Negative Approach interview from Trashland Adventures #4. First photo is of the second NA lineup, and was taken by Dave O. Second photo was reprinted from Anonymous fanzine, and is of the first lineup. If anyone knows how I can contact "Krank Shaft," who put out the zine, get in touch!

Whatever your opinion or the local hardcore punk scene, there's no denying that it's the most vital and cohesive scene around. The Midwest hardcore following has grown exponentially over just the past few months and, given the apathy of area-dwellers and the general malaise of the Detroit area, it's no wonder. The hardcore nob demands your participation, confronting you with a "like it or lump it" attitude. Negative Approach, of all the Detroit-based HC bands, has best realized its potential with a total, even vicious assault on the sensibilities. Their sets consist of loud, fast and brutal sonic attacks of carefully-controlled rage. N.A. were interviewed 2-13-82 after they and the Pride of Maumee, Ohio--the Necros--opened for Brit stalwarts The Damned at Clutch Cargo's, Detroit.

NEGATIVE APPROACH: John - vocals, Rob - guitar, Gray - bass, Opie - drums.

TA: JOHN, WHEN YOU'RE SINGING, IT SEEMS LIKE YOU PUT EVERY OUNCE OF ENERGY INTO IT. YOU MUST BE HOARSE AS HELL WHEN YOU GO OFFSTAGE.
John: Not really. I'm just used to it, screaming songs. I just like to put everything into it. You just get into people diving off the stage and, like, you hold the microphone out and people wanna sing back-ups, it's like...that drives you nuts.
TA: YOU MUST STAY PRETTY PHYSICALLY FIT.
J: Nah, not really. I'm just totally into it. This is the only thing I want to do.
TA: BET YOU HAVE TO COOL OFF AWHILE AFTER A SHOW.
J: You know, I just sit down for a couple of minutes is all. Like tonight, I was just so charged up, waiting for the Necros to go on. They got great chant songs like "Race Riot" and shit.
TA: THAT'S PROBABLY THE GREATEST THING ABOUT THIS SCENE IS THE GROUP PARTICIPATION THING.
J: Yeah, it's that total positive effort. Like the Damned, man, they're like some other shit band, you just wanna stand there, I was getting tired just standing there looking at 'em. But, like, the Necros, you wanna just dive off the stage and sing back-ups, it's like a total group effort. You see a band like Black Flag or the Misfits and they're totally into it. Who wants to just stand there and watch when you can have a great time?
TA: WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK ABOUT THE UNITY OF THE SCENE?
J: The scene? Well, it's taking off. It's like, Midwest rules.
Rob: Everyone's just working together.
TA: HOW WAS THAT GIG YOU GUYS DID A FEW WEEKS AGO AT THE FREEZER WITH VIOLENT APATHY AND THOSE OTHER BANDS? I MISSED IT.
R: Oh, that was with the old (N.A.) band. The record release one (the Touch & Go compilation).
J: When you saw us last week, that was the new band. Pete (ex-bass) is gonna start a magazine called "The Real Threat" and (ex-drummer) Zuheir's just a swingin' foreigner.
TA: TELL US HOW THE BAND GOT TOGETHER.
J: It was just me and Pete, talking about getting a band together. He knew what we wanted to do. Zuheir played drums, so we got him to play. We met Rob at a skateboard park.
TA: YOU GUYS REALLY SKATEBOARD?
R: Fuck, yeah.
J: Rob does.
Gray: John's the beat.
TA: I THOUGHT BARRY {NECROS) WAS THE ONLY ONE TALKING ABOUT SKATEBOARDING.
J: Opie's like a skate pro at the park, he's sponsored.
G: He's nationally sponsored.
R: Me and Opie do, what about you, John?
J: Everyone in this fucking room learned how to skate from me! (Much laughter and derision.) Yeah !
TA: WHERE DO YOU SKATE AT?
J: In the bathtub!
R: The Endless Summer in Roseville. It's this big park. "If you don't skateboard, you suck."
TA: WELL, DID YOU GUYS KNOW EACH OTHER FIRST AS SKATEBOARDERS OR MUSICIANS?
R: No, just as friends. We'd known each other before.
J: Me and Pete and Zuheir went to school together. We were looking for a guitar player and Pete used to go to this skateboard park all the time.
R: Gray was in Youth Patrol and they were all skateboarders and he knew I played guitar.
J: We had about three or four songs so we just all jammed together.
TA: TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE DETROIT SKATE PUNKS.
Opie: There's this park, Endless Summer, and usually these guys would come to gigs like Black Flag, when they played last summer--
J: --and Minor Threat at the Coronation (Tavern in Windsor--ed.). They just went nuts. That influenced everyone. It was, like, pretty much after the Black Flag gig with the Necros at Bookie's.
TA: I ALWAYS THOUGHT THE SKATEBOARD PUNKS WERE JUST TRYING TO EMULATE THE WHOLE HUNTINGTON BEACH SCENE, SURF PUNKS AND ALL.
R: No, we were skating before we got into punk and stuff, but a couple of us started to listen to it while we were skating and it's really easy to skate to because it gets your aggression up.
TA: HOW'D YOU LISTEN TO IT?
R: Well the park sucks now, but then we could bring in Black Flag and stuff and hear it over the P.A.
G: It gets your aggression up and you go nuts, you can do anything!
R: We played a free gig at the park and the owners were really happy about it. It was really cool. No one could pass it up for not having any money cuz it was free. They can walk up and listen and if they like it, they can start getting into the scene.
TA: IT SEEMS LIKE THERE'S A LOT MORE PEOPLE INTO THIS MIDWEST SCENE THAN THE FIRST TIME I SAW YOU.
J: There's new kids at every gig. It's great.
R: There's new bands forming and a lot more people starting to come to the shows.
J: We hope we can influence kids to start bands. People say they're bored with the scene. They're assholes. Why don't they start a band or a magazine? Why complain about it when you can really fucking DO something about it. Bands like Harold and shit, they juat DO IT. They only played their instruments for a week. They just do it.
TA: BEFORE YOU GOT WITH TOUCH & GO, WERE YOU AWARE OF THAT WHOLE SCENE WITH THEM AND THE NECROS AND ALL?
J: We'd go to Necros shows asking "Who plays guitar?" and that stuff, just me, Pete and Zuheir a long time ago, before we found a guitar player. We went to all the Necros' shows and were juat totally influenced by them. I saw the Necros and I knew that's what I wanted to do.
TA: HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO PEOPLE WHO CALL THE HARDCORE SKINHEAD SCENE FASCISTIC?
R: That's England.
J: Fuck that, that's got nothing to do with us.
R: It's like a total difference between the English National Front skins and American skins.
J: That Captain Sensible fucker (from The Damned) said to me, (imitation Brit accent) "Why'd you cut your hair, are you fascists?" I said "What the fuck are you talking about?" The Damned, man...any band that plays drum solos should be shot!
TA: WHAT DO YOU GUYS HAVE COMING IN THE WAY OP RECORDED OUTPUT?
J: We're planning an EP. We'll probably have around 11 songs on it. Our tunes are short, so...
TA: REAL SHORT. IT SEEMS THAT YOU'RE GOING FOR AS FAST, LOUD AND SHORT AS POSSIBLE.
J: Long songs are boring, there's no point in it.
R: Any song over a minute's boring.