No free-love hippie band, man

Die-hard fans of the Briefs have probably been in agony for the past seven years.

The old-school punk band mysteriously took a hiatus in 2007. Its members scattered. One moved to Germany. One moved to Oakland. Frontman Steve E. Nix stayed in Seattle and started a new band, the Cute Lepers.

Just as mysteriously, the band is back. What can fans possibly expect?

“Fans can expect to fall in love,” Nix says.

He’s kind of serious. Nix says he’s been contacted by three different married couples who met at Briefs concerts.

“We’re not a free-love hippie band,” Nix says, quick to clarify. “People accidentally fell in love at our shows.”

But fans can legitimately expect some hardcore nostalgia when the Briefs come to Sacramento next week. The band’s first tour since 2007 starts at Blue Lamp on Wednesday, May 21, and runs up and down the West Coast. In honor of the band’s 15th anniversary, Mark Stern, of BYO Records and Youth Brigade fame—he’s also the Briefs’ manager—pushed the comeback. Nix welcomed the push.

“The truth is, we just love each other and wanted to play together again,” Nix says.

Aw, shucks. But remember: still not a free-love hippie band.

The Briefs aren’t reunited just yet. Members are still in different cities—drummer Chris Brief is in Germany—and Nix doesn’t think they’ll get together for a first practice until mere days before the Sacramento show.

“People will either think we’re amazing because we only practiced twice, or people will think we suck because we only practiced twice,” he says.

The Briefs were never ones for formal rehearsals anyway. They just played gig after gig. They toured together for several years, dropped four studio records and made a documentary. Ultimately, they split out of fatigue.

“It felt like it had run its course,” Nix says. “Sitting in a van year after year, staring at the same faces. It starts to wear on you.”

They wanted to branch out, try out new projects and maybe one day, though not necessarily, return to the Briefs. Nix started the Cute Lepers with Briefs bassist Stevie Kicks and released a few pop-punk records. That band went on hiatus a couple of years ago.

“It was fun, but I’d get restless and want to play cool hardcore punk with the Briefs again,” he says.

Cool hardcore punk in the vein of English ’70s bands the Buzzcocks and the Adverts. New wave, independent, fast. Most songs clock in at about two minutes.

And while the Briefs maintain that they’re not a political band, they’ve been known to get political. Their hit “Orange Alert” in 2004 was seen as a criticism of then-President George W. Bush and his breeding of fear after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. On the same album, Sex Objects, “No More Presidents” and “Destroy the USA” similarly took on the Bush administration.

But more often, the Briefs are irreverent. On their debut album, Hit After Hit, they sing the words “Dalai Lama” over and over, followed by “Dolly Parton,” in a 30-second blitz of a song. Their most recent record, Steal Yer Heart, opens with a track about masturbation.

The punk silliness matches their ridiculous bleach-blond hair, skinny ties and plastic-frame sunglasses. Nix expects the aesthetics to continue.

“We’re just grown-up teenagers.”