Blatz was a
punk band that came out of the
Berkely scene in the late
1980's, early
1990's with bands like
Green Day and
Operation Ivy They never went on tour, and mostly played shows at
924 Gilman. Their songs were unique and different than most punk bands at the time. They named their band after Blatz Beer, which is one of the worst, cheapest beers in the U.S. - their slogan is
"Blatz: Cheaper than the beer!"
The band was founded by Joey and Eggplant when they played a show with their highschool drinking buddy John Santos. Their next gig would be
battle of the bands with
Kamala & the Karnivores,
Surrogate Brains, and
the Vagrants.
The following text is taken from the inside cover of Bitches n' Brew:
"Blatz is Punk rock!! Nobody knew what the fuck would happen next. When we'd play, we were to flaky to plan stuff out. Our chaos wasn't a presentation, it was an accident. Some people said we were good. Fuck them! The highst form for praise we ever got was from this guy who drank this poison stuff in preperation for a BLATZ party so he could puke on us.
You're playing a show with two boyfreaks-one a veteran graveyard shift working DJ, wanting to figure out some BLATZ bass lines (WHY?). And the other waving 25 cents rags of protests, local gossip, overused art and misspellings at you every gig you play for two years. Then this silly, silly protest waving anarchist convention dropout whines and withers. Somehow, he's naked, punished with a new suit of cat food, cheap beer, spagetti o's and rotten eggs. And all he can do is spit at his torturers and tell 'em they suck. Jeer Jeer. Two chicks invade, hellbent on turning the whole freakshow into a Frank Sinatra lounge act. One is a Hula-dancing maniac, and the other a farm town escapee, loudmouthed and sporting a lovely cliffage. No, they don't all get together in a freaky love-foursome: you're at a BLATZ show.
I'm sure this band set out with big dreams and accomplishments. In a lot of ways, we did accomplish them, and extra squirmish fantasies to boot. Somhow, being young and naive made it possible to shoot for an impossible goal and still have fun. Who knows what things might get done not doing the original intent? Jumping into this band lent plenty of room for the unexpected. I guess all things should.
The members of Blatz were
Annie Lalania-vocals
Anna Joy-vocals
Jesse Luscious aka: Jesse Blatz or Jesse Dangerous-
vocals
Marshall Stax-
bass
Robert Eggplant-
guitars
Joey Perales-
drums
"We the punks are out tonight
We're gonna start a riot, what a sight!
Burnin' cop cars and lootin' stores
Eat the rich because we're poor!" --Fuck Shit up, Blatz