Achin' - The Plugz

Chalo the Cover Boy in 1980

Oh Chalo ?

Too many stories... too many laughs... too many memories. What a fucking loss. I woke up to the news this morning and was just gutted to the core. To say that The Plugz were the soundtrack to my youth would be a ridiculous understatement - they were even more of the soundtrack than The Clash were because the Plugz played everywhere and at every gig! Remember when they opened for P.I.L. at the Olympic Auditorium? Was that not SICK?!?!?! I mean they opened for everybody. They were practically the house band at The Vex, and they even played lunch hours at high schools when I was a kid all over the So Cal area, and they were always hanging out talking to all of us wannabe young Punks after the Principal or somebody in power would inevitably pull the plug on the bands performance and make the music stop because the kids were slam dancing or getting rowdy. Chalo was the coolest guy. He just oozed Rock and Roll. To a kid like me who didn't have the nerve to get on a stage and play drums in public, Chalo was inspirational. I've seen him play dozens if not hundreds of times, and every time watching him play was just the best. He wasn't fancy, but his drum lines, hs creativity, his accents/marks, were just impeccable. He was a rock solid hard hitting in the pocket drummer, and that's just alright by me. Last time I saw him was backstage in 2003 at the G.B.H. / Circle Jerks Punk Rock Bowling gig at The Huntridge (remember that? Of course you don't!), and I must of talked his ear off for an hour just catching up with him and tripping out on seeing him again after so many years. Can't believe he's gone. I miss him already. I don't know the circumstances surrounding his death, but whatever it is, it was too quick, too soon, and it wasn't right. Gawd damn. Here's some rare videos of The Plugz in action - the first from San Francisco in 1978, and the second from somebody's chewed up and eaten a few times VHS copy of the bands appearance on New Wave Theater I'm guesstimating is from 1982, and the last is from The Masque Reunion show in LA in 2007 that I still kick myself in the ass for missing out on. I think that was the last time the Plugz ever played live. RIP Chalo. Your peace and rest is well earned. Salud! amigo... 

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