Mod-A-Day: Action Now

Action Now's only album has always been one of my favorites, right from the moment I stumbled across it in a used record store in about 1988. Action Now was a long-time band that included Paula Pierce who later went on to form the great all-girl garage band, The Pandoras. Starting out in the 70s the band was always strongly influenced by The Who and other sixties power pop bands, even as they explored a wide range of styles. Mostly though they were a punk/power pop band and eventually crystallized into Action Now in the early 80s. Then just as they were beginning to get some recognition split up. The 1983 split was due to the fact that the band wanted to pursue a more British focused punk direction, and Paula was obsessed wtih being in a sixties styled garage band. It's too bad that after her departure the guys didn't continue on their own as they may have contributed greatly to the LA scene at the time.

The song here is "When Wednesday Comes" from their only album, All Your Dreams. It's a fantastic record and I was hard pressed to choose just one song to feature. From the power pop title track, to the very mod "I'm Not Trying To Hurt You," to the melodic garage rock of "Every Word I Say" to what would later become a big hit (and the title of their best album) for Paula's Pandoras "Stop Pretending," there simply isn't a bad track in the bunch. They only had the one album that I know of, and that was only originally released in France. Now you can get that album and other tracks on a CD reissue from Avebury Records.

Action Now -- When Wednesday Comes