 The Vidiots - www.thevidiots.com
New Skin For An Old Ceremony (released 2006)
River3 Digital Press
As far as I can tell this is the only official release from The Vidiots, aside from a couple of demos released in the late 70s. The band formed back in 1978, played out with several well known contemporaries, like Black Flag, X, Go-Go's and Red Kross, but ultimately imploded after a short career. Members rotated in and out, the band struggled to maintain itself in one form or another, but seemingly always managed to write and record songs. These songs were apparently released in a demo format, but never actually released on a full fledged album. Through all of this the band had members from bands like Wall Of Voodoo, the Skulls, Angry Samoans, even Concrete Blonde. Pretty exclusive company to be sure! So we have here the final collection of most everything the band accomplished in the span of about three years. The low quality recording, certainly due to the technology of the day, makes the sound of the disc very dated, but it adds to the allure of the release. The band plays old school garage punk rock, that is rugged and raw, full of potential, but sadly never fully realized or nutured. The album features some great guitar work, courtesy of Alec Murphy (or so it seems, it's not clear) and some fantastic vocal stylings by ringleader Robert Winfield (who apparently is the only member to stay with the band throughout it's short life). Within the disc, see the last track "Eyes Of Fear", there is some bonus material, that is a little more pop induced rock, that actually stands out as more interesting than most of what else is on the disc. Unfortunately, there isn't information available about these tracks, so I'm not sure what to make of them. I like them more than many of the other tracks on the albums... Falling somewhere between a new wave sound and an old garage rock sound, The Vidiots are kind of a missing link band that were probably one of thousands that helped to bridge the gap between the punk and post-punk era. For fans of guitar-driven, late-70s punk that flirts with the coming of new wave, the Vidiots would be a nice addition to any old school CD collection. -MG |
