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Time: 74:06
File Size: 84.8MB

Tracks played:
01. Bark Hard – No Will Power (Bark Hard)
02. Walking Toxins – Homeless, Jobless (Infant Envy)
03. Kill Your Idols – After All (No Gimmicks Needed)
04. DRI – War Crimes (Dirty Rotten LP)
05. Death Sentence – Death Squad (Not a Pretty Sight)
06. Acid Reflux – Paid To Ruin Fun (Secret Power EP)
07. Kids Like Us – Skate and Annoy (The 80′s Are Dead)
08. Fed Up – Motions (Read Between the Lines EP)
09. Terminal State – Panic Attack (Panic Attack EP)
10. Deep Sleep – Out Of Time (Paranoid Futures EP)
11. Agent Orange – Message From The Underworld (Surfing to Some Fucked Up Shit)
12. Weirdos – A Life of Crime (Destroy All Music)
13. Bags – Survive (All Bagged Up)
14. Middle Class – Situations (A Blueprint For Joy)
15. Gears – Teenage Brain (Rockin’ at Ground Zero)
16. The Essentials – I Don’t Get (Fast Music In a Slow Town EP)
17. JFA – Mad Garden (Mad Garden EP)
18. Sanity Assassins – Put Up Or Shut Up (Best of 1989-1993)
19. Stalag 13 – Clean Up Your Act (In Control)
20. The Grim – Old Enough (Getting Revenge in ‘merica EP)
21. MDC – Let’s Kill All The Cops (Magnus Dominus Corpus)
22. Dayglo Abortions – Courage In A Can (Two Dogs Fucking)
23. Dead Virgins – Rape Capitol Hill (Instructions) (Four EP)
24. Victim’s Family – Screw In A Lightbulb (Apocalicious)
25. Violent Arrest – Down The Drain (Everything So Far)
26. Adicts – Over There (Life Goes On)
27. Vindictives – I Remember You (Leave Home)
28. Government Issue – Even When You’re Here (Complete History Volume 1)
29. Pedestrians – Flag of Yesterday (Pedestrians EP)
30. The Crewd – We Don’t Give a Fuck (Gather ’round)

The Briggs/Cobra Skulls/Longway/Your Arsenal
The Troubadour, West Hollywood, CA
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Admission $13.00
Time: 8:00 PM

I have my 16-year-old Daughter, Breana, out from Hollywood, Florida, for the summer. And we’ve done movies (four), animal parks (two, Los Angeles Zoo, and Long Beach Aquarium), and I was trying to think of what else to do with her. So I searched online for Cobra Skulls, I had heard that they popped up at the Cobalt Café, in Canoga Park a while back.

Within the first few weeks of my Daughter’s arrival I was plugging my mp3 player into her laptop so she could pluck all my music off of my two-gigabyte player onto her 40 plus gigabyte, highly advanced player. And one of the bands that she liked was Cobra Skulls.

So, after I did the above mentioned web search, I found a show coming up that very weekend. Pricing was reasonable, four bands for thirteen bucks if you buy in advance online. Sure why not?

Here’s the thing, I haven’t been to a punk show since 1984, unless you count seeing Helmet, Suicide Girls opening up for Guns “N Rose in 2007, a punk show.

Let me tell you, the audience was 100% different from the 1980’s shows. No fighting, no attitudes, nobody was strung out. Everyone was just happy as hell to be there. I was originally worried about the rowdiness I would be subjecting my Daughter to. Even though I attended my first punk show at age 15, and survived.

First up was Your Arsenal. They hit the stage somewhere between 7:45 and 8:00. These guys need to be signed to a label, yesterday! They were the best surprise, musically, that I have come across in years. The crowd was sparse, but singer/guitarist Chris Wallace, and band mates Shaun Hale, guitar, Chad Sengstock, Bass, and Larry Wyatt, Drums, played as if they were in front of 100,000.

After the first or second song Wallace, mentioned that free demos could be picked up from their merchandise table in the bar of the Troubadour, my Daughter took off in search of this demo. Unfortunately, the table wasn’t set-up until after their set.

The set was tight, and energetic. It was a perfect opening for the next three bands. It you get a chance, check out their Facebook, or My Space page to listen to their demo. Lucky for us we got to hear the three songs off of the demo live: Wouldn’t Trade This For Gold, No Place Like Home, and Trouble. They ended their set with a cover tune, called Bastards of Young (I think), it was great.

As I said before, somebody needs to sign them quick, in the mean time . . . go see them live.

After their set we picked up copies of the demo, and bought a couple of buttons. I have always believed if you dig a band, throw them a few bucks. So, by the time the next band was about to come on Breana already had a Your Arsenal button on.

Somewhere between 8:45 and 9:00, or maybe later than that, Brian Longway, vocals, guitar, and the guys from Longway, Mikey Pettengill, drums, Trevor Jackson, guitar, and Tim Abramson, bass, hit the stage.

Compared to Your Arsenal, these guys were old pros, Longway mentioned their various albums, singles, and videos onstage.

I can’t put my finger on it, but these guys came off as, somewhat, affected. As if they were a bit too cool for us. Maybe it was just me.

Anyway, the standout of this set was guitarist Trevor Jackson, tall, thin, covered in tattoos, and wearing an eye patch, this guy was hard to miss. From the moment they hit the stage Trevor was all over every inch of the stage, and when he ran out of stage, he was standing on the railing of the upstairs balcony, when that wasn’t enough, he hit the floor, and played from the center of the mosh pit. Fun guy to watch.

The mosh pit wasn’t really working during Longway’s set. Brian called out to the crowd, several times, to all come to the center of the room, and start moshing, and only three people would jump in.

Anyway, stand out cuts were Junkie, from their latest album, and their final song of the night, a cover of Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell. Rebel Yell is a hard one to cover; can you improve on Billy Idol’s vocals, or Steve Stevens’ guitar work?

Somewhere around 10:00 or so, Cobra Skulls, Chad Cleveland, drums, Adam Beck, guitar, Devin Peralta, vocals, & bass, took the stage. I don’t know what to say about these guys, other than they play a flawless set. They played most of the tracks from their latest album, American Rubicon, on the Red Scare label. Absolutely no difference, sound wise between them on album, or live.

All three guys come off as real down to earth guys, joking, and genuinely having a great time. In between songs they took turns blowing one of those obnoxious horns that fans were using during the World Cup, only Devin could do it properly.

Much like people do at the movies, when watching trailers, my Daughter, and I would look at each other after each band, and review. Cobra Skulls received two thumbs up.

Last, but definitely not least, The Briggs hit the stage at about 11:00 or so. From the moment they hit the stage it was as if a bomb hit the Troubadour. The mosh pit, or as it was called in my day the slam pit, was full. The crowd was nuts!

One of the highlights of the pit was a huge guy who was more, or less the Captain of the pit, a big corn-fed white boy, whose girlfriend wanted to mosh, and he would go out there to supervise, anybody that bumped her was leveled, then once she was safe, he would help the levelee back up. I believe he was half man, half mountain. But all in all a good sport through it all.

The Briggs played with the experience, and ability of a veteran band with double the amount of years together. The Briggs boys, Joey LaRocca, vocals & guitar, Jason LaRocca, guitar & vocals, Jake Margolis, drums, and Alex Patterson, bass, were seasoned professionals.

Throughout their hour, to hour, and a half set, I don’t think, there was ever a moment where people stopped singing, and moving.

The absolute high point of the night came when The Briggs did This is LA, as their last song. If the place exploded when they first hit the stage, well . . . now it double-exploded. The stage had half the crowd on it, including the members of Your Arsenal. Everybody was singing his, or her lungs out, it was unbelievable.

After The Briggs finished This is LA, they left the stage. The crowd stood quiet for a bit then started chanting “one more song, one more song.” Then low, and behold, Joey, and the crew came out, and did a kick ass version of their song Molly.

This, by far was the best $13.00 I have spent in decades.

Currently:
Reading: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Listening: The Clash – The Clash
Watching: Zoolander Directed by Ben Stiller

Free & legal download of the week: T.S.O.L. – Abolish Government

Bad Religion, Circle One, Disability, Redd Cross and RF7
Public Service
1981 – Smoke 7 Records

01 – Redd Cross – Cease to Exist 2:35
02 – Redd Cross – Everyday There’s Someone New 1:09
03 – Redd Cross – Kill Someone You Hate 1:30
04 – RF7 – World of Hate 1:00
05 – RF7 – Scientific Race 2:57
06 – RF7 – Long Live Their Queen 1:59
07 – RF7 – Perfect World 1:17
08 – Circle One – G.I. Combat 0:39
09 – Circle One – High School Society 1:45
10 – Bad Religion – Bad Religion 1:51
11 – Bad Religion – Slaves 1:10
12 – Bad Religion – Drastic Actions 2:40
13 – Disability – Battling Against the Police 1:56
14 – Disability – White as a Ghost 2:00
15 – Disability – Rejection 2:28
16 – Circle One – F.O. 0:20
17 – Circle One – Destroy Exxon 1:40

Some years back I was Christmas shopping with my Wife, Sister-in-law, and my two Nephews. As the evening wore on it seemed like every other store, I was being told to wait outside or take the boys to this side of the store, so eventually my Nephews, and I went off by ourselves. We passed a store called Hot Topic. My oldest Nephew started freaking that he needed a pullover sweatshirt from this place. So, we go in. I had never paid attention to the place, and I didn’t this time either. It was wall-to-wall people, and I was trying to talk to my Nephew about the spirit of Christmas, and how he shouldn’t buy himself a sweatshirt, and instead shop for something nice for his mother. Finally, we left. I don’t know if the talk worked.

I didn’t go back into a Hot Topic for another year or so. I was pushing my Son through the mall while my Wife was scurrying around in one of the Bath shops. So, I’m walking around, and I pass Hot Topic. As I’m walking by I see the Slip It In album by Black Flag displayed on top of a small album bin. I b-lined into the store. I was surprised, I hadn’t seen new copies of punk albums on vinyl in years (I have since seen vinyl on dozens of sites). I quickly shuffled through the records, nothing, but the Black Flag album. Then I started going through the CD’s. I couldn’t find anything, or at least anything I knew. So, I step back and kind of scan the shelves, when a young Latin guy, about 24 or 25 years old comes up, and stands beside me and says “Damn Dog, I’m trying to find some old-school punk.” I kind of look him over, it’s not a racial thing, but I would have taken him as a Tupac fan. Anyway, I tell him that’s what I’m looking for too. So, he pulls a CD out of the rack and tells me “Hell yeah, Dropkick Murphy’s. This is old school punk from Ireland.” I just nodded, because at that point I hadn’t heard of them. Only recently did I download one of their tracks. I downloaded Worker’s Song. It’s a pretty good track, but it didn’t have the old hardcore feel that I grew up loving. Then I found out about two weeks ago that the band was formed in 1996 in Quincy, Massachusetts. Now, being my age — ten or eleven years ago isn’t really old school, and being of Irish descent doesn’t mean you are from Ireland.

I know a lot of the punk sites really dislike Hot Topic. I am really undecided. It is funny that for $100.00 and a half an hour you can leave the mall looking like a “punk.” Back in the 80’s, to get the clothing that we wanted, we had to travel all over Southern California to get a few things, and the rest we made. I liken it to the generation growing up in the 50’s, and having to watch Happy Day’s. It’s good entertainment, but that’s not exactly how it was.

Speaking of things I’ll probably not find at Hot Topic, I was recently able to replace my copy of the Public Service compilation, thanks Scott. The Public Service compilation was released in 1981 on Smoke 7 Records with songs by Bad Religion, Circle One, Disability, RF7 and Red Cross, before they had to change it their name to Redd Kross. This album was put out by Smoke 7 Records, which was run by Felix of RF7, in Canoga Park, CA. With the exception of Circle One, and Red Cross this was pretty much a San Fernando Valley record.

Like most of my record collection back then, I picked this up at Moby Disc. I saw the ad for it in Flipside in early 1981, and it was a chance to add some more Bad Religion recordings to my collection. I don’t remember if this was first or the Bad Religion EP was, but I ended up owning both. Another reason I bought this was the Circle One tracks.

The first three songs are by Red Cross, Cease to Exist, There’s Someone New, and Kill Someone You Hate. The sound is like a combination of old Rolling Stones with a pinch of Sex Pistols mixed in. Overall good garage music, and the more you listen to the first track, the more it grows on you.

The next four songs are by RF7, World of Hate, Scientific Race, Long Live Their Queen, and Perfect World. When I first bought this album these guys were my favorite band, for about a month based on these four tracks, I even went as far as painting their name on the base of my leather jacket. But now the vocals sound incredibly strained, like the guy’s been gargling with Drano. Long Live Their Queen was an L.A. reworking of the Sex Pistols tune, intentional, or not. I wasn’t digging them as much, but this sound is everywhere now from Slipknot to Lamb of God. RF7, mavericks? Maybe.

Track 8, 9, 16 and 17, G.I. Combat, High School Society, F.O., and Destroy Exxon, are by Circle One. The tracks are completely old Black Flag. The distorted guitars, the shout-outs at the beginning. It’s decent Hardcore, but listen to them, then go back to the old Black Flag stuff. Now, by the time they recorded these tracks, in Los Angeles, Circle One, and John Macias their singer in particular had become almost mythological creatures. My Uncle was the first to tell me stories Macias, months before the fanzines picked-up the stories. The first one was that my Uncle was at a show at Devonshire Downs in Northridge, and some guy comes in with a cane. And somehow word gets to John that it’s not just a cane, but really a concealed sword. John comes flying at the guy telling him to leave, so on, and so on. The guy denies that it’s a weapon, and John takes it from him and unsheathes it and looks at the guy and breaks the cane and sword over his leg, and promptly escorts the guys to the door. The second story my Uncle told me, was of him going to a UK Subs show at the Country Club in Reseda. Anyway, my Uncle goes up onstage does his stage dive, and as he’s coming down everybody changes positions, and my Uncle lands on his head. He’s bleeding all over the place, John sees this, and starts throwing bodies everywhere, gets to my Uncle, and picks him up like you would a baby, and carries him outside, and waits until someone drives him to a hospital. John could be a bit of a rough-neck, and I was surprised when I found out he died, which I had written about before, but I just found this version of his death, it seems like the National Enquirer version:

“John Macias had started his rampage on the Santa Monica Pier when he was confronted by pier security. According to The Evening Outlook, Macias was getting rousted by a security guard in the midst of his sermon when he picked the guard up and flung him over the side, dropping him two stories to the ground onto concrete. He then fled on foot up the pier to Colorado, where he entered a McDonalds. He approached an elderly woman, a German tourist who was sitting at a table enjoying a Big Mac. He snatched the burger out of her hands and punched her in the face. He then fled across the street where he was seen running down the embankment of Interstate 10. Motorists reported seeing him in the McClure Tunnel reaching out as if attempt to grab people from their quickly moving vehicles. He reemerged on Colorado, where he was spotted by a passing squad car, which quickly had back ups, as the Santa Monica Police Department was less than a half a block away. Three squad cars and six armed cops surrounded him. Macias apparently was not going to go down without a fight. Unarmed, he charged the six cops, all with guns trained on him professing aloud “God is going to watch you die, pig!” It took 8 bullets to bring him down. Many bands had professed their disdain for the men in blue, not many of them went down in a blaze of glory like John Macias did.”

The next three songs, Bad Religion, Slaves, and Drastic Actions are alternate versions of the songs from their first EP. The drumming is phenomenal, it sounds like one guy on drums and another on cymbals. No matter how many years go by or which version of the Bad Religion song I hear the words instantly come back to me:

“See my body; it’s nothing to get hung about.
I’m nobody except genetic runaround.
Spiritual era’s gone, it ain’t coming’ back.
Bad Religion, a copout, that is all that’s left
Hey Mr. Mime, stop wasting my time,
With your factory precision.
Factory precision is your
Bad Religion, regurgitate
Indecision, it’s not too late.
Bad Religion, Bad Religion.
Ay!
Don’t you know the place you live’s a piece of shit?
Don’t you know blind faith through lies won’t conquer it?
Don’t you know responsibility is ours?
I don’t care a think about eternal fires.
Listen this time, it’s more than a rhyme,
it’s your indecision.
Your indecision is your
Bad Religion, regurgitate
Indecision, it’s not too late.
Bad Religion, regurgitate
Indecision, it’s not too late.
Bad Religion, Bad Religion,
Bad Religion.”

Just great stuff.

Tracks 13, 14, and 15, Battling against the Police, White as a Ghost, and Rejection, are by Disability. This is about the only recordings this band made. The were known as Isolation from 1980 to 1981, then Disability from 1981 to 1982, then back to Isolation again from 1982 to 1983, and finally broke up for good. The music itself is decent Hardcore, the drumming is especially good and fast, but the rest is kind of average.

If you find it, give it a listen.

Rating: **** * four out of five stars.

Currently:
Reading: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Listening: The Clash – The Clash
Watching: Zoolander Directed by Ben Stiller

Free & legal download of the week: T.S.O.L. – Abolish Government

Untitled 21: A Juvenile Tribute To Swingin’ Utters
Various Artists
Label: Red Scare Records
Released: February 16, 2010

01. Useless ID – Unpopular Again
02. Smalltown – Politician
03. Roll The Tanks – Windspitting Punk
04. Dropkick Murphys – Strongman
05. Cobra Skulls – If You Want Me To
06. Moonshine – Back To You
07. Broke ‘Til Thursday – As You Start Leaving
08. Flatfoot 56 – Looking For Something To Follow
09. La Plebe – All That I Can Give
10. Fucked Up – Lazer Attack
11. The Hollowpoints – From The Observatory
12. The Fucking Buckaroos – Fruitless Fortunes
13. Teenage Bottlerocket – London Drunk
14. Everybody Out! – No Time To Play
15. Vultures United – To Return Now
16. Off With Their Heads – Next In Line
17. Massacre Time – Nine To Five
18. The Frantic – Heaven At Seventeen
19. Street Dogs – Dirty Sea (Live)
20. Johnny Two Bags – Pills & Smoke
21. The Sore Thumbs – 15th And T
22. The Oozzies – Storybook Disease
23. The Outlaw Dance Society – Smokestack Dreams
24. Blag Jesus And The Druglords Of The Avenues – Jackie Jab
25. Joe Coffee – Smoke Like A Girl
26. Left Alone – Twenty-Three
27. Zero Bullshit – Something Sticky
28. Russ Rankin – Beached Sailor
29. Teen Idols – Five Lessons Learned
30. The Departed – I Need Feedback
31. The Forgotten – Catastrophe

Half of the bands on this compilation have been written about here in the world-famous Mike Check column on everybody’s favorite website Strange Reaction, Dropkick Murphys, Cobra Skulls, La Plebe, Everybody Out Street Dogs, and The Hollowpoints, plus many more.

Those of you that follow this column know that I’m a massive Everybody Out! Fan, so with heavy heart I have to say this isn’t a great track from them. After Sweeney Todd left the band they worked with Paul Russo, and Paul handled the vocals on this track, before Eric DellaBarbara, from The Confrontation, replaced him. Anyway, Paul’s vocals just don’t fit. Sweeney’s vocals, and Rick Barton’s guitar were the EBO sound, and now it’s a bit lost.

Here’s the press release from Red Scare Records, they sum it up very nicely: Swingin’ Utters had been a band for just over 21 years when we first began putting this tribute together for the beloved street punk heroes. Before we knew it, bands were coming out of the woodwork with their offerings: established acts like Dropkick Murphys and Fucked Up, as well as upstarts like Cobra Skulls and Off With Their Heads. Bands of all stripes from different sub-scenes and from far-off places like Israel and Sweden. The Utters may have started out as an earnest, working-class punk band from San Francisco, but their music has reached audiences far and wide. This collection is a testament to just how relevant and influential Swingin’ Utters are to all of us, and most importantly, this is the punk scene’s way of saying thanks.

Rating: **** * four out of five stars.

The standout cuts are: All That I Can Give, and Dirty Sea.

If you find it, give it a listen.

On with the story . . .

Once every blue moon, or once every decade, or so, whichever comes first, I meet someone that really makes me reevaluate the way I see things.

Back in 1996, when my daughter was two years old I took her to Burger King on Reseda Blvd, and Vanowen Ave in Reseda. It’s not there anymore, I think it’s a Starbucks or a Jack In The Box, . . . isn’t everything a Starbucks?

Anyway, she was two, she needed to eat, and play, and this particular Burger King had a massive outdoor play area, so we went. She nibbled for a bit, and when she was finished she was ready to hit the playground.

Now, any of you that have kids know that one of the worst things about taking your kids to play at parks, playgrounds, or the mall, is the piece-of-shit kids that hang around these places for the sole purpose of fucking with your kids. Complete lack of attention, and love has turned these future OZ inmates into complete sociopaths. So, while their massively obese parents sit over to the side, messing with their cell phones, and sweating gravy, you are forced to discipline their degenerate wastes of sperm.

Well, now that I got that out of the way . . . here’s what happened. We walk outside, there is an eight-year-old boy hiding underneath the slide, a three or four-year-old boy comes sliding down, the eight year old grabs the kid from the bottom of the slide, and throws him to the ground. I look around, and there is only one other parent out in the play yard. So, I ask him nicely, “Is this your fucking kid.” While asking him I couldn’t help but notice how much he looked like Moby. Anyway, he shakes his head, and says” “No.” The kid that was thrown to the ground was his. So, I say: “Whose kid is he?” Moby just shrugs.

So, my Daughter headed to the top of the playground’s tunnels, and was about to come down the slide. Right then I see the eight-year-old excrement position himself under the slide so that he could tackle my little girl. Well, I wasn’t going to allow that. So, I get up, walk over, and lift him up by the back of his collar, walk in to the Burger King, and say, “Who does this little fucker belong to?” Not a freaking sound. If this was a movie, all you would hear would be crickets. Nobody looks up, and nobody speaks. I put the kid down, he runs screaming, and I go back out. My Daughter, and the other kid are running through the tunnels, sliding, laughing, and having a great time.

I sit down, and then Moby asks me what I do for a living, I tell him I’m a graphic designer, then ask him the same question. He says, “This.” I ask him to explain. He says, “Watch my kid live, and have fun.” So, I think to myself, I just got finished getting rid of some a-hole kid, and now I have to deal with this whack-job.

Then, he starts his story, turns out he was a big time lawyer, with no time for his family. He was diagnosed with a very serious form of cancer. He quit his job, bought a guitar, taught himself to play, and just started enjoying life for the first time since he was a kid.

As we spoke he said he beat the cancer, and in a few weeks he was going to do a solo gig at a bar on Ventura Blvd. I wished him luck, and thought about this guy often over the years.

Currently:
Reading: Apaches: A Novel of Suspense by Lorenzo Carcaterra
Listening: Untitled 21: A Juvenile Tribute To Swingin’ Utters
Watching: The Filth & the Fury directed by Julien Temple

Free & legal download of the week: Bad Religion – Generator

7 Seconds/Suicidal Tendencies/Youth Brigade/Wasted Youth
Galaxy Roller Rink, Fullerton, CA
Friday, December 17, 1982
Admission $6.00
Time: 8:00 PM

I remember picking up the flyer for this show at Vinyl Fetish on Melrose, down in Hollywood. I was hanging out with a friend of mine Chris W. Chris was out here for a year from New York, and I was shopping for a pyramid-studded belt (a must for every punk’s arsenal). Anyway, I picked up the flyer, and Chris takes it, and say’s “let’s go!” Now, if you ever saw Chris, you would think he was the last guy who would ever belong at a punk show. As I said he was from New York, he had curly blonde haircut into a preppy-type mullet, drove a BMW, and wore Member’s Only jackets. I told him that it might not be a great idea, but the New York attitude in him insisted. So, for the next week, or so that’s all he talked about – going to the show. I invited two of the girls I hung out with at school Stephanie C. and Steph B. This show was turning into a full-blown road trip. I had never ventured this far out for a show, from where I lived it was just over 43 miles, and a good hour drive. Chris offered to drive, and we all accepted.

The night of the show my Mom dropped me off at Chris’ place in Tarzana, after the gig I would just crash out there. Chris had pulled out a bag of old work clothes, jackets, shirts and boots. When I walked in he was working overtime drawing anarchy symbols all over the boots, and had emptied out about half a tub of Dipity Doo into his hair. He didn’t look so much like a punk as he did a homeless guy. So, he asked me how he looked, I told him he’d be fine, the way he looked I don’t think anybody would talk to him.

The two Steph’s were over at Steph B.’s place. We picked them up at 6:30pm-6:45pm, and hopped onto the 101 freeway. We took the 101 for about 30 minutes, and then switched over to the Interstate 5 for the last half hour. When we finally arrived we parked a few blocks away, Chris was not sure what would become of his new BMW.

Once we got to the rink, there were huge lines to get into the place. The Fullerton police were frisking everybody, and waving handheld metal detectors over everyone in line. They didn’t have female officers for the girls, same group of male cops for everybody. And standing to the side were a couple of officers holding back German Sheppard’s on leashes. Finally after fifteen or twenty minutes I got waved forward, immediately the metal detector goes off as the officer waved the metal detector over my leather jacket. The cop gets this look on his face, and my eyes bug, because I have no idea what set it off. One cop comes over to check my pockets as the other holds my shoulder. The officer pulls out a pocketknife with a razor blade tucked into the blade. I almost crapped. I became the very stereotype these cops were fighting. The other officer was now holding both of my shoulders. The first thing that came to mind was that I was going to be arrested and have to call my Mom, and have her drive an hour to get me, and this was going to be all bad. So, I decided to bargain with them. I said “Would you like to keep the knife, I don’t need it.” The officers look at each other for a minute, and told me to get moving. Whew, I was safe!

OK, now let me explain, I had begged my Mom for a pocketknife. For two reasons, one to use in my art class for paste-up’s and things like that, the second . . . well, I thought they looked cool. Finally, my Mom let me get one, and it sat in my pocket for months untouched. The razor, I also forgot I had. My art teacher, I think he was fruity, gave me a razor blade to draw for part of my final. I was supposed stick it in something like an apple, or something and draw it. Well, I didn’t want it to cut through the jacket so I tucked it into the knife. As I started to walk away, I look up and twenty or thirty people are staring at me like I’m super-hardcore. Bringing in weapons, and just walking away. I wasn’t cool; I was scared, and dumb.

Finally, we walk in, the two Steph’s run off to socialize, and me, and Chris find a spot to hangout as 7 Seconds tune-up. Then they just launched into their set. They were pretty good. I don’t remember the exact songs they did. I know they did some songs from the Not So Quiet On The Western Front compilation on Alternative Tentacles, and their 7″ EP Skins, Brains and Guts, also on Alternative Tentacles. 7 Seconds was formed in Reno, NV, and relocated to Sacramento, CA. Vocalist Kevin Seconds did a good job.

The second group on was Suicidal Tendencies. From the minute we walked in there was a mass of Suicidal fans standing the back, somewhere fifty to a hundred of these guys all in white dress shirts with different versions of the Suicidal Tendencies logo drawn on the back, skull and cross bones, some crosses. Anyway, they all stayed in the back of the rink until the first chord was played, then like the running of the bulls they took over the stage, they took over the pit, and eventually they took over the room. Suicidal played the bulk of their songs from their self-titled album that they would release the next year. “Suicide’s an Alternative / You’ll Be Sorry,” “Two Sided Politics,” “I Shot the Devil,” “Subliminal,” “Won’t Fall in Love Today,” “Institutionalized,” “Memories of Tomorrow,” “Possessed,” “I Saw Your Mommy…,” “Fascist Pig,” “I Want More” and “Suicidal Failure.” The only real difference I remember is the I Shot the Devil song, I’m pretty sure they sang it as I Shot Reagan. I was never a Suicidal Tendencies fan, but you couldn’t deny the powerful performance. As their music took over the stage, their fans took over the hall. I was surprised they weren’t headlining, with their fans alone they could’ve sold the place out. Mike Muir was an intense front man.

The third band on was Youth Brigade. Youth Brigade was made up of three brothers Shawn, Mark, and Adam Stern. These guys are also the founders of BYO Records. They played a great set. It was L.A. punk, but with a hint of Oi in it. They played Violence, Boys In The Brigade, and Look In The Mirror from the compilation they produced: Someone Got Their Head Kicked In. They were really good; their set went by too fast.

Finally, the fourth band of the night: Wasted Youth. These guys got great crowd reaction. The whole place was jumping, and singing along to all the tracks off of Reagan’s In: “Reagan’s In,” “Problem Child,” “Teenage Nark,” “Uni-High Beefrag,” “Born Deprived,” “Fuck Authority,” “You’re a Jerk,” “We Were On Heroin,” “Punk for a Day,” and “Flush the Bouncers.” Lyrically, Wasted Youth were very amateurish. But once you get past that they were a real fun band to watch live. The band was in it’s classic line-up of: Danny Spira on vocals, Chet Lehrer on guitar, Jeff Long on bass, and Allen Stiritz on drums.

You may remember Wasted Youth’s cool album cover, done by Pushead Lamort. During this time (three months before I turned seventeen), I would buy almost anything drawn by one of my favorite artists: Marc Rude, Shawn Kerri or Pushead. As you may remember Pushead went on to do some great art for The Misfits and some other stuff for Metallica.

Anyway, the ride home was a bit quicker. We dropped off the two Steph’s, who we would talk to all night between bands, basically giving our critiques. Then Chris and I headed to his place and crashed out at 1:00am. Other than the police incident it was a cool night.

Currently:
Reading: Apaches: A Novel of Suspense by Lorenzo Carcaterra
Listening: Untitled 21: A Juvenile Tribute To Swingin’ Utters
Watching: The Filth & the Fury directed by Julien Temple

Free & legal download of the week: Bad Religion – Generator