Artist description One of the earliest and most successful Texas punk/newwave bands of 70's and 80's. Founded in Austin Texas. Seminal band in Austin's Rauls scene. Successful in helping to turn Austin around from strictly ProgressiveCountry town.

Music Style Alternative/Punk/NewWave/Rock

Musical Influences Stones, Velvet Underground, Who, Police, Kinks, Sex Pistols

Similar Artists Who, Police, Stones, Velvet Underground

Artist History Band founded by Jesse Sublett, Billy Blackmon and EddieMunoz. Munoz left and eventually joined the Plimsouls. Hewas replaced by John Dee Graham. Graham left and eventuallyjoined the True Believers. Band continued into early-mid 80's until Sublett decided to retire the group. Band recordedtwo albums, 3 singles and 1 EP. 'Earthquake Shake', a CDconsisting of blistering live performances recordedin Austin and New York City is to be released in Decemberof 2000.

Group Members Jesse Sublett, Eddie Munoz, John Dee Graham, Doug Murray,Greg Murray

Instruments Guitar, Bass, Druns

Albums The Skunks

Press Reviews On a cold and otherwise unremarkable Austin night in February 1978, something happened in a campus-area club called Raul's. Thefirst punk show was scheduled, featuring the debut of a band called The Skunks.Bassist and lead singer Jesse Sublett was handsome and erudite, brimming with piss and vinegar. His vision of the band as an apolitical garage-rock trio manifested during the punkexplosion. Its attitude and energy fueled his desire to make rock & rollthat mattered, a dream that came true at Raul's: The Skunks, quite literally,helped put the cosmic cowboy kingdom of Austin on the rock & roll mapThat evening was a turning point in Austin's musical history. Dozens of bands came in The Skunks' wake. The sounds and scenes shifted from punk to New Wave to hardcore to cow punk and back but always TheSkunks blasted away with unrestrained defiance. They were the premiererecording and touring band of the first wave of Raul's bands and their musicstill pulses with the lifeblood of that era. The authentic sound andskull-rattling vibrancy of their music, however, was never successfullydocumented on vinyl, however, making the recent discovery of two dustycassettes (one in Sublett's closet, the other in that of friend, photographerand long-time fan, Glenn Chase) a chance to address that gap in the band'spermanent legacy for posterity and, not inconsequentially, in a digital format.The Skunks' classic lineup was well in place by the time these Back Room and Max's Kansas City shows were recorded. Sublett and original Skunks drummer Billy Blackmon hit a groove when guitarist Jon Dee Graham joined in early 1979, evident in every track. Its 15 potent songs of love, angst, and other matters of the young heart form agloriously exuberant soundtrack from the days when rock and roll could savethe world with three chords and a lotta volume.Margaret Moser, Austin Chronicle

Location Austing, Texas - USA

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