Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The Weirdos: Action-Design


""I am KAKAFONOUS A. DISCHORD, DOCTOR OF DISSONANCE," roared the little man and, as he spoke, several small explosions and a grinding crash were heard
"What does the 'A' stand for?"
"As loud as possible, " bellowed the doctor."

Norman Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
"We're not punks, we're weirdos from Hollywood!".
John Denney, The Weirdos

The Weirdos utilized extremes of volume, tempo, noise, aggression but always made it look and sound like a joy, a fiendish joy possibly, but a real joy nonetheless. And The Weirdos really got the prime directive of the Britain's punk revolution; tear down the edifice of rock n' roll and then seize the bricks of the old order to build again. Just listen to the wreckage of old and new herein: Bo Diddley's beats, Love's guitar freak-outs, Iggy Pop's lower register, The Ramones ' relentlessness, The Sex Pistol's sneer and just a bit of Devo's art school quirks. It's a magnificent structure.



The Weirdos were one of the best and the most original American punk bands but their discography is a mess. Part of the problem is that in the seventies West Coast punk bands got no major label support and so stellar bands like The Avengers, The Pointed Sticks and The Dils, recorded singles and e.p.'s for tiny labels on minuscule budgets. Compounding the problem is that two of their available compilations, Weird World (volume one and two were released TWELVE years apart), are totally non-chronological and utterly incomplete. As an example, the other three songs from the Action-Design e.p. are not on either release. So MRML is here to rectify this problem and present you with this 1980 12" e.p. of psychedelic-rockabilly-punk. Enjoy the Weirdness.


MRML Readers: Ya want more Weirdos? Leave us a comment

Action-Design link is in the comments

Support the Band
Frontier Records
Amazon Records
iTunes
Posted by jeffen at 7:38 AM
Labels:

7 comments:

  1. jeffenMarch 24, 2010 at 7:50 AM

    http://www.mediafire.com/?kwyozxzzzkz

    ReplyDelete
  2. convertidoMarch 24, 2010 at 8:30 AM

    I was never really a fan of the band until I saw them live. If memory serves they opened for the Circle Jerks in the late 80s or early 90s when CJ came through Dallas. Though diminished by time they remained the most memorable band that night. Thanks for this post!

    ReplyDelete
  3. robertoMarch 24, 2010 at 11:08 AM

    yes,we want more of this really underrated band...and long live to psychedelic rockabilly!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Viacomclosedmedown on youtubeMarch 24, 2010 at 2:57 PM

    I got into a chicken fight on shoulders at their reunion show with the SKULLZ at El Rey in '03 LA when I lived there. Love that old punk. Tanx.

    ReplyDelete
  5. kennyhel77March 24, 2010 at 3:44 PM

    An awesome band and this release was fantastic. You are right Jeffens, the discography is all over the place in a bad way. I have accumulated eveything but it took some work. If you have any boots of their stuff it would be cool to hear. Great choice!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. whiskers deluxMarch 25, 2010 at 6:33 AM

    I had only heard the neutron bomb song , this stuff is great ! Thanks !

    ReplyDelete
  7. jeffenMarch 26, 2010 at 7:47 AM

    convertido
    The Weirdo did diminidh with age but the CJ really bottomed out after "Golden Shower"

    Roberto
    I like to think the band might even appreciate that designation!

    Kenny
    Isn't it ironic that they were once on Rhino, the very label now famous for thorough re-issues and their own releases are such a mess?
    The boots have arrived per your request.

    viacom
    So who won the chicken fight? Glad you enjoyed the Weirdos!

    whiskers
    While "Neutron" is incredible, it's just the beginning of the Weirdness.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for clicking the COMMENTS link.
Now that you're here,I should mentions that
without reader feedback blogs slowly wither and die

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)