Chinas Comidas were an early

art punk Art punk is a subgenre of punk rock in which artists go beyond the genre's rudimentary garage rock and are considered more sophisticated than their peers. These groups still generated punk's aesthetic of being simple, offensive, and free-spirit ...

band from

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, that formed in 1977 and disbanded in 1980 after having moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The group combined no wave and

proto-punk Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music played mostly by garage bands from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock movement. The phrase is a retrospective label; the musicians involved were generally not originally associated wit ...

musical influences with frontwoman Cynthia Genser's

feminist poetry Feminist poetry is inspired by, promotes, or elaborates on feminist principles and ideas. It might be written with the conscious aim of expressing feminist principles, although sometimes it is identified as feminist by critics in a later era. Some w ...

History

Formation in Seattle

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

native and lyricist Cynthia Genser (née Kraman) had experienced the evolution of the early punk rock scene with bands like the

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album '' Horses''. Called the "punk poe ...

and

Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

. When Genser relocated to Seattle in the mid-1970s she connected with the city's blooming punk rock underground to recruit musicians for her own project Chinas Comidas (itself a Mexican slang expression meaning "Chinese food").Clark Humphrey: ''Loser: The Real Seattle Music Story.'' Updated and revised 2nd edition, MISCmedia, Seattle, 1999, p. 36. The first line-up consisted of members of fellow Seattle

art-punk Art punk is a subgenre of punk rock in which artists go beyond the genre's rudimentary garage rock and are considered more sophisticated than their peers. These groups still generated punk's aesthetic of being simple, offensive, and free-spirit ...

groups Red Dress and The Tupperwares, including drummer Eldon "El Duce" Hoke (who would soon leave Chinas Comidas to focus on his own

shock rock Shock rock is the combination of rock music or heavy metal music with highly theatrical live performances emphasizing shock value. Performances may include violent or provocative behavior from the artists, the use of attention-grabbing imagery ...

outfit

the Mentors The Mentors are an American heavy metal band, known for their deliberate shock rock lyrics. Originally formed in Seattle, Washington in May 1976, they relocated to Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band garnered attention both from noted h ...

).Chinas Comidas at Seattle's Georgetown Records
/ref> By 1978, a stable line-up consisting of Genser, Red Dress guitarist Richard Riggins, bassist Dag Midtskog, keyboard player Mark Wheaton and his brother Brock Wheaton on drums had been established. Chinas Comidas performances were highly influenced by Patti Smith and alternated between the band playing

the Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

and Television influenced songs and Genser's recitals of radical feminist and highly political poetry. This concept often provoked resistance from the more traditional punk rock crowd, and staged violence would often occur during shows, even including brawls with members of other punk rock groups. The band shared the stage with other early Seattle underground acts like the Telepaths (and their follow-up band

The Blackouts The Blackouts were a punk rock band formed in Seattle in 1979 by singer/guitarist Erich Werner, bassist Mike Davidson, and drummer Bill Rieflin, who were all former members of a local punk band, The Telepaths. They were joined by Roland Barker, f ...

), the Tupperwares (who were later renamed to

The Screamers The Screamers were an American electropunk group founded in 1975. They were among the first wave of the L.A. punk rock scene. The Los Angeles Times applied the label "techno-punk" to the band in 1978. In the documentary '' Punk: Attitude'' ( ...

and moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

the Beakers The Beakers were an art punk band from Seattle, Washington. Although the band only existed for twelve months, they were considered influential on the local underground music scene. The band include Mark H. Smith as a vocalist and guitarist, Jim ...

, and the aforementioned Red Dress. Touring bands for which Chinas Comidas played as the opening act included

D.O.A. DOA may refer to: * Dead on arrival * Dead or Alive (disambiguation) Film * ''D.O.A.'' (1949 film), a ''film noir'' * ''D.O.A.'' (1988 film), a remake of the 1949 film * '' D.O.A.: A Rite of Passage'' (1980 film), a documentary on the gene ...

, Black Flag and

Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was ...

. In addition to band shows, Genser also did solo poetry readings and shared the stage with fellow Seattle

beat poet The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatione ...

Steven Jesse Bernstein Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

.''Fallout From the Past Makes Its Way to Ballard, and Chinas Comidas Get Their Due''. Article by Hannah Levin in ''Seattle Weekly'', July 10, 2007.
/ref>

Relocation to Los Angeles

In 1978, Chinas Comidas released their first EP entitled ''Peasant/Slave'' on their own label Exquisite Corpse Records. The record helped garner attention to the band and was followed by the 7" single ''Snaps (Portrait of a Fan)'' the following year. Like other ambitious Seattle bands (including among others the Blackouts and the Tupperwares), Chinas Comidas were frustrated by the limited potential of the city's late seventies independent music scene. After planning to open for the

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk rock, punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, sa ...

on selected dates (only one of which, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, actually took place) the group decided to relocate to Los Angeles. The Chinas Comidas singles had received very positive reviews in the L.A.-based

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash ...

punk rock fanzine, and the editor had invited the band to come there and possibly help getting more songs recorded.Article by Dennis White on Chinas Comidas on jivetimerecords.com, September 4, 2018
/ref> Chinas Comidas played venues like the

Whisky a Go Go The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed "the Whisky") is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boul ...

and shared bills with

Fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...

, Germs,

Redd Kross Redd Kross is an American rock band from Hawthorne, California, who had their roots in 1978 in a punk rock band called the Tourists, which was started by brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald while Steve was still in middle school. With the additio ...

and other classic West Coast punk rock and

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

groups. The band was well received by music critics as well as fellow musicians such as

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moo ...

who stated: ''"Chinas Comidas were the real deal. Exciting, intriguing and intoxicating"''. However, no record contract could be secured - a tentative signing to

Slash Records Slash Records was an American record label originally specializing in local punk rock bands, active from 1978 to 2000. It was notable as one of the first and most successful independent record labels in alternative rock, alternative music, befor ...

reportedly didn't come to fruition as the label had just signed

The Go-Go's The Go-Go's are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. Except for short periods when other musicians joined briefly, the band has had a relatively stable lineup consisting of Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar and keyboards, Belind ...

and didn't have enough capacity to promote both bands - and in 1980 Chinas Comidas disbanded.

Post-breakup

After Chinas Comidas broke up, Genser and Riggins returned to New York and Seattle respectively while the remaining band members stayed in Los Angeles, collaborating among others with fellow Seattle expatriate

Johanna Went Johanna Went is an American performance artist who primarily works in the Los Angeles area. She started her career in the late 1970s as musician in the punk scene. Music is still an important element of her shows. She has often worked with musici ...

.Clark Humphrey: ''Loser: The Real Seattle Music Story.'' Updated and revised 2nd edition, MISCmedia, Seattle, 1999, p. 37. Genser also continued to publish poetry and was associate professor of English in the Honors Program at

The College of New Rochelle The College of New Rochelle (CNR) was a private Catholic college with its main campus in New Rochelle, New York, but also in Australia, England, and Germany. It was founded as the College of St. Angela by Mother Irene Gill, OSU of the Ursuline O ...

, New York. In 2007, a one-off reunion of Chinas Comidas in Seattle was scheduled for the release of the CD anthology "Chinas Comidas", a collection of the band's released songs as well as unreleased material. Due to a death in her family, Genser was unable to attend the show, however, Riggins and Midtskog performed at the event. In June 2014, Genser and Riggins performed Chinas Comidas songs as a part of an exhibition entitled ''When Punk was Punk 1977'' which also featured posters, recordings and other memorabilia from the band's history.''Art Up Phinney Wood'' website with details about the 2014 Chinas Comidas exhibition
/ref> In July 2016, Riggins and Genser performed a set of Chinas Comidas songs at Fantagraphics Comics and Books as part of their "Hot off the Press" event coinciding with the Georgetown Art Attack.Announcement on fantagraphics.com
/ref> In 2018, Spanish record label Take the City Records released the "Chinas Comidas" CD compilation on 12" vinyl; Riggins and Genser have also recorded new songs and are planning to play dates in Europe to support the vinyl release.

Former members

*Cynthia Genser: vocals *Richard Riggins: guitar *Dag Midtskog: bass (1977–1980) *Mark Wheaton: keyboards (1978–1980) *Brock Wheaton: drums (1977–1980) *John Olufs: guitar (1977) *Pete Pendras: guitar (1977) *Jerry Anderson: bass (1977) *

Eldon Hoke Eldon Wayne Hoke (March 23, 1958 – April 19, 1997), nicknamed El Duce, was an American musician best known as the drummer and lead singer of the shock rock band the Mentors, as well as other acts, including Chinas Comidas and the Sc ...

: drums (1977)

Discography

*Peasant/Slave (7" EP, Exquisite Corpse Records, 1978) *Snaps (Portrait of a Fan) (7", Exquisite Corpse, 1979) *Chinas Comidas (CD anthology, Go Baby, 2007) *Chinas Comidas (12", Take the City Records, 2018)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Chinas Comidas band history by Mark WheatonWebsite about the "Chinas Comidas" CD featuring free downloads of all album tracksComprehensive band history by Dennis White on jivetimerecords.com, September 4, 2018
Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups disestablished in 1980 Musical groups from Seattle Rock music groups from Washington (state) American post-punk music groups