SF Hardcore Pioneers Whipping Boy Reimagine 2nd LP

Dysillusion (fka Muru Muru) out Sept. 5

August 10, 2025August 11, 2025 Ron Hart 0 Comments 1984, 2025, Blackhouse Records, California, Dead Kennedys, Dysillusion, Eugene Robinson, Klaus Flouride, Muru Muru, San Francisco, Steve Ballinger, Whipping Boy

Between thrash and punk, San Francisco, California, back in the early 80s, was a hotbed of young urban aggression.

But few groups took it to the brink quite like Whipping Boy, who emerged out of Stanford University in 1981 with a brutal, complex sound that quickly caught the attention of scene kings the Dead Kennedys. Jello Biafra included them on the 1982 compilation Not So Quiet On the Western Front released on his Alternative Tentacles imprint, while bassist Klaus Flouride produced the band’s first two LPs in 1982’s The Sound of No Hands Clapping and 1983’s Muru Muru — an album that originally alienated fans because its drastic switch-up from the savagery of their early work as a straight-up hardcore act.

AUDIO: Whipping Boy The Sound of No Hands Clapping (full album)

“We were trying to make the music that WE wanted to listen to, and for me, it wasn’t something that existed in 1982,” said guitarist Steve Ballinger. “What I was aiming for was sort of a mash-up of Black Flag, Pink Floyd and Iron Maiden. Two of those are routinely described as PROG, so there was never really a chance that this record was going to catch on with our audience.”

“We went way too far for most people,” adds vocalist Eugene Robinson, who would go on to achieve acclaim as the frontman for legendary San Francisco noise rockers Oxbow. “It might have been fine if we had achieved what we were trying to achieve sonically, but none of us had much studio experience. Along with Klaus, we ended up making a record full of murk and noise — not intentionally, but because we just didn’t know better.”

“We had about 50 songs in our live repertoire, but we were also playing around with atypical, psychedelic-influenced songs,” explains Ballinger. “We told Klaus we wanted to record another record, and he came to our rehearsal space to hear what we had. As we finished the 34-minute set, Klaus looked at us like he thought he was the butt of a bizarre joke. We convinced him that we were more than serious, and he agreed to helm the console.”

“This record? In a lot of ways it was totally and quietly revolutionary,” admits Robinson. “I mean we were learning to talk about our goddamned FEELINGS. In a way that the scene never really had room for back decades ago.”

The album’s initial reception was harsh, with many copies returned to the store by disappointed fans thrown off by the album’s excursions into studio effects, acoustic instrumentation, backwards tape looping and experimental sound layering. Flouride’s flat production didn’t help the sell either.

“Klaus was a great guy, but I don’t think he was at a point in his producing career where he could realize this record for us,” Ballinger realizes. “Despite all the tracks and sound effects, the mix sounded like an 8-track demo—flat and tinny. It was disappointing for us and our fans.”

Fast forward to 2025, where Robinson’s longtime ties to renowned producer Joe Chiccarelli (The White Stripes’ Icky Thump, The Strokes’ Angles) posited a chance to reimagine Muru Muru for a new generation of hardcore fans who appreciate the genre’s expansion beyond its brutish roots. The original tapes, fragile and 42 years old, were carefully restored and transferred from analog to digital. Joe painstakingly tweaked each track, removing unwanted noise and emphasizing the bizarre, experimental textures the band had originally intended.

Whipping Boy *Dysillusion*, Blackhouse Records 2025

Now the album is called Dysillusion, and with its new name comes a refreshed reimagining of this music.

“The thing is though Whipping Boy started out a hardcore band after a few years of being a band our aesthetic interests had shifted in a sphere where no shifting was allowed so Muru Muru died when it was born,” Robinson explains. “But in our heads was this idea that if people could hear what we heard they’d understand. The Chiccarelli remix made that all possible. Plus some.

“Which is to say don’t buy Dysillusion because you’re expecting Minor Threat Jr.,” Robinson advises. “This is not how this should be thought about. In all fairness though this record can actually be better heard now since the ears of the world have changed a skosh since 1984.”

Dysillusion, which features new artwork from Aaron Turner of Isis, is coming out this Sept. 5 via Blackhouse Records.

Tracklist:

1. Nevermore

2. My Day At The Lake

3. Sunshine Nelly

4. Mister Magi

5. Interlude

6. Walking Boss

7. Once In A Lifetime

8. Junkman