Thursday, May 26, 2016

Fear’s Lee Ving gets his own Throbblehead!

Lee Ving Throbblehead
Philly native Lee James Capallero changed his name to Lee Ving in the late 1960s when he hooked up with the Sweet Stavin Chain Blues Band (which also included Michael Brecker), who played shows with legends like B.B. King and Buddy Guy. The singer and guitarist ran through a number of bands before moving to Los Angeles in the mid ‘70s and forming the legendary punk band Fear in 1977.

With Fear, Ving became a punk rock icon, albums like 1982’s The Record and 1985’s More Beer yielding memorable hardcore ditties like “Let’s Have A War,” “I Love Livin’ In The City,” and “Have A Beer With Fear.” As the band’s frontman, the bulk of Fear’s notoriety landed on Ving’s shoulders, and he parlayed his image into a fringe acting career throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, appearing in minor roles on TV and in movies like Flashdance, Streets of Fire, and Dudes. Fear also made a memorable appearance in Penelope Spheeris’ documentary film The Decline of Western Civilization.

A notorious performance by Fear on the 1981 Halloween episode of Saturday Night Live, at former cast member John Belushi’s request, resulted in chaos when the band and slam dancers they enlisted to appear on stage (including Belushi, Minor Threat’s Ian MacKaye, and the Meatmen’s Tesco Vee, among others) caused thousands of dollars in damages to the set and equipment. In spite of their total lack of commercial success – Fear’s 1980s-era albums were released by poorly-distributed indie labels like Slash, Restless, and Sector 2 Records – the band was influential beyond its reach, with bands like Megadeth, Soundgarden, Guns N’ Roses, and Bad Religion all covering Fear songs.       

With a pedigree like this, Lee Ving deserves the ‘Throbblehead’ treatment from Aggronautix, and in the summer of 2016 the Fear frontman will get his own bobblehead figure. The Ving ‘Throbblehead’ will be a 7” polyresin figure limited to 1,000 numbered units, packaged in a custom-designed box with gritty artwork by Marco Palumbo of No Front Teeth U.K. Ving’s ‘Throbblehead’ is the 30th to be released by the company and can be ordered from the Aggronautix website.

All ‘Throbblehead’ figures released by Aggronautix (including bobbleheads of G.G. Allin, Wendy O. Williams, and “Handsome” Dick Manitoba, among others) are available at independent record stores, comic shops, and tattoo parlors, as well as from www.aggronautix.com.

Lee Ving's Throbblehead box
Lee Ving's Throbblehead box

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