Punk Turns 30

You probably know this guy as James Wilsey from the band Silvertone that backed Chris Isaak. Well, he is that guy, but prior to creating the musical signature of the 90s with his mysterious, romantic twangy guitar work on 1989's "Wicked Game," Jimmy Wilsey was known to punk rockers around the world as the bass player for San Francisco's seminal punk rock band The Avengers. Wilsey has spent more years in the public eye on the guitar rather than bass, and many more years in the pop spotlight because of his contributions to Chris Isaak's body of work. That sultry guitar work - all Wilsey's - is a result of his non-punk rock influences such as Duane Eddy and Link Wray (though Wray's "Rumble" is pretty punk rock if you ask me). So, 30 years after proclaiming with the Avengers "We Are the One" and 18 years after showing the world how to play a "Wicked Game" with Chris Isaak, James Wilsey releases a solo album - an instrumental ...

I've been telling everyone for years now - and for the last THREE YEARS in public that, hey - PUNK ROCK IS 30! Thanks to the Sex Pistols, who are up to their old tricks leveraging everything appropriate at hand...the 30th anniversary of the release of Never Mind the Bollocks has the mass media taking notice. Suddenly the phrase punk turns 30 is EVERYWHERE!!! I couldn't have paid for better publicity. My friend from punk rock days, Jimmy Wilsey then of The Avengers, later a member of Chris Isaak & Silvertone , (Jimmy's was that guitar sound that defined the song "Wicked Game") and now a solo artist with an album coming out at the dawn of the new year took part recently in Spin Magazine's editorial nod of the head to 30 years of punk, and he's summed it all up in his blog on myspace. The 30th anniversary of the Sex Pistols only album release and of West Coast punk being featured finally in the mainstream is a sweet and long-awaited victory for t...