17 Pygmies

Post punk, new wave, experimental, alternative band from Los Angeles, California, USA.

17 Pygmies officially began in 1982 when then Savage Republic member Jackson Del Rey began jamming in a garage with keyboardist and guitarist Michael Kory (Radwaste) and drummer, soon to be singer, Debbie Spinelli (from Food & Shelter and Radwaste). The group's first composition was an odd, kind of surf-a-delic, Emerson Lake & Palmer inspired cover version of the theme music to David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia. Τhe band quickly devolved into a kind of spooky instrumental and 80's style techno-pop band, and by the time they started covering Brazilian sambas (and just before the release of their first EP) Robert Loveless, now a member of Savage Republic, signed on as bass player/keyboardist.

The "Hatikva," EP quickly led (minus Kory, who left the band) to 1984's LP “Jedda By The Sea". Next came 1985's "Captured In Ice" which interestingly contained the non-hit "Chameleon" which made a very influential list called the 100 greatest unknown techno songs. Del Rey enlisted new members for the release of 1989's "Welcome", on Island Records subsidiary, Great Jones. The band was dropped the next year (1990), but self-released the EP “Missyfish”, which contained their last demos for Island, and disbanded.

17 Pygmies returned in 2007, with the “13 Blackbirds/13 Lotus” double CD. Del Rey was joined by "Welcome"-era singer Louise Bialik, and guitarist Jeff Brenneman (from White Glove Test). Soon after, there were some personnel changes, and the band reformed as The 17th Pygmy with Meg Maryatt (a contributor on 13 Blackbirds) on vocals, guitar and accordion, Tony Davis on bass and Dirk Doucette on drums (the latter two also from White Glove Test). In October of the same year, “Ballade of Tristram’s Last Harping” was released, which reflected a retro ‘60s Psychedelic-‘70s Classic Rock direction. "Ballade" is also a visual tribute to the Art Nouveau movement (mainly Gustav Klimpt and Aubrey Beardsley).

With Del Rey’s newfound creativity writing experimental prog rock scores to classic silent films (“Battleship Potemkin”,“Nosferatu” & “Tarzan”), he had the idea to record a concept album, “Celestina” (loosely based upon the classic 15th century Latin novel La Celestina, a timeless tale of love and betrayal). 17 Pygmies have returned to their original name, perhaps for good, and continue on in the tradition of their signature sound that was first explored and presented on 1984's “Jedda By The Sea”. The band soon enlisted bass player Bob Mora.

Del Rey passed away in 2022.