Zero Hour

The debut EP by the Plimsouls still sounds amazingly fresh nearly forty years after its release in 1980. Formed by singer, guitarist, and songwriter Peter Case (who had previously fronted power pop band The Nerves), the Plimsouls began as a trio in 1978, initially named the Tone Dogs. From inception, the band quickly became a crowd favourite in the Los Angeles club scene. Long Beach promoter Stephen Zepeda signed the group to his Beat Records label for a five-song EP called Zero Hour. Heaps of promise are already evident on the cheap-sounding Zero Hour 12” EP. The Plimsouls toss out enough cutting harmonies and nifty guitar licks to recall Beatles VI, although their spirit is totally fresh and beyond nostalgia, the aggression is very modern. The song "Zero Hour" received heavy airplay on KROQ-FM, and the Plimsouls grew to be one of the top club draws in the city.

The Plimsouls

Formed in Los Angeles in 1978, the Plimsouls merged roots, retro and guitar rock with a ramshackle punk aesthetic. At a time when rock music was shifting gears, the Plimsouls' brand of soul-punk (a modern take on '60s soul, British Invasion and garage rock sounds) fit right in with the '80s post-punk American guitar band movement. Known for their kinetic live performances, the Plimsouls had an exceptional frontman in singer/songwriter Peter Case whose membership in the legendary punk-pop Nerves, whose "Hanging on the Telephone" Blondie had taken to the charts, the Plimsouls were expected to become a very big deal. After recording one EP, Zero Hour in 1980, and a self-titled album in 1981 that contained the now classic power pop anthems "Zero Hour" and "Hush, Hush," the group self-financed a single, "A Million Miles Away." The jangling guitar song was picked up by influential FM station KROQ and thanks to trend-setting DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, the song became a local smash, catapulting the Plimsouls toward wider recognition. The Plimsouls were in the right place and time (Los Angeles just after the Knack took skinny-tie power pop national) to score a major record deal almost immediately. Sadly, the anti-Knack backlash took down the entire L.A. power pop scene almost overnight, and their self-titled debut disappeared immediately. The excellent Rhino reissue The Plimsouls...Plus collects that album, the rare Zero Hour EP, a handful of b-sides including an early version of Everywhere At Once's stellar "How Long Will It Take?" and an excellent previously unreleased tune called "Memory." Case's rough-edged songs and the band's noisy performances are almost unbearably exciting, and this is a true power pop classic.