Anywhere U.S.A.

The American Clash?  S.V.T.'s sole album from 1981.

Once the powderkeg of punk was lit, first in New York then leaping the pond to London, it exploded everywhere.  While the New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and to a lesser extent Cleveland and D.C. punk scenes have been amply documented, it is now recognized that punk bands started forming almost anywhere with a critical mass of artists, scenesters, and degenerates.  Its my lifelong goal to document as many of these tiny, unheralded, obscure bands and scenes as possible, but I’m just starting to climb that mountain.  The subject of this post is three bands that sprouted up around the time punk exploded in America (at least underground) in ’77 and ’78.

The first is the Pagans.  I first heard of the Pagans 25 years ago but it was only with the advent of the internet and music file sharing that I was at last able to hear them first-hand.  The Pagans formed in 1977 in the wake of the big Cleveland pre/protopunk scene dominated by the Dead Boys.  Formed by vocalist Mike Hudson and guitarist Mike Metoff, the Pagans played a bottom-heavy, grunge-presaging form of garage punk.  In 1986, Treehouse Records released “Buried Alive” (the same year Plan 9 released the Misfits’ compilation Legacy of Brutality).  “Dead End America” surges and roars like early Ramones; “What Is This Shit Called Love?”, is another blast of pure Ramones musical adrenaline (it starts off with a Ramones’ count-off). Regrettably, this album is not available on iTunes but these songs can be found on YouTube.  The Pagans never received the recognition they so rightly deserved, which is a tragedy.

A band I’ve recently gotten into are Boston’s Real Kids.  They actually should have been included in my “protopunk” post, as leader John Felice was a founding member of Jonathon Richman’s Modern Lovers.  I haven’t mention Jonathon Richman or his place in the protopunk iconography (my apologies to anyone from Boston), for the simple and selfish reason that I’ve never been a huge fan of his music, which sought to combine the dissonance and feedback of the Velvet Underground with a uniquely optimistic and innocent lyrical craft.  Don’t get me wrong, I love “Roadrunner”, but other than that song (and to be perfectly truthful I think I prefer Joan Jett’s cover to the original!!  How’s that for blasphemy??) I’ve never really gotten into the Modern Lovers.  Anyhoo, Felice left the Modern Lovers in 1972 and formed the Real Kids soon after.  Sonically the Real Kids had a more melodic and lyrical sweetness compared to actual punk:  “All Kindsa Girls” sounds like a mash-up of punk, powerpop, and bar band R&B and is a fantastic song.  “Bad To Worse” is another marvelous blast of high energy rock; it almost sounds like it could be off the MC5’s second and more commercial album Back In the USA—just good, melodic, heavy rock and roll.  What it shares with punk is the snotty attitude and the lack of concern for fine craft.  “Now You Know” sounds even more melodic, reminding me of LA’s 20/20 or even the Flamin’ Groovies.  The Real Kids’first album, as well as a subsequent album Grown Up Wrong, are available on iTunes.

Felice continued to play with the Real Kids but then spent some time working as a roadie for the Ramones.  At around this time (circa ’76 or ’77) he formed the Taxi Boys, who continued in the same vein, if anything ramping up the melody and toning down the roar.  “Everybody’s Girl” is an excellent example of this more powerpop style and is a terrific song.  “I Can’t Kick” has a bar band, R&B flavor but is another masterful pop gem, while “Up Is Up” has a catchy guitar riff that sounds like early Kinks.  This is good East coast powerpop that is worth a listen.  Unfortunately nothing is on iTunes but all three songs are available on YouTube.

While not actually American, Canada's Teenage Head was an early adopter of punk.  They released two albums in '79 and '80 that sound exactly like the melody meets buzzsaw of the Ramones.  "Ain't Got No Sense" off their debut album (both their early albums are on iTunes, along with more recent work) is poppy punk with the Ramones guitar roar.  If you like the Bruddas you'll LOVE this.

One of my favorite bands of the moment mines a similar vein of powerpop-meets-punk-meets-60’s-mod-raveup as the Real Kids and the Taxi Boys, and that’s S.V.T.  Formed in San Francisco in 1978 by Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna bassist Jack Casady, S.V.T. were an incredibly, INCREDIBLY talented band.  As mentioned, their music straddled the line between punk, powerpop, and bar band R&B—high on energy but also amazingly gifted song writing and melody craft.  They released two singles in 1979 (“Heart of Stone/”The Last Word” is available on YouTube), an EP in 1980 called Extended Play (several songs from this are available on YouTube) and one full-length album in 1981 called No Regrets (which is available on iTunes), and I have yet to find a song on any of them that isn’t phenomenal.  This is truly a band that put together strong songs with the exuberance of punk/new wave.  The single version of “Last Word” is a fantastic punk/powerpop rave-up—Casady’s bass playing is particularly rumbling and marvelous, the drums are terrific, and Brian Marnell’s vocals are up-tempo and fantastic.  This song almost reminds me of what the Clash were doing sonically minus the political lyrics—this song should have been a massive hit.  “Heart of Stone” is slower, starting with guitar harmonies and then launching into Marnell’s soulful lyric “The closer I get to losing you, the more I see your heart of stone”.  This song is not punk (though it has the energy of punk) and edges closer to what the New York Dolls were doing in reviving the plaintive “I’ve lost you” lyrics and feel of 60’s Motown girl groups.  Its another major winner of a song to me.  “Bleeding Heart”, also from their LP, starts with clanging guitars then launches full-tilt into the lurching bass of Casady, followed by a New Wave-y guitar line and staccato vocals that remind me of early Elvis Costello.  “Waiting for You” starts with a swirl of guitars then launches into a punchy, up-tempo guitar and vocal attack before pulling back for an almost chugging, speedmetal refrain—I love the changing tempos of this song and the howling guitar solo by Marnell.  “No Regrets”, the title song of their album is another fast paced bar band punk rock rave-up that builds in intensity as the song progresses.  “Always Come Back” is another one of my favorites and is just an absolute joy, a raw blast of energy that starts slow and quiet but again ramps up the intensity—Casady’s bass again sets a magnificent tempo and I love how Marnell’s vocals build to his near-shouting in the second line of the second verse:  “Everytime I see her I want to tell her she’s mine, and we can run off to Anywhere USA, BUT I KNOW IT WOULDN’T WORK ITS NOT THAT WAY!  She’s got her own little world and I know she wants to stay”.  This is another high point in a career of high points.  "Love Blind" is another sweet, jangly ballad that hits the target sonically (to me at least).  If there’s ONE misstep it’s the cover of “I Walk the Line” by Johnny Cash, if only because its been done to death (even then).  But then on side two, we get “The Price of Sex”, “I Can See”, and “Red Blue Jeans”, all of which are equally fantastic.  I really can’t recommend this band enough—if you like the Plimsouls, the Clash, the Dolls, the Rich Kids, Gen X, or anything in between, you will LOVE this outstanding and sadly unrecognized standout band. 

To me, Casady’s willingness to embrace the new sound of punk was highly admirable—unlike many of his generation, he wasn’t shackled by restrictions and definitions of what rock was.  S.V.T. never achieved national fame but during their brief heyday (vocalist/guitarist Brian Marnell sadly, tragically died in a car crash in 1983), they were one of the most popular draws in the Bay Area (notwithstanding Casady’s Airplane and Tuna fans showing up and yelling out “punk” as a denigration of his attempt to explore the new music and sound).  In a better world they would have been huge national stars and an American answer to the Clash.  But sadly it didn’t happen.  Still, people in the know appreciate the beauty and energy of “Last Word” and “Always Come Back”.