Though I took the Flyboys in the studio in 1979, I set the official start date of Frontier as March 1980 as that’s when the record came out. I was very “into” the LA punk scene from the beginning but didn’t have any funds to even consider releasing Screamers or Weirdos 45s. I was working at Bomp at the time so I knew all the steps to releasing a record so I just decided to try it out for myself. I wish I could say it was kind of a business plan but it was just something I decided to do for yucks. I never intended it to be a punk label exclusively; it just worked out that way since those were the best bands at the time. There was nothing else going on here except shit like Van Halen, believe me!

2. Where’d you get the money to start Frontier, did you just save it from working at Bomp?

You got that right! I had zero money and even lived with my parents but I was working at Bomp and would get like six paychecks at once. And then nothing for another two months. Suddenly I’d have big chunks of change so I would pay off the recording of the Flyboys little by little. Not that it cost much because we basically snuck into Leon Russell’s studio in the middle of the night. I made no money off of that record as the Flyboys broke up before it was released but I managed to scrape together enough dough to buy the Circle Jerks masters from them in 1980 as well. Then things were dramatically different but I still didn’t give up my two day jobs (the other was Vinyl Fetish) for about two more years.

3. How old were you at the time?

I was 20!

4. Did you live on your own or with your parents at the time?

At first with my parents, paying rent was not an option with the sporadic paychecks but as soon as I got paid back from the cash outlay of the Circle Jerks in late ’80— I was outta there!




boomp3.com


5. As someone who bought almost everything that Frontier put out in the early 1980’s, I always felt that you must have had some type of art background. There was always a very polished feel to everything that came from Frontier, as opposed to the generic confetti covers that Posh Boy used for a lot of his releases. Any art classes?

Wow, thanks! I always thought that the LP jacket should be as good as the music inside. Of course a lot of my contemporaries thought that lousy artwork made the record “punk” and it totally worked for Smoke 7 et al. (Even Posh Boy had a couple good covers like Beach Blvd and Rodney on the ROQ.) I can safely say I have no academic background due to my hatred of formal schooling so all my art knowledge was picked up from being a music fan and a pop art fan.

I think any really good band from any era always has a sense of style: how they look as a band, the gear they play and the way their packaging should be presented. I always gave the bands artistic control but I would never make the artwork purposefully bad. The first dozen or so Frontier albums were designed by Diane Zincavage after the bands and I put the concept together. Diane and I got along really well and she always “got” what I was trying to put across, or at least I hoped so! She was the art director at Bomp and I paid her to do my jackets, posters and print ads when she wasn’t doing anything else.

6. What was the Epitaph deal? And why is the Dance With Me album not listed on the Frontier site?

It’s a long, ugly story that I will tell all about someday. The short version is that I was seriously on the ropes after two disastrous distribution deals first with BMG, then with Rykodisc’s in-house distributor, REP. Brett basically tried to take the top sellers away from me, then I shamed into coming around and licensing them. Understandably the bands were upset as I was behind on royalties but I always paid them eventually. Anyhow, it was three years of me not getting any money. Suddenly my top sellers sold nothing! I had to close up my office, fire everyone and get a day job.

Then when the deal with up, I couldn’t get my packaging back. It was actually a pressing and distribution deal, not licensing but it’s too hard to explain. I had to battle to get my films and stampers back for two years, then I had to save up enough money from my DAY JOB to start pressing the top sellers again. It was such a disaster that everyone thought Frontier was done for. They tried to kill me off but it was impossible, like the lowly cockroach, I’m mighty hard to kill.

What me– bitter?

As for TSOL, I sold it to Brett because he—I should say his lawyer– made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I basically never saw the record in print for a few years, then Dexter/Bryan Holland bought it off Epitaph and now I’m seeing it again. No reason to list it on my site as it’s not for sale…





7. Do you own the publishing rights for the early Frontier recordings?

Some yes, some no.

8. What is Frontier Records biggest seller?

Suicidal Tendencies by a landslide. Thank you, MTV!

9. Are you amazed that 20 plus years later, people are still buying these records?

Hell yeah. I only put out the Flyboys as a way to entertain myself, I had no idea there would be a demand for the subsequent records that I put out. Feels pretty good though, this is the kind of surprised that you want to be!

10. Where did you get the name Frontier from anyway?

I was going to call it Frontierland after my favorite section of Disneyland, plus it was a comment on the Orange County punk scene. I ran it by a few people and one of them was a lawyer who said, “Are you out of your mind?” I cut the “land” off and Frontier seemed like one of those super-generic south western kind of names. There’s a Frontier everything out here– I only wish the airline and the bank were mine!

11. How did your involvement with American Hardcore come about, and are you happy with the results?

Paul or Steve probably called to ask me to be interviewed. I was skeptical about it but I took them down to the Masque and they filmed me there. Also I brought a ton of materials that they asked me to, like my Posh Boy gold 45 for “Amoeba” and lots of flyers. Big surprise after Steve Blush’s book that I didn’t make it into the movie. The west coast is just a big nothing and Frontier never existed. Frontier literally did not appear in his American Hardcore book!
How does that work? I got into the DVD extra for the documentary. I wasn’t even contacted for the latest documentary, Punk’s Not Dead, that’s just because the filmmakers are pathetic idiots who don’t know what they’re doing. Not my problem!

FOR.THE.REST.OF.THE.STORY.GO.
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STRANGE.REACTION.