Klitz Oral History, 1978-1980

The Klitz, left to right: Marcia Clifton, Lesa Aldridge, Gail Elise Clifton (sitting). Photo by Steve Lacy.

The Klitz were Memphis punk ground zero, formed many months before The Panther Burns debuted on February 10, 1979. Founding Klitz member, Lesa Aldridge, believes that Chilton formed The Panther Burns to compete with The Klitz in terms of raw offensiveness. And when it came to rawness, well, The Klitz had that covered. -Ross Johnson (original Panther Burns drummer)

Like Ross Johnson, I consider The Klitz (1978-1980) Memphis’ first punk band. They were an all-girl, four-piece group. How many cities can claim their first punk band was all female? Memphis has always been different and The Klitz’s deranged, rockabilly-tinged thump was far removed from the relative polish of The Ramones. The Klitz’s songs were typically mid-tempo (think Sex Pistols), with a musicianship slightly more professional than The Shaggs. The Klitz were simply great in all respects: they really pissed people off and their music was both amateurish and compelling (the hallmarks of great rock ‘n’ roll).

Along the way, The Klitz received help from some key Memphis music-scene figures—notably Alex Chilton and the great Jim Dickinson—who saw the potential of the band. Unfortunately, The Klitz’s breakthrough moment never happened. Their career highpoint was opening up for The Cramps in New York and recording with Alex Chilton and Sam The Sham (of “Wooly Bully” fame). Like a lot of ‘70s Memphis acts, The Klitz recorded a lot, but never released anything during their initial two-year run. After guitarist Lesa Aldridge left Memphis for New Jersey in late '80, the band ceased to exist for twenty-five years.

In 2005 Gail Elise Clifton started rehearsing with Lesa Aldridge again, and The Klitz caught their second wind, aided by Stephanie Swindle (bass) and Angela Horton (drums). The Klitz finally released a proper album, Glad We’re Girls, two years later (available from Goner Records and well worth picking up).Sounds of Memphis '78, the Klitz’s first archival release, was put out by Spacecase Records in 2014. -Ryan Leach

The Klitz (1978-early 1980): Gail Elise Clifton (vocals, keys), Lesa Aldridge (guitar, vocals), Amy Gassner (bass), Marcia Clifton (drums).

The Klitz (early 1980): Gail Elise Clifton (vocals, keys), Lesa Aldridge (guitar, vocals), Sarah Fulcher (bass), Marcia Clifton (drums).

The Klitz (2007): Gail Elise Clifton (vocals, guitar), Lesa Aldridge (guitar, vocals), Stephanie Swindle (bass), Angela Horton (drums)

Note: Gail Elise Clifton prefers to go by her middle name nowadays, Elise Clifton. In the early days of the Klitz, she went by her first name, Gail. As of this writing, Captain Memphis Meets The Klitz, an incredible 1979 TV documentary on The Klitz and Memphis punk rock, is available for viewing on YouTube. The Klitz footage is raw and Jim Dickinson is interviewed at length. Jim Dickinson was a true king.

Formation as a Three Piece (1978)

Marcia: Lesa was my best friend. She was going with Alex (Chilton). Before we got the band together, Lesa directed me in a play. She was a dance choreographer. Alex would come to the plays we’d do. He was an artistic inspiration to us even before we started the Klitz. Although Lesa and I were always creating together, Alex was the one who really got us going. We started playing together during the Sister Lovers-era—sometime around '75—so that predated punk. But it wasn’t until '77 or '78 that we said, “Okay, here come the Klitz.” Looking back on it, you can see how the band developed. But at the time we were just young adults hanging out.

Amy: There’s a funny story I have about Alex and Lesa from early on, way before the Klitz formed. I was fifteen years old and my mother, who had just gotten divorced, was taking a trip to England. She had Lesa, who was eighteen or nineteen, babysit me and my younger sister Gretchen. My mom loved Lesa and figured she’d make a great babysitter since she had so many siblings (laughs). It was one nonstop party. Alex was over the whole time. I remember scrubbing wine stains out of the furniture before mother got home.

Elise: Lesa and Marcia had gotten the idea to start a band first. I don’t think there was any preconceived notion that The Klitz would be an all-girl band. I told Lesa and Marcia, “I want to be in your band.” It sounded like a fun thing to do.

Marcia: Everyone was curious about us because of Alex and Lesa. They both got us a lot of attention. Everyone knew who Alex was. Lesa was (William) Eggleston’s cousin. They were part of the cool Midtown art scene.

Elise: We named the band on one drunken evening. Marcia thought of it. We were drinking at Zinnie’s, going over band names for forty-five minutes. Finally, Marcia said, “Let’s just name ourselves 'The Clits.’” Alex got that grin—"Klits with a 'K.’“ And I said, "Yeah. And let’s end it with a 'Z.’” That was it: “The Klitz.” Later on, I told my Granny Gail the name of our band. She replied, “Oh, yes, Klitz: German for 'pistol.’” She was German. Bless her heart.

Marcia: It was ridiculous that we had the name that we did (laughs).

Elise: When we realized we had a band, we started playing more at Lesa’s apartment on Madison. She had a great Fender Twin Reverb amp and a Fender Mustang guitar. That was where we recorded “Cocaine” (with Alex Chilton on lead vocals) and “Swordfish” (on a portable reel-to-reel recorder).

Lesa: In his teens, my brother bought the Fender Mustang as teenage boys acquire the idea of being a rock star. As the fates would have it, John found his niche elsewhere. Since I already played guitar (and piano), he generously gave that red guitar to me. It turned out to have been quite an exquisite gift.

Elise: I don’t think Marcia had played drums before The Klitz. Her boyfriend (Bernard Patrick) was a drummer.

Marcia: Alex got me going (on drums). Bernard Patrick and I were kind of romantically involved and he was a drummer too. He encouraged me, but not as much as Richard (Rosebrough) and Alex. Bernard was more of a perfectionist: “Tune your drums. Hold the beat down.” I just liked dancing. Dancing on the drums (laughs).

Lesa: I remember driving around in cars, thinking of song ideas, playing and writing on the boat house (our first practice place).

Elise: My mom’s boyfriend at the time was a drummer. He had a set of drums in a boathouse that was located on the Mississippi River. That’s where we moved our practices to. Lesa and I would carry her amp down there. That was before I got my keyboard. We started practicing at the boathouse early on, before we recorded those songs at Sounds of Memphis. Initially, I was just the lead singer of The Klitz. Once we recorded at BR Toad studio, I was singing and playing keys.

Marcia: Our first gig was at the Midtown Saloon (April '78). Our next show was opening up for Tommy Hoehn at the Ritz. We sort of crashed the gig, but it was recorded by John Hampton. In the days that followed, we would go to Ardent and listen to the tape. It was hot! The guys at Ardent liked it but said we should change our name.

Elise: I remember the Tommy Hoehn show well. It was Tommy’s promotional show for Losing You to Sleep. The record had just come out. Tommy was so sweet. It was noisy when we entered (the Ritz). Alex sort of led us in; everyone turned, stared at us, and you could hear a pin drop. It was an amazing moment.

The Klitz, left to right: Amy Gassner, Lesa Aldridge, Gail Elise Clifton (sitting), Marcia Clifton. Photo by Alex Chilton.

Amy Gassner Joins The Klitz

Marcia: Amy had moved back to Memphis in the summer of '78.

Amy: I had graduated high school early and started traveling. I was hanging out in the Lower East Side in New York City, going to clubs like CBGB. I then went to art school in San Francisco when my dad passed away. He died the same day Elvis did (August 16, 1977). That was a real bummer. I already knew Alex, Lesa, Gail and Marcia. Marcia and I had gone to Central High School together, and Lesa’s mother was friends with my mother. We’d known each other since childhood. I was the youngest member of the Klitz.

I had gotten pretty distracted by the death of my father. I was spending most of my time in San Francisco at punk clubs, hanging out with Jimmy Wilsey and Penelope Houston from the Avengers. I saw the Pistols at Winterland. I started ditching classes. My good friend overdosed in San Francisco and I needed to move back to Memphis. I was sort of a wreck myself. I was over the punk scene completely. Nevertheless, I was at some party in Memphis when Gail and Marcia said, “We need you to play bass. We’ve got this band, The Klitz, which is Alex’s little group.” I had to learn bass. I already knew how to play guitar. Tommy Hoehn loaned me one of his basses. It was a real struggle. I had stage fright.

Elise: Amy joined in June of '78, only about three weeks before we recorded at Sounds of Memphis (with Domingo “Sam” Zamudio, AKA Sam The Sham).

Sounds of Memphis Recording Session (Summer 1978)

Marcia: The Sounds of Memphis session was the first time we had entered a proper recording studio as the Klitz. Irvin Salky set that up. He was the go-to lawyer for musicians. Irvin represented Phineas Newborn and Furry Lewis. He knew everybody. Hopefully I’m telling the story correctly; Alex called Irvin up and said, “Hey, I want to take the Klitz into the studio.” Irvin called Sounds of Memphis and Sam the Sham answered. Irvin said, “I have this all-girl band who wants to record. They’re named the Klitz. Can they stop by?” Sam replied, “Great name. Can they get over here in ten minutes?” It was like ten in the morning on a Wednesday. It was such an off-time for a recording session.

Amy: What I remember best about the Sounds of Memphis session is Alex kind of grinning with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Marcia: Although we weren’t there for very long, everything seemed to go in slow motion. Everything was first take for the most part. I remember walking out of the studio with the recording tape. Any time we could play it for someone we would.

Elise: We rolled out of bed for that session. We had about three hours to record. We did about six songs, including two different takes of “Hook or Crook.” Alex rewrote the words to “Hook or Crook” with us in mind. He picked that song for us to record and perform. Alex would choose cover songs for us. He loved our originals, like “Delta Strut,” but he would coach us on songs. On Like Flies on Sherbert (1979), Alex’s version of “Hook or Crook” doesn’t have the lines: “I get by on my looks/I don’t think…I only finally think/And that’s because I’m a rich bitch.” He wrote those lyrics for The Klitz. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall hearing those lines on Like Flies on Sherbert.

Amy: Gail’s a great songwriter. She wrote most of the original Klitz material, although Lesa and Marcia had some input.

Elise: To me, there was a lot of perfection in those Ramones records. There was always something off-kilter about the recordings we were making in Memphis. I’m not sure if it had to do with a lack of practicing or just a general indifference to perfection that the Memphis bands had. We’d just roll the tape and see what happened. We weren’t thinking these recordings would ever be released. An album that meant a lot to the Memphis punk scene was Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n’ Roll Trio’s Self-titled album. Alex, Tav and I loved that record. We thought Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n’ Roll Trio were the original punks. When we started The Klitz, we used to all listen to that record over and over and over again. When you listen to the live tracks at The Well, our punkabilly roots come out.

Marcia: I feel like the darker times for Alex were in '76 and '77. “Big Black Car” is about as dark and disconnected as it gets. The Klitz and Panther Burns period was better for everyone. I don’t personally feel like the punk times were dark. We felt like we were breaking the mold.

Live Shows

Elise: Audiences generally loved us.

Marcia: We played with The Randy Band, Neon Wheels and the Panther Burns. We mostly shared bills with The Randy Band and the Panther Burns.

Elise: We played a big show in '79: The Klitz, The Panther Burns, Mudboy, Teenie Hodges and Hi Rhythm.

Marcia: That was fabulous! The “We Survived the '70s” night. That bill was incredible. Mud Boy and the Neutrons, Teenie and Roland Robinson.

Jim Dickinson (1979)

Elise: 1979 rolls along and Jim Dickinson gets us in Rolling Stone magazine. We were in there twice. I believe Alex had set Jim up as our producer. Alex had moved on to play with Tav (Falco) in The Panther Burns.

Marcia: Jim Dickinson had started taking over for Alex. Lesa went off to Bangkok; her mother was living over there. That’s when Alex wrote “Bangkok.” When Lesa came back from Thailand, that’s when Jim Blake and Jim Dickinson started working with us. Lesa and Alex had kind of broken up.

Lesa: Dickinson’s philosophy of musical brilliance was built upon the idea that mistakes were the very thing that made music original and beautiful and exceptional and worthy. The worst words you could hear from Jim were “too rehearsed.”

Amy: Dickinson was a great raconteur. He could tell a story. He was interesting, mischievous and he liked mixing things up. Dickinson would talk about Memphis music for hours.

Marcia: Dickinson was very mysterious. Very enigmatic. You never knew what he was going to say next. Jim was great for a sound bite. He had a very keen insight into things. Blake and Dickinson would take us over to Barry Shankman’s studio, BR Toad.

Elise: Jim was just true to his heart. It was great working with him. He wanted us to get as high as possible! (laughs) Jim always said, “If you can hang onto the session till three in the morning, something magical will happen. It always does.” I believe that’s true. On one session, we were spiked with acid. Lesa was playing “Twist and Shout” on guitar and I was singing the lyrics to a Scruffs original called “Teenage Girls” over it. Jim loved it. He thought it was great! We were so confused. Once that happy accident happened, we ended up doing a live medley of the two songs. They use the same chords.

Marcia: Not long after working with Jim, we did that TV special—Captain Memphis Meets the Klitz.

Elise: Dickinson set up the Orpheum (Theatre) show. We’d actually played a show at the Orpheum once before. That’s where a lot of the Captain Memphis Meets The Klitz footage came from. We played the Orpheum’s lobby that first night. When we opened up for The Cramps—the show Andy (Schwartz) saw and reviewed in the New York Rocker (September 1979 issue)—that was the second time we played The Orpheum. On that night we played the main stage.

Miles Copeland (IRS Records founder) was in town for The Orpheum show. A lot of people were in town. The same week as The Orpheum show, we played The Well and Ric Ocasek was there. Miles was there too and he took us out to breakfast after the show. We went to the Arcade in Downtown. We had our usual beer with scrambled eggs. It was 3AM and they were serving breakfast. I’m pretty sure The Cramps were there too. Miles was at our booth. Lesa jumped up on the table with her combat boots and stared at him, eye-to-eye. Miles could tell that we were the real thing.

Amy: I remember that meeting with Miles at the Arcade Restaurant. When Lesa went punk, she really got into it.

Elise: The Klitz arrived in New York on August 20, 1979. That was a real high point for the band. Miles had us open up for The Cramps at Irving Plaza. I remember there was a matinee and an evening show. Miles bought me and Lesa airplane tickets. Amy and Marcia didn’t want to fly. They rode up to New York with Tav and Bernard Patrick. It was great. Miles paid for us to stay at the Iroquois Hotel which is where James Dean stayed at. I loved every moment of being in New York. The Scruffs were there too. They were staying in New York and put me and Lesa up for three more weeks because we wanted to hang out. We ended up getting another show at CBGBs. Zeph Paulson from The Scruffs played drums for us. That was the show Jon Tiven always talks about. He was there. We stuck around New York and got a little buzz going.

When we came back from New York, Lesa and Amy had a falling out. I wasn’t there the night it happened. Some say Amy quit, others say she was fired.

Amy: I had a lot of problems with the name of the band. Like I said earlier, after getting back from San Francisco I was really over punk. And here I was back in it. I couldn’t even tell my mother the name of the band. I argued with the girls about—"Let’s just call the band 'The Kilts.’ It’ll be much more marketable.“ Nobody wanted to put us on the radio here in Memphis. We couldn’t get our name printed in the newspaper. I’m not sure if it would even be such a big deal today, but back in the late '70s it was. However, Marcia, Lesa and Gail were adamant about keeping the name. I wasn’t there when they came up with it; they named the band before I got back to Memphis. After about a year and a half, I had had enough. I wanted to do more singing. I didn’t want to play bass as much. And I was into different types of music.

Elise: We ended up getting a show in New York after Amy left.

Marcia: We went back to New York after the Cramps gig to play the premiere party for Lorne Michaels’ Mondo Video. Our girlfriend Elizabeth Johnson set that one up.

Elise: We played a party after the premiere of the film at a strip club called the Tango Palace. They say Andy Warhol was there. I even heard John Lennon was there. Marcia, being the smart business-like member of the band, actually went to the premiere of Mondo Video. She sat next to Jill Clayburgh at the premiere. Jill was a big actress at the time. So what did Lesa and I do while the premiere was going on? We sat at the hotel bar and slammed about six glasses of Stolichnaya Vodka each, on the rocks. What were we thinking? We made it to seven songs before they pulled the plug on us. I remember tripping and falling over guitar cables. Thinking back on it, who fires their bass player before a show like that? I can’t believe we did that to Amy before this big show. The Mondo Video party happened at the end of '79. After that we had another article in Rolling Stone magazine. They did a show review and said we were the low point of the evening, clearing the room of a quarter of the audience.

Marcia: I don’t think we were polished enough for Miles Copeland (and IRS Records). A short time later the Go-Go’s came out and I went, "Oh, so that’s what he was looking for.”

Amy: Blake and Dickinson talked about releasing records, but they never did anything about it.

1980

Elise: We played a lot of shows at The Well (in 1980). We did do a couple of shows with a lady named Sarah Fulcher who toured with The Grateful Dead as a singer before she joined us. Sarah was working at the local health food store Marcia worked at. That’s how Sarah joined up. We played a show with Jim (Dickinson), who was going under the name “Captain Memphis,” at Poets with Sarah on bass. We have a tape of it still although only four songs have survived. We played a few more shows with just the three of us: me, Lesa and Marcia. We played The Downtowner—a great hotel. I think that was our last show. Either there or The Well. And then Lesa left for New Jersey. And that was it for The Klitz. Lesa left in late '80.

Lesa: It never occurred to me that by leaving I would inadvertently disband the Klitz. That was not my intention at all. Au contraire, the sole reason was restoration of health! Rock and Roll takes its toll.

Amy: I enjoyed playing with the Klitz. I have to say, we sounded better than I thought we did. Even better than some of the punk bands I’ve heard in the decades since then.

Marcia: What can I say? I guess we just thought, “Okay, we’ve done the band for three years now. Let’s just stop pretending and be grownups now.” Looking back on it, I wish we had toured. We only played in Memphis and New York; we did one show at the Hoka in Oxford, Mississippi. Our home base was the Well (in Memphis), which eventually became the Antenna Club. I remember we played a show at the Naval Base (in Millington—a Memphis suburb). I think the Scruffs might have set that one up.

Lesa: Was there one high point? Not at all. The entire adventure from then till now has been splendiferous! Composing, performing, recording … Music is a gift I treasure, savor, enjoy. At the time, I had no idea we were creating a piece of legendary history in the Memphis music scene. We were simply having lots of fun. And Memphis adored us!

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