The ACCIDENT

We do it for the thrill, ‘cuz the profit’s nearly nil…

The story of The ACCIDENT: Olympia/Bellingham/Seattle Punk Rockers who DID NOT like The Disco...

Olympia, WA in the late '70's was a pretty sleepy place to grow up...there's a lot more cookin' there now, but in '77-'78 our only lifeline to the Outside World was music. Certain records were like grenades going off on Mom and Dad's Hi-Fi: Cheap Trick's first few albums, KISS, and some wild stuff we'd read about in CREEM Magazine--The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Blondie, DEVO. I was really lucky, 'cuz I got all these records FREE from KGY, the radio station where I was Main Grunt Intern. This music just didn't fit with the station's blend of soft pap, plus they were a useful bribe to keep me motivated.

Trent Kelly and I went to Capitol High School, where one of our coups was blasting "Anarchy In the UK" through the PA system after one of Trent's weekly speeches (he was Student Body Prez). WILD, man! Then, off to college in Bellingham--where one of its' main attractions was the proximity to Vancouver, B.C. This is where we saw our first 'Punk' show: DOA at a former strip club, The Windmill.

It was UNBELIEVABLE...we'd never seen such ferocious energy channeled into Rock 'n Roll. DOA ROARED into their songs, pounding the hell out of themselves AND us. And Chuck Biscuits showed me how drums should be played: As if you were punishing them.

Well, that did it--we had to try and get that kinda Power going for us. I had the drums (played in school band), Trent had played trombone, so naturally we got him a bass. $69 at Bellingham Pawn. It was around this time we ran into the only other 'punk' on campus at the time, Bruce Poot. He had the first Clash album, and dressed like us. He also had a guitar...by God, we had a band! Our first 'rehearsal' was notable for its' volume, and for getting us kicked out of the Dorm. Oops.

Finding our old, ratty house, however, was a real coup--we could play LOUD, any old time, and it was super-cheap, leaving some disposable income for records and beer. What more did we need? A singer, maybe...our first one was Megan Chance, our friend from high school. She became a Wild Woman on stage, making our first few shows at The Windmill VERY memorable. It was great...opening for our favorite bands: DOA, Pointed Sticks, Subhumans--one high point was the night we debuted "Jonestown Hop" and gave out purple Kool-Aid to the crowd. We drank some, too, and everybody died on cue.

Our next singer was Jennifer Warp...a 4 foot bundle of Hiss who ROCKED. She meant it, man! When she and Bruce left, we had big shoes to fill--and that's when we met Doug Cram and Lisa Nansen. They were more "straight rockers' than we were, but liked the Power of Punk Rock. Lisa had a very strong voice. Plus, Doug had a Marshall amp...we could be even LOUDER. It was a natural fit! We played bunches of shows, parties, basements, galleries...and did our first recording in May '79.

My Mom agreed to pay for the pressing of a single, and after a year of "Saturday Night Fever", "Kill the Bee Gees" was the obvious choice. We were friends with The Cheaters in Seattle, and their guitarist, Kurt Bloch, had a cool idea for a label called "No Threes"...strength in numbers. Ours was the first release, with later stuff coming from The Cheaters, The Vains, and the very mighty Fastbacks. "Kill the Bee Gees” even got on the radio, as kind of a theme song for KISW's "Disco Destruction".

One of the best shows during this time was with The Avengers (from San Francisco) at Seattle's Washington Hall...Lisa had perfected her Cheerleader-goes-to-Hell stage look, sprayed the crowd mercilessly with Beer, and the band rocked like a freight train...while we did do more recording, including some demos for A&M Records, and shows, our last concert was at Bellevue Community College in 1981.

Sitting here in Seattle now, with the city's contributions to Rock (and much more) very well-documented AND very successful, it's amazing to realize how much of an impact a relatively small handful of people can make...and it's interesting to trace the stories back, to check out the roots and beginnings of it all. People have always loved to leap around to wild rock 'n roll, be it the Sonics in the '60s or Nirvana in the '90s...and they still love to leap around today. I'm proud of what's been done here, and am excited to see what comes next.

Meanwhile, check out our little branch on the Northwest Rock history-tree, and rest assured at least one thing remains unchanged:

We still don't like the Bee Gees.

Michael Stein/ Seattle, WA

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The ACCIDENT:

DOUG CRAM—Guitar/Vocals

TRENT KELLY—Bass/Vocals

LISA NANSEN—Vocals

MICHAEL STEIN—Drums/Vocals

• MEGAN CHANCE—Vocals

• JENNIFER WARP—Vocals

• BRUCE POOT—Guitar/Vocals

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A few reviews of “No Romance For You”:

From MAXIMUM ROCK N ROLL, 1996:

Archival collector scum stuff from a Seattle band best known for their sought- after "Kill The Bee Gees" single from '79. The other tunes, which I assume are unreleased, are in a similar mode: fast tunes with high screechy female vocals and a somewhat campy approach. Sorta if the REZILLOS came from some American suburb and listened to the AVENGERS. Found myself tapping my toes to the infectious "Secret Police" and "Dixie", very wacky and very cool. Recommended. (JY @ MRR)

From DEATHBURGER, France, 2016:

Ripping Punk/Pop from 1979 by these Bellinghamsters (Seattle/Bellingham,WA).
Snotty and fun with great fuzz-guitar and drum fills. A nice balance of punk aggression and pop fun.

Includes One of the best, most classic anti-disco songs, "Kill the Bee Gees" which came out in 1979 as their sole 7'' record with "True Detective" on side B . Melodic, yet fierce, a nearly perfect punk song. The liner notes beautifully sum up the mindset that motivated the formation of The Accident (and many other early punk bands) over 35 years ago.

Chuckie-Boy Records also thanks our amazing friends who have reissued “Kill The Bee Gees” on 45…

In 1990, KNIFEMAN RECORDS, Seattle, run by Culture Maven STEVE MESSERER, did a 1,000-copy run of the single featuring a new mix (since we couldn’t find, at that time, the original master tapes), with an astounding all-new numbered sleeve!

In 2016, RADIATION RECORDS, Rome, a rockin’ good couple of Italian Punk Rock Record Stores, did a 500-copy reissue that used the original sleeve with a slight logo-tweak . Right on, MARCO!

We salute WRONGWAY FLYERS for this inspired pairing!

And you know what I want!