The Unclaimed | Feelin’ Oozy!

Article published in Sounds, 1984

Let me introduce you to the Unclaimed. It’s already been stated that if there were gold records handed out in the image of stakes, then this squad would be somewhere beyond platinum by now.

The Prince Valiant hairstyles coupled with an attire of black leather vests over black turtle neck sweaters makes them look like they’d just stepped out of a fog back a la John Carpenter that’d been lost since way back.

The Unclaimed has existed since 1979, when they were formed out of the ashes of the Popes by Shelley Ganz and Sid Griffin. Griffin has since moved on to create a stir all of his own with the Long Ryders. The original manifestation made one EP for Moxie Records in 1980, where a song called “Deposition Central” epitomised what the the band are all about. Here’s a taster.

“I went to a party and I felt a little Fizzy
Somethin’ happened to me, when I was gettin’ dizzy.
everyone around me they just kept groovin’
Scary thing was, that the room had started movin’!”

The Unclaimed | Feelin’ Oozy!

It has to be said that when these guys freak out, it conjures up pictures of when The Count Five and The Music Machine reverberated out of car radios and there was every chance that the Seeds would be playing at your local dive.

At weekends you could actually attend parties like they had in Riot On Sunset Strip. These hallucinations manifest themselves without the aid of artificial stimulants. Imagine then, if you will, the blast sans the Drug Train.

In 1984 the line-up is Shelley Ganz (vocals, rhythm guitar and percussion), Rich Coffee (lead guitar, backing vocals and organ), Ray Flores (bass, sitar and backing vocals) and Matthew Roberts (drums). They have a six-song 12″ EP out now on their own Hysteria label that sits proudly against any of the material that inspired it, primordial ooze flavoured Rock and Roll music for the mind and beyond.

The Chosen Few

Richard: “It seems like all of a sudden there are some truly amazing ’60s records thought lost forever available again. A coupla volumes of a thing called ‘Back From The Grave’, a coupla volumes of ‘The Chosen Few’, and a thing from Australia called ‘Ugly Things’. The best is called ‘Hipsville 29BC. It’s choc full of deranged stuff. I’m real glad there are people around digging these things up.”

The record is doing fairly well reaction wise, but there is one slight problem.

Richard: “Some radio stations have played it and the press has been pretty good, though clubs still aren’t rushing to book us as much as we’d like. On the other hand Eva Records in France have been looking at the possibility of adding a few songs to make it an LP in Europe. There’s a magazine in Italy who want to expand the length at their expense. It would be great if it happened, but we’re not about to hold our breaths!”

An upcoming Roir compilation may soon boast an Unclaimed contribution too, purely to endorse the recommendation further y’ understand. (Lindsay Hutton)

The Unclaimed: ‘The Unclaimed’ (Hysteria)

If it’s authenticity you’re after, look no further. This platter from one of LA’s formative psych garage acts is an uncanny dead ringer for the coarse trashfuzz beat of The Chocolate Watch Band and sounds like it couldn’t possibly have been recorded after 1966.

There’s that same booming echo, that sense of being in some cavernous neon grotto. “The hairy fist of silence slugs us”, mourns the sleeve note, “but we’ll wing it, yeah we’ll all sing it. Bodhidharma’s back in town.”

Mad fairy-ground keyboards, rattlesnake tambourines, deep vibrator guitars, and a song called “Things In The Past (Yeah O Yeah).” Can you resist? (vintage music review)