The Urinals
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The Urinals were a three-piece punk rock band formed in 1978 in Los Angeles, consisting of John Talley-Jones on vocals and bass, Kevin Barrett on drums and vocals, and Kjehl Johansen on guitar and vocals. In the band's first performance at a talent show at UCLA, where they were students, two other students joined them. For their second show, a Halloween talent show at their dormitory, the Urinals performed as a trio. Vitus Matare, keyboardist for the punk band The Last, heard them there and arranged to record their first EP.
The Urinals had a severely pared-down, frenetic sound, sometimes opting for no more than two chords in a song (for example, "Hologram" and "Ack Ack Ack Ack"). They played shows with proto-hardcore luminaries such as Black Flag and Middle Class, and inspired the very influential Minutemen, who covered "Ack Ack Ack" on their live EP Tour-Spiel and their final studio album 3-Way Tie (For Last). (Urinals bassist John Talley-Jones directed a Three Stooges-influenced video for the 3-Way Tie... version of "Ack Ack Ack Ack".)
Between 1978 and 1980, the band released three 7-inch records on their own Happy Squid label, which remained relatively rarely heard until the re-release of this material on 1996's Negative Capability CD retrospective on Happy Squid/Amphetamine Reptile. It is currently in print on Warning Label/Happy Squid. In 1981, they changed their name to 100 Flowers, a reference to the Hundred Flowers Campaign in China, but they continued to play music in a minimalist vein. In addition to their influence on early punk, the Urinals/100 Flowers' songs were also covered by later indie bands like Halo of Flies and Yo La Tengo.
The Urinals are still active and continue to give performances. Kjehl Johansen was replaced by Roderick Barker in 1998, and the band released their first full-length album of orignal material in 2003, "What Is Real And What Is Not" on Warning Label Records. In May 2005, the Urinals played at the Chaoyang International Pop Festival in China. Barker left the group in 2006 and was replaced by Rob Roberge, whereupon the band changed its name again to The Chairs of Perception, a reference to The Doors of Perception, the concept that Aldous Huxley appropriated from William Blake. The Urinals are based in Pasadena, California.
