28 January 2012

RABID LASSIE

The late '80s were a bit of a musical wasteland. The DIY network was still it's infancy, and there were heaps of bands trying to leapfrog into superstardom (or some perceived notion of what that might be) off the backs of underground punk. Straight edge had taken a new form in New York City and in the San Francisco area a whole scene was sprouting up in virtually every warehouse that could house a few dozen sweaty punks. San Ramon is in the armpit of the Bay Area, sitting about halfway between Walnut Creek and Pleasanton...a cultural wasteland, but in 1988 it was still spitting distance from the burgeoning scene in Berkeley and forever in the suburban shadow of the vibrant punk legacy San Francisco forged just a few years earlier. Enter RABID LASSIE - ripping straight edge hardcore with all of the fury of early SF thrashing punk, but delivered in the style of GORILLA BISCUITS, INSTED and other second wave straight edge gems. Sadly, they never made it to wax, save for one MRR EP comp, but their two demos are packed with unpretentious and hopelessly infectious hardcore....this is the second, a self titled seven song banger from 1988. No cover art, as this came to me on a tape compiled by a Bay Area resident some 20+ years ago trying to share the US scene with a tape trading pen pal overseas...no need to share the other new East Bay band he championed, because I figure everyone here has heard OPERATION IVY, right?

2 comments:

jim james said...

The late '80s were a bit of a musical wasteland. The DIY network was still it's infancy not true yes for the most part yes but there were some realy good bands in the late 80's too many to mention

Wajlemac said...

Rabid Lassie changed their name to Breakaway and put out 2 7"s. Here's a link to Part 1 of a three part interview with vocalist Joey Vela of RL/Breakaway...

http://doublecrosswebzine.blogspot.com/2009/11/joey-vela-breakaway.html

I saw him at a Youth Of Today show last year and he still looks the same.