News

Brendan Mullan Dies

• 13th Oct 2009

Brendan Mullan, who played a prominent role in the seventies LA punk scene has died after suffering a massive stroke.

Mullen, originally from Scotland, moved to LA in 1973, created The Masque, a legendary punk venue in the city which hosted early gigs from the likes of The Screamers, The Weirdos, The Alleycats and The Go-Gos.
The original venue was closed in 1978 when a fire marshall raised safety concerns and Mullen's landlords began eviction proceedings. Various bands of the scene took part in two fundraisers to help Mullen pay his legal fees to fight the eviction, though they ended in rioting which didn't necessarily aid the promoter's case for keeping the venue open.
After The Masque Mullens ran a number of 'Masque Presents' gigs at other venues, opened a short lived Other Masque venue elsewhere in the city, and then started programming gigs at LA's Club Lingerie, a job he continued for much of the eighties. He subsequently consulted for a number of other LA clubs, including the Viper Room and Luna Park. Having worked as a journalist before moving to the US, he later wrote and co-wrote a number of books about the US punk scene.

Mullen died at Ventura County Medical Center, according to his companion of sixteen years, Kateri Butler. The couple were travelling in the area to celebrate the promoter's 60th birthday. She is quoted by the LA Times thus: “The doctors are completely perplexed. They can't figure out why he had a stroke – he had none of the indicators, his cholesterol was perfect. One of the neurologists summed it up best when he said, 'Sometimes, your number is just up'”.