The Ultras- The Complete Handbook of Songwriting (XXX, 1991)
Current Gemm price: $4.62- $30.99
Price Sleazegrinder paid: Didn't. Pepsi played me the Stars From Mars demo once in 1992, tho.
Price Pepsi Paid: Good question.
Worth: One million dollars.
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"He's the Galactic Kid....He shouldn't have, but he did....He's coming to a theatre near you/He's gonna eat your face and be you...He's my...HERO! " (-Alice Starr)

Originally known as THE ULTRA-VIOLETS, these fabulously decadent, glittering androgynes were one of the greatest crash and burn rock groups of all time. The very definition of what we here at Sleazegringer World H.Q., call Flash Metal Suicide! They starred one of the most talented fuck-ups I've ever met--and my crazy life has been populated almost exclusively with talented fuck-ups - the charismatic vocalist, ALISTARR LIDELL. Alice was apparently once also a member of STARS FROM MARS, who played the glam ghettoes of the Sunset Strip, and were best known for appearing frequently in that gay goth mag always available at punk boutiques and leather shops, Propaganda. Alice inhabited the absolute seediest red-light district Hollywood night-time world, back in the heydays of bands like Celebrity Skin and Motorcycle Boy, when the glam rock nightclub English Acid was still around. I always tell the story of showing up at his elaborate Hollywood Boulevard bunker one day to discuss forming a band together called SONIC MEDUSA (his idea.) but he was being evicted at that very moment by a tiny Asian landlord, accompanied by two Italian gorillas wielding pipe wrenches. They asked me to leave, and never being one to argue with Italian gorillas wielding pipe wrenches, I left. Never saw 'im again.

A sinister, sleazy cross between BLACK SABBATH and ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS, THE ULTRAS recorded this devastatingly gorgeous EP on Triple X Records, produced by legendary bass-player, BRUCE DUFF (The ADZ, SISTER GODDAM, REDD KROSS, FLOWER LEPARDS, JESTERS OF DESTINY, SIMON STOKES BAND, JEFF DAHL GROUP, 45 GRAVE, BUGLAMP, SWEET JUSTICE) before breaking up for no absolutely no justifiable reason whatsoever (rumour has it, Alistarr's drug problems) and immediately disappearing into obscurity. Five originals that promisingly showcased their range and potential and Alice's gift as a talented wordsmith, all this and more little girl, they even threw in a completely out of left field, singalong, cover version of Paul Simon's "Kodachrome". (Maybe cos they seemed to like being photographed???)

"THE GALACTIC KID" video can be found online somewhere and Ratboy from SOUR JAZZ has live videos from when the ULTRAS played with MOTORCYCLE BOY. "PIECE OF THE ROCK", "SOLAR SYSTEM", "TRAMP ON THE ROAD" and "CHARGED" all displayed a gift for pop hooks, ingenious lyrics, sludgy creepiness and bouncy glam anthems that should have made this band huge. One of the old SPOOKY KIDS, GIDGET GEIN, was such a fan that he tracked Alice down a cuppla years back, and somehow duped him into performing on his cheezy splattercore CD, the DALI GAGGERS. Someone made me a tape, but I couldn't sit through it long enough to discern how much ALISTARR actually contributed. The drummer, Jeff Zimmitti, worked at Triple X as their graphic-designer and later toured Europe with the Jeff Dahl Band. I can't seem to recall the other guy's names, but the guitarist was phenomenally adept at Ronson-esque posturing and melding sludge, glam, and pop styles to always compliment Alice's often deranged, spaced-out glitter-rock poetry. We'd love to hear more about where all the Ultras guys are now.

THE ULTRAS paved the way for groups like Canada's Robin Black And The Intergalactic Rockstars, influencing everyone from the Murder Dolls to the Mystery Addicts, who even wrote a musical tribute to ALISTARR, and the other glitter-icons, who used to appear frequently in the seminal underground punk mag, "ANOREXIC TEENAGE SEXGODS"*. Alistarr Lidell is probably the artist I'd most like to see make a skin-tight comeback on an epic scale. The dude had just had it all in spades. A genuine article, rocknroll supernova. BRING BACK THE ULTRAS!

One of these guys oughta know more about WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ALISTARR?
Gidget Gein
Bruce Duff
Dazzle

*The seminal cut n' paste flash metal genocide zine ATSG later mutated into Burntout Recluse, which featured the very first editions of Sleazegrinder's Bad Obsessions columns, which would later (10 years later!) be revived in Hitlist magazine.

-pepsi sheen; tramp on the road
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