Mark Stern Interview Punk Rock Bowling

Punk Rock Bowling May 22-25 2015

Interview with Mark Stern of BYO Records (Youth Brigade)
by hutch

Brothers, Shawn and Mark Stern

 Mark Stern first appeared to most angry kids of the eighties on their turntables or tv screens. Playing in Youth Brigade, Stern got to express himself and cultivate a national scene. Scraping through the US with Minor Threat and Social D, Stern spread the gospel of hardcore for people to now visualize beyond the turntable.  He and his brother, Shawn, started their own DIY label in 1982 while playing in a band and touring. Four decades and multiple releases for most punk bands you like, or at least their grandfathers, BYO is a template for business in the underground scene.

And now Stern has Punk Rock Bowling as his next aging gift to punk. Seventeen years on, Punk Rock Bowling has shed its small party structure to a multi-day Fest in downtown Las Vegas. “It’s our sixth year as a fest; our fifth downtown.”

“Why Vegas?” I ask. I’ve never been. I don’t get the allure.

Mark easily dismisses, “Cuz its Vegas. Twenty-four hour bars. You can get away with anything. Now we’re Downtown. You get three days of outdoor shows and four days of club shows.” The shows are placed strategically around two hotels which are in walking distance.

“We used to have it just outside of the city, in Henderson.  It got to the point where we just took over.” Stern tells me about how it had been going well until a general manager made some changes five years ago. “He increased the price of the drinks. I had wanted to keep drink prices down. But he also allowed re-entry which I didn’t want. And I knew what would happen. The hotels were across from a Costco and a Wal-Mart. People bought tons of beer there. Then they partied in their rooms and planned to come back for later bands.” Or never came back. The hotel was honored to have four thousand punks power-drinking in the afternoon. Things got broken. Police were called. 

 Stern quickly took what was started as a private party for bands and labels, and looked for a new geography. And a larger one. He wanted toi step it up and have it be a small punk city for a few days. Punk Rock Bowling – which still embraces the bowling as seriously as the music – is now associated with the dude who started Zappos, 41 year old, Tony Hsieh. Hsieh had bought some land downtown and they moved the fest. The timing added another dimension and aided in propagating a better culture in which to grow this fest. “It helped spark restaurants and clubs and venues. Everything is new. It’s becoming a real city,” Stern explains with a content exhale.

“There will be comedy shows, poker, art galleries. We have classic punk rock photographers showing in the gallery. Last year we had Peter and The Test Tube Babies at the pool party. The pool party is awesome.” This begins at 3pm Friday and kicks off the event. Each day has a film screening. Bloodied and Unbowed is Saturday with Filmage: The Story of Descendents/ALL on Sunday and Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO records, is on Monday, fittingly.

My OCD quivers. But he insists on the party vibe. Unshaken, he explains that he has been putting on shows since he was eighteen. “I put on the first punk show at the Hollywood Bowl.” I know his pedigree, but still four days with these many cogs has to be intimidating. Stern reverts back to what kept each state of growth so natural. “The punk scene, we were tight. It was a complete DIY vibe. In 1999, it was a cool party.”

In May of 2010, PRB had to be moved to outdoor shows. Stern begins to list every country that punks abandon for the weekend to join this melee. He could have instead saved time by listing the two dudes from Ghana who missed the plane. So many people.

So Many Bands. “I’m stoked to have Frank Turner, finally, been asking him for years.” Turner will be playing an acoustic bill at a club. Stern can’t contain the enthusiasm for some killer sets from the main stage bands. “We got Murder City Devils, Rancid doing Out Come the Wolves twentieth anniversary, Bosstones, Dropkicks doing their first album, and since Street Dogs are in town, maybe Mike will come out? We have Refused. Turbonegro. Then, there are five club shows at venues each night.” These pair usual underground headliners together. The Templars, The Beltones, Bishops Green, Booze & Glory all in one show. There’s a line up for every shade of punk. Stern spills the formula. “Not the same genre, but I keep it cohesive. You approach it like it’s a compilation or a set list. I have been making those for forty years. Don’t do a random mesh,” Stern practically unveils. “I got the ‘77 group with The Weirdos and Rezillos and Dickies. Acoustic with Tim Barry, Dave Hause, Kevin Seconds.” And 7 Seconds has their night with FUS and Street Dogs. GBH will headline with Abrasive Wheels and Infa Riot and a name I have not heard since the late 90’s, Schleprock. 88 Fingers Louie are returning to a stage, with Strung Out - who have a new album dropping - and Pulley: that punk band with the major league pitcher (Scott Radinsky) “I have a Ska bill. A Rockabilly bill.” Yeah he does, with names like Bad Manners, English Beat and Mobtown. Stern still adds “and there will be a hundred little parties and DJs and room parties. There’s a beer garden. Cheap drinks. “Hand-picked food trucks. We make sure there is a variety; vegan and vegetarian and meat. I want it to be the Anti-Fest.  Not Overwhelming.”

Not a shock is that they sold sixty-five hundred tickets for each day.  A penetrating anxiety kept pulling at me. Not surprisingly, Stern tells me he has to start planning in September each year. He has to “get things rolling by October. We like to announce headliners before Christmas.”

That’s when my OCD snaps and I ask how many people he has working with him to organize all this planning. “It’s just me,” he announces to my jaw ajar and eyebrows vexed. “I personally book each band. We have a hundred plus bands. I designed the fest grounds, picked the themes. We have some cool ones this year.” All of this is said like he set the table; spoons lazily placed in proximity to the knife. “Some people come just for the room and pool parties. It’s a smorgasbord.”

Oh, the Humpers have a night with Los Creepers and The Hangmen. Icons of Filth are playing with Krum Bums and Anti-Vision. Mike Virus pulls double duty with Cheap Sex and Evacuate sets. And these are the clubs. The main stage will have Sick Of It All, The Business, Bombshell Rocks, Sniper 66 (angry, dark, fast punk from Texan youngens). Crust legends, Conflict are on the list. Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine. The poster lists another dozen other bands; including, A Wilhelm Scream, Anti-Flag and Mahones.

As I am feeling over whelmed, Stern insists Punk Rock Bowling continues as just a laid-back theme park with every possible option. Distracted by the music I forget that there is competitive bowling. And tons of pick-up games. He plans PRB with sympathy and as a truly seasoned participant. “That’s why I sell the drinks cheap. People can plan to drink all day. And eat. Hang out and catch up with old friends and make a bunch of new ones. Have some time off.” Stern wants everyone to hang out; call it the casual approach to punk mayhem and chaotic indulgence.  “I don’t want it to grow. It sells out each year. But, if we grew, we would have to be in a big desert or field, add TV screens. Who comes to a concert to watch it on a screen? And honestly, I don’t want to contend twenty-five thousand people. I’d rather have four thousand people together.” And Stern means that as a promoter and a member of the audience and the subculture. “Last year, I had Cock Sparrer play to four hundred people. It was crazy. They were incredible. Bands love it. They get nervous. But, I have seen these bands play their best sets. Angelic Upstarts played an amazing tight set. And they ain’t young.” Most of us aren’t.  But it appears that Mark Stern has matured this fest into a place where a real punk community, thriving on DIY ideals can exist for a few days.