Youth Brigade arose in Los Angeles at the close of summer 1980 when brothers Shawn, Mark, and Adam Stern assembled the lineup that would become one of the city’s standout hardcore outfits of the punk years. After beginning with additional musicians, the band reverted to its core trio in early 1982, the same period in which the Sterns launched their own imprint, BYO, short for Better Youth Organization. Later that year the group delivered its inaugural recording, the three-track EP Someone Got Their Head Kicked In, and followed it with the full-length Sound and Fury. Dissatisfied with the initial pressing of that debut, the band withdrew it from circulation and issued a revised edition in June 1983. Spring 1984 brought the three-song EP What Price?, which in turn prompted Youth Brigade’s debut European tour.
Although the Sterns had built their career independently, Adam chose to exit in 1985 so he could resume art studies. His last appearance with the band took place that June at Fenders Ballroom in Long Beach, California; the performance was captured and released as the live album Sink with Kalifornija. Shawn and Mark continued as a duo until Adam rejoined, after which the reconstituted trio embarked on extensive runs across North America and Europe. In 1991 the group paused its activities while the members pursued separate endeavors—Mark and Adam with the swing-revival ensemble Royal Crown Revue and Shawn with the pop-punk unit That’s It! The break proved brief; Youth Brigade returned with Happy Hour in 1994, To Sell the Truth in 1996, and Out of Print in 1998.
BYO Records meanwhile sustained an active release schedule, issuing titles by Pinhead Circus, the Unseen, the Business, and numerous other acts. The label also inaugurated a series of split albums, beginning with the pairing of Leatherface and Hot Water Music; Youth Brigade participated in the series via a 1999 split with San Francisco’s Swingin’ Utters.
