Tru Fax & The Insaniacs...
http://www.trufax.com/trufaxmem.html
It was on a night much like tonight (icy and cold as could be), about 28 years ago that my friend Cliff invited me over to his apartment in Arlington. There was a VFW Hall about a half mile away and it had been rented out to a local punk band of note called the Nurses to perform in. We hiked through the icy streets and joined about 30 or 40 other rock'n'roll stalwarts to watch the show in the little bar room of the hall. There was an opening act whom I'd never heard of called Tru Fax & The Insaniacs. They blew me away. I barely remember the Nurses performance.
Part of it was the atmosphere, I'm sure. The concept of small groups of people enjoying music close up has always been close to my heart. But this band was just so neat. The lead vocalist, Diana Quinn had a clear voice, (a bit like Debbie Harry's), that combined a certain innocence with enthusiasm and even a bit of scepticism; and the band played a raucous sound based on a lot of mid to late 60's tunes. In addition, the covers were all obscure pop culture references - the Mystery Date commercial jingle & Olive Oil's dream song of running for President. You could hear all these cool pop footnotes amid sounds combining the Monkees, the Velvets, the Ramones,and a hundred other bands. It was a great evening. One of my faves.
I saw them again several times, each one a small treasure. Probably their most famous song became something of a mini-theme for late 70's DC - "Washingtron". It, along with the Urban Verbs first album captures the era nicely. They released on LP long ago, (never reissued on CD) and broke up years back, though Quinn still performs regularly in the area. You can catch up with her here: http://www.muddypaws.com/
I bring this up for several reasons, the first is just because it was a fun time and a great band, and I'd hate the memory to be lost forever. The second is because I hope such things happen today. It's been many years since I went to clubs or hiked around to little impromptu shows, and the gods know I have no use for modern radio. But I hope that young people still have opportunities, if they so choose, to strike out from all the corporate crap and the huge packaged stadium tours and see what rock'n'roll really is. A spark of fun/rebellion/identity on a cold Winter night.
It was on a night much like tonight (icy and cold as could be), about 28 years ago that my friend Cliff invited me over to his apartment in Arlington. There was a VFW Hall about a half mile away and it had been rented out to a local punk band of note called the Nurses to perform in. We hiked through the icy streets and joined about 30 or 40 other rock'n'roll stalwarts to watch the show in the little bar room of the hall. There was an opening act whom I'd never heard of called Tru Fax & The Insaniacs. They blew me away. I barely remember the Nurses performance.
Part of it was the atmosphere, I'm sure. The concept of small groups of people enjoying music close up has always been close to my heart. But this band was just so neat. The lead vocalist, Diana Quinn had a clear voice, (a bit like Debbie Harry's), that combined a certain innocence with enthusiasm and even a bit of scepticism; and the band played a raucous sound based on a lot of mid to late 60's tunes. In addition, the covers were all obscure pop culture references - the Mystery Date commercial jingle & Olive Oil's dream song of running for President. You could hear all these cool pop footnotes amid sounds combining the Monkees, the Velvets, the Ramones,and a hundred other bands. It was a great evening. One of my faves.
I saw them again several times, each one a small treasure. Probably their most famous song became something of a mini-theme for late 70's DC - "Washingtron". It, along with the Urban Verbs first album captures the era nicely. They released on LP long ago, (never reissued on CD) and broke up years back, though Quinn still performs regularly in the area. You can catch up with her here: http://www.muddypaws.com/
I bring this up for several reasons, the first is just because it was a fun time and a great band, and I'd hate the memory to be lost forever. The second is because I hope such things happen today. It's been many years since I went to clubs or hiked around to little impromptu shows, and the gods know I have no use for modern radio. But I hope that young people still have opportunities, if they so choose, to strike out from all the corporate crap and the huge packaged stadium tours and see what rock'n'roll really is. A spark of fun/rebellion/identity on a cold Winter night.
posted by mendip at
10:12 PM
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