From New Wave to the 'NOW', experience the thrill of NEW WAVE from it's beginnings in the late '70s to the modern bands so obviously influenced by it! So, if you grew up in the '80s and still enjoy discovering new sounds as well as rediscovering old favorites, then read on!
PUNK! POWER POP! SYNTH POP! NEW WAVE! POST-PUNK!
10. And just about every other f***ing song THE CLASH recorded!
Here are three ways to (re)discover THE CLASH:
SOUND SYSTEM Box Set
Stunning 12 disc boxset containing 11 CDs + DVD. All newly remastered by The Clash with award-winning engineer Tim Young! Three CDs featuring rare tracks, demos, non-album singles and B-sides. DVD including unseen Julian Temple footage, early Super 8 film shot by Don Letts, all the band's promo videos and previously unseen live footage. Owner's Manual booklet. Folder containing reprints of 'Armagideon Times 1 & 2 and Armagideon Times 3 (new edition of fanzine compiled and designed by Paul Simonon). Merchandise; dog tags, badges, stickers and a Future Is Unwritten note book designed by Harland Miller. An exclusive photo poster. Oh, and their first five albums spread over eight discs!
2013 eight CD box set containing digitally remastered editions of the first five albums from the British Punk quartet, often referred to as 'the only band that matters'. Each album comes in vinyl replica packaging. Contains the original UK version of the self-titled first album, Give 'Em Enough Rope, London Calling (on two CDs), Sandinista! (on three CDs) and Combat Rock. All CDs come housed in a box designed by the band.
2013 two CD set containing digitally remastered versions of 33 of the band's iconic tracks. The tracklisting is sequenced from the band's legendary Brixton Fairdeal show in 1982 and contains the best studio recordings of the full set, plus eight additional iconic tracks. It comes with the original setlist, handwritten by Joe Strummer which he would tape to the back of his Telecaster before each gig. "Every show was different. Joe would spend a lot of time composing the running order, considering dynamics, emotional impact and the key the songs were in. This record is based on Joe's setlist from The Casbah Club UK Tour, Brixton Fairdeal, 10th July 1982". -Mick, Paul and Topper.
"While The Cortinas had released a handful of fiery Punk singles, my first introduction to them was on the low-priced compilation album Permanent Wave alongside bands such as The Only Ones, After The Fire, Masterswitch and The Spikes.The song in question, “Heartache”, was a delicious slice of Rock ‘n’ Roll with New Wave attitude but worlds away from the Punk tag that had been thrown at them just a year or so before.It wasn’t until later that I went back and found the “Fascist Dictator” single and realized that the band had changed considerably from their indie Punk singles and their 1978 major label debut album, True Romances (from which “Heartache” was taken).
While their early fans were thrown off by the band’s cleaner, ‘wimpier’ sound on True Romances, those who heard the album first were less impressed by the vaguely melodic and rough early singles.Then again, there are those of us who enthusiastically embraced both sides of the band. For whatever reason, The Cortinas refused to remain a one dimensional Punk band and lost fans in the process of becoming a major label New Wave act. In the end, it didn’t matter because the band split up around the time of the album’s release.
In hindsight, the band’s early Punk outings were perfect little slices of aggression, but they already seemed confined by Punk’s limitations.The True Romances album expanded the band’s sound and allowed more space for the band to create little slices of sharp British Pop. Not exactly Power Pop, the album is filled with memorable tracks that may not have changed the world, but they certainly deserved much more attention than they actually got.
The Punk Rock Anthology tells The Cortinas’ whole musical story, beginning with their Punk singles, adding some Peel Sessions recordings and then concluding with the entire True Romances album (and a single edit of “Heartache”). It’s a fascinating and fun journey in the very short life of a young British band that came, saw and almost conquered."-Stephen SPAZ Schnee/All Music Guide
First off, you don’t have to be a Punk fan to appreciate the passion, dedication, love and conviction that has kept BYO Records going for over 25 years. As one of the longest-running independent Punk labels, BYO (started by brothers Shawn, Mark and Adam Stern) has proven, over time, that Punk is thoughtful, quality music created by intelligent and talented musicians (and not by clueless lunkheads, as the press would lead you to beleive).
If you only know Punk from what you’ve heard on the radio, seen on MTV or read in the pages of your favorite ‘music’ magazine, then get real: everything you’ve learned is wrong and it’s time to set the record straight. Let Them Know: The Story Of Youth Brigade and BYO Records does just that.
While I’ve been a massive Punk fan since 1977 (by discovering The Jam and The Clash at the age of 14), I’ve always been on the outside looking in. I seldom dressed the part and hardly had any Punk friends to go to shows with, so I could only stand outside the gate and watch the Stern brothers create a world that I could only dream about. Plus, being extremely insecure, having glasses and being deathly afraid of getting caught (and beat up) in a mosh pit didn’t help, either!
Let Them Know: The Story Of Youth Brigade and BYO Records is perhaps the most important Punk artifact released this decade. While other labels would have chosen to release a label anthology, BYO have done nothing of the sort. Instead, they’ve put together this package that includes a 100+ page book, a documentary and a 31 track CD featuring plenty of exclusive tracks. There are two versions available: the 6 X 12 book/CD/DVD and the 12 X 12 book/double vinyl LP/CD/DVD. While the vinyl edition looks more impressive because of its size, both pressings tell the same story of the band and label through the Stern’s own words and the words of fellow Punk contemporaries and those who were influenced by them.
The book is stunning. Mostly written by the Stern brothers, it is far more in depth than the documentary and features tons of photos, flyer reproductions and (my favorite) a full color discography of the label. It is essential reading, but you may want to go through and look at all the cool pictures first because once you start reading, you’ll become so engrossed that only the written words will matter.
The DVD contains an exceptional documentary that begins with the formation of Youth Brigade (Shawn, Mark and Adam) and ends with Punk Rock Bowling over two decades later. In between, there are plenty of rare vintage video excerpts, modern day interviews with all the involved parties (including the always-interesting Ian MacKaye from Minor Threat/Fugazi) and so much more. Bonus features include interview segments cut from the final print (but these should be watched post-documentary in order to understand some of the subjects discussed).
The CD features 31 BYO classics… as interpreted by other BYO-related artists! So, instead of a normal label ‘best of’, you get to experience the history of the label in a whole new way. Includes cuts from NOFX, CH3, Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio), 7 Seconds, Pennywise, Anti-Flag, Bouncing Souls, Off With Their Heads, The Cute Lepers, Filthy Thieving Bastards, Nothington and, of course, Youth Brigade.
All in all, this is one hell of a package that tells BYO’s story in honesty and humor. But it goes beyond just telling just their story: it also tells the story of one of the most vital music movements of the last 50 years.
An absolutely essential purchase that you MUST physically own because you can't download passion and convition... and Let Them Know has plenty of both!
Yes, chuckle silently to yourself, but you know it’s true. Before Punk, the music business had drifted further away from the importance of the music and had become a safe haven for pretentious musicians and arrogant record executives. Once Punk kicked down the doors, everything was different. No longer was it acceptable to play a 25 minute guitar solo when a younger band with fresh ideas could knock out an entire 12 track album that lasted that same amount of time. It was no longer necessary to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars recording an album when many bands were doing it for a tiny fraction of that cost. And you didn’t necessarily need to be an accomplished musician to get your message across: all you needed was passion and conviction.
One of the most obvious, and most important, changes that Punk brought to the table was the resurgence of the ‘indie’ label. Before Punk, independent labels were laughed at. Artists who released albums on indie labels were deemed ‘not good enough’ for a major label deal. In Punk’s wake, indie labels began popping up in every city, in every state, in every country, anxious to release albums from the up and coming Punk bands that were beginning to draw crowds. In just a little over a year, opinions about indie labels had changed so much that when The Clash signed with CBS instead of an indie label, their legions of fans considered it a total sell-out!
In California, labels like Alternative Tentacles, SST, Bomp, Slash, Dangerhouse and Posh Boy were all the rage with the Punk, Post-Punk and New Wave kids. But alongside these labels, BYO Records remains one of the most important and long-lasting. Set up by the band Youth Brigade to release their own music as well as music from the very healthy Punk scene, BYO has remained true to their original ideals and is still a vital, forward-thinking label.
For the first time, the label has finally decided to take a look back at their amazing 25+ year existence in style with the release of Let Them Know: The Story Of Youth Brigade And BYO Records. This beautiful package features a gorgeous book, a must-see documentary DVD (with bonus features) and a jaw-dropping 31 track CD that contains BYO bands covering cuts from other BYO bands! There’s also a double vinyl edition that comes in LP sized packaging and includes the book, CD and DVD! Can you say “Hell, yeah!”?
I was able to pull myself away from the box and spend a little time with Youth Brigade frontman and BYO boss Shawn Stern to discuss Punk, BYO and this essential release.
SPAZ: What kind of music were the Stern brothers listening to growing up?
SHAWN STERN: When we were young, we listened to AM radio in the late ‘60s, Motown a lot. In 1970, we were listening to the Folk/Rock our parents were playing: CSNY, Janis Joplin, Melanie, Bill Withers, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce. We then started finding our own stuff, mostly Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, Robin Trower, the hippy and Rock stuff.
SPAZ: Do you remember when Punk first made an impression on you?
SS: Summer of ’77: reading an article in the L.A. times Sunday Calendar about the Sex Pistols’ American tour and San Francisco show by Robert Hilburn and then hearing KMET play Elvis Costello’sMy Aim Is True record in full. I realized that this was something I needed to see, so a few months later, in early ’78, we went to check out The Dickies at the Whiskey. That show pretty much convinced me and my brother Mark that we needed to stop doing Rock covers and start writing our own music.
SPAZ: When you first formed Youth Brigade, did you feel that you had more in common, musically, with the West Coast, the East Coast or the British punks?
SS: Well, I think things were so new we didn’t really look at it as who we were more influenced by or would emulate or have in common. I mean we loved English Oi bands (like) Sham 69, Angelic Upstarts, Cockney Rejects and 4 Skins. We also loved the Clash and The Stranglers, The Buzzcocks, The Jam and The Lurkers. But we were heavily influenced by the Punk bands we had been friends with and going to see play the two years we had been doing our first band the Extremes. We used to go play with and go see X, The Bags, Deadbeats, Weirdos, Dickies and a lot of the early Punk bands. And then, as the scene grew, Circle Jerks, TSOL, Social Distortion and The Adolescents. And when we heard Minor Threat that was a revelation as well. We, of course, listened to The Ramones, Blondie, Television, Dead Boys and Devo and saw them all when they came around, too. So it was really a whole “host” as the president says!
SPAZ: In the early days of punk, the genre was always associated with violence, be it an aggressive mosh pit or a fight in the parking lot. Did you feel that the scene would often attract the wrong types of people (i.e. those that were more into the violence or fashion aspect and not the music or message)?
SS: Well, there’s not much you can do about what people do. You hope that, regardless of what attracts them to Punk rock, eventually they’ll hear the music, the ideas and it will get them to think. Of course, there are those that just wanna stomp heads and so we were all a little crazy in our young days, but we had a lot of things to be pissed about and fight against. Ronald Reagan became president of America when Punk was exploding in California and a lot of the problems we have now are rooted in his conservative, narrow minded policies.
SPAZ: When you started BYO Records, had the band already tried signing with other labels or was it always part of the plan to release your own music on your own terms?
SS: It was never a “plan”: we didn’t really plan much of anything, I like to say our lives are kind of like a ping pong ball, we just get bounced into things. We just did things out of necessity: wanted to do a show, put it on ourselves; need to release a record, do it ourselves.
SPAZ: Was there a particular label you modeled BYO after?
SS: Ha-ha, nope, we never paid attention to other labels before we started. We just thought it was important to put out a positive message because the mainstream media portrayed Punk Rock as violent and mindless and we knew that wasn’t true. We looked to work with bands that were like minded people.
SPAZ: How difficult was it to balance your own musical vision (Youth Brigade) and run a label?
SS: Pretty much impossible because, in the ‘80s, we didn’t really make much money to support us bringing in people to run the label when the band went on the road. So, when the band was out, the label would suffer and vice versa. It’s gotten better in the ‘90’s, but we still have that same problem.
SPAZ: Youth Brigade has had long periods of inactivity, but did the band ever actually call it quits?
SS: Yeah, when we came back from our first European tour in ’84, our brother Adam decided he was going to go to art school. He left the band, we had a couple of guys replace him, Bob Gnarly from Plain Wrap was the main guy and we became the Brigade for a little over a year. The Punk scene was dying (late ’87) and the Metal scene was taking over the Sunset Strip so we broke up and stopped actively signing bands to the label. BYO was still in existence, but we let Southern Studios in UK press and distribute for us.
SPAZ: During Youth Brigade’s first couple of years, were there any contemporary bands that inspired you? Are there any bands out there right now that inspire you?
SS: As I said before, Angelic Upstarts had a big influence as did Sham 69 and playing with The Adolescents, TSOL, Social Distortion, they all had an influence I think. Nowadays I really like the bands we’ve worked with on the label, Nothington, Filthy Thieving Bastards, Swingin Utters, Throw Rag, The Briefs, NOFX, Old Man Markely, Off With Their Heads, Dillinger 4.
SPAZ: In the late ‘80s and part of the ‘90s, Punk went back underground. Was this a tough period for BYO and Youth Brigade?
SS: Oh, I think during the late ‘80s, yes, but we got back together in ’92 and things exploded. The success in the late ’80’s of Nirvana, The Pixies and Jane’s Addiction helped Punk Rock get attention and Bad Religion and Fugazi definitely carried the torch in those years. Then in ’94, Green Day and The Offspring got pretty huge. That led to the success of NOFX, Rancid, Pennywise and so many more bands and we all did well because of that. So, in many ways, it was our most successful period.
SPAZ: In recent years, I’ve noticed that British Punk has really taken a back seat to the U.S. scene. Do you think that American Punk bands are better these days?
SS: I don’t think there has been as vibrant a Punk scene in the UK since the late ‘70’s/early ‘80s as what we’ve had here in Southern California over the past 30 years. There are always some great bands coming out of the UK, but clearly L.A. has had the biggest Punk scene in the world since the early ‘80s and so many great bands have come out of here.
SPAZ: Do you think that the real and honest modern Punk Rock bands (such as those on BYO) have been overlooked in favor of the cookie cutter Pop/Punk bands that arrived in Blink 182’s wake?
SS: Well, I don’t really believe that Blink 182 and their spawn that followed are Punk Rock in anything other than style. They can cop NOFX’s sound and make silly adolescent songs all they want, but I really don’t consider that Punk Rock. Most of those bands have sold lots of records, but how many of them are still around 10-15 years later, let alone 25-30 years!? Most of them appeal to little kids who are usually done with them after a year or two. In fact, if you ask some kid who was listening to these bands when they were 12-14 about the music, they’re usually embarrassed to admit they even listened to them.
SPAZ: What do you think of the current Punk crowds?
SS: Well, for us, I think it’s great that we’ve been seeing new generations of kids coming to our shows and listening to our music, the old and the new, for the last 15 years. I think that Punk Rock has something to say and the fact that we’ve been doing this for over 25 years, I believe, is a testament to how much it means to people. People that grew up with us in the ‘80s are bringing their kids, so I think we must be doing something right.
SPAZ: Apart from revitalizing the indie label scene, do you think Punk has changed the music industry over the last 30 years?
SS: Well sure, it’s shown kids that they don’t need a big corporate owned record company to put out music; they don’t need to be force fed the drivel that so many of these companies put out to the masses of sheep that eat it up. For me, Punk Rock is about thinking for yourself and questioning everything and I think that belief has now taken over a lot of the music industry as well as other places. And that’s a good thing!
SPAZ: When did the idea for Let Them Know come about?
SS: We wanted to do something for our 25 year anniversary and, at the same time, we realized that kids are getting their music from downloads more and more and a lot of them are not paying for the music. So, we thought “What can we do to celebrate our anniversary and make it something that really is momentous as well as something that you can’t just download?” So, we came up with the double colored vinyl, documentary DVD and a 100 page hardcover book.
SPAZ: Did the Let Them Know project grow much bigger than your initial idea?
SS: Oh yeah,, but it’s definitely turned out better than we could have imagined. It’s by far the biggest project we’ve ever done and probably the best.
SPAZ: Are you surprised that there is still so much interest in what you do?
SS: I’m pretty surprised that we’re still playing music cause I didn’t think when I was in my 20’s that I’d still be playing in my 30’s let alone my 40’s and approaching mid-life. We’re really lucky that people like what we do and continue to support us.
SPAZ: Are you proud of what you’ve accomplished over the years since Youth Brigade formed nearly three decades ago?
SS: Yeah, we’re pretty humbled by how people seem to like what we do over all these years. Like I said, we never had any “plan” we just made music and had something to say. I guess we’re doing something right.
SPAZ: What’s next for BYO and Youth Brigade?
SS: We hit the road for dates on the east coast with Off With Their Heads, a few of the shows with the Casualties, then we go across Canada w/OWTH and The Bouncing Souls. We will play the Riot Fest in Chicago next month as well as the Fest in Gainesville and Fun, Fun, Fun in Austin in November. We’ll be hitting other cities in between. Hope to be writing new songs as well and make a new record next year.
SPAZ: What do you currently have spinning on your personal CD and DVD players?
SS: All kinds of stuff from Off With Their Heads, Nothington and all the songs off our new comp to Radiohead, Fugazi, Robin Trower, Jimi Hendrix, Tricky and lots of different stuff.
A lasting tribute and testament to over 25 years of BYO, Youth Brigade and the DIY spirit that has inspired and continues to inspire so many to change the world... Told through interviews and rare footage of the explosive LA punk rock scene from the 80's until now, Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO Records is a full length documentary feature film that looks at the last 25 years of the influential L.A. Punk band Youth Brigade and BYO Records. This movie documents the early L.A. punk and D.I.Y. scene. Riots, harassment from the law, amazing bands, crazy stories, and best of all, The Sterns Family's earnest desire to change the world through punk rock are captured in this moving documentary.
Founded by brothers, Shawn and Mark Stern from the band Youth Brigade, the BYO was part political movement, part business venture that began as a way to organize punks to take positive action to help sustain their scene and their way of life. The ideals upon which BYO was founded helped countless bands put on shows, release records, and otherwise get their music out to the world. It allowed for the making of the landmark punk documentary Another State of Mind and it spawned BYO Records, which stands today as one of the oldest surviving independent punk rock labels in the world.
BYO, Youth Brigade, and the Stern family are three intertwined entities that comprise one of the too-often-overlooked chapters in the history of punk.
Interviews with Ian MacKaye (Fugazi, Minor Threat, founder of Dischord Records), Fat Mike (NOFX, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, founder of Fat Wreck Chords), Steve Soto (Adolescents, Manic Hispanic), Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio), Gary Tovar (founder of Goldenvoice Promotions), Brendan Mullen (founder of The Masque Club, author of Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and The Germs), members of The Bouncing Souls, Swingin' Utters, 7 Seconds, and many others involved in the So Cal Punk Scene.
Let Them Know... comes in two different configurations. Both feature the documentary DVD (with bonus material) and a beautiful coffee table book containing photos, quotes and more. One box is available with a 31 track CD while the other contains two colored vinyl LPs with those 31 tracks spread over four sides!
10. And just about every other f***ing song 
