Those were heady times, 1978. Punk rock had encroached on Los Angeles’ power-pop scene; bands who would come be known as New Wave appeared; and in Chinatown the stage was being set for a venue rivalry between Madame Wong’s and the Hong Kong Cafe. It was then that a five-piece out of Orange County, the Furys, starting making the rounds. Fronted by songwriter Jeff Wolfe, the Furys cultivated a pop-punk sound that has been described as somewhere between the Weirdos and the Knack. (Their ex-manager recalls a dust-up between the Fury and the Knack at the Troubadour here.) The Furys roared off and on in various incarnations for the better part of a decade, one of their early singles, “Say Goodbye to the Black Sheep,” earning a spot on a 1993 Rhino Records “DIY” compilation titled “We’re Desperate: The L.A Scene [1976-79]” along with X, the Germs, the Weirdos, the Last and the Dickies. The Furys, who reformed for show at last summer’s International Pop Overthrow, are working on a four-disc retrospective that compiles their three singles and B-sides, a 1986 EP, 14 unreleased songs (four of them new), interviews, live recordings and a documentary DVD. And since the Furys also own the distinction of having been the first rock band to play Madame Wong’s [L.A. Times review, after the jump] in October 1978, opening for Gary Valentine’s the Know, Wolfe and his mates are reconvening in Chinatown on Saturday night as Chinatown marks its 75th anniversary.

||| Stream: “Say Goodbye to the Black Sheep”

||| Live: The Furys play at 10 p.m. Saturday at Chinatown Summer Nights, which features six bands including headliners Nightmare & the Cat (11 p.m.). The music starts at 6 p.m. with Cobalt Cranes, followed by Sister Rogers, Jutty Ranx, Rainbow Jackson and then the Furys and the headliners.

Photo by Cesar Cuevas