Welcome To New Wave Theatre

January 3, 2013 7:54 PM

In 1980, director David Jove created New Wave Theatre, an L.A.-based music show showcasing live performances by California hardcore punk rock bands.

Jove tapped former Billboard editor Ed Ochs to co-write, and musician Peter Ivers to host and interview the guests. The low-budget show provided the perfect setting to showcase the DIY attitude of groups such as Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, FEAR, and Bad Religion, as well as many lesser-known bands.

Originally airing on local public access channel 18, it was later broadcast as part of USA Network's Night Flight (previously) line-up. In 1983 Ivers was found bludgeoned to death in his apartment, which ended the show's run.

LIVE PERFORMANCES

45 Grave - Evil

Angry Samoans - Steak Knife/Pictures of Matchstick Men/Inside My Brain + interview

Bad Religion - Bad Religion/Slaves/Oligarchy + interview

Castration Squad - A Date With A Jerk + interview

Circle Jerks - Wild in the Streets

The Clique - Lifeline/(Do It For) Mommy + interview

Dead Kennedys - Holiday In Cambodia

Earth Lies Burning - Another Six Year Old + interview

FEAR - New York's Alright If You Like Saxaphones + interview

The Fibonaccis - The Narcissist + interview

Gun Club - Fire Spirit

Kaos - Nuclear Nightmare

Legal Weapon - Future Heat + interview

The Mentors - Get Up and Die + interview

Red Wedding - So We Make History + interview

Suburban Lawns - Janitor + interview

Surf Punks - My Beach + interview

U.X.A. - Paraoia Is Freedom

posted by Room 641-A (14 comments total)

Holy shit yes
posted by griphus at 7:55 PM on January 3

This guy's amazing, he's like a reverse David Caruso.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:14 PM on January 3

=:-D My inner teenage jackass is very happy. My outer middle aged jackass is not completely displeased either.
posted by evilDoug at 8:26 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]

"Vex, your lead singer, Su Tissue, is almost in an catatonic state. What are you projecting by your presentation of the music?"
posted by benito.strauss at 8:28 PM on January 3

I could've sworn The Screamers played on this show, but then what do I know - in 1980 I turned four years old in New Jersey.
posted by item at 8:29 PM on January 3

Peter Ivers is an underappreciated artist with a few really solid albums in his catalog. If this makes you want to learn more about the show and the community around it, I recommend the book In Heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 8:34 PM on January 3 [2 favorites]

From the Chicago suburbs the New Wave Theatre world seemed like a whole other planet. I hadn't seen it since the Night Flight days and started to wonder if it was as weird and wonderful as I remembered. Last year a friend sent me a few full episodes on DVD and it was just as weird as I remembered it being. Actually, I think it was even weirder than I remembered. But I'm grateful for all of the great bands the show turned me on to, as well as just making me even more eager to seek out more underground music in general.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 8:56 PM on January 3

Man today is my birthday and I'm pretty sure this post is my present.
posted by Sailormom at 9:02 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]

Haven't seen that Suburban Lawns clip in about 30 years, yet it may as well have been a week ago.
posted by ShutterBun at 9:35 PM on January 3 [2 favorites]

Slack-a-gogo: "Peter Ivers is an underappreciated artist with a few really solid albums in his catalog. If this makes you want to learn more about the show and the community around it, I recommend the book In Heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre."

Oh, thanks for mentioning this. I was really surprised how little information I was able to find when I put this together.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:02 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]

Not to mention that the late David Jove is basically assumed to be the one who bludgeoned Peter Ivers. (The case has never been solved, though there does seem to be a bit of, at least circumstantial evidence pointing to Jove.)

That said, too -- Peter Ivers' music is AMAZING. I don't really care as much for his first album, Knights of the Blue Communion, but his (lost until recently) second album Take It Out On Me is a cool slice of jazz. Though I love love love his Warner Bros. output.

Thankfully, ALL his albums are back in print, thanks to Wounded Bird Records. Seriously check him out.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 12:00 AM on January 4 [1 favorite]

Thanks Slack-a-gogo... I purchased the book on Ivers a few years ago when Borders shuttered their doors & forgot I had it. Your comment reminded me that I had a good rock read laying about.
posted by lotusstp at 5:26 AM on January 4

I think the kid at the beginning of the Kaos video is Andrew Pece, the kid who played Ethan in the movie Suburbia.
posted by snottydick at 8:17 AM on January 4

Thank you.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:41 AM on January 4