Imperial Dogs: 'All The Velvets' Urban Grit Plus Dictators-Style Rock 'N' Roll Bravado!'

The B-side of the Imperial Dogs' 1978 single on Back Door Man Records was a cover of the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting For The Man," which, as the Dude Behind The Record Counter writes here, "has all the Velvets’ urban grit plus Dictators-style rock ’n' roll bravado, turning it into a fist-thrustin’ rock anthem!"

While the A-side of the Imperial Dogs' single, "This Ain't The Summer Of Love" was -- thanks to an introduction by Kim Fowley -- was re-worked and re-recorded by the Blue Oyster Cult, as The Dude Behind The Record Counter notes here:

"I posted the Imperial Dogs flipside to "This Ain't The Summer Of Love" a while back, and now I've actually got the song for y'all. Although this ain't by the Imperial Dogs, it's from Sweden's almighty Screaming Dizbusters, who're really the Nomads lettin' their scraggly hair down. They seemed to always like a fleshy bottom-end to their racket and this is no exception. Nice crunching guitar and heavy organ set at a slow swagger that'll have almost any 40-somethin' rocker headbangin' what little hair he's got left. It's not metal per se, it's more like a straight shot o' no-frills (meat)ballsy rock 'n' roll with a bargain-basement garage chaser. This 7-inch was released on French label Amigo in '86."

Earlier recordings of both these songs can be found on the Imperial Dogs' Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD.

Thames Delta World Service Sends Imperial Dogs Back To The Future!

Inspired by the recent (September, 2011) issue of Mojo magazine that featured a detailed history of'70s pre-punk music by "England's Dreaming" author Jon Savage, the Thames Delta World Service blog created a three-hour, streaming audio playlist entitled "Back To The Future - Mojo's 50 Pre-Punk '70s Tracks" that includes every single song cited in the story's accompanying sidebar PLUS the Imperial Dogs' original version of "This Ain't The Summer Of Love," which was taken from the band's Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD, and can be heard here.

Fang Mail, Pt. 25

Thought we'd share some more "fang mail" from people who've actually purchased the Imperial Dogs' Live! At Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD ...

"It certainly took me back to the days when heavy metal and Detroit looked like the feeding ground for punk and for reminding me why Back Door Man magazine (and the Imperial Dogs) came along at just the right time to lead my receptivity to the Stooges, the MC5, the Blue Oyster Cult, and the New York Dolls," writes lifelong fan, true "recordman" -- and great humanitarian -- Gary Stewart. "Clearly you guys were among the first to try this. (Certainly the first on the West Coast)."

The Imperial Dogs: It Was 37 Years Ago Today ...

It was 37 years ago today ... that the Imperial Dogs performed the show that would be immortalized on their Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD. Ahh, as evidenced here, we were "Just Kids" ...

Byron Coley On The Imperial Dogs: 'So Nasty, So Dumb, So Perfect'!

"Anyone with an interest in the development of the American musical underground in the '70s will truly get their goddamn lunch eaten after watching this," concludes veteran journalist/author/Ecstatic Yod label owner Byron Coley, reviewing the Imperial Dogs' Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD here at the Forced Exposure website.

"The Imperial Dogs blast off into a very raw version of the Kinks' "Till The End Of The Day" and go flat-out from there on," continues Coley. "There are all kinds of pure aggression onstage -- from (vocalist Don) Waller's call to put all Carole King fans into death camps to the Nazi flag draped on the amps to fake vomiting and song intros that would've made my ears wiggle even if I'd heard them in '77 at the height of the punk scare. Waller's presence is a pure PUNK take on Iggy's gestalt, all negativity and amphetamine. He snarls and curses and stomps around, smacking stuff with his chains. And when his pants start to come off, it reads as a very aggressive act, even though it's clearly beyond his control. And the music would've passed for first rate pastiche in that era as well.

"An outstanding proto-punk garage band, the Imperial Dogs sound very cool -- there are traces of the Standells and the Chocolate Watchband along with the Doors and the Stooges and the New York Dolls -- and the fact that they're playing almost all originals is real unusual for the time. Together they really power through this set like no one else could've in those dark days. If I would've seen these guys, I'm pretty sure I'd be living a different life right now.

"So nasty, so dumb, so perfect. Halloween '74. What the fuck were you doing?"

Sid Griffin: 'The Imperial Dogs Were Ahead Of Your Time!'

"Don Waller should have a mike and not a pen in his hand!" writes singer/songwriter/author Sid Griffin -- whose musical pedigree stretches from garage-rockers the Unclaimed to roots-rockers the Long Ryders, Western Electric, Danny & Dusty, and currently the Coal Porters -- after viewing the Imperial Dogs' Live! At Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD.

"This is aggressive stuff," Griffin continues. "I'm really impressed. The band is good and the drummer [Bill Willett] missed his calling. 'Midnite Dog' is a flat-out good song and while it does sound like the Stooges, Don Waller is less Iggy onstage than a menacing David Johansen. By good song I mean you can remember it after it's over. It doesn't fade into the ether like 99.9% of the tunes you have heard in your all too short time on God's green Earth.

"'We fuck just like we play ... loud, hard, and fast!' Not too sure about that last adverb, but they would've unplugged you for that back in 1974 Kentucky. Reminds me of the 13th Floor Elevators' Easter Everywhere. And the leather trousers? They would've stopped the show in Louisville once the singer's pubic hair and ass started showing.

"But your stage performance is good. Nice raps -- goading the audience between songs is a good thing to do, especially when they're like the one you guys are playing to -- and there is some serious David Lee Roth jumpin' at about 57:05. I rolled that back a few times to see it. Call the Lakers! Somewhere about then you also match each beat of the snare rim shots with your finger pointed like a gun. Looks really good on the screen.

"You've got the mike in your trousers in 'I'm Waiting For The Man.' I saw Howlin' Wolf do this when he played Louisville in 1974. Four years later, I saw the Cramps and Lux Interior did the same thing. In fact, a lot of what I saw Lux do that first time was a direct lift of Wolf's stage act.

"'Sweet Little Strychnine' is another good song. I love the dancers. Look closely and they (particularly she) do a prototype of every future and some past rock dance save the Pogo and the Swim, the Pony and the Duck. The crowd is probably inhibited by the lights being on. A bunch of sober, non-stoned folks filmed at the time when they are self-conscious about being self-conscious is not gonna bop and boogie, which makes the viewing of this kinda funny ... Normally, someone besides those two would be dancing about a bit, but no, not here. Weird.

"Had Clive Davis seen this, you might have gotten a label contract. I kid you not. It was both there at the time (the look, the overall band sound) and ahead of its time (the punk attitude, the short riffs and/or chord progressions underpinning the tunes) and that is saying something. Which most bands never do. Mostly you were ahead of your time."

The Imperial Dogs: ' Sonic Power & Wincing Loserdom"!

"Swastikas draped over their amps, leather pants sliding terrifyingly lower and lower from all the sweat, the unsigned, unrecorded, un-managed, unkempt and uninhibited Imperial Dogs pound their way through a heavy set at an unfeeling gymnasium in California," is the description of the Imperial Dogs' Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD found here at the Weirdo Records retail site, adding, "A missing link between the Stooges/MC5 and Kim Fowley/L.A. punk, the Imperial Dogs show off both the sonic power of relentless practicing and the wincing loserdom that was punk's social status in the mid-'70s."

The Imperial Dogs: A Pleasant (Gehman) Memory

"There were some gigs that were pre-punk like the Zippers or the Imperial Dogs, local bands like that, the Runaways, the Quick, that were kinda edgy, punkish. I mean it sounds really pop but they were not like normal mainstream bands and they weren't signed," remembers longtime L.A. writer/singer/belly dancer Pleasant Gehman during the course of a must-read interview here at the Drugs & Daydreams/A Riotous Disarray site.

Imperial Dogs In 'Mojo'!

The new (September, 2011) issue of Mojo contains an 11-page feature by Jon Savage on the history of pre-punk rock, which opens with the following paragraphs:

It's October 30, 1974. The Imperial Dogs are playing their second ever show in the Student Union's multi-purpose room at California State College, Long Beach, and it's like wading through tar. Because the event is being captured on videotape, the overhead lights are turned up full and the hall has all the ambiance of a particularly clinical shed.

The Dogs have tried hard. Flyers promise "an evening of sex, violence and public outrage." The stage is decorated with handmade banners, a large swastika flag hangs over the bass amp, a distinct declaration of intent.

The singer, Don Waller, has severe Iggy damage, his black leather pants slipping down to his naked crotch as he prowls the stage. The guitarist could be in a grunge band with his military trousers and long curly hair. The bassist looks like a refugee from Fredericks of Hollywood, in horizontally ribbed fur trousers, white make-up and leather armbands. Hippies they are not.

"We're the Imperial Dogs," spits Waller, "trashy little whores!" Following a storming version of The Kinks' Till The End Of The Day, Contradictions ("driving me insane"), the New York Dollsy Just Kids, and a pretty solid I'm Waiting For The Man, the group prepare for their forte, their original song, This Ain't The Summer Of Love.

Waller glares at the audience: "Let's go up the country, let's get mellow," he sneers. "Let's smoke weed ... we'll just ignore everything ... We don't care, we'll get real high, man, so what? When people like us get the technology, man, we will just put them in camps. We're going to kill them all man, we're going to kill everybody with a Carole King album. Eight million people in fucking America bought Tapestry, we're going to kill 'em all and anybody who wants to save a tree you can get fucked 'cos we don't give a shit about trees, man ... so everybody be cool, be hip, just don't feel, man, be too cool to dance, right. It's going to be real mellow. It's going to be a real good time. It's so mellow here. I can feel all mellow. All right! You fucking scum! All you hippies out there! This Ain't No Summer Of Love!"

Except for one solitary "Fuck you!," the audience reacts to this heroic spew with indifference. It's not surprising. Filmed from the side of the auditorium, the footage shows a sparse collection of long hairs, mostly wearing flannel shirts, T-shirts and denim. Although polite, they are not engaged, wandering in and out of shot to seek amusements that don't involve this theatre of cruelty.

The final song, Rock 'n' Roll Overdose, is dedicated to, "Adolf, the Lizard King, and Bo Diddley." For an encore, the Dogs rip through Mott The Hoople's Rock 'n' Roll Queen.

This riveting footage, forgotten for three-and-a-half decades, illustrates the dilemma faced during the early '70s. In strict terms, Waller was right: the hippies had creatively peaked in 1969. What was left five years later was residue, smeared all over a moribund popular culture.

It was a golden period for black music, but in white rock the '60s still held sway. In America, the Number 1 albums of November 1974 were by CSNY, Carole King, John Lennon and The Rolling Stones. If you were 10 years younger, you were still waiting for something of your own to happen. What would a true '70s rock music sound like? How could you make an impact in a youth culture that had the consistency of mushy Granola?

Those were the questions facing the Imperial Dogs in 1974 and the lack of answers was driving them towards extreme postures -- the swastikas, the stage violence, the anti-hippy rants. But instead of public outrage, they got tepid applause. For them, tolerance was worse than outright hostility. Yet they were not alone. Elsewhere in America and Europe, others were groping toward the same thing. Long dismissed as a run-up to the main event, the Pre-Punk period of 1971-76 is a fascinating lost pop-culture moment: It represents a path not taken, a future that never happened.

There's also a full-color photo of the Imperial Dogs -- it's the center-spread of the DVD booklet (and seen at the top of this page) -- captioned: This ain't summer lovin': The Imperial Dogs kill everyone, October 1974.

And there's a pull quote: "We're going to kill them all, man! We're going to kill everybody with a Carole King album."

And, a couple pages later, there's this:

In Los Angeles, during the fading days of Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, there were The Imperial Dogs, The Pop, Kim Fowley's Hollywood Stars, and Zolar X -- a group who took the Spiders From Mars concept into hyperspace, with silver-foil uniforms H.P. Lovecraft pseudonyms, and their own alien language.

And ... at the end of the 11 pages, there's this:

The Imperial Dogs DVD is available from forcedexposure.com; check it out here.

Clap Meets The (Future) Imperial Dogs!

New York City-based Sing Sing Records just reissued Clap's semi-legendary 1973 album Have You Reached Yet?, featuring authoritative "I was there" liner notes from Back Door Man magazine founder "Phast Phreddie" Patterson, who recounts witnessing the infamous December 18, 1972 gig at the Shamrock Roller Arena in downtown Torrance where Sugar Boy (four-fifths of whom would become the Imperial Dogs) opened for Clap. You can see the flyer promoting the show here.

Clap are often mistakenly thought of as being from Manhattan Beach 'cause that's where the Nova Sol studio in which they recorded the LP and the similarly named label that originally issued the disc were based.

In truth, Clap singer Steve Morrison and his younger brother/bassist Jim, lead guitarist Dave Aurit, and rhythm guitarist Keith Till were all classmates of Sugar Boy/Imperial Dogs members Don Waller, Paul Therrio, and Tim Hilger at North Torrance high school.

The way we remember it, Clap started in 1965 as one of the 5,283 bands that called themselves the Chosen Few, which they shortened to the Few prior to adopting the nom de rock Clap. These early lineups included fellow North Torrance alumni guitarist Donnie Blair and first Ric Crist, then Lester Hurst on drums. While Hurst appears on some of the album's tracks, it's his replacement, Scott Murcier, who's pictured on the LP cover.

By the time that Don, Paul, and Tim, augmented by North Torrance classmate/rhythm guitarist Ron Vaselenko and drummer Bill Willett (who came from nearby Carson) formed Sugar Boy in 1972, Clap were the most popular local rock band around. Don and Paul vividly remember going to see Clap play a hall party somewhere in Gardena where they opened with a driving cover of the Kinks' "Victoria" (which was almost a revolutionary act for the time), but the rest of Clap's set was mostly Rolling Stones and Alice Cooper covers.

Not long after this, Clap invited Sugar Boy to open that show at the Shamrock Roller Arena. The gig was memorable for several reasons:

Once we got inside the building, we discovered there wasn't a stage, just a bunch of wooden pallets stacked on top of each other about three or four feet high, then covered with large sheets of plywood. When we took the "stage" -- all decked out in various shades of crushed velvet suits, scarves, brightly colored floral shirts, etc. -- and started jumping around, it was like playing in a rowboat!

And … the guitar and mike cords kept getting caught between the sheets of plywood, which were slipping around like tectonic plates and we were constantly distracted with trying -- not always successfully -- to keep everything plugged in. You can read a brief history of the Shamrock Roller Arena here.

Nevertheless, there were about 200 people there and considering that Sugar Boy's set was half original material, including "Contradictions" and "Needle And Spoon" -- which would later appear on the Imperial Dogs' Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD and their Unchained Maladies: Live! 1974-75 album, respectively -- and half covers that almost no one in the audience knew (everything from the Move's "Hello Suzie," the Blue Oyster Cult's "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll," and Black Pearl by way of the Sandpebbles' "Forget It" to the Climax Blues Band's "Reap What I've Sowed," Crazy Horse by way of Randy Newman's "Gone Dead Train," the Faces' "Had Me A Real Good Time," and Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody") we went down well.

Didn't get paid a penny out of the $1.25 that Clap charged everyone to get in, but then they'd booked the gig, they were the bigger draw, and we really just wanted the opportunity to play for their audience. (We'd only been playing shows for six months and this was our twelfth gig. It was also our last under the Sugar Boy name and lineup.)

Within weeks, we'd jettisoned Vaselenko as well as all the blues-based material -- we'd also been playing everything from Z.Z. Top's "Bedroom Thang," Free's I'll Be Creepin'," Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman," and Savoy Brown's "Tell Mama" to Willie Dixon's "Don't Go No Further," Earl King's "Come On," and Chuck Berry's "Down The Road Apiece," Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," the Small Faces' "Afterglow," the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter," and the Who's "Baba O'Riley -- and changed our name to White Light.

A couple months later, Phast Phreddie -- who Don first encountered when he found Phast pulling on his trouser leg at the Shamrock gig, asking, "Are you gonna play that Eddie Cochran song?" (Phast had seen Sugar Boy play El Camino Junior College about a month earlier) -- dropped by the house in Hermosa Beach that Don and Paul were now renting with Paul's older sister and our high school pal, Mike Utley, with the Clap album under his arm.

We were surprised. Nobody -- let alone a local band that we all knew -- released records on indie labels back then. We were also surprised that the album was all original material. Well, sort of. (Most of the songs shared far too much DNA with their obvious inspirations: then-current Rolling Stones and Alice Cooper hits, for openers.)

Clap themselves were reportedly extremely unhappy with the album's couldn't-be-less-sympathetic production and broke up shortly after its release. So did White Light, but the four of us soon reunited as the Imperial Dogs. And we remember that former Clap guitarist Dave Aurit came to see us play that Cal State Long Beach gig 'cause he handed Tim Hilger one of the "barf bags" that we passed out at the door, upon which he'd scribbled "bloody good show!" (A reference to Don's using a combination of stage blood and foaming capsules to simulate a puking O.D. in the middle of "This Ain't The Summer Of Love.")

Not long after this, Phast Phreddie wrote a letter to the now-late Greg Shaw's Bomp! magazine, talking about Clap's Have You Reached Yet? LP as well as the Imperial Dogs, which turned the album into a serious collector's item. Once copies of the original Clap LP began selling for north of $500, various bootleggers got into the act and that's what's been available until the fine folks at Sing Sing produced the legal reissue that can be found here.

Having now heard the album for the first time in 38 years, we can see why "garage-rock" and "proto-punk" aficionados have got their knickers in a twist. Yeah, the production is "low-fi," but the overall effect is closer to a great lost Shadows Of Knight album than just about anything else in recent memory. But don't take our word for it, check out this pair of links to YouTube clips for Clap's "Have You Reached Yet?" and "Out Of The Shadows" here and here.

And, of course, it's good to see our North Torrance homeboys get their however-belated due.

Imperial Dogs Vs. 'Babylon's Burning: From Punk To Grunge'

When Clinton Heylin wrote Babylon's Burning: From Punk To Grunge back in 2007, this is how he described the rockin' role played by the Back Door Man fanzine, the Back Door Man Records label, and the Imperial Dogs:

"However the story of L.A. punk starts with an earlier rock zine, Back Door Man, which propounded a punk aesthetic as far back as 1975, before there were any bands prepared to live up to such an ideal. As editor 'Phast Phreddie' Patterson points out, 'We had Ted Nugent and Blue Oyster Cult on the cover -- (at least) it wasn't the Eagles or Elton John! The image was very important to (Slash), (but) to us, it was (about) rock & roll.'

"Back Door Man was obligated to admit very little was happening out west in the mid-seventies -- especially after Patterson started receiving early singles by Television, Pere Ubu, the Damned and the Sex Pistols -- so the magazine attempted to start its own indie record label, much like Greg Shaw's Bomp.

"Unfortunately, they took the garageband aesthetic a little too far with their first single, issuing an a actual garage rehearsal of the Imperial Dogs, an L.A. Dolls with all of the slop, but none of the chops.

"After that disaster, they decided to recoup some money before any further 'new' releases, issuing a bootleg EP of Velvet Underground demos. The coffers refilled, they proceeded to issue a Zippers single, but it got caught in Glam's tail-light, even though it came out a year after Phast Phreddie sensed the new vibe emanating from the east, reaching all the way to la-la land, via Seattle."

Trouble is, there are so many errors in these four paragraphs that we really don't know where to start or where to begin. For openers:

1) The Imperial Dogs were still playing shows when the first issue of Back Door Man hit the streets -- the band's break-up is mentioned in the second issue -- so there was at least one L.A. band living up to the ideal of a punk aesthetic.

2) The first two singles on Back Door Man Records were by the Pop! ("Hit And Run Lover" b/w "Break The Chain" and "Down On The Boulevard" b/w "Easy Action" and "I Need You"). Both were issued in 1976. Both were released before the Imperial Dogs single ("This Ain't The Summer Of Love" b/w "I'm Waiting For The Man."), which came out in 1977.

3) That bootleg EP by the Velvet Underground was never issued on Back Door Man Records, but was issued solely by Gregg Turner -- who was one of the three principals in BDM Records along with Tom Gardner and Don Waller -- on a white label disc that bears neither a mention of nor the logo of Back Door Man Records.

4) Turner, Gardner and Waller each put up $100 to issue the first Pop! 45, then rolled that investment over into the second Pop! 45, then the Imperial Dogs 45, then the Zippers 45 ("You're So Strange" b/w "He's A Rebel"). They never lost money on any of these. After the Zippers 45, they all decided to go their separate ways, so they each took their original investment of $100 back, and that was that.

5) The only reason the Imperial Dogs 45 was ever released was because the Blue Oyster Cult had re-worked and recorded the Imperial Dogs' original version of "This Ain't The Summer Of Love" on their platinum-selling 1976 Agents Of Fortune LP, and the BDM Records principals thought the public should know the origins of the song.

As for "all of the slop, but none of the chops," here are both sides of the Imperial Dogs 45, so you can be the judge of that …

This Ain't The Summer Of Love (Original Version)/the Imperial Dogs



I'm Waiting For The Man/the Imperial Dogs



But as James "The Hound" Marshall has written on his thehoundblog here: "Bands in the years 1972-74 that were precursors to the punk explosion are a subject that really deserves a book, by anyone but Clinton Heylin, who couldn't find CBGB on the map. I stopped reading his book when he put it on 'the corner of Bowery and 2nd Ave.,' two avenues that run parallel and never meet, although I had a feeling I wasn't going to finish it when he called Raw Power -- mellow, I think was the term."

Fang Mail, Pt. 24

Thought we'd share more "fang mail" from people who've actually purchased the Imperial Dogs' Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD. "I find it amazing that you guys were doing basically the same thing that was happening on the East Coast as far as style of music: raw, aggressive, in-your-face rock and roll. Definitely punk," writes Bryan Kuntz of Chaska, Minnesota. "But you guys had a 'hard rock' edge as well -- a bit more structure to some of the material than your East Coast peers of the time -- but great, ass-kickin' stuff. So great the moment was captured on film.

"I was wondering about the crowd at the show though," continues Kuntz. "Were they all on Quaaludes or something? But I liked how no one -- other than that one couple -- was moving, they always cheered and applauded at the end of your songs. And you guys just kept bashing away, sticking to your guns, and doing your set with wild abandon in the face of a very lethargic crowd. Made it even more enjoyable to watch and listen to."

The Imperial Dogs Now Louder Than War!

Mancunian madman John Robb asked the Imperial Dogs to make their case for inclusion into the "proto-punk" pantheon alongside Radio Birdman, Death, Debris, Simply Saucer, and Rocket From The Tombs, et. al at his Louderthanwar site.

So ... offering audio/visual (clips from the Imperial Dogs' Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD, buttressed by 500 words' worth of historical (banned from Gazarri's, playing Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco with Iggy Pop in attendance, getting band practice interrupted by shotgun-toting FBI agents searching for Patty Hearst) evidence, that's prezactly what they did here.

Imperial Dogs Now At Forced Exposure!

The Imperial Dogs want the world to know that their DVD is now available from the fine, fine, superfine folks at Forced Exposure. Here's what they've got to say about it:

"Crazy video documentation (long thought to be lost) of a live show by legendary L.A./South Bay proto-punk unit, The Imperial Dogs. Recorded at Cal State Long Beach the night before Halloween, 1974, fliers for the event promised "an evening of sex, violence, and public outrage," and this 64-minute DVD delivers the goods.

"Some people may know The Imperial Dogs from the Unchained Maladies LP that Dave Laing's Dog Meat Records issued back in '89. A few may even know the '78 single they released through Back Door Man. But neither of those actually prepares you for the amazing visual onslaught of the band.

"In a year perhaps best remembered for Terry Jacks' "Seasons In The Sun," The Imperial Dogs (fronted by wasted, he-man writer, Don Waller) were blasting out originals like "This Ain't The Summer Of Love" (later copped by Blue Öyster Cult) and slamming through Velvets covers as though other people on the planet actually cared.

"The introduction raps are worthy of transcription, the video transfer quality is shockingly good, the sound is great, and the performance is really amazing. It's almost unbelievable that this kind of ruckus was being created in '74, but it was and the evidence is finally available.

"The package is hep, too. Lotsa good color photos (like Iggy Pop watching The Imperial Dogs playing at Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco -- the only live band there, ever) and thousands of excellent historical words that will place your ass in the ghettos of Long Beach, CA many, many years ago. Really one of the best, least expected slabs of wild history to come down the pike in many a moon. Let us pray a similarly-styled LP will follow before too long."

64 minutes; Mono; black & white; NTSC format, all region; includes a 20-page booklet with notes and rare photos.

Fang Mail, Pt. 23

Thought we'd share more "fang mail" from people who've actually purchased the Imperial Dogs' Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD. Too busy to be anything more than men of few words, legendary skaters/tattoo artists/musicians Steve & Art Godoy, whose musical contributions range from the (Radio Birdman founder/guitarist) Deniz Tek Group and The Last Of The Bad Men to the Exploding Fuck Dolls, simply say: "It was a great DVD. It rocks!""

The Hammersmith Gorillas, Simply Saucer, Radio Birdman, Death ... And The Imperial Dogs!

"An early demo collection of vicious proto-punk akin to what the Hammersmith Gorillas, Simply Saucer, the Imperial Dogs, Radio Birdman and precious few others were creating in that dire period predating the Ramones first LP," is how veteran rock journo Byron Coley describes the recently unearthed Spiritual, Mental, Physical album from Detroit band-of-brothers Death -- whose previously unreleased 2009 For The Whole World To See LP brought them belated recognition as punk-rock-pioneers -- here in The Wire.

Fang Mail, Pt. 22

Thought we'd share some more "fang mail" from folks who've actually purchased the Imperial Dogs' Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD.

"Imagine that about two years before the whole punk-rock thing hit the States, there were only the Stooges, the MC5, and maybe a few other bands around the country that refused to buy into the whole corporate rock/disco scene. Don Waller and a few forward-thinking others in the L.A. area foresaw what either was -- or should be -- about to happen: They formed the Imperial Dogs, the total antithesis of what was dominating the airwaves at the time. The band and Don's subsequent involvement in the Back Door Man magazine and record label were an essential part of changing the musical landscape in L.A," writes former Zippers lead guitarist/vocalist Lewis Cammarata.

"The Zippers (whose drummer Bill Willett joined the band after the Imperial Dogs broke up in 1975) grew out of that scene as did much more hard-core bands such as the Germs, the Circle Jerks, the Angry Samoans, etc. But the Imperial Dogs were the absolute first sonic and visual attack of its kind in SoCal. Their spawn are innumerable. The Imperial Dogs' recently unearthed DVD is absolutely legendary stuff. Miss it at your peril."

Steve Wynn: I-Dogs DVD An 'Amazing Document'!

"An amazing document of an exciting time when punk-rock was still in the petri dish," writes Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate, Danny & Dusty, Gutterball,the Miracle 3, the Baseball Project, and a fistful of solo albums fame here after witnessing the Imperial Dogs' Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD.

'Imperial Dogs Make Antiseen Seem Like Poseur Phonies!'

"I'm pretty much a fan of any hippie-baiting act, but this performance takes it to the nth level. It even makes Antiseen seem like poseur phonies. Love the Blue Oyster Cult version, but shit, this one kills," writes Daniel Presnell after witnessing the video clip of the Imperial Dogs' original version of "This Ain't The Summer Of Love," taken from the Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD, here on his La Doublure blog.

The Imperial Dogs Go-Go To Hollywood-A-Go-Go!

The Imperial Dogs' performances in Hollywood ranged from making their public debut at noted Sunset Strip nitespot Gazzari's on March 28, 1974 -- and promptly getting banned for life! -- to playing the first of two gigs at the legendary Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, where they were introduced by Kim Fowley and the band's spiritual godfather, Iggy Pop, was in the audience. They also faked beating up a guy in a wheelchair, which sent half the Rodney's crowd running screaming onto the sidewalk outside ...

The stories behind these events -- and a pair of photos that've never appeared elsewhere -- can be found here at Betty Lynn's fabulous Hollywood A Go Go site.

The Imperial Dogs = "Pure Rock & Roll"!

"Pure Rock & Roll worth keeping on the shelf for revisits. The Imperial Dogs savage Carole King and blitz through 'Till The End Of The Day,' 'I'm Waiting For The Man,' 'This Ain't The Summer Of Love,' 'Rock And Roll Queen' and other tunes," writes veteran rock journalist Joe Viglione, placing the Imperial Dogs' Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD at No. 15 here on his April Top 40 blog.

Imperial Dogs Rock In 'Roll' Magazine!

"Displays the Imperial Dogs' reputation as uncompromising outlaws as they rage through classic covers (the Velvet Underground's 'I'm Waiting For The Man,' Mott The Hoople's 'Rock And Roll Queen') and toxic originals ('Loud, Hard & Fast,' 'Amphetamine Superman')" ... "An intriguing document of a forgotten transitional band" ... "Worth it just for bassist Tim Hilger's furry pants and the audience baiting of Iggy-enthralled frontman Don Waller." That's Peter Aarons, writing about the Imperial Dogs' Live! In Long Beach (October 30, 1974) DVD in the (New York) Hudson Valley-based Roll magazine here.