Biography
There are at least three bands named Lewd.
Anyone who has heard the Lewd's great late '70s single "Kill Yourself" can vouch for the raw, crazed energy of this young Seattle punk combo. Their self-released single has commanded high prices based on its rarity, not to mention the fact that it kicks ass.
The Lewd were an outgrowth of an earlier band called the Sixteen Year Old Virgins, who changed their name to the Knobs. Lead singer J. Satz Baret was formerly as "Satin Sheets," and played in the later, non-cabaret version of Ze Whiz Kids, circa 1975. Ze Whiz Kids, primarily a theater group, also included the late Tomata Du Plenty, of the Screamers. According to Satz, The Knobs "never really played. We were going to play, had publicity ahead of us, photo sessions and a flyer than announced that we were coming soon!" Yet the Knobs never played an official show, because as Satz says "we had no songs." Like that's stopped anyone else?
However, the Knobs did play one intimate "performance" at a Fremont rehearsal space called The Funhole. This A-list evening was written up in a Seattle punk fanzine Twisted. Satz chainsawed a stage monitor during "Chain Saw Sex." 'Nuff said.
The Lewd’s first show was in the Northwest punk Bethlehem, Vancouver, B.C. The Lewd opened for the Ramones on June 8, 1977 for an evening of pure insanitainment. Johnny Vinyl, a member of a local band that used an unpronounceable symbol for their name (it's commonly pronounced "Aaiieee!") remembers the Lewd opening up for the Ramones at Seattle's Paramount Theater in 1978, and people throwing stuff at them. Joe Finn, who saw the Lewd open for the Ramones at the same show, had this to say about them: "It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. There was nothing threatening about them at all, it was just comical. But them and the Ramones – it was a three-chord tour de force!" Gas Huffer's Tom Price also remembers seeing the Lewd around this time. "I was especially frightened by Satz and Brad Rammels. They seemed like these scary, older real punk guys to me."
This line-up recorded and released a great three-song EP on Scratched Records in 1979. The record was a home studio recording, and included the insane "Kill Yourself." The B-side numbers, "Trash Can Baby" and "Pay Or Die" are equally great crash 'n' burn punk tunes, all with Blobbo (Kurdt Vanderhoof of Metal Church) playing bass.
In late 1979, Satz and Blobbo moved The Lewd to San Francisco and Blobbo switched over to guitar, adding Bob Clic on bass. This band recorded some demos and played SF for a nearly a year until Blobbo quit to form his new venture Metal Church, who released quite a few heavy metal albums. Bob Clic moved to guitar, and part-time model Olga de Volga came in on bass. Olga had played with other bands, including one called VS and often played Lewd shows wearing outrageous black leather outfits. The band appeared on the 1980 seven-inch, four-band EP S.F. Underground 2 (Subterranean Records) doing the fast-paced punker "Mobile Home." With Christopher Reece in as drummer, they released their only LP, "American Wino," on ICI Records in 1982. Having fully absorbed the emerging faster hardcore punk sound, this blistering document features one side of studio recordings done in Hollywood, and another side culled from a live performance at Target Video Studios. This album is a crucial document of the San Francisco early '80s hardcore scene, right up there with releases by Flipper, VKTMs, No Alternative, Dead Kennedys, etc.
After the LP was released, Bob Clic left and the band fizzled out soon afterwards. Olga moved to Hawaii, and Chris Reece became a member of Social Distortion.
In 1999 Sats and Clic played with The Loudmouths for two live shows in San Francisco, billed as The Lewdmouths. Both shows were insane and the band sounded great. These shows were so much fun it prompted the pair to reform The Lewd, although not as a career minded working band, this time it's only for the kicks they get out of playing these songs again.
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Also a dutch punk/screamo band from the southern regions of the Netherlands. Influenced by bands like Pg.99, Shikari, Lärm, Orchid, Negative Approach and more
www.myspace.com/lewdnl
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There was also another Dutch Lewd, a trio extant in the early '90s featuring Jac van Bussel (aka DMDN) on bass & vocals. They shared a split live album with Zeni Geva in 1992.
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