Punk rock band to perform

Fear plays tonight at the Brass Mug.

By RYAN MEANY

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 20, 2000

UNIVERSITY NORTH -- Fear is a band the way a 1966 Shelby Cobra is a car. Even if you don't understand what 427 cubic inches means to auto enthusiasts, you may still look under the hood.

In the tradition of British counterpart the Sex Pistols, the late '70s punk rock band Fear was one exclamation point in young Generation X's reply to the exhausted gasps in baby boomer rock.

Fear returns to the area tonight when the band plays at the Brass Mug.

Los Angeles-based Fear, though obscure, still epitomizes punk rock's values: creating a revolutionary sound and refusing to water it down for record companies that cater to the mainstream.

For over 20 years, the band had been an evolving, vague entity preserving the punk revolt. Only Lee Ving remains from the original ensemble, which has lost 11 members over the years. Like the style of music that is called old-school punk, Fear has never satisfied the wants of a general audience. Fear never "caught on," even after one of its more famous devotees, John Belushi, got the band a gig on Saturday Night Live in 1981.

Advertising for the show at the Brass Mug amounts to photocopied black-and-white fliers taped on random walls in the bar and haphazardly passed around town. But because the band hasn't performed in Tampa for six years, Frank Vagnozzi of Reckless Deerhunter, one of four opening punk bands, expects "chaos" of the good, fun sort.

The show begins at 8 p.m. tonight. Tickets are $10 and will be available to the first 300 people. The Brass Mug is at 1441 E Fletcher Ave. For information, call (813) 972-8152.

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