Shoot- where to start? Crass and the Germs come to mind, but that was just a percentage of it. The Lewd comes to mind too. The Decline of the Western Civilization. Schaeffer Beer. Anything by Brian De Palma. Apocalypse Now. Scarface. Clint Eastwood. The San Diego Police Department had a big hand in our bad attitudes, but our rebellious nature was just a natural reaction to the hoola-hoop bullshit parents and teachers tried to pawn off as "socially acceptable" around the time we were growing up.
The introduction of the Sex Pistols and the Clash seemed to throw everything like 5 degrees off center from the time I heard it onward. Lloyd was listening to Darby and Crass a lot- Joel was too. Dunno what Dan was listening to- everything, probably. Toby's head was spinning with all the new shit coming from every direction. Toby was listening to the Adolescents a lot, and the Buzzcocks. Lloyd was listening to Legal Weapon and the Lewd a lot. Dunno what our influences were. Seems to me we were mostly in it for the chaos and to have a good time and most importantly to do something- not just stand around breathing air.
Sounds Like
Reagan Youth meets the Germs. Anti. M.I.A. Crass. The Fuck Ups. D.O.A.
The basis of the band formed at a show in El Cajon, CA in 1980. When the band (T-Birds?) went on break Lloyd, knowing I played guitar, asked those around if anyone played drums. No idea who it was but the 3 of us jumped on stage, grabbed equipment, and started playing God Save the Queen only to be kicked out of the show within a minute. That was the beginning.
With Lloyd and Joel as the Core the search began for a drummer and Bass Player. The original Bass player may have been a guy named Greg Cook, though I don't think he ever actually played. The original drummer also might have been a guy named Greg Cook.
The first active drummer was a kid named Kent who's mom packed him a lunch and he fell usually asleep in the club before we went on (That would be our first real gig with the Lloyd/Joel/Toby Lineup- with the Penetrators at the Distillery East.) The original Bassist was Toby (unless Jim Dodd played a little before Toby?) Jim Dodd definitely stood in once on Bass at Fairmount hall. After Kent quit on drums we had a hispanic guy that looked like Chico De Barge. He practiced twice but we booted him unanimously, mostly because his chico and the man moustache and the fact that he had wind chimes on his drum kit. And yes- not one but two cowbells.
We got lucky when we got Dan Mehlos on drums. Dan was the hardest working drummer in San Diego punk rock. He was playing with Men of Clay and the front, and sitting in with a couple other line-ups (possibly catch 22 and the weathermen- I don't remember for sure.) Personal Conflict played with the Lloyd/Joel/Toby/Dan lineup through 82 and 83, playing a few club gigs with bands like (Crucifix?) and the Vandals. But the bulk of it was house parties and wierd gigs we could get wherever- we played that bookstore next to the Brass Rail that Lou Scum from the Injections set up. The Injections got through their set with the landlord only turning the power off three times and the police coming once. After that we took the entire contingent to the Brighton Street house in Ocean Beach- about 300 punks in a 2 bedroom beach cottage- total anarchy. I loved 1982.
Another memorable one was the Men of Clay House party. First off Lloyd, and Toby are doing beer bongs in the backyard before we played. Then after we begin playing the cops come a couple times. Each time we break everything down and hide it in a spare bedroom, locking the door with a girl named Margo inside. The cops would sniff around and then leave and we'd set back up and continue playing. Funny thing was it was the bikers across the street with the swastika flag on their wall who were calling the cops on us. Who ever heard of a biker calling the cops? Posers.
The Black Mountain road gig was a good one too. I think Lloyd and Joel did double duty trying to keep me sober until after we went on. A generator on an old house slab in the middle of no where in Del Mar. Like ten bands, couple hundred punks. The cops rolled out there at the end of the day and turned around and rolled back into town. They should have been ecstatic we weren't in Del Mar raping and pillaging.
Then there was the Slave Market, a gig we played with another band that I actually don't recall at a bar in East San Diego. The punks were about the only white people around there, and we never got shut down by the cops, never had any trouble. People seemed kind of into it, except for the Korean Grocery store owners next door.
Joel sent me a note today reminding me of a thing we played on a boat downtown that I really don't remember. His note said:
Sorry! an unexpected error has occurred.
This error has been forwarded to MySpace's technical group.
Why, Tom? Because Myspace's platform is a complete pile of shit- that's why! I JUST WANT TO HIT "HOME" AND GO THERE! IT"S NOT LIKE I"M CLICKING MY HEELS TOGETHER THREE TIMES!!!!
I'll put that letter in there later after I stuff my arm elbow deep up Tom's ass and hit him on the back of the skull so hard his frontal lobe cracks off and he can use it for a motherfucking ashtray.
G'nite, Amerika- and good luck.
Okay- that note from Joel:
dont forget the show we played with the injections on the yacht that we had to be boated out to. lloyd wanted to take over the ship and go to hawaii after the rest of the crew had been ferryed back. we all dropped acid on the boat and i was supposed to follow you guys to mission or ob but was frying too hard. on the way back, on I-8 a cop came up behind me saying " pull to the right" in the mission valley area. he was talking to the car in front of me but the rest of the ride home was a nightmare. hope youre feeling better. joel
Okay. That's one I vaguely remember as if someone told me about it second hand. Was I for sure there? Which bay was it on?
I was on a lot of drugs there for a while- just dropping acid like it was candy. When I was in south mission I was doing a ton of speed- but I remember most of the time I was doing speed pretty clearly. It's the acid memories that are pretty vague. And goddamnit I would really like to remember them- some of those times were the best ever!
Give me a little more outline and some details and I can write about it. That sounds classic. you were there, lloyd had chelsea in tow, dont know if sue was with dan or not. i was trying to hit on some non punk rich girl blond and took her eyeliner and did the whole catwoman eye thing. coke and pot were free and acid was 2 bucks. we all got extremely high and then harbor police showed up to shut us down. i was on the rd350 following you all in 1 or 2 cars back to the garage on pescedaro in ob but was frying too hard and just wanted to get home. after the mission valley cop thing "pull to the right" kept flashing into my brain the rest of the ride. just another day at the office for us back then.
A Video of some people we all knew and loved, 1983 at 517 4th street in San Diego. The usual suspects:
1983 san Diego punks Part 3
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So this puts us at late 1982 with the band, Lloyd is pulling axles during the day and playing at night, I wont go into the rest of Lloyd's details out of respect for him and since he's not here to check me but I'll just say that Lloyd was an adrenaline junky and the craziest fucker I know. HE and I got jumped once and he took on like 8 guys while I held two off with a butterfly knife. I saw Lloyd take on West security many times- not to mention the bouncers at the Headquarters during Shattered Faith, the bouncers at Wabash during GBH, etc... Lloyd, Joel and I (Toby) pulled a runner three seperate times in one veneing on the same U-totem down by Morena Boulevard, just on some punk rock hunter-gatherer trip where we take what we want. Pirates. After a while I think none of it was 3d enough for Lloyd, and so he got into some really heavy shit. He had some sweet guns at one point in time, and some sketchy stories. I guess that's about as far as I want to go on that particular topic. But safe to say, Joel and I were going different directions around this time. I was being a teenager and chasing girls, doing drugs, getting my ass kicked in every fight I got into- Joel was always chasing girls- he was the smooth one in the band- and Joel went off to do the ultimate adrenaline trip- the Army Airborn.
And so ended an era for Personal Conflict. I'll have to make up the second part, because I wasn't really involved. I should have started another band. I did have one practice with myself, Dierk Laughery and Scott Kelly in Jimmy Buffet's studios out in Olivenhain. Needless to say Scott did alright for himself. He's the absolute best- a prince among men. Greg Imbecile and I had a one time thing with Johnny Smith on drums up in Golden Hills- we called ourselves "Flight 182" after the fated PSA flight that hit the Cessna over North Park. Joel went and shot skate photography and bands for a while, but after a while I think the punk scene just wasn't the same for a lot of people who were around when it was still kind of small.
So are the kids ever going to come up with something new that runs contrary to po-culture and corporate culture? Fight Club was a great big "hey look over here!" for the kids, but they didn't really get it. They were too busy playing X-box and purchasing their next identity. Is there going to be a next big thing, or are the kids going to fulfill some Orwellian prophesy and buy all of this bullshit the corporate music industry is spoon-feeding them?
A quick bit of proselytizing: Turn off your TVs. Breath some real air. Read a book. Fuck- write a book. Make some noise. A lot of things had to happen so that you're relatively free. Try to act like it. Go ahead and operate contrary to social norms and when they ask you what the fuck you're doing, just give them a blank look and say, "I don't know what you're talking about." Read every advertisement and ask "why?" Same with the News- same with the supposed "drama" on the TV and in movies. Ask "What the fuckl are they trying to sell me this time? Why do they want me to believe this?" Most of all- question every word they say. Journalism is dead. Better to err on the side of caution than to be led like sheep to the slaughter. ;)
I'm working on this- Toby
1983 San Diego Punks part 2
well anyways...my mom is allison larson and when i was younger (around 14) she gave me some tapes from her punk youth...Black Flag/DK and a Personal Conflict tape that you guys made for her. And now it actually sits in my tape deck in my car...thought it was interesting that you guys had a myspace...And also, my cousin Chris Sullivan played in the Penetrators...Everything seems to fall together...weird
And it was Toby Thunderbird. Because I shoplifted the world's worst excuse for a wine before every show. Shoulda called me Wino Joe.
I'm not sure why I wasn't playing that Fairmont hall show- I think you quit right before I did. I'm pretty sure I quit almost immediately after I heard you were leaving, actually- but I could be wrong. That was a long fucking time ago and I was pretty impaired a lot of the time. I may have been MIA and may have just shown up at that show not knowing we were supposed to play.
Lloyd didn't kick me out. You joined the army to meet interesting people and kill them, I quit the band so I could spend the last year of my actual teenage type childhood drinking copious amounts of alcohol and creating havoc and mayhem.
just heard the cliff tapes from practice at gary and rubys and the fairmount hall show with dodd. forgot they used to call you toby nighttrain. you were causing all kinds of shit at the fairmount show. why werent you in with us. did you quit. did lloyd kick you out. memories from back then are diluted due to the chemicals and alcohol. until i heard the tape i wasnt sure if i played a fairmount gig but lloyd keeps telling me to start songs so it must have happened. have you heard that stuff. if not, let me know and i'll burn you a copy. hope life is good, joel
toby, whats up with cliff. is he still doing the our blow out re-release. did you give him my #. if not, give me his and i'll get in touch. got new guitar last week and really enjoying it. talk later, joel
Thanks for the add long time fan! Glad to see you guys on Myspace..Now if a few more bands from the "Our blow out" tape made it on here I would be real happy!
