Adrian From Singing in Toughskins to Running Rotten Roll Records

If you are from CA, you need to read this, a OG that has a big part on the Oi scene in the South Side.

NBOS: What is your name?

ADRIAN: I go by many names, most I do not wish to repeat, just call me Adrian.

NBOS: Where are you from?

ADRIAN: Los Angeles County, later moved to the Inland Empire in my last year of high school where I hated it. It was real bad until I met some like minded people, and my future wife.

NBOS: For the People who dont know, let me tell them a lil about you, this guy was in Toughskins from the IE, Fully Loaded from LA and now he is the man who is running Rotten Roll Records.  Lets talk about Toughskins for bit, what did you play in the band? 

ADRIAN: I shouted into the mic from 94 till about early 1997, early 2000 when me & Mike (drummer) gave it another go with different members, great memories overall. We practiced at March Air Force base, Voodoo Glow Skulls’ record store/rehearsal studio, our rented band storage space, all in drunken fun! Those days were exciting, things were popping off all the time.

NBOS: How was it being a IE based band in them days? I live in the area and you dont see anything "skinhead" or "oi" in this time, was it different before?

ADRIAN: There were ska bands around at the time, that’s about it in our area. We really had to leave the I.E. for shows in Los Angeles and other areas to spread disease. You would hear about W.P. skins from time to time, but not really a problem there, like in some other areas. One time a handful of them (along with there ole ladies) came to The Showcase in Corona, The Toughskins and Anti-Heros played that night. Reaper his boys took care of them, they were escorted by security after the malee & shown the front door. They gave a nice salute to us all, as they did the walk of shame holding themselves together, broken nosed & bloodied.

NBOS: Was it hard being a Skinhead band in CA? I mean, did bars let skinhead bands play shows or even book shows?

ADRIAN: It was great, everybody thought they knew what it meant. You would get the same dumb ass questions all the time. You really felt like what you where involved with, was really against the grain & I really enjoyed & still do.I never did any booking myself but from what I can remember we never had any problems getting shows when we wanted them. I remember The Authority used to play shows all the time in the O.C. where they were from. There was a lot of W.P. in that location, the bass player (Eric) of The Authority was a black skin, he or the group didn’t seem to miss beat.


NBOS: When people hear about Toughskins, "Raised in Anger" is the first thing that comes in mind, only 1000 copies (800 black, 200 yellow) was pressed by Vulture Rock Records, which now its a collecters gemm for the west coast. Was it a hit in the streets when it was released in 95?

ADRIAN: It was with me, I felt like John fucken Travolta strutten down the street in Saturday Night Fever. It feels great when people are singing along, I guess it was somewhat of a hit. When we traveled to other parts of California, we felt the love.

NBOS: While you were singing for Toughskins, you also were singing for Fully Loaded, what was really cool about that band is that members of The Authority (Bill) and Bovver Wonderland (Stan) were part of it. What made you guy’s team up to start this band?

ADRIAN: Actually, it may seem that way but Fully Loaded started in the last days of The Toughskins. I just called everybody up and they were into it. Those were good times, Duane Peters (pro skaters/later singing for U.S. Bombs) worked at our rehearsal studio,he was a trip. Stan had to leave after a while, rehearsal was getting in the way of his tattoo work, now he works at ‘Good Time Charlie’s Tattooland’ in Anaheim. So, he recommended his brother Steve to fill in, it worked out great. We had some other changes in the line up with Rolli on guitar, Moises on guitar, Gramps(Bovver Wonderland) on guitar & Neil on drums. We always did a couple of Toughskins songs, after a while we reformed The Toughskins for another go with me, Mike & some new members. Shortly after we came out on a 7” split on ‘Headache Records’ with Broken Heroes, that was in 2003, also a great 7”. 

NBOS: Now a days you are not singing for bands but running a Label "RottenRoll Records", when did you start this new chapter in your life?

ADRIAN: It was 2007 at the Airliner in L.A. when I had my last show & life took over. I moved to N.California where there’s no scene in my city, you actually have to travel 3 or 4 hours to be around people who know what’s up, literally. So I have a couple kids,a couple autos, couple houses, etc. But, I wanted to still be connected to the scene in some way, so I started a label ‘blindly’ with the best intentions, helping bands put their music out. Its not what the scene can do for you, its what you can do for the scene.

NBOS: Rotten Roll Records has released a picture disc single for The Bullets (Roger Rivas from Aggrolites) and upcoming great Oi band On the Job split with Rust. Who was the first band you released something for?

ADRIAN: The first release was a CD with 20 Oi groups like Blue Collared Criminals, Urban Rejects, Nuts & Bolts, Control, Glory Boys, Fully Loaded, Fear City, The Toughskins, Bootboys, etc. That was a lot fun, putting everything together, talking to different bands from everywhere. Check it out, www.rottenrollrecords.com. Since then, I’ve put out “Double Knockout” from Sweden & “Crimewave” from L.A. as a split, excellent 7”. And of course “The Bullets” picture disk, which is selling better in Europe than U.S., go figure.

NBOS: I remember hearing from Reggae Collectors that you have a good Original Reggae 45rpm singles collection and you've been spinning at shows/allniters for years now. Can you tell us what got you into collecting and do you remember when was your first show? Even though you are not in any band anymore, its dope that you never left the Music or the Sub-Culture.

ADRIAN: I love the music so I think was a natural progression, I was DJ’ing here & there before The Toughskins, that’s 20+ years of reggae & still collecting. First show? I don’t recall but I know someone does. There’s a whole lot of new DJ’s now, its great for the music. We’ll see whose left standing though~ Personally, I enjoy hearing what other DJ’s have in their arsenal, original press is what I prefer. There’s a DJ I know of, who play’s 4 songs off of a double L.P. back to back. That’s not a DJ, even though he claims to be, that’s just a lack of ‘good’ vinyl.

NBOS: Thanks for sharing some of your life with us,Any last words?

ADRIAN: Be nice to your fresh cuts please, for better or worse their our future! Thanks p.s. support your local labels~