Though not a Colorado band The Suicide Commandos peformed frequently in Denver during 1978 and brought Littleton's Johnny Three to their home town of Minnepolis to perform at that city's premier punk rock venue the Longhorn Bar. The following is from their Twin Tone Records page. -- Ed.


In 1974 Chris Osgood (the godfather of the Minneapolis music scene), Dave Ahl, and Steve Almaas formed The Suicide Commandos. They released two singles on PS Records (which preceded Twin/Tone Records.) The Commandos were one of the pioneer US bands touring the country, having to book themselves by convincing club owners in every city that their kind of music would draw people. Their first album ("The Suicide Commandos Make A Record") on the short lived Mercury Records label "Blank" was released in 1977. The rock video pioneer Chuck Statler made a film of "Burn It Down" which featured the burning of the house the band had used for rehearsing for years. They recorded a couple of songs for Twin/Tone's "Big Hits of Mid-America Volume III" and released a live recording of their last shows at the infamous Minneapolis' Longhorn Bar. Twin/Tone released "The Suicide Commandos Commit Suicide Dance Concert" as it's first full length LP in April of 1979 (the double album "Big Hits" came out two weeks later). The album was pressed in a limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies and to this day is of their most sought after title to collectors.

June 1997 update: Polygram/Mercury Records re-released the band's first album (on CD only) in the fall of 1996. Work has slowed on a Twin/Tone release, but it will be worth the wait...