The Seeds
The Seeds were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group became known for psychedelic rock music and is considered a prototype for garage punk rock bands; the Seeds were formed in 1965. Saxon, who had relocated to Los Angeles from Salt Lake City, had recorded a string of 45s under the name Richie Marsh; the band secured regular gigs at the LA club Bido Lito's and gained a local reputation for high energy live performances. Keyboardist Daryl Hooper was a major factor in the Seeds' sound. Guitarists Jan Savage and Jeremy Levine along with drummer Rick Andridge completed the original quintet, but Levine left shortly after the first recording sessions for personal reasons. Although Sky Saxon was credited as bass player, he did not play bass on any of the Seeds' recordings; this was handled by session musicians Harvey Sharpe. On stage, keyboardist Daryl Hooper would perform the bass parts via a separate bass keyboard, in the same manner as Ray Manzarek did with The Doors.
The Seeds' first single, "Can't Seem to Make You Mine", was a regional hit in Southern California in 1965. The song was played on AM rock stations in northern California, where it was well received by listeners, went on to become, is considered today, a 60s cult classic song; the band had a national Top 40 hit, "Pushin' Too Hard", in 1966 and performed the song on national television. Three subsequent singles, "Mr. Farmer", a re-release of "Can't Seem To Make You Mine", "A Thousand Shadows" achieved more modest success, although all were most popular in southern California. Musically uncomplicated with a flair for simple melodic hooks and dominated by Saxon's unorthodox vocal delivery, their first two albums, The Seeds and A Web of Sound, are today considered classics of 1960s garage music. A major turning point for the Seeds came in 1967; the band's self-produced third album Future presented a grander psychedelic artistic statement and thrust the group forward as torchbearers during the most creative and experimental time in American pop culture and music history.
The more expansive musical style with accompanying orchestration - presented with a gatefold sleeve featuring ornate flower-themed artwork by painter Sassin - was a departure from the rawer tone of the band's previous hits, but received acclaim from fans and critics as a notable work of flower power psychedelia. It remains a genre curiosity piece today and is regarded as a pioneering effort in full-blown psychedelic rock. Iggy Pop, Smashing Pumpkins, members of the Beach Boys have all sourced the band, mentioning this album and previous ones as genre classics; the release of Future in mid-1967 marked the commercial peak of the Seeds’ career, coinciding with a major national hit, raucous concerts, numerous live TV performances, as well as prominent guest appearances on the NBC sitcom The Mothers-in-Law and in the hippie/counterculture-themed cult film Psych-Out. The Seeds recorded another album devoted to the blues. A Full Spoon of Seedy Blues, bearing the artist moniker Sky Saxon Blues Band, was released in November 1967.
In May 1968 the band released their final LP for GNP Crescendo Records, Raw & Alive: The Seeds in Concert at Merlin's Music Box, which musically revisited their more aggressive garage rock roots. However, the album and its accompanying failed to chart nationally; the band was renamed "Sky Saxon and the Seeds" in 1968, by which point Bob Norsoph and Don Boomer had replaced Savage and Andridge respectively. Saxon continued to use the name "The Seeds", utilizing various backup musicians, at least through 1972; the last major-label records of new material by The Seeds —two non-charting singles on MGM records — were released in 1970. After the dissolution of the Seeds, Sky Saxon joined the Yahowha religious group, inspired by their leader Father Yod. Although a member of the Source Family for several years, Saxon did not participate in any of the albums released by Yahowha 13 in the mid 1970s, he does appear on the "Golden Sunrise" album by Fire Water Air, a Yahowha 13 offshoot, recorded the "Yod Ship Suite" album in memory of the deceased Father Yod.
In the 1970s, Saxon released the solo LPs "Lovers Cosmic Voyage" and "Live At The Orpheum" credited to Sunlight Rainbow. In the 1980s, Saxon collaborated with several bands—including Redd Kross and The Chesterfield Kings—before reforming the original Seeds in 1989 to headline "The Summer of Love Tour", along with Big Brother and the Holding Company, Arthur Lee and Love, The Music Machine, The Strawberry Alarm Clock; the Seeds remained dormant again until 2003, when Saxon reformed them with original guitarist Jan Savage and newcomers Rik Collins on bass, Mark Bellgraph on guitar, Dave Klein on keyboards. This new version of the Seeds went through several incarnations, with Savage departing midway through their 2003 European tour due to his health. Saxon remained the only original member of the Seeds, which continued to tour Europe and the United States. Saxon died on June 2009 of heart and renal failure; the Seeds' original drummer Rick Andridge died in 2011. The Seeds have been among the most cited pre-punk influences by American punk musicians since the 1970s.
Cover versions of various Seeds songs have been recorded by The Dwarves, Alex Chilton,Johnny Thunders,The Ramones,Yo La Tengo,Garbage,Murder City Devils,Spirits in the Sky,Paul Parker,Pere Ubu,The Makers,The Embarrassment,The Bangles,The Rubinoos,Strawberry Alarm Clock, other artists. So
James Chance and the Contortions
James Chance and the Contortions is a musical group led by saxophonist and vocalist James Chance, formed in 1977. They were a central act of New York City's downtown no wave music scene in the late 1970s, were featured on the influential compilation No New York, their first recording, credited as Contortions, was on the 1978 compilation, No New York, produced by Brian Eno. The following year, two albums were issued simultaneously on ZE Records; the same musicians recorded both records. In 2016, Chance released his first single with his original Contortions band in nearly 30 years, entitled "Melt Yourself Down". A music video for the single was directed and animated by 19 year old Dylan Greenberg and is considered the first Contortions music video to make significant use of dramatic digital effects, such as Chance's face being manipulated to appear as if it were melting. Original Contortions guitarist Pat Place went on to found the group Bush Tetras. Georges Scott played with Michael Paumgarten in 8-Eyed Spy.
Shortly thereafter, guitarist Jody Harris formed Raybeats with Don Christensen, George Scott III and Pat Irwin. Keyboardist Adele Bertei formed the Bloods, after which she released a solo record, Little Lives, in 1988. In 1979 George Scott toured as documented on the album Sabotage Live. Scott died of a heroin overdose on August 5, 1980; some of the members of James White and the Blacks, notably Joseph Bowie, separated from Chance and formed the band Defunkt. On November 30, 2010 James Chance, Pat Place, Don Christensen, Jody Harris, Adele Bertei, Robert Aaron reunited as James Chance and the Contortions at Le Poisson Rouge for a single performance. Robert Aaron was not an original member but collaborated with Chance. No New York Buy Live aux Bains Douches Live in New York Soul Exorcism Lost Chance Molotov Cocktail Lounge White Cannibal The Flesh is Weak Carlo McCormick, The Downtown Book: The New York Art Scene, 1974–1984, Princeton University Press, 2006 Marc Masters, No Wave, London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007 "X-Magazine Benefit" by Coleen Fitzgibbon and Alan W. Moore 1978/2009, video, 11 minutes of Colab's X Magazine Benefit that documents the punk rock performances of James Chance and the Contortions, DNA and Boris Policeband James Chance & the Contortions played LPR
Johnny Thunders
John Anthony Genzale, better known by his stage name Johnny Thunders, was an American rock and roll/punk rock guitarist and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of the New York Dolls, he played with The Heartbreakers and as a solo artist. Thunders was born John Anthony Genzale in Queens, New York, where he first lived in East Elmhurst and Jackson Heights, his first musical performance was in the winter of 1967 with The Reign. Shortly thereafter, he played with Johnny and the Jaywalkers, under the name Johnny Volume, at Quintano's School for Young Professionals, around the corner from Carnegie Hall, on 56th Street near 7th Avenue. In 1968 he began going to the Fillmore Bethesda Fountain in Central Park on weekends, his older sister, started styling his hair like Keith Richards. In late 1969 he got a job as a sales clerk at D'Naz leather shop, on Bleecker Street in the West Village, started trying to put a band together, he and his girlfriend, Janis Cafasso, went to see The Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden in November 1969, they appear in the Maysles' film, Gimme Shelter.
In London, after the Isle of Wight Festival, the following summer, his girlfriend Janis fell sick and they flew home. Back in NYC from the UK, toward the end of 1970, he started hanging out at Nobodys, a club on Bleecker Street in the West Village, it was near there that he met future Dolls Arthur Rick Rivets. He joined their band Actress, which after firing Rivets and adding David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain and Billy Murcia, became the New York Dolls, it was that he adopted the stage name "Johnny Thunders", inspired by a comic book hero. Dolls bass guitarist Arthur "Killer" Kane wrote about Thunders' guitar sound, as he described arriving outside the rehearsal studio where they were meeting to jam together for the first time: "I heard someone playing a guitar riff that I myself didn't know how to play, it was raunchy, rough and untamed. I thought it was inspired...", adding "His sound was rich and fat and beautiful, like a voice."The New York Dolls were signed to Mercury Records, with the help of A & R man Paul Nelson.
Thunders recorded two albums with New York Dolls and Too Much Too Soon. They were managed by Marty Thau, booked by Leber & Krebs. Subsequently, they worked with Malcolm McLaren for several months becoming a prototype for the Sex Pistols. In 1975 Thunders and Nolan left the band, though Johansen and Sylvain continued playing, along with Peter Jordon, Tony Machine and Chris Robison, as the New York Dolls until late 1977. Thunders formed The Heartbreakers with former New York Dolls drummer Jerry Nolan and former Television bassist Richard Hell. Walter Lure, former guitarist for the New York City punk band The Demons joined them soon after. After conflict arose between Thunders and Hell, Hell left to form Richard Hell and the Voidoids and was replaced by Billy Rath. With Thunders leading the band, the Heartbreakers toured America before going to Britain to join the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned on the now-legendary Anarchy Tour; the group stayed in the UK throughout 1977, where their popularity was greater than in the U.
S. among punk bands. While in Britain they were signed to Track Records and released their only official studio album, L. A. M. F. An abbreviation for "Like A Mother Fucker". L. A. M. F. was criticised for its poor production. Displeased with the production, the band members were soon competing with one other and remixing the record, culminating in drummer Jerry Nolan quitting in November 1977. Shortly thereafter, the Heartbreakers disbanded. Thunders stayed in London and recorded the first of a number of solo albums, beginning with So Alone in 1978; the notoriously drug-fuelled recording sessions featured a core band of Thunders, bassist Phil Lynott, drummer Paul Cook and guitarist Steve Jones, with guest appearances from Chrissie Hynde, Steve Marriott, Walter Lure, Billy Rath and Peter Perrett. The CD version of the album contains four bonus tracks, including the single "Dead or Alive" and cover of the early Marc Bolan song "The Wizard". Soon afterwards, Thunders moved back to the US, joining former Heartbreakers Walter Lure, Billy Rath and sometimes Jerry Nolan for gigs at Max's Kansas City.
Around this time Thunders played a small number of gigs at London's Speakeasy with a line up including Cook and Jones, Henri Paul on bass and Judy Nylon and Patti Palladin as back up vocalists. In late 1979 Thunders moved to Detroit with his wife Julie and began performing in a band called Gang War. Other members included John Morgan, Ron Cooke, Philippe Marcade and former MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, they performed live several times before disbanding. Zodiac Records released an EP of their demos in 1987. In 1990 they released an album titled Gang War, credited to Thunders and Kramer. During the early 1980s, Thunders re-formed The Heartbreakers for various tours; the concert was filmed and released as a video and a DVD titled Dead Or Alive. In the 1980s Thunders lived in Stockholm with his wife and daughter. In 1985, Thunders released Que Sera Sera, a collection of new songs with his band The Black Cats, "Crawfish", a duet with former Snatch vocalist Patti Palladin. Three years he again teamed up with Palladin to release Copy Cats, a covers album.
The album, produced by Palladin, featured a wide assortment of musicians to recreate the 1950s and 1960s sound of the originals, including Alex Balanescu on violin, Bob Andrews on p
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The line-up of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr led the band to be regarded as the foremost and most influential in history. With a sound rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock and roll, the group were integral to the evolution of pop music into an art form, to the development of the counterculture of the 1960s, they incorporated elements of classical music, older pop forms, unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways, in years experimented with a number of musical styles ranging from pop ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As they continued to draw influences from a variety of cultural sources, their musical and lyrical sophistication grew, they came to be seen as embodying the era's sociocultural movements. Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, the Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960 with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass.
The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before asking Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings expanding their domestic success after their first hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962; as their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed "Beatlemania", the band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four", with Epstein and other members of the band's entourage sometimes given the informal title of "fifth Beatle". By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars, leading the "British Invasion" of the United States pop market, breaking numerous sales records, they soon made their motion-picture debut with A Hard Day's Night. From 1965 onwards, they produced innovative recordings, including the albums Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper's The Beatles and Abbey Road. In 1968, they founded Apple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy.
After the group's break-up in 1970, all four members enjoyed success as solo artists. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980. McCartney and Starr remain musically active; the Beatles are the best-selling band in history, with estimated sales of over 800 million records worldwide. They are the best-selling music artists in the US, with certified sales of over 178 million units, have had more number-one albums on the British charts, have sold more singles in the UK, than any other act; the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, all four main members were inducted individually between 1994 and 2015. In 2008, the group topped Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful artists; the band have received an Academy Award and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. They were collectively included in Time magazine's compilation of the twentieth century's 100 most influential people. In March 1957, John Lennon aged sixteen, formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool.
They called themselves the Blackjacks, before changing their name to the Quarrymen after discovering that a respected local group was using the other name. Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined them as a rhythm guitarist shortly after he and Lennon met that July. In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to watch the band; the fifteen-year-old auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon thought Harrison was too young for the band. After a month of Harrison's persistence, during a second meeting, he performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song "Raunchy" on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, they enlisted him as their lead guitarist. By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, he began his studies at the Liverpool College of Art; the three guitarists, billing themselves at least three times as Johnny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe, who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase a bass guitar, joined in January 1960, it was he who suggested changing the band's name to Beatals, as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
They used this name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles, before undertaking a brief tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer and fellow Liverpudlian Johnny Gentle. By early July, they had refashioned themselves as the Silver Beatles, by the middle of August shortened the name to The Beatles. Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg, but lacking a full-time drummer they auditioned and hired Pete Best in mid-August 1960; the band, now a five-piece, left four days contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 31⁄2-month residency. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes: "They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when the red-light area comes to life... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities." Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, he placed the Beatles at the Indra Club.
After
Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are sometimes cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving only limited commercial success the band was influential in the United States and the United Kingdom. All of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone", although none of them were biologically related, they performed 2,263 concerts, touring nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played a farewell concert and disbanded. By 2014, all four of the band's original members had died – lead singer Joey Ramone, bass guitarist Dee Dee Ramone, guitarist Johnny Ramone and drummer Tommy Ramone. Recognition of the band's importance built over the years, are now mentioned in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as number 26 in the Rolling Stone magazine list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" and number 17 in VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".
In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second-greatest band of all time by Spin magazine, trailing only by the Beatles. On March 18, 2002, the original four members and Tommy's replacement on drums, Marky Ramone, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on their first year of eligibility, though Joey had died by then. In 2011, the group was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; the original members of the band met in and around the middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills in the New York City borough of Queens. John Cummings and Thomas Erdelyi had both been in a high-school garage band from 1965 to 1967 known as the Tangerine Puppets, they became friends with Douglas Colvin, who had moved to the area from Germany, Jeffrey Hyman, the initial lead singer of the glam rock band Sniper, founded in 1972. The Ramones began taking shape in early 1974 when Cummings and Colvin invited Hyman to join them in a band. Colvin wanted to play guitar and sing, Cummings would play guitar and Hyman would play drums.
The lineup was to be completed with their friend Richie Stern on bass. However, after only a few rehearsals it became clear that Richie Stern could not play bass, so in addition to singing, Colvin switched from guitar to bass and Cummings became the only guitarist. Colvin was the first to adopt the name "Ramone", he was inspired by Paul McCartney's use of the pseudonym Paul Ramon during his Silver Beetles days. Dee Dee convinced the other members to take on the name and came up with the idea of calling the band the Ramones. Hyman and Cummings became Johnny Ramone, respectively. A friend of the band, Monte A. Melnick, helped to arrange rehearsal time for them at Manhattan's Performance Studios, where he worked. Johnny's former bandmate Erdelyi was set to become their manager. Soon after the band was formed, Dee Dee realized that he could not sing and play his bass guitar simultaneously. Dee Dee would continue, however, to count off each song's tempo with his signature rapid-fire shout of "1-2-3-4!"
Joey soon realized that he could not sing and play drums and left the position of drummer. While auditioning prospective replacements, Erdelyi would take to the drums and demonstrate how to play the songs, it became apparent that he was able to perform the group's music better than anyone else, he joined the band as Tommy Ramone. The Ramones played before an audience for the first time on March 1974, at Performance Studios; the songs they played were fast and short. Around this time, a new music scene was emerging in New York centered on two clubs in downtown Manhattan—Max's Kansas City and, more famously, CBGB; the Ramones made their CBGB debut on August 16, 1974. Legs McNeil, who cofounded Punk magazine the following year described the impact of that performance: "They were all wearing these black leather jackets, and they counted off this song... and it was just this wall of noise... They looked so striking; these guys were not hippies. This was something new."The band swiftly became regulars at the club, playing there seventy-four times by the end of the year.
After garnering considerable attention for their performances—which averaged about seventeen minutes from beginning to end—the group was signed to a recording contract in late 1975 by Seymour Stein of Sire Records. After they were seen by Sire A&R man Craig Leon he brought the band to the attention of the label. Stein's wife, Linda Stein, saw the band play at Mothers. By this time, the Ramones were recognized as leaders of the new scene, being referred to as "punk"; the group's unusual frontman had a lot to do with their impact. As Dee Dee explained, "All the other singers were copying David Johansen, copying Mick Jagger... But Joey was unique unique." The Ramones recorded their debut album, Ramones, in February 1976. Of the fourteen songs on the album, the longest, "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" surpassed two and a half minutes. While the songwriting credits were shared by the entire band, Dee Dee was the primary writer; the Ramones album was produced by Sire's Craig Leon, with Tommy as associate producer, on an low budget of about $6,400 and released in April.
The now iconic front cover photograph of the band was taken by Roberta Bayley, a photographer for Punk magazine. Punk, responsible for codifying the term for the scene emerging around CBGB, ran
Television (band)
Television is an American rock band from New York City, most notably active in the 1970s. The group was founded by Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd, Billy Ficca, Richard Hell. An early fixture of CBGB and the 1970s New York rock scene, the band is considered influential in the development of punk and alternative music. Although they recorded in a stripped-down, guitar-based manner similar to their punk contemporaries, Television's music was by comparison clean and technically proficient, drawing influence from avant-garde jazz and 1960s rock; the group's debut album, Marquee Moon, is considered one of the defining releases of the post-punk era. Television's roots can be traced to the teenage friendship between Richard Hell; the duo met at Sanford School in Hockessin, from which they ran away. Both moved to New York, separately, in aspiring to be poets, their first group together was the Neon Boys, consisting of Verlaine on guitar and vocals, Hell on bass and vocals and Billy Ficca on drums. The group lasted from late 1972 to late 1973.
A 7-inch record featuring "That's All I Know" and "Love Comes in Spurts" was released in 1980. In late 1973 the group reformed, calling themselves Television and recruiting Richard Lloyd as a second guitarist, their first gig was at the Townhouse Theatre, on March 2, 1974. Their manager, Terry Ork, persuaded CBGB owner Hilly Kristal to give the band a regular gig at his club, where they constructed their first stage. After playing several gigs at CBGB in early 1974, they played at Max's Kansas City and other clubs, returning to CBGB in January 1975, where they established a significant cult following. Songwriting was split evenly between Hell and Verlaine, Lloyd being an infrequent contributor as well. However, friction began to develop as Verlaine and Ficca became confident and adept with both instruments and composition, while Hell remained defiantly untrained in his approach. Verlaine, feeling that Hell's frenzied onstage demeanor was upstaging his songs told him to "stop jumping around" during the songs and refused to play Hell's songs, such as "Blank Generation", in concert.
This conflict, as well as one of their songs being picked up by Island Records, led Hell to leave the group and take some of his songs with him. He co-founded the Heartbreakers in 1975 with former New York Dolls Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan forming Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Fred Smith of Blondie, replaced Hell as Television's bassist. Television made their vinyl debut in 1975 with "Little Johnny Jewel", a 7-inch single on the independent label Ork Records, owned by their manager, Terry Ork. Richard Lloyd disagreed with the selection of this song, preferring "O Mi Amore" for their debut, to the extent that he considered leaving the band. Pere Ubu guitarist Peter Laughner auditioned for his spot during this time. Television's first album, Marquee Moon, was received positively by music critics and audiences and entered the Billboard 200 albums chart – it sold well in Europe and reached the Top 30 in many countries there. Upon its initial release in 1977, Roy Trakin wrote in the SoHo Weekly "forget everything you've heard about Television, forget punk, forget New York, forget CBGB's... hell, forget rock and roll—this is the real item."
Critics have since ranked the album number 83 on cable music channel VH1's 2000 list of the 100 Greatest Albums of Rock and Roll and number 128 on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was ranked number two in Uncut magazine's "100 Greatest Debut Records" and number 3 on Pitchfork Media's list of the best albums of the 1970s. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic writes that the album was "revolutionary" and composed "entirely of tense garage rockers that spiral into heady intellectual territory, achieved through the group's long, interweaving instrumental sections."Television's second album, was recorded and released in 1978. Softer and more reflective than their debut album, Adventure was well received by critics despite modest sales; the members' independent and held artistic visions, along with Richard Lloyd's drug abuse, led to the band's break-up in July 1978. Both Lloyd and Verlaine pursued solo careers, while Ficca became the drummer for the new wave band The Waitresses.
Television reformed in 1992, released a self-titled third album and have performed live sporadically thereafter. Since being wooed back on stage together for the 2001 All Tomorrow's Parties festival at Camber Sands, they've played a number of dates around the world and continue to perform on an irregular basis. In 2007, Richard Lloyd announced he would be amicably leaving the band after a midsummer show in New York City's Central Park. Due to an extended hospital stay recovering from pneumonia, he was unable to make the Central Park concert. Jimmy Rip substituted for him that day and was subsequently asked to join the band full-time in Lloyd's place. On July 7, 2011, the new lineup performed at the Beco 203 music festival in Brazil. In an MTV Brazil Television interview, the band confirmed that an album with about ten new tracks was close to being finished; as with many emerging punk bands, the Velvet Underground was a strong influence. Television drew inspiration from minimalist composers such as Steve Reich.
Tom Verlaine has cited the influence of surf bands the Ventures and Dick Dale to Television's approach to the guitar, he has expressed a fondness for the bands Love and Buffalo Springfield, two groups noted for their dual-guitar interplay. Television's ties to punk were underscored by their late'60s garage rock leanings, as the band covered t
