Tru Fax & the Insaniacs (TFI) are 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 ...

/ new wave band in the Washington, D.C., area. The voice of the band's lead vocalist, Diana Quinn, has been described as evoking "early

Deborah Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...

-- sort of Blondie meets

The Stooges The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave ...

New York Dolls New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial succe ...

." TFI was part of DC's infant punk scene in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

History

TFI was formed in 1978 by Diana Quinn (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), David Wells (lead guitar, backup vocals), and Michael Mariotte (drums). Libby Hatch, previously of the

Shirkers ''Shirkers'' is a 2018 British-American documentary film by Singapore-born filmmaker Sandi Tan about the making of an independent thriller featuring a teenage assassin set in Singapore. It premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in January ...

, also took a turn on bass guitar in the early 1980s. Initially, the band organized their own shows at Hard Art, MOTA, dc space, Madam's Organ, and

The Bayou The Bayou was a music venue and nightclub located in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. The club occupied an old building at 3135 K Street, NW, in Georgetown, under the Whitehurst Freeway for forty-six years. The club opened in September 1953 on the s ...

in Georgetown. TFI played its first 9:30 Club show on July 9, 1980. The band became a long-term favorite at the club. They were even there when the original 9:30 Club closed its doors at its 930 F Street location to move to its new location at the intersections of 9th Street, V Street, and Vermont Avenue. TFI was one of six local bands chosen to record the music featured on a two-CD set which memorializes the closing of the original 9:30 Club. The CD set is titled "''9:30 Live'' - A Time, A Place, A Scene". The CDs were recorded live at the 9:30 Club between December 28, 1995, and January 1, 1996. The following TFI songs are on CD 2: "King of Machines", "Chinese Wall", "7 T.V. Me", and "Washingtron". In addition to the 9:30 Club CD, TFI recorded a '45 (Washingtron b/w Mystery Date) and an album (Mental Decay, 1982) on WASP records. WASP was a local D.C. label. The band favored its indie status and eschewed major labels. "Washingtron" is arguably TFI's biggest hit to date. It is a song about life in the nation's Capital City. In the early 1980s, "Washingtron" received quite a bit of air play on local radio stations like WHFS. The song had local appeal, with lyrics such as: "I used to work as a waitron in the lounge at the Hiltron. Now I work for my Senatron and I live in Arlingtron." "Arlingtron" is a reference to

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

, a suburb just across the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

from Washington, D.C. The song also contains era-specific references such as " Accu-''tron''" watches and the film "''

Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer a ...

''". TFI played at

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

and The Ritz in

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 ...

, as well as locations 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 ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, and

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. The band knew that they had finally made it when

Washingtonian Magazine ''Washingtonian'' is a monthly magazine distributed in the Washington, D.C. area. It was founded in 1965 by Laughlin Phillips and Robert J. Myers. The magazine describes itself as "The Magazine Washington Lives By". The magazine's core focuses are ...

named them the "worst band" in 1980 — without ever having heard them. This early recognition cemented TFI's status and popularity in the local punk/new wave scene. Quinn has since also been involved with

Honky Tonk Confidential Honky Tonk Confidential is a retro/alt country band from the Washington, D.C. area. The band's latest CD is the result of a collaboration with CBS News chief Washington correspondent and ''Face the Nation'' anchor, Bob Schieffer. Schieffer penne ...

, a retro/alt country band, and The Fabulettes, a three-woman ensemble that uses the " Girl Group Sound" of the 1960s.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official site
Punk rock groups from Washington, D.C. American new wave musical groups