hypersongs

The Dils

The Carlsbad, California punk trio of brothers Chip and Tony Kinman, whose 1977 Dangerhouse single "Class War" made them the most overtly political band of the first West Coast punk scene.

Carlsbad to San Francisco

The Dils were a trio from Carlsbad, in San Diego County, led by the brothers Chip and Tony Kinman. Wikipedia dates the formation to late 1976 while Tony Kinman and MusicBrainz say 1977. Tony, born in 1956, sang lead and played bass, and Chip played guitar; their close, Everly-style harmonies earned them the nickname the punk rock Everly Brothers. The original singer, a high-school friend named Jeff Scott, left over the direction of the songwriting and formed the Hitmakers, and the brothers took over the vocals. Drummers came and went: Andre Algovar, Pat Garrett (also known as Rand McNally), who played on "Class War", then John Silvers, the longest-serving of four according to Trouser Press, and Zippy Pinhead on a later single.

Their first show was at a pizza parlor in Del Mar, where the posters caused such a stir that they were pulled before the first song ended. The band moved north to San Francisco, which LAist dates to 1978 and found more receptive, and later to Los Angeles. A Miners' Benefit show at the Mabuhay Gardens on March 20, 1978 was recorded and later released on a bonus disc of the expanded Live! In 1978 they appeared in the battle-of-the-bands scene of Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke. They toured the United States and Canada in the summer of 1979, among the first North American punk bands to do so, and split at the turn of 1979 and 1980; Tony said the shows had become boring and no fun anymore.

Singles and afterlife

The Dils released only singles while they existed, a pair of songs about every six or seven months. Tony Kinman said they never thought about making an album. The first, "I Hate the Rich" with "You're Not Blank", came out on What? Records in 1977, followed by "Class War" and "Mr. Big" on Dangerhouse, and the double single Made in Canada on Rogelletti in 1980, produced by Bob Rock. Live! appeared in 1987 on Iloki and Triple X from two cassettes; Jack Rabid of Trouser Press wrote that rarely has a historical document seemed so timely or so current. The Dils (Lost, 1990), Dils Dils Dils (Bacchus Archives, 1991) and a Class War LP (Dionysus, 2000) gathered the rest, and Rhino's We're Desperate: The L.A. Scene 1976 to 1979 (1993) included "I Hate the Rich" and "Mr. Big".

Tony Kinman went to Portland and Chip to New York, then the brothers regrouped in Austin as Rank and File, a founding band of cowpunk and alt-country, later making Blackbird, Cowboy Nation and, as Ford Madox Ford, the album This American Blues. They refused requests for a Dils reunion. Tony Kinman died on May 4, 2018, aged 63; LA Weekly called him one of California punk rock's most creative, forceful and influential artists. On January 27, 2019 Chip played a benefit for Save Music in Chinatown at the Grand Star Jazz Club in Los Angeles, with his son Giuliano Scarfo on drums and Brian Melendez on bass, and the next night at the Casbah in San Diego. D.O.A. and Ty Segall have covered "Class War", and Dillinger Four "You're Not Blank".

Albums

  • Class War / Mr. Big 1977 · single · Dangerhouse

    Released as 198 Seconds of the Dils, the band's second single and its best known.

Songs

  • Class War Class War / Mr. Big · 1977

    Tony Kinman's song about class warfare and police brutality, the Dils' best-known track.

Sources

  1. The Dils, Wikipedia
  2. Dils, Trouser Press
  3. RIP Tony Kinman of the Dils, San Diego Reader (2018-05-04)
  4. RIP Tony Kinman of the Dils, LA Weekly