Shop our Big Takeover store for back issues, t-shirts & CDs
Follow The Big Takeover
On an absolutely frigid Sunday night, NEGATIVE APPROACH played their first Philly show in 27 years (!) in the basement of the First Unitarian Church. I didn’t time it, but the set couldn’t have lasted for more than 45 minutes and that’s being generous. They played pretty much everything that fans would want to hear. In fact, I can’t think of a single song from their 7” or their incredible Lp (1983’s Tied Down) that they didn’t play. Opening with “Lost Cause” from the Process of Elimination compilation, they were a venerable powerhouse barreling through their set, including covers of British oi! influences SHAM 69 (“Borstal Breakout”) and BLITZ (“Never Surrender”), both of which they used to do back in the day as well (a live version of “Never Surrender” is on Touch and Go’s excellent and essential Total Recall anthology).
For the uninitiated, Negative Approach were possibly the greatest hardcore band ever. For a brief moment in 1982-83, they played some of the loudest, meanest, nastiest, harshest noise in existence then, thereby building a template for not just (unfortunately) tough guy hardcore, but other extreme genres as well (grind/power violence also owes a debt to them). Here’s the thing, though. Unlike many of the bands they inspired, they had great, great songs. Every one was hummable, catchy and an instant classic. As possibly the first U.S. hardcore band (along with Boston’s LAST RIGHTS) to bring in the aforementioned Oi! influences, this made their music not only more accessible to those averse to tuneless thrash but also has made it hold up over the course of more than a quarter century.
The current lineup features original singer JOHN BRANNON (later of LAUGHING HYENAS and currently also in EASY ACTION) and drummer OPIE MOORE. The guitar and bass positions are helmed by RON SAKOWSKI (also of Easy Action) and HAROLD RICHARDSON (again, also in Easy Action, but also formerly of Laughing Hyenas and NECROS).
