Nashville Rock Post 1978 Part 2 - Page 2

WALLY: 69 Tribe - These guys escaped my notice during their heyday. It took William and Mary student DD finding “Bikers” to turn me on. Later, I had a German class under Knoxville punk legend Dennis Shockley (RIP) and one of my fellow students was a lady who was playing bass in the latest incarnation of the band. “Bikers….doing speed, doing ludes, taking chicks from their dudes”

BEST YEARS? Mid-80’s probably

DD: Walk The West - They sort of faltered toward the end. Some would say that they never had it. However, for a brief moment, they were fantastic. I saw a couple of great shows by them over a couple of summers. They were at their best when they were being goofy. Seriousness and hype ultimately were their enemies.

Wally: Walk The West - Paul Kirby dared to entice young girls with candy jellybeans but the “Sheriff of Love” never arrested him. Walk The West are yet another 91 Rock staple from the days when WRVU had just increased their wattage. Capitol Records jumped on the cow punk bandwagon and really pushed Walk The West, but they flopped miserably. They lived at night until their side gigs as the Cactus Brothers became more popular and then they stopped walking.

BEST YEARS: 1985-1987

DD: Chip and the Chiltons - I never got to see these guys live, but I bought their cassette at the Cat’s Records in Murfreesboro and wore it out for a few months. I might still have it somewhere in a shoebox. I wish that I knew what it sounded like again.

Wally: Chip and the Chiltons - I know what it sounds like!! It’s called Where’s My Cat? The cover has a photo of the band atop a table with shotgun shells scattered around. I guess we know what happened to the cat. The music is Southern power pop with a dash of blues thrown in for good measure. Who could forget songs like “Next State Line” or “She Said Yes”? Chip put out a second album, but it wasn’t as good as the homemade cassette that came first.

BEST YEARS: 1986-1987? Is anybody detecting a pattern on these best years? Whether it’s nostalgia or what, the mid 80’s was a rocking good time.

Wally: White Animals - I first saw the video to “Don’t Care” on a show called Saturday Night At The Video on M’boro’s Channel 39. . The WA’s combo of hippie chic and beat music was just what the 18-year-old punk rock poet I fancied myself to be needed, dichotomies be damned.Thanks to Saturday Night At The Video I was also exposed to Nick Lowe and The Style Council. A friend had a copy of the White Animals Ecstasy (I loaned him Kerouac’s On The Road and he loaned me the album) and I was soon in an ecstatic state. Saw them play at Cantrells in 1985 with Boulder, Colorado band The Diet Plan opening on a Sunday afternoon where later out back behind the graffiti drenched wall Kevin Gray talked about how the new album (which was to be a self tittled release variously referred to as Drums In Church or The Purple Album) was going to kick Huey Lewis and Billy Idol’s asses. They were humble and nice and helped to seal a life long romance with rock and roll.

Article Author: Wally Bangs

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