Join Casey and Anton as they deep dive into the World of Blag Dahlia of The Dwarves.

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Casey and Anton

Blag Dahlia, is an American singer and record producer, best known as the vocalist for punk band Dwarves Dahlia is best known as the frontman of Dwarves, a punk rock band, which he founded while attending Highland Park High School in suburban Chicago in the mid-1980s. With the Dwarves, he has written and produced nearly a dozen studio records over a span of over 30 years. He has produced albums by Mondo Generator, Dwarves, F.Y.P, Jon Cougar Concentration Camp, Swingin' Utters, and The God Awfuls. He also released solo material as Blag Dahlia and under one of his other aliases, Earl Lee Grace. Blackgrass (1995), a 13-song LP of bluegrass songs, was released on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label using a backing band of real bluegrass musicians. He started an acoustic duo with Nick Oliveri, The Uncontrollable. He narrated the opening score on Last Day of School by Autopsy Boys. In 1999, he sang "Doing the Sponge" in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "The Chaperone". In 2022, Dahlia released an outlaw country album titled, Introducing Ralph Champagne.

The Dwarves formed as a garage punk band under the name Suburban Nightmare, their career subsequently saw them move in a hardcore direction before settling into an eclectic punk rock sound emphasizing intentionally shocking lyrics. They have been described as "one of the last true bastions of punk rock ideology in the contemporary musical age" The original members of the Dwarves began making music together in the mid-1980s as teenagers in the Chicago garage rock outfit, Suburban Nightmare, which was compared to The Sonics, and which has been described as part of the Paisley Underground scene.

The band became notorious for self-mutilation, on-stage sex, and taking hard drugs. Their live shows would often only last around fifteen minutes, occasionally cut short due to injury caused by spectators.

Of course, Blag and The Dwarves has evolved since, as noted above so ya gotta listen to the episode to hear whats currently cooking. Maybe you'll even get some Ralph Champagne too

In this episode, Casey and Anton sit down and talk about the early days of OC Punk, and the scene at the Legendary Cuckoo's Nest. Anton unfortunately scheduled Jerry on the same day Javier the gardener did the grounds, and it took the boys a bit of time to shut the window. It gets a little rough at around 9:00 and continues for a spell. Once they close the window, things go back to normal. We apologize for the audio issue and hope you can muscle through it, or at least forward to where the coast is clear at around 22:00.

For the Video Version full of old school eye candy.

Cuckoo's Nest (1976–1981) was a nightclub that was located at 1714 Placentia Avenue in Costa Mesa, California. The club was founded in 1976 by Jerry Roach,[1] a former bar owner who had turned to selling real estate, after receiving the property from a client as a commission payment. A local Costa Mesa bar that was already in operation was named Jaws, after the film, and Roach took inspiration from this and named his new venture after One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the big box-office draw of that year, to make the club's name easily memorable. The club became known for punk rock.

There were no venues in southern California at that time that would book punk bands due to the extremely negative reputation the fledgling scene had earned itself, as well as the costly damage done to some venues by punk fans, which had resulted in more than a few having to close their doors due to legal problems and finances. Several of these early Huntington Beach area punk bands, such as Vicious Circle and The Slashers had extremely violent and hardcore fans who made it a point to be as destructive and criminally-minded as possible, being fully pledged in allegiance to the anarchistic ethos of punk rock, wreaking havoc at a lot of shows that had taken place at other clubs. This trend relegated punk bands to play almost exclusively for free at house-parties, and keeping the majority of the southern westcoast scene underground.

The first punk show to take place at The Nest was a benefit for the legendary Los Angeles punk club, The Masque, and took place on February 16, 1978. The owner of The Masque, Brendan Mullen, brought along the bands that performed that night, which included; The Skulls, The Bags, The Controllers, and Steamin' Freeman. In the early 80's, the club claimed to be the biggest punk club in Orange County.

Bands who performed there include the Adolescents, FEAR,[3] Social Distortion, T.S.O.L., the Vandals,[4] Iggy Pop, Ramones, Dead Kennedys, 999,[5] the Misfits, Circle Jerks,[6] Wasted Youth,[7] Agent Orange,[8] the Go-Go's, Red Kross, the Minutemen, the Blasters, the New York Dolls.[1] Henry Rollins' first show with Black Flag was at the Nest on August 21, 1981.[9]

Join your hosts Casey and Anton as they sit and talk story wth Legendary Frontman Mike Magrann from Channel 3 and touch on a number of punk rock subjects, including, Mike's new book, old shows, bands, riots, fights and the good times growing up as a punker in Orange County.

Channel 3 was formed in 1980 by childhood friend Mike Magrann and Kimm Gardener. They met in the newborn suburban community of Cerritos CA, innocent 8 year old lads kids who remain lifelong friends against a backdrop of ever changing cultural storms. They learned to play guitar together in junior high and witnessed the birth of punk rock in the heady Southern California scene of the early 80's.

They graduated from being obsessed fans to backyard party hacks and finally upon the stage themselves. Contemporaries of fellow So Cal punks Social Distortion, Bad Religion, T.S.O.L., Circle Jerks, etc., CH3 has been steadily touring the world since releasing their first eponymous EP on the influential Posh Boy label in 1981.

Posh Boy also released the hardcore classics Fear of Life and After the Lights Go Out. After signing to Enigma Records in the mid 80’s CH3 released Airborne and Last Time I Drank, records that saw them expanding their musical form while alienating the punks who first supported them.

The album Channel 3 on Dr. Strange Records got the lads back on track in 2001, and the subsequent releases on TKO and Hostage Records bring them up to date.

The Current lineup features longtime bassist Anthony Thompson and drummer Nick Manning. In 2023 the band released 40 on Hostage Records, a 27 song double LP collection of songs highlighting their 4 decade long career.

Singer Mike Magrann has also published a critically acclaimed book on DiWulf Publishing, Miles Per Gallon. A fictional biographical novel based on the band’s long 1983 tour and a recounting of coming of age in the So Cal hardcore days of the early 80’s.