NO END IN SIGHT
Interview With Media Blitz
Orange County
From Issue 1.6, July/August 2005
It is after 6:30 p.m. on a Friday night outside of Hogue Barmichael’s in Newport Beach and Media Blitz frontman Jon Blitz is holding a zip-lock bag containing cash and tickets. Guitarist Jason tells him to go sell more off the new arrival of kids starting to litter the half full parking lot. But Blitz, as he likes to be called, looks a little dejected as he sits on a brick planter.
“A lot of our friends don’t want D.I. tickets because we’ve already seen them so many times,” Blitz said. “They want tickets to see the Partisans”-who Media Blitz will play with in an up-coming show at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana July 8.
The band, which is Jason, 15; Blitz, 17; guitarist Ben (“Squeaks”), 16; drummer Scott, 14 and bassist Geoff, 16 (standing in for Riley who could not play that night because he got a ‘C’ in school) are a cross between apathetic personalities and a chaotic assault of anger in their music. Their band name, comes from The Germs song of the same name which can only lead one to the correct conclusion that the Orange County band wants to be defined in terms of punk rock.
“We love punk more than anything in the world-more than children or wives or any of that shit,” said Jason.
Added Blitz, “Seriously, we love music. I just love it,” he said while clenching his jaw and fist to make his point more visually obvious.
And while some jaded enough to believe that punk is a thing of the past, might find this all a bit of an act, from the spiky hair, to the safety pins to the ratty Chuck Taylor’s coming from behind “The Orange Curtain,” the members of Media Blitz really do love their punk rock and the feeling of being onstage and the power to sing about what pisses them off the most in the world today-and anyone or any band that can pull that off, warrants respect in anyone’s book.
A product of everything from Circle Jerks to Youth Brigade and The Stitches to Discharge and Toxic Narcotic, this band is producing some very anthemic songs-most likely a result of the band perfectionist, Ben, who Jason says makes him feel guilty every time he messes up during practice.
Formerly called, the Skanks, Media Blitz changed its name before it even played its first show at Hogue’s. They got told they would not be able to play because their name was offensive to females.
So, they sat in a room for 45 minutes bouncing ideas off one another-everything from the Bumblebees to something referring to homosexuals. Nothing stuck until Media Blitz came up, and now, ten months since their beginning, they have been playing up a whirlwind of shows.
They have played everywhere from the Showcase Theatre in Corona, to the Henry Fonda, to the Roxy in Hollywood. They have never played a backyard show stating all they have is a Hello Kitty microphone they have to plug into a bass amp.
They do not care about getting signed or what other people may think of them or their music. They do not care if they are different from other bands.
They just want to keep playing and see how far Media Blitz will take them-but not so far as to see their CD at a local Target, which they argued over outside of Hogue’s.
Ultimately, Geoff says in a monotone voice to end the disagreement, “Who cares?” Geoff, described by the band as a “little badass,” usually takes the role of anyone in the band who cannot make it to a show-usually on very short notice. For example, Geoff was only notified of having to fill in for Riley the day before the Hogue’s show.
“It’s a test for me to just explode,” said Geoff of his role in the band.
They have put out a few self-produced CD’s which they give away at shows-some songs are available on Myspace (which drummer Scott said with distaste is “for queers.”) The band actually had a discussion about Myspace on their way to Hogue’s that evening though Scott would not elaborate on his distaste for the web site which is growing in popularity among bands.
A quick glance at Scott’s comment on Myspace or anything else they blurted out during the interview, might lead some to quickly assume they are extremely angry and extremely inarticulate or just did not care about the interview, but such is not the case.
Their immediate responses to what they sing about ranged from Ben saying “People we hate” to Jason adding, “Except the French” with Ben replying “We don’t hate everyone-just Canadians. They suck.”
They come across as apathetic, maybe even a little vindictive, but that is definitely not what they are about. Anyone who might unjustly think that, has not given enough thought to this band’s music.
“We get pissed at a lot of things,” said Jason, “the government, dick heads that ruin the scene, each other, but we aren’t pissed all the time. One way to get the anger out is through the music. And I can’t tell the government how pissed I am that they did something so we play a song about it and it makes me feel better.”
“To me, I just don’t like the government,” said Blitz. “Hopefully, they read this cause Bush is a fag.”
“Goddamit! Don’t answer like that,” shouted Jason in embarrassment.
“Yeah, you’re making us look real intelligent,” added Ben standing up and walking off to talk to another group of kids.
This band is kind of like a walking contradiction. They represent an extreme energy and intensity that is associated with youth, but they have opinions and a passion for music that would rival any other band out there. They have a knack for blasting through their songs- enough to keep anyone coming back for more.