Angry Samoans


The Angry Samoans was an American punk rock band from the first wave of American punk. Formed in August 1978 in Los Angeles, California, by early 1970s rock writer "Metal" Mike Saunders, his sibling lead guitarist Bonze Blayk and Gregg Turner, along with original recruits Todd Homer and Bill Vockeroth.

History

Pre-Samoans

In 1969 the Saunders/Blayk siblings cut a 14-song high school garage rock album, I'm a Roadrunner Motherfucka, in their hometown of Little Rock, under a twice-used local band name, the Rockin' Blewz. The album went unissued until the late 1990s.
Mike Saunders briefly played in an early backing lineup for 1950s rockabilly cult artist Ray Campi during 1975, before moving back to Arkansas for two years.
Bassist Homer had played in 1977 Masque-era band Jesus Prick, and drummer Vockeroth was a veteran of the Pasadena "backyard kegger party" cover band circuit.
During 1978, both Turner and Mike Saunders played with rock critic Richard Meltzer in the Los Angeles punk band VOM, which issued a posthumous five-song EP, Live at Surf City, on White Noise Records in early summer 1978.
Patrick "P.J." Galligan was formerly a member of heavy metal band Cirith Ungol. Galligan died from throat cancer in 2014.

Original lineup

The first Angry Samoans gig was on October 30, 1978, opening for Roky Erickson and the Aliens in Richmond, California. Erickson was sick and did not make the show but remained a lifelong friend and inspiration to Turner. The next night, the Samoans played an "all-LA bill" at the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco, opening for Shock and the Zeros.
The Samoans' first release, Inside My Brain, featuring P.J. Galligan on lead guitar as a replacement for Bonze Blayk, was one of the earliest hardcore punk albums to come out of the 1980s LA punk rock scene. Between this recording and second album Back from Samoa, the band released a four-song EP as "The Queer Pills", allegedly using the pseudonym for the EP to get airtime on Rodney Bingenheimer's KROQ radio program. Their 14-song, 17-minute hardcore album, Back from Samoa, released in 1982, featured lyrics with such themes as the trendiness of poking your eyes out, anthropomorphizing Adolf Hitler's penis, and dissing your father, sung over heavily distorted guitars and early LA/OC hardcore drum beats.
In the mid-1980s, the Angry Samoans added guitarist Steve Drojensky, and returned to their roots in mid-1960s American garage rock. The next two releases recorded during 1986–87, the Yesterday Started Tomorrow EP and STP Not LSD, were largely in this neo-1960s garage/psych style.

"Get Off the Air" controversy

In late January 1979, Mike Saunders, Turner and Homer wrote an infamous song about longtime LA/Hollywood scenemaker and KROQ-FM DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, titled "Get Off the Air". When the song was included on the band's first record, Inside My Brain, the Samoans were blacklisted at the Starwood, the Whisky a Go Go, and other clubs in the Hollywood/LA area from mid-1980 through late 1982, seemingly due to Bingenheimer's strong influence within the LA/Hollywood club scene.

Member changes and other projects

Homer left at the end of 1988 and formed the Mooseheart Faith Stellar Groove Band with Larry Robinson, formerly of 1970s teen pop-soul band Apollo. In 2005, Homer formed free-jazz band the Hollywood Squaretet with comedian/drummer Larry "Copcar" Scarano, formerly of Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen, and the 1960s New York rock band, the Bougalieu.
Turner left in early 1992, releasing an album, Santa Fe, in 1993 with the Mistaken, which featured guitarist Sean O'Brien, bassist Heath Siefert and drummers Elizabyth Burtis and Kelly Callan. Turner's next band, the Blood Drained Cows, issued two albums, and occasionally features autoharp player Billy Angel from the Aliens.
During the mid- to late 1980s, Mike Saunders moonlighted in several electric/acoustic two-guitar duos such as the Clash Brothers, the Sons of Mellencamp, and the Gizmo Brothers, performing at various small clubs during that period in San Francisco, LA/OC, and even Boston.

Recent activity

The Angry Samoans have continued from the late 1980s onward with Mike Saunders, original drummer Vockeroth and a wide variety of other individuals. They have performed mainly along the West Coast, aside from occasional out-of-state weekend trips and three short, successful tours of mainland Europe in 2003, 2007 and 2008. In 2010, they performed on the Legends Stage on four dates of the Vans Warped Tour.
Gregg Turner has toured in October 2019 with the Oblivians as a solo act, in anticipation of a re-release of the Angry Samoans discography.

Discography

Studio albums

  • Back from Samoa
  • STP Not LSD
  • ''The '90s Suck and So Do You''

    EPs

  • Inside My Brain
  • Queer Pills – pseudonymous release
  • Yesterday Started Tomorrow
  • Fuck the War EP
  • I'm in Love with Your Mom – recorded in September 1978

    Other releases

  • Gimme Samoa: 31 Garbage-Pit Hits
  • Return to Samoa – unauthorized bootleg
  • Live at Rhino Records – recorded in May 1979
  • The Unboxed Set – first two EPs and first two studio albums on one CD

    Compilation appearances

  • Underground Hits 1 – "Poshboy's Cock", "Right Side of My Mind", "Pictures of Matchstick Men"
  • Annoy Your Neighbor With This Tape! cassette – "Steak Knife", "Lights Out"
  • Underground Hits 2 – "Hot Cars", "Inside"
  • High Muck cassette – "Pictures of Matchstick Men"
  • Life Is A Joke Vol. 2 – "Psych-Out 129", "Unhinged"
  • Passport Summer Sampler 1987 cassette – "Right Side of My Mind"
  • Speed Air Play December 1, 1988 cassette 1988 – "Garbage Pit"
  • Triple X Records Compilation #4: Hear 'Em Spin – "I've Lost My Mind"
  • Faster & Louder – "Lights Out"
  • Slam Chops – "Right Side of My Mind"
  • Son of Slam Chops – "Right Side of My Mind"
  • The New, The Classic & The Unexplored – "Haitzman's Brain Is Calling"
  • Sepultura + 11 Bandas Punk – "Inside My Brain"
  • American Revolution 1 – More Hardcore Punk From Around the United States CDr – "Inside My Brain"
  • Exxxile on Main Street – "Lights Out"
  • For Those About To Rock – A Punk Tribute to AC/DC "Highway To Hell"
  • A Punk Tribute To Weezer – "Buddy Holly"
  • Modern Rock Loud And Raw 2XCD – "Lights Out"
  • 5 Years Dedicated to a Better Taste in Fine Music – "Inside My Brain"
  • Punk Story 3XCD – "Inside My Brain"
  • Punk Riot 4XCD – "Ballad of Jerry Curlan", "Inside My Brain"
  • Welcome to the Anarchy Library Vol. 1 – "Lights Out"
  • Punk Goes Metal – "Highway To Hell"
  • High Voltage- The Ultimate AC/DC Tribute – "Highway To Hell"
  • The Most Explosive Tribute – AC/DC 2XCD – "Highway To Hell"
  • Punk Legends Playing The Songs of AC/DC'' 2XLP – "Highway To Hell"

    Band members

Vocalists

  • "Metal Mike" Saunders – vocals, guitar, drums
  • Gregg Turner – vocals, guitar
  • Todd Homer – vocals, bass
  • Bill Vockeroth – vocals, drums
  • Jeff Dahl – vocals

    Guitarists

  • Bonze Blayk – lead guitar
  • P.J. Galligan – lead guitar
  • Steve Drojensky – lead guitar
  • Alison Victor – lead guitar
  • Mark Byrne – guitar
  • Jonathan Hall – lead guitar
  • Kevin Joseph – lead guitar
  • Landon Gale-George – guitar
  • Colin Alflen – lead guitar
  • Nathan Javier – lead guitar

    Bass Guitarists

  • Todd Homer – vocals, bass
  • Scott Greer – bass
  • Heith Seifert – bass
  • Mike "Cyco Loco" Avilez – bass
  • Adrianne Harmon – bass
  • Rick Dasher – bass
  • Dan Siegal – bass
  • Matt "Malice" Vicknair – bass
  • John Voorhies – bass
  • Sean Rowley - bass