The Consumers

The Consumers are a punk rock band from Phoenix, Arizona. Back in Phoenix, The Consumers were originally just three guitar players with no rhythm section, including Paul Cutler and Mikey Borens, plus lyricist-lead singer, the late David Wiley, all bonded by love of psychedelic Euro-prog jazz like Henry Cow, Gong, and Robert Wyatt, who'd stopped listening to rock 'n' roll after Bowie's Spiders from Mars came out around 1972.

By '77 our guys had re-discovered rock through Britpunk pub raunch like The Sex Pistols and The Damned. The Consumers' first gig as a re-vamped punk rock band caused an uproar at the Zoo in Phoenix on new talent audition night with the show ending in violence. Phoenix at the time was strictly a three sets a night cover band scene. The Consumers' set ended in a brawl when somebody threatened Paul with a knife, and later some shithead tried to rip off the band's equipment. Phoenix was pure hell for any band doing original material, let alone a PUNK band daring to show its face! "All My Friends Are Dead" was the Consumers fuck you to Phoenix since nearly all their gigs there ended in brawls with long-haired rockers and other redneck gnarlers pounding on the band for daring to play punk rock in public in 1977! It didn't take long to suss. Head on out. Just before they packed for L.A. in early '78 the band managed to get themselves on tape during a single session blow-out frenzy. Now, 24 years later the abandoned tape is out on CD and vinyl, thanks to In the Red, a Burbank-based indie label. All My Friends Are Dead successfully captures the Consumers as a pissed off yet still fun no-frills punk rockin' band ... exactly who and what they were during their extremely short and sweet existence.

-Excerpts from "Intheredrecords.com"

Band members formed 45 Grave and most of these songs made it over to the set list of 45 Grave as well.