Traditional Detroit hardcore punk band Negative Approach have recently been in LA for their opening of Circle Jerks, and are now in Long Beach for their upcoming matinee gig. This one is going to be ferocious, with Final Conflict, Zeke, and Dry Socket also slated to play.
LA Weekly said of the set with the CJ’s, “There are few hardcore frontmen more naturally intimidating that John Brannon, a man who sounds like he’s gargling broken glass. His stare burns through lead, as he prowls the stage. Honestly, we would have liked to have seen them further up the bill but we doubt the NA guys give a shit. Songs such as ‘Tied Down’ and ‘Ready to Fight,’ plus covers of the Stooges’ ‘I Got a Right’ and Sham 69’s ‘Borstal Breakout’ are the perfect appetizer.”
This writer also wrote a 2010 cover story published in Detroit Metro Times said, where John Brannon famously said, “When we started Negative Approach, we held onto our back influences, like Alice Cooper and Dead Boys — the shit that stood the test of time. We kind of wanted to do an American version of the English ‘Oi!’ thing, without the racism. We were bored white kids from the suburbs that shaved our heads. It had nothing to do with politics.”
The musician also added, “We created a scene out of nothing. We started doing underground shows. We were like, ‘Fuck this, half of our audience can’t get in because they’re 15-year-old skateboarders’. That was how the whole do-it-yourself thing started. There was a real sense of accomplishment, because everyone was young and starting record labels, getting records out. Local fanzines like [Lansing’s] Touch and Go were getting nationally distributed. That was a big-ass fucking thing.”
