Youth Brigade (band)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the band from Washington, D.C., see Youth Brigade (Washington, D.C., band).
Youth Brigade
Brothers Shawn (center) and Mark Stern (right) have been the two consistent members of Youth Brigade since the band's formation.
Background information
Also known asThe Brigade
OriginHollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States
GenresHardcore punk[1][2][3]
Years active1980 (1980)–1987 (1987), 1991–present
LabelsBYO
MembersShawn Stern
Mark Stern
Adam Stern
John Carey
Past membersGreg Louis Gutierrez
Bob Gnarly
Jonny Wickersham
Joey Garibaldi
Mike Carter
Websitemyspace.com/youthbrigadebyo

Youth Brigade is an American hardcore punk band formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1980 by the brothers Mark, Adam, and Shawn Stern. The band subsequently founded BYO (Better Youth Organization).[2] Many later punk bands cite Youth Brigade as an influence, including The Nation of Ulysses[4] and The Briefs.[4]

Youth Brigade have released five studio albums, including one released as The Brigade. Four of their five albums feature the band’s original lineup brothers Mark, Adam, and Shawn Stern. Bassist Bob Gnarly replaced Adam for the recording of 1985’s The Dividing Line, released as The Brigade. Adam returned in 1991 when the band reunited) and contributed to the band's 1992 EP Come Again and their next two albums Happy Hour and To Sell the Truth before leaving once again in 2007. Youth Brigade continue to tour, although other than six tracks on the 1999 album BYO Split Series Volume II, they have not released a full-length studio album since To Sell the Truth in 1996.

History

Formation (1979–1981)

The Stern family, consisting of older brothers Shawn (guitar and vocals) and Mark (drums) and younger brother Adam (who would later play bass), moved from

English accent.[5]

In the fall of 1979, following a visit by touring British Oi! band Sham 69, the oldest two Stern brothers moved into a large house in Hollywood, California, near Hollywood High School, and christened it "Skinhead Manor." The large punk house became a meeting place which drew participants from as far away as Huntington Beach and Oxnard.[6] The house was a nexus for creative energy around small recording studio onsite. Bands such as the Circle Jerks used Skinhead Manor as a practice space and residents planned to the launch a pirate radio station.[6]

Skinhead Manor was also a place where people interested in forming punk bands could meet, and where the Sterns briefly created a swing band called the Swinging Skins Brigade, the precursor to Youth Brigade.[7] The Manor also spawned No Crisis and other bands.[6] The use of drugs and alcohol were also prevalent in the house, with homemade wine made onsite, a Coke machine stocked with beer instead of soda, and drugs such as methamphetamine used by some visitors.[6]

Youth Brigade recalled in a 1982 interview:

... The manor kind of fell apart because we got too many assholes that didn't give a shit. And there wasn't any money to support the ideas. That's the most important thing — you need capital. So we split, the landlady wanted us out, too. Then the place was mysteriously burned down.[6]

A club called Godzilla's, located in a former bowling alley in the Sun Valley section of Los Angeles,[8] became the new hub of activity for the Stern brothers, and the venue grew into a mecca for punk rockers from around Southern California.[6] With everyone working at the club, soon a small nest egg of working capital was accumulated, and Better Youth Organization (BYO) was launched in 1982 as an umbrella for the promotion of punk rock shows and the production of music.[6] Shawn and Mark Stern also formed their own label, Better Youth Organization, as part of the project.[9]

Youth Brigade's first year of existence was as a six-piece but played their first gig as a trio on New Year's Eve 1981 at Godzilla's nightclub. They were part of the big BYO extravaganza "Youth Movement '82" at the Hollywood Palladium, where 3500 people showed up for an all Los Angeles bill in early February.[9]

Sound & Fury (1982–1983)

In the summer of 1982, after recording three tracks for the first BYO record release Someone Got Their Head Kicked In, Youth Brigade set out in a big yellow school bus on an ambitious 30-city North American tour with fellow hardcore band Social Distortion. The 1984 film, Another State of Mind, chronicled the event.[10]

After about 30 shows and several breakdowns they returned home to record their debut LP

a second version under the same title that kept four tracks from the original version with the rest being newly recorded.[2]
This was followed by a 50-date tour of North America during the summer.

Final years of original era (1984–1987)

After having secured a licensing deal for Sound & Fury in England, plans were made to tour Europe in the fall of 1984. Youth Brigade released the three-song EP What Price? in spring 1984 and then played around 50 dates throughout the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia, Poland, and England as one of the first independent American bands to tour the underground of both Western Europe and Eastern Bloc countries.[citation needed] After this tour, younger brother and band bassist Adam decided to return to art school and finish his degree.[2] The band recorded the last show with Adam in June 1985 at Fenders Ballroom in Long Beach, California and these tracks have been released on Italian and French releases as well as the Sink With Kalifornija CD collection.[citation needed]

Brothers Shawn and Mark continued on as "The Brigade" for about two years after the departure of Adam, giving their first interview under the new moniker in April 1986.[11]

Royal Crown Revue (1989–1991)

In 1989 Mark and Adam, along with younger brother Jamie Stern, founded the swing band Royal Crown Revue along with three other musicians.[12] These three Stern brothers left the band in 1991, shortly before the Youth Brigade reunion. Royal Crown Revue continued with new members replacing the departing Stern brothers.[citation needed]

Reunion (1991–present)

In 1991, Mark and Adam met in a bar in

Hollywood.[citation needed
]

The band recorded six songs in July at Westbeach Studios for their Come Again EP. In the middle of September, Youth Brigade once again packed their bags to tour Europe. The tour covered Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Poland.[citation needed]

More than ten years after their debut, the band recorded Happy Hour at Westbeach Studios and released it March 1994. Soon after they added former Cadillac Tramps,

AIDS benefit album Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin produced by the Red Hot Organization along with Cuca (band).[citation needed
]

In 1998 the band went back in the studio to record a 30-second song for the

Swingin Utters
.

In October 2013, Brian Hanover (Hanover Saints, Union Hearts) replaced Mike Carter on guitar.[citation needed]

Members

Youth Brigade Incarnations
(1980–1981)
(1981–1985)
(Classic lineup)
(1985–1987)
(as The Brigade)
(1987–1991)

Band on hiatus

(1991–1994)
(1994–2000)
(2000–2007)
(2007–2009)
  • Shawn Stern – vocals, guitar
  • Joey "Balls" Garibaldi – bass
  • John Carey – guitar, vocals
  • Mark Stern – drums
(2009–2013)
(2013–present)

Discography

Studio albums

EPs and singles

  • What Price Happiness? (1984)
  • Come Together (1986) (as The Brigade)
  • Come Again (EP)|Come Again (1992)
  • All Style No Substance (1994)

Split releases

Compilation albums

Compilation appearances

References

  1. ^ Staff (December 22, 2009). "Youth Brigade - To Sell the Truth Review". Punknews.org. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  2. ^
    ISBN 1-85227-969-9
    .
  3. ^ Prato, Greg. "Youth Brigade - Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "AllMusic | Record Reviews, Streaming Songs, Genres & Bands". AllMusic. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  5. ^
    ISBN 9781932595895
    . Retrieved Aug 10, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "The Better Youth Organization". Flipside. No. 32. Summer 1982. p. 9.
  7. ^ Eager, Wendy; Goph; Donny (1984). "Youth Brigade". Guillotine (8) – via Internet Archive. It started as a swing band and was called Swinging Skins (SS) Brigade. We put an ad in the paper and all these horn players showed up.
  8. ^ Helen (February 1983). "Flipside's List of Dead Cubs (Millions of Dead Clubs!)". Flipside. No. 37. p. 42.
  9. ^ a b "Youth Brigade". BYO Records. BYO Records. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  10. ^ Mark Deming (2007). "Another State of Mind". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2007-11-12.
  11. ^ Hudley Flipside; Al Kowalewski (Summer 1986). "The Brigade". Flipside. No. 49. et al. pp. 20–22.
  12. ISBN 978-0-87930-600-7
    .
  13. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original
    on 6 April 2004.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Youth Brigade.
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