Ha Hardcore Punk !!! Love at first sight ! I grew up among montreals legendary NDG punks and skins The first out of town band i saw was Black Flag for the My War tour. It was blistering hot like today, the small club was jam packed way over capacity, it had to be 110 degrees in there... ...Henry was nowhere in sight, the band comes on and launches into a prolonged, dirty, sweaty obliteration...still no henry...then finally, wearing only a speedo in he comes from outside parting the crowd , hops on stage like an intense hardcore spider and then what the fuck i was SOLD !!! Terrified but possessed i jump into the pit with my homemade plaid pants (sewn by myself from a foam mattress cover !), soon enough i'm falling down...i'm gonna die...a giant, mohawked punker is bearing down on me with a crazy look and big stomping boots...he stops, picks me up and waves me on with a big smile ! I could go on for pages of memories and what the hardcore scene gave and taught me, but the most inportant is that the guys i met hanging outside between sets that night are still among my closest friends to this day...and that as the shitty credit card ad would say " is fucking priceless".
Three pages in and nobody mentions Ringworm or Integrity? Maybe it's because I'm originally from Ohio that those bands hold a special place in my heart but The Promise is probably one of my favorite hardcore albums ever.
I got turned onto Hardcore around 1986 (skateboarding). I started going to shows at The Anthrax in Norwalk, CT. http://www.anthraxclubbook.com/ The Brick N Wood and The Tune Inn in New Haven http://www.elevatormusic.com/tuneinn.html And other places that came and went. I went to CBGB for the first time around 1992. I didn't go to all the shows, and I wasn't straight edge. There were people into the 'scene' far more than me but I always had fun and still have an affinity for the music.
wow, some interesting stuff from you guys! My story is similar, nothing special. Grew up liking "new wave" punk stuff, then slowly found out about US hardcore via all the Dischord bands abd midwest bands (Neg Approach, Meatmen) saw some great gigs at around 16 including Minor Threat in DC. Moved to Pittsburgh to go to art school and started my own hardcore band, Half Life. We go to play with every good band that came to town, got to tour a couple times and generally had a blast. Like othwers have said, it was different then. people wanted to actually kill you for having a mohawk. I lived in Germany while I was in the Army, went to London a bunch of times to see my sister..saw one of the best gigs of my life there- Madstock/a Madness sort of fest. Sort of drifted away from it because of the politics and being preached to all the time. But I still am friends with a lot of the old school people and go see their bands and stuff. Hardcore still gets my blood pumping.
I wish they would get this finished: Bad Brains documentary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw5uQZ6v4xE
Ringworm will be here tomorrow night, and one of my friend's who'll be there wears at least one Integrity shirt per week. Is that a good enough way to mention each band?
saw Ringworm here two weeks ago in a garage... i was happy because their set was a nice mix of old and new stuff, at least 4 songs off of the demo/The Promise off to Philly in 4 days for This Is Hardcore... YOT, Underdog, Blacklisted (original lineup), Madball... plus hopefully some extra time to record shop...
I grew up on late 80's and 90's HXC. Can't name all the amazing shows I have seen.. My very first HXC show was Instead, I think in 89 or 90 and it changed my world. Think I was 17 and took on the SXE title which I still hold onto till today (I'm 38 now). I kind of lucked out getting to on tour as a merch guy for years. First with my roommates at the time Morning Again. Then years later with a much mellower Further Seems Forever.. I miss going to see great shows that made my heart pump and my blood boil. I really have tried to get into some of the newer band but it just is not the same. i don't want to pull the old "back in the day" line, but the bands today just don't seem to have the heart, soul, and passion behind the music they are spilling out. i'm just happy to been the age I was at that time..
Might see you there. If you see a bald guy with tattoos behind the Coke Bust merch table, that will be me.
I'm a younger guy, so I didn't get to experience the initial hey day of punk or hardcore. I started going to shows around 2003/2004 when I was in high school. It is the same story for a lot of people. I started skateboarding, got into pop punk (bouncing souls, etc.) and thrash (anthrax, etc.) and it just progressed from there. The scene in my city has died out pretty hard, but there are a lot of younger guys starting new bands and lots of cool house venues like the Chestnut House - which recently hosted Agnostic Front, Lifetime, Saves the Day and tons more. Here is an older picture of me with Pete from Sick of it All. Dude was just chillin in the local coffee shop I go to. I don't make it to a lot of shows anymore, but hardcore will always be an important part of my life and something that helped me strengthen my convictions.
I started with Minor Threat and Black Flag around 86s but in 88 I got the NYC comp The Way It Is and that got the HXC wheels rolling. Fell out of it in around 96 when it just got to annoying with the floor punching karate crap and sounding too metal. I still go to shows and now and then something comes out that gets my interest. I still listen to GB, Cro-mags, YOT, Negative Approach, Sheer Terror weekly. I still spin the Hawker Records Free for All comp to this day, it one of my top 10 of all time.
When I was about 16 I listened to a lot of Ebullition stuff. They were in Santa Barbara & there was a huge hxc scene there (I was in Louisiana) I later lived in SB for 3 yrs, just moved away last yr, and there isn't a single shred of hxc in that place now. It's the STD capital or date rape capital or one of those but no more hxc.
Speaking of Insted and Agnostic Front, I just did a CD/album cover for a new side band with some of those guys.........Roger AF is the singer, great music- short blasts with skanky slow parts. 16 year old me would've went nuts for it. Like others have said, I don't call myself a punk rocker anymore, but the music and values really helped me stay stable in a world of shit. I go to local gigs from time to time, and make posters for bands. That's about it. Although in 2011 our Ohio governor tried to crush union worker's rights, it felt good to sort of rally around a cause again.
put this on my facebook but thought i'd share here too... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ugO6RDBLXY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I-2CIVn4go
^ too bad they couldn't get a few other bands together, and I'm surprised Bold isn't playing this... but yeah, Judge or Side By Side would've been cool...
Bane played here on halloween i was pretty stoked to seem them again always warms my little edge heart to see them
