The Electric Chairs – Safari Records – 1978

Eddie And Sheena / Bad In Bed / Hot Blood / Worry Wart / 28 Model T / Out Of Control

Max’s Kansas City / On The Crest / Plain Of Nazca / Big Black Widow / Take It / Rock And Roll Resurrection

The Electric Chairs were one of those band’s where the frontman / woman is just slightly more interesting than the actual music performed. This debut LP by the band has a fair amount of New York Dolls style riffing along with a bag load of snotty attitude.  Of course we must remember that Wayne County could not be in any way guilty of directly robbing the Doll’s of their ideas as Wayne County was there at the helm of the New York punk scene from the start, mixing it up with the Warhol elite as well as the embyonic New York Dolls themselves. The Doll’s may well have copied Wayne County as a role model for the material and the image that they later released onto the world!

‘Bad In Bed’ and ‘Hot Blood’, the latter featuring Jools Holland, then of Squeeze on piano are the closet to the New York Dolls sound. My personal favorites on this LP are ‘Out Of Control’, ‘On The Crest’ and the final track ‘Rock And Roll Resurrection’.

Text below robbed and battered into shape by myself from Da Wikk.

Born Wayne Rogers in 1947, County left her hometown of Dallas, Georgia in 1968 to move to New York City, where she became a regular at the Stonewall Inn and took part in the historic riots. In 1969, County was asked by Warhol superstar and playwright Jackie Curtis to appear in her play, ‘Femme Fatale’, at the La Ma Ma Experimental Theatre Club, which also starred Patti Smith. In her autobiography, County says of Curtis, “She was my biggest influence, the person who really got me started.” After a successful run of ‘Femme Fatale’, County wrote ‘World – Birth Of A Nation’ which she also appeared in, bringing her to the attention of Andy Warhol, who cast her in his own theatrical production, ‘Pork’. After a run in New York, the play, with the New York cast, was performed in London. Upon returning to New York, County appeared in another play, ‘Island’, by Tony Ingrassia, again with Patti Smith.

In 1972 County formed Queen Elizabeth, one of the pioneering protopunk bands. Despite being signed to MainMan Artistes LTD, David Bowie’s management firm, no records were ever produced. The company spent over $200,000 to film the 1974 stage show, ‘Wayne at the Trucks’, the footage of which has never been released. The show featured numerous costume changes and some of County’s raunchiest material. Eight songs from the show were released on the 2006 CD, ‘Wayne County At The Trucks’, on Munster Records. The show is claimed by County to have been the inspiration for Bowie’s ‘Diamond Dogs’ tour. In particular, County maintains that the song ‘Queenage Baby’ was a prototype for Bowie’s song ‘Rebel Rebel’, a claim which is supported by some rock critics.

In 1974 she formed Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys, which recorded three tracks for ‘Max’s Kansas City: New York New Wave’, a compilation LP that also featured Suicide, Pere Ubu, Cherry Vanilla and The Fast. Wayne County and The Backstreet Boys played regularly at CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City, where County was also a DJ. An EP ‘Max’s Kansas City: New York New Wave’ was released in 1975.

In 1976, she appeared in the film ‘The Blank Generation’, directed by Amos Poe and Ivan Kral. The film, the recording and the shows were the beginnings of what came to be known as punk rock, and helped define the movement.

In 1977, County moved to London, where the English punk scene was just emerging, and formed Wayne County & the Electric Chairs. County released the EP ‘Electric Chairs in  1977’, plus a single on Illegal Records ‘Stuck On You / Paranoia Paradise’. This was followed by ‘Fuck Off’, recorded as a single for Sweet FA Records after Safari Records had trouble releasing the product. This single was supported with a European tour.

While in London, County met Derek Jarman, who cast her as ‘Lounge Lizard’ in the seminal punk film, ‘Jubilee’, which also starred Adam Ant, Toyah Wilcox, Ian Charleson and Jordan. County and band are also featured in ‘The Punk Rock Movie’, by Don Letts, containing part of a 1977 performance at The Roxy club in London. Wayne also got coverage in the mainstream music weekly papers as well as punk fanzines like ‘Ripped And Torn’.

Shortly after this, Wayne County and The Electric Chairs recorded their first, self-titled album, ‘The Electric Chairs’ which Summer Salt fanzine described in 1978 thus “Its hard curbing my enthusiasm for this album…Influences abound here… ‘Eddie & Sheena’ starts off as tongue in cheek 50’s rock’n’roll ballad…Blues, quite strongly, and even doo wop show their faces, ‘28″ Model T’ being a hilarious vocal harmony number about a…car. The one group written song is ‘Big Black Window’ that slides along supported by a crawling bass riff, ‘Max’s Kansas City’ is done again… giving a name check to some of the artists who gig / gigged there….Wayne turns fearsome for ‘Rockn ‘n’ Roll Resurrection’, about dead rock ‘n’ rollers like Hendrix, Joplin and Brian Jones ‘Rock me Jesus / roll me lord / wash me in the blood of rock ‘n’ roll’… Squeezer Jools Holland appears on ‘Hot Blood’, adding slick bar room piano backing……Val Haller – bass & JJ Johnson – drums really know their stuff, always spot on during all the songs…Cook is perhaps the main ingredient always keeping a grip on riffs but also making space for solos and hooks…this band have humour (and) skill…”.

1979 also saw the release of an EP, ‘Blatantly Offensive’, which contained ‘Fuck Off’ and ‘Toilet Love’.

After touring they recorded the second LP ‘Storm The Gates Of Heaven’ which the NME described thus “Analyse this record and it begins to sound like a total farce. But just listen to it and its fun, angry and committed, its witty, its tacky its awful and finally and somehow its brilliant…and the Electric Chairs now with Eliott Michaels and Henry Padovani on guitars do a great job carrying the album along on pure surging rock.”.

The next LP, released in 1979, was ‘Things Your Mother Never Told You’, which featured several songs based on County’s experiences in Germany. This material was recorded with the more adventurous David Cunningham of the Flying Lizards at the helm. Freed from the rock ‘n’ roll boogie, the ribald and the over top entertainership this LP is a combination of a group and of its leader in transition.

The latter literally as Wayne was now firmly on the road to being a she and Jayne. 

The sides are separated into ‘Them’ & ‘Us’ indicative of how Wayne viewed his place in Rock and his feelings as a transsexual. After it was released, the band broke up and County, along with guitarist Eliot Michaels, returned to the U.S.

It was at this time that she changed her stage name to ‘Jayne County’ and began self-identifying as a woman. The final release by County on Safari Records, ‘Rock and Roll Resurrection (In Concert)’, was under this new name. Sahari Records paid for half of Wayne / Jayne’s sex change operation, Jayne left the recording company complaining that the company should have paid for all of the operation.

The compilation LP ‘Max’s Kansas City: New York New Wave’ mentioned in the text above may be listened to HERE

The compilation LP ‘Jubilee’ mentioned in the text above may be listen to HERE