Brendan Mullen had a lot of friends. I was one of them.
When the Red Hots started in 1983, Brendan was booking the Club Lingerie, and because he was booking it, it was an exciting place to play. One knew that he would be playing in the company of interesting, inventive musicians, the avant of independent music, youth culture or not. Brendan created a fertile, exciting, creative environment, the type of scene that inspired musicians to reach out, to try and find new sounds.
Anthony [Kiedis] and I walked in there one afternoon to see him, armed with a boombox and our first demo tape. We were trying to hustle our act, saying and doing what we thought we needed to do to try to get a gig.
Brendan was polite but could have cared less whether we were cool, or popular, or could sell tickets. He wanted to hear the music. We sat down and played it for him; he focused and listened, making occasional insightful comments about the music. We were so proud and excited when he liked it and booked us to open for Bad Brains.
It was a huge step for us to get that gig, but in a much more important way, I felt profoundly validated to be accepted and acknowledged by Brendan Mullen, who was a crucial part -- a hub -- of a scene that for me had mythological status.
When I first became conscious of the punk, innovative part of the youth rock scene in L.A., it was 1980. We were hovering on the far outskirts of it; about as close as we could get was to hang out in the Starwood parking lot and get in to see shows once in a while. The more I learned about the wellspring for the intense punk rock scene that I loved, the more enthralled I was by it.
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Universal punk
Then it was not the scene it would become -- macho and violent, with rules about haircuts and uniforms -- it was a freethinking, vibrant, artistic scene of groundbreaking bands like the Germs, the Weirdos, the Screamers, all groups who sounded completely different from each other but were united by their willingness to be their own freaky selves, embrace an intense new rhythm and raise a robust middle finger to the face of the rock music corporate structure and all of its musical lackeys.
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Nursing the scene
When Brendan started the Masque, it was a pure act, creating a place for people he liked (the aforementioned bands and many others) to do their thing, have fun and get wild, no salesmen allowed.
