[8] The group began in Davis, California, as a recording project between guitarists Jupiter and Walter Smith, joined by Keith McKee, a professional touring drummer.
[9] Interest in the single prompted the formation of a live band, which included guitarist Tom Darling, drummer Marc Bonilla, and backup vocalist Wit Witkowski.
musical movement, with "obvious influences from '60s psychedelia, Stones-ish rock, and the Velvet Underground":[2] The band sometimes sounded like a much lighter variation of Lou Reed's ethos, in fact, with a generous sprinkling of science fiction-ish lyrics and nods to pop culture.
Jupiter's fairly straight-ahead rock tunes were garnished by burbling psychedelic guitars and synths that seemed to be trying to emulate the Mellotron bursts on '60s albums like the Rolling Stones' Satanic Majesties Request.
[2] In a review of the 1979 LP Alpha Jerk, Unterberger called the album a "pastiche of new wave and pre-Paisley Underground sounds, colored by goofy preoccupations with science fiction imagery on songs like 'Aliens in Our Midst' and 'E.S.P.
'"[11] Reviewing the 2016 reissue, the Sacramento-based music magazine Submerge wrote that the 1979 release "suffered greatly" from poor mastering, remedied by "ex-KDVS alumni and audiophile Karl Ikola [who] worked alongside Jupiter on this remixed and remastered version.
"[13] In The Vinyl District, Joseph Neff wrote that "the enlightening and appealing Alpha Jerk stands as a worthwhile instance of pre-codified punk form".
[7] Neff noted that touchstone proto-punk influences such as the Velvet Underground were "interspersed with the atmosphere of a bunch of guys getting it all down on wax before the rulebook was chiseled into granite.
Joe Gross called the band "underknown" in Spin's review of the 1998 compilation CD Aliens in Our Midst: Complete Recordings 1977–1980, and added: The foursome seem thrilled with every scuzzy note they play, cutting their modernized garage-junk blare with treated vocals, acid-zone guitar, plus the occasional synthesizer blurt and Mellotron wash...