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UNDER-APPRECIATED ROCK BAND OF THE MONTH FOR MARCH 2010: BANG
While in my 20's (in the late 1970’s), I got to know three brothers in Raleigh; and the youngest of them was really into music. Unlike the last time, when I was still in high school, I was a little more grown up; I still didn’t really take notes, but I would often buy records by some of these bands. The bands that he introduced me to include the Pink Fairies and Hawkwind, still two of my all-time favorite groups; Styx; Be-Bop Deluxe; and Kraftwerk.
Some of these albums were easy finds, and others were really tough. I found one of the Pink Fairies’ albums plus a retrospective album right away, but I didn’t get my copy of the album that I actually heard, What a Bunch of Sweeties until I ordered it off the Internet 20-some years later. I found their first album, Never Never Land while I was living in New York in the 1990’s; the pricetag was among the highest I have ever paid for any album ($50). A few weeks later, I read in Village Voice where one of their writers found a pristine copy of a Pink Fairies album for sale for a quarter at a homeless person’s table. There was no question in my mind that this was the very same album that I had paid 200 times as much to get; I trust that this writer gave the homeless man more than the coin he was asking if he was just going to dump it for a profit at a local record store.
The situation with BANG was similar: I found their second album Music pretty quickly, but I couldn’t find the one that I had heard, their first album Bang anywhere – and, believe me, I asked! My brother Tom Winfree thought he had found it for me one Christmas, but it turned out to be the first album by Rush instead, though that was another really good one. Finally, I came across it at one of my favorite used record stores ever, the Record Hole in Raleigh. The second side in particular is truly marvelous hard rock. The gatefold cover is really neat: a gunslinger on a corner of the back cover holding a revolver that expands absurdly until the front cover is basically just the very end of the barrel, with (of course) “Bang” in an explosion inside it.
Bang was organized in Florida in the early 1970’s, and they were one of the early power trios: guitar, bass, drums, with one member doubling as the vocalist. They are not what I would call a heavy metal band, but they certainly have a loud enough lead guitar to go that way. One of their songs, “Lions Christians” is told from the perspective of the believers about to meet their deaths in the Roman arenas. Christian-themed rock songs were quite rare in those days; two of the earliest Christian contemporary hit songs came out in the same year (1971): “Signs” by Five Man Electrical Band and “Put Your Hand in the Hand” by Ocean. Interestingly, both are Canadian bands.
Bang was proud to have released a total of three albums on the Beatles’ label, Capitol Records (a fourth, previously unreleased album that predated their first album was later released when “two-fer” CD’s came out in 2004); and the first album had some charting success. The liner notes on most albums are usually puffery or simply inane, but theirs were really charming: You could tell that they were really trying to do their best with their music. The band reformed about 10 years ago and also released an album in 2001 and in 2004.
The original website that I came across in the early 2000’s is still up and has a lot of cool information on the group that I won’t expound on here: http://www.bangmusic.com/multimedia/RED%20BANG%20site/BANG/group.htm. Another, much more comprehensive website at http://www.bangmusic.com/multi.html has everything you would ever want to know about Bang; 9 of the 13 “chapters” in the life of the band have been written.
So with all of that information available, and with at least some fans out there that must remember this cool group, you would think someone would have something to say about them. Well, so far, here is all that Wikipedia says (though more is available on two later bands with the same name): “Bang was an American hard rock band from Florida, active briefly in the early 1970’s. The group released several albums and had one minor hit single with ‘Questions’, which reached #90 on the Billboard Hot 100.” Allmusic has even less: “Bang was a rock trio from Florida led by singer Frank Ferrera that charted with its self-titled debut album and the single ‘Questions’ in 1972.” They each also give bandmembers’ names and a list of their albums. But there really needs to be more, and until I can get around to adding it, this little post will have to do.
First album cover (1971)
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The Honor Roll of the Under Appreciated Rock Bands and Artists follows, in date order, including a link to the original Facebook posts and the theme of the article.
Dec 2009 – BEAST; Lot to Learn
Jan 2010 – WENDY WALDMAN; Los Angeles Singer-Songwriters
Feb 2010 – CYRUS ERIE; Cleveland
Mar 2010 – BANG; Record Collecting I
Apr 2010 – THE BREAKAWAYS; Power Pop
May 2010 – THE NOT QUITE; Katrina Clean-Up
Jun 2010 – WATERLILLIES; Electronica
Jul 2010 – THE EYES; Los Angeles Punk Rock
Aug 2010 – QUEEN ANNE’S LACE; Psychedelic Pop
Sep 2010 – THE STILLROVEN; Minnesota
Oct 2010 – THE PILTDOWN MEN; Record Collecting II
Nov 2010 – SLOVENLY; Slovenly Peter
Dec 2010 – THE POPPEES; New York Punk/New Wave
Jan 2011 – HACIENDA; Latinos in Rock
Feb 2011 – THE WANDERERS; Punk Rock (1970’s/1980’s)
Mar 2011 – INDEX; Psychedelic Rock (1960’s)
Apr 2011 – BOHEMIAN VENDETTA; Punk Rock (1960’s)
May 2011 – THE LONESOME DRIFTER; Rockabilly
Jun 2011 – THE UNKNOWNS; Disabled Musicians
Jul 2011 – THE RIP CHORDS; Surf Rock I
Aug 2011 – ANDY COLQUHOUN; Side Men
Sep 2011 – ULTRA; Texas
Oct 2011 – JIM SULLIVAN; Mystery
Nov 2011 – THE UGLY; Punk Rock (1970’s)
Dec 2011 – THE MAGICIANS; Garage Rock (1960’s)
Jan 2012 – RON FRANKLIN; Why Celebrate Under Appreciated?
Feb 2012 – JA JA JA; German New Wave
Mar 2012 – STRATAVARIOUS; Disco Music
Apr 2012 – LINDA PIERRE KING; Record Collecting III
May 2012 – TINA AND THE TOTAL BABES; One Hit Wonders
Jun 2012 – WILD BLUE; Band Names I
Jul 2012 – DEAD HIPPIE; Band Names II
Aug 2012 – PHIL AND THE FRANTICS; Wikipedia I
Sep 2012 – CODE BLUE; Hidden History
Oct 2012 – TRILLION; Wikipedia II
Nov 2012 – THOMAS ANDERSON; Martin Winfree’s Record Buying Guide
Dec 2012 – THE INVISIBLE EYES; Record Collecting IV
Jan 2013 – THE SKYWALKERS; Garage Rock Revival
Feb 2013 – LINK PROTRUDI AND THE JAYMEN; Link Wray
Mar 2013 – THE GILES BROTHERS; Novelty Songs
Apr 2013 – LES SINNERS; Universal Language
May 2013 – HOLLIS BROWN; Greg Shaw / Bob Dylan
Jun 2013 (I) – FUR (Part 1); What Might Have Been I
Jun 2013 (II) – FUR (Part 2); What Might Have Been II
Jul 2013 – THE KLUBS; Record Collecting V
Aug 2013 – SILVERBIRD; Native Americans in Rock
Sep 2013 – BLAIR 1523; Wikipedia III
Oct 2013 – MUSIC EMPORIUM; Women in Rock I
Nov 2013 – CHIMERA; Women in Rock II
Dec 2013 – LES HELL ON HEELS; Women in Rock III
Jan 2014 – BOYSKOUT; (Lesbian) Women in Rock IV
Feb 2014 – LIQUID FAERIES; Women in Rock V
Mar 2014 (I) – THE SONS OF FRED (Part 1); Tribute to Mick Farren
Mar 2014 (II) – THE SONS OF FRED (Part 2); Tribute to Mick Farren
Apr 2014 – HOMER; Creating New Bands out of Old Ones
May 2014 – THE SOUL AGENTS; The Cream Family Tree
Jun 2014 – THE RICHMOND SLUTS and BIG MIDNIGHT; Band Names (Changes) III
Jul 2014 – MIKKI; Rock and Religion I (Early CCM Music)
Aug 2014 – THE HOLY GHOST RECEPTION COMMITTEE #9; Rock and Religion II (Bob Dylan)
Sep 2014 – NICK FREUND; Rock and Religion III (The Beatles)
Oct 2014 – MOTOCHRIST; Rock and Religion IV
Nov 2014 – WENDY BAGWELL AND THE SUNLITERS; Rock and Religion V
Dec 2014 – THE SILENCERS; Surf Rock II
Jan 2015 (I) – THE CRAWDADDYS (Part 1); Tribute to Kim Fowley
Jan 2015 (II) – THE CRAWDADDYS (Part 2); Tribute to Kim Fowley
Feb 2015 – BRIAN OLIVE; Songwriting I (Country Music)
Mar 2015 – PHIL GAMMAGE; Songwriting II (Woody Guthrie / Bob Dylan)
Apr 2015 (I) – BLACK RUSSIAN (Part 1); Songwriting III (Partnerships)
Apr 2015 (II) – BLACK RUSSIAN (Part 2); Songwriting III (Partnerships)
May 2015 – MAL RYDER and THE PRIMITIVES; Songwriting IV (The Rolling Stones)
Jun 2015 – HAYMARKET SQUARE; Songwriting V (The Beatles)
Jul 2015 – THE HUMAN ZOO; Songwriting VI (Psychedelic Rock)
Aug 2015 – CRYSTAL MANSION; Martin Winfree’s Record Cleaning Guide
Dec 2015 – AMANDA JONES; So Many Rock Bands
Mar 2016 – THE LOVEMASTERS; Fun Rock Music
Jun 2016 – THE GYNECOLOGISTS; Offensive Rock Music Lyrics
Sep 2016 – LIGHTNING STRIKE; Rap and Hip Hop
Dec 2016 – THE IGUANAS; Iggy and the Stooges; Proto-Punk Rock
Mar 2017 – THE LAZY COWGIRLS; Iggy and the Stooges; First Wave Punk Rock
Jun 2017 – THE LOONS; Punk Revival and Other New Bands
Sep 2017 – THE TELL-TALE HEARTS; Bootleg Albums
Dec 2017 – SS-20; The Iguana Chronicles
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