LOS ANGELES, CA. (THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2022) – Full details on Independent Project Records' (IPR) release of the previously unreleased archival concert Savage Republic – Africa Corps Live at the Whisky A Go Go 30th December 1981 set coming November 18, are now confirmed. Pre Save/Add here.
Clocking in at 37 minutes, befitting the band’s opening slot on the bill that night, the 10 tracks include early (and, in some cases, notably different) versions of songs that six months later would appear on Savage Republic’s seismic debut LP Tragic Figures. The live album will be released on compact disc and via digital services with a vinyl version to follow. The release will also be available in special vinyl and CD editions featuring the iconic hand-letterpress printed die cut packaging by Savage Republic and Independent Project Records founder Bruce Licher. Full track listing here:
1. First Assembly
2. Next To Nothing
3. Real Men
4. Attempted Coup : Madagascar
5. Exodus
6. Machinery
7. Mobilization
8. Kill The Fascists!
9. The Ivory Coast
10. When All Else Fails…
This previously unreleased archival set was recorded just nine months after a group of young UCLA students - Bruce Licher, Mark Erskine, Philip Drucker and Jeff Long - started playing together (still calling themselves Africa Corps) and making their way in Los Angeles’ punk underground. The bill that night also featured Orange County hardcore-turned-post-punk outfit Middle Class along with fellow LA post-punk journeymen Afterimage (it was probably the friendship among band members that made it all happen) and SoCal arty synth punks Outer Circle. This soon-to-be-released Savage Republic/Africa Corps live album comes on the heels of the expanded Real Gone Music reissue of Tragic Figures.
The Whisky board recording original cassette source tape for this release has been remastered by Warren DeFever (His Name Is Alive) and unearths a most cathartic performance. In different hands, the band’s amalgamation of punk, industrial, art rock, psychedelia, Eastern sounds, avant-garde, no wave, surf and minimalism would have eventually proved contrived, pretentious, or at least confusing. But as the loud Whisky crowd - regulars mixing with friends, art school students mixing with tough punks - seems to suggest, with Savage Republic it worked, as if by magic. And as if by magic, it still does.
Additional IPR releases will be announced shortly and will feature both remastered and expanded IPR classics (and in some cases bring long out-of-print titles back in print) as well as new music that fits the IPR aesthetic both musically and in design. By utilizing IPR's iconic hand-letterpress printed artwork created at Independent Project Press, the label will carry on with the design aesthetic that began in 1980 and has become the label’s hallmark.
ABOUT
Founded in 1980 by musician and artist Bruce Licher, Independent Project Records has created more than sixty releases since its inception. IPR and its sister entity Independent Project Press are known for their instantly recognizable hand-printed record covers for bands including Camper Van Beethoven, For Against, Polvo, R.E.M., Savage Republic, Silversun Pickups, Stereolab and more. Aside from creating all artwork on his vintage two-ton hand-fed letterpress, Licher was nominated for a Grammy Award for his design work on the IPR released debut album from For Against. In 2020, the label was relaunched by both Licher and Jeffrey Clark with new and archival releases with distribution from MRI Entertainment. It is based in Bishop, California, at the base of the Eastern Sierra Mountains.
