Urban Verbs

Active from 1977 through 1982, Urban Verbs was an integral part of the punk and new wave community developing in late-Seventies Washington, D.C.  Roddy Frantz (vocals), Robert Goldstein (guitar), Linda France (bass), Danny Frankel (drums), and Robin Rose (synthesizers) forged a sound that veered from expansive, cyclical new wave to the more motoric sounds of early punk. The group released two albums for Warner Brothers Records, Urban Verbs in 1980 and Early Damage in 1981. Urban Verbs also had a tremendous impact on D.C.'s underground music community through their use of the Atlantis building at 930 F Street NW as a rehearsal space. Through that relationship, the group organized and performed at the first punk show held at the Atlantis nightclub in February 1978. The Atlantis was the first club in D.C. to center its identity around punk and new wave. It closed in 1979 but later become a focal point of the D.C. scene when it reopened as Nightclub 930/the 9:30 Club on May 31, 1980.

Drawn from the D.C. punk collection, the D.C. Punk and Indie Fanzine collection, the Don Hamerman collection of performing arts photography, and the Robbie White collection on the Slickee Boys.

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Urban Verbs interview and Devo press conference, 1981