JFA: Four Decades Of Punk

Forty years ago, the raw, aggressive punk scene of Southern California had drifted east and was picked up by skateboarding youth who felt no connection to the overproduced arena rock that dominated the FM airways at the time. In 1981, a group of Phoenix musicians from various punk bands coalesced to form Arizona’s contribution to the West Coast punk scene. Jodie Foster’s Army came together with an amalgam of the [Los Angeles] (LA) County thrash found in Black Flag and The Germs with the twangy surf guitar that defined The Ventures and Dick Dale. Named the day after an attempt on President [Ronald] Reagan’s life, Jodie Foster’s Army, or JFA, appealed to skaters who saw themselves taking surf culture to the streets. The band has released numerous albums and bootleg cassettes of their shows from the early ’80s, and they continue to be traded by aficionados… read more >