We Are the One: Remembering The Avengers

One of San Francisco’s earliest punk bands; the AVENGERS were certainly the first to self-consciously approximate their image and sound from the SEX PISTOLS and the CLASH. However, they are elevated to all-time classic status locally by the band’s anthemic riffs and Penelope Huston’s spirited vocals. They formed at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1977, playing Stooges and Rolling Stones covers until writing enough of their own material for a live set. Dangerhouse Records issued their 3-song debut EP later that year as the AVENGERS quickly developed into one of the burgeoning punk scene’s best bands. Bill Graham booked them to open for the SEX PISTOLS at their ill-fated Winterland Ballroom concert in January 1978, in which the AVENGERS stole the show. SEX PISTOLS guitarist Steve Jones apparently agreed, as he produced their four-song 12-inch on White Noise Records in 1979. Unfortunately, that record would not come out until after the AVENGERS had already disbanded out of frustration with the lack of upward mobility. One more record, the “Paint It Black”/“Thin White Line” 45, came out in 1983 on CD Presents.

Numerous recording sessions took place throughout the band’s two-year existence, but the local scene’s lack of interested record labels prevented the AVENGERS and virtually all of their contemporaries from proper documentation. David Ferguson’s CD Presents label compiled all three singles and several unreleased tracks into a posthumous LP in 1983 without the band’s permission, but it has since become the AVENGERS’ definitive release. This record has all the favorites, from “We Are the One” to “The Amerikan in Me.”

Avengers live at the Winterland Ballroom, January 14, 1978

Bassist Jimmy Wilsey went on to play guitar with Chris Isaak’s backing band SILVERTONE from 1985 to 1993 while drummer Danny Furious briefly played with Joan Jett, SILVERTONE, and SOCIAL DISTORTION. Penelope Huston embarked on a solo career in folk music, releasing a substantial amount of albums and singles throughout the ‘90s. She would reunite with guitarist Greg Ingraham as the SCAVENGERS with the PLUS ONES rhythm section of MR. T EXPERIENCE bassist Joel Reader and Danny Panic from SCREECHING WEASEL in the late ‘90s, producing a number of excellent live shows and several re-recorded tracks for the 1999 compilation Died for Your Sins released by Lookout Records. Several 1978 studio sessions and live recordings from the AVENGERS’ heyday also see the light for the first time here. Penelope and company unearthed more demos in 2012 for a sanctioned double CD reissue of the 1983 LP.