Youth Brigade (band)

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 Toronto, Canada to Los Angeles in 1970, because their father worked in the film industry.^[5] As teenagers, Shawn and Mark were surfers who would skip school to smoke marijuana and attend rock concerts. At 16 and 17, they played in their first band, called Mess, which would play Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix covers at parties. A year later in 1978, they discovered punk rock, and formed a quirky prog rock/new wave band called The Extremes, releasing a four-song EP on which Shawn sang with a fake 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]

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 Sound & Fury with record producer Thom Wilson. A premature version of the LP had rushed together before the tour but pressing was stopped at 800 copies, as the band was not satisfied with the quality of the material or production.^[2] Upon returning home, Youth Brigade decided to record 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.

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]

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]}

In 1991, Mark and Adam met in a bar in Hamburg and expressed a desire to reform Youth Brigade for a tour, to which Shawn agreed. When they returned home in January 1992, they started working on new material and did a show at the Whisky a Go Go 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, U.S. Bombs, and current Social Distortion guitarist Jonny "2 Bags" Wickersham and recorded the next full length To Sell the Truth in April 1996. Produced by Steve Kravac (Less Than Jake, MXPX) and mixed by longtime friend Thom Wilson (Offspring, Bouncing Souls). In 1996, the band also contributed to the 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 Fat Wreck Chords compilation, Short Music For Short People. The song was recorded in a friend's living room.^{[citation needed]} In mid-1999, they went in to record six new tracks for Volume 2 of the BYO Records Split series. The flip side of the album was recorded by Northern Californian punks Swingin Utters.

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

• Sound & Fury (1982)
• Sound & Fury (1983)
• The Dividing Line (1986) (as The Brigade)
• Happy Hour (1994)
• To Sell the Truth (1996)

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

• Epitaph / Care (by Vicious Circle / Youth Brigade) (April 1986) – Reactor Records (REACTOR 009)^[13]
• Youth Brigade/Screw 32 (1995)
• BYO Split Series Volume II (1999)

• Sink With Kalifornija (1994)
• Out of Print (1998)
• A Best of Youth Brigade (2002)

• Someone Got Their Head Kicked In! (1982)
• Something To Believe In (1984)
• Someone's Gonna Get Their Head To Believe In Something (1994)
• Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin (1996)
• How To Start A Fight (1996)
• The World Still Won't Listen - A Tribute To The Smiths (1996)
• Sample This! (1997)
• Dropping Food on Their Heads Is Not Enough: Benefit for RAWA (2002)
• Sample This, Too (2002)
• Voices in the Wilderness: A Benefit Compilation (2005)
• Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO Records (2009)

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Youth Brigade.

• Full Youth Brigade biography
• BYO Records Homepage
• Youth Brigade Spanish
• December 2009 Interview
• June 2009 Youth Brigade Interview
• KILL FROM THE HEART Youth Brigade – History, Discography, Info
• 1984 Interview by Guillotine; Jackson Heights, NY Ragged Edge Collection @ Archive.org