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WE GOT POWER!: Hardcore Punk Scenes From 1980s Southern California, by David Markey and Jordan Schwartz

WE GOT POWER!: Hardcore Punk Scenes From 1980s Southern California, by David Markey and Jordan Schwartz

$24.95

“Vital to understanding the birth of American punk rock…an essential addition to the history of a movement”—Los Angeles Times

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“Essential reading…the funniest of the local mags”—Matt Groening

“The book is a wonderful document of something that has continuity and lasts, the stuff that matters. It’s the finding of a voice of a generation.”—Chuck Dukowski

• ISBN 978-1-935950-07-3
• Deluxe 304pp large-format landscape hardcover
• Dimensions: 12″ x 9″ (305mm x 230mm); 4 lbs. (2.5 kg)
• Featuring essays by David Markey, Jordan Schwartz, Jennifer Schwartz, Henry Rollins, Keith Morris, Chuck Dukowski, Dez Cadena, Louiche Mayorga, Eugene Tatu, Cameron Jamie, Pat Fear, Steve Humann, Tony Adolescent, Jack Brewer, Jula Bell, Mike Watt, Sean Wheeler, Joe Carducci, Daniel “Shredder” Weizmann, and Janet Housden.
• Presenting nearly 400 first-generation L.A. hardcore punk photographs. Including complete color reprints of <em>We Got Power</em> fanzine 1981–1983 and beyond.

“One of the most thorough and lush compendiums of any punk movement”—Dangerous Minds

“The stark, often beautiful imagery presents an intimate portrayal of West Coast punk in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. With the accompanying personal reminiscences of turmoil and tenacity, which add depth and evocative context, it is a fantastic document of the scene’s emergence.”—PopMatters

Read “Frank Navetta and the Descendents,” sample chapter by Joe Carducci 

In 1979, punk was over… but by 1981, hardcore was born. As teenagers in 1981, David Markey and his best friend Jordan Schwartz founded We Got Power, a fanzine dedicated to the first-generation hardcore punk music community in their native Los Angeles. Their text and cameras captured the early punk spirit of Black Flag, the Minutemen, Social Distortion, Red Cross/Redd Kross, Suicidal Tendencies, the Descendents, White Flag, the Last, the Gun Club, Saccharine Trust, Sin 34, Nip Drivers, Circle One, M.D.C., Big Boys, Youth Brigade, D.R.I., the Butthole Surfers, Firehose, and many others at the height of their precocious punk powers. In the process, the duo’s amazing photographs also captured the dilapidated suburbs, abandoned storefronts, and dereliction of the early Reagan era—a rubble-strewn social apocalypse that demanded a youth uprising! Never before seen except in crude fanzine form, these detailed and richly narrative photos are now collected to present an intimate portrayal of a uniquely fertile creative moment.

“The Black Flag bus rolled out to the San Fernando Valley to hear Minor Threat play. Jordan Schwartz was there, looking like a reporter straight out of some ’30s movie, wearing a trench coat and a fedora with press pass in the hatband, holding a camera with an old-style flash reflector. It was a pivotal conceptual moment…”—Chuck Dukowski

David Markey was born December 3, 1963, in Burbank, CA. He made his first film at the age of 11 and published a neighborhood newspaper at 12. In 1980, he became involved in the local underground music scene. He helped form Sin 34 in 1981, and captured the punk scene in the Super 8 film The Slog Movie. Markey was a part of We Got Power magazine from 1981 to 1983, then kept the name alive through his We Got Power Films. He cowrote and directed Desperate Teenage Lovedolls in 1984. He photographed, edited, cowrote, and directed Lovedolls Superstar in 1986. Also that year, his band Painted Willie toured with Black Flag for six months, a period depicted in his film Reality 86’d. Markey has directed music videos for Meat Puppets, fIREHOSE, Shonen Knife, Mudhoney, and Pat Smear, and collaborated with visual artists Cameron Jamie, Raymond Pettibon, and Kim Gordon.

Jordan Schwartz met David Markey while skateboarding in a flooded Santa Monica parking garage in 1979. As they discovered the growing Los Angeles hardcore punk rock scene, Jordan teamed up with David, his sister, Jennifer, and Alan Gilbert to found We Got Power magazine. Jordan contributed in many roles, including that of staff photographer. Jordan had producing and acting roles in Desperate Teenage Lovedolls and the sequel, Lovedolls Superstar, notably appearing as the rock star Brews Springstein. Jordan facilitated the release of three Black Flag skateboards featuring original artwork by Raymond Pettibon. In 1984, Jordan began working and living at SST Records’ Global Network Agency booking gigs and tours for various high-profile bands on and off of the label during the pioneering years of the U.S. independent scene.

Weight 4 lbs

Reviews

  1. Travis

    this is amazing news…congrats indeed!

  2. Dave w

    This book looks incredible….cant wait !

  3. roro

    really nice to see this finally out properly !!!!!

  4. RJ

    please let me know when the pre-order is ready

  5. María Isabel

    YES! Another incredible Bazillion book -I already have Metalion and Touch and Go.

  6. roro

    what will be bonuses ???????

  7. Gary X Indiana

    woo hooo!

  8. Ren Cerro

    Dave, Nice to see this coming out. Remember Michele (the tall guy with glasses, who did punk flyers, and I were always giving you a ride home after Cathay shows in his yelow Dodge dart?We all had some good times back then. Too bad you didn’t get my story of me hiding in the boiler room at the Cathay to avoid paying. That night was The Patriots, White Flag and maybe Die Kruezen, or COC. I don’t remember. We were overheated to about 100 degrees lying under oily, hot machines and Don Bolles came in, looked around, then placed the padlock on the door, but didn’t click it shut….DAMN!! we would have died in there!Anyhow, I look forward to the book. PS> for punk cred and reference, I was the last bassist for America’s Hardcore, played guitar in Fatal Error, then the guitarist and singer for NatureCoreRen Cerro

  9. roro

    Release date delayed… early september it seems…ANY NEWS ABOUT THE BONUS ?????

  10. Maria Isabel

    When is coming out! I need a date!

    • admin

      The release date is October 16, but we will be shipping direct orders from this site several weeks earlier. Thanks!

  11. Jon Beverly

    Looks great, saw it yesterday at track 16. Contains my letter in issue 2!

  12. Show reviews: Meat Puppets, The Middle Class, and Phranc at Track 16; Patti Smith at Amoeba; Electric Guest and Black Shakespeare in Eagle Rock ¬´ Giant Robot

    […] because I couldn‚Äôt handle the second-hand pot smoke. But it was a rad show, and I received the book that the gallery was celebrating a couple of days later. With insightful, no-holds-barred essays by […]

  13. ‘We Got Power! Hardcore Punk Scenes From 1980s Southern California’ – Book Preview

    […] week saw the release of ‚ÄòWe Got Power! Hardcore Punk Scenes From 1980s Southern California,‚Äô a massive book packed with photos and […]

  14. La Lengua

    Fucking finally. By which I mean, YAY! 🙂

  15. We Got Power!: Hardcore Punk Scenes From 1980s Southern California | Reviews | APESHIT

    […] and subculture emerged to change the world? Regardless of whether you were or not, the new book We Got Power!: Hardcore Punk Scenes From 1980s Southern California takes you back to the heyday of hardcore in Southern California. Most of the legendary bands of […]

  16. Joe Daly | We Got Power: The Halcyon Days of Southern California Hardcore | The Nervous Breakdown

    […] 80s. Thirty years later, Markey and Schwartz have collected their old issues and bound them into a thick hardcover compilation of We Got Power, including upwards of 400 eye-popping photos of their view from the front lines. Adding to this […]

  17. Book Review: We Got Power!: Hardcore Punk Scenes from 1980’s Southern California | For the Love of Punk

    […] We Got Power! is available from Bazillion Points Books and most of the normal places you‚Äôd expect on the web. Do yourself a favor and check it out HERE. […]

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