Theoretical Girls

In late 1977, I finally permanently moved to New York City. I had a new lime green Toyota Pick Up Truck...and was very interested in the punk/no wave music scene. I started moving equipment for bands. The first job I had was for The Theoretical Girls at Max's Kansas City. I had no idea what I was in for.

I became their permanent "roadie"...and the connections I gained through the music led me into a detour of playing in bands for about 20 years.

In retrospect, I think that Theoretical Girls was the most under recorded and perhaps the most influential of the New York No Wave bands. The guitarist was Glenn Branca, who is still performing his Symphonic guitar noise pieces. Glenn is theater and a real classicist, who played at times with Theoretical Girls an actual slab of a 2x4 with strings and electic pick ups.

The keyboard player and conceptualist of the band was Jeffrey Lohn, who is till composing. The Drummer was Wharton Tiers, who went on to be an influential producer and multi instumentalist composer who is still working. Wharton produced the first recording session I did.

The bassist was Margaret DeWys. She went on to work as a film maker and composer in her own band Ping Pong.

I think that the fact that they were all serious composers, modern classicists and not self destructive in a charismatic way somehow derailed the attention they deserved in a sensationalized pop world, yet the music they made still influences and is the germination of much of the experimental, modern classicism that we hear today.

There isn't a lot of stuff on YouTube. I read that Jefferey Lohn has issued a collection of Theoretical Girls live performances remastered. I would recommend listening to the work of Glenn Branca, though I feel that there is no way that a recording could capture the sonic "hallucinatory" effects that he creates in person.

Glenn works with loud masses of guitars that create symphonic effects with overtones that give the sensation of musical parts that exist only as a sonic hallucination.

Great American Music!