(Photo: Brooklyn Vegan) Back in the late 80's I walked into the Ritz in the middle of the Laughing Hyenas and watched in disbelief while singer John Brannon churned out one hell of a gutteral yowl for the duration of a whole set in almost inhuman fashion. The Hyenas channelled extreme rage through total Stooge/primal Alice Cooper mode with a somewhat bluesy Birthday Party swagger, and eventually I learned he fronted Detroit's hardcore godfathers Negative Approach in the early part of that decade. Later it all came into focus: NA were very much first-wave and represented Detroit as one of the pockets dotted around the USA (see Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains), with Brannon & company consolidating the midwest brotherhood with the Necros and Meatmen and eventually moving into early singles via Corey Rusk's Touch and Go label (originally a zine, where yes, people learned of the underground way before the internet). As far as first-wave HC goes, Negative Approach were among the most vicious feedback-pummel units going. Songs careened by in seconds, were pretty much politics-free, focusing on sheer vocal/instrumental destruction. They were inspired by not only their American peers, but UK groundbreakers like Discharge (who, like, NA, were big Stooges fans). In 2006 they returned to the stage at the Touch and Go label anniversary, with Brannon and original drummer Chris Moore augmented by Ron Sakowski on bass and Harold Richardson on guitar, reportedly wiped the place down. On the day of their recent Southpaw show, they amazingly agreed in a day's notice to come down to my show on FMU, plugged in and turned us to mush with 16 songs in 25 minutes.
Negative Approach live on WFMU 5/14/08 (broadcast 5/27). Host: Brian Turner, engineer: Richard Rusinkovich (edited-for-FCC version appeared over air). Co-interviewer: Tony Rettman. Ken Freedman shot video of "Hypocrite" and "Dead Stop".
Set list: Lost Cause / Can't Tell No One / Sick of Talk / Hypocrite / Dead Stop / Whatever I Do / Tied Down / Evacuate / Your Mistake / Why Be Something That You're Not / Pressure / Fair Warning / Nothing / Borstal Breakout (Sham 69) / Never Surrender (Blitz) /Solitary Confinement.
Whole session in one shot here (MP3)
The live audio in this post is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license
i think something is wrong with the file, i'm getting insane feedback when trying to play it after download.
Posted by: dorf | May 29, 2008 at 03:52 PM
scratch that, you fixed it.
Posted by: dorf | May 29, 2008 at 03:55 PM
now we're moshing...
thanks bt!
Posted by: jeff | May 29, 2008 at 04:07 PM
Amazing detail: Drummer Chris Moore has more recently whacked the skins for WFMU uber-volunteer and songwriter Pete Galub in his fine band The Annuals. http://www.myspace.com/petegalub
Posted by: mike lupica | May 29, 2008 at 05:14 PM
Also, Negative Approach's cover of Iggy's "I Got a Right" is far and away the most blistering version ever done, laying waste even to the original as far as I'm concerned. I don't know if there's a studio version out there, but the live rendition on N.A.'s "Total Recall" CD is amazing -- John Brannon reduces entire sentences to mere syllables like none other.
Posted by: Lupica, again | May 29, 2008 at 05:18 PM
Negative Approach's cover of Iggy's "I Got a Right" is far and away the most blistering version ever done...
backed
Posted by: jeff | May 29, 2008 at 07:02 PM
Nobody can ever claim this band was not truthfully named. Fortunately we now live on a prozac contaminated aquifer. Looking forward to watching/listening to this when I get home. I can't tell you how many times I played this band on my cheesy hand-me-down turntable, the speakers on either side of my head like earphones.
Posted by: bartleby | May 30, 2008 at 11:23 AM
I can't expect everyone I'm friends with to genuinely like Negative Approach, but I'd probably have a hard time hanging with someone for too long who couldn't see how genuinely powerful this action is. Brannon's vocals are still so nuts, band's tight as hell, OP sounds like a machine. Killin' it.
Posted by: Nate K | May 30, 2008 at 02:43 PM
Love the old N/A stuff, but for my money (now that im 38..) Ill take Easy Action any day of the week
They f'ing smoke
Posted by: Todd | May 31, 2008 at 02:28 PM
NA were the kings and they still sound sick today. thanks for this post.
Posted by: devil dick | June 01, 2008 at 10:40 AM
oh my, this is so good! thank you. i used to listen to their first ep all the time. i can't believe brannon's voice could be even more harsh than it ever was.
Posted by: Clifford | June 01, 2008 at 01:39 PM
This is pretty awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUiBmkOUGkE
Posted by: Brian Turner | June 01, 2008 at 04:16 PM
it's delights me to no end that even in my mid-40's listening to NA still makes me want to punch someone in the face.
Posted by: sid bators | June 02, 2008 at 11:52 AM
the youtube link leads to other negative approach awesomeness. thanks...
Posted by: jeff | June 02, 2008 at 04:57 PM
This video rules! N.A., Easy Action, Laughing Hyenas all rule very much! I have very fond memories of seeing the Laughing Hyenas many, many times! They were gods in our town (Ann Arbor) and pretty much everywhere else. The kids need to know!
Posted by: Magas | June 15, 2008 at 11:22 PM
NA were the kings and they still sound sick today. thanks for this post.
Posted by: sohbet | September 01, 2008 at 12:05 PM
the youtube link leads to other negative approach awesomeness. thanks...
Posted by: sohbet | September 01, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Didn't realize they played WFMU but this is all kinds of awesome awesomeness as was their Southpaw show. Best part of the video is Brannon browsing the lyrics on a music-stand like some sort of torch singer but then again isn't that what he is? He's definitely a national treasure.
Posted by: BHS | October 23, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Thank you admin
Posted by: sohbet | November 22, 2009 at 07:20 PM
it's delights me to no end that even in my mid-40's listening to NA still makes me want to punch someone in the face.
Posted by: Jhonny | April 24, 2010 at 03:28 PM