Jason Traeger

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Anyone who knows me knows I've never been one to revel in the past. I'm the last one to cast a misty-eyed glance back at the "good old days". In my experience the people who take this angle are usually the ones who weren't there. Whatever mistakes, false starts and missed opportunities I've had the pleasure of having, I was wherever I was for better or worse.

This blog is not meant to romanticize any choices I made or any particular era. It's simply a place where I share stories and take stock of where I've been as a way to figure out where I might want to go next. I'll celebrate some people along the way, some of them you'll know or know of, others will be new to you. I'm glad to have known every one of them.

The posts are in no thematic or chronological order. The date at the end of the post's title refers to how the content of the post relates to me personally. I make no claim about the accuracy of my recollections I only promise that I'll be as honest and accurate as I can be. If you were there and you remember things differently than I do, or you find evidence that contradicts my memory (I wouldn't be surprised or upset) feel free to let me know.

Rather than editing the posts for historical accuracy, I'll put ( * ) next to any parts that have been challenged or updated for that reason.

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March 23, 2012

SAN DIEGO PUNK: LLOYD / PERSONAL CONFLICT 1984

Personal Conflict were a San Diego punk band that I saw a lot after moving down there with my mom from Tacoma, WA. in 1984. I became acquainted with Lloyd Masing and the band’s bassist Sherry (who I think went out with Chris Smith from the Battalion of Saints) through my work with Martin Sprouse and Pat Weakland on a zine they had started just before I moved to town called Leading Edge. A project the story of which could/should make up about a hundred of these posts by the way.

Among many other things Lloyd was a huge Germs fan and even had a tattoo of Shawn Kerri’s famous Germs logo. He was probably 5-10 years older than me and had seen The Germs live. Darby had died before I ever went to a punk show and they never toured anyway so I doubly missed out on seeing them living in the Northwest at the time, if doubly missing out on something is even possible that is.

Like many other fans who only knew The Germs from seeing The Decline, reading odd Flipside interview, and listening to the brilliant fragments of visionary-poetic, glam-trash punk hardcore they left in their wake, I was really interested in hearing stories of The Germs and Darby Crash.

Among other things Lloyd told me it was seeing Darby live that made him want to be a singer in a band. He said he was the best performer he’d ever seen. Years later Jello Biafra would echo that same sentiment to me.

There weren’t many ghosts hovering around the punk scene I had entered a few years before. The scene and the people in it was/were still too young and strong and the rough “live for today” wildness of it hadn’t claimed a lot of lives yet.

Sadly Lloyd died a few years after I met him while working on a fishing boat off the coast of California. Anyone who had any experience with him knew him as a fearless front man, a loyal friend, and a really sweet guy who loved music deeply. R.I.P. Lloyd Masing.