top of page
SAVAGE REPUBLIC Africa Corps Live at the Whisky A Go Go REGULAR EDITION CD

The 40th anniversary of Savage Republic’s seismic debut LP Tragic Figures is certainly cause for celebration and after working closely with Real Gone Music on the recently released expanded reissue of that album, Independent Project Records is proud to present a priceless jewel documenting the group’s early days. Ever wondered about what seeing a blossoming Savage Republic up close must have felt like? Africa Corps Live at The Whisky A Go Go December 30th 1981 is here to take us right there, fiercely catapulting listeners in front of one of L.A.’s most iconic stages, back when a young band of UCLA students (Bruce Licher, Mark Erskine, Philip Drucker and Jeff Long), by then still called Africa Corps, was starting to make its way in the punk underground.

 

Their extraordinary first time at the Whisky was recorded on cassette on December 30th 1981, a momentous night when soon-to-be Savage Republic had been invited to open for Orange County hardcore-turned-post punk outfit Middle Class along with fellow LA post punk journeymen Afterimage (it was probably the friendship among band members that made it all happen) and Long Beach-based synth punks Outer Circle.

 

We’re lucky enough to witness most of the future Tragic Figures tracks in a process of highly creative gestation, in the middle of being developed.The original tape has now been remastered by Warren DeFever (His Name Is Alive) and unearths a most cathartic performance. It’s hard to fathom, but the four musicians had only been playing together for about eight months at that point, mostly rehearsing in the concrete parking garages at UCLA. Those formative experiences are brilliantly reflected in the sound of Africa Corps Live at The Whisky A Go Go December 30th 1981, with its hypnotic blend of industrial and piercing post punk. But the live album is also a powerful reminder of Savage Republic’s flair for containing multitudes: those hardcore inclinations, so of their time they now sound timeless, are unexpectedly intertwined with a kaleidoscopic love of sound that still makes the band stand out from the rest of their contemporaries. Here, the hardcore and the arty are perfectly intertwined; the band emerges as one of the most politically engaged (and lucid) entities of the L.A. underground, while simultaneously reclaiming a love of styles and influences that might have seemed long forgotten by then (Eastern music being the most prominent one). The four-piece appears to be at once trailblazing, sounding like no other band before or since, and eager to dig up its rich, often surprising lineage (they were embodying 60s California’s all-embracing curiosity better than most neo-psychedelic bands). In different hands this amalgamation of punk, industrial, art rock, psychedelia, Eastern sounds, avant-garde, no wave, surf and minimalism would have eventually proved contrived, pretentious, or at least confusing. But this is Savage Republic we’re talking about, and as the loud Whisky crowd—regulars mixing with friends, art school students mixing with tough punks—seems to suggest, it worked, as if by magic. And as if by magic, it still does.

 

Africa Corps Live at The Whisky A Go Go December 30th 1981 is now available in two different CD versions as well as vinyl LP with two different color options. This is the “commercial” edition of the CD which is packaged in a normal-sized 6-panel cardboard wallet folder with additional insert. See our other listings for the numbered and limited Special Edition CD, which features our iconic hand-letterpress printed oversized die cut pocket folder designed and created by Licher at Independent Project Press, and includes a 4-panel insert with story of the band and gig by Camilla Aisa, plus mini-sized reproductions of the 4 different original flyers produced by each of the bands performing on the bill that night.

 

Track Listing


1. First Assembly
2. Next To Nothing
3. Real Men
4. Attempted Coup: Madagascar
5. Exodus
6, Machinery
7. Mobilization
8. Kill The Fascists!
9. The Ivory Coast
10. When All Else Fails...

SAVAGE REPUBLIC Africa Corps Live at the Whisky A Go Go REGULAR EDITION CD

$10.00Price
Quantity
  • "Independent Project Records continues with its own style of incredible packaging, and this live album capturing the group when they were still known as Africa Corps is no exception. Packaged in a slightly oversized heavy card sleeve replete with customary screen-printing and high quality inserts and stickers, Live at the Whisky A Go Go makes for a fantastic document of a group still raging with punk-inspired anger yet showing definite signs of transforming into the far more progressive and expansive entity they'd later become. While songs such as the scathing 'Real Men' and the pounding and industrial clatter-fuelled 'When All Else Fails' would make it onto the 1982 debut album, Tragic Figures, there are others caught in all their raw and powerful glory exclusive to this release. Coupled to the fact the recording itself is great, the whole album serves as a reminder of just how unique Savage Republic were during this period. Bridging a dynamic range of styles befitting of the sonic landscape of the time with industrial percussion and a cinematic approach they'd explore further as they honed their craft, they certainly perfected a sound many would draw inspiration from. It's only a shame they never got the recognition they deserved as comparatively lesser peers stole their thunder as the '80s progressed."
    —Richard Johnson, Adverse Effects Magazine

Independent Project Records, LLC
186-A Willow Street
Bishop, CA 93514

phone + fax: 760.873.3600

email us

IPR_Logo_Round.png

Please follow us on social media:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • X
  • YouTube
  • TikTok

I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.

© 2024 by Independent Project Records LLC

bottom of page