The Offs

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The Offs are a punk/ska band from San Francisco. Started by Billy Hawk and Don Vinil, The Offs were major players in the early days of the San Francisco punk rock scene. The first release they recorded was a cover of a Jimmy Cliff song called "Johnny Too Bad." Subsequent releases include the singles "Everyone's a Bigot" (which appeared on the Alternative Tentacles hardcore/art punk compilation Let Them Eat Jellybeans^[1]) and "You Fascinate Me." The Offs went through bass players at the same rate as the fictional band Spinal Tap went through drummers. The early bassists included Denny Boredom, Olga de Volga and Fast Floyd until they finally settled on Eric Peterson who joined in 1980 just as the group decamped San Francisco for New York where they quickly became a regular fixture at such New York institutions as the Mudd Club, Danceteria, where Madonna began her career, and Max's Kansas City. With their ubiquitous presence in the downtown New York art/music scene, the Offs counted among their fans and friends numerous people who came to epitomize the movement including artists Jean-Michel Basquiat who created the artwork for "The Offs First Record", Keith Haring, actor Richard Edson who played trumpet with the band, and Glenn O'Brien, the peripatetic chronicler of the scene for Andy Warhol's Interview magazine. In 1984, David Ferguson's label CD Presents released a full length album for the band called "The Offs First Record". Lead singer Don Vinil was known for his outrageous, wild, fun stage behaviour, which endeared him to many fans. Fellow San Francisco punk group, Dead Kennedys had their first show with them in 1978. They were frequents at the famed Mabuhay Gardens.