The Quick’s Mondo Deco reissue and reunion panel with Mark Hamill

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Photo by Stevo Rood/ARoodPhoto.com

Although I haven’t written for a magazine in almost a decade, sometimes I still receive packages in the mail with cool new music. Or in this case, cool old music. The Quick is a pre-punk LA band that I only found out about through Redd Kross and Dickies covers and then a Burger reissue. There’s no way I’ll ever get my hands on an affordable copy of the mind-blowing, slicker-than-snot-on-a-doorknob Sparks, Beatles, and Queen-informed Mondo Deco LP, but it has finally been reissued on CD. And guess what? It totally rules!

Sadly, I was out of town for the panels with the reunited band as well as fan club president Lisa Fancher (a.k.a. my friend, founder of Frontier Records, and writer of the copious liner notes) run by first-generation Quick listener Mark Hamill (yes, the actor from Star Wars). So I sent a few questions to Lisa and Quick drummer Danny Benair (fellow liner note contributor and also member of The Weirdos, Choir Invisible, and The Three O’Clock) for those of us who missed out.

MW: Listening to the reissue, my first thought was that for a band of teens The Quick was insanely realized and polished with stellar songs, musicianship, and melodies.
LF: They rehearsed like crazy so they were very tight, but they were also extremely silly people so they left a lot of room for chaos and mayhem. If they audience didn’t like them, which was a lot of the time, they had all sorts of methods for making the audience come unglued. As long as they got a reaction, it didn’t really matter which way it went! I saw The Quick with everyone from the Runaways to Starz to Van Halen (yuck!) to the Damned (who Danny and I became friendly with). They opened for absolutely everyone as they were one of the most well-known LA bands for a brief moment in time.

DB: We were professional garage musicians and we rehearsed much more than most bands. I love the band, and I am proud of what we did. Being signed at a young age with no knowledge of what it means is tough. Not sure I was ever really prepared.

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Photo courtesy of It’s Alive Media

MW: So much music has come and gone since that Quick record. How did Mondo Deco impress you when it came out and what about revisiting it now?
LF: Of course I could find no fault when it came out, but I was just out of high school. After many, many decades, it’s clear to see that speeding up the record was a massive mistake– it’s quite unpleasant to listen to. Danny remixed two tracks and at the correct speed, and they are super rockin’ and powerful, I hope someone will fund remixing the whole album someday!

DB: The fun part was when Brian Kehew and I spent 10 hours with the 2-inch tape. That was crazy! I recall those days quite well. I know the music too well: not many shocks other then the extended versions we found.

MW: Are those drumsticks the band is eating on the cover? Is that you tempting fate by wearing a white blouse while eating ice cream under lights? Were there other foods like chicken wings or pizza slices under consideration?
DB: The outtake photos, which I do not have, were funny. By the end we wiped it on our clothes. There was PLENTY of what you see: pastries, various ice creams, bananas, etc. No other foods.

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Instagram photo by Lisa Fancher, founder of Frontier Records, president of The Quick Fan Club, and contributor at the reunion panels

MW: How did the roundtable go at Beyond Baroque? The second show in the Valley? Were there more people in skinny ties or Star Wars gear?
DB: The roundtable was great, Nice experience, plenty of familiar faces. No topics were set, but each show was quite different. I think there were no skinny ties or Star Wars gear, but people did want to meet Mark Hamill.

LF: I want to add how generous it was of Mark to be the MC. He didn’t jump in a lot, and kind of let Hufsteter do all the talking. I thought Mark and Danny would do all the blabbing but Steve was stunningly effusive. He barely spoke at all back then, so that was certainly a big surprise. He obviously had decades to go over all of their mistakes, and he detailed them without being bitter. They were all 19 at the time, so who can blame them for letting Kim attempt to mentor them?

MW: When is the last time everyone in the band got together? Do you send each other holiday cards? Did everyone get to hang out and catch up when planning the reissue? 
DB: In 2009, four of us had dinner. Billy was there, but Ian was in NYC. So the last time the five of us were together was 1978, sadly.

LF: I see and talk to Danny all the time, as he lives about a mile from me. I lost touch with the rest, so it was really great to see them all again. Hufsteter brought his dog Monkey with him from Arizona, and he’s probably the cutest dog I’ve ever seen!

MW: “My Purgatory Years,” “Hillary,” “No No Girl,” and your version of “It Won’t Be Long”–so many great songs that have never sounded better. But why no “Pretty Please” bonus cut?
DB: Thank you. This records was about the Mercury demos and Mondo Deco. All of the Elektra demos were excluded for that reason.

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Photos courtesy of Danny Benair

MW: What are the chances of Frontier doing a reissue of the “Pretty Please” single, which the world needs just as much as the LP?
LF: Technically, that was the first record I ever record I ever released–many years before I ever thought up Frontier. I created that wonderfully crappy picture sleeve with Letraset and a few Xeroxes. Dionysus released “Pretty Please” in the 2000s, I think, but I don’t know if it needs reissuing. (Ya think I should? Hmmm.)

MW: Danny, I think you were involved in ETM, which brings music education to underserved elementary schools including my daughter’s. Can you talk about your lifelong relationship with music from The Quick to now? Thoughts on your bands as part of LA’s fabric of cool underground music?
DB: ETM was Louis from The Three O’Clock. Great cause. Well, I was and I still am a geeky record collector. It all started by listening to records and playing with friends, and The Quick and The Three O’Clock were my career bookends. Glad that I did it all–the good and bad.

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Photo by Stevo Rood/ARoodPhoto.com

Get The Quick’s Mondo Deco CD from a cool record store near you or straight from the source at realgonemusic.com and check out more amazing photos from the event by Stevo Rood at RoodPhoto.com. (And don’t forget Lisa Fancher’s Frontier Records for Three O’Clock, Weirdos, and more essential stuff like Adolescents, Rikk Agnew, Christian Death, Middle Class, Flyboys, and more!)

Save Music in Chinatown 15 recap with Adolescents, Midget Oddjob, Unhushables, Hurry Up, Cringeworthy, and DJ Lisa Fancher from Frontier Records

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Our fifteenth Save Music in Chinatown show was going to be amazing. I felt like the lineup was carved in stone before the fourteenth show (Lois, Dub Narcotic Sound System, PHAG featuring Phranc and Alice Bag, and Mike Watt & The Missingmen!) even happened. But timing didn’t work out and the deck got shuffled leaving us with only a super-secret headliner that we couldn’t promote because we didn’t want stage divers and slam dancers to crush little elementary school kids at our all-ages matinee. And what sort of lunatic would pay 12 or 15 bucks to see a show if they don’t even know who is playing? We can’t have that sort of weirdo around our children!

But like Tang Sanzang in his journey to the west or Tampopo in her ramen shop, we received help from the coolest collection of legends and oddballs. Each band really deserves its own story.

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Cringeworthy is the humblest type of group–a tribute band. But they play the songs of Cringer and J Church, two punk bands that I not only loved but was actually close to. The singer and guitarist Lance Hahn was a dear friend and J Church would not only stay with me when they toured but Lance would come over just to hang out. He was a songwriting and DIY animal, who had his own record label and zine, and we shared a lot of overlapping interests outside of punk rock: Hong Kong movies, vegetarian Chinese food, Hawaii. It meant a lot to me that he dug the magazine I helped make, and it was brutal when he died at the young age of 40–not long after he was supposed to play my Chinese wedding banquet (a precursor to our Save Music in Chinatown shows and a story for another time).

But Cringeworthy was formed to play an anniversary show at Epicenter Zone, where Lance volunteered, and features Bay Area and Sacto veterans of the punk and hardcore scenes including Kamala from Cringer and Kamala & The Carnivores, Frank from Star Fucking Hipsters and The Love Songs, and Lory and Anthony from RAD and Sick Burn. Anthony is also my cousin! How cool was it that he would get his Lance tribute band to come down to Los Angeles to play our benefit and even ask our daughter Eloise to sing one of my favorite songs by him: “Confession.” There is so much to love about that particular moment–J Church, Lance, Anthony, Eloise, Chinatown– it almost hurt to watch.

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I knew it was a long shot when I asked my old friend Maggie (ex-Bangs) if Hurry Up might be interested in playing our humble benefit show. Who would come all the way from Portland to play for free? But judging from her radio show, I knew that she was not only a fixture in the PacNW’s underground music scene but also an aficionado of all cool music including early L.A. punk. It turns out Maggie had been talking to Kathy and Westin about embarking on a short tour the day I contacted her, and it might not have hurt that her partners’ other band The Thermals had just announced a breakup. All that plus cheap airline tickets made the unlikely trip possible .

It was very cool to see our little benefit show from an out-of-town visitors’ point of view, especially because they were so stoked! Seeing little kids from Chinatown mixed with legends of L.A. punk bonding over music and cookies must have been a surreal experience, and the power trio played like they were out of their minds. Conversely, friends in the crowd were blown away by the power-pop infused, garage punk ‘n’ roll band’s musicianship but also their pure joy. After seeing Hurry UP play three ripping sets in two days (one with Save Music in Chinatown friends and LA punk legends Alley Cats) and getting to hang out with them so much, I was very sad to see them drive off to San Diego.

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The Unhushables didn’t even exist when we started planning the show. But not more than an hour after their Facebook page launched, which was a big deal to me because I was a huge fan of Franks’s old band Big Drill Car as well as Dave and Art’s Supernova, I asked my friend who managed them if they might be interested in playing our show. Just like that, they said yes and I had to try hard not to fan out. I probably saw Big Drill Car two or three dozen times in the early ’90s, and have fond memories of Supernova pulling up to Jabberjaw in their space van.

More or less, I kept my cool and even asked them if they’d be interested in making and selling a small run of CD-Rs with hand-printed sleeves (since their LP was only available digitally) and  invited them to KXLU they could introduce themselves over the airwaves while promoting the show and cause on the Molotov Cocktail Hour (they stayed for the entire show). The nicest humans! The most fun set! The music is entirely new but us old fans could clearly detect the weirdness of Supernova and exuberance of Big Drill Car. I hope they play again and often.

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I have been trying to get Midget Handjob to play our show for around a year now. Their name is PG-13 (possibly R) but the music is mind-expanding to all ages with an all-star cast of noise-making punkers who can also play hard jazz and noise and Keith Morris reading fever-dream stories on top of them. Yes, the original singer of Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and OFF! It isn’t easy to wrangle seven schedules when every contributors plays in multiple bands but somehow the stars lined up for our show. And I didn’t find out until two weeks before the show, when Keith sent a message saying, “Weren’t we going to perform?” Okay!

We simply opened doors a little earlier and Keith was cool with us tweaking the combo’s name into Midget Oddjob, since flyers were going to be hung at our daughter’s elementary school. But nothing about the set was dumbed down, watered down, or made kid friendly. The band is a real jewel of L.A. punk that doesn’t play very often and they burned a searing impression into every single ear and brain cell with their supremely and equally trippy and psychotic jams. Freak out at the all-ages matinee!

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The Adolescents were our secret headliner–again. At our fifth show, founding member Steve Soto was announced to play a solo set and then the entire band played. I don’t think that either Mike Watt & The Secondmen or The Gears knew who was going to play after them! For Sunday’s matinee, our fifteenth, we did a better job of spreading the word to friends, family, and anyone who follows our updates and had a comfortably packed room full of curious kids, punk lifers, and supporters of the cause. Maybe having Lisa Fancher, who released their first and best-known Blue Album, be our deejay was a clue, too?

Before the set, singer and longime champion of our cause Tony Reflex talked about how the band has played Chinatown many times since 1979 and described his landmark moments in the historic neighborhood, including getting arrested for the first time and proposing to his wife. I would add their shows for us at the Human Resources gallery and now the Grand Star. For a band with that sort of legacy and imprint in L.A. punk to give our cause their seal of approval  not once but twice (and Steve did come through with a solo set on top of that) means the world to me. Their set was a full-on rager starting with “Brats in Battalions” and ending with “Amoeba,” peppered with more classics and brand-new faves in between (“Flat Earth Stomp,” “5150,” and the title track off their excellent upcoming Cropduster LP will blow you away). They don’t hate children and none were crushed.

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Of course, Save Music in Chinatown shows are more than concerts and not just because there was a kickass bake sale and little kids in dancing around in front. We raise money for music education in the inner city, where many students are immigrants, English learners, and underserved kids who don’t necessarily get opportunities for a thorough music education outside of school. We build on the punk rock tradition of the neighborhood’s old Hong Kong Cafe (where first-wave bands like X, Black Flag, Germs, Weirdos, Go-Go’s, Bags, and Dils played) by inviting artists who played there back in the day as well as newer members of the underground music tradition, both local and from as far away as China. We mix up immigrants and underground music, my favorite subcultures, that have crossed paths in the very same plaza as our shows at the Grand Star and unite them for the sake of kids, art, and the future.

After helping to start and edit an independent magazine for 16 years, where I met my graphic designer wife, I figured Wendy and I would never do anything that cool again. Who knew we would be able to embark on something like this with old and new friends, building a scene, supporting public education, and exposing kids who can handle it to underground and DIY culture? Who knew we would be able to do it and make a difference in the neighborhood where my immigrant grandparents and in-laws found community?

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My observations and gushing are mind-numbingly similar after each of our shows, and they must be a blur to anyone who actually checks in on my posts. But as our fifth school year draws to a close, I am more shocked than ever by the events we have shared, allies we have made, and how much our daughter has grown alongside the project. She has become our in-house artist, top spokesperson, and guest performer as well as lead inspiration. I didn’t get exposed to zines, DIY, or indie culture until I was a teenager and it blew me away. What can stop someone who is empowered by those sorts of things as a child?

With Eloise entering her final school year at Castelar, it’s hard not to anticipate the end of our project looming. That means we will have to make those three matinees especially great. (What bands want in? Do you dare miss a show?) It also means finding ways to make its impression go beyond 18 shows with 150 -200 people attending each afternoon. (An article for someone? A full-on book? The words may be dull, but we sure have some great photos.) Instead of taking a break this summer, I plan on doing a lot of digging into how these shows have reflected and affected the community, thinking about making the transition from school booster to activist, and considering where to go from here. Hopefully the posts won’t be too dull and we’ll still see you when school resumes in the fall. Have a great summer!

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If you don’t follow my feeds or blog, join the Save Music in Chinatown community on Facebook for updates on the next show.

 

Tony Reflex, Steve Soto, and Lisa Fancher on the Adolescents’ La Vendetta

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The Adolescents were already one of my three all-time favorite bands and then they turned out to be the raddest humans, too. How stoked was I when singer Tony Reflex started supporting and then attending our humble Save Music in Chinatown benefit matinees out of the blue? And I never even would have dared to hope that he’d ask bassist and fellow co-founder Steve Soto to play one of our fundraisers for music education—only to turn it into a secret Adolescents show for about 150 damn lucky supporters including many unsuspecting elementary school students.

So with La Vendetta being released domestically on Frontier–rather just exclusively via German import like the previous four or five releases–how can I not be excited or want to cover it? The completely raging and supremely catchy batch of songs touches on social injustice (the unpunished murder of Kelly Thomas by Fullerton police) and international tragedies (Fukushima), as well as local legends (Jack Parsons Laboratories) and lost friends (Pat Fear and Mike Atta). After the afternoon gig, I hit up Tony and Steve and Lisa Fancher from Frontier Records, the Adolescents’ first and latest label, with some questions about the legendary band from Fullerton’s past, present, and killer new album…

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MW: You guys have played with a number of other bands and still do. What makes Adolescents special and still exciting after so many years? 
SS: I like doing the solo stuff and I have fun playing with other bands but the Adolescents is my first love. Every time we play a show or make a record, it all goes back to two kids who met at a show because the power was shut off and then went on to start their own band. Whether we are in Europe playing to thousands of people in a field or in a small club playing to 100 people, it’s all about that bond we formed back then and all that we have accomplished together since then. I don’t have that bond with anyone else.

MW: The band’s recent string of albums is super strong but they haven’t received proper U.S. distribution. How cool is it to have La Vendetta released domestically and then have it be on Frontier on top of that?
TR: It’s pretty great. We have really wanted to do another record with Lisa. Besides being a label I respect, Lisa herself is a really awesome person. I am glad we are collaborating again.

MW: Lisa, what is it about La Vendetta that made you want to handle it?
LF: I don’t think Steve or Tony will disagree with me when I say they were bad about playing me anything after O.C. Confidential. In fact, I still haven’t heard the LPs between La Vendetta and OCC! (Ahem, vinyl please.) But, in truth, I have not been releasing new material by anyone for a long time. I knew when I heard La Vendetta that they’d really been working on songwriting and production, and I think people will finally stop asking them about the Blue Album lineup. At least, I hope so!

MW: Back in the day, what made them stand about among all the other groups that were exploding from the punk and hardcore scene? Why did you want to release their debut album?
LF: Songwriting, for sure. They were light years ahead of other punk bands in L.A. or O.C. in that department. I think the age thing was something of a gimmick. Rikk Agnew is only two months younger than me, anyway! But I am still so incredibly proud of the Blue Album, considering the time and budget parameters I put on the band at the time. And, oh yeah, the producer Thom Wilson had never recorded a punk band before–just stuff like Seals and Croft! So hilarious that the Adolescents’ debut was called “over-produced.” I still give Jack Rabid shit about that. I wanted my records to sound good and look good, and I think that’s another reason the Blue Album stands the test of time. If you ain’t got the music, you ain’t got shit!  (I trademarked that–don’t try to steal it!)

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MW: Tony, how is writing songs with Steve different from when you guys started?
TR: I thought about this one a bit because if I simply said, “It hasn’t really changed much,” it would sound like I didn’t want to answer the question. But it really hasn’t changed much. When we first met, Steve and I lived a few cities apart. Orange County is huge. He lived in the Placentia area, which is in the eastern part above the 57 Freeway and I lived more or less in the central part where Stanton and Anaheim meet. Since neither of us had cars, we collaborated by land line telephone and tapes, and traveled by bus or bumming a ride. Now we live in different counties and are separated by more distance–including the time/schedule factors–so the fact that we have cars hasn’t really contributed to anything except getting together to hang out. Now we collaborate by cell phone and MP3 files.

SS: We started off writing songs over the telephone! But however I send Tony music, he always comes back with lyrics that blow me away. I love it when he is tracking his vocals because I will start picking out lines and be like, “Holy shit! Did you just say (insert great Tony line here)?” I have a lot of “holy shit” moments with Tony because his pen is mightier than most.

But the best part about our friendship is that we laugh a lot. We have a lot of inside jokes after 30-plus years of friendship and, even more importantly, during times when things have been truly bleak in my life he was right there with me.

MW: Do you have a favorite song on the new album?
SS: Hm. Can’t pick one. I love “The Last Laugh” because it’s about Bill “Pat Fear” Bartell. I miss Bill. I also love the energy of “30 Seconds,” and the story behind the lyrics is awesome. (Google “Jack Parsons.”) And then there is “Dish.” I had goose bumps when I heard the words the first time: “With this pen, I’m going to fuck you up.” The song was about Kelly Thomas but look at how timely it still is. It hit home again when people held up their pens for Charlie Hebdo. The pen is mighty and it will someday topple fists, Tasers, chokeholds, and religious fanaticism.

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MW: The recent one-year anniversary of Fullerton police officers going unpunished for killing the unarmed and innocent Thomas really makes it feel like a fresh wound.
TR: The Kelly Thomas verdict was something that affected all of us. In fact, Steve’s family and my family were out on the marching lines, and so were Rikk Agnew and his family. The murder of Kelly Thomas stands as one of the most devastating acts of cruelty in the history of Fullerton, and it is something that brought all of us together.

Throughout the history of the band, we have tried our best to deal with contemporary issues without sounding dated. I think we have done that well, and that is why our records transcend generations and any specific time frame. They sound fresh whenever you hear them. That’s part of the reason that they work. And, yes, I think most of the Adolescents’ recorded catalog is great–with the possible exception of Brats in Battalions.

MW: Are there fans who see your set list and think “Let It Go” is a song from Frozen?
TR: Haha. Spoken like a father who has heard the Disney song a million times. Actually, believe it or not, I haven’t seen Frozen and only learned of the song on news radio and the byline was “how to get annoying songs out of your head.” But I haven’t had anyone comment on it before. Maybe they are closet AM Disney fans that don’t want to be outed.

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MW: Can you tell me a little bit about how Dan, Ian, and Mike came on board? They’re rock solid!
TR: Dan Root is a great guitarist. He was in a band called One Hit Wonder that was on Nitro and had toured the world pretty extensively. Remarkably, of all that he is done, that is the band I hadn’t seen! I did see him when he played with Jack Grisham in Tender Fury, as well as the years he worked with our mutual friend Rik L. Rik and, more recently, with Steve in CJ Ramone’s band. He brings a great dynamic and, like Mike, a sense of humor and friendship.

SS: Dan is awesome. We became friends back when he was playing with Jack in the mid ’80s. When I was in Tender Fury very briefly, Jack called me up and said, “You and Dan goof around too much. I need you to help me keep Dan under control.” I thought, “Screw that. I like Dan out of control!” He is an amazing guitarist and a great hang.

TR: Leroy was a great player but he was really clear that he could only record, so that was that. Ian Taylor, on the other hand, has made the commitment by driving up from San Diego to be a part of this. He has a rich musical history, having come from the desert area and playing in Unsound and Mondo Generator, and I was a fan of his band Furious IV in the ‘90s.

SS: Right when we were starting to look for a new guitarist, Tony ran into Ian randomly, called me, and said, “Hey, I ran into Ian and he said, ‘If you ever need someone…‘“ It was so random, yet makes perfect sense because he is a great fit.

TR: Mike Cambra is a dynamite drummer. As much as bringing a great style, he is just a really cool guy. Interestingly, his uncle was in the Tubes.

SS: Mike plays in Death by Stereo with my friend Efrem. That’s how we met. An awesome drummer and great dude.

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MW: Lisa, do you remember exactly when you first met Steve and Tony?
LF: Actually, I don’t. I remember talking to Frank on the phone and making a deal to record the Blue Album while I was working at Bomp! Records. I think the first time I met the whole band was the first day making the Blue Album at Perspective Sound in beautiful Sun Valley, CA. Steve didn’t bring his bass. But anyone can feel free to set me straight on this. This is why history books of any kind are so utterly suspect…

MW: But now you’ve got this great new album coming out, essays in photo books, appearances in record collector documentaries, and anniversary shows–are you on a roll or what?
LF: I guess? You left out co-owning my distributor (ILD) and launching my own radio station (KXFU, February 2015)! It would be bitchin’ if any of these things resulted in a paycheck but it’s the “being so insanely busy I don’t know what day it is” that really counts. The Dangerhouse show was the high point of last year for me, so I really look forward to putting on Part II with Part Time Punks this summer!

MW: With everyone’s other bands, projects, and lives going on, is it remotely possible to support La Vendetta with shows?
TR: There will be at least 40 shows. We are scheduling 10 in South America and 30 in the United States and Canada.

MW: And of course I was totally shocked and super stoked that the Adolescents played our benefit. But Steve, I really dig your solo work, too, and was excited about the idea of you playing those lovely, sad songs for us. Can you tell me about them?
SS: I started writing my first solo record after my divorce. It was liike my attempt at doing Elvis Costello’s Blood and Chocolate. I wrote one of my favorite songs on it with James Achor of the Royal Crown Review. I love Steinbeck, and was thinking about The Grapes of Wrath and the Okies that headed west for a better life. “West Coast Bound” was my take on leaving my relationship behind and moving west. And it was actually true. I mean, I already lived in Long Beach but I moved four blocks closer to the beach…

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Get the new Adolescents record straight from Frontier Records (value priced with free shipping in the U.S.!) or keep checking the band’s Facebook page for tour dates and buy it from the merch table (that’s how I’ve been acquiring the recent imports a couple at a time).

Hello, Lisa Fancher of Frontier Records/Dangerhouse Records Night at Part Time Punks

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Right: The Weirdos at The Echoplex (December 13, 2013)

Cracking open the Dangerhouse singles box distributed by Frontier Records is like opening a can of kickass right in your face. The raw, explosive sound of first-generation L.A. punk is loaded with art, rebellion, and fun. And what a mixture of styles: Way-out noise from the Weirdos, dug-up roots from X, leftist muckraking from The Dils, straight-up punk from Avengers, the conflicted sounds of The Bags, art damage from Black Randy, rock that doesn’t suck from The Alley Cats… And who was in the Eyes, Bags, and Deadbeats again?

So when I heard that Frontier’s Lisa Fancher was setting up a concert with many of the Dangerhouse bands, I bought a ticket right away. And upon discovering that a friend of mine was handling press for the show at the Echoplex, how could I not send her some questions about it? Check out Lisa’s answers and see you at The Echoplex on Sunday, November 9 when The Weirdos, Avengers, Deadbeats, Rhino 39, and Alley Cats are gonna rip it up.

Can you tell me about the connection between Frontier Records and Dangerhouse?
I’ve known David and Pat ever since they brought Dangerhouse singles into the Bomp! Store circa ’77 or ’78. Actually I knew David from The Screamers, too. After the Me Want Breakfast comp, I thought all the Dangerhouse material should be out officially. Let’s just say it was a hellish process!

What instigated this awesome concert?
Michael Stock and I literally started talking about it the night of the Frontier show. We were high on how well it did and  several tumblers of victory Jameson. The Frontier show was a nightmare of logistics and bands jockeying for the best spot. The Dangerhouse show has been painless, which I find terrifying.

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Left: The Weirdos at The Echoplex (December 13, 2013)

Your Frontier show with the Adolescents, T.S.O.L., The Middle Class, the Avengers, etc., was amazing and there is some crossover between the two lineups and label rosters. I like to think punk was kinda like that back in the day with lots of incestuous but awesome mixing of families. Am I way off?
Well… Not many of the Dangerhouse bands crossed over into the hardcore years. Most broke up in the very early ’80s. There was some mixing of my earliest bands, though–yes!

I love how Frontier has been selling rad music nonstop, from punk to hardcore to Paisley Underground to pop. Do you think that confuses a lot of music fans who can be Nazis when it comes to styles of music?
Yes, and not necessarily in a good way. Punks hate everything that isn’t Frontier punk and they’re really missing out on the genius of Thin White Rope. One day maybe the twain shall meet!

I also love how you never stopped selling your old titles–the first Adolescents and Suicidal Tendencies records, for starters–and keep them out there and priced for the people. Do you have a philosophy behind that or that just how you do it?
All the records mean a lot to me and I insist on keeping them all in print because I think kids will always dig them. Some are only in print as MP3s as there’s little demand for physical product. I need to revive more titles in vinyl, but haven’t been able to keep everything available due to the economy crash. I’m still here, though!

The Burger crossovers are cool, too. How did that happen?
I think Danny Benair said I should approach them to do our cassettes. I did and they’ve been doing it ever since… Great guys but they need a vacation!

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Right: The Weirdos at The Echoplex (December 13, 2013)

Our mutual pal Adam told me that you came really close to releasing Jawbreaker. Got a story behind that?
Ugh, I can’t even talk about it–too painful. I begged them to let me put out Unfun when it was clear that label wasn’t treating them right… I loved JB so much, I was a stalker! I think I had a shot before Adam re-released them on Blackball but I wasn’t officially offered them. I think it’s great they control their own masters but Adam knows that if he gets bored, I’m just waiting in the wings!

How awesome is your essay in the new GEF book? I wish you’d do more writing because I’m sure there are way more stories… At the very least there should be an oral history of Frontier. Yes? No?
Glad you liked it, that was really a struggle… It’s sooo hard to remember stuff that happened 34 years ago. Glen has a great memory and totally busted me for fudging on dates. I even forgot he did his first LP cover for Frontier! Whoops. Writing I can nail in my sleep; I just need a memory transplant.

But yes, someone else needs to tackle my memoirs!

So is a second Frontier Records fest going to happen with The Three O’Clock, Red Cross, and Circle Jerks or what?
I’m gonna say no but Michael and I are nuts, so you never know! Liz from the Echo and I are gonna work on a new record swap meet, though. Stay tuned for news on that one!

Visit Frontier Records to stalk Lisa and get the goods and then visit Ticketfly for tickets to the show on Sunday, November 9. Unless, of course, you’re cheap like me and go to the Echo box office on a no-fee Friday to get yours for 20 bucks flat!