If you have been a reader of the excellent Ugly Things magazine in recent years, you may have read some of the numerous articles in said mag about such topics as “punk before punk” and/or historically minded looks into when the actual word punk was first used in print. Much of what was written points to early rock fanzine writing, which got its’ start in the mid ‘60s (Crawdaddy or Greg Shaw of Bomp’s Mojo Navigator are early examples), but really came into form in the early to mid ‘70s. This early ‘70s era seems to be the when the term punk was first bandied about, and at the time it was used in reference to the thousands of teenage garage bands that arose in the mid ‘60s (’66 being the prime year) in the wake of the ongoing British Invasion. Future Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye (who was also an early fanzine scribe) solidified this label with his massively influential Nuggets compilation. Another big writer who was among these early diggers of mid ‘60s raunch ‘n’ ‘tude was one Don Waller who wrote for such notable early rock ‘zines as Back Door Man.
But before Back Door Man, Waller had a crazed L.A. rock ‘n’ roll combo The Imperial Dogs who only ever managed to get out one 45 (after they broke up), but made lots of great demo and live recordings of their mainly original songs and some well-chosen covers. They got their start in late 1973 after the various members had kicked around in other groups. The Dogs were a wild, theatrical, in-your-face rock band, taking influence from Iggy and the Stooges, the MC5, The Velvet Underground and the high energy mid ‘60s sounds of the early Who and Kinks.
Waller was the charismatic front man, and as he had seen the Stooges do a two-week residency in L.A. around the time of Raw Power’s release, he had an idea of the kind of stage show to put across. The group rehearsed often and got together about a dozen original songs and numerous hip covers. They played shows, but as the mid ‘70s were a rough time for street urchin, glammy-looking bands playing their own material, The Dogs were overlooked, misunderstood and for the most part forgotten. But they were far and away a hard-edged, confrontational, raw rock band that foresaw punk in much if their manner of dress, song subject, influence and sound. They were one of the first bands to take the sounds of Stooges and many of the groups later deemed the fore fathers of punk (New York Dolls, Bowie, Velvets, MC5), and make it the sole basis of their sound. It could be argued that they were L.A.’s Stooges or New York Dolls…
Their songs were tight, hard rockers with tough subject matter full of hellion, rebellious energy and titles. “Midnite Dog,” “13 Sons of Satan,” “Amphetamine Superman” and “Rock ‘N’ Roll Overdose” are a few of their song names and serve as a good idea of where these guys were coming from. They also had a menacing kiss-off to the hippie ‘60s titled “This Ain’t the Summer of Love” of which the title (though not the music) was taken by brainy heavy metalers the Blue Oyster Cult. The Dogs covered “’Til The End of the Day” by the Kinks and “I’m Waiting for the Man” by the Velvet Underground, which was far from the norm in 1974.
Waller exhibited a trashy, primal Iggy-esque vocal style and came on like a leather-clad L.A. sleaze rawker in dress. His band mates were similarly glammed-out with a street/Sunset Strip punk kind of look- shirtless with dog collars vibes mixing with furry pants, face makeup and skull and crossbones drawn on their chests. For the country rock, mellow-down easy, denim-clad L.A. of the time, this was street scum fuck you rock ‘n’ roll flying in the face of the bloated boho Laurel Canyon hippie scene that ruled the town. And with their great glam/mid ’60s/Stooges style of rock, they were guaranteed a short lifespan, and were done by ’75. It was only two years later when what they had been doing would fully coalesce in their town with the emergence of such bands as The Weirdos, The Bags and the whole Dangerhouse label scene.
The Imperial Dogs were also coming from a heavy Stones background and one could also hear traces of The Faces or heavy tough early ‘70s riff rockers like Free- but The Dogs were more guttural, street tough and wild.
In the late ‘80s, the Australian label Dog Meat issued many of their demos and live recordings and a DVD was recently released of a show from their heyday. The visuals from this show are stunning. The band really goes for it and is a bunch of leather-clad, biker trash cum glam rockers in their look. Unfortunately, they were too out there for many people to take them seriously, and like many bands that were burning to fast and bright to last, they only existed a little over two years.
Waller has continued to write and has been a journalist in the ensuing years. His start though, was on the stage, coming from the other side from where the rock writer wields their gaze and critique. The Imperial Dogs slugged it out and kept the spirit of real rock ‘n’ roll burning in a time and place where such a stance could get you beat up. Bless ‘em for forging new territory and keeping rock dangerous.
Track down these Imperial Dogs cuts for the next time your saddling up for a night of drunken debauchery and howling at the moon. As Don muttered during a live show on the reissue: “We want to get our poodles in your noodles…”
