Youth Brigade preview and interview – at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles – Friday March 12, 2010

Catching up with the guys in Youth Brigade is always a good time be it over cold Corona beer, at a show or where ever around Los Angeles. We got Shawn and Mark Stern to share this conversation we recently had with them about the upcoming show on March 12th, the recently released DVD "Let Them Know" and all things Youth Brigade and BYO Records related. This is what they had to say.

You guys performed with the Adolescents at the El Rey 6 years ago, and now you're playing with them again at the same venue on March 12th. Are you guys excited to play with them? Will you do anything differently as opposed to last time?

We always have fun playing with the Adolescents, they're a great band that has been around as long as we have and we're one of the first bands we worked with when BYO started. They have a couple of songs on the first BYO comp, "Someone's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In" and they played the Youth Movement '82 show as well. When we played 6 years ago Adam was in the band, but Joey Balls has been playing bass with us the past couple of years since Adam has been working on lot's of big time movies doing CGI. And Johnny Fingers, Joey's band mate from Blue Collar Special and Old Man Markley, joined us last year when we played some of the NOFX 25 year anniversary shows. So, we've been a four piece the past year and it sounds great. We've been doing a lot of different songs and hopefully we'll throw in a few curve balls.

How would you compare how your records sold back when you started out to how they are sold today?

Well, of course when we started there was only vinyl and it was hard to get records into stores for independent bands and labels. That started changing as the music became more popular and then with the development of CD's and the big boom in '94 when Green Day and Offspring helped make Punk rock huge! Now it's come full circle in the past couple of years as more and more people get there music by downloading it and unfortunately the majority of them don't pay for it. So, it's a little hard to compare since things have changed so drastically, but that's the nature of life, things change, you adapt or you get left behind.


What aspects of the old way do you miss? What aspects of today do you like, and what do you dislike?

I don't really miss anything, cause I'm not someone that lives in the past. It was great to be there back in the day, as they say, but we just wanted to play music and sing about what we felt was wrong with the world. I think the fact that people paid attention and that we must be doing something right is the reason that we are still playing and kids still relate to our music and ideals. I like the fact that it's easy for people to discover our music and all the bands we have grown up with and worked with and had the honor and pleasure of knowing because I think that Punk rock is still great music that stands the test of time. I think it's great that technology has made it easy for people to appreciate and understand and know the history and continue trying to make great, inspiring and intelligent music. On the other hand, technology has allowed just about anyone to make music, record music, start a band and that isn't always a good thing. Too many people making mediocre music. And don't even get me started on "virtual" music "tools" that give kids the illusion that they are actually playing music. Video games are just that, games. There is no shortcut to learning to actually play a guitar, bass, drums or whatever instrument and learning to write songs and express yourself.


Do you believe the kids in the Punk scene today could pull something like Godzilla's or Skinhead Manor off? Why or why not?

Actually I do, in fact I went to a warehouse downtown a few months ago that was pretty cool. We didn't invent DIY, putting on shows or having communal houses, that's been going on since people started communicating and living together and will continue on as long as we all get along.

You guys have toured to a lot of places. Is there anywhere you haven't played that you'd like to?

Australia, Russia, Central & South America, China, hey, it's a great way to travel and if we can surf there too even better!

Whose idea was it to make the documentary "Let Them Know"? Are you happy with the way it turned out? And what it is that you want people to take away from it?

Mark & I came up with the idea cause we were trying to figure out not only what to release for our 25 year anniversary, but what we could release that wasn't going to just get downloaded. So, we talked to Jeff and Ryan, who made the Bouncing Souls DVD and that's how it all started. I think they did a great job, we're really happy with how it turned out. I think it's a funny look into the history of our family, Youth Brigade, BYO and our part in the punk scene over the years. Hopefully it reminds people that were there of some of the things we all did and gives people that weren't some insight into what we did from the people that were actually there.


What was your favorite cover on the "Let Them Know" soundtrack and why?

Oh, you can't really expect me to pick one. I think it's full of great songs, I'm a little partial to the covers of Youth Brigade, but everyone really did a great job and I think it's a great example of the community of punk rock.

I heard somewhere that you guys passed up on signing Sublime on B.Y.O. Is this true? If so, why didn't you?

Well, there were quite a few bands that we had talked to and tried to work with, but for one reason or another, it didn't work out. Sublime was one of them and there were quite a few others. Our philosophy has always been that we have to like the band as people, like there music (and we did) but also have to believe we could help them. And at the time, for many different reasons, it just didn't happen.

Were there times when you guys wished you would have stayed in Canada rather than moving out to California?

No, as much as we didn't want to leave ( I was 10) I got over it pretty quickly. I'm pretty happy in California.

One of the many things that I learned in "Let Them Know" was that Mark was an English Lit major at UCLA, and that reading Shakespeare and Milton and Chaucer "bored him to death". What made you chose the major, and do you think it had any effect on writing song lyrics?

Actually I was the English Lit major. I actually liked Shakespeare and Chaucer, Milton bored me to death though. I liked English literature in my senior year in high school, I took existential lit and then a class on Herman Hesse and it always fascinated me. I think maybe I thought I'd write, since my father is a screenwriter. And it helped with the song writing most definitely.


Do you think that if you guys hadn't done the "Another State of Mind" tour, it would have taken longer to get to where you are now?

I never really thought about it, but I don't really think about what could have or should have or might have been.

I read in "Let Them Know" that Fat Mike first called you up back in '83 trying to open for 7 Seconds, and they actually did that night to Mark's surprise. How did it feel to open up for NOFX on their 25th anniversary show?

Mark put them on that show actually, he was promoting it. I love NOFX and I'm happy to be able to play with them. We have a great time doing shows with them.

How do you feel that the ethos of the BYO philosophy that goes beyond the record label itself is still alive today in the Punk scene, or has it changed or completely forgotten about in the current generation of Punks?

I think the ideals that I believe in, that you need to do things for yourself, think for yourself, not be a sheep and follow are age old and I hope they'll continue to influence people, especially young people. Otherwise, your just a sheep and a mindless consumer and that's no way to live!

What is that one question that interviewers never ask that you wish they did?

Oh, I really don't know, I never thought about it. What's my ideal woman? HAHA! I don't have one, I mean, who could pick JUST ONE!

The song Sink with California has really became that one song in your set that every time you play everyone looks forward to. Shawn, give us the brief meaning behind the song, and why it has become that one song that everyone wants to come on stage for?

Well, I wrote the song during English lit classes at UCLA and it was right after we got back from the ASOM tour. I was influenced by how amazing it was that we travelled around the country and were able to meet other punks in all these cities and towns across the U.S. and Canada. I believe the glass is 1/2 full, I'm an idealist, albeit these days in my "older" age I temper my idealism with a good bit of skepticism and maybe I pepper it with some cynicism, but at the time I really thought that we could really change things and that's what the song is about. That kids are the future, that we have to change the petty, medieval tribalism that still, to this day, is a major cause of wars and crimes against humanity in the world.  I think people like to sing along and that's a great song to sing along to, so we always are happy when people get up onstage to sing with us.

  Thanks guys for the visit, its always fun

Youth Brigade MySpace: www.myspace.com/youthbrigadebyo

Don't miss the show on Friday  March 12, 2010 at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles
with: The Adolescents, Youth Brigade, Blockage and The Crowd

Check out the contest tab at the top of the page to enter to win tickets to this show!

-Sarah K.-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter