U.S. Bombs

Much of the punk rock of the 1990s isn’t what it pretends to be. In fact, the term "punk rock" is now so convoluted and disenfranchised that finding the truth in a sea of similar impostors has become a painful task.
It didn’t always used to be this way. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was an emergent philosophy in music, a sort of backlash against the big, heavy, orchestrated, guitar wanking of what is now called "classic rock." This burgeoning musical trend was the punk rock movement, and though it was more of an attitude than a specified genre of music at first, that sound developed — the grinding guitars mirrored by the bass, the fast drums and the below average vocal skills of someone who usually had something interesting to say. Bands like The Clash, Sex Pistols (though they were bought and sold rather quickly), Dead Kennedys, Black Flag and Bad Brains all contributed to the forming of the punk rock sound and feel.
Unfortunately, these days, many bands that are labeled punk rock make music that is nothing but hopped-up bubble-gum pop, and other, old-school, usually defunct bands stage grand comebacks for no higher purpose than a paycheck. Rarely visible are contemporary bands that play punk rock for the sake of playing punk rock, and are motivated the need to create to survive — both literally and figuratively.
U.S. Bombs are one of few punk bands that are both true to the cause and relatively well-known. This quintet from Orange County has been at this together for the better part of the last five years (the band members all have histories that reach way farther back than just five years), and has managed to carve a niche for itself in the national punk circuit. U.S. Bombs are signed to Epitaph Records’ mostly-ska spin off label, Hellcat (owned by Rancid’s Tim & Lars), and they’re almost constantly touring to support their music and lifestyles.
Fronted by Duane Peters, who gained fame over a decade ago as an anarchistic professional skateboarder, U.S. Bombs also features guitarist Kerry Martinez, formerly of Shattered Faith. Rounding out the squad are guitarist Chuck Briggs, bassist Wade Wilson and drummer Chip Hannah. Martinez spoke to the Synthesis about touring and the state of punk rock in the 1990’s.

What’s new?
Just getting ready to do this West Coast thing. When we get back, we’re going to go out and do another U.S. and Canadian tour. It starts April 1^st, and that’s going to be with Falling Sickness. It’s like six to eight weeks and we’ve never been to Canada before, so it should be cool, if they even fuckin’ let us get in there. We’ve got a couple of felons in the band. It should be interesting.

Are you guys pretty much on tour all the time?
Uh-huh. We try to go out as much as we can. We’re doing this West Coast thing, and then we’re going to do another little Northern California thing with Beanfight, The Bodies and One Man Army. It should be pretty fun.

War Birth is your first record for Hellcat Records. Do you guys pretty much handle things for yourself, or does the label help out pretty well?
Yeah, it’s actually great having somebody behind us helping out, because when we were with Alive Records, well… they’re a small, kind of indie label, and they have good intentions and stuff, but, um, on some of the tours we did, there were no posters, no help, no nothing. And then they’d try to hit us, charge us for money for promotional releases of Garibaldi Guards! that they gave away.

You think they’d figure those costs in their end of the deal.
Exactly. But Hellcat’s been really cool to us. They’re on top of it and they do promotion. It’s nice to have that for a change.

It was my understanding that Hellcat is more of a ska label, but you guys aren’t a ska band.
Uh, I think right now there’s only like six bands on that label. Us and Drop Kick Murphys are pretty much the only punk bands. The others are ska, like the Pietasters, The Gadgets, stuff like that.

A lot of people consider that kind of stuff punk rock in the 1990’s. What do you think of that?
Man, I don’t even know if I wanna go there (laughing). Everything is so fuckin’ labeled and shit, man. It’s like, all of a sudden, you got grindcore, grunge, all this shit. Whatever.

What do you think punk rock is?
To me, it’s like an attitude thing. It’s mainly the attitude. The whole NOFX, Blink 182 thing — that’s all pop-y, artsy-fartsy, "I’m bringin’ my girlfriend flowers and candy" shit. You know what I mean? I just don’t think that fits in good with the punk thing. In the early days, bands like the Buzzcocks were sort of like that, and that was an exception ‘cause it was something new. All those bands had their own sound and their own stuff to sing about.

What do you like about punk rock?
Well, fuck, man. I was in the first wave. Fuck, I’m gonna be 35 real soon. The thing that caught my gig was that I grew up in the time of, like, the whole Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin thing. It was just fuckin’ stagnate. The same bands were ruling the airwaves and it was just… like the Eagles, and shit like that. It just sucked. And then came Iggy and The Stooges and The Ramones and shit, and I was just going, ‘Whoa! This is something I can relate to. This is real stuff. I can listen to what they were saying, and this is how I feel. I’m not fuckin’ free as a bird.’

So you were coming up when the Sex Pistols came into the picture and turned out to be a mix of crazy punk and a big hoax, thanks to Malcolm McLaren.
Yeah, I got into it in like, ’78. His whole thing was just to make money and to cause a big fuckin’ ruckus. But I think [the Sex Pistols] really believed what they were doing, and he just fucked everything up for them and got them to hate each other. And I don’t know if they needed money for this fuckin’ reunion thing, but I kinda’ didn’t wanna see it go down that way. I thought they were one of the best punk—actually rock ‘n’ roll—bands of all time. It was just terrible to see them go out that way.

So punk rock is as much an ideal as it is a music?
Yeah, exactly, and it’s about being a fuckin’ individual. I don't see too much of that individualism shit going around these days. Everyone’s like a carbon copy of everybody else. It’s like, in every band there’s four guys and one brain. It’s really watered down, and people have forgotten how to think for themselves and do their own thing.

What does U.S. Bombs bring to into punk?
Man, I don’t know, you tell me. We’re just ourselves, man. Hopefully we bring a little spirit to the scene, and a little fuckin’ danger and dirt, because that’s something that rock ‘n’ roll in general is fucking lacking. It’s too safe. The road’s been paved. Rock ‘n’ roll is meant to be an ugly, dangerous thing, man.

© 1998

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