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(21 August 1977, photo by Jenny Lens)

Alice Bag, Pleasant Puss Gehman, Dottie Danger (Belinda Carlisle), Hellin Killer.

1979 Masque rehearsal session - LONDON BOYS

Despite later heading in nearly opposite directions in every way, those familiar with LA punk history are aware that the Go Go's and the Germs shared significant common ground together as bands in their earliest days. Not only were they frequently featured on the same bills, the bands also shared a common band member (at least in theory) who, as the story goes, later went on to do PR for the Germs. Further, the bands shared a common practice space (along with X, the Motels & others) in the basement of the Masque. What's more, it was Darby himself who memorably coined Belinda as "the Dayglo Blimp,"** and perhaps most significantly, the Germs drummer Don Bolles co-wrote one of the Go Go's earliest signature compositions, London Boys with Ms. Jane Drano.

Marks in Time is pleased to release the second song in a series from the 1979 Masque rehearsals, originally supplied to the zine by Brendan Mullen in 1992. By 1979, London Boys was given a significant makeover from the band's original version, harmonies have started playing a key role in the band's evolution and the distortion on the guitars have been toned down considerably. Jane Drano's clever lyrics “Seen your pictures in the 'zines...pale blank faces/black and white keen/London boys cigarette lean,” which were earlier swallowed up altogether by the band's sonic guitar attack, are now increasingly audible to the listener. Arguably, the highlight of the track is listening to drummer Elissa Bello's skillful interpretation of the song. Bello's drumming has improved noticeably over the past year to the point where, musically-speaking, the band's sound almost revolves around her play. Charlotte Caffey's guitar leads are still of a simplistic/minimalist vein, but they work well-enough within the context of the band's early pop-punk hybrid style not to sound too terribly deficient. What are others thoughts on the band's 1979 sound in this song – anything you care to add?

**As directly told by Pat Smear's ex-girlfriend Rosetta Arsenault to Regi Mentle for Marks in Time.

~Eden Felt

Go-Go's - London Boys (live 1979)

(Jane Wiedlin / Don Bolles)

Seen your pictures in the 'zines

And you look real good

Pale blank faces - black and white keen

London boys - cigarette lean

London boys

Wish you were

London boys

Wish we were there

London boys

Seem real cool

London boys

Wish you were

London boys

Wish we were there

London boys

Seem real cool

London boys

If we had the money

If we were only rich

We'd take a jet plane get outta this scene

And make the switch 

Chapter 4 of Marks in Time, pages 31-40

Click to enlarge.

Brendan Mullen

Now seems an appropriate time to shed some light on Brendan Mullen, the owner of The Masque. The place wasn't open for long (1977-1979), but it was enough to make history. Here are two articles about the man and his numerous accomplishments.

Brendan Mullen dies at 60 ; founder of influental Masque punk rock club (LA Times)

Brendan Mullen obituary (The Guardian)

Some books he cowrote :

• We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of LA Punk (2001) Brendan Muller, Marc Spitz
• Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs (2002) Brendan Muller, Don Bolles, Adam Parfrey
• Whores: An Oral Biography of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction (2006)
• Live at the Masque: Nightmare in Punk Alley (2007) Brendan Muller, Roger Gastman, Kristine McKenna
• The Red Hot Chili Peppers: An Oral/Visual History (2010) - coauthored by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Mullen

1979 Masque rehearsal session - B-MOVIE

This week, we begin to explore a series of tracks that have never been available for public consumption via the internet prior, the 1979 Masque rehearsal tracks, starting out first this week with B-Movie. As the listener will immediately note, while the lyrics are identical, the musical arrangement is completely altered - almost turned inside out - from the '78 Whisky version. For all sakes and purposes, the old blueprint was evidently tossed out and the band essentially re-wrote the track altogether. Far more distinctive than their earlier arrangement, B-Movie '79 is slowed down considerably and essentially anchored down by Elissa Bello's skillful tribal drums patterns, Margo's hypnotic bass lines and jagged box-pattern rhythm-guitar chords throughout. There's a darker feel to the tune than prior, and Carlisle's vocals are appropriately gritty, expressive and raw. It is worth noting that the version played in this rehearsal is essentially identical to the one performed at the Elks Lodge show on March 17th of that same year. The only thing missing from that show is Jane Wiedlin's measured 1-2-3 counts after verses 1 and 2 which gave the song an additional stabbing, punk rock hook.

Where this music came from :

For those wondering where this music came from and how it actually got here, essentially the tracks exists on this website due to contact made with Brendan Mullan, former owner of the Masque, in 1992. At the time Iraya and I were doing research for the original hardcopy MIT zine, attempting to network with others involved in the underground music community in the SF Bay area. I recall us speaking to a number of people locally - including Tim Yohannan, Penelope Houston and others - in an attempt to obtain both feedback and additional materials for the project. At the time Iraya had the brilliant idea of contacting Mullen directly, and a trade was promptly done with him, which is how we acquired a significant amount of rare recordings, including better versions of some of the material we already had. Front and center to this trade was a nine song rehearsal tape of the Masque from 1979 - no specific date is known other than the fact that Ms. Bello is drumming, so it must be during the first half of that year. Not long after the tapes were acquired, fortunately we had the foresight to transfer them onto DAT in order to preserve the quality.
It seems logical that some of these songs might've ended up on the RTTVOTGG double CD retrospective in 1994, but unfortunately at the time we had no direct contact with the band, and after hearing the songs we were surprised by the comparatively poorer audio quality of some of the earlier material from that release. I think this explanation should answer most of people's questions (if anyone has further ones feel free to comment below). So without further ado, here's B-Movie.

~Eden Felt

The Go-Go's - B-Movie (1979)

(Jane Wiedlin / Charlotte Caffey)

I want to live in a b-movie
I want to say all the corney lines
I want passion and a make believe man
I want non stop romance all the time
I'll exist on the egde of extremes
Hate or love never in between
There's no stopping me now
Feelings gonna be my reason for being
Why can't my life be
Emotion and sentimentality
Soft lights, champagne and you and me
We'll write down our scenarios
Stare into each others souls
Be a rebel just like James Dean
I won't know how to say it
But you'll know what I mean
We'll exist on the edge of extremes
Hate or love never in between
There's no stopping us now
Feelings going to be our reason for being
A handsome love to send me flowers

Midnight walks in summer showers
Living in a b-movie

Chapter 3 of Marks in Time, pages 21-30

Click to enlarge.

Coming soon...