How fucking cool is this little EP? Not a whole lot is known about The Cheifs We do know they were from L.A., and if you were paying attention to side 4 of Black Flag's Everything Went Black you know these hardened beach punks rocked in the trenches of legendary holes like The Fleetwood, The Masque and The Whisky alongside Flag, The Stains, The Mau Maus. Cops would come and pound punker skull, and the scourge of punk was a panic inducer as seen on episodes of Quincy, and CHiPs. I have no idea what year this came out, or who released it, all I know is that it seers with So Cal hot weather disdain, and rocks hard too. Why so fucking mysterious?
W0w! This rules! Excellent post!! thanx bro!!
ReplyDeleteHey Aesop,
ReplyDeletethanks for another great post!
Raw, snotty and yet melodic!
Kinda like Dead Boys meet the Simpletones for lack of a better comparison.
According to the FLEX! Site this cute little fucker was released by Playgems Records in 1980 (PG 001).
It was even re-issued in 200? by Spontaneous Combustion (SCR 006), check here:
http://www.fuzzlogic.com/flex/doku.php/rec_cheifs_blues_7
There also seems to be a bootleg out, you know it?
thnx
ReplyDeletePronounced "chafes"? Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThis was re-issued in 2007 on Spontaneous Combustion but now it's certainly out of print.
ReplyDeleteIn the 90's Flipside released a CD titled "Hollywest Crisis", re-released in 2000 on vinyl by Hate Records from Italy. It includes 13 songs : 3 from this EP, 3 from the Who Cares compilation, another one from Chunks (the compilation with Black Flag, the Descendents etc...) and some other songs from 1982.
I think that the CD included some video footage. Maybe now available on youtube?
YES!
ReplyDeleteI was just think8ing about this record.
Fanx-
toke!
Dr. Strange reissued it on CD in 2004: Holly-West Crisis. It's still in print, but the info is scant, at best. Lotsa show fliers, but no actual liner notes. They also list the Who Cares? tracks as being from the Cracks in the Sidewalk compilation EP.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, great stuff!
this is the track off KBD 2 that gets stuck in my head the most. Looking forward to jamming the other songs. thanks!
ReplyDeletei love their punking out with the can of Coors on the ground! I'm just an old bitter X-Coors(or anything with alcohol in it)jealous X-punk wannabe. Thanks again for the great stuff!
ReplyDeletereally good stuff! much appreciated
ReplyDeletemk
Whoever brought up The Simpletones is pretty sharp-- the drummer and vocalist were both from that band.
ReplyDeleteSaw the Chiefs a few times! One time I went to the Starwood to see the Chiefs and Fear. A bouncer got stabbed during Fear, so Chiefs couldn't play that night. Last night of of the Starwood, they closed after that!
ReplyDeleteYou can pick up their stuff on Amazon. Check out the previews if you've never heard them. BTW Bob Glassey - the bassist is living in Metro Atlanta now. I actually bought an old Charvel bass from him off craigslist. He was using it to get ready for a series of reunion shows, but lingering band tension put an end to it last summer.
ReplyDeleteLove your site - so much excellent stuff in such eclectic profusion. Re: The Cheifs (the misspelling always bugged me) - back in the day, the rumor was that Darby Crash had 'discovered' them somewhere. There were a number of these kinds of not-quite bands in L.A. circa '79-'81. Rhino 39, Mau Maus, KAOS, China White, Cheifs, etc. A lot of them had pedigrees (KAOS out of The Controllers, e.g.) but never got much recognition. Some excellent stuff got missed.
ReplyDelete