The Bags
This is Patricia Morrison also known as Pat Bag. I'm sorry to say that of all the times I saw the Bags, this is the only photo I have of any of them. If you want to see an image of the other beautiful Bag lady, please visit Alice Bag's website, which has many photos and other interesting artifacts from back in the day - gig flyers and such that you will truly enjoy.
This year, I've been lucky to have been able to connect with Alice Bag, who just by being herself has nearly single-handedly kept the spirit of LA '77 alive, but more importantly, she has promoted the contributions of WOMEN in the LA punk scene on her thorough website.
I don't know if anyone remembers this or will back me up - but the first couple times The Bags played, I remember them wearing bags over their heads. They did it before that "Unknown Comic" guy - but gave it up pretty quickly. Maybe a show or two with the bags, and then they could drop the gimmick because they were simply a great and groundbreaking band.
The Bags had a great anthem, "We Don't Need the English," which I'm sure is now the bane of Pat Bag's existence since she is Mrs. Dave Vanian - yes he of The Damned, for whom the Mrs. now plays bass. The Bags also had the fantastic "Survive," a single on Danger House, and one of the early LA punk recordings.
In retrospect, The Bags were an all-star farm team for LA and for punk in general. The late Craig Lee was an important member of the Bags, writing quite a lot of their songs and taking the band as far as he could by booking their shows and getting the word out through his aggressive networking. He went on to write for the LA Weekly, and sadly passed away, an early loss to AIDS. Alice Bag continued to front her own bands, such as Stay at Home Bomb and joined in with others such as Castration Squad, which was also a great training ground and holding pen for other notable women in punk rock, ranging from Dinah Cancer to Phranc. Pat Bag left The Bags and went on to play variously with The Gun Club, Sisters of Mercy and The Damned. An early member of The Bags was the ubiquitous Geza X, one of LA punk's all-stars, a guitar player and record producer.
No history of LA-born and bred music, or history of punk rock would be complete without a thorough trip through the four years of The Bags active life. Please visit Alice Bag's website for more.
Happy Birthday to Bob Dylan and Jimmy Ashhurst.
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