Pandemonium Merchandising LLC, with sales and distribution
expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, will be bringing the DVD release
of Plasmatics:
Live! — Rod Swenson's Lost Tapes 1978-81 to the home entertainment
marketplace on Friday, May 19.
Wendy O. Williams was an out-of-control punk rocker of the
first order. Her life as a teen and
young woman was something out of Midnight Cowboy, but when punk rock
became a thing, she was in the vanguard with her group, Plasmatics.
Meanwhile, Rod Swenson was the polar opposite, well-educated
Yale graduate who gravitated to the “underground” music scene of the Big Apple
during the same period — it was like Titanic and the iceberg, predestined paths
to cross.
They were lovers and friends and he managed her career …
Williams was always on the verge of self-destruction. That would come on Apr. 6, 1998 when she
blew her brains out behind their home in the Connecticut woods … 20 years together with Swenson and yet
she never found peace.
But,
between 1978 and 1981 Rod Swenson managed her career as the lead singer of the Plasmatics
and three albums were produced before she went solo. During that period he recorded videos of her
performances at various venues and that is what is presented here … a literal
treasure trove of Wendy O./Plasmatics live concert performances (which were
always an adventure).
There are 16 concert videos from this period that have been
restored for this release. Nine of
these are songs from the Plasmatics’ 1980 debut album, “New Hope for the
Wretched” — “Want You (Baby)” (recorded
on July 26, 1978); “Tight Black Pants” (June 9, 1979); “Dream Lover,”
“Sometimes I Feel It,” “Squirm” and “Butcher Bay,” all record on May 17, 1980;
“Monkey Suit” (June 18, 1980); “Living Dead” (May 15, 1981) and “Squirm”
(another rendition recorded on Sept. 22, 1981).
From the 1981 album, “Beyond the Valley of
1984,” we have “Summer Nite“ and “Fast Food Service” (recorded live on
May 15, 1981); “Nothing” and a second rendition of “Summer Nite” (both recorded
on June 19, 1981) and Sex Junkie” (Sept. 22, 1981).
Lastly, this priceless collection is rounded out with two
selections from the October of 1981 album, “Metal Priestess” — “Lunacy” and
“Black Leather Monster,” both recorded live on Sept. 22, 1981.
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