Drawing a Sellout Crowd With a Return to ‘80s Punk

For the past year, Dragonfly has been one of the most consistent barometers of the trends in Los Angeles’ club scene. When it was cool to be spotted in a Bee Gees T-shirt and hip-hugging bell-bottoms dancing to disco, Wednesday’s now-obsolete Superfly was your catwalk.

So it’s no surprise that the Hollywood club is on the cutting edge of Los Angeles’ latest trend: the revival of early ‘80s punk. Tuesday night’s punk club Sellout has become the room’s biggest draw, bumping some of its leftover boogie nights into quasi-obscurity.

On Tuesdays you’re apt to see steel-toed boots and dickeys, which is fitting considering the music lineup. Since the club opened three months ago, Sellout has featured raucous live performances by the Circle Jerks, the Vandals and Thelonious Monster--joined by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who played a punk set. Chuck LaVallee and Trudy Truelove, the club’s promoters, are also selectively booking the progeny of some of these acts.

Sellout is offering such good music right now that it has become a hangout for a number of the scene’s artists--the Peppers’ Dave Navarro and Chad Smith and the Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones are regulars. But true to punk’s origins, Sellout’s coolest draw is its unscheduled performances, which have included guest turns by Bad Religion and the original members of T.S.O.L.

* Sellout, Tuesdays at Dragonfly, 6510 Santa Monica Blvd., $7 cover or $5 with flyer, (213) 466-6111.