Punk Guitar Heroes - Chip Kinman

Chip Kinman, on guitar, performing alongside his brother Tony Kinman (bass) in The Dils at the People's Temple in San Francisco.



Back then, and to this day, The Dils represent to me everything punk rock should be: political, fierce, fast and stripped down to the bare essentials. The Dils were a 3-piece band yet made a lot of loud noise - noise that made a point.



The Dils always got their audiences revved up, cheering along with their punk rock anthems "Class War" and "I Hate the Rich." Of course, these photos show that San Francisco will always be San Francisco, and there's the obligatory dancing hippie chick on stage with the band... it really didn't matter what band.



What makes Chip Kinman a punk rock guitar hero... other than The Dils being the perfect punk rock band... he's faster than a speeding bullet, he can leap tall buildings in a single bound and all without missing a single power chord.



I have seen Chip's latest music project, PCH (as in Pacific Coast Highway), and he can still leap tall buildings, guitar in hand and still does Dils songs if you ask nicely, and always rocks the house. Remember that Chip and Tony almost singlehandedly created alt.country/punk when they formed Rank & File with Alejandro Escovedo. The Kinmans continued their cowboy ways with Cowboy Nation.

If you click here you will be transported by the magic of the internet to Chip's myspace profile, where you can hear some music and see a collection of photos from Chip's punk rock past... a history that is as rich as punk rock itself.