New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The KGB, a short lived New York punk band, recorded a powerful 5 song EP in 1984. However before those recordings could ever see the light of day, this 3-piece band of teenage juvenile delinquents like so many others would disband. The KGB was created in 1983 by a pair of high school friends, Kenneth Young and Fred Armisen. Kenneth: "Nothing would have ever happened if it weren't for our friendship and connection." Searching for the right guitarist for this band wasn't easy but luckily it led them to Viktor Venom and the lineup was complete.
As Fred recollected to KCRW: "In high school I was in a hardcore band called The KGB… when you are in high school. You're just like 'what's a cool name? I don't know, The Vicious Circles, no, no, The KGB, yeah, let's do that. I don't look at punk as nostalgia. I just think it's a type of thinking that will always, always stay with me. I think people have this image of punk as like this angry movement and, to me, I never saw it that way. It's actually a very positive, happy celebratory type of music."
Vic: "I don't think we played very many shows. The only one that really stands out is opening for GBH at the Rock Hotel. That was our first show in the city, which I think was one of the reasons Kenny wanted me in the band. I could open that door for us. The main reason however was probably because he wanted a heavier sound. I remember Freddie had a blast talking to GBH's drummer, and that we went over well with the crowd. I really wish I had a recording of that!"
"When we recorded that demo, it was at a studio in Queens Village and we recorded the music straight to cassette. Then we dubbed the vocals as the music was transferred to another cassette deck. Very primitive. The engineer kept saying "trust me, I know what I'm doing" -- A mantra I've heard many an engineer both good and bad proclaim over time. But it did turn out OK. Although it's rough, it was a great start. The main reason we recorded it was so we could get gigs I think we could've made some great records had we carried on."
Kenneth Young would go on to front King Of
Kings and a reunited Reagan Youth. Viktor Venom also joined Reagan Youth in 1984 as a bass player and would later go back to guitar for Sacrilege, Nausea,
Chaos UK, and his current band The Coffin Daggers. Fred went on to be the drummer for Trenchmouth before becoming a successful comedian on Saturday Night Live and Portlandia. Fred keeps up his musical chops as well, as the bandleader for the Late Night with Seth Meyers house band.
Sadly, Kenneth passed away earlier this year after putting the reissue of these recordings into the works.
Viktor: "Over that last few years when we reconnected, we spoke a few times about recording a KGB record with Fred. Kenny said Fred was into it, but scheduling difficulties kept it from happening. It would've been great though."
Track List:
SIDE A
1.
Walls Of Hate
2. Fight Back
SIDE B
1. Rigor Mortis
2. My School
3. Subway Sleepwalker
