Angry Samoans

Genre:Hardcore Punk,Garage Punk


The Angry Samoans are an American punk rock band in the first wave of American punk. Formed in August 1978 in Los Angeles, California by early 1970s rock writer "Metal" Mike Saunders and his brother lead guitarist Kevin Eric Saunders, along with co-conspirator Gregg Turner (another rock writer, for Creem Magazine during the late 1970s-mid 1980s) and original recruits bassist Todd Homer and drummer Billy Vockeroth.During 1978 both Turner and Saunders had played in the Los Angeles punk band VOM, which issued a posthumous 5-song EP Live at Surf City on White Noise Records in early summer 1978. In 1969 in
hometown Little Rock, Saunders and Samoans guitarist Kevin had cut a 14-song highschool garage-rock album I'm a Roadrunner Motherfucka (unissued until the late 1990s) under a twice-used local band name the Rockin' Blewz, and in 1975 Saunders briefly played in an embroyonic backing line-up for 1950s rockabilly cult artist Ray Campi before moving back to Arkansas for two years (pursuant to a second college degree). Bassist Todd Homer had played in 1977 Masque-era band Jesus Prick, and drummer Bill Vockeroth was a veteran of the Pasadena "backyard kegger party" cover band circuit.
Shortly after the Angry Samoans formed, in late 1978 Saunders/Turner/Homer wrote a song about long-time LA/Hollywood scenemaker (and KROQ DJ, beginning in 1976) Rodney Bingenheimer titled "Get Off the Air."Due to Bingheimer's strong influence with LA/Hollywood clubs, when the song was included on the band's first record Inside My Brain, the band was blacklisted at the Starwood/Whiskey and any other club in Hollywood/LA proper for about two years
during mid 1980 - late 1982. The band's ostensibly offensive, politically incorrect attitude and  lyrical content was not a factor in this situationThe first Angry Samoans gig was opening for Roky Erickson and the Aliens in Richmond, California on October 30, 1978. Roky was sick and did not make the show (Aliens band members covered for his lead vocals) but remained a lifelong friend and inspiration to Gregg Turner of the Samoans (the next night they played an "all-LA bill" at the SF Mab, opening for Shock and the Zeros).
The Samoans' first release, Inside My Brain, was one of the early hardcore punk albums to come out of the 1980 LA punk rock scene. In between this recording and Back from Samoa, the band released a four-song EP as "The Queer Pills," allegedly using the pseudonym because the EP was to get air time on Rodney's KROQ radio program. (See interview, Forced Exposure magazine) Their 14-song 17-minute hardcore album, Back from Samoa, released in 1982, featured lyrics on such themes as the trendiness of poking your eyes out ("Lights Out"), finding Adolf Hitler's penis ("They Saved Hitler's Cock"), and ranking on your old man ("My Old Man's A Fatso"), over hyper-distorted guitars and "early LA/OC hardcore" drum beats.