WHAT WE DO WAS SECRET

Photo: John Denny (Weirdos), Darby Crash (Germs) and Tomata du Plenty (Screamers) singing back-up vocals for Black Randy and the Metrosquad at the Masque, ca 1978. Original full size photo by Douglas Cavanaugh, can be found on Kristian Hoffman's site here.

The context in which the 77-78 era of California punk rock is experienced is everything. A lot of online sources get things a little skewed, some do a little research and get it right, and some "I was there" sites give interesting first-hand accounts.

One thing that needs to be remembered is, first and foremost, it was an full-on DIY phenomenon. People with little or no experience put out records and fanzines, and they were every bit as essential to the scenes as the bands were. There were no web pages, no MySpace, no Pro Tools, no mp3's or YouTube. Just scrappy kids that couldn't take the crap they were being fed any longer. Take DIY out of the equation, add thirty years and try not to choke on the words "punk's not dead."

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:

The Alley Cats-Nothin Means Nothing Anymore/Give Me a Little Pain (Dangerhouse) [1]

The Bags-Survive/Babylonian Gorgon (Dangerhouse) [2]

Black Randy & the Metrosquad-Trouble at the Cup/Loner With a Boner/Sperm Bank Baby(Dangerhouse) [2]

The Controllers-(The Original) Neutron Bomb (What Records) [2]

The Deadbeats-Kill the Hippies/Brainless/Final Ride/Deadbeat (Dangerhose) [4]
The Dils-Class War/Mr. Big (Dangerhouse) [2]

The Germs-Lexicon Devil/No God/Circle One (Slash) [2]

The Eyes-Don’t Talk To Me (What Records) [2]

The Skulls-Victims (What Records) [2]

The Weirdos-We Got the Neutron Bomb (Dangerhouse) [5]

The Zeros-Don't Push Me Around/Beat Your Heart Out/Hand Grenade Heart [Demo]/Cosmetic Couple [Demo] (Bomp) [3]
The hosts:
1. Good Bad Music For Bad, Bad Times
2. Killed By Death
3. Pop Zeus

4. Last Days of Man on Earth

5. Something I Learned Today

Compilations of Dangerhouse bands (and two Weirdos comps) are available at Frontier Records.

Recommended reading: "We Got the Neutron Bomb" by Brendan Mullen and Mark Spitz