Vez, is an American singer-songwriter and musician, who performs and records original material and covers classic rock songs. Mixing the styles of Elvis Presley and many other American rock artists with his own Latin-American heritage and music, he is known for expressing revolutionary views through the satire and humor in his songs.
Gravity Talks is the debut album by American rock band Green on Red, released in 1983.
The Mechanics (1977–1981) are considered to be the first punk band to come out of Fullerton, California.
Randall Desmond Archibald, better known by his stage name Randy Rampage, was a Canadian musician and founding member, bass player and vocalist of the hardcore band D.O.A. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, the Germs, Negative Trend, 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. Hardcore 81 included a fourth member of the lineup Dave Gregg.
The Alley Cats are a Los Angeles, California-based punk rock trio formed in 1977. The original line-up, featuring Randy Stodola, Dianne Chai and John McCarthy (drums), was a fixture of the early L.A. punk rock scene. Signed to Dangerhouse Records alongside other seminal California-based punk bands including the Bags, Black Randy and the Metro Squad, and X, they released their first single "Nothing Means Nothing Anymore" backed with "Give Me a Little Pain" on March 30, 1978. They are among the six bands featured on the 1979 compilation album Yes L.A. and appear in the 1982 film Urgh! A Music War.
Earl Liberty is an American punk rock bass guitarist, known for playing bass for Saccharine Trust from 1980 to 1982, playing on the South Bay/San Pedro-based band's 1981 debut album, Paganicons, and participating in touring with SST labelmates Black Flag. His stage name was coined when Minutemen's D. Boon declared "Jesus Christ, you're fucking huge! You're as big as the Statue of Liberty!" which was then wedded to his earlier nickname of "Earl."
Tooth and Nail is a seminal compilation album featuring six early Californian punk rock bands: the Controllers, the Flesh Eaters, U.X.A., Negative Trend, Middle Class, and the Germs.
Flesh Eaters, also known as Disintegration Nation after the title of its opening track, is the four-song debut EP by American rock band the Flesh Eaters.
Under The Big Black Sun: A Personal History of L.A. Punk is a book by John Doe of the American punk rock band X and co-author Tom DeSavia. The book examines the evolution of Los Angeles punk rock between 1977-1982, covering the years between the emergence of punk as an underground phenomenon and ending as some of the musicians in the scene crossed over to mainstream success. The book featured guest chapters by Exene Cervenka ; along with Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go's, Mike Watt of Minutemen, and Henry Rollins of Black Flag. Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong penned a foreword for the book.
John Bazz is an American bass guitarist known for his long service in The Blasters. Bazz's credits also include work with various other notable musicians, including Charlie Musselwhite, Marc Ford, Mike Eldred, Top Jimmy, Ryan Bingham, and Lynwood Slim.
Bill Bateman is an American drummer best known for his long service in the Blasters. He has also played for the Flesh Eaters, the Red Devils, and the Cramps.
Chris Morris is a music writer based in Los Angeles, California. He is known for his coverage of L.A.'s independent scene in the 1970s and 1980s, which made him "a central voice in Left Coast music journalism." He has also written well-received books on Los Lobos and Bob Dylan.
Ginger Canzoneri was an American band manager. She was the original manager of 1980s power pop and female punk rock group The Go-Go's, starting in 1979. Canzoneri joined the band after its formation in 1978, and she pawned her jewelry and secured a loan on her car to fund the band's UK tour opening for The Specials and Madness in the summer of 1980. She helped the Go-Go's sign their first major label record deal. She was associated with the women in punk rock movement. She went on to manage other bands.