The Units

The Units were an American synthpunk[1] band, founded in San Francisco in 1978 and active until 1984.[2] They were one of America's earliest electronic new wave bands, and have been cited (along with The Screamers and Suicide) as pioneers of synthpunk,[3] also retrospectively known as "electropunk". The Units were notable for their use of synthesizers in place of guitars, and multimedia performances featuring multiple projections of satirical, instructional films critical of conformity and consumerism.

The Units
Background information
OriginSan Francisco, California, United States
GenresNew wave, electropunk
Years active1978–1984
Websitesynthpunk.org/units/
Past membersScott Ryser
Rachel Webber
Brad Saunders
Tim Ennis
Ron Lantz
Richard Driskell
Lx Rudis
Seth Miller
Jon Parker
David Allen Jr.
Jabari Allen
Marc Henry
D.C. Carter
Rick Prelinger

History

The Units was one of the most popular bands of the San Francisco punk and performance art scene during the late 1970s and early 1980s, headlining at the Mabuhay Gardens (aka The Fab Mab), The Savoy Tivoli, The Berkeley Square, The Deaf Club, Valencia Tool & Die, Geary Theater and other punk clubs. The Units also opened for such bands as Soft Cell, Gary Numan, Ultravox, XTC, Bow Wow Wow, the Psychedelic Furs, the Police, Iggy Pop, Dead Kennedys, Sparks and toured the United States with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.

Notable performance art appearances included "Punk Under Glass",[4] where the Units performed in the windows of the JC Penney building in downtown San Francisco, as part of a two-day art installation, and the Labat / Chapman Fight at Kezar Pavilion,[5] a performance art boxing match between two artists where the Units played the national anthem.

The Units' DIY, self stamped, 7” EP entitled “Units” was released in 1979. It was followed by another record in early 1980, "Warm Moving Bodies"/"iNight". The Units' first album, Digital Stimulation, was released in 1980,[3] and was the first album released by 415 Records.

In 1982, the Units released a single on UpRoar Records entitled "The Right Man".[2] The song was recorded at the Different Fur recording studio, founded by the electronic music composer Patrick Gleeson.[6] The recording was produced by Michael Cotten, the synthesizer player of The Tubes. The song went to No. 18 on Billboard's Dance Chart and stayed on the chart for 13 weeks. Joel Webber, radio promotions man and the Units manager at the time, was also one of the founders of the New Music Seminar. Subsequent productions by UpRoar included spoken word recordings by performance artists including Karen Finley, Eric Bogosian, and Ann Magnuson.

After the success of "The Right Man", the Units signed with Epic/CBS Records and produced a music video for "A Girl Like You" that went into medium rotation on early MTV.[2] They released an EP titled New Way to Move on Epic Records, but typical of a hard-luck recording career, the Units' second album — produced by Bill Nelson for Epic/CBS - remained unissued, until a posthumous release in 2016.[7]

In 1984, after recording the sound and music for the artist Tony Oursler’s film EVOL, Ryser and Webber moved to New York, putting an effective end to the Units.

Visual and multimedia components

The film Unit Training Film#1, produced by Scott Ryser and Rachel Webber, compiled from films the band projected during performances, was shown sans band in movie theaters around the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Roxie Cinema, San Francisco Cinematheque, The Intersection, and the Mill Valley Film Festival.[8]

Critical response

Alternative press publisher V. Vale called the Units "the first San Francisco band to perform using no guitars",[9] The Units were referred to as "Punks playing keyboards" in an article in "The San Francisco Examiner" in 1979,[10] and the Los Angeles music critic Kickboy Face of the fanzine Slash wrote of a Units performance, "That night, watching the Units pound their machines into submission, I knew that another cliched concept of mine was biting the dust once and for all. I also knew that there probably was a future to rock n roll after all, and that future did not necessarily include anything resembling guitars."[11]

Later releases

In 2005, Ryser signed a licensing contract with EMI. Once again, the recordings were not released. In 2007, the record label Golden Goose released a 12" remix of "High Pressure Days" by DJ Garth.[12] In the same year, the Italian record label, Mediane, released Daniele Baldelli – Cosmic - The Original, a double album that included the original and remixed versions of The Units "The Right Man".[13]

In 2009, the Community Library label released a 21-song compilation album by the Units entitled The History of The Units that included a booklet "The Unit Training Manual".[14] In June that year, a 12" single of "High Pressure Days" was released on the German label Relish with remixes alongside the original version.[15]

In February 2010, a 12" EP was released on the UK label Hungry Beat Recordings including Rory Phillips remix of "High Pressure Days".[16] The same month, "High Pressure Days" was included on a compilation, Mylo – The Return Of Mylo on the Mixmag label. The CD was also on the cover of Mixmag magazine.[17] Similarly, Rough Trade Records included "High Pressure Days" on their Counter Culture 09 double album.[18]

In April 2011, The Dark Entries music label from San Francisco released Bart - Bay Area Retrograde (Vol. 1), a 12" compilation that included "Mission".[19] An EP was released on the French label Robsoul Recordings, which included two remixes of "High Pressure Days" by Phil Weeks.[20]

In 2011 The Opilec Music label from Italy released The Units - Connections, a triple boxed set of 25 songs written by The Units, that were remixed by over 40 international DJs, producers and bands from 13 different countries, including Electro Italo Disco pioneers Daniele Baldelli, Klein + M.B.O., N.O.I.A. and Alexander Robotnick.[21] It included a download card of extra tracks for a total of 52 remixed songs of The Units.[22]

In 2012, The Opilec Music label from Italy released an EP. with three songs written by The Units and remixed by Todd Terje from Norway and I-Robots from Italy.[23] The same year, The Opilec Music label from Italy released two songs by The Units on the We Are Opilec compilation.[24] Also the Tsugi Sampler label from France released the Ivan Smagghe – A Walk In The Woods With Ivan Smagghe that included a remix of "High Pressure Days" by Todd Terje.[25]

In 2013, The Units are included (two songs performed live) in a film The Seven Deadly Synths, along with six other synthesizer bands including Suicide, Sun Ra, and Our Daughter's Wedding.[26]

In 2015, Futurismo Records from London, re-released the UNITS original album from 1980, "Digital Stimulation" on vinyl and CD, including a live set at Mabuhay Gardens.[27]

In 2016, Futurismo released Animals They Dream About, the band's previously unreleased second album originally recorded in 1982, including a live set from the Kabuki theater in San Francisco in which The Units opened for Bow Wow Wow.[28]

In 2016, FDH records from Philadelphia, PA re-released The Units original debut EP from 1979, the hand stamped 7" four song e.p. entitled "UNITS", including a download of a 1979 live set at the Deaf Club. [29]

In 2019, founding band member Scott Ryser self-released a 12-track album of new and re-worked original material entitled "Flying Away", which included a new version of "Cannibals", a song from the band's 1980 debut LP, as well as new recordings of songs the band performed live in the 1980s, but had never made studio recordings of.[30]

Influence and cultural significance

Outsider musician Jandek's first album, Ready for the House, though a solo work, was originally credited to a 'The Units'. Jandek was forced to change the name by The Units, who possessed a trademark on the name,[31] after Scott Ryser from The Units wrote Smith a letter[32] with documentation. All reissues of the album and all subsequent releases have been credited to 'Jandek'.

In September 2013, Los Angeles noise rock band HEALTH covered "High Pressure Days", titled "High Pressure Dave", which was included in the game Grand Theft Auto V and The Music of Grand Theft Auto V album, volume 1 on CD and vinyl.[33]

Songs written by The Units have been covered or remixed by over 50 international DJs, producers and bands from 13 different countries.[21]

Scott Ryser and Rachel Webber's son, Sam, plays or has played in several contemporary punk bands, including Dawn of Humans. Their daughter Nina also plays in several bands, including Palberta.

Members

Primary members were Scott Ryser and Rachel Webber. Other various members that played live shows and toured with The Units included Brad Saunders, Tim Ennis, Ron Lantz, Richard Driskell, Lx Rudis, Seth Miller, Jon Parker, David Allen Jr., Jabari Allen, Marc Henry, James Reynolds, Raymond Froehlich, D.C. Carter and their projectionist, Rick Prelinger.

Discography
  • "High Pressure Days" (7") [1979]
  • "Units" (7") [1979]
  • "Warm Moving Bodies" (7") [1980]
  • Digital Stimulation (LP) [1980, 2015]
  • "The Right Man" (12") [1982]
  • "A Girl Like You" (12") [1983]
  • New Way to Move (12" EP) [1983]
  • Animals They Dream About (LP) [2016 (recorded 1981)]

Videography
  • Unit Training Film 1: Warm Moving Bodies[34]
  • Unit Training Film 2: Cannibals[35]
  • Unit Training Film 3: Cowboy[36]
  • High Pressure Days 1979 - with intro by Dirk Dirksen[37]
  • The Units & Larry Cuba - Warm Moving Bodies with Calculated Movements[38]

Filmography
  • Unit Training Film 1, Warm Moving Bodies (1980),[39] by Scott Ryser
  • In 2011, the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive purchased and restored the original Unit Training Film and included it in a program called "Punk, Attitudinal: Film and Video, 1977 to 1987" as part of their series "Radical Light: Alternative Film and Video in the San Francisco Bay Area". The program continues to be shown in major cities throughout the United States.[40]
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References
  1. "The Quietus - Features - A Quietus Interview - The Units - High Pressure Days In San Francisco". thequietus.com.
  2. "The Units - Biography & History - AllMusic". AllMusic.
  3. "Digital Stimulation - The Units - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic.
  4. "Punk Under Glass" by Jeff Jarvis, S.F. EXAMINER, Fri., Jan. 26,1979.
  5. "Ring Cycle" by Bill Mandel, S.F. Examiner, June 5, 1981.
  6. Damian Ramsey, Discs - The Units Discography, Synthpunk.org.
  7. "Animals They Dream About - The Units - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic.
  8. Damian Ramsey, Playback: Film and the Units, Synthpunk.org.
  9. V. Vale, "Ultrasonic Security", Slash, Vol. 2, No. 6. June 1979.
  10. "Windows". www.synthpunk.org.
  11. Bessy, Claude ("Kickboy Face"). "untitled," Slash, Vol. 2, No. 9, September 1979.
  12. "King & Hound - Burnin' Up / High Pressure Days (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 2007-10-02. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  13. "Daniele Baldelli - Cosmic - The Original at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  14. "Units - History Of The Units - The Early Years: 1977-1983 at Discogs". Discogs.com. 2011-10-12. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  15. "High Pressure Days: Remixed at Juno Records". Juno.co.uk. 2009-06-22. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  16. "Rory Phillips - Remixes Volume #1 (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 2010-02-12. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  17. "Mylo - The Return Of Mylo (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  18. "Various - Rough Trade Shops Counter Culture 09 (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 2010-02-15. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  19. "Various - Bay Area Retrograde (BART) Volume 1 (Vinyl, LP) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  20. "Units, The* / Motel Connection - High Pressure Days / H.E.R.O.I.N (Phil Weeks Remixes) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  21. "Units - Connections (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 2012-04-21. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  22. "RA News: The Units get remixed for Connections". Residentadvisor.net. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  23. "Units, The* - Connections - EP at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  24. "Various - We Are Opilec...! at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  25. "Ivan Smagghe - A Walk In The Woods With Ivan Smagghe (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  26. "Seven Deadly Synths". Artclips.free.fr. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  27. "Futurismo Records - UNITS - DIGITAL STIMULATION".
  28. "Futurismo Records - UNITS - Animals They Dream About".
  29. "FDH Records - UNITS - 7" (reissue 1979)".
  30. "Self-published - Scott Ryser (of The UNITS) - Flying Away".
  31. "THE UNITS (Official)". www.facebook.com.
  32. "THE UNITS (Official)". www.facebook.com.
  33. "HEALTH's 'High Pressure Dave' - Discover the Original Song". WhoSampled.
  34. "Unit Training Film 1: Warm Moving Bodies on Vimeo". Vimeo.com. 2010-01-03. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  35. "Unit Training Film 2: Cannibals on Vimeo". Vimeo.com. 2010-01-03. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  36. "Unit Training Film 3: Cowboy on Vimeo". Vimeo.com. 2010-01-03. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  37. "The Units - High Pressure Days 1979 - with intro by Dirk Dirksen on Vimeo". Vimeo.com. 2012-10-20. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  38. "THE UNITS & LARRY CUBA - Warm Moving Bodies with Calculated Movements on Vimeo". Vimeo.com. 2011-09-09. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  39. Scott Ryser (3 June 1980). "Unit Training Film 1, Warm Moving Bodies" – via Internet Archive.
  40. "BAM/PFA - Film Programs". Bampfa.berkeley.edu. 2011-01-30. Archived from the original on 2013-03-08. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
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