Phast Phreddie & Thee Precisions

Phast Phreddie Patterson is notable character of the Los Angeles punk scene of the 1970s and 80s. He wrote for Slash, New York Rocker, Rock Scene and Billboard, he produced an early fanzine called Back Door Man, managed the Zeros and DJ’d at Madame Wong’s West, the Starwood and the Cathay de Grande. In fact, the very first Runaways gig was held in his parent’s livingroom in Torrance. Not only that—and how is this for cred—his vast record collection and deep knowledge of American roots music saw Phast Phreddie play a major factor in the musical education of the Gun Club’s Jeffrey Lee Pierce. These days he is an archivist at the ARChive of Contemporary Music in New York and a club disc jockey who specializes in what he terms “Modernist Vintage Astro Sounds” under the Boogaloo Omnibus banner.
 

 
During the eighties Patterson led his own band, Phast Phreddie & Thee Precisions, which is what concerns us here. In the midst of the LA punk scene, Patterson decided to go in a different direction and started a group to play beatniky swing, jumpin’ jive and be-bop, pulling the likes of Blaster Dave Alvin, Plimsouls frontman Peter Case, Gene Taylor, Marty Jourard of the Motels, Steve Berlin from Los Lobos and the aforementioned Gun Club leader in into his revolving cast of players. Phast Phreddie & Thee Precisions would play on bills with punk bands and released an EP “West Hollywood Freeze-Out” in 1982 and a full-length album two years later titled Limbo, both on the Martian Records label.

Early next year Manifesto Records will be releasing a 2 CD set comprised of those two releases along with a second CD of rarities, demos, and live cuts. In order to facilitate tape transfer, remastering, etc, Phast Phreddie’s got a Kickstarter set up where he’s asking anyone who plans to buy the CD to just order it in advance to help fund the prep work. Phast Phreddie & Thee Precisions will be performing a reunion show at the end of February in Burbank, CA.

In the meantime, here’s a clip of Phast Phreddie & Thee Precisions with Peter Case and Jeffrey Lee Pierce miming along on cable access TV’s ‘Li’l Art’s Poker Party’ in 1984. Others in the clip are Paul Body, Chris “Poobah” Bailey, and Dan Perloff.