Rick Wilder was there for year zero of LA punk but he didn’t leave much behind—his band Berlin Brats and his revved-up follow-up the Mau Maus recorded and released only a few ferocious minutes of music, scattered across compilations and video clips. Too bad, too, since they were a New York Dolls-esque glammy punk band with energy, style and plenty of sarcasm. Last year, however, Wilder reunited the Mau Maus and uncovered lost recordings of both bands; the first Berlin Brats collection and teaser clips of the Mau Maus deliver all the “sleaze rock” Craig Lee of the Bags described back in ’83: Nasty, trashy and tons of fun. They play Alex's with the Stitches, who deliver perfectly put-together punk rock on pure instinct.
Fri., Jan. 20, 2012
