‘We Got Power! Hardcore Punk Scenes From 1980s Southern California’ – Book Preview

Last week saw the release of 'We Got Power! Hardcore Punk Scenes From 1980s Southern California,' a massive book packed with photos and essays chronicling the second generation of Los Angeles punk bands. Loudwire has teamed up with our friends at Diffuser.fm to offer a sneak preview, and what follows are 22 of the more than 400 photos included in the volume. All were snapped by David Markey and Jordan Schwartz, the scene vets behind the era's 'We Got Power!' fanzine.

Click through the collection of gritty images -- then be sure check out Bazillion Points Books to learn more about this essential punk history.

Marlon Whitfield in leather cap and Joe Baiza in fedora, Mari Castelli caught somewhere in the middle, Santa Barbara.

Punk mom with injured son and daughter—the family that stage dives together stays together.

Left to Right, Greg Ginn, Henry Rollins, and Chuck Dukowski of Black Flag, SST Phelan office, on Phelan St. in Redondo Beach.

The Minutemen, Grandia Room, Hollywood, CA, 1982. Most of the few people in the crowd played in other SST bands. At left is Earl Liberty from Saccharine Trust, center is Henry Rollins, and at right (in trucker hat) is Chuck Dukowski from Black Flag.

Fresh ink on Henry Rollins, the birth of an icon, 1984.

Youth of America Unite! The rear of the Punk Shack during demolition. Local anti-punk surfers crossed out our Black Flag graffiti as part of an ongoing war. A year or two later, these same culprits would cut their long surfer hair and don Suicidal Tendencies shirts.

Snickers from the Simpletones and the Stain gets the last dance, Dancing Waters, 1982.

Mike Ness, Social Distortion, playing the kitchen of Meg and Becca's apartment, Silver Lake, 1982. He had stitches in his mouth from some sort of fight accident.

Janet Housden, the newly rechristened Redd Kross, Dancing Waters, July 30, 1982.

Vox Pop, Cathay de Grande, January 20, 1982.

Mike Roth in the Punk Shack during demolition, 1982.