The Telefones VVV-02 Texas Punk 45 Jerry Godzilla / Shes InLoveWithTRStones 1979

	£		175
	$		232

Selling my collection of Texas punk 45s and memorabilia individually. Sold so far: Bobby Soxx Learn To Hate In The 80's, NCM Ultimate Orgasm, NCM Quick To Compliment, Fanzines c/o Goerge Gimarc FabGearRaveBeat, Hot Klub sticker, Sound Warehouse sticker, Q102 sticker, Stevie Ray Vaughan poster, The Fall Hot Klub poster, Fall signed LPs & The Fall/Telefones @ The Hot Klub unreleased live cassette.

Available: Telefones, Quad Pi, Nervebreakers, Really Red singles & Dallas Poster collection from 1980-1982 - all ORIGINALS.

This listing is for The Telefones VVV-02 Texas Punk  45 Jerry Godzilla / She's In Love With The Rolling Stones in original printed paper sleeve as issued. 

FYI: The Telefones were Bobby Soxx backing band on Learn To Hate In The 80s.

Issued on VVV Records VVV-02. Bought from VVV records on release. 

Original record [not the re-release] in near mint condition, with an excellent sleeve with only superficial creases. The record has not been displayed, mainly just stored away out of the light. 

Tickets and photos of Hot Klub & VVV added for interest only to prove I was there and not included in the sale. 

Acquired when I lived and worked as an illegal in Dallas 79-83. Having fought in the punk wars in Coventry in the UK [The Clash, Elvis, Specials era] my timing was good to visit Dallas. The neuvo wavo scene was emerging and I went to the Hot Klub, DJ's & The Palladium / Agora to see locals like Bobby Soxx, The Telefones, NCM, The Doo, The Nervebreakers and Joe King Carrasco, through to a fab array of visiting groups like the mighty Fall. I worked at Sound Warehouse for a while and bought punk records at VVV and Metamorphosis, taking it all for granted. Sound Warehouse only stocked mainstream records, though shifted a lot of Rapper's Delight and Grandmaster Flash 12's alongside ZZ Top.  

This record has been been played a handful of times - once on purchase, and a couple of times more recently on after revamping my hi fi to check condition. Condition is as purchased from new with no noticeable flaws, playing at 1g on a Thorens TD320 Mk2. 

I don't want to take the risk of it being returned damaged, lost etc, so I will package with great care, insure and dispatch promptly. 

As time has gone on I have come to appreciate the historical significance of being there and the residual quality of these Texas punk records. A couple of years ago I listed these records as part of a Texas punk collection and had several enquiries about individual records but no one wanted to buy the lot. Now selling individually. 

Wikipedia

The Telefones are a musical group based in Dallas, Texas. A regular act at the notable punk venue the Hot Klub in the 1980s, they are generally considered a pioneer Texas punk band, but have also been called “Dallas' first—and best—new wave band,” and yet also "[n]either punk nor new-wave." Their sound is a blend of many different styles and eras of rock and pop music.

The band was originally formed in 1979 under the name E=MC2, by three brothers: Jerry Dirkx on lead guitar and vocals, Chris Dirkx on drums, and Steve Dirkx on bass guitar. The January 1980 issue of Texas Monthly took note of the Dirkx brothers, calling them "an economical trio oozing juvenile enthusiasm." Will Clay became the fourth member of the band in the fall of 1979, playing saxophone and synthesizer. The name of the group was changed to The Telefones at about this same time. The band's first single, The Ballad of Jerry Godzilla, was released in May 1980 on VVV Records, a Dallas label formed in 1979 by Neal Caldwell that also recorded other noted local acts like Bobby Soxx and The Fort Worth Cats. Six months later, their first LP, Vibration Change, was issued on the VVV label. Clay left the group and was replaced by trumpet player/vocalist/keyboardist Mark Griffin, who was featured along with the Dirkx brothers on Rock-Ola!, the group's second full-length LP, released in mid-1981. Griffin subsequently left the group as well, and later gained national attention as MC 900 Ft. Jesus.

Over the years, The Telefones have shared the bill with numerous notable musical acts, including The B52's, The Bangles, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Go-Go's, Oingo Boingo, Split Enz, Stevie Ray Vaughan and The Toadies. On August 6, 1982, the band R.E.M., still unknown in Dallas, opened for The Telefones at the Hot Klub.

The Telefones spent part of the 1980s in Los Angeles, then returned to Dallas in 1990. While in L.A., other musicians involved included Ken Wallman (keyboards and saxophone), Gary Eaton (guitar and vocals), Colin Marsh (bass), Eddie Dunbar (bass), Jeff Jones (keyboards and trumpet). Josh Diamond played keyboards in a late 1980s Dallas lineup. After a long hiatus, the band reformed and began playing dates in Dallas again in 2010, with original members Jerry Dirkx and Chris Dirkx in the lineup, along with John Painter on keyboards, and Dave Prez on bass guitar. Their set list consists of songs from all three decades of their existence, and pulls from multiple rock and pop music genres.

Impact

The Telefones have been cited by the press as "one of the first and best alternative bands to come out of Dallas".  The Ballad of Jerry Godzilla (the B-side of which was She's In Love With The Rolling Stones) came to be regarded as "a landmark area recording." Original copies of The Telefones vinyl releases have become sought-after collector's items.

In 1980, The Telefones won the prestige Buddy Magazine Award for best songwriter, Jerry Dirkx for "She's In Love With The Rolling Stones".