|
BAND HISTORY
The SID TERROR'S UNDEAD origins
can be traced to late 1975 / early 1976
when Sid, a new transplant to Northern
California (from the East Coast,
Milford Connecticut by way of Southern
California) first put the band together
with school mates at Campbell High School
in Campbell, California... A suburb of San
Jose in the San Francisco bay area.
That version of the band did some
performances in the High School's
auditorium (now called The Heritage
Theater), played some parties, as well as
recording an early unreleased demo. It was
a learning experience and the right recipe
of Horror Movie image and classic Rock &
Roll (1950's & early 1960's Garage) was
still being perfected.
In early 1977, Sid Terror moved to the Los
Angeles area and with a new line-up of band
members found in the Rock & Roll underbelly
of Hollywood, THE UNDEAD (as they were
calling themselves then) started playing in
clubs and quickly booked some studio time
to record a handful of songs... Two of
which became their first single, "Breakfast
Cereal Deviant" b/w "Supermarket Music"...
With Sid's old friends Joey and Dee Dee
Ramone lending back-up vocals on the song
"Supermarket Music". Not a bad start for a
relatively new band, building a street
reputation on loud/fast Horror Movie based
songs and in-your-face blood splattered
(sometimes literally) stage performances.
Before long, the band was playing shows up
and down the West coast. Their first real
tour was scheduled to begin late October /
early November 1977 and to help kick it off
came the release of their 2nd single around
Halloween time.
It was a time of great change in the music
scene and Punk Rock was spreading fast, but
with their blatant Horror Movie references
and image, the band was not always accepted
with open arms by the rest of the early
punk community who, frankly, just didn't
quite get it at first. Sid Terror's UNDEAD
weren't completely alone out there though...
Remarkably, there were other bands that in
the beginning (in those pre-internet days)
that independently came to life around the
same time, never knowing about or being
influenced by each other, with very similar
Horror and 50's Rock & Roll influences, yet
unmistakably different takes on the same
theme... They were THE CRAMPS (out of Ohio
and later N.Y.C.), THE DAMNED out of
England, Sid Terror's UNDEAD from Hollywood,
California, and later THE MISFITS out of
Lodi, New Jersey. Together they were the
four bands that would become the foundation,
spearheading a new sub-genre called
"Horror Punk" and would influence all the
bands of their ilk that would follow.
But for now, SID TERROR'S UNDEAD would be the
sole West Coast Horror Punk band for the next
few years... At least until their influence
would begin to trickle down to others in the
next wave of bands.
Early 1978 saw Sid Terror relocating the
band back up to the San Francisco bay area
and finishing his Film School education.
With several more singles and finally L.P.
releases (changing their name slightly from
THE UNDEAD to SID TERROR'S UNDEAD in 1986).,
that is where the band remained based until
1988. Then, at long last, would return to
their ancestral home of Hollywood
(aka Horrorwood) California.
Though not always the easiest band to see,
playing and releasing new albums without
regularity during the 1990's and early
2000's. (At one time during that period,
the band members were spread out all across
the country from California to New York,
with the closest two living hundreds of
miles apart, all of which made it difficult
to decide whose house to rehearse at that
week!). Added to that, they remain the
least well known of the four bands that
originated Horror Punk, due largely to
being the only one to never do time on a
major label (not that offers didn't come),
but in that way they also always retained
their purity and remained closest to their
roots and origins, without a major label
assigned producer sitting on their shoulder
pulling the strings.
SID TERROR'S UNDEAD has still remained in
the dark and cobwebbed underground, the
stuff legends are built on and scary
stories are whispered about around
the campfire on a stormy night. Lurking
there just out of view to grab you and
pull you screaming into the darkness.
...And that is the way Sid Terror likes it.
The legend continues...
|
