1938

Los Angeles art-punk pioneers Savage Republic have come roaring out of osbcurity with '1938', their first full-length album of new material in 18 years, hot on the heels of this spring's powerful 'Siam' EP, both on Neurot Records. The new album will be available in November, 2007. Throughout the 80's SR was a deep-underground phenomenon, playing highly unorthodox shows in remote desert locations, abandoned factories, skid-row parking lots and grimy bars across the U.S. and Europe with such luminaries as Einsturzende Neubaten, Minutemen, Sonic Youth and Live Skull as well as hardcore-punk slugfests with the likes of Bad Religion, Angry Samoans and Final Conflict. Known for their oddly-tuned guitars, tribal beats, shouted vocals, metal percussion (typically 55 gallon oil drums and items gleaned from dumpsters and junkyards), and Morricone-meets-Dick Dale melodies, their performances were at times ritualistic and occassionally involved fire and explosives.

In their current incarnation Savage Republic core members Thom Fuhrmann, Ethan Port and Greg Grunke are joined by UK punk-rock veteran Val Haller whose resume includes stints with Wayne County & The Electric Chairs, Flying Lizards, Lords of The New Church and X-Ray Spex, and noted drummer and percussionist Alan Waddington, known for his tenure with The Unforgiven as well as live and studio work with everyone from Willie Nelson to Gwen Stefani.

Along with instrumental and vocal duties Fuhrmann also produced the album with input from recording engineers John Crawford and Kerry Dowling. Fuhrmann explains SR's writing and recording process on 1938: 'In the past we wouldn't go into the studio until every note of every song was worked out. This time we wanted to take a looser approach, kind of an extension of how we did 'Customs' where the entire thing was written and recorded on the spot. We still occasionally use the monotone guitar, but it's narrow scope can be very limiting at times. We are more interested in exploring other tunings and atmospheres. Kind of throwing away the crutches as it were... I was more interested in capturing good energy and making use of whatever 'happy mistakes' came up than getting every note perfect.' Grunke continues: 'We'd bring in our ideas, some things were just loosely sketched out, some were more structured and everyone would add their parts Most every song was done in one or two takes. On 'Caravan' we were actually switching instruments with each other as it was recording.'Another aspect of the band's resurrection is their emergence as a formidable live act as evidenced by ferocious performances this past year that had jaws dropping across Italy, Germany, Belgium, Poland and Greece as well as the northeastern U.S. As percussionist/guitarist Port explains 'We make a lot more effort to engage the audience--we don't just stand there staring at our shoes anymore We have a lot more fun now.' Grunke concurs, deadpanning that 'I don't think people were expecting so much energy to be coming from a bunch of old farts like us.'SR is already in the planning stages of a wider European tour for January 2008 in support of 'Siam' with possible swings through Japan and Australia.

As for the future, Grunke continues: 'The 2002 reunion was fun but we had no interest in reforming to play old material like some art-punk nostalgia act. What we're doing now still feels vital and we'll continue as long as we have something to say. We're already working on the next album.'