So the last time FEAR was in town, I wore my loudest pink shirt. If Lee was gonna start on that homophobic shtick you see in The Decline of Western Civilization, I was going to pick a side, so to speak -- a sort of hot pink message of, "Fuck you! I'm with them!"
Because y'see, based on that film clip, and things I'd read, but having had no actual live experience of the band, I had kinda thought that being abused and shouting back was half the point of a FEAR concert -- that it was some weird, sadomasochistic/ purgative/ quasi-therapeutic ritual of Los Angeles punk, a play-acted us-and-them cartoon that in fact hasn't really translated well geographically or temporally: "Hey, this band are going to call us f*gs, lets all go spit on them!": not an aspect of the punk scene I really had much exposure to, not an aspect of the zeitgeist that I can say I understand.
Maybe some of what you see in the film was put-on and amped-up for the cameras, but with the film then reinforcing that this was the way to behave at their shows, it must have had an impact on what was to come -- if their fans didn't really act that way before the film, damn sure they did after! Did the band finally get tired of it? What was that like, coming to shows with people primed to gob? (Surely FEAR is one of the most spat-at bands in American punk?). And when they weren't saying things to bait their audience and get a reaction, what did they really believe?
Whatever the case: no abuse was hurled at the Vogue back in 2023, either from the band at the audience or from the audience at the stage. No one noticed my pink, and Lee was very polite and thankful for the applause. One of my friends even complained that he had gone "Vegas," what with saying things like "what a great audience! I love you guys!"
I mean, it definitely wasn't what I'd expected, either. Lee used to present as someone out of a Hubert Selby Jr novel (see image below, and yes, I'm specifically thinking about Last Exit). He was singing his crudest lyrics ("piss on your warm embrace/ I just want to cum in your face!"), not censoring himself at all -- which I kind of respect; play the song or not, but don't change it, you know? ...don't water the thing down! (There are apparently a couple of lyrics that are a little less homophobic on the 2012 re-record of their classic album, The Record, like a version of "New York's Alright if You Like Saxophones" that omits the barb, "New York's alright if you're a homosexual," but that's hardly the most provocative of their lyrics, and other songs retain their bite). But in-between songs the other year, it was mostly just generic entertainer stage patter, much tamer than I'd imagined. I wouldn't necessarily say it was Vegas, but it was none of what you see in the doc.
Hubert Selby Jr
Like, would Lee be pissed off, if I could ask him about that, or would he be, "What's wrong with Vegas?" Does Lee dig Sinatra? Tony Bennett? I'm more of a Dean Martin guy myself. Lee's in that Netflix is a Joke video clip about aging punk rockers, smashing up a scooter with a hammer, so clearly he's got a sense of humour... Like, how does he feel, looking back at himself in Decline? Was that guy really him, then? When did that start to change?
It's like, if GG Allin had lived, man, if GG Allin were alive now (like Lee) in his 70s and still touring -- stop and contemplate this: he would probably have gone full-outlaw country by now (Lee has an album of country songs, you know, right? They could have toured together). The laxatives would have been given up long ago, the shitting onstage, the sucker-punching-the-audience: "Naw, man, that was my old me, I've gone acoustic for good." GG didn't live to see those days, but Lee did! We should be happy for him!
Or like, at that Iggy Pop show, where he was opening for the Pretenders here on the Blah-Blah-Blah tour, there was that one grizzled guy in the pit shouting, "Spit on me Ig!" But if Iggy had actually spat on the audience that night -- mostly comprised of 20somethings who had heard "Real Wild Child" on the radio and a song they thought of as David Bowie's, but nothing more -- if Iggy had actually SPAT on them, 95% of the audience would have shrieked and ran. It woulda been me and the old guy left: "Uh, spit on me next?"
Which is to say, times change.
People always joked about Iggy going Vegas, someday -- which would be all right by me, actually; anyone who knows the bootleg Heroin Hates You has heard what that might sound like. But if we'll make a space in Vegas for Iggy, why not allow Lee there... or maybe a home on the range? (Country people are supposed to have good manners too, right? I'd have loved to see a set by Range War. Whole album here).
So contemplating my friend's observation about Lee going Vegas, I started turning it over in my mind. Why shouldn't Lee have toned it down by now? And what did it mean about me that I had come to the FEAR show dressed to be abused? What had been going on in MY head? Why was I disappointed that Lee was nice to us? What the very fuck?
Why wasn't I just there for the songs? They played them real well; and Lee was in great voice.
I had to, like, critically reflect a bit on all this. This FEAR had not been that FEAR -- FEAR as I first saw them on a VHS rental of the Decline -- but in retrospect, that was just fine with me. I was ambivalent about that FEAR anyhow, even though I have always liked some of their tunes. I should have known better than to expect them to be stuck back then... though I'm still happy to have worn "colours," so to speak. What else can you do about a song like "Let's Have a War?" "Give guns to the queers/ the enemy's within"...? 'Scuse me?
I mean, this was not serious, right? "Let's Have a War" was surely some sort of inverted protest song, right? There's actually some wit at work here, but also an outpouring of... what? Something really angry, brewing under the surface, which isn't exactly being feigned - working-class masculine toughguy aggression -- even if the expression of it partially was a put-on, designed to provoke? Is that the dynamic, here? The band you love to be hated by? The band who represent the authority positions you abhor, who you can then safely scream your hate at?
Like, "I Don't Care About You," one of their greatest songs... it's not an actual endorsement of not caring about other people! It drags out ugly, dark stuff from us, but that what's great about it... it's kind of a digging tool for our darker feelings, stated bluntly. The ugliness is the point, the confrontation, the forcing-us-to-acknowledge how fucking cold our society is. There's a really interesting lyrical annotation to that song, from an interview with Lee, on the Genius website, for the line about seeing "a man with no legs crawling down 5th street trying to get something to eat." Quoting Lee:
I’m walking home in New York City to my little dumpy apartment, and I notice that there is a guy on 5th street … he’s a double amputee, he’s not doing good, he’s a drug addict or something, he’s fucked up. And he’s trying to ask for something, I can’t tell what he’s saying. And I’m supposed to tune this out? I’m supposed to keep walking? I don’t know, what the fuck, what kind of place is this? Is this how you look on your fellow human? “Don’t get in my way, I’m on my way to something.” You know, you’re dying here right in front of my eyes? That’s "I Don’t Care About You"… I’m thinking about these things that I saw in New York while I was living there, driving a taxi, working in the Gramophone Record Store on St. Mark’s place, and seeing just every kind of thing stumble in the door.
There's some unusual psychology to FEAR's music -- because that song sort of invites a powerfully cathartic identification with the feeling of not caring about our fellows, followed by a shame and a self-examination... it's social criticism, but disguised as an anthem of insensitivity. I'm not sure ALL FEAR songs are as rich, but, say what you will, they're not just simple thugs, here.
One does wonder, though, with a song like "Public Hangings," which side Lee was imagining being hanged... probably not in his interest for this to be known until after the revolution, depending on which side wins... they are, after all, entertainers first, right?
No, in fact, my main complaint with the last FEAR show here was that it was a very, very focused concert, playing the most obvious songs, with no deep dives, and omitting the three things I most hoped they would do, which were the aforesaid "Public Hangings;" also, they didn't play what was then their new single -- a terrific cover of "Nice Boys" by Rose Tattoo, a band that it really pleases me to know Lee digs (Does Lee like AC/DC? The Angels? Does he have history with Angry Anderson or that song?). They were selling a 7" of it in the lobby, but I guess they were operating under a "no one cares about the new stuff" principle when it came to the setlist, or maybe it was a lineup that just hadn't learned that stuff yet? I would have loved to hear it, in any case. Finally, they also ditched my other favourite FEAR song, "Responsibility," off their second LP, you know, the one with the, uhh, evocative cover?
But give it a second if you don't know it; the song is a witty hardboiled anthem for people trying to harness their energies to be productive, pushing against the urge not to be, reigning in excess: "Had a little money in my pocket for a minute/ had a little money in my pocket but it's gone/ My time is running out and my choices are few/ It wouldn't look so easy, if you only knew..."
But I do know, Lee, I do. I relate to this song more and more with each year. And the line about how knowing the time doesn't get you to your destination quicker... it's so true...
I think I actually may have seen the setlist for that night, and smiled that "Responsibility" was on it. Then they didn't play it! This tour is actually celebrating the 40th anniversary of More Beer. however. which means there's a much greater chance for "Responsibility" to be played; it is on the most recent posted setlist. And "Waiting for the Meat" will probably be represented, too, and "Null Detector"... there are some other songs I enjoy on More Beer (none as much as "Responsibility"). I used to have the album on vinyl, years ago...
Other deeper dives on the setlist include this gem that I didn't know until a few minutes ago, "Now Your Dead" with a your/ you're misspelling in the title... And while there is very little from their two most recent albums, there may well be something off their newest, The Last Time; and even if they probably aren't going to do their cover of Rose Tattoo, they might just do their cover of "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man." Yes, FEAR have covered Bob Seger (and yes, it's pretty great).
And then classics like "I Love Livin' in the City" -- of course I want to hear that again, another stone classic punk song. These are, for me, all great reasons to see FEAR again this time, and this time, I can see them without the filter of expectations or some desire for sadomasochistic catharsis, or something.... whatever that audience-abuse shtick was, it was never something I really wanted, so I am more than happy to let it go.
There are still lingering curiosities about their politics, of course, which make it an interesting time in history to be seeing this band; what will Lee have to say about the relationship between our countries? Right now, that only adds to the intrigue! Did he vote for, y'know, that guy, and doesn't that make a song like "Bomb the Russians" problematic? (It's probably on the setlist too!). There are some definite pro-American songs in their recent repertoire, like "For Right and Order," or there's the somewhat older "USA." The awkwardness of the moment, politically, only makes these things more interesting to me (they won't play those last two songs, I bet!).
So here we go: I'm going to have another beer with FEAR. [Apparently it's original drummer Spit Stix on the kit, taking a break from his duties with Nasalrod, by the way]. I don't think I'm going to bother wearing pink this time, though. Let's move on, and let FEAR move on, even if some of their lyrics are, uh, provocative... I think I'm just going to let them be a punk band I loved when I was 17, who still have songs that connect with me, and who have a few lyrics that really don't. But they're not the only band we can say that about (consider the Descendents or the Forgotten Rebels -- and neither of those bands have a song that's as chilling or potent as "I Don't Care About You"!).
Post-script: of course, most of the people reading this already bought tickets as soon as Dead Bob was added to the bill. I have not written this for them -- they're going anyhow!
And I think the Vicious Cycles have a new album out soon, and a show coming up with the JOLTS? Yes, the Jolts are back! So I'm ready to see them again, too!
FEAR Rickshaw event page here! Thanks to Bob Hanham for the photographs...!
And hey, Lee, if you've actually read this, I do know a magazine that would love an interview with you... I'm game...
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