The Band, The Myth, The Volume
In the late 70s the nowave band Vox Pop spawned in L.A. Members included (but were not limited to) Dinah Cancer, Paul B. Cutler, Jeff
Dahl, Del Hopkins, Mitch Ochoa and Don Bolles. At the time members of Vox Pop were also in or would later form 45 Grave, The Graverobbers, Dream
Syndicate, Naked Prey, Angry Samoans, Lazy Cowgirls, Poison
Idea, Jeff Dahl Band, Germs & others.
The aim of Vox Pop was to go punk rock on punk rock, following somewhat in the footsteps of Sun City Girls. Drummer Don Bolles described Vox Pop as follows:
It was pretty random. Everyone wanted punk! We were, of course being
the rebels that we were, we were all rebelling against our rebellion
even. That's all we DID was rebel! We'd rebel against the rebels.
We'd rebel against ourselves basically. Whatever, we were rebelling
against it.
The band performed more than any other band for the show New Wave Theatre, a UHF program in L.A. Which is funny as in the intro for their youtube video for Just Like Your Mom, they can be heard saying "New Wave sucks!"
Vox Pop embraced a wide gamut of influences, including glam. Their drummer Bolles would dress in drag, garnering either approval or scorn from those in the crowd who were not duped. In fact, Bolles's penchant for woman's wear got him ousted from his spot in the Germs by the late vocalist Darby Crash. During the Germs reunion tour following the release of
2008's What We Do Is Secret, Bolles was able to play
drums again with the remaining members of Germs. The aforementioned film, while not explicitly about Vox Pop, does contain a brief scene with actors portraying the band.
Look for Vox Pop in the crates of your nearest vinyl heaven or ask your favorite friendly punk purist DJ to dig some out for ya or youtube that shit. (Altho the mp3 links on the first blog listed
below are superior to those available on youtube—check out "Become a
Pagan" for 60s acidrock goodness.)
Vox Pop disbanded in the early 80s.
sources:
Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs 10: 0922915709