{"id":22625,"date":"2021-01-08T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000018056"},"modified":"2021-01-08T11:34:41","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T19:34:41","slug":"the-anti-virals-tackle-the-lunacy-of-2020-with-politically-charged-release-of-brainwashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/the-anti-virals-tackle-the-lunacy-of-2020-with-politically-charged-release-of-brainwashed","title":{"rendered":"The Anti Virals tackle the lunacy of 2020 with politically charged release, ‘Brainwashed’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brian Coakley has never been the sort of musician who felt the need to get too political with his art. Even over his 30-year career as the guitarist and lead songwriter for Orange County punk heroes Cadillac Tramps, he kept those themes pointed yet \u201cambiguous enough,\u201d he said. But 2020, and the absolute doozy of a year it was, sparked a different side of the punk rocker\u2019s creativity.<\/p>\n

Unable to play live shows and forced to suspend operations of his contracting company, the 57-year-old musician suddenly had time on his hands and a lot of feelings about the state of the world. So, he turned to music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just pissed-off and disillusioned,\u201d Coakley said of the creative impetus behind his new album. \u201cI kind of felt this angsty feeling that I had not felt since I was young, since I was a teenager.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loud, fast and in-your-face, \u201cBrainwashed,\u201d the new album by Coakley\u2019s band, The Anti Virals, dropping Jan. 10, is a cut-and-dry punk rock protest to the lunacy of the 2020: COVID-19 deniers, disinformation, police brutality, and conspiracy nuts who have more or less, \u201clost their minds,\u201d Coakley said.<\/p>\n

It was exactly the kind of album friend and fellow Long Beach musician Frank Meyer could get behind. Meyer, a multi-instrumentalist and producer, reached early acclaim as the frontman of punk band, The Street Walkin\u2019 Cheetahs, which formed in 1995 and toured nationally and in Europe before disbanding nearly 10 years later before reforming again in 2014.<\/p>\n

Among the myriad projects<\/a> and collaborations Meyer<\/a> has been a part of (he\u2019s a member of later-era Iggy Pop guitarist\u2019s group, James Williamson\u2019s & The Pink Hearts) Meyer and Coakley also formed Blind House<\/a> in 2019, a bluesy punk-rock band that features fellow Cadillac Tramps and Manic Hispanic bassist, Warren Renfrow, Mike Vasquez of the defunct band OO Soul, and Social Distortion\u2019s drummer, Derek O\u2019Brien before the band went hiatus due to COVID.<\/p>\n

Coakley was the guitarist and leading songwriter of the Cadillac Tramps, a hybrid punk-meets-rockabilly band that formed in Costa Mesa in 1987. The band toured all over the US and Canada, including opening gigs for Pearl Jam, eventually selling out spaces like the Hollywood Palace, now known as the Avalon. The group disbanded in 2017, after the death of their lead singer, Mike \u201cGabby\u201d Gaborno.<\/p>\n

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Frank Meyer (left) and Brian Coakley (right) are the punk rock duo The Anti Virals. Photo by Jamie Sims Coakley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, in their latest venture together, Coakley and Meyer are The Anti Virals. Although, they were almost called The Russian Spybots, a call-back to lyrics in the album\u2019s eponymous single, \u201cBrainwashed.\u201d Coakley\u2019s 91-year-old mother was the defining factor in the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was like, \u2018The Anti Virals is a way better name’,\u201d Coakley said.<\/p>\n

Coakley admits that it still feels quite astonishing that his album came together like it did. Although undoubtedly a product of the pandemic, the artist said the itch to write a hard-cut, straightforward punk album came while listening to Black Flag\u2019s\u00a0 compilation album, \u201cThe First Four Years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just admiring the songs, getting that feeling for being a kid again. And then something just struck me. It popped into my mind: these [songs] are smart, they\u2019re angry, but they\u2019re also funny,\u201d Coakley recalled. \u201cSo something in me was like, I want to make a punk rock song that reminds me of the early punk rock that I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost immediately the artist penned \u201cIdiot Nation\u201d a quick-hit assault on the absurd, radical right-wing misinformation spewing on social media, and “Brainwashed.”<\/p>\n