THE CONTROLLERS
The Controllers were a Los Angeles punk rock band formed in early 1977. The original members were Kidd Spike (guitar/vocals), guitarist/vocalist Johnny Stingray, and Gaye Austin (drums). The Controllers were part of the rapidly growing LA punk rock scene in 1977, even becoming favorites at Brendan Mullen’s underground club The Masque. They were the first band to play an advertised show at The Masque and the last to play there in any form in 1996 at a record release party held by Exene Cervenka. (More from Wikipedia)
Chris Ashford then set out to record the other bands that were performing at the city’s first punk club, the Masque. The Eyes were one of these bands, with a sound that was described on the liner notes of What? Stuff as “poppy but hard edged”. “Don’t Talk to Me”, featuring vocals by Charlotte Caffey came out on the third What Records? release; the flip side actually had two songs: “Victims” by the Skulls plus the wonderful “Neutron Bomb” by the Controllers (which was also released as the A side on What 04). Another song by the Eyes with an equally compelling beat is also included on the compilation album, called “Kill Your Parents” (I want to say it was tongue in cheek, but honestly, I can’t tell for sure!).
(July 2010)
