The Bags: All Bagged Up - The Collected Works 1977-1980

 

Los Angeles punk pioneers the Bags formed in 1977. Singer Alice Armendariz and bassist Patricia Morrison first met while auditioning for Venus & the Razorblades, a group masterminded by producer/

svengali Kim Fowley in the wake of his success with the Runaways. The two became fast friends and eventually decided to form a band called Femme Fatale. Femme Fatale eventually morphed into a new band, which became Bags. They took the band's name and their stage names "Alice Bag" and "Pat Bag" from a gimmick that the band used during early performances where they performed with grocery bags over their heads.  Their concerts were often accompanied by disorderly scenes, including altercations with celebrities, such as one between singer Tom Waits and drummer Nickey Beat at The Troubadour. 
                               

Adopting the aliases Alice Bag and Pat Bag, they recruited guitarists Craig Lee and Rob Ritter and drummer Terry Graham to round out the lineup. Per the band's name, the Bags wore grocery sacks atop their heads during their earliest gigs, although the practice ended when Germs frontman

Darby Crash mounted the stage and ripped away Alice's. The Bags made their professional debut at the L.A. nightclub The Masque on September 10, 1977, emerging alongside the first wave of SoCal punk acts.  The group's visceral live shows quickly became the stuff of legend. In 1978, they released their only record, a single called "Survive", backed with "Babylonian Gorgon", released by independent record label Dangerhouse Records. "We Don't Need The English" was included on the Yes L.A. punk compilation album released by the same label. Pat Bag left the band and Ritter switched to bass. 
                                     

In 1980 the group, was filmed by Penelope Spheeris for the documentary film "The Decline of Western Civilization", which also featured the Germs, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, X and other

Los Angeles punk bands. Terry Graham went on to play drums for The Gun Club. Pat, now known as Patricia Morrison, also joined The Gun Club soon after. Once she left The Gun Club she joined The Sisters of Mercy and then The Damned, as bassist. She married Dave Vanian, the Damned's lead singer. At the release of the film in 1981 the producers billed the group as "Alice Bag Band" to avoid any conflict with Morrison, but the band had already broken up by then. 
                            

By the time "The Decline of Western Civilization" hit theaters in 1981, the Bags were no more. Morrison, Ritter, and Graham later reunited in the Gun Club, with the former subsequently relocating

to London and joining latter-day editions of the seminal British punk bands the Sisters of Mercy and the Damned. As Rob Graves, Ritter also fronted the goth rock band 45 Grave before succumbing to a fatal heroin overdose in 1991, while Lee tenured in Catholic Discipline before launching a career as a writer, publishing "Hardcore California: A History of Punk and New Wave" prior to his death from AIDS. Armendariz later served as a member of Castration Squad, Cholita!, and Stay at Home Bomb. 
                             

The Bags – All Bagged Up - The Collected Works 1977-1980
Label: Not On Label (The Bags) – none
Format: CDr, Compilation, Unofficial Release 2007
Country: US
Released: 1977-1980
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk
                                    

TRAXS

                            

01. Survive    2:49
02. Babylonian Gorgon    2:36
03. We Don't Need The English    1:17
04. We Will Bury You    1:57
05. TV Dinner    1:53
06. Violent Girl    2:17
09. Animal Call    2:24
08. Chainsaw    1:19
09. 7 And 7 Is    1:48
10. 1,2,3    1:25
11. Gluttony    2:42
12. In Love With Romance    1:43
13. Survive    2:34
14. Car Hell    2:57
15. Real Emotions    2:01
16. Bag Bondage   1:25
Drums [Uncredited] – Joe Nanini
Guitar [Uncredited] – Geza X    
17. Disco's Dead    2:16
18. Prowlers In The Night    3:04
19. We Will Bury You    1:53
20. Nothing's Going On In Here    2:37

LINE - UP

                            

Vocals [Uncredited] – Alice Bag
Bass [Uncredited] – Pat Bag
Drums [Uncredited] – Terry Graham (tracks: 1 to 15, 17 to 20)
Guitar [Uncredited] – Craig Lee (tracks: 1 to 15, 17 to 20), Rob Ritter

NOTES

                                

Tracks 1 to 4: the Dangerhouse recordings 1978.
Tracks 5 to 8: Live at the Masque recordings 1978.
Tracks 9 to 13: Live @ the Long Goodbye in Portland, Oregon on November 25, 1979.
Tracks 14 to 20: assorted rehearsals, live, demos, and alternate takes.

Flac Size: 302 MB