Authority Figures

Triple A: South Florida's Against All Authority displays its punk pedigree

Details

Sunday, May 27, at 5:30 p.m. Tickets cost $10. Call 954-525-0094.

Chili Pepper, 200 W. Broward Blvd., Fort Lauderdale

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More About

• Joe Koontz
• All Authority
• Danny Lore
• American Automobile Association
• Ska

When the time again came to record, much had changed in AAA's inner circle. King had left the band to fulfill his father's dying wish that he finish school, and Radiobaghdad drummer Chris Goldbach had joined. The group had also streamlined its sound. "We've always had a problem keeping horn players in the band," Koontz explains. "When it was time to go tour, we were constantly looking for horn players to join us, and then spending all of our time to teach them the old stuff. It was holding us back." And Koontz changed his songwriting style. "Instead of adding ska parts to my punk songs," he says, "I kept them as punk songs, and it felt natural." The resulting record, last year's 24 Hour Roadside Resistance, is a modern-day punk-rock masterpiece. Lore's vocals have grown throatier with age. Sounding like a pissed-off Tom Waits, Lore combines a poet's touch with a mad bomber's anger. Both CNN ("Dinkas When I Close My Eyes") and local news ("The Source of Strontium 90") serve as fodder for Lore's lyrical mill. Not eager to be mistaken for TV junkies, AAA also includes songs about its members' personal trials. "I Think You Think Too Much" is a recounting of their 12-hour detention at the Canadian border. "They told us we couldn't come into their country and preach revolution," a still incredulous Koontz recalls. "The Next Song" is a brilliant dub reggae tune about the tough-guy posturing AAA witnesses at its shows: "I've seen your face in every town/I've seen your face in every crowd/Tell us why it is you gotta prove/Just how easily the others bruise."

The year 2001 found Against All Authority releasing Nothing New for Trash Like You, a CD compilation. With drummer Goldbach soon to become a father, the band's touring has been temporarily restricted to Florida. So Lore and Koontz are working on material for the next record. Recently the group did a state tour with old friends Less Than Jake. "It was cool to see how we branched out differently," Koontz declares. "They're on a much bigger scale than we are, but I'm totally happy with the choices we made."