Straight out of Brooklyn! Not only were Tootsie Pops and credit cards invented in Brooklyn (file under fun facts that are no fun to anyone, really) but also a treasure trove of young bands belting out 3-minute, throbbing thrusts of kinetic energy.
Long guarded by the vinyl elite police that it almost got lost to the Brooklyn Sands(wich) of time!
Turn those dusty hands back for a minute. Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship! Oh, stop! button down the hatches I have gone too far in my time portal. Dial in the summer of 1-9-8-1 and what a summer it wasn't. Weather wise, June and July were drizzle, rain, fog and repeat. However, the air was electrifying with sounds resonating out of brick and mortar from young pubescent kids who were ready to put their notch on the Brooklyn Rock ‘n’ Roll Bridge. The world at this time was duly introduced to Nastyfacts. They came in like a blasting oil furnace with other similar energetic fiery young bands (Stimulators and Speedies). As hot and high as their flame burned, it was almost doused as quickly as it was ignited. The original single was guarded and protected by people similar to The Comic Book guy from The Simpsons but alas a company called Left For Dead Records has now solved the guarded, gilded secret Rubik's Cube of rock ‘n’ roll and released it to the chanting masses.
Act quickly as the Comic Book Guy has already upped the ante 300 percent.
I had the opportunity to chat with the former lead singer KB Boyce about the past, present and future. Here is what ensued.
Scene Point Blank: Why was the name changed from Pandemonium to Nastyfacts? Any memories as to why you landed on Nastyfacts as a band name?
KB Boyce: When I joined the band, it was already called Pandemonium (Brad & Jeff) and was strictly a cover band. We played parties and such for kids. It was after we learned that original bands got to play in clubs that we decided to change our name. I don't recall who came up with the name but we all voted on it and Nastyfacts won out over the nasty infants and I am forever grateful for that! ;)
Scene Point Blank: Any memories of the Drive My Car sessions, Media Sound Studios in NYC, and Ramona Lee Jan (producer)?
KB Boyce : Not really. I do remember falling in love with studio gear (Hence, I've worked as an audio engineer for much of my adult life). We were just kids (I think I was 16-17 years old -- I was the oldest in the band). We were likely going through puberty/adolescence and absolutely everything going on in the world was new and exciting to me in those days. My mind was on how strange it was to hear my singing voice on tape. I do vaguely recall loving working with Ramona Jan. She took good care of us and, with her help and support, our recordings sounded amazing.
Scene Point Blank: Given that the band was young at the time the EP came out, do you think not being able to tour might have hindered getting the word out about Nastyfacts?
KB Boyce: Perhaps. But I think our lack of experience and knowledge of the world in general and the music industry, in particular, played into that as well. Me being an African American member of the LGBTQ+ community fronting a punk band in 1979 America may have played into it as well.
Scene Point Blank: Were you aware of your cult status over the years?
KB Boyce: No. I had no idea that folks thought of Nastyfacts at all until I was in my 40s. Brontez Purnell (Gravy Train, Younger Lovers, musician, author) randomly hit me up on MySpace asking if I was really the ex-lead singer of Nastyfacts because he said if I was that I had changed his life. My mind was blown! I had no idea we'd impacted anyone at all until then.
Scene Point Blank: Were you aware, at the time, that John Peel was championing the band thus leading to it getting released in the U.K.?
KB Boyce: I was today years old when I learned of this! I had no idea and I'm humbled. Looks like I need to do some more research on my own dang first band (LOL)..! I had great admiration for John Peel and the Peel Sessions. I wish I'd known that back then.
Scene Point Blank: What bands did you most align with at the time? Speedies? Stimulators? Was the scene largely cliquey? Did you feel accepted or were there a lot of rivalries? Were there any particular bands or individuals that took you under their wing? It has been stated you aligned with Bad Brains and ESG.
KB Boyce: Hmmm…We were often booked with a) bands that had people of colour members (ESG, Bad Brains), or b) bands with kids playing an instrument (The Stimulators).
But most times we were booked with bands who were much older than us. I got a feeling of mild resentment from guys who were twice my age playing the opening slots at shows we headlined. The late ‘70s/early ‘80s NYC punk scene was a strange place to be (especially for me personally, as a queer African American in a mostly white male-dominated arena) but I feel lucky to have been there and lived through it all! Punk rock saved my life, for real!! The attitude I gained as a front person in a working band shaped my life in so many fantastic ways. For example, I co-founded and still am the Artistic Director of Queer Rebel Productions in 2008. We continue to flourish as an all-QTPoC (Queer & Trans Artists of Color) arts organization in the Bay Area. I still travel and perform and record with a band called The Homobiles. The Bay Area has an amazing QueerCore punk scene and we gig on the regular. This is actually the first time I've truly felt aligned with a punk community, tbh. I love hanging out, playing, and touring with a gaggle of like-minded, super-talented, original show-stopping queers. It's like being in the circus…good times!
For me, just navigating the world at large was a challenge…and confusing -- I had no other queer (or Black) punk kids and I felt pretty isolated as a Black/Queer/Trans punk rocker.
Scene Point Blank: Did you find that CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City were largely supportive?
KB Boyce: Hells yes! Hilly and Pete Crowley were always great to us -- booking us monthly at both venues and paying us for our work. As I was the oldest member of Nastyfacts, I took it upon myself to do the booking work (though I had zero experience). These were, most definitely my two favourite clubs to play and, actually, CBGB's was the very first nightclub we played so it'll always be super special to me! And there was a spot called Botany that I remember well. We played there opening for The Bad Brains and seeing them (for the first time -- I was 16 years old) literally changed my life. I had never seen an all African American rock band, let alone a punk band tearing it up as they did.
Scene Point Blank: Are there any other bands from that time period that feel were largely underappreciated and deserve mention?
KB Boyce: Most of the bands that I really dug have gotten some appreciation: ESG, Bush Tetras, and DeFunkt...The Stimulators were great!
I was in love with the energy of the bands on the scene and I went to see as many bands as I could back then! But, wow, that was 40+ years ago. In NYC (back then) everybody (and their mama;) was in a band.
I wish I could recall more names of local bands from back then...
Scene Point Blank: Beyond the recorded material on the 7”, was anything else recorded at any other time? Does live material exist? Can we expect future releases or archived material if it exists to come out in the future?
KB Boyce: Alas, not to my knowledge. I recently was sent a digital copy of a cassette recording of the above-mentioned show at Botany with Bad Brains. But it's old cassette tape quality so...But…I hadn't known about the existence of that tape so, for sure, there could be other recordings out there that I have no knowledge of.
Scene Point Blank: It has been stated that the guitar sound is akin to Cheap Trick or The Buzzcocks. Do you align with that?
KB Boyce: Oh, most def! I was the bassist and I don't want to speak for the other guys, but I can say that when we were a cover band we played some Cheap Trick. And I most definitely was (and still am) a Buzzcocks fan. And sometimes we played a cover of “Teenage Kicks” by The Undertones. So, yeah!
Scene Point Blank: Who influenced you, at the time, to form a band?
KB Boyce: As I mentioned above: Brad and Jeff were in a band before Genji and I joined them. I can say that we were influenced by a Brooklyn band called The Speedies. They were the coolest kids in the neighbourhood and we all went to school in Brooklyn Heights, NY. They spelled it out for us: If you wanna start playing in clubs: first, you gotta write your own songs. So we went back to Genji's basement and got to writing!
Scene Point Blank: Do you feel Nastyfacts might have been ahead of the curve in terms of timing? It only became apparent later how bands like The Descendents did something similar years later and still exist today with that formula.
KB Boyce : Actually, we were a group of super lucky kids who met (in grade school), formed a band, got signed and put out a record. At the time all was kind of surreal. I mean, NYC was surreal in its own special kinda way. And add to that: we were barely teen-aged (do you remember going through puberty/adolescence...?) and in the middle of a punk scene that was both exploding and imploding -- New York City, 1980 was crazy town! Add in that I am Black and Trans annnnnd...then we had to begin adulting. WTF. So, nah, we were literally this band of little kids, some of the luckiest little mofos you've never heard of, who stumbled into the right(ish) place at the right(ish) time…Waaaay more than a few times. I can say that growing up in that turmoil shaped who I am and how I chose to live my life.
Scene Point Blank: Why did Nastyfacts ultimately break up or take a long break until the CDR release of All Around The World in 2010?
KB Boyce: I was not a part of the All Around The World project. (I've not actually heard it.)
I went off to college, and me and the guys drifted apart.
I left New York in the ‘80s and eventually wound up here in California.
Scene Point Blank: Did any members of the band pursue other musical endeavours? If so, what were they and, if not, ultimately what did you do after the life of the band?
KB Boyce: I'm pretty sure that Brad and Genji did. And that they're still in NY and still (like me) making music. Though I don't know their current projects, Genji played in Groove Collective forever and maybe still does, I'm not sure. Brad played guitar with Chuck D for a while. It's been 40+ years and, going by how many things I've done, I'm sure they kept musically busy as well -- they are some super-talented dudes!
I know I kept busy! I spent time in Los Angeles after college. I tried to play music but wound up working in the film industry, doing post-production audio for horror movies. Then I moved to the Bay Area…Fast forward through the ‘90s. I played in live hip-hop/trip hop bands: most notably (and most fun), bass for Boots Riley's band The Coup for a quick (let's call it a New York) minute. But let me save time by speaking about what I do now. I'm the drummer in a working Bay Area-based queer/trans punk band: The Homobiles. I played bass in a production that just premiered in San Francisco called The Red Shades: A Trans Super Hero Rock Opera. I'm the founder and artistic director of an arts organization: Queer Rebels. Google me, baby.
Scene Point Blank: Being a female-fronted band did you experience misogyny at the time?
KB Boyce: I saw how women were treated in the ‘70s -- especially femme-presenting women (just look at any mainstream movie from the '70s. I mean...). I feel I may have dodged that particular bullet simply because I was not that. The way I presented myself was, I dunno, Andro-Punk. I was a queer and androgynous Black kid running around NYC's nightclub scene in 1978. Back then I was more hyper-aware of the homophobia in the air than the misogyny directed towards myself directly. For me, just navigating the world at large was a challenge…and confusing -- I had no other queer (or Black) punk kids and I felt pretty isolated as a Black/Queer/Trans punk rocker.
Scene Point Blank: Can we expect a one-off show to celebrate this release?
KB Boyce: Honestly, it doesn't seem likely, but one should never say never, eh?
Scene Point Blank: Any advice to any young kid venturing into music in this day and age?
KB Boyce: Stick to making the music that you love: the stuff you'd wanna play over and over and over again (so you don't get bored;). Take care of your gear and it will take care of you -- I still have and use a bass amp (a Galien Kruger 400RB from '81) that I bought in the Nastyfacts days and it still sounds like God! Fame shouldn't be the end goal -- it's actually toxic (IMHO). I've always wanted to be a working musician, playing original music. No more, but no less. Because this brings me joy.
So…my advice: find the thing that brings you joy and stick to it no matter what. I will be 60 years old in February and I'm the drummer in a Trans punk band. Living the dream, yo! Period.
Scene Point Blank: Any regrets?
KB Boyce: No. Not one.
Scene Point Blank: Parting thoughts?
KB Boyce: My life has been a funny thing. Life is also (hella) short so. I'm just here trying to stick around for as long as humanly possible so I can keep on making it do what it do! I can honestly say that it's been a fascinating ride for me so far, fo sho! So, into the future, we go, eh? I can't wait to see what happens next!
