The night I met the Wallflowers, the Stooges’ “TV Eye” was playing on the stereo. I know it was the summer of 1983, when I met so many of you, and I believe my introduction was brokered via Rockin’ Dog Dave Ellison.
That moment forged a lasting connection in my mind between the Wallflowers and the Stooges, an impression that was reified by the Wallflowers’ blistering interpretations of the older band’s oeuvre — including “TV Eye,” presented here in all its synapse-rattling glory.
Per vocalist Dave Rinck, “‘Walldrugs’ and ‘TV Eye’ were recorded in a ‘studio’ at Music Power; ‘Raw Power’ was, too, but not until a little later than the other two.”
More Wallflowers-on-Stooges action with “Raw Power”!
This Phase One Wallflowers single features Rinck (vocals); Paul Howland (bass); Tommy Clarke (guitar); Aaron Daniels (drums).
- The Wallflowers play “Walldrugs”: Listen now!
- The Wallflowers play “Funland”: Listen now!
- The Wallflowers play “Rubber Room”: Listen now!
- The Wallflowers play “Paradise on Fourth Avenue”: Listen now!
- The Wallflowers play “Survive the Jungle”: Listen now!
- The Wallflowers play “Raw Power”: Listen now!
The Wallflowers need there own page!
These guy were influenced by The Dum Dum Boys many years before it was trendy!
Thats why The Wallfowers rule!!
I’m still marveling at the Wallflowers’ visionary aesthetic and trying to remember if anybody at the time was doing the kind of punk-funk synthesis the band made so compelling.
I’m looking (again) at the origins of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Wallflowers pre-date this band.
The Wallflowers themselves can correct me if I’m wrong on this, but I believe the arrival of Aaron Daniels really struck a funky spark, especially with Paul Howland’s bass stylings.
I’m a pretty secular guy, but the way they pulled it all together suggests divine intervention!
The Wallflowers were great for a lot of reasons. To me, the most impressive thing about them was their loose, improvisational approach to making music. It was totally different than what anyone else around was doing. It seemed totally natural at the time… but looking back, its kind of amazing that young kids would have so much of an original musical vision about what they were doing.
They were amazing on a lot of fronts. The improvisational dimension Dave Ellison notes, in a milieu where we were all very resistant to prog-rock/jam-band overkill … Bringing in the horns … Bringing in musicians way outside our standard demographic … And — I just realized — doing it without a hint of self-conscious artiness.
Looking at myself at the time: I might have thought to try some of the same stuff, but I don’t think it would’ve rocked nearly as hard. (Viz. “self-conscious artiness.”) It took me a few more years to shake that stick outta my ass! LOL
By contrast, it felt like the Wallflowers just were. Which I realize now was the product of some seriously focused minds and hands, but came across so gloriously unstudied.
I loved ’em, but I also underestimated them in some ways. No more — the Wallflowers were incredibly visionary.
>>It took me a few more years to shake that stick outta my ass!
PS: Y’know, I was flattering myself earlier — I never achieved the kind of grooviness the Wallflowers demonstrated. 🙂
The Wallflowers were a stand out band for soooo many reasons. In the interest of efficiently in covering these points, I will number them:
1. The (original San Diego) Wallflowers were unlike any other band in the indie scene…as beforementioned, they stood out against the punk, the mod, the soul, the country…they were unlike any band gigging in the youngster clubsthen or now.
2. The Wallflowers ooozed authenticity. As an audience member, I knew that they dug the music they were playing, and that they were knowledgeable about their predecessors. As Deeprak Chopra might say, they weren’t trying to be cool, they just were cool!
3. They rocked, yet were funky. They were hyper cool, yet inwardly sensitive-and chicks dig that.
4. They rocked, and the Wallflowers were one of my top 5 bands to dance to! Man, I danced for miles and miles
5. TOSDW were udespitably born of groovin’ bass lines, wicked guitar lickss, heavy drum rolls, unexpected sax wails, and the impish vocals and carrying-ons of David Rink.
6. They had ig hair and unexpected fashions.
7. Last but not least, the band members were interesting and easy to talk to once they were off the stage (a quality that many musicians do not share!)
Gee, I really loved the (original San Diego) Wallflowers. I can’t wait to see what they serve up in 2009!
I meant BIG HAiR, not IG hair.
And their hair was messy-not combed all straight and pretty like other bands we dug. I like messy- MESSY EQUALS INTERESTING.
Mathew…can we arrange a grammar and spell check on this blog?
If my High School English teacher Rose Sleigh were to see some of my blog entries, she might roll over in her grave!
Sometimes I write so excitedly that I don’t catch my (many) mistakes.
Sorry, people.
Any yutz with a couple bucks for aqua net can have big hair. IG HAIR takes style, and that’s the point about the Wallflowers. I wish I saw them more often, but I remember the sets I heard being revelatory. I still sometimes find myself singing a chorus about a black cat, and I can remember watching Rinck singing it while hanging from a pipe that ran across the ceiling of the stage (was it at the Greenwich Village West?).
Is Aaron Daniels gonna be at the reunion? The Wallflowers produced an amazing mix of sound flavored by a couple of my favorite bands then and now, Jimi and the Stooges. What a weird and awesome combination. I was blown away by Tommy’s guitar sound and Aaron’s drum solos that didn’t get boring like most rock drummers’. Later on they got super funky, before punk/funk got big with the Chili’s but with more soul.
halleluyah people…IG hair = TOSDW!
I’ve heard rumblings about Aaron Daniels making an appearance, which would be groovalicious!
Kristen…I’ll meet you in the GO GO LANE!
“Any yutz with a couple bucks… can have big hair.”
Best unfinished poem I’ve heard in a while….
Dave E.
Rinck poses as anti-sophisticate. But he and Paul H were really into Ornette Coleman. Dave R. would go to lengths describing how intense it was, seeing him play live with the two-quartet format. Not exactly music that would appeal to the intellectually averse!
Ornette and James Brown were as much Wallflowers guiding lights as the Stooges. Oh, and Tom Clarke was Jimmy Page student.
Ornette was a huge influence on the Wallflowers. We once thought seriously about changing the name of the band to Sonic Jazz Unlimited and playing only free jazz. In fact, at practice we used to cover Ornette’s “Science Fiction”, but that one never made it into the live setlist unfortunately.
Matt said,
“The Wallflowers themselves can correct me if I’m wrong on this, but I believe the arrival of Aaron Daniels really struck a funky spark, especially with Paul Howland’s bass stylings.” Nope, no correction, you are right. Aaron elevated the proceedings, he showed me how to play slap style bass, (which we called “Thumpin'” or “Poppin'”) played me recordings of some of the best purveyors of that technique, and even showed me how to set up an amp properly to achieve the right sound to enhance the technique. He also is responsible in large measure for me having high standards for myself as a musician, and completely responsible for giving me very high standards about a drummers role in a rhythm section. He also helped us revamp our stage shows with segues and tight transitions between songs. We wouldn’t have been the band we were and I wouldn’t be the musician I came to be had he not been there.
I once saw Tommy Clarke play all of the guitar solos on “Black Sabbath”, correctly. He said they were pretty easy. Tommy also figured out lots of Jimi Hendrix solos.
A tip of my hat to Jeremiah Cornelius, who lent me James Brown “Solid Smoke” and John Coletrane “Coletrane’s Sound”.
I used to have a one of those “Two-Fer” re-issues of “Science Fiction” and “Skies of America” by Ornette Coleman. “Science Fiction” has since been re-issued on CD. Since those days I’ve seen bassist Charlie Haden play a couple of times with his band Quartet West. Another favorite of mine is Ornette Coleman and Primetime’s “Of Human Feelings”. For the Ornette Coleman electric era, it would be hard to do better than the live set “Opening The Caravan Of Dreams”.
“Tales of Captain Black” by James “Blood” Ulmer is a good one, Ulmer also did nice work on Organist John Patton’s “Understanding”. All the other albums I’ve heard by him are good too. http://www.discogs.com/artist/James+Blood+Ulmer . He did one more recently with a group called “Third Rail” called “South Delta Space Age”, which is excellent and features his cover of Schooly D’s anthem to intoxication “I Wanna Get Dusted”.
Another big album for me back in the Wallflowers days was Don Cherry’s “Brown Rice”.