From Ivy and the Eaters MySpace:
WHOOPS!!! Just as the country single was released, the first of the British "NEW WAVE" began to hit the airwaves and the clever lyrics and coherent songs of Nick Lowe, early Elvis Costello, The Damned, the emerging Clash, and the grassroots energy of punk lured them back to pop music. BY THE END OF 1976, they had discarded country and began putting together their "NEW WAVE" band, writing crafty songs like BLONDES ON FIRE and I LOVED YOU LIKE A DOG. Taking a photo of MINK DEVILLE to the hairdressers, Linda transformed herself into the raven-haired, dog-collared (stolen from her own pooch) IVY, and with CHARLEY on bass, New Yorker SIMON SOMERS (old mate of Chris Stein from Blondie) on guitar and drummer ANDY LEWIS, formerly of Leila and the Snakes, became the first incarnation of IVY AND THE EATERS, playing their first gig in 1977. The Eaters played in every alternative club around the SF Bay Area, playing frequently at Mabuhay Gardens, Berkeley Campus, the Keystone and the Palms on Polk Street.
Read more.