LA hardcore punk pioneers Fear headline the Ritz in San Jose
One of the first bands to codify Los Angeles hardcore punk in both sound and attitude, SoCal legends Fear play classic songs when they headline the Ritz in San Jose Friday night.
Founded in 1977 by singer/guitarist (and sole constant in the band) Lee Ving and bassist Derf Scratch, the pair recruited guitarist Burt Good and drummer Johnny Backbeat to record their first 7" single. The caustic and irreverently offensive anthem "I Love Livin' in the City" backed with "Now Your Dead (Musta Bin Somthin You Said)" came out on the appropriately named Criminal Records in 1978. Alongside Black Flag's debut single "Nervous Breakdown," the songs stand as the earliest examples of LA punk rock to be released on vinyl in what would become the West Coast epicenter for hardcore.
After the release of the single, Good and Backbeat departed Fear, with guitarist Philo Cramer and drummer Spit Stix joining to complete what is widely regarded as the band's classic line-up. Fear established a reputation for its confrontational stage performances with Ving's growling delivery and often insulting stage banter becoming part of the band's trademark. The group was prominently featured in the landmark Penelope Spheris-directed 1981 documentary The Decline of Western Civilization that provided an unvarnished snapshot of LA's burgeoning punk subculture.
The band received far more exposure with their notorious appearance on "Saturday Night Live" on the Halloween night episode. Brought on at the insistence of avowed fan and former "SNL" player John Belushi, Fear played a chaotic set marked by the slam dancing and stage diving of an audience that included future punk legends Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi), John Brannon (Negative Approach), and the eventual founders of the Cro-Mags Harley Flanagan and John Joseph. It was the first network television appearance by a punk band, but the show's producers quickly cut to black amid the mayhem and Fear would be banned from NBC.
The band's debut The Record on Slash Records came out in 1982 and still stands as a classic document of LA hardcore with such bracing tunes as "Let's Have a War," (which was late included on the soundtrack fo another seminal film in punk cinema, Repo Man), "Beef Balogna" and "Camarillo." However tension between members led to Ving firing co-founder Scratch, with his spot playing bass filled by a number of musicians including future Red Hot Chili Pepper Flea at one point. Difficulty getting live bookings due to the band's notoriety and Ving's developing career as an actor would limit band activity somewhat, though they managed to release their sophomore album More Beer in 1985.
The band dissolved for a time in the late '80s as Ving moved with family to Austin, Texas, and started the outlaw country act Range War in 1987. The singer would reunite with Cramer and Stix briefly in 1992, later emerging with an entirely new line-up of the band that toured and released two more studio albums in 1995 (Have Another Beer With Fear) and 2000 (American Beer). Ving would be the keeper of the Fear flame for decades, emerging as something of an elder statesman for LA punk and contributing to such notable projects as punk supergroup/collective Teenage Time Killers and Dave Grohl's Sound City Players. More recently, the singer reteamed with Stix and Cramer in 2018, playing the group's classic material at headlining shows and festivals. The current line-up of Ving, Stix, bassist Geoff Kresge (AFI) and guitarist Eric Razo (The Henchmen, Guana Batz) recorded music for a new album, including three songs issued on a teaser EP last year that included a cover of the Rose Tattoo gem "Nice Boys (Don't Play Rock and Roll) with guest Slash and Duff McKagen from Guns n' Roses. The album For Right and Order came out a year ago to solid reviews.
For this show at the Ritz Friday, Fear -- now augmented by second guitarist Frank Meyer (the Streetwalkin' Cheetahs mainstay who also plays in Ving's Range War) -- will get support from Bl'ast singer Clifford Dinsmore's Santa Cruz stoner-rock band Dusted Angel that also features members from Spaceboy and Gargantula. Hellflowers and Bukkaki Blaster also appear. Fear will also headline a Sacramento show on Saturday at the Rinq Studios.
Fear with Dusted Angel
Friday, Nov. 15, 8 p.m. $35-$40
The Ritz