August 2011 is a momentous month for San Diego hometown heroes the Penetrators, when lead singer Gary Heffern returns from Finland in time for the band to receive a recognition for lifetime achievement at the 2011 San Diego Music Awards August 8! The event will also occasion another Penetrators reunion performance at the Casbah August 13.
“As a child, I was told, ‘You will never amount to anything,’ ” Heff recalls. “Still that voice in the back of my head repeats that over and over again. It’s a mantra I fight against on a daily basis.
“When I first heard the Ramones’ ‘Beat on the Brat,’ the New York Dolls’ ‘Trash’ and the Sex Pistols’ ‘No Future,’ they weren’t just words but anthems to me, something that was personal, and all mine … People who understood those songs and what they meant to me became instant friends … It was us against the world …
From Sean McMullen: Images of the Penetrators’ April 3 Casbah reunion!
“If any of the Penetrators songs or live shows etc. inspired even one kid to pick up a guitar, or stand behind a microphone, or write their own song, put on their own shows, to stand up for what they believe in, or just go out to shows and support local bands etc., then I can finally tell that voice to shut the fuck up, I have done something, we have done something.
“And what a wonderful way to be remembered,” Gary continues. “I honestly never thought I would live this long and worked hard to make sure of that for many years. Some battles, you just can’t win … I can say that with a grin. I am totally stunned and honored by this, and humbled to all the folks who have come around in the last few years to the shows. It’s been so great to see all of you, we always wanted to be a ‘people’s’ band like the Clash … long live the people, people got the power … and thanks so much to the Che Underground, as you have had a giant hand in all of this.
The Penetrators: Walking the Beat
“Old age is starting to set in, the bones are creakier, it takes longer to catch wind, and recover from shows … I honestly don’t know how much more I have in me and how much longer I will be able to do this, and maybe it’s a time to just walk around the corner and see what is there in that great unknown. In the meantime, it’s our horse, and we’re gonna flog it … With much love, Heff.”
If EVER there was to be a band to be placed into this honor more deserving of it; it is ”The Penetrators”. This band was an essential piece of the magical fabric that we have labeled the San Diego Music scene. The Penetrators were there in the Golden Age of San Diego’s cultural ignition and they played a big part of the Cardiac Kidz own personal fight to change the music scene from a closed fit of venue prisons and smug judgmental San Diego business mongrels into a break out of young artist expressing themselves freely with no thought as to how it was supposed to be or how you were supposed to act.. This is the way it was back in 1978-1981. I’ll let the SDMA tout their accomplishments and rightly so but, it will be their live shows (Parties) and continued friendships for me that will remain a strong hold of how the scene was and still can return to a community based on shared experiences in music and friends. It was Dan McClean who had many discussions and debates with me at “Monty Rockers” that sparked many of The Cardiac Kidz moves and attitude to make a change and still have fun. My sincerest congratulations to the boys and a deep regret that the Cardiac Kidz will not be able to attend as that we will be into our 2011 West Coast tour on that date. To Chris Davies, Chris Sullivan, Gary Heffern, Jim Call; and special kudos to our lost friend Dan McLain; nicely done guys! Congrats!
To me, the Penetrators are the best band to ever come out of San Diego. I saw them for the first time back in the late 70’s, and they changed everything for me. The energy at those shows was way beyond what I’d ever encountered (and have rarely encountered since). While Bart and I already had a fledgling band going, they inspired me. It wasn’t by accident that Scott Harrington produced the first Manual Scan ep. My only gripe about the SDMA Lifetime Achievement award is that they should have received it years ago. (The irony, of course, being that they’re still playing.) Congrats, guys. You more than deserve it.
Oh, and Gary . . . old age? Several days a week, my 85-year-old aunt can briskly walk around London for 6-8 hours while wearing high-heeled boots and carrying on a near-constant conversation (mostly monologue on her part), outpacing companions decades younger than her. Until she was forcibly retired at 70, she rode her BICYCLE to work at Heathrow, even in the rain and snow. You’d better be playing nightly before you start complaining about getting winded and recovering from shows.
Check out this new Harold Gee photo post from a Penetrators gig at the American Legion Hall on July 19, 1979.
“[I]t was so well attended that the owners of the Hall refused to admit anyone else claiming fire codes. So there was a crowd of about 60 angry punks outside and I knew it’d be trouble; I did the Hall owners a secret favor and quietly let everyone else in the back door for free. Police came and wandered through the crowd with police dogs…first and last time I ever saw that at a show.”
Bart Mendoza gives some pixels to SDMA 2011 and the Penetrators, including an interview with our Mr. Heffern …