Killer Pussy

Killer Pussy was formed in the spring of 1980 by eighteen-year-old Lucy LaMode and her friend Les à Go-Go, who was 24. Both were previously lead vocalists for The Roll-Ons, a short-lived Phoenix punk band. For musicians, they asked Leslie’s boyfriend, bassist Dash Assault, to join the group, along with drummer John E. Precious, who was already well-known as a member of local bands The Feederz, Consumers and Precious Secrets. Versatile guitarist and songwriter Gary Russell completed the lineup. 

Inspired by the punk rock scene, which was exploding both locally and internationally at the time, all five founding members of Killer Pussy started writing original songs with a satirical edge. Robert X. Planet joined the band as composer and keyboard player in the fall of 1981. Later members include Dale B. Sari, who replaced Dash on bass in 1982, and Vanya Hautimacki, who took over on drums after John E. Precious fell ill and passed away in September of 1983. Percussionist / saxophonist / vocalist Ricardo Aguilar joined Killer Pussy in 1984. 

Their first recording, 'Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage', was an EP featuring four songs, released on their own Sho-Pink Records label in May, 1982. To follow up, Killer Pussy went on to release 'Bikini Wax', a full length, in August of 1983. The first 5,000 pressings of this 12 vinyl album featured deluxe, full-color packaging with an enclosed lyrics sheet and a reusable plastic slip cover; it is now an extremely rare collectors item. 1984 saw the release of the 'Moist Towelette / Boys!' single. [SOURCE: KILLERPUSSYBAND.COM] 

Paris 1942

Before the “Tea Party-gate,” before twee-immortalizations by way of “quirky” millennial movie soundtracks, before playing with The Kropotkins, and before The Velvet Underground reunion in the 90s, Moe Tucker joined up with Alan and Richard Bishop of Sun City Girls, as well as fellow AZ collaborators David Oliphant, Bennie Baresi, and Jesse Akkari, and made an album as Paris 1942. It’s an amazing mixture of early Sun City Girls-experimentalism, Velvet-inspired bashing, and howling, immediacy captured by way of equipment prone to tape hiss, as well as a living illustration of the link between the two generations. From this band, Sun City Girls would form, and the evolution seems as much obvious as it does brilliant, like one of those moments when you predict the end of a film and still find yourself totally immersed. [SOURCE: TINY MIX TAPES] 

J.F.A.

Phoenix, AZ, punk legends JFA (or Jodie Foster's Army) was assembled in 1981 by Brian Brannon (vocals), Don Redondo (guitars), Mike Cornielius (bass), and drummer Mike Sversvold. Separated as they were from the dying New York and U.K. punk scenes and the '80s punk hotbed in Los Angeles, JFA pursued their own brand of skatepunk that celebrated the suburban release sun burnt skaters experienced while carving swimming pools and desert pipes. JFA performed often in and around Phoenix in the early '80s, and by 1985, the group had released several records on the Placebo imprint: their debut 7", 'Blatant Localism', which has become quite a collector's item; the 12" 'Valley of the Yakes'; an untitled 12"; the 'Mad Garden' 12" and the 'Live 1984 Tour' 12". These early Placebo records were both successful and about as ambitious as the era's punk would get. The music certainly had a hard edge and all the restlessness and noise punk fans expect, but there were also some experiments and genre turns including nifty surf textures that were to that point unheard of in most punk circles. During the late '80s, JFA continued releasing discs for Placebo including the 7" 'My Movie' and the 12" 'Nowhere Blossoms'. The punk scene in Phoenix and L.A. fizzled a little in the late '80s and Placebo Records eventually went bankrupt, leaving the still-active JFA without a label home. Brannon moved to the Bay Area in 1990 to work at Thrasher Magazine, but continued to work with Redondo and new musicians Bruce Taylor on bass and drummer Mike Tracy. During this time, JFA recorded some singles and splits for a couple different labels including their own Buzzkill imprint. The new lineup performed occasionally around L.A., where Redondo had moved, to the delight of Southern California punkers, and eventually Brannon joined the rest of the group, moving down to L.A. himself. In 2000, JFA released their first full-length recording since the demise of Placebo, 'Only Live Once' on Hurricane Records. Like their early work, this offering from the band demonstrates their adventurousness as well as their aggression: two qualities that have always existed in rare proportions for these old-school skatepunks. Surf elements, some keyboards, clever lyrics, and a zealous devotion to the skating ideals and lifestyle are what always separated this group, and earned them respect from punkers everywhere. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC] 

Ween

Ween were the ultimate cosmic goof of the alternative rock era, a prodigiously talented and deliriously odd duo whose work traveled far beyond the constraints of parody and novelty into the heart of surrealist ecstasy. Despite a mastery of seemingly every mutation of the musical spectrum, the group refused to play it straight; in essence, Ween were bratty deconstructionists, kicking dirt on the pop world around them with demented glee. Along with the occasional frat-boy lapses into misogyny, racism, and homophobia, the band's razor-sharp satire cut to the inherently silly heart of rock & roll with hilariously acute savagery; fueled by psilocybin mushrooms and an all-consuming craving for hot meals, Ween created their own self-contained universe, a parallel dimension where the only sacred cow was their own demon god, the Boognish. 

The duo formed in suburban New Hope, Pennsylvania in 1984, when 14 year olds Mickey Melchiondo and Aaron Freeman adopted their respective fraternal aliases, Dean and Gene Ween, and cut the first of literally thousands of home recordings. At about the same time, Freeman -working under the name Synthetic Socks- issued an eponymous 1987 solo cassette on the fledgling TeenBeat label, Ween released their own debut tape, 'The Crucial Squeegie Lip', on their own Bird O' Pray imprint. After a pair of 1988 self-releases, titled 'Axis: Bold as Boognish' and 'The Live Brain Wedgie/WAD' LP, Ween signed to the Minneapolis-based independent label Twin/Tone, which in 1990 issued the double album 'GodWeenSatan: The Oneness', a sprawling, often brilliant release that careened from the headlong hardcore rush of the opening "You Fucked Up" to the helium pop of "Don't Laugh I Love You" to the Prince-Xeroxed funk of "L.M.L.Y.P." 

A move to the Shimmy Disc label followed prior to the release of 1991's 'The Pod', another masterpiece of dementia recorded on four-track under the influence of inhaled Scotchgard; darker and more deranged than its predecessor, 'The Pod' expanded the Ween palette to include Beatlesque pop (the sublime "Pork Roll Egg and Cheese"), oddball folk ("Oh My Dear [Falling in Love]"), and mystic hard rock ("Captain Fantasy"). Against all odds, the record won Ween a deal with major-label Elektra; against even greater odds, the leap to the big leagues did nothing to alter the duo's mindset. 'Pure Guava', their Elektra debut released in 1992, was their most consistently weird and wonderful outing to date. Highlighted by the disturbingly infectious single "Push th' Little Daisies" (a Top Ten hit in Australia), 'Pure Guava' found the group as snarky as ever on self-explanatory workouts like "Reggaejunkiejew," "Hey Fat Boy (Asshole)," and "Flies on My Dick"; "Springtheme" mocked love songs at their queasiest; while the climactic "Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)" distilled the overblown excesses of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Queensrÿche's "Silent Lucidity" into an epic art rock portrait of child molestation. 

Dedicated to the late comedic actor John Candy, 1994's 'Chocolate and Cheese' -its title a perfect summation of the duo's blend of R&B and schlock- upped the ante yet again. Widening the net to ensnare cowboy songs ("Drifter in the Dark"), Philly soul ("Freedom of '76"), Afro-Caribbean funk ("Voodoo Lady"), and Sergio Leone-inspired spaghetti Western epics ("Buenas Tardes Amigo"), 'Chocolate and Cheese' also featured "Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)" and "Mister Would You Please Help My Pony," two of the creepiest tales of childhood trauma ever committed to vinyl. Having taken their anything-goes aesthetic to its logical extreme, Ween took a sharp left turn for 1996's '12 Golden Country Greats', a ten-track concept album recorded in Nashville with Music City session luminaries including The Jordanaires, Bobby Ogdin, Russ Hicks, Hargus "Pig" Robbins, and Charlie McCoy. While the song titles alone -among them "Japanese Cowboy," "Mister Richard Smoker," and "Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain"- served notice that the group's lyrical attitude had not altered one whit, the music was remarkably evocative of Nashville's golden era, and performed with skill and affection. 

A tour with Ogdin and a backing unit dubbed The Shit Creek Boys (which included steel guitarist Stuart Basore, guitarist Danny Parks, fiddler Hank Singer, and bassist Matt Kohut) followed prior to the release of 1997's 'The Mollusk', a concise, mock-progressive semi-concept album that proved to be one of Ween's strongest efforts. The follow-up was a double-disc concert compilation, 'Paintin' the Town Brown: Ween Live '90-'98', issued in 1999. In the spring of 2000, the duo resurfaced with 'White Pepper', their first new studio effort in three years; it peaked at 121 on the Billboard charts, their highest placing to date. 

In 2001, Ween began releasing a series of live albums through their Internet-based independent label, Chocodog. The first of these, 'Live in Toronto Canada', captured a show with The Shit Creek Boys. Around this time, the band and Elektra parted ways, and Ween were without a record label as they worked on their eighth studio album. After a wait of two years -during which time they released another live album, the triple-disc 'Live at Stubb's'- they signed with Sanctuary Records in 2003, releasing 'Quebec' in August of that year. It was the first Ween album to crack the Top 100, peaking at 81. 

A few months after the release of 'Quebec', another independent live album followed ('All Request Live'), with additional retrospectives arriving in 2004 ('Live in Chicago', a combination DVD/CD set) and 2005 (the rarities compilation 'Shinola, Vol. 1'). Ween headed back into the studio to work on their ninth studio album, and the resulting 'La Cucaracha' arrived in October 2007 (prefaced by the 'Friends' EP earlier in the year). Recording activity began again in 2009, but nothing appeared forthcoming from the band. In 2012, Gene released a solo album -a tribute to the songs of Rod McKuen called 'Marvelous Clouds'- under his given name of Aaron Freeman. Shortly after its release, he announced to Rolling Stone that the band had ended its run. 

For the next few years, it seemed as if Ween really had ended. Freeman released an album of original songs called 'Freeman' and Melchiondo formed The Dean Ween Group, starting work on an album that appeared in the fall of 2016. By that point, Ween had reunited. The group played its first concerts in five years that February, and throughout the year, the band played festivals and concerts, culminating with the release of the archival 'GodWeenSatan: Live' in November. Ween's live reunion continued through 2017. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC] 

The Victims

The Victims were formed in Perth in mid-1977 with James Baker on drums (ex-Beheaded / The Geeks), Dave Flick (real name Dave Faulkner) on guitar and vocals (ex-Beagle Boys) and Rudolph V (real name Dave Cardwell) on bass guitar. Earlier in that year Baker and Cardwell had founded another punk band, The Geeks, with Ross Buncle on guitar and a vocalist, Lloyd. That group folded in May and their original songs formed the core of The Victims' initial repertoire. The group's sound was based on United States punk pioneers, The Flamin' Groovies, The Heartbreakers, New York Dolls, and The Stooges.

In 1977 The Victims recorded their debut single, 'Television Addict / I'm Flipped Out Over You' of which only 1,000 copies were pressed. In August 1978 they released a five-track extended play, 'The Victims' (also known as 'No Thanks to the Human Turd'). Only 500 copies of the EP were released

Their performance at Hernando's Hideaway in Perth in January 1978 was recorded: it was issued on the live album, 'Culture Shock', in 2014. By mid-1978 The Victims had disbanded, they briefly reunited in early 1979 to provide a farewell gig. Baker was a founder of The Scientists (1978–81). Flick reverted to using his surname, Faulkner, and briefly joined Midget and The Farrellys. In late 1979, he joined Manikins. Baker and Faulkner reunited in January 1981 and founded Hoodoo Gurus in Sydney. Rudolph V became a member of Love Assassins with Mark Hutchinson on guitar, John Rowlings on vocals and Marc Siddall on drums.

In December 1989 The Victims material was issued as a compilation album, 'All Loud on the Western Front', on Timberyard Records. This included all the tracks from their first single and EP, as well as a previously unreleased track, "Perth Is a Culture Shock". It was re-issued on CD in 2005. 

"Television Addict" has been covered by Hoodoo Gurus and recorded by You Am I, The Hellacopters and Teengenerate. It is also a mainstay of Australian punk compilations. The song was also played live by United States band The Bronx on their 2007 Australian tour. The 2011 compilation, 'Sleeping Dogs Lie', was issued by Japanese label 1977 Records and distributed in Australia by the Fuse label. In addition to the tracks on 'All Loud on the Western Front' it added two demo songs.

In August 2014 Baker and Faulkner were joined by Ray Ahn (of Hard-Ons) on bass guitar as the Television Addicts at the Rosemount Hotel in North Perth. They performed The Victims material and in February of the following year gigged in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA] 

Tontrix

Tontrix formed in 1978 featuring Hambi Haralambous on vocals (later Victims of Romance, Hambi and The Dance), Steve Lovell on guitar (later of Hollycaust, Hambi and The Dance, Blitz Brotherss, Julian Cope), Mike Score on bass (later A Flock of Seagulls), Bobby Carr on keyboards (ex Those Naughty Lumps, later Moderates, Surreal Estate), Chris Hughes on drums (later of Hambi and The Dance, Adam and The Ants), who replaced Ian Johnston. The band had only one official release in 1979, the 7" single called 'Shell Shocked and Slipping Into Life'. Another track was included in the ‘Street to Street’ compilation namely "Screen Love" (a.k.a. "Clear on Radar"). The band played many gigs across North West and by late 1979 Tontrix members went their separate ways. [SOURCE: DISCOGS] 

Skullflower

Skullflower is a British noise rock band formed in 1987 who served as the flagship band of the Broken Flag collective, a group of experimental noise rock bands from the U.K. (most notably Ramleh, Total, and Sunroof!) that often swapped ideas and personnel. Led by guitarist Matthew Bower, the prolific Skullflower boasted the largest cult following of the bunch, with a sound based on sludgy, stomping, doom-garage riffs overlaid with hallucinatory feedback, fuzzed-out guitar noise, dark ambience, and monolithic drones derived from power electronics and throttling rhythms, all played at an ungodly volume. Their lyrical subject matter is obsessed with death, violence, misanthropy, and sexual deviancy. Always an improvisational outfit, their textured noise freakouts grew increasingly free-form over the course of their career, moving farther and farther away from even loose definitions of "rock." While recordings such as 1989's 'Form Destroyer' and 1995's 'Transformer' revealed a true post-punk approach to rock, later offerings such as 2008's 'Taste the Blood of the Deceiver' and 2010's 'Strange Keys to Untune Gods' Firmament' revealed an evolving sound that relied more on sonic deconstruction and spontaneous improvisation than formal process. 

Skullflower was formed in London in 1987, growing out of guitarist Matthew Bower's previous band, Total (which subsequently turned into a solo side project). Skullflower's early core members were Bower, drummer Stuart Dennison (the only other constant besides Bower), and bassist/guitarist Stefan Jaworzyn. The lineup was fairly fluid, however, especially early on; other contributors included guitarist Gary Mundy (also the leader of Ramleh), bassist Alex Binnie, bassist/drummer Stephen Thrower (also of Coil), and auxiliary bassist/guitarist/drummer Anthony DiFranco (also known as JFK). Initially recording for the Broken Flag label, a community enterprise that also handled Ramleh and Total, Skullflower made their recorded debut with the 1988 EP 'Birthdeath' and followed it with the full-length 'Form Destroyer' in 1989. Like much of their subsequent output, both releases were pressed in extremely limited quantities. Material from both was included on 1990's 'Ruins', the group's first release on Jaworzyn's Shock label; several tracks appeared in remixed form. 

The contentious mixing process for Skullflower's next release, 1990's 'Xaman', spelled the end of Jaworzyn's involvement in the group. Bower subsequently recruited Anthony DiFranco to take over full-time bass duties, and this trio recorded 1992's 'IIIrd Gatekeeper' for Godflesh guitarist Justin Broadrick's HeadDirt label; they also toured as Godflesh's opening act that fall. Two more albums followed in 1993: 'Last Shot at Heaven', on Noiseville, and 'Obsidian Shaking Codex', on RRR. By this time, DiFranco was decreasing his involvement in the group, and eventually left altogether to record as Ax; his place was filled by official second guitarist Russell Smith, formerly of Terminal Cheesecake. 

Hereafter, Skullflower concentrated on free-form noise improv to a greater degree than ever before. Released by VHF in 1994, 'Carved Into Roses' featured guest vocals from Philip Best (also of Ramleh and Whitehouse), plus Casio squiggles from Simon Wickham-Smith. The year 1995 was prolific even for Skullflower: 'Argon' (issued on Freek) added horn players John Godbert and Tim Hodgkinson to the overall din, while 'Infinityland' (a second effort for HeadDirt) again welcomed Best and Wickham-Smith, and the live 'Adieu, All You Judges' (back on Broken Flag) captured a joint performance with Ramleh. Arriving in also 1995, 'Transformer' was released on the prominent garage-oriented indie label Sympathy for the Record Industry, and marked a quieter, more ambient direction for the band, complete with strings. It was followed later that year by the similar 'This Is Skullflower', which appeared on VHF and featured Godbert on piano, as well as third guitarist Richard Youngs. Following that release, Matthew Bower opted to concentrate on his other bands, the even more improvisational Sunroof! and Total, and retired the Skullflower name.

Bower and Dennison resurrected the group in 2003, recording 'Exquisite Fucking Boredom' for the tUMULt label along with guitarist Mark Burns and bassist Steve Martin; it was co-produced by Neil Campbell (Vibracathedral Orchestra, ex-Total) and Colin Potter (Nurse with Wound). 'Orange Canyon Mind' and 'Tribulation' appeared on Crucial Blast in 2005 and 2006, respectively; both were primarily recorded by Bower solo. From there, Skullflower became more prolific (as well as drone-based) than ever, with a barrage of releases on numerous labels, ranging from limited, self-released CD-Rs to ambitious box sets. The year 2008 alone saw releases on Utech ('Desire for a Holy War'), Not Not Fun ('Taste the Blood of the Deceiver' LP and a split 7" with Axolotl), and Turgid Animal ('Pure Imperial Reform' and the three-CD box 'Circulos Vitiosus Deus'). In 2009, Noiseville released 'Vile Veil', and 'Malediction' appeared on Second Layer Records; Posh Isolation released a Skullflower/Limepit split LP. 

The year 2010 began with Neurot Recordings' release of Skullflower's double-CD 'Strange Keys to Untune Gods' Firmament'. The group made its debut on power electronics label Cold Spring with 2011's 'Fucked on a Pile of Corpses', which included input from Samantha Davies, George Proctor, and Lee Stokoe. Split albums with Mastery and Utarm appeared in 2013, while Shock/Dirter Promotions released 'Kino I-IV', a box set of material from the group's early years. Bower and Davies recorded the double-CD 'Draconis', which was released by Cold Spring in 2014. Skullflower then began releasing numerous digital recordings through their Bandcamp page in 2015. Aside from the limited CD-R 'Military Temples (For Coil)' and a collaborative cassette with Der Blutharsch, their first major physical release since 'Draconis' was 2017's 'The Spirals of Great Harm', another epic double CD on Cold Spring. Soon after, the Egyptian label Nashazphone released Skullflower's LP 'The Black Iron That Fell from the Sky, To Dwell Within (Bear It or Be It)'. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]