Youth Brigade/Social Distorion interview from Youth Plague 8. Part One of Two--I don't have part two! Someone, hook me up, please.

There was supposed to be a Dead Kennedys interview here, but I was in the position of either having a DK's interview or this one. I chose this one because they are still young and the DK's have said it all before. I wanted to hear what these lads had to say! Here it goes...(it was funny)...

TIM: Okay, it's on so you can say what you want.
MIKE BRINSON (RSR): Hey, this has been fun, but you guys got no good broads here. You need more surf music.
MARLON WHITFIELD: Too many homos.
ALL: Shut up, leatherboy.
MIKE B: We need one less homo.

TIM: How hard is it to get shows in LA now that all the [clubs?] have been closed down?
MARK STERN: We usually have to do our own shows. Unless you get in a club like the Whisky. But the Whisky isn't doing shows any more.
TIM: Aren't they doing bands like 45 Grave any more?
MARK S: 45 Grave broke up, and they weren't even doing that any more...
DENNIS D: Aww, we can get shows at the Whisky.
MARK S: NO MORE SHOWS!
MIKE B: Hey, it's been fun coming here...we'll do it again.
SHAWN STERN: It's too bad we didn't get to play. [ed note: the gig was stopped by the cops that said there was too much booze on the premises...before Social Distortion or Youth brigade got to play.]
BRENT L: Shit, man, we got really drunk at Brian's house (Day Glow's party)...the beer is great!
SHAWN S: The American's couldn't handle the beer.
BRENT (really stoned): Bullshit--I am in charge of the weed.
SHAWN S: The Americans couldn't handle the beer and the Canadians couldn't handle the Americans.
MIKE NESS: Fuck, there's a lot of lumber in here.
MIKE B: Really, those lumberjacks are blowin' my trip.
TIM: Idle comments...say something, Mike [Ness]...say something!
MIKE B: Tell him about the Mike Ness Group.
BRENT: Whooooaaaaaah...(really stoned)...(let's say he's feeling no pain)...

LEN: What's the main purpose of the Better Youth Organization?
SHAWN S: Well, to organize punk music, so that we don't get exploited by people who don't give a shit about the music. Which is kind of ridiculous, because no one's gonna make a lot of money off punk rock. So we just got pissed off at being taken advantage of, ripped off my greedy club owners, put on shitty bills, call the cops and stuff like that, just generally getting abused.

TIM: Okay, Social Distortion, are you planning any more music after the 1945 single?
MIKE N: We're going to put an album out when we get back from this tour.
TIM: An album, what's it called?
MIKE N: We don't know what it's called yet.
LEN: Is it going to be on BYO?
MIKE N: It might be a joint effort.
TIM: With Brent around it will be a joint effort (everybody laughs).
SHAWN S: It will be him smoking joints.
BRENT: Hey, I do a lot, man.
SHAWN S: He does a lot...of pot.

(We then argue about who's more of a pussy by who jumped off the cliff at the Sooks Pot Holes[?]...Monk won the argument.)

TIM: Okay, how do you feel about the scene in LA right now?
BRENT: There's a lot of punks.
MIKE: There's puns everywhere.
TIM: When you play shows, do you get hassled a lot?
SHAWN S: By who?
TIM: Just dudes.
SHAWN S: Oh, punks fighting punks...well, it's not as serious as it used to be.
DEREK O: Nobody fucks with us, man!
BRENT: We claimed that territory!
SHAWN S: It's pretty cool...it used to be more violent, but it's mellowed out a lot.
BRENT: It's mellowed out, people are having fun again.
SHAWN S: The Huntington Beach guys have all disappeared now.
BRENT: They grew their hair out...they got married!

(BRIEF LA HISTORY - The LA scene started in early 1977 and the Masque was the first club and the Canterbury Apartments was where all the punks lived. The Weirdos were the first band, then the Germs, Screamers, Skulls, Controllers, F-Word, Plugz. Then we had a band called Extremes and the Go-Gos started a band the same week we did. And X was around, and everybody lived within a block of each other, and we would walk down to the Masque, which was a basement theater underground. It was a really cool, big, old, sleazy, scummy basement. Then there were all the second generation bands and the summer of '78 was really dead--there was nowhere to play, the Masque got closed down, and all the first generation bands started breaking up. Then in the fall of '78 we got a couple new clubs, we played Club 88 with the Bags, the Zeros, and the Go-Gos and that was, like, really packed. That was when everybody was older an it was only me and by brothers, we were with some other kids, we were the only kids. Then in the spring of 1979, all the clubs came out. There was the Hong Kong Cafe, the Whisky, Starwood, Club 88, and the Fleetwood. And then all the Huntington Beach punks came out and the scene for really big. The Palladium was the biggest show ever! There was a big PIL show. --SHAWN)

Well, that was done just before Social Distortion and Youth Brigade started out to Calgary. More next ish.

Anyone have the next ish (number nine)? I'd like to be able to put up the rest...Someone, hook me up, please.