Legendary hardcore punk and reggae band Bad Brains recently wrested control of their back catalog from its undeserving prior owners and are in the process of reissuing everything. In January of 2023, a new version of the absolutely amazing live album The Youth Are Getting Restless (recorded at Amsterdam’s Paradiso in 1987) will be released on Bad Brains Records.
The Youth Are Getting Restless has always had a sort of big-arena drum sound which makes for a unique way to hear Bad Brains, whose studio albums were often recorded like someone was squeezing all that sound into a small box. This new mix nudges things into even more open space. The famously deft band has a bigger ring to bob and weave about, and parts are either more pronounced or invented on stage: the guitar scuffing before the solo on “Re-Ignition,” the way everything opens up and finds a hint of funk in the perfect riffage of “Pay to Cum,” and, of course and marvelously, HR’s vocals auctioneering truth at speeds where enunciation is only possible by the man himself. The best things you can say about any live album are that it gives you a positive and different take on the band, and that it really makes you wish you were at the show. By those measures, this is one of the greatest live albums we’ve ever heard. 
Popwell was granted an email interview with Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer. He did not answer our question about the health of singer HR (the last we know of anything about HR is from the deep-diving 2016 documentary Finding Joseph I), which gives us a bit of worry. But we, like Daryl Jenifer and HR, will keep that PMA. Here’s the interview presented just as it was given to us:
Are there any plans for remastering or putting out anything else from back in the day?
We will re-release, re-master re-mix, everything gets re-lived, re-loved.
What do you remember about the show in Amsterdam where The Youth Are Getting Restless was recorded?
I remember being in a positive PMA Ganja haze all day, feeling free and living the free PMA positive Ganja life. Then came the show, the crowd was on fire, the Brains were firing on all cylinders, then it was over and the stage filled with empty plastic water bottles, then I returned to the Ganja.
How were the fans in Europe compared to the fans in America? Was there more racism, violence, disrespect, or negativity on one side of the Atlantic?
Babylon is Babylon, Babylonians act like Babylonians all over the world, JAH’s loving people act like JAH loving people all over the globe.
How’s [Bad Brains’ guitarist] Dr. Know’s health these days? I haven’t heard much since his heart attack in 2015?
Doc is doing great, chilling, jamming his guitar as usual.
Will we ever get that Mind Power album, or anything new from Bad Brains?
Bad Brains has a mind of its own, I could never predict what Bad Brains will do next, but I’m ready for duty.
Gerhardt Popwell, the founder of the site I’m writing for, wants to know what your favorite dub records are. I’m curious too.
Hugh Mundell, Leroy Wise, Misty In Roots, In Crowd, The Rastafarians, Bunny Wailer, everything Bob, Scratch, Jammy’s, Tubby, Jah Shaka !!
Do you have a personal favorite Bad Brains record?
Not really, I kinda like God Of Love and Quickness, Black Dots, I Against I, Rock For Light. I think “How Low Can A Punk Get” is my top 3 favorite song, though (too close to the forest to see the trees syndrome).
What are some artists you’re listening to these days? Got any favorites of 2022?
I like G Rap, RA the Ruggedman, the Temprees and Black Ivory, Lenny White, Lonnie Liston Smith, Unc and Phew, Jesse Royal.
Thanks for your love, support and recognition of Bad Brains. PMA everyday – dj
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