About Me
After the demise of the "Raw Power"-era Stooges, Ron Asheton found himself in Detroit with no band and no idea what to do next. He moved back to L.A. after finding some cash, then got a band together with Jimmy Recca, ex-memeber of the original Stooges, on bass and KJ Knight, of the Amboy Dukes, on drums. Knight left the group soon after and was replaced by Dennis 'Machine Gun' Thompson, ex-MC5. They had a series of different singers and they made some great tunes before going their seperate ways. Asheton and Thompson briefly reunited in the band New Race, in 1981, with three ex-members of Radio Birdman./////// This is take from the New Orde wikipedia page that someone did an amazing job on: New Order (disambiguation).The New Order was an American Hard Rock and Proto-Punk band based in Los Angeles, existing briefly from early 1975 to October 1976.After The Stooges imploded in 1974, former Stooges lead guitarist Ron Asheton, forged a new band; ultimately acquiring MC5 drummer Dennis "Machine Gun" Thompson, a brief (but talented) Stooges bass player, Jimmy Recca and also former Stooges and future Iggy Pop keyboardist, Scott Thurston- who would later go on to play in The Motels, The Cult and has been a long-standing member of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers for over seventeen years.This was at the same time that Iggy Pop was rehearsing with former The Doors keyboardist, Ray Manzarek. Ray and many underground rock fans had their eye on Iggy Pop to possibly become the heir to the confrontational, dark rock throne vacated by the death of Jim Morrison, which in some ways, Iggy actually did. Ray's band also featured, (on drums and bass), the Los Angeles based brothers, Hunt Sales and Tony Sales, both Detroit natives who would later play with Iggy Pop on the albums: Kill City, Lust For Life and TV Eye Live 1977 and much later (1988-1992) with David Bowie in Tin Machine. Both Ray's project and Ron's project, ironically, shared rehearsal space.The New Order recorded two times in Los Angeles: 1 in 1975 and 2 in 1976. Both recordings were later released as a single vinyl album on the French label, Fun Records/Isadora, in 1977.The album's lo-fi quality was the result of it being produced from inferior cassette copies, (originating from Ron Asheton), instead of the original master tapes.The original recordings were funded (and the vinyl album distributed) by RCA Records. Over the many years, this album has been reissued on CD as Declaration Of War on Fun Records/Isadora (in 1991, with one bonus track), as Victim of Circumstance on French label, Revenge Records (in 1989, with not all of the vinyl album's songs, but does include six bonus tracks), and most recently on April 29, 2008, as a limited edition CD on the Japanese import label, Vivid Sound Corporation. This new release has the same title and track listing as Victim of Circumstance. On the same date, Vivid Sound Corporation also re-released the second and third live albums by the related Ron Asheton band, New Race.On the original vinyl release, each side utilized a different lead singer. Side 1 was Jeff Spry and side 2 was Dave Gilbert.Some years after leaving the band, singer Jeff Spry and his guitar playing brother, Joe Spry, formed the New Wave band, Felony, which had a much played 1983 hit song ("The Fanatic") on the influential Los Angeles radio station, KROQ. This song was on the soundtrack to the famous 1980's Nicolas Cage movie, Valley Girl.On Sunday, March 8th of 1992, Jeff Spry tragically shot himself, taking his own life, leaving behind an ex-wife and a daughter. His real name was Jeffrey Scott Spirelli.After The New Order split in 1976, Dave Gilbert immediately joined The Rockets, the band formed in 1972, that evolved out of the famous Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels. This band made six albums, on three major labels, between 1977 to 1983.In 1971, Dave was also the singer in one of the final stages of Ted Nugent's The Amboy Dukes, along with K.J. Knight, The New Order's first, short-lived drummer.During the demo stages of The New Order's album, long time Blue Öyster Cult/The Dictators and future The Clash producer, Sandy Pearlman, was approached to produce the band, but ultimately, this was not to be. The back cover of the Declaration Of War CD/LP also bears the inscription: "This album is dedicated to the CULT", furthering the Blue Öyster Cult ties that were also shared with Radio Birdman.The New Order shares stylistic, additude, and sonic similarities with the early New York City Proto-Punk band, The Dictators, especially during the era with Jeff Spry on vocals.A projected collaboration with '60s & '70s Rock impresario, Kim Fowley (Svengali to The Runaways and co-creator of the '60s classic novelty hit, "Alley Oop", among many other things), was also talked about, but never came to fruition.This record had at least one classic, the song "Rock 'n' Roll Soldiers", later covered by the Australian Radio Birdman offshoot band, The Hitmen and much later covered by the modern Swedish Proto-Punk/Hard Rock band, The Hellacopters.
