Biography

The Crowd was a brief component of the ‘beach punk’ scene of Huntington Beach, California, USA, in the early 80s. Featuring Jim ‘Trash’ Decker (vocals), Jay Decker (bass), Jim Kaa (guitar, vocals), Tracy Porterfield (vocals) and Barry ‘Cuda’ Miranda (drums), they were almost completely divorced from the prevailing hardcore punk ethos. Dressed in dayglo beachwear, and with their own version of communal dancing (it is often suggested that Decker invented the ‘slam dance’), the Crowd specialized in trashy surf punk, akin to a less skilled Agent Orange. Their debut album, A World Apart, failed to build on their early impact, however, and the Crowd were quickly overtaken by many of the bands they had helped influence. When Cuda departed, Dennis Walsh (aka Dennis Racket) joined from the Flyboys. The Crowd broke up shortly afterwards, leaving Decker and Porterfield’s ambition to be ‘the Frankie and Annette of the 80s’ unrealized. Various ex-members went on to join Sextet, before the Deckers, Kaa and Walsh reunited in 1987 to record a second Crowd album, Big Fish Stories. They have continued to balance Crowd work with other projects, although Jay Decker announced he was leaving for good in 1997.