issue #07 pdf - Razorcake

Casey: It felt like Kiss at the Forum. Thatexcitement.$: That Galaxy show was the best show ofthe year.Casey: That was the moment of total fun.Tony: These songs are really important tous. (To Casey) I’m sorry I didn’t mean tocut in like that.Casey: That’s it, I quit! The Galaxy showwas killer. The Galaxy is a pretty centralizedlocation in Orange County to the areaswe all ran around in when we were growingup. It’s a great venue, so when people heardabout it…$: Everybody came out of the woodwork.Casey: Everybody. It was a special night. Ithink it was one of the best gigs I’ve everseen in Orange County. There was a vibe inthere. People walked out of that place justlaughing and singing and talking. I couldn’tbelieve it. A phenomenon.Tony: Yeah, it’s great when you can bringpeople together like that. I didn’t see anyfights or anything like that. It felt really niceand healthy. I was disappointed in the waysome of the security reacted to some of thekids.$: Yeah, you stopped right in the middle of“Amoeba.”Tony: Bottom line: there were a couple ofescorts out that were totally unnecessary forsomebody just getting on stage. I’m sorry,they do get in the way, but we don’t need tosee anyone get their neck bro-32ken over it, you know whatI’m saying? There was justsome really poor escorts. Butback to the material, thesesongs are all important to us.This is our history.$: Did you guys first startplaying out at the RenaissanceCafé?Steve: Yeah.Tony: I wasn’t in the bandyet. I was an audience member.Steve: That’s where I metTony. I was in Agent Orange.Rikk and I, when we metTony. Rikk and Tim Magsused to take Agent Orange upto Hollywood because wewere only fifteen and couldn’tdrive. And I remember drivingup there and going“Somebody should start aband with Tony, because he’sgotta be in a band. He’s thisinsane kid who’s been comingto these shows. It’s gotta fuckinghappen.”Tony: They felt sorry for me.He’s gonna go off the deepend. We gotta save this poorkid.Steve: Rikk and them got theDetours back together, and Iwas like, fuck it, I’m starting aband with Tony.$: How long did the scene atthe Renaissance last?Steve: It was pretty short.Tony: Six months.Steve: There was a time at a show when theowner shut the power off.Casey: The Potty Women (NaughtyWomen).Rikk: That was the Assistance League.They were tearing up pictures of porn andthrowing it at people.Steve: That’s when I first got to knowTony. We were sitting at a table by candlelightwaiting for the power to come back on.Tony: I was the resident lunatic.$: What was it about the scene at MikeNess’s apartment, a.k.a. the Black Hole, thatinspired such a profound song?Steve: That song is exactly how it wasthere. Rikk described that scene perfectly. Ifyou listen to the song, that’s what it was.Everything that’s in that song went downthere. You could open the bedroom doorand someone’s screwing somebody. Peopleare wasted everywhere.Tony: The place smelled like piss, stalebeer and fuck.Johnny Random: That’s the way a studioshould smell like.Rikk: This was a home.$: A house not a home.Tony: Everybody who relates to the songhas a place like that in their past so they canrelate to that on some kind of level.Understand that this was a central meetingplace for a number of people who weresocial, and in many cases, family rejects.This was a place where they could go andhave a camaraderie and listen to music. Wedid have a culture and a lifestyle that wasdifferent from everyone in the countyaround us. So it was a place where we couldget together. I think Rikk did a really goodjob of describing the whole vibe of theplace. He’s not given the credit as the historianthat he is. But he did a really good jobof analyzing something that was beyond thecomprehension of most people. If he hadn’twritten it down in the way that he did, wewouldn’t have been able to revisit it asmany times as we all have, because therereally was some magic there.Rikk: Same with Playpen.Tony: Mike Ness did the same thing withPlaypen, which I want to point out that Iwrote the second verse.Casey: No way! I was in on writing thatone, too.Tony: I did “losing battles, losing fights.The police will never take away our…”Steve: You didn’t like The Man, either.You’re like the little punk rock kid whodoesn’t like the bouncer.$: Reading interviews and oral histories ofthe Orange County punk rock scene, I get asense that it was a lot more dangerous to bea punk rocker in places like Fullerton than,say, Hollywood.Rikk: Yeah it was.Steve: I don’t want to sound like grandpapunker and how I used to have to walkuphill both ways to school in the snow andblah blah blah. But sometimes I just want tosay to these kids, I got my ass beat for you.It’s true.Casey: But the thing is, we were having funand having a good time with our standpoint.We’re just happy to be teaching people andletting them know where we’re comingfrom. Kids nowadays are good. Kids backthen were good.$: Is it true you guys got kicked out ofDisneyland?Rikk: They wouldn’t let us in.Tony: They wouldn’t let us past the gate.Rikk: I was dressed normal as possible. Ijust had a shaved head, a white t-shirt on,and jeans.Casey: I kept falling down. They thought Iwas Dopey, so I got in.Rikk: It was me, and my date at the time,Karen. Japanese Karen. Mike Ness andMichelle Bell. Mike had a beret and asweatshirt. And we were clean. Just twocouples who wanted to go to Disneyland.And they were like, no. You can’t come in.So we went to Knot’s Berry Farm instead.Casey: The Knot’s family was alwaysmuch more accepting.Tony: When things really started to take offand the band started getting some radioplay, we started playing some big parties inGarden Grove. We played two parties withina week that were like half a block fromeach other. And just to show you how