Throwback Thursdays Retro Videos Presents; Savage Republic, pt.1

This week on my Throwback Thursdays Retro Video Project; Savage Republic.
Savage Republic may well be my favorite obscure 1980's post-punk band (American division). This California group with an ever-shifting line-up combined epic spaghetti-western-surf-guitar with tribal drumming, industrial distortion and some occasional ethnic seasoning to create a moody, atmospheric sound completely their own. They also had a striking visual style for their record covers as they had access to an antique off-set printing press and a willingness to use it. They put out a series of albums starting in 1982 to about 1992 before splitting into various spin-off groups, some version of Savage Republic exists to this day. They made no actual videos which is a shame as I always thought their cinematic music especially well suited for the medium.

SAVAGE REPUBLIC ~ "TABULA RASA";


This is a song off the 1988 fourth album "Jamahiriya" using an early DW Giffith film "Edgar Allan Poe" in which Poe is inspired to write "The Raven" in order to find money to feed his dying wife. The actor does bear a striking resemblance to Poe.

SAVAGE REPUBLIC ~ "JAMAHIRIYA";


Another track off the fourth album this time using a 1908 film "The Haunted House" by Spanish film-maker Segundo De Chomon, a contemporary of the Frenchman George Melies whose style he expanded on.

SAVAGE REPUBLIC ~ "TRUDGE";


The group were in full-on Ennio Morricone on this epic track off the 1986 "Trudge" ep. For the vid I used a George Melies film "The Alchemist".

SAVAGE REPUBLIC ~ "TREK";


The other epic track from "Trudge", this time using a perfromance art film by Dutch film-maker Franz Zwartjies.

SAVAGE REPUBLIC ~ "TARANTO";


This track uses another Segundo De Chomon film "Les Grenouille" from 1908.

SAVAGE REPUBLIC ~ "VALETTA";


For this Mediterranean influenced track I used a documentary film "Burgos" about a Spanish city made by in 1911 by Segundo De Chomon in one of his rare docs, it's also one of the earliest colour films. The music runs out before the video ends and normally I would have junked it but the imagery matches up with the music so perfectly I had to keep it.

Prof Kitzel's Time Machine Profile; Beyond Possession

BEYOND POSSESSION ~ "SKATER'S LIFE" (video by moi);


Beyond Possession was an early thrash/hardcore/skater crossover band from Calgary, Canada from 1984-89. They evolved out of an earlier bands named Riot and White Noise. They recorded a 7in ep ("Tell Tale Heart") in 1984 which was a fusion of skater thrash and horror punk, and, after switching guitarists, a full album ("Is Beyond Possession") in 1986 for Metal Blade Records that was more thrashy. They toured extensively especially on the west coast and praries touring with The Accused, Corrosion of Conformity, The Circle Jerks, DRI, Jr. Gone Wild, The Descendents, The Dayglo Abortions, GBH, Cheetah Chrome, The Cockney Rejects, Die Kruezen, Dr Know, Entropy, The Mentors, The Melvins, Six Feet Under, The Stretchmarks, Suicidal Tendencies, Soul Asylum, SNFU, Toxic Reasons, Verbal Abuse and Color Me Psycho (later known as Forbidden Dimension) and counted among their fans Metallica, Megadeth and the young Kurt Cobain. After going through various lineup changes (especially on guitar) they recorded demos for a second lp in 1989 that pointed to a more moody metal direction but broke up without finishing it. All their recordings were released on cd ("Repossessed") on the Melodiya label in 1996. They can also be found on youtube and lastfm.com and there is a Facebook group.



Line up;
Ron Hadley ~ vocals
Jaime Kenney ~ bass
Phil Pobran ~ drums
Ken Wall ~ guitar (1984/85)
James Yauk ~ guitar (1985/89)
Mike Davies ~ guitar (1989)
Will Pontes ~ guitar (1989)
Chris Banting ~ drums (1989)
John Heibert ~ guitar (1983)
Brent Beatty ~ drums (1983)

BEYOND POSSESSION ~ "THE TELL TALE HEART" (video by yours truly);


SHORT DOC ABOUT BAND POSTERS, THERE'S A BEYOND POSSESSION/DAYGLO ABORTIONS POSTER AT 1:24