Mike Atta benefit to star Watt, Adolescents, Burger tape, more

By Randall Roberts

Jan. 25, 2013 12 AM PT

Los Angeles Times Pop Music Critic

Former first-generation Southern California punk guitarist Mike Atta might not be as known as some of the peers he and his band the Middle Class influenced, but his place in the annals of L.A. rebel music is understood. The band was founded in 1977, and was one of the region’s first hard-core punk bands -- if not the first.

Need evidence? The lineup for Friday night’s benefit concert at the Echoplex, which has been organized in an effort to stem Atta’s medical bills from cancer treatments, will feature some of the great names of early L.A. punk. They will include Alice Bag, Channel 3, 45 Grave, Mike Watt (ex of Minutemen) and his Missingmen, Channel 3, Shattered Faith, the Urinals, White Flag, Agent Orange and others. Toss in younger punks, including one of the region’s best in Audacity, and the result is a night of chords and screams in honor of Atta’s riffs.

Atta, who now owns and operates the excellent vintage furniture shop Out of Vogue in Fullerton, has as good a taste in antiques as in riffs.

Want an expert’s opinion? How about the late Brendan Mullen, founder of the underground Hollywood punk club the Masque, who spoke to the OC Weekly in 2002 about the Atta brothers’ band: “Many hold the Middle Class up as probably the first American hard-core band, which basically meant playing faster downbeat tempos than the first wave of ‘Hollywood’ proto-hard-core bands like the Germs and the Bags.”

More enticement: How about Fullerton record store/label Burger Records’ killer punk mixtape, which will be sold in conjunction with the benefit? Below is the track listing, which was selected by White Flag’s Pat Fear and features original artwork by Raymond Pettibon:

01 7 Seconds - Compro
02 Adolescents - Conquest Of The Planet Of The See Monkeys
03 Adrenalin O.D. - Small Talk
04 Anarchy 6 - Suburban Jail
05 Audacity - Five People In The Bedroom
06 Big Boys - I’m Sorry
07 Channel 3 - Another Day
08 Circle Jerks - Red Tape
09 Cows - Chow
10 Eddie & The Subtitles - American Society
11 EMPIRE - English Mist
12 F - The Yellow Corn Boy
13 Fastbacks - Fast Enough
14 Flag Of Democracy - Suburban Cowboy
15 Germs - Out Of Time (Live)
16 Giuda - Number 10
17 Government Issue - Plain To See
18 Halo Of Flies - Ballad Of Extreme Hate
19 Love Canal - Jimmy Closet
20 Meatmen - Stud
21 Mike Watt + The Missingmen - Sweet Honey Pie
22 Mudhoney - Tales Of Terror
23 Necros - Help
24 Negative Approach - Pressure/Fair Warning (Live)
25 Nervous Gender - Slave (Demo)
26 NOFX - New Years Revolution
27 OFF! - Poison City
28 Redd Kross - Pretty Please Me (Live At Amoeba)
29 Scream - Cry Wolf (Demo)
30 Shattered Faith - Right Is Right
31 SIN34 - 34 Sins
32 The Detours - The Saint
33 The Fix - No Idols
34 The F.U.s - Death Wish (Live)
35 The Garden - 8 Foot Tall Man Walking Out Of The Forest
36 The Middle Class - Body and Soul
37 The Mormons - Razorburn Stigmata
38 The Muffs - When I Was Down
39 Vatican Commandos - Housewives on Valium
40 White Flag - Radio Free Misanthropia}
41 White Night - Oh Crud