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Youth Brigade
A.K.A. The Brigade
United States - Los Angeles, CA

PHOTO: GLEN E. FRIEDMAN Youth Brigade was a power trio consisting of the three Stern brothers: Shawn (guitar/vox), Mark (bass) and Adam (drums). Their family moved from Canada to LA where father Stern worked in the film industry. The brothers were surfers who played in cover bands until punk rock hit them in 1978. Their first band, the Extremes, featured Shawn singing with a fake British accent. In late 1979 the elder two Stern brothers (Shawn & Mark) moved into a giant punk party house dubbed "Skinhead Manor" next to Hollywood High School. Youth Brigade was conceived in 1980 as a skinhead swing band, but couldn't find enough members willing to shave their heads. Stripping down to a three-piece outfit, the band started playing out, initially without much success. After the demise of the Manor, the Stern brothers continued the band and their new psuedo-collective: The Better Youth Organization (BYO). BYO was Shawn's positive reaction to a bloody riot at the Masque. The loose-knit group worked at a grassroots level doing promotion, booking, and even security for LA-area shows. Using the brother's Bar Mitzvah money, BYO put out their first record in 1982, the Someone Got Their Head Kicked In! compilation LP. The record featured bands from BYO's "Youth Movement 82" showcase - a huge show attended by thousands of punks. The title came from a song by UK band The Rezillos (and was actually written by a member of Fleetwood Mac!). The LP featured the first Youth Brigade material. The band quickly followed up with their own full-length, 1982's Sound and Fury. After the first pressing of this record, however, the band decided they were unhappy with some of the material. They rerecorded the LP and released a new version with several songs and the front cover changed. The Youth Brigade sound was a bombastic mix of early UK punk and skinhead sounds with the emerging US hardcore thing, though "Men In Blue" found them dabbling in early rap stylings. Most of their songs had anthemnic sing-along choruses, and the lyrics often posed questions rather than offering slogans. They took the act on the road along with Social Distortion in a beat-up used school bus - an ill-fated trip documented in the classic movie Another State of Mind. Youth Brigade managed to put out one more 7", 1984's What Price Happiness before they fell apart in 1985. Adam went to art school and the other two continued playing as the Brigade, dropping the hardcore sound for a more mainstream rock thing. The band reunites from time to time, touring and putting out records as Youth Brigade. The reunions sparked some controversy in the new, DIY-centered hardcore scene (see the exchange between Shawn and Kent McClard linked on this page for more of that). BYO continues to operate as a record label, and all the early Youth Brigade material has been reissued on compact disc.

DISCOGRAPHY Releases: SOUND AND FURY (1) LP (BYO Records, 1982) SOUND AND FURY (2) LP (BYO Records, 1983) WHAT PRICE HAPPINESS 7" (BYO Records, 1984) SINK WITH CALIFORNIA 7" (AA Records, 1984) THE DIVIDING LINE LP (BYO Records, 1986) COME TOGETHER 12" (BYO Records, 1986) COME AGAIN 12" (BYO Records, 1992) SINK WITH CALIFORNIA 7" (BYO Records, 1993) HAPPY HOUR LP/CD (BYO Records, 1994) TO SELL THE TRUTH LP/CD (BYO Records, 1996) Splits: YOUTH BRIGADE/7 SECONDS split 7" flexi (BYO Records/Black White Zine, 1984) VICIOUS CIRCLE/YOUTH BRIGADE split LP (Reactor Records, 1986) SPIES FOR LIFE split 7" (BYO Records, 1995) YOUTH BRIGADE/SWINGIN' UTTERS split CD (BYO Records, 1999) Reissues/Etc: YOUTH BRIGADE COLLECTION LP (77 Records, 1988) SINK WITH KALIFORNIJA CD (BYO Records, 1994) Compilations: SOMEONE GOT THEIR HEAD KICKED IN LP (BYO Records, 1982) YOUTH MANIFESTO tape (LA Rocks, 1982) UNDERGROUND HITS 2 LP (Aggressive Rockproduktionen, 1983) SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN LP (BYO Records, 1984) 77 KK LP (77 KK Records, 1985) ANOTHER SHOT FOR BRACKEN LP (Positive Force Records, 1986) FLIPSIDE VINYL FANZINE vol. 3 LP (Flipside Records, 1987) SUBURBAN VOICE 15TH ANNIVERSARY COMPILATION CD (Suburban Voice Zine, 1998) INFO Interviews: