Just got in from the Evaporators and the Lottie Collins show that took place at Cannery Row on the edge of the Arizona State U. campus in Tempe. At Cannery Row, the bands play on a small second level fenced-in loft stage. (It reminded me of some ski chalet scene from a '60 AIP movie.) The bands had to slice through the sometimes deeply rooted crowds on the ground floor to haul their equipment up and down the stairs.
After a hardcore band finished, the Lottie Collins took the stage above. They were full of that rising sun moving energy similar to what I saw last summer in Las Vegas with Jackie & the Cedrics. They played a frantic ocean crossing wave of rock & roll which brought in cracked shells of surf-pogo, the Smugglers, beat-pogo, and the Ramones. After the show, I bought their "Electric Surfer Girl" 7" and it sounds like Leonard Phillips (of the Dickies) singing on the Barracudas' "Subway Surfin'" demo!
The Evaporators were up next. After one song, I got caught up in the convincing fun of their performance. Being that the beyond hyper-active Naudwaur likes to be in the crowd (more than on stage) made for some interesting transition scenes. He had to drop the microphone down to the ground level (like a rescue rope) and run down & up a flight of stairs (to change shirts). He also sang from the stair-railing like he was some sort of prima-Madonna-diva!! The crowd hoisted him up and he sang his songs about "buddies" and after school "block parents" while his (un-watched) band churned away above. By the end, he was wearing an Exploited t-shirt and he was all over the place like some sort of foil to Henry Rollins. He then sprinted through the open front door to bring in more milling people to join in the fun and turn their frowns into smiles. The grand finale was "Oh Happy Day" which had the Lottie Collins and everyone else dancing in unhindered sheer joy. At one point, in the night, I thought Rob Halford (of Judas Priest and Phoenix-area resident) would walk through the door complete with leather and spikes. (Naudwaur has interviewed Halford.) After the show, I spoke with a very amicable Naudwaur in "the punk rock parking lot" and he said that Rob Halford was on the guest list and he was disappointed he didn't show. I said good-bye to Naudwaur (next stop San Diego) and the Lottie Collins (next stop Texas) and took off down the I 10--driving behind the illuminated fleets of semis doing their regular retail hauls to Tucson on this happy spring rock & roll overnight.
oh wow! i came across your blog after a deep dig on The Lottie Collins! My band played with them way back in the day at Cannery Row and they crossed my mind. Do you know if they have any of their music available online? I didn't seem to see any....
ReplyDeleteGreat blog by the way!
Thank you Allison for reading and responding in a digital world where most of the music writing has been submerged on Substack. Yes, that was a night for the ages! Hard to believe it happened in Century21. Which band did you play in-if you are willing to provide? About 10 years ago, I went out looking for traces of the elusive Lottie Collins from Chiba. I discovered their leader Yori went on to form the much nosier BVV-5 (named after a Sony camcorder). There are videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ArmadilloRecord
DeleteIt appears that his label is Armadillo Record and the label link can be found in the ABOUT section of the above YouTube channel page. As you might have saw on Discogs, Armadillo released the CD "Good Night For Lottie Collins Funclub" which collects 23 of their songs. Appreciate your kind words on this music blog that seeks to cross deserts and oceans. Lemme know if you need further help tracking down their sounds.