Harken back close to twenty years ago. Long Beach, California was home to dilapidated warehouses and a burgeoning punk scene. Punk icons like the Meat Puppets, Circle Jerks, Black Flag and the Minutemen would come bursting out of the underground. Secret Hate was there too. Their Vegetables Dancing EP an instant underground classic would be a fleeting glimpse of the band as the unceremoniously disbanded soon after.
It would be a cover song by a then unknown band, Sublime, that provided the gunpowder to blow the keg on the new reincarnation of Secret Hate. Huntington Beach based Skunk Records re-released Vegetables Dancing in early l999. And Secret Hate found itself almost twenty years after it first made the scene celebrating the release of their first ever full-length album Pop Cult Vomit.
Now a five-piece with guitarists Bob Schaeffer and Blake Davila, singer Mike Davis, drummer Rick Selga and bassist Kevin Roach to round out the current line-up.
Long known for their creative energy and a preference for tearing things up, Secret Hate returns with a vengeance. Age hasn’t dimmed their creative vision or their biting social commentary. The Monkey caught up with Mike, Rick and newcomer Blake to talk about the old days and see what is in store for the future.

You guys were around back in the early days of the Long Beach punk scene, what has changed the most in the Long Beach scene?

Mike: When we first started we couldn’t play anywhere. There were no clubs. No anything. So we played at people’s houses, machine shops. Now there are a lot of people who will go see you. It’s a little clique.
Rick: Most of the changes are just with us. The scene, its just like punk rock is acceptable now. Back then, it was more taboo. We’d walk down the street, biker dudes would be like 'faggot punker.' Now everyone and their mother has spiky hairdos. It’s more mainstream now. Not crazy anymore.

As elder statesmen of the punk scene, how has this affected your writing, your viewpoints on life?

Mike: It kind of makes us cynical.  In some ways we will go somewhere and play and don’t feel welcome. Some resent your playing new bands that don’t feel you should be playing anywhere. I don’t know, it’s all right.
Blake: The songs that we’re writing now are of our lives and everything. Me being new to the band there is a big questions to what we are doing now versus back then. You want to live up to Reggie cause he is the shit. I love what we’re doing now. It is appropriate for the time.
Rick: Me personally I needed to feel all the wrong stuff in the world. Give me a negative; bring me way down all the problems in the world. I felt like it was my responsibility. Now, what’s the point? The world is going to shit, we played a lot more hardcore stuff, now were a little more free and easy. No more big deals, we’re having fun playing music.

Is Secret Hate back together just to have a blast playing or are you looking to tour and do it full-time again?

Mike: It never was like a full-time, 'Hope we make it to the big time.' It’s just a creative outlet. Now that we’ve got our heads screwed on straight and be healthy about it.
Blake: I’m down for touring with them. If Backstreet Boys are up. We’re willing to go out on the road with them cause we’re pretty sexy bitches ourselves. It’s about making music and getting art out of our heads.

Mike, can you elaborate more on your 'healthy' statement?

Mike: People who were more fucked up, more strung out were more respected and invited to all the cool places and gigs. People got sucked into a big vacuum. It got to a point when you have to decide am I gonna do this or live.

Is your album a rejection of popular culture? What is the worst thing in your mind about pop culture today?

Mike: It is not a rejection but a comment about a way to exaggerate about how we get neutralized and stop thinking. We get pushed into a comfort zone, a little box, watch your little TV and 30,000 commercials, go to the store to buy all the stuff you saw last night.
Blake: I don’t know if it is good or band, it’s just there. Sometimes things get really corny, chain wallets, have tattoos, glitter cowboy hats, you see it everyday and it annoys me. This not a concept album when we were throwing around titles that one kind of stuck. It’s made up of all different kinds of music, everything that gets shoved into your head from MTV as a kid.

You’ve played with or ran in the same circle with some real punk legends. Any cool stories that stand out?

Mike: One of the main things it seems like now its kind of a competition. I remember playing with the Minutemen, who were unbelievable musicians. They would hang out and cheer you on. No superstars. We were all dirtbags. We hardly ever got paid. It seemed like we were all loser friends. We were all good friends. When Sublime did one of our songs it was an honor.
Rick: As far as Mike Watt (Minutemen) goes, we shared a practice studio with the Minutemen. Our time slot was right after the Minutemen. They would stink up. D-Bone would sweat so much it would smell like a locker room.

Mike’s top six festival
l. Black Uhoro
2. Clifton Shenier
3. T. Rex
4. Lou Reed
5. Iggy Pop
6. Afgan Whigs
 

Blake’s six-band festival (In Bali)
l. The Who
2. Wrestling match between Jesus and Satan
3. Backstreet Boys

Rick’s best line up.
l. The Who (with Keith Moon)
2. Beatles
3. Spider
4. Corn dog
5. Zamtir
6. The Go Go’s

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