Formed circa 1978, The Offs were a

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

band from San Francisco, started by guitarist Billy Hawk and singer Don Vinil, and later joined by former Hot Tuna drummer Bob Steeler and a rotation of horn players including Bob Roberts,

Richard Edson Richard Edson (born January 1, 1954) is an American actor and musician. Personal life Edson was born in New Rochelle, New York to a Jewish family. He has one brother, Steven, who resides in the Boston area, and two sisters, Andrea, who resides ...

and Roland Young. The Offs were active in the early days of the San Francisco punk rock scene.

History

In 1978, The Offs self-released their first record - a 7" single featuring a cover of

the Slickers The Slickers were a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae group in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Slickers centred on Derrick Crooks, one of the founding members of The Pioneers along with his brother Sydney. In the mid-1960s, The Slickers consi ...

' ''Johnny Too Bad'' with the Billy Hawk-penned ''624803'' on the B-side. A subsequent release in the same year was ''Everyone's a Bigot'', with ''Zero Degrees'' on the B-side, which was the first-ever release on San Francisco's

415 Records 415 Records was a San Francisco record label created in 1978. The label focused its efforts on local punk rock and new wave music acts of the late 1970s through the late 1980s, including The Offs, The Nuns, The Units, Romeo Void, and Wire Train. ...

. That song later appeared on the

Alternative Tentacles Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 in San Francisco, California. It was used by Dead Kennedys for the self-produced single " California Über Alles". After realizing the potential for an independent label, ...

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

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-spiri ...

compilation ''

Let Them Eat Jellybeans ''Let Them Eat Jellybeans!'', subtitled "17 Extracts From America's Darker Side", is a compilation album released by Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles in 1981. It was one of the earliest compilations of underground music in the United States ...

''. Another early release was "You Fascinate Me." Lead singer Don Vinil was known for his outrageous on-stage behavior. Fellow San Francisco punk group,

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 bands during its initial eight-year run. Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, satirizing p ...

played their first show with the Offs in 1978. They often played at San Francisco's

Mabuhay Gardens The Mabuhay Gardens, also known as The Fab Mab or The Mab, was a former San Francisco nightclub, located at 443 Broadway Street, in North Beach on the Broadway strip area best known for its striptease clubs. It closed in 1987. History The Ma ...

. The Offs also went through a number of bassists, including Denny Boredom (Denny DeGorio), Olga de Volga and Fast Floyd. Eric Peterson joined as bassist in 1980, shortly after the group decamped San Francisco for New York where they quickly became a regular fixture at such New York institutions as the

Mudd Club The Mudd Club was a nightclub located at 77 White Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It operated from 1978 to 1983 as a venue for underground music and counterculture events. It was opened by Steve Maas, Die ...

Danceteria Danceteria was a nightclub that operated in New York City from 1979 until 1986 and in the Hamptons until 1995. The club operated in various locations over the years, a total of three in New York City and four in the Hamptons. The most famous locat ...

and

Max's Kansas City Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South in New York City, which became a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s. It was opened by Mickey Ruskin (1933–1983) in Decembe ...

. The Offs counted among their fans and friends numerous people in the downtown New York art/music scene, including artists Jean-Michel Basquiat,

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...

, musician and actor

, who played trumpet with the band, and Glenn O'Brien, the peripatetic chronicler of the scene for Andy Warhol's ''

Interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

'' magazine. In 1984, David Ferguson's label

CD Presents David Ferguson was an American international outsider-culture impresario, activist, music producer and concert promoter. Over his career, most of which has been spent on the West Coast, he worked with musical acts such as the Avengers, John L ...

released a full-length album for the band called ''The Offs First Record'', with artwork by Basquiat.

Discography

Singles

* 1978 ''Everyone's A Bigot'' / ''0°'' (415 Records) * 1978 ''Johnny Too Bad'' / ''624803'' (Crack In The World) * 1980 ''You Fascinate Me'' / ''My World'' (Max's Kansas City Records) * 1981 ''Zero Vs. The Offs'' / ''Why Boy'' (Epiphany Records)

Albums

* 1984 ''First Record'' (CD Presents, Ltd.) * 2000 ''Live At The Mabuhay Gardens Nov 7 1980'' (Vampir Records)

Compilations

* 1980 ''Can You Hear Me? Music From The Deaf Club'' (Optional Music) * 2000 ''The Offs: California Skapunk Pioneers'' (Lost and Found Records)

Film/Video

* 1979 ''Deaf/punk'' (Canyon Cinema Co-op)

References

American ska musical groups Punk rock groups from California {{US-punk-band-stub