VIA PRESS RELEASE | From New York out of Cleveland, the Dead Boys were the most incendiary of Manhattan’s first wave punk bands.
Louder than the Ramones, faster than Patti Smith, more feral than Television, and fronted by Stiv Bators, an unholy cross between Iggy Pop, David Johansen, and all the Sex Pistols put together, the Dead Boys were also responsible for one of the all-defining anthems of the CBGBs era, “Sonic Reducer.” Not to mention two full albums that remain untouchable in terms of punk’s finest. And if they were monstrous on record, they were almost brutal on stage.
Touring relentlessly, the Dead Boys were a seething, dizzying blur of dynamic action and brain-charring volume that left audiences wilting and music critics gaping, powering through a repertoire that simply dripped with future classics… “Caught with the Meat In Your Mouth,” “Flame Thrower Love,” “Down in Flames”—they even immortalized one of New York City’s most feared serial killers, the Son of Sam, even as his reign of terror unfolded.
All these and more (to paraphrase the title of yet another Dead Boys masterpiece) are included on Live in San Francisco, a raw, verité recording of the band’s legendary November 1977 appearance at that city’s historic Old Waldorf—a gig later immortalized as one of the crucial landmarks in local punk rock lore.
Approved by guitarist Cheetah Chrome, this is the first ever official release of this wild and thrilling recording, an unforgettable firestorm that captures every drop of sweat, fleck of spittle and burst of crazed energy that made Dead Boys the kings of American punk rock! And it wraps up with the Dead Boys’ signature slam through the Stooges’ “Search and Destroy,” a version that makes even the original sound tame.
