Logo #144: The Beatnigs

You can tell how ready a band is for a renaissance by the length of their Wikipedia entry. To wit: "The Beatnigs was an early collaboration featuring Michael Franti and Rono Tse (Nb. later of The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy). The band's stage performance included the use of power tools such as a rotary saw on a metal bar to create industrial noise and pyrotechnics. One venue for the band was the infamous Barrington Hall (in Berkeley); Franti at the time worked for Berkeley's Subway Guitars. Songs like "Television: The Drug of the Nation" were performed by the band." Franti was kind enough to check in recently: "I designed the logo using a manila envelope and a razor blade. It first appeared on t-shirts in 1986 and then on album covers in 1987. Our most successful usage was making a rubber stamp of it and sitting in bars in SF stamping it onto every matchbook the bars gave away. Lo-tech, high effect."