Javier Cabral

Joe "Vex" Suquette

Historic East L.A. punk venue The Vex is famous for epic shows in the '80s, featuring killer L.A. and Orange County lineups, everyone from the Adolescents and TSOL to Social Distortion. The club opened in 1976, and proprietor, Joe "Vex" Suquette brought the two counties' scenes together for the first time. But the punk rock madness started to take its toll on him, and in 1984 he walked away from the club.

His absence was felt right away, and the scene started to die down. Oddly, a couple of guys claimed to be him, using his name to throw shows. They even impersonated him in interviews. But as of last fall the East L.A. native is back, throwing shows again in El Sereno at a spot called The Vex/ Arts L.A., a spot with room for 1,200 people. We spoke with Suquette not long after he'd hosted Ian Mackaye's current band The Evens, talking in his office on the second floor of the venue, next to his private gallery of rare punk rock paintings and vintage flyers. It's one of his very few interviews since the Vex closed three decades ago.

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New York Dolls in the 70s

[Editor's note: Deathmatch pairs two things that have something in common, and determines who is better. It's a concept we sort-of ripped off from MTV, except that instead of claymation it's the printed word!]

In the 1970s, two bands took the bluesy swagger of the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds to new levels: Recent Songwriter Hall of Fame inductees Aerosmith and proto-punk titans New York Dolls. But which band reigns supreme? The comparison is hardly arbitrary. Readers of Legs McNeil's classic tome Please Kill Me will remember that the two bands originally shared management, with an agreement that one band would make it and the other would be left in the dust.

Full disclosure: The present author hails from New England and is, as such, heavily biased.

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Emmett Shoemaker

Iceage

Iceage
The Echoplex
3/29/13

Better Than... Throwing elbows to meet Joy Division's Peter Hook at his book signing in Silver Lake a couple weeks ago.

To say that the lads in Copenhagen band Iceage don't give a fuck would not be entirely accurate, but it goes a ways in expressing the group's effortless cool. They're young, attractive, pissed off, and controversial, everything a punk(ish) band should be. Last night they played the Echoplex in support of the recently released, and widely acclaimed sophomore album, You're Nothing.

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Old Firm Casuals

News broke this morning that The Echo has cancelled what was to be the first installment of an event called Insta-Fest, to take place March 30. The punk rock festival, sponsored by Insta-Press Clothing, Durty Mick Records and others, was slated to feature a who's who of international punk and oi bands, including Old Firm Casuals (featuring Lars Frederiksen of Rancid), Pressure Point from Sacramento and Toughskins, from L.A.

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Punk Albums

Durty Mick announced the cancellation this morning via Facebook, alleging that, after the Echo management caught wind that the festivities would feature "the skinhead element" it decided to pull the plug.

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Bad Brains

You can't please everyone. No sooner had my list of the five best punk rock guitarists gone up than the complaining started. Folks were annoyed that there was a tie for first, yes, but that was only one of the things they found to complain about. Mostly it was about how their no-talent low-life favorite didn't appear.

See also: The Top 5 Punk Rock Guitarists

Remember: These lists are science. They're my (super well-informed, rock solid, but nonetheless subjective) opinion. But I'm willing to accept the idea that, in an alternate universe, other people might have been included. Here are some of them.

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Somewhere along the line, punk rock's amateurish enthusiasm became conflated with a dearth of talent.

That's OK -- anything to keep the squares out -- but it's not entirely accurate.

Indeed, it was hard paring this list down to just five.

While you might complain that your favorite isn't on here, it's hard to dispute that these are five titans in the world of punk rock guitar.

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Photo: Jennifer Swann

From left to right: Allison Wolfe, Drew Denny and Alice Bag perform an homage to Pussy Riot.

Yesterday's jam-packed L.A. Zine Fest ended with an ode to punk and riot grrrl music, via a panel featuring L.A. punk legend Alice Bag, former Bratmobile front woman Allison Wolfe and musician, filmmaker and Weekly scribe Drew Denny.

See also: Henry Rollins on Alice Bag's punk legacy

The multi-generational trio emerged from The Moth Theatre stomping and wearing balaclavas (above) an homage to imprisoned Russian punk band Pussy Riot. In an impromptu acoustic concert, they sang a song that began, "Bright colors / These pussies don't run / They scratch edges and ruffle fur," and ended with "We stand with Pussy Riot. Set them free!"

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Lisa Johnson

After five years fronting hardcore band The Bronx, cherubic Angeleno native Matt Caughthran and his band did something bizarre, risky and potentially brilliant. They formed a mariachi group.

Mariachi El Bronx would go on to open gigs for Foo Fighters and The Killers; quite a successful 180. They've since returned to their punk roots with their fourth eponymously titled full-length album The Bronx (IV), which will be released by White Drugs/ATO Records on Tuesday. We caught up with Caughthran before their record release show at Los Globos on Saturday.

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Black Flag in 1980

Black Flag is back together, and are almost done with a new album.

See also: Black Flag's Damaged Changed Punk, and L.A.: 30 Years Later, Its Impact Is Still Felt

The lineup is Greg Ginn on guitar, Ron Reyes on vocals, Gregory Moore on drums and Dale Nixon (aka...Greg Ginn) on bass. It's certainly not the first time they've gotten back together -- a version played Goldenvoice 30th anniversary party in December 2011, but that was Keith Morris, Bill Stevenson and the Descendents' Stephen Egerton -- but this one kinda feels special.

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Rebecca Carter

Mike Watt

The Adolescents, Mike Watt, and others
Mike Atta Benefit
The Echo and Echoplex
1/25/13

It's time to "pogo and stomp the shit out of cancer," said Alice Bag at Friday's benefit concert to support punk forerunner Mike Atta.

See also: *Mike Atta's Battle With Cancer Inspires Action in the OC Punk Community
*Henry Rollins on Alice Bag's Legacy

Diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer in 2010, Atta -- a member of the seminal late '70s OC punk band Middle Class -- underwent treatment and had the kidney and an adrenal gland removed. Unfortunately, the cancer returned and spread to his lungs. So for the occasion, some of punk rock's finest gathered together to raise money for his treatment.

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