The Paul Collins Beat at The Earl tonight
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
Paul Collins cut his teeth during a strange time in American music.
When his band, the Los Angeles power-pop trio the Nerves, released its one and only four-song 7-inch in 1976, the radio waves were dominated by Peter Frampton types riffing on 20-minute guitar solos. The hippies had come and gone and punk rock was still a few years down the road. No one knew what to make of three guys driving to gigs in a station wagon, wearing suits with skinny ties and playing three-minute pop songs.
“People thought we were from another planet,” Collins laughs. “We got kicked out of every music store in L.A. and San Francisco because people thought we were jerks and that we weren’t playing real music.”
Along with his bandmates Jack Lee and Peter Case, Collins’ one near brush with fame happened when Blondie scored a hit with a cover of the Nerves’ song “Don’t Leave Me Hanging on the Telephone” in ‘78. But to this day when Collins performs the song, people approach him after the show and say ‘Hey man, great Blondie cover.’
Since then the group has existed as little more than a footnote in the annals of pop history, but its influence on indie music culture is incalculable.
Read the rest of the story here.
The Paul Collins Beat plays The Earl tonight w/ Gentleman Jesse and Beat Beat Beat. $10-$12. 9 p.m. 488 Flat Shoals Road. 404-522-3950.
