Negative Trend was an American

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band active between 1977 and 1979. Before they disbanded, the band released one self-titled EP in September 1978.Charles Strong, Martin
''The Great Indie Discography'': Negative Trend
Canongate Books Ltd. 1999. Retrieved August 9, 2012. The former members of Negative Trend would go on to start a number of other notable western US punk bands. Soon after the breakup of Negative Trend, bassist Will Shatter and early drummer Steve DePace went on to be founding members of Flipper,Hurchalla, George (Zuo Press, 2005)
''Going Underground: American Punk 1979–1989''
Second ed., 2016.

PM Press PM Press is an independent publisher, founded in 2007 by a small collective of people, that specializes in radical literature. Previously based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the press relocated to Binghamton, New York, in 2022. Bookstores In ...

. . p. 27. while guitarist Craig Gray and drummer

Tim Mooney Tim Mooney (October 6, 1958 – June 13, 2012) was an American drummer, producer, and sound engineer. He drummed in the The Sleepers (San Francisco band), Sleepers, Toiling Midgets, Negative Trend, Sun Kil Moon and American Music Club. Musi ...

were among the founding members of the

Toiling Midgets Toiling Midgets is a Rock music, rock band from San Francisco, California formed in 1979 by members of San Francisco punk bands Sleepers and Negative Trend. They have been active on-and-off since 1979, with their early 1990s lineup getting most ...

. Former vocalists Rozz Rezabek and Rik L Rik went on to become notable punk singers in their own right.

History

Grand Mal (1977)

Grand Mal was a short-lived band which formed in July 1977."Grand Mal"
''negativetrend.net''. Retrieved October 30, 2016. Its first lineup consisted of Don Vinil on vocals, Craig Gray on guitar, V. Vale (of '' Search & Destroy'' punk zine) on bass, and Todd Robertson on drums. Due to his magazine commitments, Vale quickly left the band and Will Shatter replaced him, despite having no previous musical experience. Boulware, Jack; Tudor, Silke (2009). ''Gimme Something Better: The Profound, Progressive, and Occasionally Pointless History of Bay Area Punk from Dead Kennedys to Green Day''.

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

. . The quartet played only three gigs, sharing bills with bands such as the

Avengers Avenger(s) or The Avenger(s) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes **Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of "The Infinity Sag ...

the Dils The Dils were an American punk rock band formed 1976 and active until 1980, originally from Carlsbad, California, and fronted by the brothers Chip Kinman and Tony Kinman. They appeared as the second act in the "battle of the bands" sequence in ...

, and

the Dead Boys The Dead Boys are an American punk rock band from Cleveland, Ohio. The band was among the first wave of punk, and regarded by many as one of the rowdiest and most violent groups of the era. They were formed by vocalist Stiv Bators, rhythm gu ...

. During their last show at the

Mabuhay Gardens The Mabuhay Gardens, also known as The Fab Mab or The Mab, was a former San Francisco nightclub, located at 443 Broadway Street, in North Beach on the Broadway strip area best known for its striptease clubs. It closed in 1987. History The Ma ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California on November 7, 1977, Rozz Rezabek stepped in as the band's new vocalist, after jumping on stage, not allowing Vinil to continue performing. Vinil then left the band to start the Offs, and Grand Mal became Negative Trend.

Negative Trend One (1977-1978)

On December 14, 1977, the band played their first show under the name Negative Trend at the Mabuhay Gardens. Rozz Rezabek was now the singer of the band, and the rest of the lineup remained the same. During a show with the Avengers at Iguana Studios, during which

Sandy Pearlman Samuel Clarke "Sandy" Pearlman (August 5, 1943 – July 26, 2016) was an American music producer, artist manager, music journalist and critic, professor, poet, songwriter, and record company executive. He was best known for founding, writing for, ...

was in attendance (although he was really only there to watch the Avengers performance), Rezabek broke his arm while performing on stage after tripping over a microphone cord. Rezabek was notorious for his electrifying performances, oftentimes jumping onto tables and throwing drinks onto the floor. On January 14, 1978, after playing six shows in the southern United States, the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

played their final show at Winterland Arena in San Francisco, California. The day before the show, someone spray painted the walls of Winterland with the words "Negative Trend". Before the Sex Pistols went on, Malcolm McLaren demanded that Bill Graham, who set up the show, allow Negative Trend to go on before the Sex Pistols.Graham, Bill, and Robert Greenfield. Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out. Da Capo Press, 1992. Before the show had started, McLaren asked

Howie Klein Howard Klein (born February 20, 1948) is an American writer, political activist, media personality, and former record label executive, DJ, and producer. He was the President of Reprise Records from 1989 to 2001. He appears occasionally as himself ...

who the worst band in San Francisco was, and Klein responded saying that it was Negative Trend.Hurchalla, George (Zuo Press, 2005)
''Going Underground: American Punk 1979–1989''
Second ed., 2016.

. . p. 4. McLaren told Graham that if the band were not allowed to play, the Sex Pistols would refuse to play. Graham agreed to let Negative Trend go on after the Sex Pistols. However, by the time the Sex Pistols left the stage and Negative Trend got set up, there was nobody left in attendance, so Negative Trend never got to play.

Negative Trend Two (1978)

In March 1978, Rezabek quit the band, and Shatter and Gray decided to find a new drummer, as Robertson had failed to show up to a few shows. Mikal Waters would end up replacing Rezabek after the band auditioned a few singers at Iguana Studios, and Steve DePace would replace Robertson on drums. This new version of Negative Trend played their first gig on June 1, 1978. It was this version of Negative Trend that recorded the band's first studio recordings. The eponymous 7-inch EP was produced by Debbie Dub. While the record is much more famous now, Dub and the band had a hard time giving the record away when it was produced. The record was released in September 1978 by the label Heavy Manners. Side one of the record included the tracks "Mercenaries" and "Meathouse", while side two had the tracks "Black and Red" and "How Ya Feelin". The record has been re-released two times, once in December 1983 by

Subterranean Records Subterranean Records is an independent record label based in San Francisco. Founded by Steve Tupper and a then partner, Michael Fox in 1979, it focused on that city's underground punk rock, punk and industrial music scene. Subterranean and fellow ...

, and again in April 2006 by 2.13.61.

Negative Trend Three (1978-1979)

In November 1978, Negative Trend needed to find another singer to replace Waters. Gray and Shatter heard that the band F-Word had broken up, and decided to recruit former F-Word singer Rik L Rik for Negative Trend. Gray and Shatter also asked drummer

, previously of the band The Sleepers, to take over for DePace. Shortly after the formation of this version of Negative Trend, the band went to Los Angeles to record five

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * Plural for Demo (computer programming ...

for

Posh Boy Records Posh Boy Records is a Hollywood, California-based record label owned by the American-born, British-educated Robbie "Posh Boy" Fields, a sometime high school substitute teacher and former copy boy at the ''Los Angeles Times'' who took an interest ...

. However, the only tracks released under the name Negative Trend from the recordings with

were "Mercenaries" and "I Got Power" on the ''Tooth and Nail'' Compilation LP, released by

Upsetter Records Upsetter Records was a Jamaican record label set up by Lee "Scratch" Perry in 1968. Perry also opened the Upsetter Record Shop where he sold the records he produced. Lee "Scratch" Perry worked for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One (record label), Stud ...

in 1979. However, all five of the tracks recorded by Negative Trend for

were released under the name Rik L Rik on the compilation album '' Beach Blvd''.

Negative Trend 3.5 and Break-up (1979)

After only a few gigs with the third version of Negative Trend, Shatter quit the band and was replaced by 16-year-old Jonathan Henrickson. After traveling to

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

to play two shows, Rik decided leave the band. The final three Negative Trend shows had guest singers. The final Negative Trend show took place on April 27, 1979, at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

with The Queer and

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Initially consisting of lead guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Fl ...

Ricky Williams Errick Miron (born Errick Lynne Williams Jr.; May 21, 1977), known professionally as Ricky Williams, is an American former professional football running back who played for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and one season in the ...

did most of the singing at this final show. Mooney, Williams, and Gray would go on to form the band Toiling Midgets.

Reformation (2008-2010)

In July 2008, DePace put together a version of Negative Trend with himself on drums, Gray on guitar, Paul Hood on bass, and Paul Casteel singing. Rezabek was not asked to perform with the reformed version of the band. After the first gig, Tom Mallon took over Hood's position as bass player. After the second gig, DePace was forced to stop playing due to his commitments with the band Flipper. Tony Sales then replaced DePace on drums. The band went on to play a few more shows before splitting up in 2010.

Former band members

* Craig Gray – guitar * Will Shatter – bass; died at the age of 31 after an accidental heroin overdose on December 9, 1987 * Todd Robertson – drums * Rozz Rezabek – vocals * Mikal Waters – vocals * Steve DePace – drums * Rik L Rik – vocals; died at the age of 39 as a result of brain cancer on June 30, 2000 *

– drums * Jonathan Henrickson – bass *

– vocals; died of a heroin overdose on November 21, 1992 * Paul Casteel – vocals * Paul Hood – bass * Toby Dick – vocals * Tom Mallon – bass * Tony Sales – drums

Discography

Singles & EPs

* '' Negative Trend'', also released as We Don’t Play, We Riot. (1978, Heavy Manners). * Meat House/I Got Power (released as Rik L Rik) (1979, Posh Boy) * Atomic Lawn (released as Rik L Rik) (1989, Gift of Life)

Various artists compilation appearances

* "I Got Power", and "Mercenaries", on '' Tooth and Nail'' (1979, Upsetter). *Beach Blvd (credited to Rik L Rik) (1979, Posh Boy) * Miners Benefit (2003, White Noise Records)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Punk rock groups from California Musical groups disestablished in 1979 Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups from San Francisco 1977 establishments in California 1979 disestablishments in California