Derek O’Brien. Photo by Darron Hermann.

Legends of punk rock will thrill audiences at the inaugural Hi-Fi Rock Fest, taking place on Saturday, September 26, at the Queen Mary Events Park. Scheduled to perform are the Dead Kennedys, Street Dogs, Naked Raygun, The Sonics, Richie Ramone, Luicidal, Dirty Filthy Mugs, Year of the Dragon, True Rivals, Downtown Brown, and The Two Tens.

The festival is produced by Dave Buck of Dying Scene, Darron Hermann of DC-Jam Records and Derek O’Brien, owner of D.O’B. Sound Studios. O’Brien is the original drummer for Social Distortion and Agent Orange. Recently, Derek took some time to chat with the Post to answer questions about the festival and his career.

Long Beach Post: How did the festival originate?

Derek O’Brien: I do music production and engineering at my studio, D.O’B. Sound, in Santa Fe Springs. DC Jam Records owner Darron Hermann called me out of the blue to do some mastering on one of his compilation CDs, then others, then had me produce Fishbone’s Crazy Glue EP, The Adicts All The Young Droogs LP and others for his label. We struck up a great working relationship and friendship over the years.

We were hanging out at Punk Rock Bowling one year, talking about how cool it would be to have something like this in LA. Being a resident of Long Beach, I investigated and swam though crazy amounts of red tape to see what we could do here for a music festival. I originally came up with Rainbow Lagoon Park for the venue.

There have been some incredible challenges involved, to say the least! We have had to change our original headlining act, direct support act, the venue, and start over late in the game. When you do this, it gives you less time to properly promote the event, and give all the attention required for a first-time festival. It has also been a huge and ongoing learning experience.

Fortunately, we have some great helpful people aligned with our cause. Fellow music Producer and partner in the production team/band Sound Ministry Gurus Stan DeWitt introduced me to the Long Beach Music Council [LBMC]. The LBMC is lead by Eric Gray, who is running for City Council in the Second District. Others include Josh Fischel, who does Live After Five, and Shea Newkirk, producer of the Folk Revival Festival. The group has great people who are advocating for setting up a separate city entity for issuing entertainment licenses, legalizing busking—which is actually already legal but still shut down by police if one person complains—and making Long Beach an important entertainment Mecca.

After Punk Rock Picnic at Marina Green got shut down early for a number of reasons, all of a sudden I was told I could no longer have my festival at Rainbow Lagoon Park! This, after money had been paid out to bands, permits pulled, production people hired, and countless hours spent. It nearly caused a heart attack! After much finagling, the City of Long Beach decided to get us into the Queen Mary Events Park for our events.

After all said and done, the silver lining is: We actually have a better venue for our event; we now have a much much better lineup, and could not be happier with the way things turned out.

What attracted you to Long Beach?

I moved here because it has the feel of a small town but most of the amenities of a big city like Los Angeles, and the beach. You have cool, small, staple music venues like Alex’s Bar, mom and pop restaurants, and a fun downtown scene. But, like a small town, there are those who would like to see it stay that way and not become more entertainment-friendly.

Why put up with so many challenges, when other cities would jump at the chance to have a festival like this?

There are certainly politics involved, and we will see how things play out here in Long Beach. We definitely plan to make Hi-Fi Rock Fest an annual and evolving event. We feel it is vital to keep DYI events alive and well while AEG takes over all the big venues and music events and tries to monopolize the Southern California concert business. We are definitely the underdogs here, and the competition is fierce.

Hopefully, we can continue it in Long Beach. Events like this certainly bring in revenue for local businesses, as well as tourism. However, if it just isn’t functional here we will continue it elsewhere.

You’ve put together an amazing lineup, but are there particular bands you’re really thrilled to be playing?

I could not be happier about the whole lineup. I love the DK’s and got to see them back in the day, and recently. They still bring it! Never got to see Naked Raygun so extra excited for that, and happy for them that Dave Grohl is showing some love having them open for Foo Fighters in their hometown. That has to feel good!

The Sonics are such a great classic garage band. Now powered by Dusty Watson on drums, I wanted them from the beginning even though many of the young punk fans do not know who they are. They have influenced so many great bands over the years and are such an important part of Rock ‘n Roll history, I am really looking forward to watching three generations of music fans rock out to them!

Street Dogs are always a great show. Year Of The Dragon, a well kept L.A. secret weapon (with members of the mighty Fishbone) are going to blow people’s minds!

Why did you decide to move from playing to producing, studying audio engineering at UCLA, and opening your own studio?

It was an addition to playing. I have taken small breaks to study, produce, engineer and now teach audio engineering but I still play regularly with many of the artists I work with in the studio, and live. Opening my own studio to work from just seemed like a natural progression. It allows me to make music for a living without being out, constantly touring.

After opening the studio in 2000, I still went out on the road with The Adolescents, Punk Rock Karaoke, The Generators, and played many local shows with various local artists. Currently, I’m taking a break from touring to get the festival off the ground, but I’m sure I will be back out at some point.

Aside from this concert, are there any upcoming projects on the horizon that you’re excited about?

I have been co-producing and drumming for a number of musical artists along with fellow producer/composer Stan DeWitt. We actually went to Fullerton High School together and played in literally all the school bands. We reconnected a few years ago and I worked on an album for his band, Moonshine. We eventually formed a production team called Sound Ministry Gurus and continued to work with a number of solo artists who wanted a band and a bit more production on the recordings. Sound Ministry Gurus is now writing and producing our own Rock Opera cd. It will be interesting to see where we can take this.

Why did you locate your studio in Santa Fe Springs?

Originally, the studio was in Glendale. In 2008 after losing my property to the economy crash and divorce, Larry Ramirez, a guitarist/songwriter for a band called Second Chance, suggested we take over a space that a friend of his was selling in Santa Fe Springs. It had been a recording studio and rehearsal studio for many years under the names True One, then Basement Studios/Records. It had a history, clientele and vibe but crappy construction. Considering my options at the time, I agreed to take the space and rebuild it from top to bottom. Now, it is a nice and busy place to rehearse and record.

Hi-Fi Rock Fest takes place on Saturday, September 26 at The Queen Mary Events Park, located just west of the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Tickets are $30 advance, $35 at door. VIP tickets are also available for $55. To purchase tickets, or learn more about the show, visit HiFiRockFest.com.

To learn more about Derek’s stellar career, check out his discography.