1969 Was Fine

France

1969 WAS FINE came to be out of very simple desires. Yet those cravings burned so strong that they could only be satisfied by founding a band: the raving hunger to play straightforward Rock’n’Roll and a parched thirst for hard hitting Postpunk. These needs started out like a spark. They lit up in the minds of all the members of PUNISH YOURSELF. These French Industrial Cyperpunk heroes have always been dedicated fans of MOTÖRHEAD, ALIEN SEX FIEND or ZODIAC MINDWARP, although their own glow-in-the dark wild zombie assault on all senses takes its glory from heavy electronic beats and visual mayhem. In short: they had the big cake, but everybody needs some solid bread too in order to feel good.

There was one big obstacle, before they could make the cookie crumble: for the flamboyant entity of PUNISH YOURSELF it would have been an outrageous desecration to betray their identity by just playing loud, hard and fast, while leaving behind all that make-up, their magic light-show and complex electronics. Yet the virus of Rock now burned like a fever within the four cyber-zombies until a bright idea flared up: They decided to create a new identity for themselves by founding a side-project. With that vision in mind 1969 WAS FINE was conceived. In addition to the four members of the main act two more participants were recruited: tour-manager Polo was added as a bass player and Cyril Laurent, who had already joined PUNISH YOURSELF with his saxophone as an occasional guest. Keep it in the family!

As 1969 WAS FINE proceeded to write songs their twisted brains took over and began to infuse their sound with some more far out elements like space-rock and psychedelic elements in the vein of Hawkwind and Chrome. They also veered off to take some trips into free-jazz capturing the mood of The Stooges or MC5 and on an even more exotic ride added some tribal doom patterns in the tradition of Neurosis. Once again arriving at a crossroads of different influences, 1969 WAS FINE positioned themselves musically somewhere between BIRTHDAY PARTY and SUICIDE, MONSTER MAGNET and JOY DIVISION as well as BLUE ÖYSTER CULT and FOETUS.

With their music taking a decidedly sombre twist, 1969 WAS FINE strengthened the dark concept by letting their lyrics pay a heavy tribute to Rock’n’Roll cult idols like JOHNNY THUNDERS, STIV BATORS or LA MUERTE. Accordingly their strange name was inspired by the SKINNY PUPPY song “Spahn Dirge”, which deals with the Spahn Ranch murders, when actress Sharon Tate and others were savagely murdered by Charles Manson’s “Family”. 1969 WAS FINE reveal a deep and morbid fascination with the dark side emerging out of the “Summer of Love” in their lyrics: the Altamont murder ending the hippie dream, the birth of counterculture terrorism following the riots of 1968 by the disenchanted and estranged youth of Europe and America as well as the inferno of Vietnam.

All these threads now converge on their debut “…But 666 Is Alright”. Red hot psyched-up guitars are supported by pounding drums and flanked by a snarling bass, swirling analogue synthesisers as well as the the elephant-on-LSD screams of a wild saxophone. Lurking above are the possessed vocals of VX “cheerleader” 69, conjuring up the ghosts of HAWKWIND’s Robert Calvert, Gun Club’s Jeffrey Lee Pierce, and the still undead ALICE COOPER. 1969 WAS FINE are out to blast your head off. This is music for speed-heads buying their first cheap synthetiser and plugging it into a Cry Baby to play their own version of “Sympathy For The Devil”. There are no famous guests or producers involved on “…But 666 Is Alright”: This album just consists out of blood, toxic sweat and tears, recorded, mixed and mastered by the band itself: turn on, tune in, drop dead!