The Von Zippers

The Von Zippers and their lo-fi brand of garage punk came rippin' outta Calgary back in 1995 or thereabouts. They had that trashy mix of '66 and '77 punk that typified the garage punk style in those days and a great stoopid gimmick with their spiked Imperial German helmets and Lederhosen. Col. Klink would have loved them. I was lucky enough to get to do the sleeve for their debut 7" on band leader Helmut Von Zipper's very own Roto-Flex Records label. Herr Von Zipper came up with the idea of using Tom Daniel's kool '60s kustom The Red Baron in the drawing; I added in the tribute to one of my personal heroes and role models in this life, the great Eric Von Zipper himself. Around the same time I made the followup drawing posted here, which saw use on T-shirts and stickers back in those days. The VZs signed up with Estrus Records and have put out 3 full length albums to date, adding some early-'80s style politi-punk lyrics to their trademark trashed-out punk sound on the most recent one, The Crime Is Now! I've heard from a reliable source that their trashy punk sound has more recently given way to some sort of '70s infused Grand Funk Railroad influence (!!!) so I am looking forward to some new recordings to find out what the heck that's all about. It's a long way back to Germany, so... Stay tuned for MORE VAS IST LOS?!! DER GREASY CHICKEN?!! ACTION!