Guitarist & Bassist for the Heathen Apostles, The Cramps, Nick Curran & the Lowlifes

Posts tagged “LA Punk Rock

New Mau Maus Website Launched

The new website for the notorious Los Angeles punk rock band the Mau Maus has launched, it’s new address is maumaus.monster. There you will be able to see photos, interviews and reviews going back to 1978, as well as links to deals on their music and merch. Check it all out HERE.

Mau Maus 1982

Rick Wilder, Scott “Chopper” Franklin, Paul Mars, Mike Livingston. photo by Edward Colver

The Mau Maus official bio:

Everybody knows the Mau Maus. Whether it’s some story of a chaotic back-alley Hollywood show, or dark tales of crimes real or imagined, the Los Angeles punk rock scene wouldn’t have been the same without Rick Wilder and the nefarious group. Reveled and reviled, taking the raw energy of Iggy and the Stooges and infusing an unhealthy dose of James Brown jive, the original Mau Maus (Wilder, Greg Salva, Rod Donahue & Earl Washington) was forged at the original Los Angeles punk rock haven the Masque and sprang upon the emerging Hollywood scene in 1978. The 1981 line up was Wilder, Michael Livingston, Scott “Chopper” Franklin and Paul “Black” Mars, and the Mau Maus proceeded to record the incendiary Robby Krieger-produced Mad Dog Studio sessions and 2 songs for Hell Comes To Your House Vol. 2. A scene-stealing performance in the OJ Simpson detective movie “Cocaine and Blue Eyes” accented this “Joyride to the End of the World”…

The violence, the women, and yes, the drugs, might have seemed to get in the way of commercial success, but talent is talent and songs are songs, and upon listening to this record one realizes that with punk rock still in it’s infancy, here was a band that was already mixing a current fresh sound with elements of American roots music, something the Kinks, the Stones and the Animals managed to do in the 1960’s.

As the 20th century wound down, Wilder moved to New York City, Franklin joined The Cramps, Mars toured the world as a front man for LA Guns and Livingston formed… the Livingstons. Love ‘em or hate ‘em… they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Mau Maus

Rick Wilder, Greg Salva, Scott “Chopper” Franklin, Paul Mars