Dec 14

The Unknowns

Under Appreciated

THE UNKNOWNS
 
 
I was introduced to Dead Hippie in their performance on New Wave Theatre, the punk rock showcase on late night TV that originated from Los Angeles.  To date, the only other UARB from New Wave Theatre that I have included in this series is the Unknowns.  
 
(July 2012)
 
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(Retrospective album by the UARB for June 2011, the Unknowns, released in 1994 on Marilyn Records)  

 
(May 2013)
 
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The second song on Destination: Bomp! is by a past UARB, the Poppees; and there are also tracks from two other past UARB’s:  the Breakaways (credited as Paul Collins) and the Unknowns.  Who knows how many future UARB’s are represented as well.  

 

(September 2013)

 

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In September 2011, the Crawdaddys played at the Casbah in Middletown as part of a two-day “Ché Underground Festival” at the club that was headlined by past UARB the Unknowns, described by the local newspaper U-T San Diego as “a leading San Diego band in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s”. 

 

(January 2015/2)

 

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Another bandmember in the Tell-Tale Hearts, Ray Brandes is also an author.  His book on the San Diego underground rock scene, Getting Nowhere Fast came out in December 2015.  I had previously borrowed heavily from his history of past UARB the Crawdaddys that I found online a few years ago.  The blurb in Amazon says:  “1976-1986 was a period of time in which urban tribes staked out and ferociously defended their territories; a time when San Diego began to establish for itself an identity as more than just a Navy town with a great zoo.  Getting Nowhere Fast, written by Ray Brandes of the Tell-Tale Hearts, looks at the origins of this period of ‘new’ music in San Diego, and provides an insider’s look at a handful of bands who never quite hit the big time, but who developed cult followings around the world.  The histories of the Zeros, the Penetrators, the Unknowns, the Crawdaddys, the Tell-Tale Hearts, and several more groups are presented here for the first time in print.”  Remarkably, three of the five bands on this list – the Unknowns, the Crawdaddys, and the Tell-Tale Hearts – are among the UARB’s. 
 
(September 2017)
 
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I play the albums by the UARA’s and UARB’s frequently and am always struck by how great they sound.  With few if any exceptions, they aren’t just another hard rock band or garage rock band or folk/rock artist – they have a distinct sound that I simply love.  For many – such as Beast (whose first album is playing now), the Not Quite, the Ugly, the Unknowns, Chimera, and Thomas Anderson, to name a few – they don’t sound like anyone else that I am familiar with.  

 

(Year 5 Review)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021