Kill Ugly Radio: Frank Zappa & Elsewhere

Taken from the DVD “Wild In London” and recently posted on YouTube. After nearly 35 years in rock, The Tubes never cease to amaze me, especially their live performances.

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Mike Cotten at The Tubes Project has uploaded yet another gem with this clip of “Whiz Quiz” from The Tubes‘ 1974 show at California Hall in San Francisco. Inspired by “Let’s Make a Deal“, the clip also shows early Tubes’ member Re Styles in character as Patty Hearst (if you recall that 70s game show, contestants had to dress up in order to play the game). Also in this clip are early versions of “Peter Gunn” & “Perry Mason” themes that would later appear as “Crime Medley” on The Tubes’ highly successful live album, “What Do You Want From Live?”

Note: “Whiz Quiz” is currently available on the CD, “Dawn of the Tubes: Demo Daze and Radio Waves” LABEL: Phoenix Gems. Release date: March 21, 2000.

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Any fan of The Tubes will seriously enjoy Ultimate Guitar’s interview with Roger Steen entitled, “The Tubes: Bizarre Is As Tubes Does”. Steen speaks of the band’s beginning in Pheonix, Arizona, their move to San Francisco in the early 1970s, and the band’s unique mixture of sounds and styles:

When we were first starting in the 60’s, my group of friends were not only listening to the radio, but also to original blues and jug-band recordings. We incorporated all these rootsy flavors with Motown, Hendrix, Cream, Zappa. When we all lived together in San Francisco, the influence came heavily from Beefheart, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Mile’s Bitches Brew.

Click here for the rest of the interview.

Posted in Interview, Miscellany, Music | 1 Comment »

Mike Cotton of The Tubes Project just sent me an email announcing that the Bill Graham archive has added The Tubes New Years Eve 1975 show:

This is the “Big Bang” for us as we sold out Winterland and put on the show of our lives. It was a wild mix of rock, comedy, video and dancing as we pulled out all the stops to celebrate the new year, 1976. This is a live mix, no overdubs, so the keyboard and synths are a little funky at the top but it still rocks.

Just sign up and listen for free:

http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/dt/the-tubes-concert/2646-7903.html

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Latest offering from The Tubes Project, an ongoing archiving process in preparation for the eventual release of a documentary outlining the musical history of The Tubes.

Recorded at the Record Plant, w/Bill Spooner on lead vocals. This video opens with rare instrumental featured in the Tubes live set at the time. Originally part of The Beans space opera, “Acension of the Motherload.” Appeared on the Tubes first album produced by Al Kooper.

“Tube” Mural/Shirts and “Space Baby” costume by Michael Cotten and Prairie Prince.

Posted in Bizarre, Miscellany, Music, Pop Cult, YouTubery | 9 Comments »