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Naked Raygun is an American punk rock band that formed in Chicago in 1980. The band was active from 1980 to 1992, along with reunion shows in 1997, and since 2006.
The band was formed in 1980 by Santiago Durango, Marko Pezzati and later Jeff Pezzati. Singer Jeff Pezzati was the sole constant member through multiple personnel changes. Members over time include drummers Bobby Strange, Jim Colao, and Eric Spicer; bassists Marko Pezzati, Pierre Kezdy, Camilo Gonzalez, Pete Mittler and Fritz Doreza; guitarists Santiago Durango, John Haggerty, and Bill Stephens; and keyboardist John Lundin.[3]
Durango and Jeff Pezzati were also members of Big Black.[4]
Naked Raygun in 1987. L-R: John Haggerty, Jeff Pezzati, Eric Spicer, Pierre Kezdy
Post-Naked Raygun
In 1989, John Haggerty left Naked Raygun to form Pegboy with his younger brother Joe (formerly of Bloodsport and The Effigies) and Steve Saylors and Larry Damore of the Bhopal Stiffs (Pierre Kezdy would later replace Steve Saylors).[5]
Jeff Pezzati is also the lead singer of The Bomb, which is a different and later band than the San Francisco group, known as "Bomb".[6]
Reunions
A two-show reunion in 1997 produced the live album Free Shit!.[7][8]
In 1999, the independent record label Quarterstick Records re-issued the band's back catalog on CD.[3][9]
In 2006 Naked Raygun reunited for Riot Fest, an annual punk rock festival held in Chicago. Following their 2006 reunion, Naked Raygun announced that the band was "back for good."[10][11] The reunited lineup consists of its "Raygun...Naked Raygun" members: Pezzati, Stephens, Kezdy, and Spicer.[12] In 2009 Naked Raygun returned to the studio for the first time since 1997 for a series of 7-inch singles released on Riot Fest Records and announced plans to record an LP, the first since 1990's Raygun... Naked Raygun.[13]
In 2011, Pete Mittler of The Methadones joined the line-up so that longtime bassist Pierre Kezdy could convalesce from a stroke.[14]
In August 2014, Naked Raygun opened for Bad Religion, The Offspring and Stiff Little Fingers on the last two shows of the Summer Nationals tour at The Rave in Milwaukee[15] and Harrah's Stir Cove in Council Bluffs, Iowa.[16]
Naked Raygun (along with Urge Overkill and Cheap Trick) opened for the Foo Fighters at Wrigley Field, Chicago, on August 29, 2015.[17]
Although the band announced plans to release a new album in 2016,[18] no recordings were released until 2021's Over The Overlords.
Pierre Kezdy died of cancer on October 9, 2020.[19]
Legacy
Dave Grohl, of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, has frequently discussed seeing Naked Raygun as his first concert in 1982 (when he was 13) at Chicago's Cubby Bear. During their October 17, 2014, show at the Cubby Bear, Jeff Pezatti joined the band for a Naked Raygun cover. Naked Raygun themselves later opened for Foo Fighters on select dates during the Sonic Highways World Tour.
Blink-182’s Matt Skiba references Naked Raygun in the song “Parking Lot” from their California album.
^Murphy, Tom (September 18, 2013). "Naked Raygun's Jeff Pezzati on Wax Trax, and why and how the band got back together". Westword. Archived from the original on April 7, 2024. Retrieved April 18, 2024. It was just that these bands sounded different. Siouxsie & The Banshees didn't sound like the Sex Pistols, and they didn't sound like the Buzzcocks, the Jam or the Clash. But you knew they were all of the same school. So we wanted to be influenced by those bands and sound unique but not emulate those bands, so no one could really say we were doing what those guys were doing.
