Shindig! #174 – DMZ

In 1977, DMZ looked poised to dominate the entire punk scene worldwide. But their Sire Records debut took too long and failed to capture their explosive live mania.

TIM STEGALL looks at how newly surfaced pre-production tapes might have made a better impression

“I can’t really sum up what makes them great, other than that Jeff has the world’s greatest sense of exactly what needs to be played and never plays anything else,” veteran Boston rock journalist Brett Milano once wrote about DMZ, his city’s flagship mid-70s punk-rock band, fronted by volatile singer/keyboardist Jeff ‘Mono Mann’ Conolly. “The band just embodies that primal spirit that is rock ’n’ roll.” For his part, Conolly, whose nickname derived from his penchant for collecting monophonic records, was simultaneously clear and disingenuous in describing his contributions to DMZ when speaking to San Francisco writer and radio DJ Howie Klein in 1978. “I’m just lookin’ for something to make DMZ sound good,” he shrugged. “No message. We want people to dance when we play. We’re looking for a good beat.”

 Well, so is any other band with a drummer! But what Conolly is missing here is that in ’77, DMZ answered the question no one thought to ask upon their first hearing of ‘Anarchy In The UK’ or ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’: “What if Iggy & The Stooges circa Raw Powerhad discovered a scratchy old copy of Here Are The Sonics while dumpster diving behind a Knights Of Columbus hall in Tacoma, Washington?”

No one better translated the fuzz ’n’ Farfisa-laden snottiness of ’60s American garage-rock a la The Seeds and Standells to the feral blast of early ’70s New York Dolls/Stooges proto-punk. DMZ’s fusion was seamless, due to their frontman.

“I grew up in the ’60s listening to all those records,” Conolly recalled years later. “I was a huge fan of The Blues Magoos when I was 10 years old – back in ’66-67. I liked a lot of garage-rock, especially ‘Liar, Liar’ by The Castaways.” Band co-founder and guitarist JJ Rassler acknowledges that he and the other band members – lead guitarist Peter Greenberg, bassist Rick Coraccio and drummer Paul Murphy, in their classic formation – already enjoyed the sounds showcased on Lenny Kaye’s 1972 Nuggetscompilation. But Mono Mann’s mania intensified theirs.

“Through Jeff we all learned about The Sonics, Flamin’ Groovies, Downliners Sect, Chocolate Watchband, 13th Floor Elevators,” Rassler confirmed in 2002. Indeed, a rabid take of the Elevators’ ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ dominated ’77’s four-song DMZEP on Bomp! Records, overseen by Ramones producer Craig Leon.

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