THE IMPERIAL DOGS ON MY TV
I've been trying to come up with something to write about. I thought maybe something about football, but being a Steelers fan, I obviously have nothing to say. Possibly I could do a write up on the Micky Spillane book I'm reading, but I haven't finish it yet. Tiger Woods, it's already tired. Politics, not worthy. So I turn to a newish DVD that I got. THE IMPERIAL DOGS LIVE IN LONG BEACH (OCTOBER 30, 1974).
My first question in regards to this is, where are the bands like this nowadays? Really. It's hard to imagine that in the modern rock culture, that is co-opted, sanitized, and impotent, bands like this would be able to exist. I'm sure that there are places where some no name bands with a following of about 12 people, are laying the real thing down in the here and now, but most people are too busy pretending that Green Day is a punk band, or that Blink 182 are cutting edge, or maybe there still trying to convince themselves that the befuddled, old , gibberish speaking, fool of Heavy Metal, Ozzy Osbourne is still worth a crap. Actually, as far as I know, all of those I just mentioned are probably already designated to the yesterdays papers scene, but it doesn't matter, because whoever the new faces are that have come up to take their places, are 99% likely to be limp, sterile, and as interesting as a quilting bee.
Now on to the DVD. First and foremost you absolutely have to play this thing loud. Very loud. It's rock and roll after all and you really can't expect to get anything out of it at low volumes. The show takes place at California State Collage, and the crowd (no more than forty people I'm sure) don't seem to get what they're experiencing. They clap and sorta shake their heads to the songs, but for the most part they seem to be there because there's nothing better to do. There is a girl and her boyfriend who are really into it. I wonder if the girl who is dancing, is the girl who got the band the gig at the collage.
The sound quality is not the greatest, but it's not that bad, although I think that the music does suffer somewhat. But again compared to some of the bootlegs that you've heard, this thing does fine. Like I said, play it loud.
Don Waller is a great front man, and the band lay down some great riffs. The choice of covers is nice, you get the The Kinks,Velvet Underground, and Mott the Hoople tunes done nicely enough.
I have to say that this DVD is my first exposure to the band in regards to actually hearing them. I've read there name in many places where true blue rock and roll is talked about, and Don Waller was one of the main guys behind BACK DOOR MAN, a great rock rag if ever there was one.
This DVD is a nice thing to watch, especially if you want to glom on to some of the greatness that was once rock and roll, when the New York Dolls and the Dictators were walking the earth. The Imperial Dogs are one of those bands that kind of capture all the stuff my imagination thought about rock and roll when I was just first discovering it, before MTV and corporate zombies basically ruined it all. So is this thing for everybody? No, but the really cool things in life rarely are.
posted by Shep at 12:00 PM
2 Comments:
Don Waller here. Thanks for your kind words re: the Imperial Dogs' "Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974)" DVD, which is available from theimperialdogs.com
Thanks also for the kind words about Back Door Man.
Couple points of fact: There were at least 250 people in the audience that fateful night 'cause -- by charging everyone one whole dollar each to witness this insanity -- we got paid $250 that evening. In all fairness, it's hard to tell this was the case 'cause the show was shot by one camera on a tripod to the front and right-hand side of the room, so a lot of the audience is actually behind the camera. But you're right, Ray Charles, about the audience not getting it. Heh.
However, having to keep all the lights in the room on so the performance could be videotaped certainly inhibited the audience -- and the band felt like we were playing under a microscope.
And ... the girl seen dancing on the videotape is NOT the girl who got us the gig, got it videotaped, and had the foresight to purchase the tape. That was Linda Pascale, the true heroine of this tale. None of the I-Dogs nor any of the half-dozen other people who were there that night and have seen the tape/DVD can identify the girl who's dancing.
And, not to be too pedantic, we pre-date the Dictators ...
As far as the sound quality goes ... We were playing as loud as possible, which is why we're constantly battling feedback. Again, you can't see that the entire wall of the room that's behind the camera -- one side of the rectangle as it were -- is nothing but plate glass windows.
Also ... there's no soundboard. So what you're hearing is what the microphone attached to the videocamera captured. Got to hand it to whoever engineered that system 'cause it surely wasn't designed to capture a rock 'n' roll band playing at Papalordgod's own volume. However, because the sound was recorded on half-inch, reel-to-reel tape, it's better than anyone could expect. Like you said, play it LOUD!
Sweet.
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