Something's Gone Wrong Again
I just broke out Back From Samoa the other day after years of inactivity and started wondering what the rough cuts on Queer Pills sounded like. What a sweet coincidence, now I know. I'm not sure but I don't think it has ever been officially reissued.
Also before Back From Somoa came out they released two tracks on fanzine flexi that included Flipper and Dead Kennedys. I forgot the other song but there was a great outtake of Steaknife (not PB's Cock) that the fanzine hilarously bleeped!! When I bought there first album, me and my buddies thought they were serious. It was this flexi and Queer Pills that set us straight. Use to see 'em with Jeff Dahl singing.
The Angry Samoans are too awesome. I saw them at Trenton City Gardens and really loved them. At the time I couldn't figure out why the hell they had three guitarists for such simple songs.
haha - wait until you see the Rodney doc. Very thought-provoking about the realities of L.A./Hollywood rock and roll where everyone uses everyone and gets used themselves. Saddest part is when his "girlfriend" shows her true colors on camera and his parents are caught hiding all evidence of him in their house.
just like to say i love this blog. thanks for all the good and obscure stuff you post. cheers. T
I worked the "Back from Samoa" recording when I was at City Recorders in Hollywood. As I remember it - their producer came in with a band member (Gregg maybe? It was a long time ago...) - to redo some bass tracks on "Gas Chamber" and a couple others. The producer (and I have NO idea who THAT was) played the parts himself and they went away - not completely satisfied with the results - as I recall. I don't know if they were keep for the final recording.
So, how weird is this? I worked for a time with one of their girlfriends (don't ask me who's - the drummer's I think) - selling the paper for the LA Times as a telemarketer. ($84 dollar worth of money saving coupons every Thursday!) She started telling us about this band her boyfriend was in - The Angry Samoans - and about six months later - I was recording them. Kinda cosmic!
As for Rodney - my band the Xpanding Canz - did a promo for his show that was killer. I don't know if he ever used it. Later, I traded my (1981?) Grammy ticket to Rodney for playing for a cover version of "Pretty Woman" I did with a band called the Sweaty Pups (payola! payola!). We had a "chick singer" and Rodney kinda leered at the lesbian aspect of it (which - oddly enough - had never occurred to us.) The 'Pups line-up featured Johnny B Frank of (Josie Cotton's) "Johnny Are You Queer" Fame and Phil Miller who played with P-Funk for a time. Rodney was good as his word and he did play it on "Rodney on the ROQ" - and I ended up missing the infamous "Rick James Grammies" because of it. Was it worth it? I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
I'll just add - our Traffic Manager at City Recorders - was a good friend of Eddie Van Halen (he was a groomsman Ed's wedding to Valerie B.) He asked for a copy of our Roy Orbison cover - even though he'd never had even a remote interest in our crappy-ass little band before. About six or seven months later - Van Halen dropped their version of the song. Coincidence? You decide.
Back From Samoa is my favorite punk record. It's funny, these rough cuts don't sound much rougher than the album. What exactly constitutes a "rough cut" in the realm of 80's punk, anyway? But anyway, I'd never heard "Time to Fuck," and I hadn't heard "Posh Boy's Cock" in years (I had heard it long ago on some compilation--also had their cover of "Pictures of Matchstick Men," which was pretty great), so thanks for posting.
'Mad Doctor Matt'... there's someone I'd wanna know.
I'm pretty sure you guys have it already, but I also have a version of Time To Fuck with an extra 2 minutes, briefing the whole A.S. vs. Rodney thing. It was a guy from KPFK (I'm assuming), but I'm unsure about anything past that. If you want a copy, email me at stevyn (att) gmail (dott) com. Thanks.
Fishes,
narco.
Just a quality take on The Samoans...
Greetings from the UK
Commenting by HaloScan
