12XU-A Little History Lesson on a Pomona Club circa 1985

• • A few months ago Chris Bratton asked me to write a brief history of 12XU, our old club in Pomona
    
    
    
    12XU Productions was collective formed by Bob Durkee, Joy Aoki, and Bill Tuck in the Winter of 1984. Our first show was Heart Attack, Decry, Ill Repute, Stalag 13, Justice League and Childhoods in March or April of that same year at the Sun Valley Sportsman Hall. Sadly we took a bath on that show as about 50 people showed up due in part to competing with the GBH show at Perkins Palace in Pasadena that same day. Though it was a tough pill to swallow, it was the spark that lit the fire for many more shows and our own venue that would follow.
    
    

    

                                                  The crowd on opening night.
    
    
    Out of desperation and boredom we wanted to have low price shows with killer bands. We felt that Goldenvoice was a blessing and a curse, they were providing folks shows and bands that we would otherwise never see, but on a much larger scale in venues such as the Olympic Auditorium, Santa Monica Civic, Perkins Palace, etc.The ripple effects were being felt and it was leaving the club scene high and dry. As punks, we wanted to bring back the intimacy that brought us to punk rock in the first place and provide an outlet for the many great up and coming local bands. While Goldenvoice certainly had their niche, we wanted to carve ours as well. We did a few more shows in 1984 at the Sun Valley Sportsman Hall, the best being the 7 Seconds show in November 1984 nearly selling out the show.
    
    
    

    

                                     Italy's Raw Power Rockin' 12XU
    
    After a dreary turnout for a New Years Eve 1984/85 show again at the Sun Valley Sportsman Hall we decided to hold back on shows an contemplate our next move. Both Bob and Bill were employees of Toxic Shock Records in Pomona, Ca. Next to Toxic was their Distribution Warehouse. After Bill Sassenberger decided to move the store to a better location in January of 1985, he moved the distribution to what was the former store and gave the lease of the warehouse to us. The lease was $100 a month and we hit pay dirt! Not only would we have a rehearsal space for our band (Pillsbury Hardcore) but we would have a venue of our own to host bands from out of town (through our connections from the record store) as well as providing local bands a place to play and get exposure. The low rent also made it easy to charge less at the shows and pay the out of town bands. A show never went over $4. The overall vibe of the club was typical of the era, graffiti'd walls, homemade stage, shitty P.A. etc. no doubt the place was a shithole, but it was our shithole that allowed us to create a scene in our hometown, something that was sorely missing.
    

    

    

                                                        Justice League
    
    
    Our first show was Toxic Reasons, Justice League & Pillsbury Hardcore in February 1985. I was a big success and we were able to pay our rent and the bands. We ran a hot streak of killer shows for the next 5 months until an ill fated show in June of 1985. We allowed another person to book and handle a show. The person who did the show wanted to run the door and relieved our scary, cholo doorman Kenny 'K-Dog' Medina. Some local jock type assholes showed up and the intimidation factor was removed, they ran amok in the club and outside the club. They graffiti'd on people's cars and vans at a nearby bar (Now called Characters, which ironically now hosts punk rock shows). Needless to say the bar and it's patrons were not pleased by this, called the cops, who showed up, shut down the show and discovered what we were doing. After the owner of the building caught wind of all this, he swiftly evicted us and it was the end of an era. We did a few more shows at various venues but it wasn't the same.
    
    

    

                                               Jerry of Delirium Tremens
                                             
    Here are some of the bands that played at 12XU:
    
    Raw Power, Toxic Reasons, Agnostic Front, The Breakouts, Corrosion of Conformity, Ugly Americans, D.R.I., Stark Raving Mad, Doggy Style,Unity,
    Excel, BKK, NOFX, Cease Fire, Justice League, Delerium Tremens, WKR SPGT, White n Hairy, Peace Corpse, Insulin Reaction, P.O.W., Bully Boys, Flamethrowers, etc.
    
    

    

                                                              Lance of  P.O.W.
    
    
    
    

    

                                                      Kabula-Agnostic Front