Blatz (band)
Encyclopedia
Blatz was a punk
band formed in 1989 in Berkeley, California
. Blatz came out of the 924 Gilman Street Project
scene during the late '80s, and early '90s along with bands like Operation Ivy
, Filth
, and Green Day
.
Blatz came to life when Joey Perales and Robert Eggplant
, (editor of the zine
Absolutely Zippo
) went to a party on acid
where Sweet Children, better known later as Green Day
, were playing and began trying to think of the most embarrassing band name possible. They took the name Blatz, after one of the cheapest brands of beer
available in the U.S., and convinced John Santos, a high school drinking buddy, to play with them for their first show, a 924 Gilman Street holiday show. After that first show John quit but with Joey on drums and Robert on guitar they continued and, in the summer of 1989, recruiting Marshall Stax to play bass. At the time Marshall was a DJ for Berkeley campus radio station KALX
, as well as volunteering as the sound engineer at Gilman St. While practicing at Gilman St., the band noticed a loner hanging around the club and they invited him to sing with them. His name was Jesse Luscious, editor of a zine called Berkeley Sucks, and as the singer for Blatz, he immediately gained a reputation for being hilarious and often shocking the more modest members of the punk community by frequently taking his clothes off on stage. The band expanded further, adding Annie Lalania, another schoolmate of Perales and Eggplant, as well as Anna Joy. Billie Joe Armstrong
occasionally played second guitar for the band, and Aaron Cometbus
occasionally sat in on second drums.The three singers were often too "screechy" for people, Eggplant was often too stoned to tune his guitar, and band members were often floating away to go to college or Europe. Nonetheless, they managed to release a number of recordings on Lookout! Records
, which are highly regarded.
After the band broke up Eggplant went on to play with The Hope Bombs
, Harbinger
with Aaron Cometbus
and John Geek of Fleshies
, Cope, Lil' Runt, and, currently, Fugitive Kind; Marshall Stax played drums for Subincision and continues to do his Monday night demo tape radio show; Joey Perales played with Jack Acid, Dead And Gone and more recently joined Pendulum Swing; Anna Joy and Jesse went on to perform with the band The Gr'ups, which also included Daniela Sea
; after the demise of that band Jesse sang for The Criminals
and The Frisk
and Anna Joy and fellow Gr'ups alumna Daniela Sea performed with Cypher in the Snow
. Anna Joy is the author of The Birdwisher and The Vicious Red Relic, Love and, along with Tara Jane O'Neil
and Rachel Carns
has recorded a music/vocal interpretation of The Vicious Red Relic, Love called Your Metaforest Guidebook available on Jaded Ibis Press. Jesse Luscious has also become the voice of Alternative Tentacles Records, hosting their podcast show, Batcast, as well as hosting his own long-standing morning show on KALX
radio.
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band formed in 1989 in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. Blatz came out of the 924 Gilman Street Project
924 Gilman Street
924 Gilman Street is an all-ages, not for profit, collectively organized music club usually referred to by its fans simply as "The Gilman." It is located in the West Berkeley area of Berkeley, California about a mile and a half west of the North Berkeley BART station and a quarter-mile west of San...
scene during the late '80s, and early '90s along with bands like Operation Ivy
Operation Ivy (band)
Operation Ivy was an American ska punk band that formed in Berkeley, California, and was often credited with spurring the 1990s punk revival in California. It is well-known as one of the first bands to "mix" hardcore punk with elements of ska, known as ska-core...
, Filth
Filth (band)
Filth is a hardcore punk band from East Bay, California.-Biography:Formed in the East Bay in 1989, from the ashes of Isocracy, the Vagrants, and Crimpshrine; Filth was a crustcore band that would help define the later "East Bay Hardcore" style...
, and Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
.
History
Blatz was well known as an integral representation of early 1990s East Bay punk. Touring mostly throughout southern California, Arizona and Nevada, they played mainly at 924 Gilman St., and practiced there as well. The band was known for their 'in your face' lyrics filled with sarcasm, irony, humor, and references to masturbation and drugs.Blatz came to life when Joey Perales and Robert Eggplant
Robert Eggplant
Robert Burnett, better known as Robert Eggplant, is a writer, publisher, musician and activist from California.- background :Born in 1973, Robert Eggplant has been the editor and publisher of Absolutely Zippo fanzine since 1987. The zine has documented the East Bay punk subculture from a...
, (editor of the zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
Absolutely Zippo
Absolutely Zippo
Absolutely Zippo is a punk rock fanzine created by Robert Eggplant to document the happenings of the East Bay Berkeley punk scene during its heyday in the late 1980s/early 1990s...
) went to a party on acid
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
where Sweet Children, better known later as Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
, were playing and began trying to think of the most embarrassing band name possible. They took the name Blatz, after one of the cheapest brands of beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
available in the U.S., and convinced John Santos, a high school drinking buddy, to play with them for their first show, a 924 Gilman Street holiday show. After that first show John quit but with Joey on drums and Robert on guitar they continued and, in the summer of 1989, recruiting Marshall Stax to play bass. At the time Marshall was a DJ for Berkeley campus radio station KALX
KALX
KALX is a freeform FM radio station that broadcasts from the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California. KALX, a community- and student-run radio station licensed to the University of California, Berkeley, broadcasts in stereo with 500 watts of power...
, as well as volunteering as the sound engineer at Gilman St. While practicing at Gilman St., the band noticed a loner hanging around the club and they invited him to sing with them. His name was Jesse Luscious, editor of a zine called Berkeley Sucks, and as the singer for Blatz, he immediately gained a reputation for being hilarious and often shocking the more modest members of the punk community by frequently taking his clothes off on stage. The band expanded further, adding Annie Lalania, another schoolmate of Perales and Eggplant, as well as Anna Joy. Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong is an American rock musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, main songwriter and lead guitarist for the American punk rock band Green Day...
occasionally played second guitar for the band, and Aaron Cometbus
Aaron Cometbus
Aaron Elliott , better known as Aaron Cometbus, is an American drummer, lyricist, self-described "punk anthropologist," novelist, and author of punk rock zine Cometbus.-Personal life:...
occasionally sat in on second drums.The three singers were often too "screechy" for people, Eggplant was often too stoned to tune his guitar, and band members were often floating away to go to college or Europe. Nonetheless, they managed to release a number of recordings on Lookout! Records
Lookout! Records
-History:Larry Livermore and David Hayes formed the label in 1987. From the start, Lookout released punk rock records, but over time expanded its scope to include various types of pop rock, reggae fusion, acoustic rock, pop punk, and indie rock...
, which are highly regarded.
After the band broke up Eggplant went on to play with The Hope Bombs
The Hope Bombs
The Hope Bombs were a self-proclaimed "geekcore" band, existing from 1994 to 1997. They helped pioneer the development of alternative punk scenes in the San Francisco East Bay.-History:...
, Harbinger
Harbinger (band)
Harbinger is a band formed in 1997 in Berkeley, California featuring three prominent members from the East Bay punk scene:* Robert Eggplant , formerly of Blatz, The Hope Bombs, and editor of the zine Absolutely Zippo....
with Aaron Cometbus
Aaron Cometbus
Aaron Elliott , better known as Aaron Cometbus, is an American drummer, lyricist, self-described "punk anthropologist," novelist, and author of punk rock zine Cometbus.-Personal life:...
and John Geek of Fleshies
Fleshies
Fleshies are a band from Oakland, California signed to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles. They are known for their outlandish stage presence, their left-wing politics and their non-stop world touring schedule...
, Cope, Lil' Runt, and, currently, Fugitive Kind; Marshall Stax played drums for Subincision and continues to do his Monday night demo tape radio show; Joey Perales played with Jack Acid, Dead And Gone and more recently joined Pendulum Swing; Anna Joy and Jesse went on to perform with the band The Gr'ups, which also included Daniela Sea
Daniela Sea
Daniela Sea is an American filmmaker musician, performance artist, former circus juggler, and actress. She is most widely known for her role as Max/Moira on Showtime's The L Word.-History:...
; after the demise of that band Jesse sang for The Criminals
The Criminals
The Criminals were a punk rock band from Berkeley, California, formed in 1994. The lineup consisted of lead vocalist Jesse Luscious and bassist Mike Sexxx throughout the bands' existence...
and The Frisk
The Frisk
The Frisk was a punk rock band from Berkeley, California, formed by Jesse Luscious, Mike Sexxx and Zach Attack, all former members of The Criminals, along with AFI member Hunter Burgan, following The Criminals 2000 breakup...
and Anna Joy and fellow Gr'ups alumna Daniela Sea performed with Cypher in the Snow
Cypher in the Snow
Cypher in the Snow were an all women queercore band from San Francisco.One of the band's first appearances was at the Dirtybird Queercore Festival in San Francisco in 1996. This historic festival also featured Tribe 8, Sta-Prest, Behead the Prophet, No Lord Shall Live, The Need and many others...
. Anna Joy is the author of The Birdwisher and The Vicious Red Relic, Love and, along with Tara Jane O'Neil
Tara Jane O'Neil
Tara Jane O'Neil is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, audio recording engineer, and visual artist based out of Portland, Oregon.-Biography:...
and Rachel Carns
Rachel Carns
Rachel Carns is a queer musician, composer, artist and performer currently living in Olympia, Washington, U.S.. Raised in small-town Wisconsin, she went on to study painting and drawing at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City, where she completed her B.F.A. in 1991...
has recorded a music/vocal interpretation of The Vicious Red Relic, Love called Your Metaforest Guidebook available on Jaded Ibis Press. Jesse Luscious has also become the voice of Alternative Tentacles Records, hosting their podcast show, Batcast, as well as hosting his own long-standing morning show on KALX
KALX
KALX is a freeform FM radio station that broadcasts from the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California. KALX, a community- and student-run radio station licensed to the University of California, Berkeley, broadcasts in stereo with 500 watts of power...
radio.
EP
- Cheaper Than The Beer Lookout! RecordsLookout! Records-History:Larry Livermore and David Hayes formed the label in 1987. From the start, Lookout released punk rock records, but over time expanded its scope to include various types of pop rock, reggae fusion, acoustic rock, pop punk, and indie rock...
(1990) (out of print) - Cheaper Than The Beer Life Is Abuse Records (2000) (out of print)
- Cheaper Than The Beer Silver SprocketSpringman RecordsSpringman Records is an independent record label founded in 1998 by Avi Ehrlich that was run out of his parent's garage in Cupertino, California until late 2005, when Ehrlich moved the label to Sacramento...
(2009)
Splits
- Stranger Fruit (split 7" single with Tribe 8Tribe 8This article is about the San Francisco based lesbian punk band Tribe 8. See Tribe 8 for Dream Pod 9s post-apocalyptic fantasy role-playing game.Tribe 8 was an all-women outspoken dyke punk band from San Francisco...
) Lickout! Records (1992) - Bitches and Brew (split 7" single with Tribe 8) Lickout! Records (1992) (identical to Stranger Fruit except for cover)
- The Shit Split (split LP with FilthFilth (band)Filth is a hardcore punk band from East Bay, California.-Biography:Formed in the East Bay in 1989, from the ashes of Isocracy, the Vagrants, and Crimpshrine; Filth was a crustcore band that would help define the later "East Bay Hardcore" style...
) Lookout! RecordsLookout! Records-History:Larry Livermore and David Hayes formed the label in 1987. From the start, Lookout released punk rock records, but over time expanded its scope to include various types of pop rock, reggae fusion, acoustic rock, pop punk, and indie rock...
(1990), released as split CD including EP & Split EP on Lookout! RecordsLookout! Records-History:Larry Livermore and David Hayes formed the label in 1987. From the start, Lookout released punk rock records, but over time expanded its scope to include various types of pop rock, reggae fusion, acoustic rock, pop punk, and indie rock...
(1996) (out of print) - The Shit Split (split LP with FilthFilth (band)Filth is a hardcore punk band from East Bay, California.-Biography:Formed in the East Bay in 1989, from the ashes of Isocracy, the Vagrants, and Crimpshrine; Filth was a crustcore band that would help define the later "East Bay Hardcore" style...
) Life Is Abuse Records (2000), released as split CD including EP & Split EP on Life Is Abuse Records (2000) (out of print) - The Shit Split (split LP with FilthFilth (band)Filth is a hardcore punk band from East Bay, California.-Biography:Formed in the East Bay in 1989, from the ashes of Isocracy, the Vagrants, and Crimpshrine; Filth was a crustcore band that would help define the later "East Bay Hardcore" style...
) Alternative Tentacles Records (2009), released as split CD including EP & Split EP on Alternative Tentacles Records (2009)
Compilation appearances
- Can of Pork (1992)
- (You're Only As Good As) The Last Great Thing You Did! (1997)
- Later That Same Year (1999)
Members
- Robert Eggplant (guitar) (1989–1992)
- Joey Perales (drums) (1989–1992)
- John Santos (bass) (1989)
- Marshall Stax (bass) (1989–1992)
- Jesse Luscious (vocals) (1989–1992)
- Anna Joy (vocals) (1990–1992)
- Annie Lalania (vocals) (1990–1992)