Poll results for favorite track off of Brotherhood's - "No Tolernence" EP

Brotherhood… not a band that's been talked about much here on DCXX, so what better time to start than now? Hopefully at some point we'll track down some members for something more substantial, but we'll kick it off here with a few random memories.


Brotherhood - Seattle Straight Edge, Photo courtesy of: Brotherhood

- For some reason I remember ordering the Brotherhood 7" directly from Ron, their singer. I think there was some sort of hold up on shipping it, maybe something about Ron waiting on a shipment of 7"s from Skate Edge Records. I remember Ron writing me and apologizing for the hold up and then soon after receiving the actual 7". About a week later I received another copy of the 7", only this time from Kiersten, Ron's then girlfriend who helped him with mail order. I guess there were a few mix ups and some how or another I ended up with 2 copies of the 7". No Tolerance… No Complaints.

- Brotherhood toured with The Accused in 1989 and played a show in Philadelphia on that tour. A few days before the show I remember getting a post card flyer in the mail and up until that point I had no idea the show was even happening. I scrambled trying to figure out how I could get to the show, but ultimately never succeeded in securing a ride. Unfortunately 1989 was pre-driver license days for me and like many out of town shows, if no ride was secured, no show was attended. Total bummer. I do know that Greg, the bassist of Release, went and scored himself a royal blue Brotherhood "Fuck Racism" shirt which I saw him wear quite a bit. That shirt and those maroon suede Pumas were often Greg's outfit of choice.


- In July of 1989 Ron Guardipee (Brotherhood singer) and his friend Brian (Pea Body) made a trip out to the east coast. Off hand I don't recall why they were out here, but I do know that they ended up at the Bold / Gorilla Biscuits show at City Gardens here in Trenton. The weekend of that show Ron and Brian crashed at my friend Tony's house and we all spent that weekend hanging out. I remember getting one of those SSD "Kids Will Have Their Say" Ex-Claim boots from Brian and a weird one-off screened Inside Out shirt from Ron. I also remember Ron introducing all of us Jersey kids to putting Parmesan cheese on our pizza. We've never looked back.

- During that weekend of hanging out with Ron and Brian, we all took a ride into Princeton. Of course we went to the Princeton Record Exchange (which everyone should do when visiting Princeton), but we also engaged in some straight edge shenanigans. Ron walked up to a couple of dudes, one which was smoking a cigarette and asked if he could bum a smoke. The dude happily pulled out his pack and handed Ron a cig, which Ron immediately snapped in half and dropped on the side walk. Ron says, "Oh damn man… sorry, can I get another?" The dude reluctantly pulls out another, which again Ron takes with his fingers, snaps in half and drops on the sidewalk. Ciggy dude was bummed and considering Ron was a bit of a menacing looking fella, nothing was said and ciggy dude walks away with his head hanging low. Ron says something about Straight Edge Revenge, we all laughed and that was that.


A Brotherhood sing along with Greg leaving his guitar behind and joining in on the fun, Photo courtesy of: Brotherhood

- Later on, the same night as the Princeton incident, we were driving around my town and pulled up on a high school party crowd that was gathering in front of someone's house. We saw a girl that went to our high school and Ron yells, "Stop the car!" We stop, Ron rolls down the window and says, "Hey, are you the singer for Hateful Youth?" The girl looks at Ron like he's crazy and says, "Hateful Youth… I don't know what you're talking about, sorry." Ron says, "You can't fool me, you're the singer for Hateful Youth, you're fucking awesome!" The girl shakes her head and walks away. We later find out that Hateful Youth was a band that Ron sung for. From there on that girl that went to our high school was always referred to as "Hateful Youth chick."

- A couple of years after first meeting Ron, I ended up in Seattle with my band Mouthpiece. We were doing some shows with Seattle's Undertow and of course we ended up hanging out with Ron. I remember going out to eat with Ron and a couple of the Undertow guys and Ron telling me and the Undertow guys that the torch had been passed to us and bands like Mouthpiece and Undertow were the future of straight edge hardcore. I was stoked to hear that considering I was a definite Brotherhood fan and had a lot of respect for Ron. After eating Ron drove me to the Seattle overlook where the cover shot for the Brotherhood "Words Run As Thick A Blood" photo was taken. I was stoked to say the least, unfortunately I had no camera to capture the moment.


Brotherhood - "Words Run As Thick As Blood" Seattle overlook shot


An outtake shot from the "Words Run As Thick As Blood" cover shoot

As for the 7", classic east coast style straight edge hardcore played by a band from Seattle with a singer that sounded as close to Springa from SSD as you could get. I loved the entire 7", but my vote for favorite track went to "The Deal". Why… because of these lyrics:

Litter our streets, with your poison
No concern, for the deadly consequence

We are coming on strong
The deal, you'll pay a price

Step on whatevers in your way
Push and shove, selfish heart
And you will pay

This pain, that you've caused
Like our attack, it's coming back

-Tim DCXX


Greg Anderson with Brotherhood way before his Southern Lord/Sunn O)) days, Photo courtesy of: Brotherhood

The Deal - 82
Til' Death Do Us Part - 63
No Tolerance - 21
Won't Turn Our Backs - 12
Courage - 7
Gain - 5


Here's a video of Ron's post-Brotherhood band, Resolution doing a cover of Brotherhood's "Breaking The Ice". In this video Ron's friend Brian (as previously mentioned) is accompanying him on stage with Resolution. This was filmed by Cedar Bristol at Washington Hall, 12-2-1989 Seattle Washington.