The Weirdos

The Weirdos are an American punk rock band from Los Angeles. They formed in 1975, split-up in 1981, re-grouped in 1986 and have remained semi-active ever since. Critic Mark Deming calls them "quite simply, one of the best and brightest American bands of punk's first wave." The band was formed in Hollywood, California 1977 by singer John Denney, guitarist, Cliff Roman along with John’s guitarist brother Dix (sons of Hollywood actress Nora Denney), initially using the band names the Barbies and the Luxurious Adults. Those names were quickly abandoned. While initially trying to distance themselves from the genre name "punk" that was created in New York, ultimately the band, in the words of John Denney, "just kinda became more like this punk ROCK N ROLL type thing and we kinda went with it because the fans wanted it. They wore us down and we just said 'OK, fine! We're punk rock, similar to the Ramones. Whatever you say.'"However, Cliff Roman made some early flyers that stated: “Wanted: Punk Rock Drummer.” In a 1990 Flipside interview, John Denney listed the Ramones, New York Dolls and Iggy Pop as fundamental musical inspirations, adding: "When we saw the Ramones in '76, we already had short hair and we were already playing fast music like that in late 1975 in small venues and halls mostly, but the Ramones really made us decide to go for it even more.