Paul Vincent Collins (born 1956) is an American writer, author, music producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for his work in the power pop groups The Nerves, The Breakaways and The Beat.[1]
Collins began his career as the drummer (and sometime singer & songwriter) in an influential Los Angeles power pop trio The Nerves, alongside Jack Lee and future Plimsouls frontman Peter Case. The band are best remembered for "Hanging on the Telephone", a song later made famous by Blondie. Hanging on the Telephone was written by Jack Lee.
After Jack Lee left the Nerves, Collins and Peter Case continued practicing and recording with a variety of guitarists as the Breakaways; their best known song is "Walking out on Love", a song frequently performed by the Nerves in concert but never recorded by them. Tapes of their sessions surfaced in the late 2000s and were released on a compilation album in 2009.
Next, Collins formed his own group as singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter for The Beat, sometimes called The Paul Collins Beat to avoid confusion with the British ska group also called The Beat (or The English Beat in the US).
The Beat also known as The English Beat, were sued by Sony/Columbia in 1979. The same year, Sony/Columbia released Collins' self-titled debut in 1979.
Renamed the Paul Collins' Beat in the early 1980s, the band became icons in the genre of indie rock Paul Collins' Beat were in a constant state of touring and recording around the world. They appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and contributed a song to the Caddyshack soundtrack, alongside Journey and Kenny Loggins. The band broke up in 1989, following the release of their sixth album, One Night. Paul Collins continues to perform to this day with ever-changing versions of Paul Collins' Beat, in addition to his solo project, country-rock band called the Paul Collins Band.
Since the early 1980s, Collins has been living on and off in Spain, where he has a particularly strong following, and spends most of his time performing in Europe and Japan, although he still holds citizenship in the United States. In fact, his two former wives are from Spain. During this time, he produced several Spanish pop bands, including La Granja, Los Limones and Los Protones.
In 2005, Collins released his first solo album of the decade, Flying High. The music received strong reviews and is reminiscent of the catchy power pop of The Beat, particularly in the opening song, Rock and Roll Shoes. Additionally, Flying High showcases Paul Collins' alt-country, roots-rock and Americana styles, with the singles Will You Be A Woman and Afton Place, which were released worldwide as music videos.
In March 2008, Paul Collins released Ribbon of Gold as the follow-up to 2005's critically acclaimed Flying High. This album contains several songs the band performs live in concert, including Falling in Love With Her, I Still Want You, Big Pop Song and She Doesn't Want To Hang Around With You. In 2009, Paul Collins released a fictional autobiography, entitled Mi madre, mi mentor y yo, in addition to writing a humour filled fictional autobiography 8 Million Stories: Pete The Fly. Copies of which seem nearly impossible to find.Paul Collins' Beat next release will be a split 7-inch with the Italian powerpop band Radio Days. The split will be released by the Italian label Surfin Ki Records in March 2010, followed by a full-length album released by Alive Naturalsound in Fall 2010.
Green Day and Broadway musical cover a Paul Collins song
In 2011, the American punk rock band Green Day launched the American Idiot Broadway Musical Production. Each night included a live rendition of the song "Walking Out on Love," which was written by Paul Collins. The song was previously recorded by Collins' groups The Beat, The Nerves and The Breakaways. Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong is a fan of the song, which may appear on a future studio album by Green Day. To celebrate the success of the musical, The Paul Collins Beat joined Green Day onstage for live performances in New York.
Paul Collins and Peter Case reunion tribute to the Nerves
In 2012, longtime friends and musical partners, Paul Collins and Peter Case announced a reunion tour paying tribute to their bands The Nerves, The Breakaways, The Beat and The Plimsouls. The touring band lineup for the Collins and Case tour was augmented by members of The Paul Collins Beat, Timm Buechler on bass and Amos Pitsch on drums, offering audiences with a full-band electric showcase. The tour included a date in Austin, Texas, where actor Bill Murray made a surprise appearance at the concert to introduce the band. Collins' group The Beat had previously appeared on the Caddyshack original motion picture soundtrack alongside Murray in 1979. Due to personality issues, Paul Collins was dismissed from the tour which continued without him.
The Paul Collins Beat tour with The English Beat
In Fall 2012, The Paul Collins Beat joined a package tour "The Two Beats Hearting As One Tour," co-headlining with Two-tone Ska group The Beat. The English Beat and The Paul Collins Beat were both part of the "new wave" of bands to emerge from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Ironically, the styles of music they play are very different. Both bands helped to define their respective genres, making them legends. The tour package will include dates at large music halls, casinos, auditoriums and clubs. According to a September 2012 interview with Collins, "Contrary to what the internet fabricates, there never was and is no animosity toward The English Beat. I am still a big fan of The English Beat. Ska is really cool music. Dave is a good friend. He's always so nice and always upbeat. He's just as supportive of my music as I am of his. Both of our fanbases are enjoying hearing each other's music." According to an October 2012 press release, Dave Wakeling stated, "Paul and I originally met back in '83 and have been in touch occasionally over the years, but recently we've been in closer Facebook contact, which led to this idea becoming a reality....Two beats, hearting as one!”
The Beat Army
During 2005, Collins launched a new music program and partner-based booking agency that was recently renamed as The Beat Army. Collins created a forum where fans, bands, clubs, venues, radio stations, music festivals, blogs and record stores can network. Groups have the opportunity to swap shows, while Collins cross-promotes his various musical projects and tours.
The business model for The Beat Army is a simple process in which Paul Collins' Beat and regional bands join forces to book small tours on their own DIY style. The bands share equipment and transportation, lodgings are supplied by local bands and or fans who welcome the musicians into their homes. After hundreds of successful shows, with countless new and upcoming bands, The Beat Army has proven that you can tour today and avoid all the high costs associated with touring and still show a profit. All the bands participate in the financial reward on Beat Army Tours, making it a model for the new millennium of DIY touring.
With Collins' solo albums distinctly different from his rock material and heavily rooted in the genres of American roots music, he continues to maintain a diversified fanbase. The Beat Army has enabled Collins to book shows with bands and artists in genres such as singer-songwriter, alternative country, Americana music, country rock, folk rock, and rockabilly.
Discography
With The Nerves
Nerves (Nerves, 1976)
One Way Ticket (Bomp/Alive Records, 2009)
The Nerves Live at the Pirate's Cove (Bomp/Alive Records, 2010)
With the Breakaways
Walking out on Love (The Lost Sessions) (Bomp/Alive Records, 2009)
With The Beat
The Beat (CBS, 1979)
The Kids Are The Same (CBS, 1981)
To Beat Or Not To Beat (1983)
Long Time Gone (1985)
Live at Universal (Twins, 1986)
One Night (Sony, 1989)
Solo albums
Paul Collins (Sony DRO, 1992)
From Town To Town (Caroline Records, 1993)
Live in Spain (Not Lame, 1997)
Let's Go (2006)
King Of Power Pop! (Alive Records, 2010)
Live in Concert (2012)
Feel The Noise (Alive Records, 2014)
Out Of My Head (Alive Records, 2018)
DVDs
Live in Concert (2012)
As The Paul Collins Beat
Flying High (Lucinda/Get Hip, 2005)
Ribbon of Gold (Rock Indiana/Get Hip, 2008)
King of Powerpop (Alive Naturalsound, 2010)
Feel The Noise (Alive Naturalsound, 2014)
In tribute to Paul Collins, Peter Case and Jack Lee
Under the Covers Vol. 2: A Tribute to Paul Collins, Peter Case and Jack Lee (Volar Records/I Hate Rock and Roll Records)
Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. It was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Stranger Cole, Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods and with many skinheads.
Peter Case is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His career is wide-ranging, from rock n' roll and blues, to folk rock and solo acoustic performance.
No Doubt is an American rock band formed in Anaheim, California in 1986. For most of its career, the band has consisted of vocalist and founding member Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young. Keyboardist Eric Stefani, Gwen's brother, was also a former member when the band started to release albums in 1992. Since the mid-1990s, trombonist Gabrial McNair and trumpeter Stephen Bradley have performed with the band as session and touring musicians.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones were an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. From the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky Barrett, bassist Joe Gittleman, tenor saxophonist Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton and dancer ("Bosstone") Ben Carr remained constant members. The band's final line-up also included drummer Joe Sirois, saxophonist Leon Silva, guitarist Lawrence Katz, keyboardist John Goetchius, and trombonist Chris Rhodes.
Power pop is a subgenre of rock music and form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and cheerful-sounding music underpinned by a sense of yearning, longing, despair, or self-empowerment. The sound is primarily rooted in pop and rock traditions of the early-to-mid 1960s, although some artists have occasionally drawn from later styles such as punk, new wave, glam rock, pub rock, college rock, and neo-psychedelia.
Pop-punk is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes. It is distinguished from other punk-variant genres by drawing more heavily from 1960s bands such as the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Beach Boys. The genre has evolved throughout its history, absorbing elements from new wave, college rock, ska, hip hop, emo, boy band pop and even hardcore punk. It is sometimes considered interchangeable with power pop and skate punk.
Ska punk is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones, making the genre distinct from other forms of punk rock. It is closely tied to third wave ska which reached its zenith in the mid-1990s.
Five Iron Frenzy is an American band which formed in Denver, Colorado, in 1995. Best known for playing ska punk music characterized by an offbeat sense of humor and prominent Christian themes, Five Iron Frenzy was one of the pioneering figures of the Christian ska movement which emerged with ska's mainstream revival in the 1990s. Since 2000, the band's music has shifted away from straight ska to include and embrace stronger alternative rock and pop punk influences, though it continues to create ska music and feature Christian lyrical themes despite several members' changes in religious beliefs.
Steven John Bator, known professionally as Stiv Bator and later as Stiv Bators, was an American punk rock vocalist and guitarist from Youngstown, Ohio. He is best remembered for his bands Dead Boys and The Lords of the New Church.
The Weirdos are an American punk rock band from Los Angeles. They formed in 1975, split-up in 1981, re-grouped in 1986 and have remained semi-active ever since. Critic Mark Deming calls them "quite simply, one of the best and brightest American bands of punk's first wave."
The Nerves were an American power pop trio, formed in San Francisco in 1974 and later based in Los Angeles, featuring guitarist Jack Lee, bassist Peter Case, and drummer Paul Collins. All three members composed songs and sang. They managed an international tour in the U.S. and Canada, including dates with the Ramones, and performances for the troops as part of the United Services Organization (USO).
The Beat is an American rock and power pop band from Los Angeles that formed in 1979. Paul Collins' Beat resurfaced in the 1990s and continues to tour and record new material. Front man Paul Collins has released several projects with his alternative country group The Paul Collins Band, who play Americana music inspired by country rock and folk rock.
Jack Lee was an American songwriter and musician best known for composing the songs "Hanging on the Telephone", covered by the new wave band Blondie, "Come Back and Stay", covered by the singer Paul Young and "You Are My Lover", recorded by Suzi Quatro.
Alive Naturalsound Records is an independent record label formed in 1993 in Los Angeles, California by Patrick Boissel, specializing in garage rock, punk, psychedelic, and blues rock. It grew out of Boissel's association with the U.S. label Bomp! Records.
Bomp! Records is a Los Angeles-based record label formed in 1974 by fanzine publisher and music historian Greg Shaw, and Suzy Shaw.
Le Tigre is the debut studio album of American music trio Le Tigre. It was released October 25, 1999, on Mr. Lady Records. The album combined pop music with the band's feminist political lyrics. It received positive reviews from music critics.
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.
Japanese ska is ska music made in Japan. It is, along with its counterparts elsewhere in the world, part of what has been called the "third wave of ska [that] combines the traditional Jamaican Club sound with metal, punk, folk, funk, and/or country."
M.I.A. is an American 1980s punk rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada. The band's sound is generally hardcore and thrash, though they produced more melodic and progressive sounds in their later albums. AllMusic called the band "one of the 50 best So-Cal punk bands of the great early-'80s second wave explosion."
The Maxies are a power pop/punk rock band based in Riverside, California, with its members using onstage pseudonyms and billing themselves from Nuuk, Greenland.
↑ Coyote, Ginger. "Paul Collins: He's Got The Beat", Punk Globe. Accessed March 25, 2021. "Paul Collins: Hi Ginger I am so happy to be talking to Punk Globe after all these years! I was born in New York City and I spent my first years in a town in New Jersey called Old Tappan then I moved to Long Island to a town called Manhasset. That's where I started playing the drums and listening to rock n roll radio…WABC with Cousin Brucey! Punk Globe: Tell us a bit about your musical background? Paul Collins: I had a band in Leonia the town I lived in before I moved into NY, it was my first band and we played original songs, the band was called Home Grown and the only song I remember was 'I Lost My Body'"
↑ Multimedia Show", The Record, June 1, 1973. Accessed December 23, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "Paul Collins, Mrs. Sica's son, composed and taped the music. He is in his senior year at the Leonia Alternative High School and will attend the Juilliard School of Music this fall."
Bibliography
Collins, Paul: Mi madre, mi mentor y yo, Gamuza Azul, Bilbao, Spain, 2006. ISBN84-932124-4-X.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
