Local Artists Reflect ‘80s Punk Influence

On the Orange County rock scene during the 1980s, all the young dudes--well, a whole bunch of ‘em, anyway--were apt to be playing punk rock or some derivative thereof.

As blues is to Chicago and Texas, punk has been to contemporary Orange County rock: not the only style around, but certainly the most pervasive and influential.

The local scene has broadened stylistically since the mid-’80s, but that punk strand remains important. Witness this batch of new releases, all by musicians who were part of, or at least were affected by, the O.C. punk rock movement of the early 1980s. The ratings scale runs from one asterisk (poor) to five asterisks (a classic).

*** 1/2

Lost Souls, “Howlin’ at the Moon”

One has to wonder what Lost Souls could have come up with if the band had been handed one of those six-figure recording budgets that are standard for major-label acts. This homemade, self-financed CD could have benefited from the beefier sound that a big-label budget would buy. But even on a limited budget, Lost Souls manages to scorch with raw yet often eloquent biker blues that leaves Harley tire tracks all over most of its glossier hard-rock competitors.

The album isn’t uniformly strong (the last three tracks are markedly weaker than the first seven), but most of its failures stem from the band’s willingness to reach beyond itself instead of staying in a comfortable groove.

Singer Mike Malone doesn’t have the pure vocal ability to drive home a cover version of Love’s “7&7 Is.” The same goes for the band’s own composition, “Gone and Away,” a soul-blues ballad that tries to follow in the footsteps of Otis Redding.

Even though Malone’s husky voice lacks the mass and range you’d expect in a first-rank blues-rocker, most of the time he makes up for that with savvy phrasing, a way of getting the feel right even when the technique isn’t perfect. And he does command a strong, raspy holler that resembles Jim Morrison’s grittiest, bluesiest vocal gestures.

Good, varied material abounds here, written by Malone and lead guitarist Scott Atchison.

“All Her Words” swipes the Modern Lovers’ memorable “Roadrunner” riff but takes it for a furious ride. “Live Together” and “Ridin’ the 3rd Rail” are first-rate bad-boy-rocker boasts that Malone lifts out of the ordinary with witty lyrics. To be a bad boy rocker is to be a social outcast, of course. Lost Souls reflects philosophically on being an outsider in the melancholy anthem, “Doors Open In,” then handles the same theme in an earthy, comic vein with “(No One Loves a) Drunk Indian.”

Standing out above these very good tracks are two excellent ones. Orange County punk has produced a number of memorable laments about heroin casualties (smack having been an all-too-real presence in the local rock scene), but Lost Souls’ ballad “Sonja (and the Heroin Girls)” is one of the very best. Atchison’s sensitive guitar, Malone’s delicate vibes playing and his aching, cracked, faraway vocals make the drug experience almost palpable. The lyric gives a tautly evocative, nonjudgmental guided tour through a junkies’ den, while the frayed, crepuscular, dreamily disembodied tone of the whole performance is full of expressive resonance. This is a portrayal of deep emotional pain, dulled with pharmaceuticals so it can be held up for the sufferer’s hazy, uncaring, comfortably numbed contemplation. Marianne Faithfull herself couldn’t have done it better.

“Death Mask” depicts a feverish nightmare as it rocks with a propulsion and a jazzy, progressive, art-blues feel that recalls the Allman Brothers Band. It peaks with a sizzling duel between Malone on vibes (used often on the album as an effective alternative to keyboards) and guitarist Atchison, whose hallmark is economy and thrust without a hint of self-indulgence.

Lost Souls, 361 Walnut Ave., No. 1, Long Beach, Calif., 90802.

***

Rikk Agnew’s Yardsale, “Emotional Vomit” (Triple X).

The former Adolescents and D.I. guitarist trots out an album’s worth of odds and ends, playing most of the music himself--guitars, basses, keyboards, vocals and drums--with an occasional assist from friends and family, including brothers Alfie and Frank Agnew. Rikk isn’t a gifted singer, but his strangled, impassioned vocals have a way of growing on a listener (except during “Rubies and Sapphires,” where Agnew’s attempt at a floating, Hendrixy quality is hard to stomach). Instrumentally, Agnew’s signature sound--a massed attack of fast-riffing guitars, riding along on rat-tat-tat, punk-style drumming--is almost always up to par.

Half the material is so-so, but the other half succeeds in unexpected ways.

Agnew gets fiery, hard-hitting results by applying an Adolescents-style guitar onslaught to Depeche Mode’s grim but catchy “Never Let Me Down Again.” His lunatic thrash-rant “Stress (I Go)” is a fine bit of comedy in which Agnew drives himself to a canine froth over life’s daily insults.

A strong romantic streak comes out in the hurt-and-betrayed “Read Between the Lines” and again in the wistful ballad “Marie,” another song that could have benefited from a big-dollar production. “Horse Bites Dog Cries,” left over from Agnew’s D.I. days, provides the obligatory--but nevertheless emphatic and on-target--anti-smack tirade. An interesting oddity is “Ode to Red,” in which Agnew creates a spacey Twilight Zone ambience as a backdrop for an underground cult tape that features an old codger fulminating obscenely and hilariously in response to a crank caller.

No hint of a firm direction here, but this thirtysomething punk’s sense of humor and heart-on-sleeve intensity of feeling are still strong. So is his willingness to explore beyond punk boundaries, which helps make this a yard sale worth browsing.

Triple X Records, 6715 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 284, Hollywood, Calif., 90028.

***

Social Distortion, “Story of My Life . . . and Other Stories” (Epic)

The full-length albums “Prison Bound” and “Social Distortion” are still the recommended points of entry for curious newcomers. But for confirmed fans of Orange County’s most successful punk-boom survivors, this five-song CD release is a must.

While the excellent, countrified title song is the same recording that appeared on “Social Distortion,” the remaining tracks are not available elsewhere.

Mike Ness lets his guitar do the loudest, most persuasive talking on live versions of the early ‘80s SD staples “1945” and “Mommy’s Little Monster.” That thick, throbbing six-string tone, piercing through a satisfying background din put up by the rest of the band, captures SD’s exciting live essence. Studio covers of Bo Diddley’s “Pretty Thing” and a rockabilly oldie, “Shame on Me,” offer more of the same--roots rock delivered with a punk band’s wallop.

** 1/2

The Offspring, “The Offspring” (Nemesis).

It’s obvious whose offspring these Cypress-based punks are. On a few songs, the band races in the footsteps of 1981-vintage T.S.O.L. with razorlike guitar lines, drawled, theatrical vocals, and plenty of alienation in the lyrics (it may be more than coincidence that the Offspring enlisted Thom Wilson, producer of early T.S.O.L. and Adolescents tracks, to record this album). “Beheaded,” a slasher-film fantasy that’s funnier than it is gross (and it’s pretty gross), strongly echoes the sensibility of that old T.S.O.L. farcical horror number, “Code Blue.”

On the sociopolitical side, the defiantly pacifist Offspring are far more acute than T.S.O.L. ever was. “Tehran,” which predates the Iraqi crisis, is a chilling, all-too-current vision of America at war in the Middle East: “The captain said, ‘Kill or die’/Islam be damned/Make your last stand in Tehran.” Only the geography is a little off on this potentially prophetic anti-war number. The tumbling beat and twisting Middle Eastern guitar figures make this the album’s most interesting piece musically.

Another song, “Kill the President,” keeps alive the old punk tradition of agitating and provoking through blunt overstatement. It’s obvious that the Offspring don’t condone assassination, and those willing to listen beyond the provocative title will find that the song has a significant point to make about the threat an imperial presidency poses to democratic rule. Hey, guys, let us know if the FBI comes calling.

When not honoring their early O.C. punk roots, the Offspring also play the more up-to-date, pop-inflected style of punk typical of All and Big Drill Car, although both of those bands are far more adept at giving their songs melodic lift.

Overall, the Offspring’s debut album plows through already-tilled territory and tends toward musical sameness. But it also shows a promising spark of intelligence.

Nemesis Records, 1940 Lakewood Blvd., Long Beach, Calif., 90815.

***

Big Drill Car, “Small Block” (Cruz).

This is a CD reissue of a six-song EP originally released in 1988. Almost everything here is lean, clean and sinewy, played with explosive force and impressive instrumental tightness. Big Drill Car’s melodies tend to duplicate each other, but that’s not a daunting problem in a short format like this. The outstanding cuts are “Annie’s Needle” (more evils-of-smack realism) and “Mag Wheel,” a scornful blitz that sounds like a cross between ZZ Top and Iggy Pop.

Cruz Records, P.O. Box 7756, Long Beach, Calif., 90807.