The Fear Factor

Punk-rock band Fear was responsible for some of the most unforgettable songs and song titles to come out of the early-’80s Los Angeles punk scene.

But the controversial outfit--which performs Thursday at Club Mesa in Costa Mesa--may be best remembered for its outrageous concert performance in the 1981 punk documentary “The Decline of Western Civilization.” The film captures the confrontational quartet exchanging a flurry of obscenity-laced insults with a club audience of rowdy punks. The show appears in danger of exploding into chaos until the viewer realizes that the volley of slurs is part of a peculiarly punk bonding ritual.

Nearly 20 years after the release of “Decline,” neither time nor age has dimmed the combative spirit of Fear headman Lee Ving. Once dubbed “the Don Rickles of rock,” the vocalist-guitarist can still be as abrasively forthright as ever when it comes to telling Fear audiences what he thinks of them.

“Well, you definitely want to maintain that personal rapport with all your friends,” he said with a sarcastic guffaw during a recent phone interview. “And if any of them does something that bugs you, you want to make sure you don’t let it go without telling them [that you’re annoyed]. Only your best friends tell you [the truth].”

Apparently, the manic slam dancing and stage diving at Fear shows haven’t abated either. Ving attributes this to the predominately young group of fans he says make up the band’s current core audience.

Despite the anarchic feel of some Fear shows, the vast majority of the band’s performances go off without a hitch, said Ving, who now lives in Austin, Texas.

The last time Fear played in Orange County, in 1995, one fan was assaulted outside the Viva Las Vegas club in Orange by white supremacists, apparently because of his Asian-Indian ancestry.

Ving said he was unaware of that incident, and Craig McGahey, who books shows at Club Mesa, said he is taking precautions to ensure that Fear’s performance occurs without incident.

“We’ll have extra security,” McGahey said. “But it’s not like every time this band plays there’s a problem. It depends on how [you organize the show].”

For those who loved the notorious outfit in the early ‘80s, the decision to attend this show may hinge less on security measures than on whether this lineup can legitimately be called Fear. Ving, always the band’s focal point, is the only member left from the group’s heyday in the early ‘80s.

Powerhouse Music the Key

Fear has gone through numerous membership changes since re-forming in the early ‘90s after a long layoff. The unit now includes Ving, drummer Andrew Jaimez, bassist Mondo Lopez and guitarist Rich Presley, whom Ving said is related to Elvis.

“These guys that I got now are really pounding the music out heavy-hammer style,” Ving said. “As long as that happens, everyone [who comes to Fear shows] is content. I make sure that we deliver powerhouse musicians when we go out there.”

Ving also said the current edition of Fear is one of the band’s most instrumentally dexterous and musically challenging. The group even veers off into jazz-like instrumental flights while performing its punk/thrash hybrid, he said.

Quality musicianship is a Fear trademark. In fact, when the band first began in the late 1970s, it was sometimes criticized by punk purists for being too instrumentally adept.

But, with such caustic songs as “I Don’t Care About You” and ‘Let’s Have a War,” Fear had enough attitude to impress many of those early punk-rockers.

The foursome’s 1982 debut album, “The Record,” was one of the standouts from that era’s influential L.A. punk scene. The album was released by Slash Records, the same independent Los Angeles label that released the first two groundbreaking punk works by the band X.

“It really bothers me that the band most skilled at playing [punk] music in Los Angeles didn’t seem to generate a relationship with one of these major labels,” he said. “I thought it would have been good for them--this kind of music and, especially, us.”

Fear in 1985 released the small-label album “More Beer.” In the ‘80s, Ving also worked as an actor in Hollywood films including “Flashdance.” Ving almost always played heavies and thugs. “I was ashamed to take the money because it was easy [playing those roles],” he said with a laugh.

By 1987, Ving had put the flagging Fear aside and formed a country band called Range War. Several years later he moved to Austin.

Momentum Slipped Away

In 1992, Fear was back on the road with group-defining members Ving, drummer Spit Stix, guitarist Philo Cramer and new bassist Will McGregor. The group’s sold-out, nostalgia-fueled homecoming show at the Hollywood Palladium that year was one of the biggest concerts the band had headlined.

But Fear was unable to build on that momentum and a major-label deal continues to elude the group.

It probably hasn’t helped Ving’s career ambitions that his lyrics and on-stage comments have sometimes been viewed as virulently homophobic and misogynistic. The politically conservative musician has long contended his songs aren’t always meant to be taken at face value.

Ving hasn’t given up on the idea of his band signing with a major record company or a company with major-label distribution. In any case, he promises that a new Fear album--the first since 1995’s “Have Another Beer With Fear”--is forthcoming.

Ving can barely contain his enthusiasm about the songs he’s concocted with his new band mates.

“I can’t wait for people to hear them,” he said.

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* Fear appears Thursday at Club Mesa, 843 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa. 10 p.m. $12 (21 and older only). (714) 536-8790.