The Weirdos: Condor

When I moved to the Pacific North-West in the spring of 1991, Grunge may have been ascendant but the alternative sound du jour was still funk-punk (a.k.a. funk-metal). Licentious California funk-punk related bands like the Red Hot Chill Peppers, Fishbone, Jane's Addiction, Faith No More and Primus ruled the day. While each of those bands had their virtues and sins, the worst aspect of this micro-genre was the wave of pseudo-funk it unleashed upon the world. Slap-bass became ubiquitous, token funk tracks invaded set-lists and white kids tried, and oh how they tried, to rap. Infectious Grooves, Bootsauce, Mind Funk, Mary's Danish, Psychefunkapus: the gruesome parade was so wretchedly phony that it makes you question if Stone Temple Pilots really represented the nadir of nineties derivation.

It was upon this funk-addled world that The Weirdos staged their most ambitious comeback attempt. Between 1990 and 1991 the Weirdos released their first two full lengths, both of which I bought on L.P. in the summer of 1991. While 1991's Weird World collected up SOME of their old singles and demos, 1990's Condor was in fact, thirteen years into their career, their debut album!



Weird World's flaw was its omission of "Destroy All Music" while Condor's was giving sock-dick'ed funky bass-man Flea a slot in the band. Flea does have accomplishments to his name (many would dispute me) but Cliff Roman was the Weirdos key song-writer and he should not have been side-lined. No matter what, side one of Condor is packed with warp-speed weirdness (much of it co-written with Roman) like "Shining Silver Light", "WWYD", "Tropical Depression", "Terrain" and the positively psychotic, "Cyclops Helicopter". The problematic side two, where the funk bleeds in on such songs as "Night After Day" and "Her" suggests The Weirdos metier was the short form.

(P.S. I've added the rawer Condor Demos becasue they contain "Nowhere To Run" which should've made the album.)


MRML Readers: Was funk-punk/funk-metal really all that bad?
Is Condor a good/bad/mixed album?
Leave us a comment!

Condor (and Condor Demos) links are in the comments.

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For more out-of-print Weirdos (and further L.A. madness) go visit the estimable Mr. Roky Manson.

The Weirdos: It Means Nothing b/w We Got the Neutron Bomb

This pair of demos includes the biting rarity, "It Means Nothing" and the first version of a track that defined American punk of the Left Coast variety, "We Got the Neutron Bomb".



MRML Readers: Is "We've Got the Neutron Bomb" THE definitive American punk rock song? Leave us a comment!

It Means Nothing link is in the comments

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The Weirdos: Ranting in a Rubber Room

This bootleg 2 X 7" refers to these tracks as "rehearsals", though elsewhere they're referred to as "demos". Either way, and in light of the scarcity of prime Weirdos recordings, this is valuable, raw material, absolutely laced with a ferocious intensity.


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

Ranting in a Rubber Room link is in the comments

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Frontier Records
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The Weirdos: Who? What? Where? When? Why?

More psychedelic-rockabilly-punk from this 1979 Weirdos e.p. on Bomp Records. While a few of these songs are spread over the two voumes of Weird World, the only way to get this currently is on a CD version of the band's first single, "Destroy All Music".

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

Who? What? Where? When? Why? link is in the comments

Support the Band
Frontier Records
Amazon Records
iTunes

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