The Weirdos are an American punk rock band from

Los Angeles, California 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' ...

. They formed in 1975, split-up in 1981, re-grouped in 1986 and have remained semi-active ever since. Critic Mark Deming calls them "quite simply, one of the best and brightest American bands of punk's first wave."

History

Formation

The band was formed in 1975 by singer John Denney and his guitarist brother Dix (sons of Hollywood actress Nora Denney), initially using the band names the Barbies and the Luxurious Adults.Martin C. Strong, ''The Great Indie Discography.'' Edinburgh, Scotland: Canongate Publishing, 2003; pg. 179 The Weirdos were originally a 1950s-inspired hard

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

band that, like the Ramones in New York City, predated the UK punk scene. While initially trying to distance themselves from the genre name "punk" that was created in New York, ultimately the band, in the words of John Denney, "just kinda became more like this punk ROCK N ROLL type thing and we kinda went with it because the fans wanted it. They wore us down and we just said 'OK, fine! We're punk rock, similar to the Ramones. Whatever you say.'"Al Kowalewski and Joy Aoki, "Weirder Than You," ''Flipside,'' whole no. 65 (Spring 1990), pp. 38-43. In a 1990 ''Flipside'' interview, John Denney listed the Ramones, New York Dolls and Iggy Pop as fundamental musical inspirations, adding:

"When we saw the Ramones in '76, we already had short hair and we were already playing fast music like that in late 1975 in small venues and halls mostly, but the Ramones really made us decide to go for it even more. We came before the Sex Pistols and The Damned. They may have been our peers later, but we already had a set of songs in 1975 which were sort of Ramones meets Iggy Pop's Stooges influenced punk songs. Well before any of the UK bands started cloning America's punk sound and before any of the UK albums were released. I always felt we were a true garage punk band..."

Denney claimed that the band's name dated from the early part of the 1970s and referred to his

countercultural A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

short hair, at a time when long hair on men was the fashion of the day. "In 1974 according to some left over hippies, I looked like a lobotomy, hippies thought I was weird," Denney said. "A few months later when we formed, the rest of the band got really short cropped hair too. "We were all weird then, we were considered weirdos". By the beginning of 1977, the Weirdos were able to pack clubs (eventually including 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 Boule ...

, The Roxy and later The Masque) as a headlining band. Known for their zany stage costumes and antics, the band helped shape the vigorous and experimental early Los Angeles punk scene and served as an inspiration to a crop of new bands. John Denney recalled:

"We os Angeleshad our own look, our own sound. It was apart from New York or London.... We were staunchly against safety pins, we tried to parody punk rock at first. We did happy faces onstage as a joke sometimes, which was the exact opposite of what New York was doing. We were just thumbing our noses at everything. Everything was a joke; punk was a joke, we were a joke. Nonetheless, we were still serious about rocking."

Recordings

The Weirdos' first release was a 7-inch EP, "Destroy All Music," released in 1977 on Greg Shaw's Bomp! Records. It was followed by the 1978 single "We Got the Neutron Bomb," released on the Los Angeles punk label Dangerhouse. The band later released two 12" EPs in 1979 and 1980. The band were highly critical of some of their recordings and shady engineers, with John Denney characterizing the 1979-80 period as "a big botch job" marked by a series of "aborted recording sessions." It was not until 1991 that a first volume of early recordings would be remixed by the band for release by Frontier Records as a compilation album, ''Weird World - Volume One 1977-1981''. More than another decade would pass before a long-planned second compilation album of early tracks would see the light of day, issued by Frontier in 2003 as ''We Got The Neutron Bomb - Weird World Volume Two 1977-1989''.

Personnel

The Denney brothers were the only constant members, though guitarist/bassist Cliff Roman, bassist Dave Trout and

Bruce Moreland Bruce "Ravens" Moreland (born January 22, 1959) is an American rock musician and songwriter. He has worked with such bands as Wall of Voodoo (with his brother Marc Moreland), The Weirdos, Nervous Gender, and Concrete Blonde among others. As of 2 ...

(also of

Wall of Voodoo Wall of Voodoo was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, United States. Though largely an underground act for the majority of its existence, the band came to prominence when its 1982 single "Mexican Radio" became a hit on MTV an ...

), and drummer

Nickey "Beat" Alexander Nickey Alexander (a.k.a. Nickey Beat) is an American drummer. Biography Born Jeffrey Ivisovich, Nickey Beat lived in San Pedro, Los Angeles before moving to Hollywood to focus on music. There in 1977, alongside Cliff Roman and brothers, John and ...

were relatively long-term Weirdos.

Breakup and legacy

The Weirdos broke up in 1981. Shortly after, Dix and John Denney published the album

Warhead A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: * Expl ...

under the project name If-Then-Else. That same year Dix, Williams (bass) and Cliff Martinez, who briefly drummed for the band played on and co-wrote

Lydia Lunch Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...

's second solo album 13.13 Martinez, went on to join the

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk ...

, playing on the latter's first two albums. Dix Denney was also close to becoming a member of the Chili Peppers. However, after many practices with Denney, things didn't work out and he was replaced by guitarist

Jack Sherman Jack Morris Sherman (January 18, 1956 – August 18, 2020) was an American guitarist, best known as the second guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, between Hillel Slovak's departure and return. He played on the band's debut album, and ...

. LA-based rock band Symbol Six stated that the Weirdos were one of their biggest formative influences, and covered "The Hideout'" which appeared on their self-titled 2013 album on

Dr. Strange Records Dr. Strange Records is a record label and record store located in Alta Loma, California. It started out as an apartment-based distro in 1988 and became a record label in 1989, run out of the "Doc's" apartment until 1997, when the store was firs ...

, even creating a tribute video for the song that honored the Weirdos.

Reformations

The Weirdos have reunited several times, beginning in 1990. The resulting first full-length studio album, ''Condor,'' issued that year by Frontier, was an effort to "re-establish ourselves as contemporary," according to John Denney. A 2004 reunion included Circle Jerks bassist

Zander Schloss Zander Schloss (born August 7, 1961) is an American musician, actor and composer. He is known as bass player for the Circle Jerks, the Weirdos, his many collaborations with Joe Strummer musically and in film and for his contributions to inde ...

and the Skulls drummer Sean Antillon in the lineup. Another reformed edition of the Weirdos, featuring the Denney brothers, Schloss and Devo drummer Jeff Friedl, appeared at the Punk Rock Bowling and Music Festival in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

on May 25, 2013, followed by additional 2013-2014 shows in California,

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and Austin, as well as an appearance at the Dangerhouse Records Night concert on November 29, 2014 at the

Echoplex The Echoplex is a tape delay effect, first made in 1959. Designed by Mike Battle, the Echoplex set a standard for the effect in the 1960s—it is still regarded as "the standard by which everything else is measured." It was used by some of the ...

in Los Angeles. In 2016,

, the bassist from the 1978 version of the Weirdos, rejoined the band.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Condor'' (1990, Frontier) *''Live on Radio'' (2008, Frontier)

Singles and EPs

*"Destroy All Music" 7" EP (1977, Bomp!) *"We Got the Neutron Bomb" 7" single (1978, Dangerhouse) *"Skateboards to Hell" 7" single as Dix Denney and John Denney (1979, self-released) *''Who? What? When? Where? Why?'' 12" EP (1979, Bomp!) *''Action-Design'' 12" EP (1980,

Rhino A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

) *"Life of Crime" 7" single (1985, Line Records) *"Message from the Underworld" 7" single (1991, Insipid Vinyl) *"Do the Dance" 7" single (2007, Bomp!)

Compilation albums

*''Weird World - Volume One 1977-1981'' (1991, Frontier) *''We Got The Neutron Bomb - Weird World Volume Two 1977-1989'' (2003, Frontier) *''Destroy All Music'' (2007, Bomp!)

Compilation appearances

*''We're Desperate: The L.A. Scene (1976-79)'' (1993, Rhino) - "A Life Of Crime", "We've Got The Neutron Bomb"

Footnotes

External links

* *
"Profile on PunkRockers.com"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weirdos, The Punk rock groups from California Musical groups from Los Angeles Dangerhouse Records artists