CLE MAGAZINE: ISSUE 2, NORTH COAST PUNK AND THE ELECTRIC EELS (1978)

"The [Electric] Eels were an extremely loud, controversial assault on their audience. They were also very entertaining. The Eels are gone for now but there are some excellent tapes floating around. It would be great to have some of them released.” – Michael Weldon, contributing editor, CLE

Issue 2 of Cleveland, Ohio’s underground punk periodical CLE was released in the fall of 1978, a year after its debut in winter 1977. Covering the local first wave scene, CLE was founded by then 18-year-old Jim Ellis, who served as editor and publisher for the full five-issue run until the publication folded with Issue 3B in spring 1981.

Henry “Wild Dog” Weissborn reached out to emerging scenes from coast to coast. This scarce publication from his archives remains an imprint of early North Coast punk.

“Watch CLE for more on the Eels, Mirrors, Tin Huey, Rocket from the Tombs, Milk, Devo, Styrene/Money Band, Pere Ubu, the Wolves, Friction, Cinderella Backstreet, Bizzaros, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks…” – Footnote to “Electric Eels: Attendance Required,” Issue 2

LESTER BANGS, AUSTIN SURF PUNK AND JOOK SAVAGES ON THE BRAZOS (1980)

“Austin’s surf punkers The Delinquents are joined on stage at Club Foot by professional rock critic Lester Bangs. Bangs, who is swinging the microphone stand in the [below] picture, is also featured as guest vocalist on an upcoming elpee [sic] by the Delinquents.” – 1980 photo caption, WILD DOG zine

That LP was Jook Savages on the Brazos, which Lester Bangs and The Delinquents recorded on the band’s label, Live Wire Records, in 1980. According to Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America’s Greatest Rock Critic by Jim Derogatis, the famed music journalist briefly transplanted in Austin in an earnest attempt to front a band in the local music scene widely recognized for its outlaw country and psychedelic influences.

Most notably, Lester Bangs and The Delinquents opened for NYC experimental rock new wavers the Talking Heads at the Armadillo World Headquarters Nov. 21, 1980, before Bangs would record his lone studio effort with the band. After packing the house on the eve of its final closure, the Armadillo (formerly the legendary psych venue Vulcan Gas Company), shuttered on New Year’s Day 1981.

Formed in the late 1970s in Austin, The Delinquents debuted their 1960s garage/psych/fuzz rock inspired EP Alien Beach Party in 1979. Its self-titled album was independently released the following year via Live Wire Records.

Lester Bangs, the writer whose poison pen and harsh criticism of MC5’s Kick Out the Jams first landed him a gig with Rolling Stone in 1969, died from an accidental overdose on April 30, 1982.

PHOTO BY MICHELLE LEVINAS; ORIGINAL GALLEY OF WILD DOG ZINE.

ORIGINAL DELINQUENTS SHIRT COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

ANARCHY, RIPPED & TORN (1982, 1977)

Wild Dog Archives is cataloguing Henry “Wild Dog” Weissborn’s wide-ranging and massive collection of subversive cover art and ephemera. See it now.

COVERS COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

HYMNAL NO. 1 AND 2 (1981)

HYMNAL, a punk and hardcore fanzine originally headquartered in Houston, debuted in December 1981.

The first three issues were based on the Houston scene, after which the publication relocated to Austin. Its fourth and final issue was published in 1982, with featured coverage of Houston and Austin bands. The full run of Hymnal, Nos. 1-4, can be accessed in the private collection of Wild Dog Archives.

IMAGES COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

BEAT GENERATION MEETS PUNK: SAN FRANCISCO’S SEARCH & DESTROY (1977)

V. Vale’s inaugural issue of San Francisco punk zine, SEARCH & DESTROY, originally funded by beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. (No. 1, 1977) takes its moniker from a Stooges song and features a “Basic Iggy Pop Bio”:

“Iggy Pop’s legend is one of the crucial cornerstones of rock & roll lore. It began when his Ann Arbor band, The Stooges, debuted on Halloween, 1967, chopping flower power down at the root.”

The full run, Nos. 1-11, can be accessed in the private collection of Wild Dog Archives.

ORIGINAL ZINE SCANNED COURTESY OF WILD DOG ARCHIVES.

TAKING INVENTORY (2012-2013)

From only a few of the boxes found in the Wild Dog Archives we managed to log some 193 news-based countercultural and music publications, including early issues of SPACE CITY!, ABRAXAS, HYMNAL, OVERTHROW, REsearch, and a full run of V. Vale’s San Francisco, Beat-funded SEARCH & DESTROY, quite possibly our favorite punk zine next to our own Houston’s WILD DOG.