Notable Atlanta punk acts 2008
Anti-Heroes
Forming in ‘84, the Anti-Heroes was Atlanta’s original Oi! band and may be the last of the punks still playing regularly.
www.myspace.com/theantiheroesoi
DDT
DDT ruled ATL from ‘81-‘85. Their timeless classic, “Take The Last Train to Athens” rallied punks from around the perimeter to extend a middle finger toward the Southern Mecca of alternative rock.
Dead Elvis
Raunchy hardcore band resembling a more redneck version of the Misfits.
Heathen Girls
Fronted by singer Rose Whipper, the Heathen Girls played an early blend of glam and punk.
www.myspace.com/rosewhipperrandheathengirls
Neon Christ
Before fronting Alice in Chains William DuVall was changing hearts and minds one mosh pit at a time with Neon Christ. Neon Christ is still the undisputed greatest punk/hardcore band to ever get come out of Atlanta in the Reagan era. Skin heads be damned!
www.myspace.com/neonchristatlanta
Phreddy Vomit
Coming out of the London/New York school of punk, Vomit was an early mainstay on Atlanta’s punk scene.
The Razor Boys
Led by frontman Ronnie Razor, the band called its sound “gutter-glam hard rock.” Coming together as a trio in 1975, two full years before the Sex Pistols played Atlanta, the Razors had called it quits by 1979.
The Restraints
There’s some debate as to whether the Restraints were Atlanta’s first real punk bank, but everyone agrees that singer Chris Wood, who put cigarettes out on his bald head while performing, personified punk in his style, attitude, self-destructiveness — and his inevitably tragic end.
Rotten Gimmick
A bunch of punk kids who hung out at the ‘Plex, this hardcore band later changed its name to Drop Circus when they realized a “gimmick” was a junkie’s fix kit.
Vietnam
Vietnam merged the worlds of punk rock’s culture of contempt with a slick and stylish dose of avant-garde pop-tones. More PIL than the Sex Pistols, and less pretentious than REM.
Staff writer Chad Radford also contributed to this feature.