UPDATE: A memorial mass for Brendan Mullen this Sunday at 11:30 AM at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, 6657 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. Thanks to @DAHLIASBLOOD for the information.
UPDATE: Fishbowl now reporting Brendan Mullen has died. L.A. RECORD obviously takes much inspiration from the spirit and actions of the Masque generation, and on this sad day we can at least be glad for the opportunity to have talked to Mullen about the first days of L.A. punk and for the chance now to try to help independent musicians in the same ways. We send thanks to Mr. Mullen’s memory and condolences and best sympathetic wishes to his partner Kateri Butler. We will also be playing a short set of Masque bands at our release party tonight in honor.
L.A. RECORD is heartbroken and wrecked to pass on this info from our friend Pandora Young at Fishbowl L.A.: Masque founder and author and DJ at Part Time Punks fest Brendan Mullen has had a stroke and (says Fishbowl) is “not expected to survive.” Brief details here and we will pass on info as we get it. We interviewed Brendan two years ago for the Masque reunion at the Echoplex and the Live at the Masque book, excerpted below for a little inspiration today:
Brendan Mullen: Punk was saying anyone could come in at any moment at any time—it’s like the old Gnostics. No rules, no dogma, no timespan on it. I think that’s great—and the show kind of reflects it, too! Without being corny, I wanted it to be a family thing—a lot of our friends have teenage kids they wanna bring, and the Echoplex is great for that. So this thing can cross over a whole bunch of generations. The younger end is so reverent—that’s one of the reasons I did the book. It’s easy to be cynical, but if you meet punk rock fans, you can’t be cynical or jaded.
[...]
I didn’t come to Los Angeles to be famous or be rich—I didn’t come to reinvent myself or run away—well, maybe I ran away a little, but I wasn’t hiding! I wasn’t gonna take on some punk moniker and be another person. I wasn’t looking for fame, hence fame never came. You have to have the megaloid drive and maintain your ego all the time and it seemed like too much work—I was too lazy!
Thanks for being so candid.
Everybody was a star in the fanzines and I got written up, like everybody else—but I wasn’t trying to reinvent myself! All I was trying to do was INVENT!
1 Zac Bouvion, Amoeba Records // Oct 12, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Brendan Mullen hand-built punk rock in Los Angeles. From Decline… to We Got The Neutron Bomb, what he said is generally accepted to be fact, regarding ‘what really happened’. I got to meet and hear him speak, and he always struck me as a very serious man. I guess that kind of focus is needed to achieve what he was able to. RIP
2 DJ Dennis // Oct 12, 2009 at 11:55 pm
This one is a bummer.
3 Barbara Reilley // Oct 16, 2009 at 8:49 am
I met Brendan while working with X. He cared about the music scene, and for the musicians in it. His street-smarts, caring and big heart made him one-in-a-milion. He worked hard to make a place for musical outcasts who never thought they were. It was one big family. I will miss his smile, wry humor, and humility. His sincere, strong welcome will be missed here, but I imagine that he’ll be there to greet us on the other side.
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