Biography
In 1978 the Urinals took shape as a Los Angeles punk band inside a UCLA dormitory. The original five-piece featured vocalist Delia Frankel, guitarist Steve Willard, bassist John Talley-Jones, organist Kjehl Johansen, and drummer Kevin Barrett. After the group’s first appearance at a campus talent show, Frankel and Willard left because of creative differences. Johansen moved to guitar, and the remaining trio pressed ahead by acquiring enough basic chords and notes to compose original songs.
Vitus Mataré, keyboardist in the L.A. power pop combo the Last, produced the Urinals’ self-titled debut EP, released on their own Happy Squid label in 1979. Another EP appeared next. With jagged, extremely brief songs and a deliberately minimalist approach to melody, the band stood out on the Los Angeles punk scene, yet their refusal to play beyond campus grounds kept their existence largely unknown. Early in 1980 they accepted an invitation to perform at the Austin, TX, club Raul’s, then returned to open for the fledgling Go-Go’s at Gazzarri’s on the Sunset Strip. They also performed occasionally under the alias Arrow Book Club when exploring improvisation.
As their musicianship and songwriting matured, the members grew uneasy with a name chosen so casually and officially became 100 Flowers in 1980, drawing the new title from the Maoist edict “Let 100 flowers bloom and 100 schools of thought contend.” Plans for a full-length Urinals album were abandoned, and work began on a new LP under the revised name. Mounting tensions within the group meant that by the February 1983 release of their self-titled debut, their farewell show had already taken place a month earlier.
Johansen next worked with Mataré in Trotsky Icepick, a band Talley-Jones joined several years later, while Barrett played in God and the State. The classic Urinals lineup reunited in 1996 to perform at a Wednesday Week record release party and chose to continue permanently, touring in support of avowed fans such as Sonic Youth and Mudhoney. When Johansen departed in 1998 to resume his solo career, the remaining duo recruited former Ten Foot Faces guitarist Roderick Barker. The Urinals’ first-ever studio LP, What Is Real and What Is Not, appeared in 2003, and their early recordings are collected on the compilation Negative Capability...Check It Out!
Vitus Mataré, keyboardist in the L.A. power pop combo the Last, produced the Urinals’ self-titled debut EP, released on their own Happy Squid label in 1979. Another EP appeared next. With jagged, extremely brief songs and a deliberately minimalist approach to melody, the band stood out on the Los Angeles punk scene, yet their refusal to play beyond campus grounds kept their existence largely unknown. Early in 1980 they accepted an invitation to perform at the Austin, TX, club Raul’s, then returned to open for the fledgling Go-Go’s at Gazzarri’s on the Sunset Strip. They also performed occasionally under the alias Arrow Book Club when exploring improvisation.
As their musicianship and songwriting matured, the members grew uneasy with a name chosen so casually and officially became 100 Flowers in 1980, drawing the new title from the Maoist edict “Let 100 flowers bloom and 100 schools of thought contend.” Plans for a full-length Urinals album were abandoned, and work began on a new LP under the revised name. Mounting tensions within the group meant that by the February 1983 release of their self-titled debut, their farewell show had already taken place a month earlier.
Johansen next worked with Mataré in Trotsky Icepick, a band Talley-Jones joined several years later, while Barrett played in God and the State. The classic Urinals lineup reunited in 1996 to perform at a Wednesday Week record release party and chose to continue permanently, touring in support of avowed fans such as Sonic Youth and Mudhoney. When Johansen departed in 1998 to resume his solo career, the remaining duo recruited former Ten Foot Faces guitarist Roderick Barker. The Urinals’ first-ever studio LP, What Is Real and What Is Not, appeared in 2003, and their early recordings are collected on the compilation Negative Capability...Check It Out!