LOCAL 518 THURSDAY ON WEXT! Attic Classic, too

It’s Local 518 Thursday! At 9:00pm tune in WEXT Radio at 97.7 and 106.1 FM, at 89.1’s HD2 station, via online stream at www.wextradio.org or by using the free app for iOS and Android devices. You can also ask Siri and Alexa to “play WEXT Radio” too.

Click on the artist/band and song featured on the WEXT Radio Local 518 Show in the playlist below to find out more about them, and support by listening to & purchasing the songs. Miss the show? Listen to it and previous ones at the WEXT Radio Local 518 Show webpage. Have music you want us to hear? Submission guidelines can be found at the webpage link too. Send us stuff!

Tonight’s playlist is so hot it may melt your radio…
Brian Kaplan Band – “Harder To Stay“
Super 400 – “Only Child“
PLUSH – “Left Behind“
Jackie the Kidd – “Bleeding“
Citrus Maxima – “I Don’t Wanna Die“
Canella – “Why Can’t I“
10:01 – “Flying Home“

ATTIC CLASSIC: Albany post-punk/new wave band THE UNITS formed in the late 1970’s as most bands from that time did – from the remnants of other bands. Here’s the story…

Local country rock band Silver Chicken had just broken up, leaving guitarist Todd Nelson without a regular gig. Vocalist Val Haynes was singing with a country-rock covers band called Chili Dog; Todd asked if she was interested in starting a band. Meanwhile, bassist Steve Cohen and drummer Al Kash were in a band together, along with guitarist Jeff Doctorow, in the Oneonta area. Steve had just joined Chili Dog, but after hearing of Val and Todd’s plan, whom he knew from SUNY Albany and as a really great guitar player, convinced Al to head back to Albany to join them.

They started off as a cover band, their set-list of songs each given their unique spin. Their first gig as The Units was in May 1978, with their friend Jeff sitting in. They quickly became a popular fixture in the local clubs and bars.

As for the band name The Units, the story goes, it came from Al. Back in his homeland of Australia, he was in a band called Units, and he tended to call all his fellow band members “units” – the name stuck. The band released their only single under this name in December 1979 called “Japan” b/w “I am Sorry.”

Unfortunately, a synth-pop band from San Francisco using The Units name had released an EP a month earlier, claiming the band name was theirs first. After some legal wrangling, and rather than prolong the conflict, our Albany Units changed their name to Fear of Strangers. They went on to become one of the more influential bands from this area. But that is an Attic Classic story for another day.

From The Units first single, released on Iron Cyst Records in 1979, the Attic Classic is “Japan.”

Unfortunately a planned reunion show for this past June was postponed to a date earlier this month, then cancelled due to ongoing health issues. As we wait for this highly anticipated show to be rescheduled – hopefully in the near future – here’s a clip of The Units/FoS performing “Japan” in a Hilton Hotel ballroom. (Which, you know, should become a thing again)