Punk Show Violence Prompts Call for Change : Clubs: Police and promoters say Ice House security needs to be improved after two attacks. Venue’s booking policy may be modified.

A night of punk rock in which one fan was stabbed and another beaten has brought the Ice House under scrutiny by police, who want assurances from the club’s operators that rock shows at the cavernous brick building can be run without further violence.

The trouble occurred last weekend at a concert headlined by the Vandals, one of Orange County’s longest-running punk bands. According to a police report, an 18-year-old Long Beach man was punched and stabbed, and another concert-goer, a 21-year-old man from Orange County, told police that he was knocked down by a punch, then kicked by several assailants.

In both cases, police said, the victims said that their attackers fit the shaven-headed, tattooed appearance of skinheads, a punk subculture whose look is frequently just a fashion statement, but also can be a sign of allegiance to neo-Nazism and white supremacist ideology.

The stabbing victim, who asked that his name not be used, said Friday that he was standing on the Ice House’s floor, waiting for the Vandals to play, when he was accosted by a skinhead. The skinhead objected to the Jimi Hendrix T-shirt he was wearing, uttering a racial epithet demeaning the black rock hero.

“After that, he hit me in the face,” the victim said.

The man said he then “got jumped” by about 11 or 12 skinheads. “I felt about seven more (blows) to the head. . . . I didn’t even know I was stabbed until I was at the hospital.”

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A police spokesman, Sgt. Glenn Deveny, said that the stabbing victim sustained a punctured left lung and was taken by ambulance to UCI Medical Center. A family member said he was recuperating at home after a two-day hospital stay. There was no arrest, Deveny said, because when police arrived, many others in the crowd matched the attacker’s description.

After police responded to the stabbing, Deveny said, the night’s second victim approached them and said that he had been punched, then kicked in the head, while dancing. He suffered a cut lip and bruises but declined to be treated by paramedics.

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Both incidents occurred Dec. 16 after 11 p.m., during a lull between performances on the four-band bill. Promoters said that after huddling with police, they decided to allow the remaining band, the Vandals, to play a brief closing set of about 15 minutes so that a crowd police described as “unruly” would not be further angered by a cancellation of the headliner. Police estimated there were 600 to 700 people in the audience.

A promotion company called Culture Shock has been overseeing concerts at the Ice House since July.

“We’ve done over 40 shows, and that’s the first incident we’ve had,” said DennisLluy, one of the Culture Shock partners.

Another partner, Amy Toten, said the Ice House, which serves no alcohol on rock-concert nights and is open to all ages, will immediately change its security arrangements for rock concerts.

She said that Culture Shock, as well as John Pantle, an independent promoter who has used the Ice House under Culture Shock’s supervision (including last week’s violence-plagued show), had raised objections recently because the house security staff hired by the building’s general manager did not have special training in concert security.

She said the general manager, Francisco Roman, agrees now that a change is needed and that Culture Shock plans to hire Event Control Security, a company specializing in concerts, in time for shows scheduled Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Lluy said promoters also will consider installing metal detectors.

“Obviously that knife got into the facility, and that was a main problem right there,” he said.

Toten said the Ice House is proceeding with seven of the eight events that were booked before last week’s violence raised questions about the future of the venue, which is at 112 E. Walnut Ave., near the Fullerton Amtrak station.

Most of the upcoming shows feature grass-roots, Southern California ska, alternative and melodic punk bands, the types of groups that have been an Ice House staple.

A February show by Greg Ginn, former leader of the influential hard-core punk band Black Flag, has been canceled; its promoter, Pantle, said he was told by the Culture Shock partners that city officials were concerned it could lead to problems.

Fullerton Police Chief Patrick McKinley said Thursday that he plans to meet with the Ice House operators after Christmas to discuss the building’s future as a rock venue, with the main issues being “security and what they’re booking in the place.”

“We want to lay down the ground rules,” he said. “What occurs at that meeting, and what kinds of commitments we get (will) determine whether we (revoke) their conditional-use permit”--the city permit needed to stage events.

McKinley said one new condition he may propose is that the Ice House hire off-duty Fullerton police for concert security. He added that promoters are apt to object to such a requirement because the police would work at a city-specified overtime pay rate substantially more costly than private security.

Asked whether he would insist that no more punk rock be booked, McKinley said, “I may.” But he added that he also is reluctant to be an arbiter of what styles of music are appropriate.

“I’ll meet these guys and see what kinds of assurances they give us,” he said. “If you’re going to have that kind of activity, (the Ice House) is as good a place as you can have for (punk shows).

“I guess all cultures need some place to meet. We just have to control it,” McKinley said. “We have to have appropriate security, know (in advance) how many people are going to be there, and if more come, cut it off. . . . They’re cutting corners with their security, and they just can’t do it.”

Ice House manager Roman said Friday that he always has met or exceeded the police-mandated security standard of at least one guard per 100 people attending an event. He said the security staff at the Dec. 16 show was seven men to handle a crowd of 600 to 700.

McKinley said police have sometimes been told by promoters that an Ice House concert is expected to draw about 300 people, only to have twice as many turn out, raising concerns about whether enough security will be on hand. The venue’s capacity is 578 for the main concert area, according to Lluy; factoring in a side room and backstage area, he said, its total capacity is 718.

The Ice House, which is owned by Bushala Brothers Inc., a Fullerton construction company, has had a sporadic, problem-plagued history as a rock venue. Various managers and promoters have leased the building in recent years and tried to establish it as a rock-concert venue and dance hall. In some cases, crowd-control problems have led to loss of permits or the imposition of restrictions that made concerts difficult to stage.

Since the summer, the new manager, Roman, has leased the Ice House, booking wedding receptions and Latino dance nights on Saturdays and Sundays, while contracting with Culture Shock to program rock music on weeknights.

McKinley agreed with the Culture Shock partners that until Dec. 16, problems had been held in check under the new management.

“They seem to have done a better job (than past operators),” the police chief said. “I haven’t had any real complaints. I’ve been out to a couple of Friday night (concerts). Although the kids looked weird to me, or different, (the shows) seemed to be going relatively well.”

Lluy blamed last weekend’s violence on “a group of 10 or 15 Nazi skinheads that showed up. . . . We’re going to be more careful now” to avoid booking acts that might attract such a following.

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Patrick Hall, guitarist of the second-billed band, HFL, said that a contingent of racist skinheads that has dogged the Huntington Beach band’s performances “was definitely there, maybe 50 (of them). They’re usually the ones who have their hands sticking up in the air (in Nazi ‘Sieg Heil’ salutes), and there were people doing that” during the Dec. 16 show.

“I’d like to make it clear that (in) no way do we endorse anything like that,” Hall said. “We’re a very anti-(racist) band. It’s been nothing but headaches for us. We tell them not to show up, and it makes them show up even more. They bum us out.”

Hall said the neo-Nazis simply seem to like the musical style of HFL, whose initials stand for Hard, Fast and Loud. Hard-core is a punk sub-genre that typically emphasizes speeding, thrashing beats and angrily barked lyrics, in contrast to the catchier, more rhythmically varied melodic-punk style.

Punk rock has exploded commercially in the past year. Melodic punk bands such as Green Day and the Offspring--an Orange County band that opened for the Vandals at the Ice House about two years ago when the Offspring was a virtual unknown--have become staples on MTV and alternative-rock stations such as KROQ.

Pantle said he hopes that the wave won’t be held back in Orange County by a ban on punk at the Ice House.

“There’s a much better chance of (punk) being shut down because of the stigma behind the name,” he said. “Unfortunately, something like (the violence on Dec. 16) has the potential of turning into a hot-button issue that could turn back years of work these bands have put into making a vibrant, energetic music scene in Orange County that helps everybody and rarely causes any trouble.”

“We’re not sure what the outcome is going to be,” he added, insisting that punk shows, if properly staffed and secured, will not pose a threat to public safety. “Hopefully, everybody is going to understand.”