Band Focus: Lost Generation

What more can be said about them? Asides from being one of Connecticut’s premiere Punk bands from the 80s, they also are a sentimental favorite for me, seeing as they were on the bill of my first ever HC show: Dead Kennedy’s, Lost Gen. and Vatican Commandos at the Metro in New Haven, April 21st, 1985. It was my introduction to a new world. I knew this was where I belonged. I certainly didn’t fit in with the drunken Van Halen crowd at my high school.

The show was a blur, and 37 years later, just a bunch of scattered images in my brain. I remember rushing to Salvation Army that week to round up some semblance of a “punk rock uniform” so I didn’t look like a total poser for my first gig. Funny in retrospect. But this post is about Lost Gen., isn’t it.

If you’re not familiar with them, a good place to start would be the ‘Punk This’ anthology, released by Grand Theft Audio, a possibly defunct label that specialized in putting out collections of hard to find material. The disc has a great little booklet with bio, artwork and more. The songs span a decent chunk of their history, though missing most of ‘Censored’ and ‘Midnight Meat Train’, their farewell very thrash metal album.

If I was a rich man, I would pay them to put out a complete discography, but it would be a big undertaking and everyone’s pushing 60 and probably doesn’t care anymore. (Just me, because I’m in nostalgia land this past year, hence the blog.)

As for the music itself, it was unique unto itself, and grabbed influences from ’77, hardcore, rock and roll, reggae and as mentioned, thrash on the last album. But always done with their own flare, and of course, Joey’s unmistakable vocal delivery. My personal fave: ‘Victim’ hands down. Found it at Record Breaker, and didn’t love it at first because it was too slow for my dumb brain to appreciate at the time.

My only brush with Joey was when I was drumming for Jack Tragic on the Cro-Mags/Underdog bill that never happened. Joey’s Dresden stepped in to headline, and I think Skeletal ambitions played as well. I was too nervous to notice, and also my parents were there and I was hopped up on caffeine pills and almost wretched in front of them when I got off the stage. Never actually talked to Joey, but it was cool to share the stage.

Anyway, if you don’t want to drop big bux on Discogs, try and find the ‘PunkThis’ anthology. Connecticut punk done right. I’m looking for interviews with Joey or any of the band members who ‘d be willing, so drop me a line at jamesrobertcreative@gmail.com if you can hook me up.