Bush Tetras never wanted to be pigeonholed as a no wave band. Though guitarist Pat Place co-founded the group after leaving no-wave luminaries the Contortions in 1979, bringing roadie Laura Kennedy as Bush Tetras’ original bassist, they outlasted the short-lived but deeply influential NYC underground movement, evolving through multiple eras. In a 2019 interview, late drummer Dimitri Papadopoulos (better known as Dee Pop) explained that they consider themselves to be “part of the lineage of great bands that evolved from the CBGB’s scene” such as the Ramones, Television, or Patti Smith. Across 29 songs (plus two digital-only bonus tracks), this chronologically organized 3xLP box set compiles highlights from each of Bush Tetras’ periods of recorded output—the early 1980s, late 1990s, and late 2010s—revealing just how vital they remained in each decade.
While Bush Tetras can and should be considered a quintessential New York band, Dee Pop is the only member who grew up in Queens. Place moved to the city from the suburbs of Chicago with aspirations of becoming a visual artist, joining the Contortions after playing guitar for only three weeks. Kennedy arrived in NYC from Detroit, and singer Cynthia Sley from Cleveland, both drawing on inspirations from Motown and James Brown. Sley recalled Bush Tetras hanging out in the Harlem hip-hop scene with rapper Fab 5 Freddy, who teamed up with Blondie for the Christmas-themed remix of their song “Rapture.” Thanks to these diverse influences, they arrived at a sound fusing no wave discordance with relentlessly funky post-punk and mutant disco, zipped up as tight as a leather jacket.
Bush Tetras’ debut single, “Too Many Creeps,” has been their calling card since it hit the streets in 1980. Following Glenn Branca’s Lesson No. 1 as the second release from tastemaking NYC label 99 Records, this timeless classic laid out the quartet’s approach with a rumbling bassline and tough-as-nails attitude. Sley has described the song as an “anti-anthem” about how they were forced to “dodge the dangerous creeps who were both hitting on us or hassling us about our androgynous looks.” She returned to this lyrical theme on the dubby “Das Ah Riot,” released the next year on a 7" from UK label Fetish, delivering a thinly veiled threat: “When the heat pick up the street/You’re gonna hope we never meet.” Over a groove that moves like a freaky trip to “Funkytown,” her empowering words point to a place beyond frustration on “Stand Up and Fight,” as Sley urges listeners to “Come on and take control/Lose your body/Lose your soul.”