Jimmy Buffett once wrote a song called “A Pirate Looks at 40.” If The Hates’ Christian Kidd were to compose a similarly reflective tune, it would be more like “A Punk Looks at 70.”
Yes, you read that correctly. Kidd, Houston’s OG punk rocker will be 70 years old soon, and, as might be expected, there is a serious shindig planned to mark the occasion. A lineup of nine acts has been assembled for Christian’s 70th Birthday Bash at the Black Magic Social Club on Saturday, August 9. Bands including Killer Hearts, Valhalla Cinema and, of course, The Hates will perform throughout the evening, with a brief intermission to wish Kidd many happy returns of the day and pass out pieces of cake.
If you don’t know Kidd, you may know of him. He’s the guy that Montrosians often see tooling around on a scooter, on some days sporting a spiked mohawk, the color of which changes from time to time. Kidd is an OG punk with the credentials to prove it. His band, The Hates (Kidd, drummer Colin Wooten and bassist Chi Chi Rodriguez), has been showing Houston music fans what punk rock is all about since the 1978, and they are still rocking hard almost 50 years later. I mean, “Oi!” (Did I say that right?)
Sitting at Brasil on a rainy summer afternoon, Kidd is, in terms of personality, exactly the opposite of what a casual observer might expect. Yes, there’s the hair, and yes, there’s black leather, but there is also a twinkle in his eye and obvious enthusiasm as he discusses music, guitars and amps. Despite what some might consider a threatening visage, Kidd is unfailingly gracious and modest.
Kidd epitomizes the “you’re only as old as you feel” attitude. To him, age is just a number, and he doesn’t really spend much time considering the prospect of growing older. “Mentally, I never think of it that way,” he says. “I think the only reality that kind of kicks me is that I’m not a young, spry teenager.” A series of health issues in recent years has, to a degree, limited his opportunity to work on new recordings and prepare them for release. “Back in October, I had to have shoulder surgery. I’ve had several surgeries, so I kept having to sit back and recuperate. And getting cancer. [He’s in good shape now.] It kind of puts a hold on what we’re doing.”
If there was a silver lining to the situation, it is that time was provided for Kidd – with the help of Wooten – to sort through the band’s voluminous archives, which include audio tapes, video recordings, flyers, posters, and merch. Consequently, recordings that never saw the light of day or were only released on an extremely limited basis will now be readily available. Case in point: Forbidden Existence, a Hates album from 1999 which includes a bunch of originals and some fun covers dropped just a couple of weeks ago.
Kidd was not hatched as a hard-core punk rocker, though. It was a bit of a journey. While Kidd’s parents were not musicians, his mother did provide him with a musical leg up during his formative years. While his father was in the army, his mother worked at PX’s (retail stores located on U.S. military installations) and was able to bring records home. With that kind of access to music, Kidd went through stages, listening to old-school rock and roll from the ‘50s, moving on to the mind-expanding music of the ‘60s, and later spending some time as a progressive rock devotee. He reached a point, though, when he wanted to play music himself.
“I asked my mother for a guitar, and she got me an acoustic guitar, and then I said, ‘I want an electric guitar.’ So she got me a Sears Silvertone guitar and amplifier.” Kidd and his mother moved to Houston, where he soon began to search out opportunities to hear live music. “I thought it was really nice, at the age I was – 16 or 17 – that she was letting me go to shows. I would go down to Old Market Square, and I loved to just hang around, looking at the Houston Blacklight and Poster Company. And then across the street, they had a place called Of Our Own, and it was like a hippie supermarket, but the only [live music] they had there was folk bands.”
After years as a music obsessive, Kidd was becoming dissatisfied, looking for something different. “Friends were saying, ‘Hey, you’ve got to go see this band,’ and I said, ‘I think I’ve have enough.’ We went to Liberty Hall to see a southern rock band, and they had Confederate flags up, and I said, ‘You’re kidding. You actually think I’m going to sit here and watch a band with Confederate flags?’ And then the Ramones came.”
We went to Liberty Hall to see a southern rock band, and they had Confederate flags up, and I said, ‘You’re kidding. You actually think I’m going to sit here and watch a band with Confederate flags?’ And then the Ramones came.”
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Kidd’s friends were not interested in seeing the Ramones. Not even a little bit. “They thought that was just a bunch of crap. They said, ‘I could do that!’ And I said, ‘I think you’re missing the point.’ That’s when I felt like I had to start a band, I had to write music, I had to find a practice place, everything.”
The transition to punk awakened something in the young musician. “I always felt like I was the person who didn’t make waves. But it seems like, if you’re punk, you’re anti-establishment. You’re not just playing music, you’re really pushing back. You’ve really got a strong point of view about things.”
So, with 70 approaching, after hundreds of Hates gigs, after over two dozen records and CD releases, after multiple Hates members have come and gone, what keeps Kidd plugging away? “It’s cathartic,” he answers quickly. “No matter how bad a week I’ve had or whatever, once I get to play a gig, even if I’m not feeling it, once I get up and play, it still excites me.”
The Hates will perform on Saturday, August 9, at the Black Magic Social Club, 7036 Harrisburg, as part of “Christian’s 70th Birthday Bash,” which begins at 6 p.m. $15.