Gary Tovar Has His Goldenvoice

"The town was completely unaware of what was coming," T.S.O.L. singer Jack Grisham explains. "Gary put on a crazy spread and had a really nice house. It was kind of a trippy situation because you always wonder when a guy goes, 'Heeeey, I want to put on a show,'" Grisham rasps in a pretty spot-on impression of Tovar's doddery voice. "Sure you do, guy. Really? But Gary was totally legit. We drove up to Santa Barbara; he had this bitchen house in the hills and, like, a full-spread buffet table."

Grisham chuckles.

John Gilhooley

Gary Tovar

John Gilhooley

Paul Tollett, left, with Tovar

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Santa Monica Civic Auditorium

1855 Main St.
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Category: Community Venues

Region: Out of Town

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GV30 presented by Gary Tovar, features Social Distortion, X, Adolescents, Bad Religion, T.S.O.L., Youth Brigade, Descendents, the Vandals, Dickies and more at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, www.goldenvoice.com. Fri.-Sun., 6 p.m. $33-$99. All ages.

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"Food for everybody, like a really classy party. Like classier than the people who were invited," he continues. "It's like, 'What the fuck is this?' And unlike those other people who were just throwing shows, Gary actually stuck around. It was like he became part of the community," he says. "It was like Gary was a fan. I don't actually know if he was one. But he was into it. A lot of times, Gary was like a kid, the way he would act. 'Oh, we got a great shooooooowwwww.'"

Grisham pauses for more laughter. "You know how he talks, right? He's got that voice: 'This is grrrreaaaaat.'"

When asked how T.S.O.L. knew Tovar was more than your average concert promoter, Grisham responds promptly: "When he started paying us more than anyone else in the country would pay us. I mean, it pissed people off. Gary really started paying these bands what they were worth. We'd play a show, and the show would be packed, and a band would get 100 or 200 bucks. Gary was the first punk promoter who actually paid what they deserved—well, if we all got what we deserved, we'd all be in jail—but it was unlike any other promoter. Everybody wanted to be on Gary's shows, and it was only a short time before he was the biggest promoter around."

Joe Escalante, bass player for the Vandals, thinks Tovar's reach extended far beyond California. "Gary started a booking agency to help bands like Social Distortion and the Vandals to break out of LA and across the U.S.," he says. "[They] booked us an awesome tour, but we didn't have a vehicle. Gary bought us a van just in time to make the tour. He was like an angel."

On top of that, Escalante shares that Tovar had also made sure the Vandals got to Hawaii when the band were still very young. "He met me in Huntington Beach at a parking lot and handed me four plane tickets to Oahu," he recalls. "We had the time of our lives."

Social Distortion front man Mike Ness chalks up his band's success to Tovar himself.

"[Tovar] was a hustler; you gotta respect a hustler," Ness explains. "He provided venues and places for us to play at a time where we were just starting to grow."

He recalls instances when Tovar reached out and helped him, even while he was a heroin addict. On Aug. 15, 1983, Motörhead were playing Billy Barty's Roller Fantasy in Fullerton. Ness called Tovar, wanting to see the show. The promoter obliged.

"[Tovar] probably knew it was the wrong thing to do, helping out a junkie, but he felt bad for me and he had a big heart, you know?" explains Ness. "I didn't think any of us would stick around, so it's great to see survivors and people still doing what they love."

* * *

But that whole punk-rock-liability reputation was pretty well-earned: Tovar experienced some growing pains in 1983 with three major riots.

T.S.O.L. were involved in what's now known as the Sunset Riots: Riot squads, Redd Kross, Social Distortion and T.S.O.L. were all on the lineup that night, and Grisham had the audience sit down in protest—"John- and Yoko-style," as Tovar describes it. Only later did the 2,500 punks pour into the streets, clashing with cops in riot gear.

"A lot of the riots were due to the fact that a lot of people outside wanted in," Tovar says. "All that was polarized. It fed the fire and gave us more. More people wanted to join the fray. . . . But after each riot, kids would call me from different states and say, 'Oh, God, I wish I were there.' The riots accelerated, and that brought the growth."

But Goldenvoice's run at the Olympic Auditorium—which has since become a Korean church—seems especially memorable for fans . . . and Tovar.

"In late '83, I wanted to get a building where I could fit everybody in and close the door behind us. If you're inside, the cops aren't going to mess with you. I got the Olympic because I thought it would hold large crowds. I had just gone to England the year before. You know how the Russians had a five-year plan? I went to England and made a three-year plan."

Tovar brought bands in—and is now particularly acclaimed for helping to usher stateside such U.K. outfits as Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Damned.