Razor's Edge

Grandfather Nick Razor, 50, has been fronting a local punk band since 1989.

“We started as Manticore, then I changed the name to G.F.I. It doesn’t stand for anything. It’s just three letters I threw together.”

Razor has released all nine G.F.I. albums himself, including Dichotomy, which was released four months ago. He says he won’t stop making music, in spite of his lack of support.

“Lou’s won’t carry my album. When I went in there with my sixth album, Homemade Hardcore, they said it was too tasteless. The cover had a woman in a leotard lying on a mattress. It didn’t show anything, but they said it was too pornographic. Yet, they will carry other albums that have nudity on them because the bands are signed.”

G.F.I.’s website (gfipunk.com) shows two decades of posters. They’ve opened local shows for GBH, Fear, and Social Distortion. Some venues, such as the Spirit Club and the old Soma on Metro Street, no longer exist.

Although G.F.I. gets booked regularly in Orange County and Las Vegas, it’s tougher in their hometown.

“A lot of clubs we’ve never been able to play at. The Casbah, the 710 Club, and the Ken Club won’t answer our calls or return our emails. It bewilders me. In 19 years we’ve never played the Casbah. [Owner] Tim Mays won’t even acknowledge that G.F.I. is alive.”

The possibility of playing ’Canes is even less likely.

“We played there in ’99 with Dr. Know and Gang Green. The whole event went off great, but there was a big problem with bands drinking too much beer. They called me the next day and said too much beer was given out, and I told them they needed to coordinate with their bartenders, that it wasn’t my responsibility.

“They told me I owed them $500. I told them you can’t get blood out of a turnip. They told me I was banned from ’Canes forever and to never show my face there again. I went there, like, three or four years later to see Fishbone and the Untouchables. I wasn’t there more than a half hour when I was escorted out and there were police there waiting for me. They told me if I didn’t leave the premises I would be arrested for trespassing.”

Razor says he will rock until “I drop dead.”

“I’ve grown calluses. I’ve grown a second skin. Why conform now when I’ve been a rebel and a miscreant all my life?”

G.F.I. appears April 19 at the Metaphor Café in Escondido.