If you’ve ever stopped by one of the Boardwalk’s free summer concerts, you are familiar with the idea: a crew of formerly famous (or formerly almost-famous) musicians playing radio-friendly hits. I Don’t Wanna Hear It! are not those guys. “F*ckin A, dude! Let’s go party!” So begins the locally based punk rock supergroup’s cover of Black Flag’s “Wasted.” It’s just one in an arsenal of bruising, off-key, yelling/ screaming/ slurring, ’80s punk covers that I Don’t Wanna Hear It! are likely to tear through when they play with Agent Orange and Stellar Corpses at The Catalyst Atrium this Friday.
The group, which takes its name from a Minor Threat song, is composed of members from many well-known punk acts from the late ’80s and early ’90s—including No Use For A Name and Fury 66. Their catalog comprises mostly ’80s punk and hardcore songs. “That kind of music catalyzed us in our youth,” explains Nick Davern, the group’s bassist (formerly of Skulduggery and Pariah Faction). Davern and his bandmates have found that they weren’t the only ones in Santa Cruz who grew up skateboarding and listening to punk cassettes. “When we play shows it’s always packed,” he says. “There’s cover bands everywhere, but nobody really does what we’re doing.” He muses that just as punk rock influenced his life, it must have influenced the lives of the men and women who come to I Don’t Wanna Hear It! shows. “We were a bunch of hellions back in the day,” he says of himself, his bandmates and others of his generation. Just because they’ve grown up, had kids, and own businesses, doesn’t mean that they feel any less of a connection to the hard, fast, three-chord thrash that they grew up on. “Punk is vital,” Devern says. “The essence of punk rock is still very much alive for me.” |
INFO: 9 p.m. Friday, May 25. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $10/adv, $13/door. 423-1338.
