Life After Breakfast is one of my favorite records of all time. So much of the DNA of the past 3 decades of indie music can be traced back in some form or another to this LP. Complex, playful, ahead of its time and virtually unknown.

Los Microwaves were a San Francisco-based Synth-Punk band who formed in 1979 and disbanded in 1983. Their recorded output consisted of a handful of 7″ and their lone album, Life after Breakfast released on the legendary Posh Boy records. Singer/Keyboardist David Javelos also recorded a solo EP under the name David Microwave in 1980 for Posh Boy as well.  After the band called it quits David Javelos linked up with Charles Hornaday to form Baby Buddha who released Songs For Teenage Sex and Everyone Is My Age.

I became borderline obsessed with the band when I found this pin (pictured above) at a vintage toy show in the 90s. I have no clue why, but one of the dealers at the show was only selling vintage rock pins for dirt cheap. Every band he had was to some degree a recognizable name except for this one. I’m not sure why, but I felt compelled to get it. That then sparked an obsessive search for any material by the band at any and every record store until found a gently worn copy for $19. When I brought it home, I was pleasantly surprised that it was much in the same vein of the Units’ Digital Stimulation, which I had also recently and randomly stumbled on.

I loved this record so much and felt it needed to be back in print so badly that I even started emailing various labels specializing in punk and post-punk reissues, pleading with them to share this gem with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, whenever I did hear back from any of these labels, it was always with a “Who!?” sort of response!

I do however know that  I wasn’t the only person to get obsessed with Los Microwaves. Le Shok, a Locust off-shoot, covered “TV In My Eye” on their We Are Electrocution EP in 2000.

Los Microwaves – Life After Breakfast

- My Pal the Crook