Sunday, January 29, 2012

The Crash Street Kidds 7" Sweet Sally/I Don't Love You Anymore (Self Released 1977)


This 2 songer was unearthed here in Bakersfield a few years ago and I still know nothing about it's origin except for the obvious. I do know that they are not the Minnesota band with the same name who released the "Little Girls" LP in 1982. I'm guessing they got their name from a Mott The Hoople song since the spelling is the same. The A-side is a catchy Power Pop number with Glam overtones that shows the band had chops. The solid drumming and vocal harmonies really stand out on this one. The B-side is a slower Beatles esque ballad with, again, great harmonizing vocals. There is no address on this thing and only 3 last names for the writing credits. I've Googled this thing to death and have found nothing.

Side 1: Sweet Sally


I Don't Love You


Man Killer


The One


UPDATE: With the help of Brian Devereux, members of the Crash Street Kidds have been contacted and their story has finally been unearthed. A big thanks goes to Brian, and band members Dave Warnke and Joey Sparks for the info and photos. CSK were from Porterville California which is a small town between Bakersfield and Fresno. The earliest line up of the band started in 1972 with Dave Warnke and Jeff Gilliam. By 1975 Joey Sparks joined on Bass and Brent Annestad took over on drums which would end up being the line up that recorded the 7". The band gigged around central California mainly playing parties, dances, small clubs and bars. The guys were very into Glam which is pretty obvious by their name but during the mid to late 70's, people around Central California weren't interested in hearing that kind of music. The guys would do covers by everyone from Alice Cooper to the Doobie Brothers, mainly to keep the local yokel satisfied but would also manage to slip in New York Dolls and Velvet Underground covers as well as their own tunes. In 1977 they booked themselves time at a recording studio in Fresno where they laid down the 2 tracks that would make up their one and only release. They sold their records at shows and anywhere else they could. The record was well received and even made it to local radio. The band continued playing up until 1980 and even recorded 2 more songs that they never released which I have uploaded for your listening pleasure. They played their last show on March 8th 1980 at a club in Porterville.