Hardcore heroes Negative Approach headline the Ivy Room in Albany
ALBANY -- One of the Midwest's most legendary punk-rock bands comes to the Ivy Room in Albany Monday night when John Brannon's reunited Detroit crew Negative Approach packs the club with hardcore fans.
Along with fellow Midwestern band Necros, Detroit-based singer John Brannon's hardcore outfit was one of the first -- and best -- purveyors of a new faster, more aggressive style of punk rock that emerged in the region during the late '70s and early '80s. Following a trail blazed by Black Flag, San Francisco's Dead Kennedys and D.C. pioneers Bad Brains and Minor Threat, Negative Approach came together in 1981 after Brannon and original bassist Pete Zelewski reportedly attended a Black Flag show. Zelewski would not last long with the group, but Brannon soon found longtime drummer Chris "Opie" Moore and the McCulloch brothers Rob (guitar) and Graham who would make up the seminal early line-up of Negative Approach.
After recording a demo and contributing a song to the Process of Elimination compilation 7" single put out as one of Meatmen singer Tesco Vee's first releases on his Touch and Go label, the band would release it's eponymous 7" EP for the imprint in 1982. Featuring Brannon's angry, barked vocals and a blistering instrumental assault, the EP included some of the group's definitive songs like "Nothing" and "Can't Tell No One."
While growing tension within the quartet would lead to its demise the following year, they would come back together long enough to record their proper full-length debut Tied Down. The record included slightly longer tunes than the feral under a minute blasts heard on the EP while slowing the band's typical breakneck tempo for the corrosive dirge "Evacuate." Brannon would put together an entirely new line-up of musicians, but the group fell apart after a handful of dates in 1984, the last time Negative Approach would perform for over two decades.
The singer remained an important figure on the Detroit punk scene, fronting the noisy, more blues-minded Laughing Hyenas until the mid-1990s and his later garage-rock band Easy Action. Brannon and Moore would resurrect Negative Approach to play the 25th Anniversary Touch and Go festival in Chicago in 2006, teaming with Easy Action guitarist Harold Richardson and Laughing Hyenas/Easy Action/Necros bassist Ron Sakowski to fill out the band.
Negative Approach have toured regularly ever since, becoming a consistent festival attraction with it's incendiary live sets (playing All Tomorrow's Parties in the UK, Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX, and No Fun Fest in Brooklyn among others) and hitting the road on both sides of the Atlantic with like-minded bands including OFF! and Punch. While Brannon discovered a number of unreleased recordings by the band dating back to 1984 that saw release on the Nothing Will Stand in Our Way compilation for Taang! Records in 2011, so far there has been no indication Negative Approach will be recording new material. Luckily for Brannon fans, Jack White's Third Man Records put out deluxe reissues of the two Laughing Hyenas albums in 2018.
While the pandemic curtailed the group's live performances in 2020, Negative Approach has remained busy since venues reopened for business, playing with the Circle Jerks on multiple U.S. tours while headlining their own shows as time allows. On Monday, they top a four-band punk bill at the Ivy Room that also features reunited Oakland crew Powerhouse, Richmond trio Brigata Vendetta (featuring former members of local oi outfit Harrington Saints), and Sacramento punks Fringe Benefits.
Negative Approach
Monday, July 17, 8 p.m. $20
The Ivy Room
