Mike Demattei

I was big on music since I was little.  In junior high, I started reading about the punk and new wave bands and seeing their records in the stores, but I had no way to hear them.  A significant breakthrough happened when a hip girl from NY transferred to our junior high.  She was wearing cool shirts of these new bands.  I asked her how she heard them and where I could.  She told me about KROQ and that started me on my new path.

Then in 10th grade, a stoner dude who gave me rides to school was playing a mix 8-track in his truck.  On that tape was the Pistols’ Pretty Vacant/Submission single.  Finally I heard the Pistols!  I liked what I heard and got the album for my 16th bday (along with the first B-52s).  Gave me a headache the first time I listened to it, but they became my favorite band not too long after.

After a few months of being into these new sounds, I went to my first gig: Dickies/Suburban Lawns at The Roxy in Nov ’80.  During the Dickies, people started slamming and stage diving, and tables were getting knocked over left and right.  It was scary and exhilarating at the same time.  I was hooked.

Fun punk trivia about myself – One day in 1985, Steve Jones came over and we watched Pistols and PIL videos.

Today I am married, have one 24 year old son, live in Glendale, and work as an actuary.