Perennial

Artist: Perennial

EP: You're the Ones

Song: "Rock and Roll Evenings" 
[ listen ]

The derivative early '80s heavy metal band Perennial hailed from Seattle, which explains why they're screaming about "Rock and Roll Evenings" instead of "Rock and Roll Nights." Seattle is still known as a fairly sleepy town where residents go to bed pretty early. Perennial could have even gone so far as to call the track "Rock and Roll Brunch" and it would have made perfect sense around here.

According to the info on the back of their 1983 4-track EP, Perennial's manager, Redvers Watson, worked out of Edmonds, a suburb just north of Seattle. I tried in vain to track Redvers down today, mainly just to ask if they knew what brand of shampoo the group used to produce such stunning highlights. You can read a little about Perennial here, and I've included a video for "You're the Ones" below. It's uncanny in their video how much all four members of Perennial look exactly like Mrs. Welsh, my 4th grade teacher at Robertson Elementary. Except for the wardrobe, of course.

Perennial on YouTube:
[ "You're the Ones" ]

[ Perennial ]

Christ Child

Artist: Christ Child

LP: Christ Child

Song: "Star Whores"

[ listen ]

Here's something I found at Smash Records in Washington, DC a few months ago. There's not much info about Christ Child to be found online, except that they're a "fake" punk band from L.A. I wasn't sure what that meant exactly (the "fake punk" part—I understand what it means to be from L.A.), but as I dug further I learned that Christ Child was actually a metal band that threw together this tongue-in-cheek 1977 LP on which they pose as part of the underground punk movement that was sweeping through the UK at the time. It doesn't take long, however, to identify Christ Child as a fraud. First of all, these guys aren't nearly angry enough. And second of all, what self-respecting punk rock band would reference STAR WARS and stick laser-beam sound effects in one of their songs? That totally breaks all the rules.

Hyksos

Artist: Hyksos

LP: Metal Massacre II

Song: "The Kings"

[ listen ]

Gay Pride Heavy Metal Week comes to an end with this energetic-yet-moody metal ditty by short-lived California group Hyksos. "The Kings" comes from the Metal Massacre II LP, which also features songs by metal bands with names like Surgical Steel, Warlord, Trauma, Molten Leather and...Aloha. Hyksos released just one LP, back in 1982, which you can read about here; you can visit the band's MySpace fan page here, and if you have no idea what a Hyksos is, find out by clicking here.

Hellanbach

Artist: Hellanbach

LP: Now Hear This

Song: "Kick It Out"

[ listen ]

Summer has finally arrived in Seattle, which means warm, sunny bike-rides in the morning. It's not all that far from my apartment to my work, but when I arrived this morning I was sweating like I'd just ridden to Hellanbach. Anyway...often considered little more than a cheap Van Halen imitation, British metal band Hellanbach released just one LP in the early '80s before calling it quits while working on their second record in 1984. (My copy of 1983's "Now Hear This" was pressed in Italy!) You can read more about Hellanbach on their fan-based MySpace tribute page here. Though "Kick It Out" is mostly a fairly standard rock song, it features a bizarre percussive interlude that includes blasts of gay-disco police-whistle!

Oz

Artist: Oz

LP: Heavy Metal Heroes — Hey You

Song: "In the Chains"

[ listen ]

For day #3 of Gay Pride Heavy Metal Week here at The Homoerratic Radio Show, I've selected something congruent with the theme for this year's Seattle Gay Pride festivities: "Over the Rainbow." Originally from Finland, Oz recorded and released this 1982 album in Sweden. You can read about Oz on Wikipedia here. On the record label, the group is actually credited as "The Oz," but that sounds stupid—and, speaking of stupid, I've included the 2010 Seattle Gay Pride poster below.

Horsepower

Artist: Horsepower

LP: Metal For Muthas, Volume II: Cut Loud

Song: "She Gives Me Candy"

[ listen ]

With "She Gives Me Candy," British band Horsepower contributes one of the best cuts on this less-popular second volume in the Metal For Muthas series. I think it's safe to assume that he's probably just being fed cubes of sugar and not some real candy (like a Butterfinger for example), but I bet it's hard for horses to tell the difference.

Lucifer's Friend

Artist: Lucifer's Friend

LP: Mean Machine

Song: "Action"

[ listen ]

In honor of the Seattle Gay Pride festivities coming up this weekend, I've designated this Heavy Metal Week at The Homoerratic Radio Show. I last attended the Seattle Gay Pride festivities about 7 or 8 years ago, and,  regrettably, I've still got the image of the "kissing booth" seared into my brain. Amongst all the political stalls and the merchants selling rainbow flags and cock rings, a small wooden booth had been erected, labeled with a sign: "Kissing Booth." Standing under the sign with no shirt on was someone's idea of a "sexy hunk," his muscles bulging in all directions. A large group of not-so-hunky men were lined up in front of the booth, each waiting to pay $1 for their turn to sloppily make out with the sexy hunk for several seconds. To me it seemed like a depressing and bizarre form of public prostitution. 

This 1981 LP by German rock group Lucifer's Friend is one of several neat early '80s heavy metal records I found at Budget Music in Grand Forks, North Dakota on my road trip through the Dakotas last summer. All this week's records will be from that same Grand Forks stash, which I'd actually forgotten about until re-discovering them behind my piano while doing a little straightening in my apartment last night. You can read all about Lucifer's Friend here. By the way, this morning on NPR I heard that today is the 62nd anniversary of the birth of the vinyl LP record!