Filed under: Etc.
During an interview for the fall 2001 issue of Venus Zine, the inimitable Warn Defever of His Name is Alive told me this about the band’s then-singer, Lovetta Pippen:
“I’d say her and maybe John Brannon are the best singers I’ve ever heard in my life. When you’re in the room with them, there’s so much … heart. You feel like you’re with someone who’s an American treasure.” (The full story can be found here.)
At the time (and now), Brannon sang/liquefied eardrums with the band Easy Action, but he’s best known for his work with the early-’80s Detroit hardcore band Negative Approach and later Laughing Hyenas. In September of 2006, NA was featured in the film American Hardcore, and that same month, Brannon assembled a new version of the band to play Touch & Go’s 25th anniversary and a couple shows in the U.K. later that year. The band also played the No Fun Fest in Brooklyn last May. (This year’s fest is at Knitting Factory this weekend.)
And, holy crap, Negative Approach [same reconfigured lineup, which includes original members Brannon and OP Moore (drums), plus Harold Richardson (guitar) and Ron Sakowski (bass)—Rob and Graham McCulloch played guitar and bass in the original lineup] is playing a show Wednesday at Southpaw in Park Slope, Brooklyn!
As a Park Slope resident, I think I might as well take this opportunity to remind people hanging around in other areas of blogland, who’ve been led to believe that Bugaboos have bulldozed the neighborhood, that there are a few remnants of dusty, grungy goodness still here. In addition to Southpaw, sweet dives like Great Lakes and Buttermilk abound, not to mention this little gem on Fifth Avenue and 9th Street:
But back to Brannon, I was just a wee tot when Negative Approach played to raucous piles of sweaty dudes as seen in this footage aired on Back Porch Video and this video, apparently from 1983. So I’m super-stoked to hear this American treasure in the flesh.
Incidentally, I think it’s safe to assume that Defever’s quote marks the only time Brannon has been mentioned in the pages of Venus, a sweet mag that focuses on women in music, art, film, and fashion. I guess that’s something to be proud of.
Incidental Info Part 2: My bio on the contributors’ page of that issue of Venus is accompanied by this photo:
Funny story—the issue was going to print, and Amy Schroeder (the zine’s publisher/editor and my very first editor at my college paper The State News) was calling to let me know she needed my pic by that afternoon. I was at work, and we were in the dark ages of pre-social networking/Flickr/etc., when digital photos of everyone and their mom weren’t slapped up all over the Internet and easily accessible and e-mail-able. The only thing I could find to send her was this image of me with DJ Assault that appeared alongside an article I had written a few months earlier, titled “Bein’ his bitch: MT’s music ho gives it up for DJ Assault and booty bass.” Um, yeah. So, I told her to cut Assault out of the photo, since it didn’t really seem an appropriate pairing for a feminist zine. Alas, Amy thought it was too perfect a picture to mess with (and honestly, I have to agree) so Assault got into Venus that fall as well.
