DOUBLE CROSS

Revelation Records 25 Year Anniversary - UPDATED

2012-01-29T21:16:00.000-05:00

Ian MacKaye on Minor Threat at Buff Hall

2012-01-25T21:08:00.004-05:00

As I stated in last night’s post, I wrote an article for this week’s issue of the Philadelphia Weekly about the Better Youth Organization that ran in the town during the early 80’s. I interviewed many a person for the piece, but sadly, not everyone made the final edit. So I decided to post the raw interviews I conducted here on DCXX. Hope y’all enjoy it and make sure to check out the actual article or pick up a hard copy of the mag if you live in the Philadelphia area. -Tony Rettman

www.philadelphiaweekly.com

Ian MacKaye and Brain Baker with Minor Threat, Photo: Jim Saah

Below are Ian MacKaye’s memories from Minor Threat playing a show the Philly BYO put on in November of 1982 at Buff Hall in Camden, N.J.

It was our third or fourth show as a five piece with Steve Hansgen on bass. Our first with him was in Baltimore and then we opened for P.I.L. on Halloween at Ritchie Coliseum here in D.C. We don’t know anything about Camden. We saw it was right over the river from Philadelphia, so we assumed it was like a suburb of Philly or something; we didn’t know! I don’t know what Camden is like today, but it was really, really, really sketchy. Really frightening. Most punk rock shows at the time were in ‘the hood’ but this was really scary.

We sound checked and set up and we were hanging out in the street while some kids were skateboarding. We were waiting for SSD to show up from Boston. I saw SSD’s van pull up, so I went over and started talking to Al and the rest of the Boston Crew through the driver’s seat window. I heard a car racing down the street, so I said to these kids who were skateboarding ‘Y’all better get out of the street, this guy is moving really fast’. I pushed myself up as close as I could against the van to give the guy as much room as I could, but then he just centered right in and hit the van head on. I think he was out of his mind and high. To this day, I remember this explosion of sound and pain and then being in the fetal position. One of my shoes was off and it was later found about 40 feet down the street. People started chasing this guys’ car and then when they realized I was injured, they ran back to help me. Someone got the license plate number. I ended up breaking my toe and my right calf was completely messed up. I also had this huge knot on the back of my head the size of a grapefruit that was bleeding. I had this… bleeding grapefruit on the back of my head!

Ian MacKaye with Minor Threat, Photo: Jim Saah

There was this long discussion about whether or not I was going to the hospital. I ended up going and the nurses told me I was lucky to be alive. I remember being in the hospital saying ‘We gotta play!’ because I was there to represent. We came all the way up there to play. After we left the hospital, I remember we went to McDonalds’, had some French fries and did the show. A local biker group, The Ghetto Riders, showed up and just decided they were going to run security for the show.

I was in bad shape. Watching the video, I’m like milliseconds off on some songs. I’m off my usual mark. In the video, you can see this point where I’m taking a drink of Pepsi and some guy in the crowd screams out ‘Hey! Isn’t caffeine a drug?’ I was so fucked up and beat up and that was the last thing I wanted to hear. If you watch the video, you see me sorta poke him and tell him to cut it out. That show was a very legendary show as it was this meeting of the tribes. It was a definite throwdown where everybody tried to top themselves. It was a very long night. I remember passing out on the way back. I was seriously injured. I couldn’t get out of bed that next morning.

We gave the licenses plate to the police and they went to the guys' house and the cops brought him back to the hall so people could identify him. Everyone said he was the guy, but he claimed that his car was stolen. I remember the guy seemed real loopy. The cops were very hostile towards us. I remember they told me ‘If you want to press charges, you and all your friends have to come back for a trial on the day of our choosing’. All of us were stone broke, so we didn’t have the money to come back to Camden and testify. I already spent $60 at the hospital, so that wasn’t going to happen. But the police just seemed so irritated at me, like I had nerve for being hit by a car in their town.

The first time we went up to Philly was for a Black Flag show in Kensington that ended up in this huge riot. Then second time I went there, I got hit by a car. So when we came into Philly the third time to play Love Hall, I was like ‘What’s going to happen this time?’ But it ended up being a great show. That was when we were back to a four piece and we were lean and mean; firing on all cylinders.

The Philly BYO thing was very brief, but they managed to put on some pivotal shows. That show wouldn’t have happened at the East Side Club, you know? Minor Threat was not connected to the industry whatsoever. Black Flag or the Bad Brains could play the clubs. But we played VFW Halls and things like that.

Ian MacKaye with Minor Threat, Photo: Jim Saah

(The following response was in regards to a question I asked regarding whether or not Ian thought there was going to be trouble that night since there was going to be a significant amount of New York people at the show due to Agnostic Front being on the bill)

Agnostic Front was not the New York that we had beef with. The problem we had was with the old school Johnny Thunders New York types who looked down on us when we’d come up there to see shows. They just thought we were stupid kids. Agnostic Front was kids like us, so they were cool with me. Some of their dudes were sorta mook-ish, but so were some of the D.C. guys, so it was no big deal on my part. I will say this though: Every time we played, I planned to destroy the stage. Like I was more into the idea of three great bands being on the bill and each one attempting to kick each other’s ass with the music. I remember a show we did that was Minor Threat, SSD and MDC at Irving Plaza and that show was like that. Not that I want to make any of those bands look bad or anything; I just wanted to show them what we got.

Nancy Barile of Philly BYO

2012-01-24T20:59:00.005-05:00

Nancy hanging with Bryan Lathrop of Sadistic Exploits, Photo: Lisa Haun

As most nerdboys know, the Philly BYO put on many legendary shows in the golden days of American Hardcore including the infamous Buff Hall show seen on the Minor Threat DVD. I recently put together an article for the Philadelphia Weekly about the Philadelphia Better Youth Organization of the early 80’s that will appear in the paper this Wednesday (1/25). One of the people that was involved in the early formation of the Philly BYO was Nancy Petriello, who was responsible for putting on some of the first all ages Punk shows in that city prior to the formation of the crew. Along with Allison Schnackenberg and Ronald Thatcher, she helped form the core of the group before moving to Boston and marrying SSD guitarist Al Barile. I tracked her down for the article to find out about her early involvement in the Philly scene and here’s what she had to say. -Tony Rettman

Firstly, how'd you get into Punk Rock and then Hardcore?

 For me, it was always about the music. I loved Punk Rock, and Hardcore took it to the next level by being faster and more powerful. I loved the energy of bands that played and the people involved in the scene. It was pure, it was fun, it was a little bit dangerous, but the music always seemed to connect with me deep down inside.

What were some of the first shows you saw that you would classify as 'Hardcore' in the Philadelphia area prior to you and the rest of the BYO putting on shows?

 The Bad Brains show that I did at The Elks Center with (Philadelphia show promoter/DJ) Lee Paris was probably one of the first Hardcore shows that I can remember. Black Flag and SOA at the Starlight Ballroom in Kensington was another, and of course, the infamous Dead Kennedys show at the Starlight all pre-dated the BYO.

Who were the initial people you decided to start the Philly BYO with?

 The whole BYO adventure began with telephone conversations Allison Schnackenberg and I had with Shawn Stern. The scene back then was so small that everyone in each city kind of knew each other through friends, through word of mouth, through bands. But it was really Allison who picked up the BYO mission. I had done shows at the Elks Center with local bands like Sadistic Exploits, Autistic Behavior, Decontrol, etc. and I worked with Lee Paris on several shows, but those were not BYO shows.

What was it that made you all decide you could start putting on these shows?

 I think we were all a little fearless back then. My father had instilled in me an entrepreneurial spirit, and I just figured that I could do it. To this day, Punk Fest 1 that I did at the Elks Center goes down as one of my favorite days in my life. Lee Paris gave me a lot of guidance in putting on shows, so that helped a lot, too. My younger brother, Dan, who was about 16 or 17 at the time, worked the door and kept control of the money, which got channeled back into the band and other shows.

Tell me more about Punk Fest 1?

 Punk Fest 1 was the first show I ever did with Sadistic Exploits, who I was managing at the time. I had actually booked Anti-Pasti from England to play, but Bobby Startup swooped in and took them away from me, and because they were tied to a record label and manager, they had to play the East Side Club. Of course, that was a huge drama. Anti-Pasti did come down and hang out at the Punk Fest. I think we basically did that show to get the Exploits an all ages gig where they could reach a wider audience. We papered the city with flyers. I remember being blown away by how many people showed up.

How many shows did the Philly BYO put on while you were still a part of it?

 I only helped Allison do the first BYO show at Buff Hall in Camden. That show was really all Allison.

When do you think the Philly BYO was at its peak?

 I moved to Boston not long after the Buff Hall show. I was dating Al from SSD (who I later married and am still married to, lol). So I wouldn't be the one to answer that question.

What are your fondest memories of doing shows in Philly?

 My fondest memories of the shows I did or the shows that I was a part of are, in order:

1. Punk Fest 1 at Elks Center for reasons stated above.

2. Bad Brains at the Elks - I will NEVER forget hearing Big Takeover in that cavernous, dark hall. I felt like I was going to explode. They were the greatest hardcore band to ever live. Seeing that band was a physical, esoteric, mind-blowing experience that I will never forget.

3. Minor Threat, SSD, Agnostic Front - Buff Hall. The chaos of that show was amazing. I'm sure you know the story about the SSD van pulling up to the show, Ian coming to the window to talk to Al, and then a Rastafarian in a stolen car running over Ian and smashing Al's van. And of course, the Wheels of Soul and Ghetto Riders being there was a lot of fun. It was a dangerous show from the minute it started, but the energy was unlike anything I've ever experienced. The bands that played that night were incredible, and I am so grateful to Steven Eye for getting it on tape. I still show my high school students highlights of that show.

Why do you think these shows are still significant in this time?

 Those shows are a moment in time that can never be recreated. Hardcore was an organic musical form, and I am one of the people who vehemently believes that there is no hardcore after 1983. That music's time period was so much of its essence, it is impossible to recreate. The bands were young, brash, wild and the music was more powerful than anything I've ever heard then or since. It is truly time bound and timeless.

Supertouch at Asbury Lanes 2/3/2012

2012-01-23T17:12:00.000-05:00

The Youth Of Today - "Can't Close My Eyes" collection

2012-01-16T22:13:00.002-05:00

The YOT - "Can't Close My Eyes" collection, including a test pressing, the "Crucial Times" cover, a standard Batman stamp pressing, first and second pressings and the 1 of 20 altered back cover version that was done at Dan O'Mahony's house by the YOT guys on the 1987 "Break Down The Walls" tour.

Back in early November I posted an entry on how I found the infamous Youth Of Today - "Crucial Times" cover, lying on the floor in my basement, after some construction had been done. Apparently a gold vinyl, Batman stamped 7" was in that sleeve at some point as well. Tonight, while digging for a copy of the Pushed Aside demo for a friend, I found the Batman stamped YOT 7" leaning up against a pile of stuff that the construction workers must have put aside. Again, my assumption is that this 7" got stacked away in a pile and while the construction was going on in my basement, it literally must have gotten shook lose and fallen to the floor. Luckily for me, nothing was damaged.

After finding this gold vinyl Batman stamped version of the "Can't Close My Eyes" 7", I of course packed it away with the "Crucial Times" cover, but also took a minute to shoot some photos of my entire Youth Of Today - "Can't Close My Eyes", Positive Force collection. I'm still working on bringing a Some Records pressing into the collection, but hopefully that's coming soon. -Tim DCXX

A "Can't Close My Eyes" test pressing, the "Crucial Times" cover and vinyl and a standard Batman stamp press "Can't Close my Eyes".

Revelation Records 25 Year Anniversary

2012-01-14T17:30:00.001-05:00

Chuck Treece on SK8 TV, 1990

2012-01-12T20:31:00.002-05:00

I'd never seen this clip before that appeared on Nickelodeon's SK8 TV, back in the early 90's. Pretty cool and worth checking out. -Tim DCXX

BOLD live at the Safari Club, Washington, DC 1989

2012-01-06T22:33:00.002-05:00

Matt, Tim, Drew, Tom and Porcell at the Safari Club in Washington, DC, 1989. Terrible audio and video quality, but god damn... this is BOLD in their prime. A wall of heavy guitars and a rhythm section that delivered the thunder to perfection, plus ad the fact that Matt had really come into his own by this point. Seeing videos like this reminds me exactly why these guys rate as one of my favorite live bands ever. -Tim DCXX

Quicksand poll wrap up

2012-01-05T22:59:00.002-05:00

This Quicksand poll wrap up is long overdue and I apologize for leaving the poll up for an eternity. There was a plan set in place to have a guest do the wrap up, but that never ended up panning out. The result was me ignoring the poll and letting it stagnate into oblivion. I've finally decided to take matters into my own hands and simply wrap it up myself. I know, pretty novel idea hah?

Can't say I was necessarily surprised by the results, "Slip" pretty much kicked the living hell out of the other two releases. That said, my vote went to the self titled 7" on Revelation. I can remember vividly when that 7" was released and I recall hearing it for the very first time and just how blown away by it I was. I loved what Walter had done with Moondog, so essentially, Quicksand was a revised and more progressive version of Moondog, so I was definitely into it. I guess since the self titled was my introduction, I always felt a stronger connection to it. I also liked the idea that the 7" was released on Revelation, which felt completely natural and maintained that inclusive, family type vibe.

With the "Slip" LP, although I think it's a great record and might possibly have a few of my favorite Quicksand songs on it ("Dine Alone", "Fazer", "Can Opener" and "Too Official"), the whole vibe of it being a major label release always left me feeling like someone spilled the beans on a best kept secret. Quicksand fans went from being maturing Warzone and Youth Of Today fans to poser mall punk kids with massive center parted hair cuts, that had no idea what Revelation Records even was. That said, Quicksand was still an incredible band and "Slip" was still a phenomenal album, even with Walter asking himself if everything was ok.

Why "Manic Compression" doesn't get as much love as "Slip", I'm really not sure. I think it's a pretty equally incredible album that's actually heavier and harder than "Slip", but I think the newness and exciting element of Quicksand had started to wear off by the time of this release. Either way, I still love it and "Brown Gargantuan" is another song that's added to my top Quicksand song list. I mean, how can you possible go wrong with "You're a child, you're a dad, a mother, you mother fucked yourself again", lyrics? Some of my favorite Walter lyrics ever. - Tim DCXX

Quicksand - "Slip" LP - 143
Quicksand - Revelation 7" - 83
Quicksand - "Manic Compression" LP - 41

Inside Out - "No Spiritual Surrender" at The Anthrax 6/15/1990

2012-01-04T23:20:00.002-05:00

Somehow or another, I've never seen this two camera angle mixed video of Inside Out doing "No Spiritual Surrender" from The Anthrax, until today. Killer video, killer band, check it! -Tim DCXX

Outlast - New Jersey Straight Edge

2012-01-03T19:39:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to take a minute to give a quick plug to New Jersey's own, Outlast, who just hit the road for a 2012 winter tour. Their first show is tomorrow, January 4th in Boston, so if you're around and can make it out, do it! See above for the rest of their tour dates and check out their Facebook page for updates. New Jersey Straight Edge - Tim DCXX
Outlast on Facebook

Chain Of Strength meets the Sex Pistols

2012-01-02T23:49:00.001-05:00

Chain Crew 7", # 24 out of 100

I don't usually push eBay auctions here on DCXX, but I'm selling this stuff for a friend and knew some of the readers here would at least be interested in the Chain Crew 7". The Sex Pistols vinyl collection is also pretty damn cool and something I definitely wouldn't mind owning myself. Check it all out and bid away if interested. Thanks. -Tim DCXX

Double Cross on eBay

Rare Sex Pistols vinyl collection

We're All Too Young To Die

2011-12-30T17:01:00.003-05:00

I saw the world go up in flames and I just stood there watching...

Randy Johnson doing "Locked Out" with 1134

2011-12-29T21:36:00.001-05:00

I got the urge to post something Pushed Aside related and the only thing I came across, was this video of 1134 covering "Locked Out" at The Showcase in 1999, with Pushed Aside frontman, Randy Johnson taking vocal duties. I've said it before and I'll say it again, one of Southern California's best of the late 80's and their demo still remains in my all time top 5 demo list. Take it away Randy… -Tim DCXX

A DCXX tribute to Keith Morris

2011-12-26T19:33:00.002-05:00

Early Panic rehearsal, 1978, Left to Right: Chuck Dukowski, ROBO, Keith Morris and Greg Ginn, photo courtesy of: Ryan Richardson

"Maybe sixty seconds into the first song, it began to rain food: sandwiches, half-eaten drumsticks, watermelon and cantaloupe rinds, banana peels," remembers Keith Morris, of Black Flag's performance at Polliwog Park in 1979. Here, he ducks the raining missiles of food hurdled by offended family picnickers (Spot).

The Circle Jerks with Roger Rogerson, Lucky Lehrer and Keith at Stage One Studios, July 10, 1981, Photo: Fer Youz

Circle Jerks promo shot with Keith, Greg, Chuck Biscuits and Earl Liberty. Keith Morris says: " the next line up was pretty bad assed also, Biscuits and Flea! We played a gig with Spinal Tap, Slayer and the Blasters and wrecked the place! That night we were UNTOUCHABLE! We were in a zone that nobody could get near! John Doe and Jeffrey Lee Pierce both agreed that they'd never seen anything like us. This line up with Earl and Chuck was easily one of my faves!"

Circle Jerks at The Cathy De Grande with Keith, Flea and Chuck Biscuits, Photo: Modi Frank

And nearly 34 years later, Keith is still tearing it up with OFF!

Keith and Steven McDonald with OFF! in Triple Rock, MN, Photo: Adam DeGross

Happy Holidays from DCXX

2011-12-24T15:20:00.001-05:00

Ian Claus with Minor Threat, photo: Bill Daniel

Walter Schreifels - The Storm (Judge)

2011-12-22T21:33:00.000-05:00

Jersey Fresh

2011-12-21T22:23:00.001-05:00

The infamous Ewing VFW show

Everyone's got that one local band that at the time, seemed almost legendary. Well in 1986, straight out of my home town of Ewing, New Jersey, we had Jersey Fresh. As far as I knew, all the members went to my high school, but were a few years older than me and graduated before me. I do remember their guitarist, Dave, going to summer school at the same time as me. We weren't in a class together and I was just about to enter high school, so I assume he was probably taking a class so that he could graduate high school. I just remember seeing him around the school and seeing his Charles Manson tattoo, which he was pretty damn legendary for. Their bass player, who was also named Dave, was friends with a few guys that I hung around, so I remember going to a show or two with him and being at a couple of the same parties.

Jersey Fresh bassist, Dave Bryson, take notice of that sweet Justice League sticker on his bass

Jersey Fresh played a few local shows, none of which I got a chance to see, but I was well aware of and heard the stories. The Ewing VFW show with F.O.D. in January of 1987, was one that I always thought about because the VFW hall that they played was right across the street from a soccer field that I played many games at. I don't remember hearing about too many hardcore shows happening right in Ewing, so that one that went down was definitely etched into the local history books. Every time I passed that hall, which was quite often, all I could think about, was the fact that hardcore bands actually played there.

This flyer hung inside my junior high school locker in 1987, along with a handful of other choice flyers of the time

Like I said, everyone's got a band like this from their town, but considering a Jersey Fresh page just popped up on Facebook, I thought I'd mention it and draw a little attention to it. I've been talking to their drummer, Todd, off and on for a year or two now and I'm planning on getting an interview together with him for DCXX. Really just out of my own curiosity, I'd love to hear some stories and details from him about the early hardcore scene in my home town, so hopefully I can pull that together sooner than later. For now though, click this link and check out the Jersey Fresh Facebook page. I know they've got their 1986 demo tape up and streaming, so that's worth checking out. There are also a handful of photos and some band information. -Tim DCXX

Jersey Fresh drummer, Todd Waladkewics

Hardcore Or Die

2011-12-15T22:11:00.001-05:00

Hardcore or die from Radio Soulwax on Vimeo.

Interesting and funny video someone threw together, well worth checking out. -Tim DCXX

SSD at A7

2011-12-13T22:19:00.002-05:00

Unfortunately I have no photo credit for this, but damn this is an interesting shot that someone found today and sent me. SSD at NYC's A7 Club, with Jimmy Gestapo, Harley Flanagan, Dr. Know, MCA of the Beastie Boys and other NYHC scenesters in the crowd. Crazy to see just how tiny of a space this legendary club actually was. Like glue, like crew… -Tim DCXX

Ignition live at The Wilson Center, Washington, DC, 1988

2011-12-12T19:19:00.002-05:00

I haven't come across too many Ignition videos, so when it was brought to my attention that this one popped up, I was pretty stoked to see it. Great video and way underrated band. One of my faves from the Revolution Summer era of harD.C.ore. -Tim DCXX

Metallica with Glenn Danzig, live in San Francisco, 12/9/2011

2011-12-11T15:03:00.000-05:00

Fraud at Club Three, Hollywood, CA 8/29/2011

2011-12-07T22:03:00.002-05:00

Fraud, Photo: Khayden.com

Fraud, one of those current bands that I just can't get enough of. Ever since catching their set in Pomona, CA at the Glass House back in June, I've been eagerly awaiting some recordings from these guys. Unfortunately, I've heard nothing about recording plans yet, but what I did track down was this live set on YouTube.

Check out the video, check out Fraud on Facebook and hopefully sooner than later we'll get a release out of these guys. -Tim DCXX

Gang Green - "Alcohol" live at The Channel, Boston, 1986

2011-12-06T20:04:00.000-05:00

The Faction - Skate and destroy

2011-12-01T22:31:00.003-05:00

Early Germs inspired Faction artwork done by Steve Caballero, from the collection of: Sal Bug

Been hitting the skateparks on the weekends lately, which has been inspiring me to listen to a heavy dose of The Faction. I've mentioned in the past how much I love The Faction's "Dark Room" 12" and how that is one of my favorite records ever, but what I haven't mentioned, is how great their little heard, early 2000's recordings are.

Although it's unclear to me exactly when these songs were recorded, The Faction did indeed hit the studio in the early 2000's and recorded four songs. Two of the songs ended up on compilations, "Cut It Out" and "The Whistler". The other two songs, "Aisle Seat" and "Who The Hell Do You Think You Are?", were never officially released. Eventually, "Aisle Seat" showed up on The Faction's MySpace page, but "Who The Hell Do You Think You Are?" has yet to surface. The only way I even knew "Who The Hell Do You Think You Are?" was recorded, was from talking to Faction guitarist, Ray Stevens, who filled me in. Ray says, "Who The Hell Do You Think You Are?", was never released. It was a cover song from the band and movie, "Hardcore Logo", which was a hilarious Canadian rock-umentary".

The Faction's "Dark Room" back cover art, done by Lance Mountain

There's also a couple of tracks that were recorded in 1989, "Looking For You" and "Pet Squirrel", which apparently appeared in the Santa Cruz Skateboards video, "A Reason For Living". The cassette for the "A Reason For Living" soundtrack only has "Looking For You", so I'm not exactly sure where "Pet Squirrel" ended up or if it was ever released at all, but Ray Stevens seemed to think it was in that video.

Early ad for The Faction's "Yesterday Is Gone" 7" from the collection of: Sal Bug

So, if anyone out there has "Who The Hell Do You Think You Are?", "Pet Squirrel" or any other unreleased material by The Faction, get in touch. It's sort of become one of my missions to gather all of their material. I've got a ton of their material already collected, but could always use more, if more is out there.

Skate and destroy… -Tim DCXX

Gavin O'Brien and Steve Caballero with The Faction at the Tool and Die, 1984, Photo: Denice Vaughn

Steve Caballero (take note of Cab's SSD sticker) with a helmet plant air over Lance Mountain, Photo: Glen E. Friedman

The Underground Faction

2011-11-27T19:49:00.002-05:00

Rich and Steve from INSTED recently launched a brand new clothing company called, The Underground Faction. Bringing it back to the roots of what they believe with an Animal Liberation, Human Liberation t-shirt as well as other cool designs dedicated to underground music and lifestyle. The company is a collective of sorts and will feature designs from their old hardcore friends, musicians and artists. I've been talking with Rich about putting together a couple designs myself, so it's just a matter of time before I get myself in The Underground Faction mix. Check out what they've got going on over at www.theundergroundfaction.com and if you see something you want to pick up, receive a 20% discount by using the special code Doublexx during checkout. -Tim DCXX

Animal Liberation design (Left), Live And Let Live design (Right)

Rich and Steve of The Underground Faction

Joe D. Foster - Interview part II

2011-11-24T00:09:00.000-05:00

Joe D. Foster (Surf Photographer?) - Part 2 of 3 from David Lee Scales on Vimeo.

CIV at the Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ 1995

2011-11-21T07:26:00.000-05:00

Blatant Localism

2011-11-19T19:54:00.000-05:00

Joe D. Foster - Interview

2011-11-16T07:21:00.000-05:00

Joe D. Foster (Surf Photographer?) from David Lee Scales on Vimeo.

The Mistaken

2011-11-13T20:26:00.003-05:00

Matt and Andy tipped me off on their latest project that they've been working on and I've been looking forward to checking it out. Don't expect BOLD, Supertouch or anything really all that hardcore, but do expect something new, made by a couple of guys that definitely know how to write some great songs. Obviously they are still very early into what they're putting together here, but expect good things in the near future. -Tim DCXX

Matt Warnke, Photo: Helenabxl

Check out what Matt had to say...

The Mistaken evolved over the past two years in the workshop environment that is Andy’s Six III Studio. In creating these songs we’ve sought to exist somewhere between heavily-edited meticulousness and loose spontaneity. We will be releasing a ten song full length in the first half of 2012 on Wardance Records. The line-up for live shows is being sorted out at present; expect a few surprises as far as who shows up along with who plays what – Andy will be moving from his customary place behind the drum kit to guitar/backing vocals. Hope to see you all down the line. -Matt Warnke

The Mistaken on Reverbnation
The Mistaken on Facebook

Andy Guida, Photo: Helenabxl

Youth Of Today - "Crucial Times" 7"

2011-11-06T22:13:00.003-05:00

The infamous Youth Of Today - "Crucial Times" 7"

In a very odd and almost unexplainable occurrence, I literally found on my basement floor, what just might be the most interesting and rarest version of the Youth Of Today "Can't Close My Eyes" EP.

If you think back to the cover of Schism Fanzine issue 8, with that jaw dropping, all glorious record collection collage photo, you'll recall that on the inside of the cover, where they listed every record included in the photo, there was a Youth Of Today "Crucial Times" 7" listed. Now if you were like me, when I noticed that listed record, you did a whole lot of head scratching. After some research, we found out that what was seen on that cover and listed, was basically a hoax, or at least a 7" that didn't actually exist.

Schism Fanzine issue 8 cover photo

What the Youth Of Today "Crucial Times" 7" turned out to be, was an original cover concept drawn by long time Anthrax club flyer artist, Jim Martin in 1985, but was essentially rejected by the band. Basically one of the YOT guys took that original drawing and glued it to the cover of a "Can't Close My Eyes" EP and threw it into that collage of records that ended up on the cover of Schism 8. I assume one of the Skiz guys thought it would be interesting to list the record, and throw off a ton of people. Well I for one was definitely thrown off.

Now here's where I start scratching my head again. This past Saturday, I'm down in my basement, where we just had some construction done over the past 3 days. I'm walking around, checking out the work that had been done, when I notice on the floor, below a pile of other stuff that's been stacked and stored in a basement closet, a 7" with a black and white, hand drawn cover, lying on the floor. I walk over and pick it up and discover that it's indeed the infamous Youth Of Today "Crucial Times" 7".

Take note of the highlighted Youth Of Today - "Crucial Times" 7' on the cover of Schism 8

At first thought, I'm thinking it's a xeroxed copy of the original drawing, still not knowing how it ended up in my house and on my basement floor. Upon further inspection, I discover it is the actual, original drawing and 7" stored in a standard plastic 7" sleeve. I start thinking and questioning to myself, how I have this and where it came from. But some how or another I'm thinking that the only possible and logical answer is that I must have gotten it from Ray Cappo when buying some records off of him in the late 90's. Some how I'm guessing it got separated from the rest of the records, stacked in a pile of stuff and stored for the past 15 years. I'm assuming, with all the construction that's been going on over the past 3 days, the record was shaken loose from a pile and simply fell to the floor. But honestly, I'm still not exactly sure.

What I do know, is that what I have is the original hand drawn artwork by Jim Martin, which has been glued to the cover of an actual "Can't Close My Eyes" EP cover. Inside that cover is an old black and white Youth Of Today sticker and a Ray Cappo/Becky Tupper prom photo (which really leads me to believe this was Ray's). There's also a Batman stamp on the 7" dust sleeve, a lyric sheet and a black vinyl 7" inside. Pretty damn cool and quite possibly my oddest hardcore record find ever. -Tim DCXX

The Schism 8 record cover collage listing

Another shot of the "Crucial Times" cover and what was inside

Danzig Legacy tour hits NYC

2011-11-03T21:28:00.001-04:00

Danzig at Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC, 10/29/2011, Photo: Village Voice

Time to wrap up what's been a week's worth of Misfits/Samhain/Danzig material here at DCXX. It seems that every year, like clockwork, I end up listening exclusively to nothing but Glenn Danzig related bands for a few weeks. Traditionally the October/November/Fall season brings on the inspiration, but it's by no means kept only to this time period.

What came around in perfect timing this year, was the Danzig Legacy tour. For a fan, Glenn doing sets by all three bands, Danzig, Samhain and Misfits is pretty much sure to be an epic night. I can assure you, this past Saturday, October 29th in NYC at Hammerstein Ballroom was all it was built up to be. The Samhain set being the highlight for me, but the whole show really being incredible on all fronts.

Danzig at Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC, 10/29/2011, Photo: Village Voice

What was also an added bonus was the opening Corrosion Of Conformity 3 piece era lineup (Mike, Woody and Reed) doing a great set of the "Animosity" and "Technocracy" classics, as well as a few new tracks. I've been really looking forward to catching this and it did not disappoint.

Here's a few videos that highlight the Danzig/Samhain/Misfits sets. I realize that the intros may come off a tad boring for those that weren't there and might just be watching here online, but I can assure you that in person, the combination of the intro music, sounds and dropping of each banner, made for some pretty exciting stuff. I also thought, for what I came across, these videos were the best in terms of quality. -Tim DCXX

Misfits/Samhain/Danzig artwork origins

2011-11-01T21:27:00.002-04:00

The original Crimson Ghost from the 1946, Fred Brannon film, "The Crimson Ghost".

Continuing with the seasonal Misfits/Samhain/Danzig theme here at DCXX, I dug up these images that I thought I'd post. I always find it very interesting when I stumble upon original artwork or images that ended up being used as classic band and or album graphics. Some of these you might have come across in the past, some you might have never knew existed, either way, here are a few I that I thought were well worth a post. All Murder, All Guts, All Fun... -Tim DCXX

Cover of the "Die, Die My Darling" single

Cover of the 1950's horror comic book, "Chamber Of Chills" #19

Cover of "Legacy Of Brutality"

Promotional scene photo from the 1946 film, "The Crimson Ghost"

Cover from the July 1984 8th issue of "Saga of Crystar the Crystal Warrior" comic book

Samhain "Initium" cover

Cover of Danzig I

To walk the night...

2011-10-29T15:05:00.001-04:00

Samhain - Live at The Ritz, NYC, 7/14/1986

2011-10-26T21:02:00.000-04:00

Samhain - "Halloween II" at Stardust Ballroom 1984

2011-10-26T20:50:00.000-04:00

Tis the season for...

2011-10-25T19:55:00.000-04:00

New Breed re-issue info from Freddy Alva

2011-10-24T21:20:00.001-04:00

- We are planning a record release party in the middle of November in Brooklyn, where we'll also screen New Breed: The Documentary (That's a 'lil film I've been putting together with my friend John Woods).

- The documentary features interviews with: Djinji Brown, Dave Stein, Gavin Van Vlack, Bill Wilson, Carl Porcaro & 8 others plus footage/pics of bands on the comp.

- The "Wild Style" alternate cover ltd to 200 copies will be available only via mail-order.

- The 4 extra songs on the Lp version are by All For One & Life's Blood live tunes w/Sean Murphy singing @CBGB's.

- Revelation Records & Phantasm Imports will be carrying the comp for distribution.

Nerve Agents / Redemption 87

2011-10-23T20:30:00.001-04:00

Every once in awhile a certain band that I hadn't thought about in a long time, will pop back into my head and I'm reminded of just how incredible they were. For what ever reason, today, I started thinking back on two of Eric Ozenne's former bands, Redemption 87 and The Nerve Agents. I ended up stumbling upon this cool video of The Nerve Agents live at The Troubadour in Hollywood, CA and thought I'd share it here on DCXX. I also found this video below of Redemption 87 from their Gilman Street reunion in 2004. Although the quality isn't all that great, I still thought the video was worth posting. If you haven't heard either of these bands, do yourself a favor and dig them up. -Tim DCXX

Fugazi - Full Disclosure

2011-10-19T23:13:00.001-04:00

Edge Day 2000 : The Last Show Of In My Eyes

2011-10-17T19:07:00.001-04:00

EDGE DAY 2000: The Last Show Of In My Eyes from Revelation Records on Vimeo.

This is what we could salvage of the documentary "EDGE DAY 2000: The Last Show Of In My Eyes." Hope you enjoy it! Here are some words from In My Eyes' guitarist, Anthony Pappalardo:

For the entire existence of In My Eyes there were always three words used to describe us that made us cringe: Youth Crew Revival. Most 'zines that were covering Snapcase and Chamberlain would mention we were "great at being a Youth Crew Revival band" and it drove me fucking insane. The Youth Crew was Youth of Today's crew, not a style of music and certainly not relevant to a band formed in 1997. We all loved Youth of Today but we weren't setting out to revive anything. That phrase always made me think of a bunch of kids in varsity jackets standing over a drawing of the Step Forwards record dude with wires hooked up to him like Weird Science. Suddenly he rises out of the pages of Boiling Point and He's Alive... the Youth Crew had been revived! Let's all pose in the street a la We're Not In This Alone and bleach our hair!

In My Eyes accomplished infinitely less than many of the bands that were our peers in Boston. From Bane and American Nightmare to Converge, Isis, Jejune and Piebald; we'd toured less, played less and never committed to the band full time but it didn't mean it wasn't our lives or that we weren't happy with what we had left behind. We weren't able to be a "full time band" and that made things fun. We had an outlet to pour ourselves into every weekend and it made even the smallest show special.

We didn't revive the Youth Crew, we lived our crew. Some of us listened to Juvenile, while some listened to Stereolab. We could be found wasting our money on sneakers, jackets, unhealthy vegetarian food, gambling or video games. We combed the streets of Boston looking for fun, records and girls… girls were the hardest to come by. In My Eyes was our way of avoiding the September to June College Malaise that defines Boston.

Initially we were a handful of kids crammed into the first floor of a poorly insulated Mission Hill apartment with a Subway table in the vinyl floored kitchen. By the end of the band our friends inhabited about 43% of the neighborhood, formed twenty thousand bands and record labels and we all found time to hang out on each other's porches and stoops no matter what was going on.

In My Eyes was convinced to play a final show, as the band had run it's course. We were exhausted, broke, and all facing different directions while still being best friends. Matt Galle, Tim Mailloux and Ray Lemonie aka DHU were responsible for most of the all ages punk and hardcore shows in Boston at the time and they wouldn't let us go out with a whimper. They booked an all ages, $5.00 show in Haverhill, MA, where Ten Yard Fight had once played as well as 108, about 7 years prior. Haverhill was about ten miles from where I grew up. I spent my teen years there in coffee shops, grinding and sliding the curbs in the town's parking garage. It was part of the Merrimack Valley, an area responsible for Cave-In, Piebald, Converge, Ten Yard Fight and other notable bands. It was nice to end where I started.

The show wasn't going to take place in Boston so we could have an all ages show with no barriers, without giving a cent to club owners that hated us the other 364 days of the calendar year.

DHU asked me who I'd wanted on the bill; I remember asking if American Nightmare could play... they didn't and I'm not sure why but Wes sang the ending of Through The Motions which is part of this documentary. In viewing the video again I realized how much this song aspired to be a Moondog song though it's mid-paced tempo was modeled after Inside Out.

I'm not sure why my memory is so sharp for some things and so vague for others but I'll run down the last time In My Eyes played together:

• A few weeks prior we played a last show in Riverside County in California at the Showcase Theater. I liberated a pair of gold Air Max 97s from Niketown as an homage to Civ's obnoxious creepers at the last GB shows.

• As In My Eyes was fading out, a lot of us noticed the focus on NYHC folk-lore and generally being "hard" in hardcore 2000. We purposely chose to cover A Time We'll Remember and Bottled Violence, two songs without mosh parts that are as energetic as any songs recorded to keep an emphasis on stage dives and sing-alongs... things we saw as the core of the band.

• Friends from all over the world came, a lot of our friends hadn't been to a show in years or ever, some of them liked Limp Bizkit and others, House music. It was rad to have such a mix of personalities and backgrounds there in one place.

• The show was $5.00; I'm not sure how many people paid but I know for a fact that no one I knew was asked for even a dollar. Clevo mentions there being 500+ kids there, I'm sure at least 200 were on the "guest list." I have no idea how many kids were actually there but it felt like at least 501.

• The palm tree background was pretty calming, and later, Jeff and I joked about starting a new band, "Veggie Burger in Paradise", a Leisure Core band inspired by the backdrop.

• We all knew Sweet Pete was tight with Porcell but didn't believe he'd really show up to sing Straight Edge Revenge. It kind of blew me away how kids didn't give him a little room to do his thing, I always thought he was pretty incredible on stage and would have liked to see him have a little more space.

• There was one In My Eyes song we all thought sucked so we didn't play it but I'm not sure 11 years later what it was, maybe it was Overlooked.

• Dudes ripping down the ceiling cost us $400.00, which is 80 paid customers. I might start a Kickstarter to recoup the costs retroactively.

• There were a lot of humans there not wearing shirts... I'm pretty sure 11 years later they'd keep their "Hanes Beefy Tees" on.

• None of us could even get near our amps to look at our tuners due to the amount of Edgemin on stage, we gave up and tuned by ear. Al Quint once complained that we were always out of tune because we "jumped around so much", I'm surprised how in-tune we actually sounded.

As for the actual documentary you're viewing now, it was supposed to be this multi-angle, multi-camera, semi-mega production packed with ephemera, interviews and insight. Instead, it sat somewhere for years until a short sample tape and an invoice arrived in my mail box years later. There was a lot of confusion about what really happened with the movie, I wanted to work with the editor and really make this different but instead the film crew disappeared and we all forgot about this until Larry Ransom found this 30 minute cut.

I wish I didn't swing my arms around as much when I talked but I'm happy with this slice of In My Eyes and I hope everyone enjoys it.

Thank you to DHU for booking the show, everyone who came out as well as Shark Attack, The Killing Flame, Mouthpiece, Fastbreak, Bane and Ten Yard Fight who played for next to nothing to be a part of the day.

I never went to my senior prom and spent 15 minutes at my college graduation because In My Eyes had a show booked at a shed in a New Jersey backyard with Ensign which I played with a 100+ degree fever but I had this day no matter how bad my memories of it actually is.

Despite this show being an endpoint for In My Eyes, I see many of the people on that stage weekly, monthly and at weddings and other celebrations to this day. We share tweets, texts, emails, Facebook wars and other social media connections and we all agree it was a great time that continues into our (gasp) adult lives.

Thank you.
-Anthony Pappalardo 10.17.2011

Ressurection - I Am Not : The Discography

2011-10-16T21:05:00.001-04:00

Jacob Bannon, frontman for Converge and one of the two kingpins at Deathwish Records, contacted me a couple weeks ago and asked if I'd be down to post something on DCXX regarding some Ressurection merch that they had just recently put up in their online store. I of course obliged, but wanted to make the entry a little something more than just an advertisement for merch. I started thinking back to a few years ago, when the idea for the Ressurection discography first came together and Rob reached out to me for a written contribution to possibly be included in the discography. Years later the discog finally came out (this past August), but no written contributions were included, so when thinking about putting together this entry for the new Ressurection shirts, I remembered that I still had this unused piece I had written on Ressurection.

If you haven't gotten a chance to pick up the discography, titled, "I Am Not: The Discography", do yourself a favor and definitely grab it. The re-mixing/re-mastering of those songs drastically helped the sound of what I always knew were great songs, but suffered from lack luster recordings. As you can see, Deathwish also did a great job of bringing back some classic Ressurection shirt designs, many of which used the original films that Geoff at TDT screen printing had archived from their first runs.

Ressurection Deathwish store

So here it, my thoughts on Ressurection, originally intended to be included in the discography. -Tim DCXX

Growing up and going to hardcore shows in the mid to late 80's was pretty special. There were so many great bands with so many inspiring things to say and it all completely took me by storm. As the early 90's moved in, many of the bands that I loved started falling apart, changing their sound, along with their ideals, show attendance began to see a significant drop. These early days of the 1990's really showed you who was in for the long haul and who was simply a casual show goer.

I had met Rob while he was doing Release and they were easily one of my favorite New Jersey bands from the late 80's. Rob was never afraid to speak his mind and straight edge was a flag that he was never shy about waving. Because of Rob's relentlessness and non-compromising attitude, I respected him a lot.

Not long after the demise of Release, Rob started talking about putting together a new band. I remember he had the name Ressurection in mind and there was never any doubt what that name represented. Given the circumstances of the hardcore scene at that time, old ideas rising again seemed too good to be true. Not long after I also clearly remember Rob playing me their first recorded track, "Melting Away". At first listen, it reminded me of a noisy, straight edge version of BL'AST! and I loved it. It was really nothing at all like anything else that was happening in the scene at that time. I loved everything about that song, the lyrics, the music, the almost eerie sound of the recording, it all just seemed to come together perfectly.

As this was all happening, I was doing a band called Mouthpiece and we had a show coming up with California's Insted at a club in Reading PA, called the Unisound. We had told Rob that Ressurection should come to this show and after our set, they should hop up on stage, use our equipment and play "Melting Away". With little hesitation, Ressurection took us up on our offer and introduced themselves that night. Rob picked up the mic and said, "We're Ressurection, a straight edge band from new Jersey and if you don't like it, there's the door... this songs called Melting Away". From the start of the guitar feedback, the few of us that knew the song went absolutely insane as did the band on stage. I knew from that point on, we were entering a new era. There was no need to cry about what was gone and missing from the scene, because what we had building in front of us was something just as special and inspiring as what graced us through the 80's.

Verbal Assault - More Than Music

2011-10-14T19:30:00.001-04:00

It's more than music
 More than a new dance
 More than fashion 
More than a posed stance
It's more than music 
It's something to live life with 
Beyond cheap slogans
 An act of love, an attempt to give
We have seen a lot of kids drift away 
And now they're gone
 But new blood and old ideals
 Help keep our vision strong
It's more than music
 It's our life

Last In My Eyes show / Edge Day 2000 trailer

2011-10-13T19:20:00.001-04:00

EDGE DAY 2000: The Last Show Of In My Eyes - Trailer from Revelation Records on Vimeo.

Rescued from a box in the garage, salvaged from a VHS tape, dusted off and uploaded for the first time ever...

Here's a trailer for the never before seen documentary of In My Eyes' last show ever in October 2000.

The full video will be available to watch for free this Monday here on DCXX and also on Revelation's Vimeo page, October 17th to celebrate National Edge Day!

Revelation Records on Vimeo

Cro-Mags - Live at The Roxy, Hollywood CA, 2011

2011-10-13T13:52:00.000-04:00

The Heels - "Undisputed"

2011-10-11T22:33:00.001-04:00

The Heels, Photo: Blow The Scene

Every once in awhile, we like to give a little attention to a newer, up and coming type band and this time around the spotlight goes to Philadelphia's, The Heels. Although The Heels aren't really a new band and have actually been kicking around since 2006, they just finally got around to releasing their 16 song debut, entitled, "Undisputed". The Heels also aren't new to the scene in terms of the members that make up the band, frontman, Mike McManus and guitarist, Dan McGinnis got their starts in Philadelphia's own, the Pagan Babies. Sonically, I don't think The Heels are too far off from what Mike and Dan were doing with the Pagan Babies. Pretty straight forward, usually fast, energetic hardcore with a dose of punk thrown in. Mike just sent me the CD last week and it's been in constant rotation since I got it. I've been a big fan of the Pagan Babies forever, so a new band with Mike singing and Dan on guitar wasn't a hard sell for me.

Check out the following links for more info on The Heels and try to pick up their new CD, "Undisputed", when you get a chance. - Tim DCXX

The Heels on ReverbNation
The Heels on Facebook
www.cdbaby.com/cd/theheels1

Mike McManus with the rest of the Pagan Babies at City Gardens, Trenton NJ, Photo: Ken Salerno

The Fire Still Burns...

2011-10-10T21:42:00.002-04:00

Token Entry at City Gardens, Trenton, NJ, Photo: Ken Salerno

Youth Brigade poll wrap up

2011-10-06T21:04:00.000-04:00

It's not the first time and we'll try to not let it happen again, but it looks like we ran the same poll that we ran last year and it had the same results. California's Youth Brigade beat out the D.C. Youth Brigade by 42 votes. I guess considering we've been doing this site now for over 3 years, some material can and will end up getting covered more than once. Like I said, it happens, our bad. -Tim DCXX

Check last year's poll results wrap up if you missed it:
2010 Youth Brigade poll wrap up

McRad

2011-10-05T23:54:00.001-04:00

McRAD from OBEY CLOTHING on Vimeo.

After getting their start opening for Minor Threat, McRad rose to fame in the skateboard world after being featured in Stacey Peralta and Cr Stecyk's 1988 movie Public Domain. The leader of McRad, Chuck Treece along with Ray Barbee and CR Stecyk tell the story of the band and its place in skateboard history. Documented by Eric Pritchard.

True Til Def - October 22, 2011

2011-10-05T15:51:00.002-04:00

Mark Of The Squealer

2011-10-01T17:08:00.001-04:00

Leeway at City Gardens, Trenton NJ, Photo: Ken Salerno

Trapped Under Ice in NYC, October 8th

2011-09-30T19:56:00.001-04:00

For more info:Trapped Under Ice in NYC

Inside Out at Jim Daugherty's house, La Verne, CA 2/24/1990

2011-09-29T23:05:00.000-04:00

Cliff Burton 2/10/1962 - 9/27/1986

2011-09-27T21:21:00.001-04:00

We're usually pretty adamant about keeping DCXX, "all things hardcore", but let's face it, Cliff Burton knew his hardcore and early Metallica would not have existed with out the influence of punk and hardcore. That being said, early Metallica also had one hell of an influence on a ton of hardcore bands, so I think the respect is mutual.

Can't believe it's been 25 years, pretty insane how fast time flies. I can clearly remember the day the news hit about Cliff's death. I was just starting to take interest in Metallica and had just recently bought "Master Of Puppets" on cassette. I remember skating my friends street ramp and blasting "Battery" over and over again, on my Panasonic boom box. That "Master Of Puppets" cassette was in just as constant rotation as 7 Seconds "Walk Together Rock Together", Agent Orange's "When You Least Expect It", Minor Threat's "Out Of Step" and Corrosion Of Conformity's "Animosity". Somehow or another, Metallica fit right into that mix perfectly.

So in tribute to Cliff, blast a little early Metallica, maybe check out "Cliff 'Em All" for the 35th time. If none of that fits into your plans, listen to some Misfits, I think that would work for Cliff just fine. -Tim DCXX

Underdog - NYC

2011-09-26T23:01:00.001-04:00

Olivia Larrain and the Underdog shirt screen printing crew delivering Underdog shirts fresh off the press.

Orange County Hardcore Scenester

2011-09-25T21:12:00.000-04:00

In the early part of the 2000's Dan O'Mahony and myself were driving to the movies to see a double feature of THE PERFECT STORM and ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE. Well, it may not have been that combo of films but we went to the movies a good amount during that time. On one of these trips I told him about how I wanted to make a documentary on the 1990's Orange County Hardcore scene but I was coming up with reasons not to do it. There was the time factor, the finding footage factor, the editing factor (at this point I don't even think I had an editing system in my home!), etc.

He told me regardless of all that I should still make the film.

Flash forward a decade and I have made a documentary on 1990's hardcore titled ORANGE COUNTY HARDCORE SCENESTER. Is it definitive? No. Was it ever intended to be? Never. This documentary is just that: a document.

Albeit, a highly personal one that goes in many directions and, at times, lingers on events that yours truly was particularly effected by.

At present I have sent OCHS to a few festivals and I am about to start showing it to distributors. Once I have a better idea of how this movie is going to be released, I will start re-editing it for that purpose. It should be available in the next 6-12 months.

Looking back now, I think Dan O' pushed me towards making this movie as we drove to see ROMEO MUST DIE in Anaheim. I might be wrong … but sometimes being wrong makes for a better story.

Best,
Evan Jacobs
Anhedenia Films
www.anhedeniafilms.com

Sunday Matinee NYHC Photo Zine

2011-09-23T13:50:00.001-04:00

Raybeez at a pool party, Photo: Brooke Smith

Sunday Matinee is a new photo exhibit / publication of the 1980's NYHC scene, currently on view at Primary photo gallery on Chrystie st. in NYC. The exhibition catalog has been released by Tiny Vices Books and is available either from the gallery or online through:
Burn Books

Sunday Matinee photo exhibit

Sunday Matinee photo zine

Cro-Mags and Youth Of Today in the U.K.

2011-09-21T20:19:00.003-04:00

John Joseph with the Cro-Mags in London and Klubfoot, 1987, Photo: Dave Charles

Contributions are always welcomed here at DCXX, so when Dave Charles offered up these Mags and YOT shots, I was more than happy to take them. As a matter of fact, anyone out there that has photos, flyers, interviews, stories, ideas, etc., feel free to contribute and get in touch. While we're currently in between wrapping up some interviews and working on starting up some new ones, contributions really help fill in the gaps. Thanks. -Tim DCXX

Harley with the Cro-Mags in London and Klubfoot, 1987, Photo: Dave Charles

Harley and JJ with the Cro-Mags in London and Klubfoot, 1987, Photo: Dave Charles

JJ and Doug Holland with the Cro-Mags in London and Klubfoot, 1987, Photo: Dave Charles

Ray and Porcell with Youth Of Today in London, 1989, Photo: Dave Charles

Ray and Porcell with Youth Of Today in Bristol, 1989, Photo: Dave Charles

Judge set list

2011-09-18T22:33:00.000-04:00

Another contribution from Release bassist, Greg Shafer. This one is a Judge set list that Greg has been hanging on to for the past 23 years. Not much that really has to be said about this one, it's Judge and that enough speaks volume. -Tim DCXX

Remission - North Meets South US Tour 2011

2011-09-14T22:53:00.003-04:00

For more info on Remission's US tour dates, go to: https://www.facebook.com/remissionhc

The artwork of Chris Cap

2011-09-13T21:23:00.000-04:00

Release drummer, Chris Cap, is a master of the X'ed up, hooded straight edge guy artwork and I've been a fan for a long, long time. When Release bassist, Greg Shafer hit me up and told me he found a pile of original Chris Cap artwork, as well as a bunch of flyers, I was pretty stoked to check it all out. Here's a few samples that I got a chance to scan. -Tim DCXX

RIP Raybeez 11/27/1961-09/11/1997

2011-09-11T22:29:00.000-04:00

Mark Holcomb - Undertow/Shift part VII

2011-09-08T23:36:00.003-04:00

Most, if not all of us grew up hearing stories from our parents about what is was like for them to learn about John F. Kennedy's assassination on that day in November of 1963. Likewise, for our generation, every one of us remembers where we were and what we were doing on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Personally, I was asleep on two couches pushed together in the living room of a bandmate's house in Santa Barbara. He was getting evicted and our band was falling apart. I was awoken by a crusty punk yelling, "It's the new world order! They blew up the World Trade Center! It's the new world order!" I couldn't believe my eyes when we turned on the tv, and there was a cloud of smoke where the Twin Towers once stood. For me, this terrorist attack hit close to home, but to Mark Holcomb, and several million other New York residents, this attack hit home, literally. The after-effects of the devastation are still being played out a decade later, be they in armed struggles overseas, the ever-changing policies on national security, or in the minds of those personally impacted by the day's events. We all have a story. This is Mark's story.

Things are never gonna be the same again. - Ben Merlis, September 11, 2011

Mark with Undertow at The Glasshouse, Pomona CA, 2009, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

I did want to ask you about that. Tell me exactly what happened on September 11, 2001. YOUR experience on that day. Where were you living? Brooklyn or Manhattan?

I was Manhattan. I was about two and a half miles away.

So what streets were you living on?

I was on 7th Street, next to Thompkins Square Park . . . Saturday night! (laughs) I was on 7th Street between A and B.

Oh. 7th and A. Friends worked the door so we didn't have to pay?

Yeah! I really felt good. I was like, "Fuck, I'm really a New Yorker living in this fucking neighborhood." And I was actually at a doctor's appointment on 14th, Union Square. Do you want me to tell the whole story?

Yeah. The whole story.

I had a doctor's appointment, it was my last doctor's appointment. I broke my hand in a fight.

Mark with Shift in upstate, NY, Photo courtesy of: Shift

Who were you fighting?

It wasn't a . . . you know . . . they had it coming. And I broke my hand and, so the last doctor's appointment, the nurse runs in and was like, "Wow, a plane just hit one of the Trade Towers." Me and the doctor were like, "What kind of plane? What happened?" She's like, "I have no idea. No idea. I just know a plane hit it." And in my mind it's a fucking little Cessna. Not a big deal. Me and the doctor weren't joking about, but it was like, that's fucking weird. We were curious. What the hell's going on? So she's assessing my hand, and 15 minutes later when the doctor appointment was over, the nurse runs in and was like, "Another plane, a jumbo jet just hit the second Trade Tower." And my doctor was like, "You're fine, no more appointments. You're fine. We're going Downtown." And as I'm leaving all the nurses and doctors are getting all their shit together and they're all heading Downtown. And at this point you kind of realize something massive is going on.

Why are they [walking] towards . . .

They're doctors and nurses and they're getting reports that two jumbo jets . . . they know more information than . . .

They're going to help people . . . okay.

Yeah, they need to go Downtown. They're kicking everybody out. I walk out, and for anybody that doesn't know Union Square, it's fucking crowded ALL the time, day and night, 24 hours a day, it's a hub of New York. And I walk outside and it's like a Godzilla movie where there were barely any cars, any traffic. Everything had fucking stopped. Barely anybody is on the street, and this is about 9 am so it should have been packed at this point. But everybody is looking up, and I can see both towers on fire at this point. Everybody's looking up with jaws dropped, and it looked like fucking Godzilla had just hit the Trade Towers. And it was totally this surreal experience. My first impression was, "I wonder what these buildings are going to look like when they put out the fires. Are we going to be able to see all the way through?" And so at that point, I'm married, and I'm about 7 blocks, about 15 minutes away from home, so I rush home, call my wife who is working across town, and was like, "Do you know what's going on?" She's like, "Yeah." She was a manager at Starbucks. She was like, "Well I'm not sure what I can do." And I was like, "Well you should come home as soon as you can." I turned on the news and it's like horrible. Basically my whole day was just chaos, and I saw both towers come down from the roof of my building, and it's about two and a half miles away. Family called, but at that point I kind of knew the phones wouldn't be working, so I just got a hold of my wife and said, "Come home. Don't ride the subways, just fucking walk. I'm going to go buy water and supplies, and we're gonna figure this out." So that was that day. I remember later that day, we walked as far south as we could, and we saw people walking up and they were just covered in dust. And everybody's crying, and we see people's grey faces, just ash all over them - people that had been Downtown. Ash all over them, but you see like their faces clean right here . . .

From crying?

Yeah. Just fucking horrible. Horrible. I imagine it's what it's like seeing somebody get dumped with napalm. You know what's going on. People are getting fucking killed. And the news is telling you all sorts of shit. It was madness. It was really a rough day.

What about the several days and weeks following September 11? What was that like living in Manhattan?

I'll never forget it. I don't know how to put it into terms . . . it was terrifying, but also I can look back at that and say the sense of community was unreal. To see people on the street and everybody had been through the same experience that was terrifying, it was really heartwarming. New Yorkers really came together. I'm sure they did in New Orleans and all these places, but this is the only thing that I have. My own experience was that it was just wonderful to see people out, but it was terrifying at the same time when you smelled the city burning for MONTHS. A good three months you'd walk outside and it smelled like a campfire, with Downtown burning. The days immediately after it was just smoggy and crazy, but you saw businesses opening and people trying to go out and live their normal lives, but things they don't talk about were it was constant rumors that on Halloween they're going to gas or bomb the subways - don't ride the subways. That's a terrifying feeling that Halloween, Thanksgiving, Ramadan, any of the Jewish holidays, Christmas, for a good year, it was, "They're going to bomb the subways," which to me made sense because they do it in London with the IRA all through the years. It wouldn't be a big deal to fucking toss a bomb.

It happened in Japan.

Yeah, it fucking happens, and I'm surprised it hasn't happened to this day, because it happened in London. It fucking happens [six days after this interview was conducted, Moscow subways were bombed, killing 39 - Ben]. It was pretty terrifying to . . .

Ride the subway?

I mean rationally, you're like, "The odds of this happening to me are not that high." Manhattan's an island, so if you were to fucking bomb either of the tunnels or the five bridges that are leaving Manhattan, all the food that can't come in, all this other stuff that can't come in, you're trapped. And we're supposed to walk the bridge to Brooklyn? It was sort of apocalyptic in a way.

Shift at Rennes Rock Festival, 1997, France, Photo courtesy of: Shift

You said you'd walk by fire stations and you'd see missing person signs?

Oh my god, that brings back so many memories. That was personally really, really upsetting to me. I don't think I walked by a fire station or a police house, and I knew where they all were, for a good four to five months, because there was just a bed of flowers, probably half a block. A lot of lower Manhattan, you'd walk by just xeroxed copies at Kinko's of peoples' faces "MISSING." And at this point they just didn't know. They estimated 3,000 people upwards to 7,000. The first day I think they said there were 30,000 people that could have been in the building. It was terrifying and also everyday you're walking by any chain link fence, I mean Manhattan's covered with the posters right? It was just covered with "MISSING." "MISSING." You know? You don't know, and at a certain point, everything was on the news, and you can't really watch a sitcom or anything else to take you away from this, so it was just a good two or three months of solid . . . I don't think I was normal for quite a while, but especially walking by fire stations, or the hospital, or a police station. These were the places where people went. "MISSING - PLEASE CALL . . ." a photo of someone you don't know, but still they haven't found them in two months, they're gone. They're gone. It would be new flyers as well. I swear to god it would be a block long of people papering, "MISSING." It was like, fuck.

There was a huge patriotic fervor that happened right after that. Were you swept up in that, or what was your attitude towards, "Let's get the guys who did this!" Did you have that kind of attitude?

Well I thought that if we could find the guys who did this, yes. But there's no country to attack. I knew there needed to be a response. And I think at that time I was comfortable of there needing to be response, but I wanted it to be an educated response.

Do you think there WAS an educated response?

Well I really don't have a problem with them GOING into Afghanistan. I don't really necessarily think we need to be there, because it seems like the plan is, "Let's build permanent bases there." I don't think that's appropriate. If we need to go out and drop bombs on people that are trying to kill me, then yeah. I'm okay with that. But looking back at it, I think it was an isolated incident of 2,000 people who wanted to destroy my way of living. And I don't think that dropping bombs on somebody who wants to go to school and is farming goats is an appropriate response. If you can find those 2,000 lunatics, and suppress that, I'm okay with that. If you're trying to kill me, then yeah, I'm okay with someone killing you first. I have no problem with that. I understand what they did. I think going into Afghanistan, I'm okay with that. I don't think going into Iraq was a good idea from the start, and I don't think staying in Afghanistan as an idea that we're suppressing terrorism is a good idea. It seemed to me that the U.S. was liked before, and now we're a lot worse off. I agreed with the immediate response.

The invasion of Afghanistan?

Yeah, I mean there are camps there, this country [Afghanistan] is allowing these camps, these camps will do more, because they did shit before. I mean they bombed the Trade Towers in '93 I think it was.

That was someone else, but, yeah, the fanatic Muslims . . .

But I can't say the U.S. doesn't do this shit. The U.S. is in control, so if they see somebody they think might be a threat maybe they'll go fucking drop a thousand 500 pound bombs on a fucking village, then innocent people are being killed. But war has been going on forever. If somebody puts a gun to my head, and I have an opportunity to shoot at them, I will. It's uneducated. It's a very emotional response. I don't like the U.S. involvement in outside countries at all right now. At all. And the fact that the U.S. had no plan . . . if they were going to go and be like, "We're gonna fuck up the dudes that did this to us," then yeah, I have no problem with that. But we're going to stay there and never leave? That's fucked up.

How did 9/11 affect your personal life?

My personal life before that was in transition. I wasn't happy in the marriage and I think anybody you talk to from '90 to 2000 would say that I was a very fucking angry dude, and stressed out all the time, and unhappy. For me, 9/11 was kind of a wake up call: "Have you done everything in your life you thought you would?" And I hadn't, but I think I was already leaning . . . I mean we're coming to the question of being straight edge.

Okay.

Right? I mean if you want to talk about that.

Samantha and Mark with Shift in Washington DC, 1998, Photo: Mike Dubin

I mean yeah. Yeah, I was going to ask you that.

So I think I was unhappy with marriage, unhappy with my life, and then September 11 happened, and for the first time I faced, not that a plane was gonna land in the East Village, but kind of faced with the fact that someday you're gonna die, and am I living the life I want to? And those next two months were definitely . . . I did a fucking 180 with my life, and was like, "Okay, I'm gonna live my life like it was my last day," because according to all the rumors, on Thanksgiving we're gonna be fucking killed on a subway.

Retrospectively, do you think that was a smart thing to do? Living your life like it was going to be your last day?

Not necessarily. I'm not sure, but I don't know if I'd go back and change anything, because I've met so many people and had such great experiences, and bad experiences, but I feel like I've kind of lived a fuller life since then. And it's not all good. I don't want to give that perception.

When did you start drinking?

It was about two months later, but I think I had been leaning towards that a bit earlier. I remember being really unhappy July 4, and the reason I remember this is I went to my friend's wedding. I was just feeling incredibly unhappy. I think I had been leaning towards a lot of shit that I hadn't experienced, and was feeling very stagnant in my lifestyle. September 11 kind of gave me cause to experience other things, for better or for worse. If this is related to being straight edge, I don't think I wore X's after age 21. And for me it was a very personal thing. I kind of reached the point where I didn't think it was all that important to not experience other things.

I noticed just from having lived in the same apartment as you, when every September 11 comes around, you get really bummed out for that whole week. Why is that?

The fall is always kind of a rough time - a lot of birthdays and deaths, and September 11. It seems to be week after week there is a date that I remember that was important to me in my life. From about August 14 'til October 2, I would say there is not a week that goes by where I don't know somebody's birthday, somebody who died, September 11. Even going back to high school, going back to school. September sucks. Everything is getting cold again, it's just shitty. So there's more than just September 11 involved. There's ex-wives' birthdays, wedding anniversaries, ex-girlfriend's birthdays, deaths. It's just a cavalcade of bad memories.

Mark Holcomb - Undertow/Shift part VI

2011-09-08T22:28:00.003-04:00

Demian and John with Undertow, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

So now [February, 1996] you're living in Manhattan or Brooklyn?

Manhattan.

Shift already has an EP and an LP out on Equal Vision. By the time you join the band, are they now on Columbia Records?

No. I knew that was gonna happen. I wasn't sure what label it was going to be, but knew that there was major label interest when I moved out. I'm not sure I would have moved out without that, because Manhattan's so expensive. So I moved out, and we were at the beginning phases of meeting with labels.

Do you think there was some sort of DIY underground hardcore ethic that you adopted with Undertow that you had to abandon with Shift? Or did your experience with Shift not conflict with any of your ethics?

Good question. I knew what was going on and what was at stake. I wanted a major label. That sounded fucking great to be able to play music for a living. And I don't think that there were any ethical things that I had issues with. It was just sort of a surreal experience where Undertow never had management or any of this stuff, and when you're having those meetings . . . you're going in a room, people are feeding you and they're taking you out to dinner and all this stuff. You're really being treated well, and they're telling you how great you are. This is surreal. This is what I thought a sitcom about signing to a major label would be. Everyone tells you how fucking great you're gonna be. My background was different than Shift's. I think Shift knew what they wanted to be. They wanted to be not necessarily rock stars, but I don't think with Undertow, none of us ever really gave a shit. We want to play music, we like playing music with each other, we liked being a part of a scene. There were big differences for me personally. You're used to sleeping on floors, when now you're like, "Well we can afford hotel rooms." It was a completely different world, but one that I came into with open arms, because it was exciting. I never knew what I wanted to do for a living, so the idea of being in a band and getting paid for it was pretty impressive.

How did you end up on Columbia?

They just seemed to offer the best deal and the best scenario. We didn't have management at the time, but we had a great lawyer, and he laid it out for us that 90% of bands that get signed don't make it, and not [that we] should get the most money, but it is kind of what that's all about. Our A&R person was like, "I'm hands off. I'm business, I'm here for the label, but you guys can kind of do whatever you want to do." So it seemed like a good environment where they kind of gave us free reign to do whatever we want to do . . . and maybe pushed us in certain directions. I think I was 21 when I moved out there and I was the oldest member of the band. It's a lot of young kids looking forward to what they can do with this opportunity. My experience back then, this was '96, '97, was a lot of business people from a business background telling you how to make money at playing music. Looking back at it, we were all so young. Some of that influenced us, some of it didn't, but it's very surreal having an adult tell you [that] you can make millions at the age of 21 if you follow these patterns. And I don't think it was ALL those things. I think there was us wanting it. If you write a great song, you could have a career and not ever have to fucking work again, and live this lifestyle you're living.

Mark with Undertow, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

You told me a long time ago there was a meeting with Columbia, and Tommy Mottola stuck his head in the meeting, and he was the president of Columbia at the time, or [Columbia's parent company] Sony.

We should probably skip that.

Okay . . .

It's a good story. Okay, ask the question, I'm going to give you a real . . .

He messed your name up. He called you guys something other than Shift.

No no, he knew the name, but he missed one of the names of the songs.

He called [the song] “Spacesuit” "Spaceboy."

Yeah.

Mark with Shift at Lost Horizon, Syracuse, NY 1997, Photo: John McKaig

Whatever!

I think that goes to show how the music industry CAN be. People have had success, and I think Shift came into it at the time when there was a lot of rebellion. "We don't want corporate to be involved in the hardcore scene." And Shift was part of the hardcore scene. Maybe not a hardcore band, but they were part of the scene. Us with Orange 9[mm], CIV, and Quicksand . . .

Sick Of It All . . .

Yeah. This is what I remember. There was kind of a turning event where we were getting called sellouts, and you shouldn't sell out your scene and all this shit, but I think as 21 year olds we saw it as an opportunity to have a career. And then you go to the opposite end with people telling you, "Texas Is The Reason might get signed,” and “All these bands are getting signed and it's corrupting the scene," to go to the opposite end when you meet people that they are SO fucking business that they mess up your name or they mess up the song at the moment when they're REALLY not supposed to. And you're meeting these people that are like married to Mariah Carey. You're treated with such opulence. You go from this world of being DIY to it being business, and my experience is that overnight you're being taken out to dinner and all this shit. It was overwhelming. I think that the right intentions were there, but we had experiences that were very surreal and I can't believe the bullshit that people were telling us.

John hits the crowd, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

Who was your lawyer?

This guy Richard Grabel who did Quicksand, Shudder To Think, Sick Of It All, everybody in New York. He was probably the best. As far as management, A&R, or anybody at the label, he was taking care of us more than anybody. He was really good about his job, and really sincere. Everybody hates lawyers, but he was the best person in that he looked out for Shift better than anybody I think.

So Shift recorded one album for Columbia [1997’s get in] - the only thing that you play on. And you wrote how much of that album?

One riff.

One riff in one song?

Correct. Me and Josh were writing completely different stuff. I was really into Drive Like Jehu and Chavez, and I joined a band that already existed and already was successful before that, and Josh said, "If riffs apply, they'll get in," and most of my riffs didn't, because I was on a different page. But I wrote one riff for that record. And I didn't think I did it on purpose. I didn't introduce it. I think Josh actually heard it and was like, "That actually works real well as a bridge for this song." [The song is titled “In Honor of Myself” – Ben] He was trying to incorporate me in. I was really into Bluetip, Chavez, and Jehu at that time.

Why do you think the last Shift album wasn't successful?

Um . . . I don't know.

Ryan bangs it home with Undertow, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

You think you weren't handled appropriately by the label?

I don't think anybody's to blame. There was an idea of what we COULD do and maybe that wasn't achieved, but I don't blame the label. I don't think our management was terribly supportive, but there was a transition there where I think we were trying to write a record, I don't want to say for mass appeal, but we saw an opportunity for what it could be, and we wrote accordingly I guess. I don't think there's anybody to blame, but in my mind there is a difference between [the debut Shift LP] spacesuit and get in.

The difference being what? That get in is more accessible?

Yeah. We were young and we saw an opportunity and I think a lot of people in the band wanted . . . this is what they were moving towards. And maybe I'm naive but I've always been the guy that I just want to write a hot riff that impresses. People hear that riff and they're stoked on it. I've never had a perception of . . . money or fame or wealth has never been anything that I've been concerned with. Maybe there were people in the band that saw that, maybe there were people in the band that didn't give a shit. I mean at 21, looking back at that now, I'm almost 36, it's hard to say. You're tossed with the opportunity to make millions of dollars. People hadn't done this before us. There was Quicksand and Texas Is The Reason, this was all up and coming, but it was just a time when it was very confusing. I think Josh is the person you need to ask more about what was going on. He wrote music and it was his band. He would be the guy to ask about some of that.

Did you make money playing music with Shift?

Yeah.

How so?

I don't want to get into specifics . . . but what can be done is you get signed for a certain amount of money. Your lawyer takes 10% off the top. Your management if you have it at the time takes 10 to 15[%] off the top, and you're left with this chunk sum. Shift got a bit of a budget to buy new guitar equipment and drums with, and we got a signing bonus, which was minimal for living in Manhattan, and the expectation that, let's say it's $5,000, for you to live off that $5,000 for the next two years, which involves recording and touring. So another great route to go is publishing, where you're signing a deal that this publishing company will promote you, but they get half of your money. So they gave us a bunch of money . . .

Demian and John with Undertow, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

An advance.

Yeah. They're giving you an advance, which was a great deal for us. That gave me money to live off of for a long time. Shift being on tour was pretty self-sufficient I think. I was able to pay rent after coming off tour, and I didn't really touch that [publishing advance] money for a long time.

So signing a publishing deal is betting against your own success?

It is. And the examples they gave us were Smashing Pumpkins and Hootie & the Blowfish. [They] were two bands that said, "No, we think we're going to be successful. We don't want anybody else touching our money." So every time you hear a Hootie & the Blowfish song or a Smashing Pumpkins song, 100% of that money is going to Billy Corgan or uhh . . .

Hootie.

(laughter) I know that's not his name. And then the majority of other bands . . . I don't know what it's like now, but the majority of bands back then [would] get this publishing deal that you can live off of . . . so you had money.

Shift in Washington, DC 1998, Photo: Mike Dubin

Well you made the right choice. Obviously. Because if you hadn't have signed the publishing deal, you WOULDN'T have made money from the band.

Yeah, but who knows at that time. It's survival. It wasn't about we're banking against ourselves, although our lawyer told us, "These are your options. This is what it actually breaks down to." It was more about I'm living in Manhattan, I'm paying an obscene amount of rent, and I can't keep a job because we might go on tour in two weeks. If I have to survive being in a band, I’ll totally, totally fucking get that.

When you moved out to New York, you moved with your girlfriend?

Uh huh.

This was your girlfriend from high school?

Correct.

You ended up marrying her?

Yeah. We were together for a total of ten years. I met her when I was 18 and she was about 17. She was around for all of the Undertow stuff. I think after four years we did the math to figure out how much time I was actually around, and I was around for half of that time. Not like we did a lot of touring, but she put up with a lot of shit, and I don't think I could've moved to New York without her, and we were together until . . . 2000 we got married, and 2002 we got separated after ten years. If you want to interview her (laughter) she knows a lot about Undertow and Shift.

What happened with that? It's kind of a personal question, but it's a big part of your life.

No, it's alright. after ten years and starting out so early on I think we just moved in different directions. Me being 18 and her being 17, and me being 28 and her being 27 we were kind of on different pages at that point. I think we loved each other, but maybe weren't IN love anymore. I don't know what the follow up question is, but September 11 happened for me.

Demian and John with some Seattle Straight Edge, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

DCXX Shirt Order Update

2011-09-07T21:40:00.004-04:00

We just wanted to bring everyone up to speed on how the latest DCXX shirt orders are progressing. For some reason, both our shirt distributor and the t-shirt manufacturers themselves are completely out of the brand/model of the shirts we have been using. We decided not to switch shirt brands because the look and feel of our current model (Next Level) is unparalleled.

As a result of these inventory issues, the latest orders are taking longer than we had planned to get shipped out. Our hope is that we will have the shirts printed and ready to ship out by the end of next week but this is still to be determined. We hope you guys understand the delay and we really appreciate your patience. -DCXX

Hardcore Flyers

2011-09-06T22:17:00.000-04:00

Mark Holcomb - Undertow part V

2011-09-05T21:02:00.002-04:00

John Pettibone with Undertow at El Corazon, 10/3/2009, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

What were the [post-Undertow] projects everyone was doing?

I started a band called Dempsey with nobody in Undertow.

And you were the singer AND guitarist, right?

Yeah, and I apologize to anybody who owns that record. Send it back to me and I will send you (long pause)

Send it back to you and you will reimburse them?

(whispers) Yeah. (laughter) Please don't, because actually, I won't.

I was going to say, people actually WILL take you up on your offer. You don't want that to happen!

No. I would like to have as many Dempsey records as I can have, but I will not reimburse you. I feel bad for Dave Mandel for putting it out out of faith. God bless him. And then Demian and John started Nineironspitfire with nobody else from Undertow. And Murph and Demian played in this band Nothing Left, that was a little bit more crusty, but they were fucking really good. Everybody loves Demian. Demian is like our baby brother. Everybody loves Demian, so all the bands, everybody seemed to have Demian in it. I was doing Dempsey, and I was either hanging out with John or Demian, probably Demian, and Demian was like, "Yeah, do you want to play second guitar in the band?" And I was like, "Yeah, but I don't want to write anything at all. I got my own thing going on, but I like playing together." John was totally into it, so I ended up playing with those guys.

With Nineironspitfire?

Yeah. And Demian actually left town to go on tour with Deadguy. While he was away I ended up writing like five songs or something, so I became kind of a part of that band.

You wrote songs for Nineironspitfire?

Yeah. The demo - if anybody has got it, I wrote four out of the five songs.

Mark Holcomb with Undertow at El Corazon, 10/3/2009, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

And what percentage of the music would you say for Undertow you wrote?

It's hard to say. I wrote the majority for sure, but I don't think the songs would have been the same without anybody in the band. And there would be weird moments where Demian would just be fooling around on the bass, and I'd be like, "Holy shit, what's that riff?" Take that riff, and then I'd write two riffs around it. And without Murph playing drums . . . Murph would be like, "That song is too slow. I'm going to play this fast beat." And it would change the song. I usually came to practice with an idea for a song, and it would happen organically. I probably wrote 80% of the music, and 50% of the lyrics, I guess.

What's Digh Down?

I was really into Burn, and I felt like with Undertow, I was writing straight up hardcore riffs or whatever. I had my own style, but I was trying to branch out and do something more clever. And I wrote two songs with Dave Excursion on bass, Murph on drums, Ron Guardipee singing. I think at the end we had four songs, but I just couldn't write that well. I could write Undertow stuff.

Did those songs ever come out?

One of them got released on an Excursion compilation, but I don't think any of the other songs did. I think I wrote good song, and I thought I could write more, but I just couldn't.

What year was that?

That would be '93.

How did Undertow get back together in '95?

Somebody from California, I can't remember his name, called and said, "We'll fly you down. Do you want to come down and play two shows with Snapcase, and we'll pay for the trip?" We were like, "Yeah, fuck it."

Was it Igby?

Yeah! We felt like we had never played a last show, and at this point everybody in the band is getting along great; we all go see each other's bands . . . and free trip to California so . . . and [with] Snapcase who we really liked. So yeah, fuck it, let's do it. I think we all felt like we needed to play a last show in Seattle, but we were like, "Let's go to California."

Demian Johnston with Undertow at El Coazon, 10/3/2009, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

And then that summer you toured Europe. How did that happen?

I think both [California] bills were different, but both shows we played with Snapcase. Maybe Strife as well.

Yes. Strife definitely.

Played both shows?

I don't know. I went to the one in Hollywood. They played that one.

We played with Ignite, and they were going to Europe. I think their drummer and Murph became friends, and they were like, "Do you want to go to Europe? We know you're broken up." And we were like, "Well fuck it. We've never been to Europe and probably will never go, so why not? I want to see Europe." Everybody in the band is getting along, we don't have to write new music. There's no reason to not go. So we did it and it was fucking horrible.

What was horrible about it?

I don't think that anybody got along with Ignite. Everybody in Undertow I think got along with one member, but not the same member.

Of Ignite?

Yeah. Those guys were like college dudes. They were all from the scene, but we were on a totally different page, and nobody got along morally or ethically or anything. I think their drummer quit twice. They got in fights every night. We were on a bus and they treated it like they were fucking Mötley Crüe. Everybody was there to see Ignite and they were like, "Who is this fucking Undertow band?" The reception wasn't well . . .

John and Mark with Undertow at El Corazon, 10/3/2009, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

Because they had already been to Europe.

Yeah, a bunch. And they were big in Europe, and they were a little bit more poppy than us. And then we would open up for them. The reception wasn't well except for the people who knew who we were. We should have been on a different tour. We should have been out with a hardcore band, not Ignite. And just nobody got along.

You're trying to say Ignite ain't a hardcore band?

Not in my eyes. They served a purpose, but in '95 you're playing what you did in fucking '86. I think they were more a pop punk band than they were a fucking hardcore band.

What gnarly shit did those guys do on that tour?

Oh man. I don't even want to say. It was fist fights. It was what I imagine a fraternity being like. Dudes spraying themselves with whipped cream and climbing into your fucking bunk naked. One member of the band bet us to see how many grapes he could stick up his ass and got up to nine, and only eight came back out.

Oh my god!

One member of the band tried to stick an orange up his ass, and there's money involved. He was like, "I want to get this money," so one of the other members then proceeded to push the orange up his ass with the heel of his foot, and the orange broke open and all the citric acid went up in this guy's anus. For days he'd be like "my ass is still..." (laughter) Edit that as you see.

It will not be edited. [Some Ignite tour stories were actually edited out per Mark’s request – Ben]

God bless those guys. If you like Ignite, you like them. My experience with them was I liked one member, I was mildly okay with another member, but it was just MADNESS. It was madness man. It was what a fraternity was like, and to me that's not hardcore.

I've heard other stories regarding them on that tour that also involved anal pranks, if you will. I'm sure there were plenty.

Yeah it was being in a fraternity.

Ryan Murphy sets up the drums with Undertow at El Corazon, 10/3/2009, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

Tell me if you recall this. Someone told me this a long time ago. Maybe you were there. One of them lit his own pubic hair on fire and turned the lights out in someone's house. Might not have been Europe.

They definitely lit their pubes on fire. I haven't thought about that in a while.

And then one of them defecated on a girl’s car as she was trying to start it and get away from them. Know anything about that?

Could be. I know there was a guy [with] a girl in the mud. He came back after playing a show, and I think we were in Germany somewhere, came back out of a field covered in fucking mud." And then he came back and asked everybody if they wanted to fight. Just out of fun. He wanted to fight, and everybody in Undertow was like, "Nope. We are cool." And their roadie was like, "Yeah I'll fight you." Just out of fun. And he proceeded to beat the shit out of this fucking roadie. Boxing, fistfight, it wasn't like he was on the ground kicking him. Hit him a good six or seven times in the face. His face was swollen for days.

And then Undertow broke up for good when you got back from Europe, as a real functioning band.

Yeah. Everybody in the band was getting along great, especially because we didn't like the guys in Ignite, so everybody in the band was getting along great. Murph really wanted to move to the east coast, which I guess we'll get to, but everybody was in transition, and was like, "This is great that we're all still friends, but let's do our own thing."

Around this time, I guess at the end of that year, you moved to New York City.

Well Murph actually moved to New York. We met Shift on tour. I guess we're getting into that phase.

You met Shift on what tour?

Europe. We were supposed to do a U.S. tour with them, but this was a time when we didn't know if we were still a band or not. We were thinking about getting back together, but thought we shouldn't. And then we played shows with Shift in Europe. Two shows I think? Might have been three. I was a huge Shift fan, so I became friends with Josh [Loucka, Shift singer/guitarist] pretty quick, I guess. And then when we came back, Sam [Maloney, Shift drummer] quit. In the European tour she said when she gets back, she's done doing the band. So Norm from Texas Is The Reason calls me and says, "Hey, I heard Murph is moving to the east coast. Do you think he'd want to play for Shift?" I called Murph and told him, "Here's a free trip to New York. You can stay on the east coast." So Murph took it, did a U.S. tour with Texas Is The Reason and Shift. And Sam I think at this point said she wanted back in the band. And Murph was like, "I don't want to be in this band." So it was mutual. I think the whole time Murph was like, "If you guys need another guitar player, Mark will fucking move out in a second. He loves you guys." So Murph hooked me up. So I moved to New York. Josh called me, and said I had about a week to decide. I think it was the end of January. So I moved to New York, February 1 [1996].

John with an Undertow sing along at El Corazon, 10/3/2009, Photo courtesy of: Tom Holcomb

Suicidal Tendencies - Possessed To Skate

2011-09-01T21:48:00.001-04:00

Such a classic video, looked like a hell of a fun time to film. I never particularly loved the song, didn't hate it, but the video clearly makes up for any shortcomings that the actual song might have. If this video doesn't make you want to pull out the old wood and wheels, I don't know what will. -Tim DCXX

Brotherhood at the original Rev HQ

2011-08-31T20:24:00.000-04:00

Brotherhood at Revelation Records HQ, New Haven, Connecticut, May 1989, Photo: Jordan Cooper

Hardcore Flyers

2011-08-30T21:58:00.001-04:00

Chain Of Strength at The Yester Year Club

2011-08-29T22:29:00.001-04:00

Alex Pain with Chain at the Yester Year Club, Pomona CA, 8/11/1988
I've seen very few, if any, photos pop up from Chain Of Strength's first show at the Yester Years Club in Pomona, California. I know the back cover photo from the "True Till Death" 7" is from this particular show, but other than that, I'm not so sure I've ever seen any others. So when I saw this photo pop up on Facebook the other day, I knew I had to grab it and get it posted up here on DCXX. I'm pretty sure this photo was used in MRR at one point, but I haven't gotten a chance to dig for that to confirm. Either way, cool photo and sort of significant in a way considering it's from their first show. -Tim DCXX

Mouthpiece at This Is Hardcore 2011

2011-08-26T17:34:00.003-04:00

Mouthpiece (Full Set) from hate5six on Vimeo.

I've been looking forward to seeing this video pop up by hate5six. I had such a great time during our set, that I was interested in seeing how it all came together on video. These handful of shows that we've been playing with Youth Of Today have been a blast and it's cool that every show gets documented some way or another. Big thanks to all the kids that pushed their way up front and helped make it a show to remember.

I also wanted to take a second here to thank Joe "Hardcore" Mckay for the killer job that he does year in and year out with all his shows in Philly and the This Is Hardcore fest every summer. Joe is just one of those guys that does it right and does it well and he should know that it's much appreciated. With all these fest happening more and more, there's no question that This Is Hardcore stands out as one of the best. So again, thanks Joe, keep up the good work. -Tim DCXX

Mouthpiece at This Is Hardcore, Philadelphia PA, 8/12/2011, Photo: Anne Spina

Making A Scene

2011-08-25T21:37:00.003-04:00

Originally released in 1989 with a scant 79 photos and under 100 pages; this expanded edition brings over 200 photographs as well as reflections from key characters documenting a special time period in one of the most notorious hardcore music scenes in the country.  

Making a Scene - New York Hardcore in Photos, Lyrics and Commentary Revisited 1985-1988 captures the energy of the New York hardcore music scene in photographs, lyrics, and comments from those involved in their music, their attitudes, and their lifestyle.

  Hardcore is a way of life for thousands of band members and fans all over the world. Here, New York City's hardcore movement is represented in all of its outspoken, opinionated, and often contradictory variety. Participants are shown with friends, spouses, even children, performing, dancing, and hanging out. They also explain in their own words and lyrics to songs what they think hardcore is all about.

  From moments of quiet intimacy to the controlled mayhem of live shows, Making a Scene documents in a unique way this flourishing and often misunderstood underground style.  

Bri Hurley's photographs have appeared in the Village Voice, Jersey Beat, Teen Punk, and Maximum Rock 'n' Roll. She has also shot album covers and promotional photos for many of New York's hardcore bands

I've seen preliminary layouts for this revised edition of Making A Scene and I can assure you, this updated version is looking great and is jammed packed with a ton of incredible, never-before-seen photos that perfectly document a specific era of New York City Hardcore. Pre-orders are being taken right now, so follow the link at the bottom of this entry and get your order in ASAP. -Tim DCXX

Check out Chris Daily's commentary, which seems to perfectly sum it all up...

I remember looking through the original edition of this book countless times at See Hear fanzine store on East Seventh Street in New York City in 1989. I am not sure why I didn’t purchase it at the time, but I can speculate it was because I just figured those days would last forever, that every Sunday for the rest of my life I’d be at CBGBs seeing my favorite bands.

While Bri Hurley did document on film her friends and her friend’s bands she also kept a keen eye on the peripheral surroundings, people and bands. In 2011 I finally found her while in search of my next book project. When she said she still had 4 giant binders full of negatives from those days, I knew there was going to be some great unseen photos. I was not expecting to find hundreds of photos of people, just like me and all my friends, hanging out on the sidewalk before and during those Sunday Matinees.

This book is not perfect, it wasn’t in 1989 and it isn’t in 2011. There were so many more people and bands that made up the New York Hardcore scene than are shown on these pages. This book takes a candid glimpse at the New York scene thru the lens of Bri Hurley and while I wish she was there to photograph every band and every bystander, that would have been an impossible task. I just hope this Revisited edition of Making A Scene will spark even the smallest excitement in you that it sparked in me looking at each and every one of the pictures presented here. - Chris Daily

www.makingascenebook.com
Making A Scene on Facebook

Youth Of Today and Token Entry sets from Philadelphia's This Is Hardcore fest

2011-08-22T14:41:00.000-04:00

Youth of Today (Full Set) from hate5six on Vimeo.

Token Entry (Full Set) from hate5six on Vimeo.

Jules - Side By SIde / Alone In A Crowd 2011 Interview part IX, the final entry

2011-08-15T23:34:00.002-04:00

Carl and Jules with Alone In A Crowd at The Anthrax, Photo courtesy of: Jules

With some sadness we bring you the final installment of our interview with Jules from Side By Side / Alone In A Crowd. I strongly urge you to check out the previous installments if you missed anything. You can check the links below.
Part 8
Part 7
Part 6
Part 5
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1
Tim and I have gotten to do a lot of cool stuff on DCXX, but this interview and the accompanying charity auction for the people of Japan is not only my favorite thing we've been involved with, but the most meaningful thing we've done with this site in its 3+ year lifetime. Thanks again to those who bid on Jules' records...we brought a significant amount of money to the Japanese Relief Effort. Of course this wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for Jules selflessly donating all of his own records in the first place.

I also want to say thanks again to Jules for taking the time to do this interview. This guy is total class. He put hours of thought and reflection into this, and treated us (total strangers) like old friends. If you are even a passive fan of his bands and the NYHC scene of the late 80s, then I'm certain you enjoyed this on some level.
He may have walked away from the hardcore scene years ago, but his voice still powers on. -Gordo DCXX

Jules and Lars with Side By Side at The Anthrax, Photo: Boiling Point

By 1989 I was working on passenger vessels in New York Harbor as a deckhand. I hadn’t done very well in high school, and my only educational options at the time were schools with open admissions. I wasn’t hanging out much down on the Lower East Side anymore. Alone In A Crowd was done, and Brian Simmons up in Rhode Island had control of the record sales and distribution.

I don’t know who approached me to do a Side By Side “reunion” show – I want to say it was Sammy. Anyway, there was a big fundraiser for Roger Miret at CB’s at the beginning of '89, and I guess someone got it in their head that Side By Side should get back together for this one event. Roger was a friend, so I had no problem doing the show. I honestly cannot remember the lineup, if we played with Billy or Lars – or if we even had two guitars. We rehearsed once or twice at Sammy’s dad’s warehouse. Sammy was playing a double kick by then.

CB’s was packed for the show, I want to say something like 12 bands played. Side By Side’s set was disappointing, to me at least. First off, the scene had changed. During the show, it was almost like every band had a different crowd and each set would bring an entirely separate group of kids to the pit. In and of itself that’s not that unusual for such a big show. You’re Only Young Once had been out for a while, and I guess a lot more kids traveled to come and see Side By Side. But something was missing – it wasn’t the close-knit scene it had been. I remember talking about vegetarianism at one point, and getting an extremely cold reaction from everybody except the kids right up front. Rather than the (albeit begrudging) tolerance of ‘86-’87, there was palpable animosity between different “cliques.”

Anyway, the set itself was nothing to write home about. I remember Roger being on the side of the stage when we played “Friends.” I went up to him during the chorus, put the mic between us and... nothing, he totally didn’t sing along. It’s not like the words were that hard... I looked at him like “come on, this show is for you, the song is called ‘Friends”... help me out here!” Nothing. That was kind of awkward. Towards the end of the set, we played “Side By Side.” I couldn’t bring myself to do the intro “rant” that I usually did before playing that song. I looked out and didn’t particularly like what I saw, so I kinda quietly said the line “I see people all around me, all with visions of unity, but what I have yet to see is visions turned to reality.” It was a total downer. If I can pinpoint a moment when I “left the scene” – it was there on stage at CB’s – I was done.

Jules with Alone In A Crowd at The Anthrax, Photo courtesy of: Jules

And that, I guess, gets us to the “life after hardcore” part of the routine. As I said before, I put in my time on boats and eventually got a limited license from the Coast Guard. I would work for a few months at a stretch and then go to the City College of New York for a while. I ended up a captain on the Schooner Pioneer out of the South Street Seaport.
Sometime in the early 90’s I bumped into Raybeez down by the Pioneer (I have no idea what he was doing down there). The boat was about to take a trip, so I invited him along. Underway, he started telling me about his time in the Navy and how he wanted to eventually move to St. Thomas. All this time I knew Ray, he never said anything about any of this stuff. He wanted to learn how to sail. So he started volunteering a little on the boat. He kind of freaked the passengers out, with the tattoos and his lack of eyebrows – but Ray was into it, at least for awhile. After he stopped coming down to the boat, I never saw him again. R.I.P.

I eventually transferred to the SUNY Maritime College, a merchant marine academy in the Bronx. Rich Giannone, the drummer for Maximum Penalty, was a cadet there as well. His nickname there was Sarge, because he had been in the Army before enrolling. It was a military school, we were drilled by Marines (who were training to become drill sergeants at the adjacent reserve center), and we shipped out on a training ship for three summers to get sea experience.

On the summer training cruises, every July 4, the ship would be in the middle of the Atlantic, and there would be an open mic “ship’s show.” It could get pretty elaborate – cadets were always bringing amps and drum kits on the ship. So, on my senior cruise, I got a couple of guys to play a few songs with me for the ship’s show. We called the “band” The Buddy#@$%ers (deletions in the original). We opened with Dag Nasty’s “Safe,” then played Van Halen’s “Mean Streets,” and finished with a gag version of “Rock The Casbah.” It was not a hardcore crowd, of course – so we had to tailor our set list – but it was pretty cool singing Dag Nasty over the PA in the middle of the ocean.

When I graduated I worked as an officer on tugboats in New York Harbor and up and down the East Coast – but I was looking for a ship the whole time. I picked up my first ship in Africa – it was a cruise ship being used as a floating college called “semester at sea” (a year or so after I signed off, they filmed a season of “Road Rules” onboard). On that ship I went all over the world – including places like Western Samoa, where I had to repel boarders. The ship was attacked by Samoan transvestites (I’m not kidding -- after that the ship was provided police protection).

Carl, Jules and Lars with Alone In A Crowd at The Anthrax, Photo courtesy of: Jules

After that I worked on other cruise ships, but eventually ended up on Tankers, upon which I sailed 7 or 8 (maybe more) years. I also ended up as a consultant for a major cruise line, which had me living in a shipyard near Venice, Italy for a short period of time. That’s where I met my wife – she was also staying there while the ship was being built. The next thing I know I had moved to Florida, and had a family. I eventually quit sailing because I was tired of being away from my family for months on end, and went to law school. It’s not a career choice I ever dreamed about as a kid, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Now I practice maritime law. I have three kids, girl, boy, girl. The two older kids are both drummers. They are all well adjusted, non-punk rock kids – doing well in school (the oldest is going to be a sophomore in college). Totally don’t take after dad. Their success is altogether due to their incredible mother.

During the course of this interview, there was some interest expressed by others in promoting a reunion show, contributing to a book on the scene, and putting out more merchandise. My only response to these suggestions can be: No. A world of no. This interview is it for me. I am happy to have shared what I remember from “back in the day.” But I have no desire to relive it. I was not a musician who lived to play (and keep playing). I am more than happy to turn hardcore over to the new hards. If my music still has any relevance, then kids can cover the songs and make them their own. Then it’s real. Seeing a middle-aged lawyer singing a song he wrote when he was 16 is totally not hardcore, at least not in my eyes.

I always used to say that if Side By Side or Alone In A Crowd made a difference in one person’s life, then it was worth it. The funds raised through the charity auction here at Double Cross will make a difference in many people’s lives.
I don’t think there can be a better testament to positive hardcore – then and now.

A sea bound Jules, Photo courtesy of: Jules

Rival Schools - Eyes Wide Open

2011-08-14T23:36:00.000-04:00

Livewire / Double Cross shirt collaboration round III

2011-08-10T22:35:00.005-04:00

Apparently people seem to like this design, we instantly blew through three dozen of the first colorway, four dozen of the second colorway and we're now on to our third. This time around we've switched it up a little and have gone for a bit of a departure from the first two runs. For version three we went with a vintage navy blue shirt and a faded deep red ink. This run is for four dozen.

Again, these shirt are one-sided, printed with super-soft, vintaged ink (16" across) on a navy blue, premium tri-blend track tee (50% Polyester 25% Cotton 25% Rayon.) The shirts are pre-shrunk, extremely soft, and fit like your favorite 20+ year old tee.

So if you're interested, follow the link below or click on the sidebar ad and get your order in quick before this batch sells out. To anyone that got in an order for the second round of shirts, they will be shipped by the end of this week, so keep an eye on your mail box. And if you were looking for XXL, we've added a few of them again. Thanks. -Tim DCXX

Livewire Double Cross Webstore

Brian and Jeff Nelson with the original Dischord Records shirts, hot off the homemade press. More DCXX shirt inspiration. Photo: Theodore Nelson (from Banned In DC)

Random thoughts: Judge

2011-08-10T07:24:00.002-04:00

A still unsettled debate: When Mike says "those drugs are gonna kill you, if I don't get to you first," do you think he's saying "hey friend, you are putting your life at serious risk by partaking in drug activity unless I can help you overcome this problem"...OR, do you think he's saying, "motherfucker, those drugs are gonna kill you, unless I get to you first and kill you with my own bare hands?" When I was younger I was naive and optimistic and thought it was the former. Years later the topic came up and most people said to me, "are you crazy? He's saying he'll kill the guy unless the drugs kill the guy first!" I still want to think the 14 year old version of me is right (I'm a softy) but I'm pretty sure Mike was actually implying malice. -Gordo DCXX

Random thoughts: Rollins

2011-08-08T21:26:00.002-04:00

I see later era Black Flag photos and Rollins just looks like total raw power. Genitalia exposing skimpies...check. Longish "I'm headed towards a dark place and this is how I convey it" hair...check. Bare feet...check. Psychological damage...check. Me realizing that compared to this I'm a total poser...check. A couple moons later Rollins would write these underrated Gun In Mouth Blues lyrics:

"You got 'my boss, man, is a bastard and I wanna kill him' blues.
You got 'my boyfriend's a motherfucker...and I wanna cut his balls off and shove 'em right down his throat' blues."

Strangely, I hear that first line as "my bossman's a bastard," and I think the use of "bossman" sounds cooler. Also, interesting and cool that Hank wrote that second line from a female's perspective...or did he? - Gordo DCXX

Killing Time / Raw Deal poll wrap up

2011-08-07T22:22:00.001-04:00

Anthony with Killing Time at W.U.S.T. Hall in DC, Photo: Ken Salerno

It gets a little tricky keeping track of some of the content here at DCXX. In our most recent poll, we asked you which you liked more: Raw Deal's demo, or Killing Time's Brightside LP. Killing Time took the win...but it wasn't until we were about to wrap up the poll and recap it that we realized we actually ran this very same poll in 2010, and it had almost the same results then. So...our blunder, but thanks for voting again if you did. - Gordo DCXX

Killing Time - Brightside LP - 182
Raw Deal - 1988 Demo - 123

And in case you missed our poll wrap up the last time around, here it is again along with some words from Raw Deal/KT drummer Anthony Drago:

Drago DCXX poll wrap up

No For An Answer Promo Video

2011-08-05T21:36:00.000-04:00

Dan O'Mahony on No For An Answer - "It Makes Me Sick"

2011-08-04T23:05:00.003-04:00

Dan, John, Casey and Gavin, No For An Answer 2011, Photo: R. Divel

Yesterday I recieved a message from Tim asking if I'd care to toss out a quick write up on the upcoming No For An Answer 7" - 'It Makes Me Sick' due out on TKO records September 16th. I'm always flattered when these guys give me a chance to sound off, so... we ride.

In mid June I recieved a phone call from Mark Rainey of TKO records asking if I'd be interested in doing a spoken word show in the TKO store here in OC. It'd be only my fourth such show in the last two years and my first in a record store so I jumped at it. Within hours Mark was calling again to ask if I had any interesting ways that we could promote both the event and help out the label. I suggested a $1 chapbook, a compilation of the old 411 comp tracks on one ep and a few other so-so ideas. Mark asked if NFAA had any old demos or something along those lines that we could press. Not long after answering to the negative on that one it hit me that Gavin Oglesby and I had always regretted never having committed two particular NFAA tunes to vinyl. It seemed like time to call the old partner in crime.

John and Gavin in the studio, Photo: R. Divel

Between the NFAA reunion tour in '94 and the Hardcore Reunion benefit to fight cancer, Gavin and I had become well aware of the cynicism that such retro moves can be met with. I mention that because Mark TKO had been clear that we would not be getting paid for the release, would essentially be donating the recording to the label and would receive only a portion of the vinyl produced as compensation. As opposed to how we might have taken this info in the '80s... THAT NEWS CAME AS A HUGE RELIEF! It was in fact the clincher and something that allowed us to move forward with a clear conscience.

The new problem? How does a middle aged band full of fathers and blue collar types pay for a decent recording? Enter Brett Rasmussen (Ignite/Nations Afire). Upon hearing of our situation Brett made a few calls on our behalf and pulled a real rabbit out of his hat. Based upon the goodwill that Nations Afire had built with Sound Playground Studios in Irvine CA, he was able to score NFAA a full day of free recording in pretty damned serious studio. Eternal thanks to Brett!

Casey Jones lays down the beat for NFAA, Photo: R. Divel

I'm probably giving you too much process and not enough news, so a bit about the record... You Laugh line up aka Casey Jones, John Mastropaolo, Gavin Oglesby and yours truly, vinyl only, and very limited in number as per TKO's wishes (though the exact press count has yet to be determined I believe), 3 songs, 2 old, and one that had been in the works with Gavin for a while but had just made its way to the rest of us during recent history. They are as follows:

Side one:
MAN AGAINST MAN - an OC staple that has seen various incarnations since the original core riff came wafting out of Joe Foster's Les Paul. Unity played a version of it as 'Better Man', Ignite recorded a version with lyrics loosely translated from the NFAA live performance on the Icemen Cometh 7". Now NFAA contributes its studio rendition of our version with the stripped down and direct version of the Man Against Man anti-racism lyrics and a slightly heavier playing style.

Side two:
IT MAKES ME SICK - actually one of NFAA first handful of songs from '87. Every time we've played it since those early years we've wondered why the hell we didn't put it on the You Laugh record. The lyrics were inspired by the shameless support that many in the American south had shown to the political candidacy of former members of the KKK. By pairing this tume with Man against Man I guess this ep becomes our anti-racism ep!

And finally...
IN THE BEGINNING - a new/old tune particularly appropriate now as we grow older, it acknowledges the importance of taking the central message (for me it's tolerance and a values driven existence) of this music out of the club and into the world.

At the end of the day we've been insanely lucky on this one, first in being offered a chance to share this stuff via TKO, next in the charity afforded us via Brett and Sound Playground, and finally because the whole process was seriously fucking fun!!!

Thanks all,
Dan O and NFAA

Mark Holcomb - Undertow part IV

2011-08-01T21:45:00.004-04:00

Mark and John with Undertow at the 2009 reunion, Photo: Nathan

At Both Ends was recorded in '93, and the guitar player for Seaweed was the producer? Or the engineer?

Yeah, yeah. We played a bunch of shows with Seaweed, and Clint. Ron from Overkill was their tour manager, so we were all closely kind of connected in this underground scene that was becoming pretty big. And Seaweed used to put us on shows. And I remember one thing I thought was really cool was that Clint used to wear an Undertow shirt on a whole tour with Green Day.

Wow.

He was like, "You guys are my friends and I want to support your band." That's how Seattle felt - that everybody was trying to help each other out, that there wasn't a big competition. We recorded with him three times. And he hates the Fender M-80 (laughs). He's the one who turned me onto tube amps actually. He was like, "You're out of your mind listening to this fucking . . . it hurts my ears to listen to this shit! Just try . . ." He's was the first person that ever introduced me to the [Mesa Boogie] Dual Rectifier.

Mark and his dreads, Photo: Dave Mandel

Oh okay. So what did you use on At Both Ends?

I ran it through a Marshall and an M-80 simultaneously. And looking back, I don't really like the sound very much. It's way better than the Stalemate 7", but I don't like my guitar, the tones on it I think through all the recordings. We split it through a Marshall [JCM] 800 kind of dry, and then a Fender M-80, and when we tried to blend them together, it just sounded like two totally different tones, and it just didn't work. But the Marshall had more balls.

You had some pretty gnarly dreads back then. Did people hit you up for weed a lot?

No. No. I don't think I ever got offered weed.

Kent McClard told me that when he had dreadlocks in the early 90s, people would ask him for weed, or would think he was selling weed, ALL the time. Cops and people trying to buy it from him.

I'm trying to think of a good story that would apply to that. I dreaded my hair right before we went on tour and then cut it off. I had dreads for maybe six months. The whole first U.S. tour with Sparkmarker, and then I came back. I had a job at a movie theater and quit that job, and just couldn't find work at all. Nobody wanted to give me a job. So I had to cut them. Although they were disgusting. They were the worst dreads I'VE ever seen. (laughter) I think I had two H.R. dreads in the back, but they were flat from sleeping on them. And I had kind of kinky, curly hair, or wavy hair, so the two dreads in the back weren't straight. One looked like a Z. It just happened so fast, because I was so fucking filthy. Everybody in Undertow kind of had their own style of what they liked about hardcore. John was pretty slick, Murph was definitely a tough dude, Demian is a fucking crust punk, and I was somewhere in between. I was more with the Ebullition "I listen to Rites of Spring" emo kid, growing my hair out. So there were definitely four different personalities going on in the band, and my dreads came out of just probably wearing patchouli. At that time it was CK ONE! Yeah, I was just a filthy fuck.

Demian with Undertow

And Undertow was among the first generation of straight edge kids to completely sleeve themselves - get tattoos head to toe, right? I wouldn't say head to toe, but . . .

Yeah. If you had money you got tattooed. I remember before our second tour, everybody in Undertow went and got tattooed, and Murph and John both got "Undertow" tattooed, and I regret not getting that, but I don't know where to put it. And Demian might have gotten his first tattoo. I remember dudes being sleeved in Seattle when I first moved to New York, and it was early on. Dudes were getting shit on their hands. I feel like Seattle is kind of a badass place. I saw it move forward real fast up there. And all my friends started getting sleeved up. That was a little bit after Undertow. Once I joined Shift I had more money, so I was getting like half sleeves, but I never thought I'd go past that. It just progressed.

Run through real quickly all the tours Undertow went on, with what bands, and approximately when they happened.

I guess we consider touring coming down to California for three days, because it was like a 20 hour drive, and we'd come and play four shows. The original tours were Jawbreaker and Samiam, and was without Joel. Different dude singing. You know what? We played the fucking Red Barn with Downcast. And Kent McClard was there. And I think that was the first time we met him. And he was super cool. And then through the next generation, when it was still Joel singing, we came down and played with Unbroken and Strife. I can't remember all the shows, but Unbroken and Strife at Spanky's with Joel in the band. We came down with Joel once, so it must have been John on bass. Then we came down again every Christmas break or spring break. If we had a week off from school, we'd try to come down, so it must have happened like eight or nine times. I remember one time we came down and it was John singing, James on bass, Seth on guitar. There's an image that keeps coming up where Seth is playing a Les Paul at it says, "NO GOD" across his chest. We were all 16 or 17. Those were all California trips. I remember an early trip with Joel singing, we played with Outspoken. We became friends with those guys, so there's a connection there as well. And all those guys seemed to like us. Everybody got along. It was really easy to come down, if we had a break, to get shows with the bigger straight edge bands. And then in '93, Demian had just graduated high school, me and Murph were a year out, and John was a couple more years out. We did a U.S. tour with Sparkmarker for two and a half months. All across the U.S. We booked it all through Maximum Rocknroll. They had done a U.S. tour before, so we kind of piggy backed with them. If it was a straight edge show, we headlined. If it was just a regular show, they headlined. So it was a fair thing.

Undertow 2009 reunion, Photo: Nathan

What vehicle did you use to tour the country?

We were going to put out a record on Overkill Records, and Ron, like he did across the board, bailed at the last minute. And Dave from Excursion was like, "Well, I've got another company backing me, so I can get you 2,000 dollars. Why don't you buy a van for that? And then I will use my personal money to let you guys record." I think we recorded At Both Ends for a thousand bucks. And he's like, "Just take all the money from the label and buy a van." So we had a van. It has no nicknames or anything like that.

Before that, you were driving around in your 98 Oldsmobile, right?

That comes later.

Oh, that's AFTER that?

Yeah. This guy Curtis Pitts had a van, and he was like a hippie, and was like, "Yeah dude, I'll drive wherever, man. I don't give a fuck." So we were like, "We'll give you as much money as we can." It would probably be like 25 bucks. And these people were like, "Yeah, I'll get out of Seattle. Let's go on a road trip." Everybody in Seattle was like that. One trip, we traveled in a truck with a canopy, and I think it was six of us sleeping in the back while two were up front.

Wow.

Yeah. When we got that van, we did that tour, and it broke down I think once. Six months later, I think we came to California with it once. Strife asked if they could borrow it. Everybody but John went on the road with Strife as roadies, although we didn't carry equipment. We were like, "You can borrow our van. We'll pay for ourselves, but we're not loading equipment. We're not doing anything. We're just along for the ride." I think there was 11 of us in a van.

Outspoken / Undertow group shot, 1990, Photo: Dave Larson

This was '93?

This was Christmas of '93-'94. So we drove out, and they did a tour with Strife/Snapcase/Earth Crisis. And John flew out for four shows, but there was a snow storm, so I think we ended up playing just two. And then our van really had fucking problems. We barely made it back to Seattle. We kept it running, and I think right around the summertime we were supposed to do the tour with Unbroken, and we bought a new van two days before we were supposed to leave. And it broke down in Seattle on the first night.

Oh my god.

And we spent a week at home while Unbroken started traveling east. And we got about seven days into it, and the mechanic is like, "It's shot. It's going to take me another two weeks." So I said, "Fuck it. Let's all get in my car." Undertow and this guy Korri Sabatini (Ben laughs). Fucking douchebag stole money from us on that tour. We all got in my car and drove 55 hours to meet up with Unbroken in Detroit. And actually when we showed up, we were so psyched to fucking be there, and Eric and Rob were almost in a fist fight - yelling at each other, throwing shit at each other. And I remember there being bulletproof glass in the subway. We did everything we could to just get to this fucking place, and we show up, and it's one of the shittiest shows. Just dicey.

This is the same tour where Eric Allen quit Unbroken and took like a hundred buses back to San Diego, or is that a different tour?

Um, I think there was always kind of friction. I don't know if I can speak on Eric, but he always seemed to run kind of hot and cold. And you're in a band, and you're all 19-20, so everybody's running hot and cold, and it's irritating, and it's summer, and it's hot. The show's good, the show's bad. Just a million things going on. Those were fucking awesome times. I think that was the only weird moment. I think they kind of blew their wad that night getting mad at each other, and the rest [of the tour] was cool, but you'd have to ask those guys what their experience was.

When did you record Control? Sometime after that?

Before that tour, we recorded At Both Ends, and didn't even have enough songs for it. So we used some stuff that had been on like comps before. The [first] 7" as well. I think we redid like three songs just because we didn't have enough time. So when we came back we were like, "Wow, we actually have time now to write. Let's just do a 7"." And we committed to like three comps. "So let's write eight songs and do it right." That was probably the best time I feel about being able to write. That was the perfect time. We were at home. Everybody was fucking chill. We wrote songs for Control and then the ones we didn't think turned out well, we gave to comps. But it all kind of moved around once we actually recorded with the dude from Seaweed again.

Undertow at The Ice House in Fullerton (with Tim DCXX caught in a sing along), CA, 1994, Photo: Pete Reilly

What kind of amp and guitar were you using on that?

I was using The Paul and Marshall [JCM] 800, and Dual Rectifier. And so it's a blend of both those. I listen to it now, and sonically, there's still too much overdrive. It's not a warm sound. My amp now, I love it. Just dry right into the mix. No effects. The idea of mixing two amps sounds fucking great. "I've got this fucking amp, I've got this amp." But, sonically I listen to Control, and like, GOD, it still hurts my ears. Too much mid range.

And this was '94?

Yeah. We did the first tour in '93-'94. So maybe this was spring of '95. I guess we wrote the songs after that tour and then recorded in spring of '95, but that seems late.

It had to be '94. Didn't you break up and then get back together, and come down to California to play that Snapcase/Strife/Ignite show?

You know, we recorded before we went on tour with Unbroken. I'm getting my timelines fucked up.

You recorded for Control before you went on tour with Unbroken?

Yeah, because when we did the first U.S. tour, At Both Ends wasn't even out. Let me get this fucking right. Okay, so we did the first U.S. tour, Stalemate hadn't come out. We didn't even have a record to sell. Then we did the next tour, and we had just put out At Both Ends, but there was no distribution. There was nothing. If people had it, we were kind of shocked. We sold out of everything within the first week and we had another five or six weeks to go. So I guess the tour with Unbroken, the Control 7" was about to come out, and Ron from Overkill was like, "I'm not doing the label anymore. You're on your own." I don't even have the 7", I don't think.

Mark with some behind the back Undertow action, Photo: Nathan

Control came out on what label?

Overkill.

Oh, so he put it out, THEN he gave up on the label.

He put it out, and I remember going over to pick up records from him, and he's like, “You know what? I'm not doing the label anymore. Here's your five CD singles." He had screwed us over A LOT. And we just kept coming back. He had put out the Integrity [LP], and was like, "I'm going to do this label again." He put out No Escape. He was like, "I'm going to give you guys 100% of the profit. I'm going to do this label. I just need to get back on the ground. I think you can help me." So the only reason we did it with him was because he was like, "After I recoup, it's 100% Undertow." And then we go to get our copies of the record and he's like, "I'm not doing the label anymore." So we felt like we're totally fucked. We were not good business people. We don't even know if people are going to get the record. Every tour we did, our record was supposed to come out, but didn't. So we just kind of toured on our reputation.

Around this time, you broke up, right? You broke up in late '94, then got back together in '95?

We came back from the Unbroken tour, then did a west coast thing with Mouthpiece. I think everybody was burned out on each other, and we played a show in Seattle where there's . . . by now we're writing songs about not how we hate the scene, but how it's become . . . there was a lot of violence at the show, and we felt responsible for it. A lot of our friends were beating up kids and it just seemed fucking stupid. We were supposed to take a break. This was September or August. And we’re like, "After we do this tour and we play one last show in Seattle, let's not even practice until December. Do NOTHING. Everybody do your own projects." We played this one show, and a lot of kids got beat up. The barrier got broke, bouncers were beating up kids.

This was where?

In Seattle. We played this place that holds like 1,500 kids. We sold it out. It was not what we wanted to do. After that show, instead of saying, "Let's take this break," I said, "I'm done with it. I want to quit." And there was a lot of friction between the band members too. Nothing that has carried on, but we were all really sick of each other, and certain people were carrying weight, certain people weren't carrying weight. There was just friction. So we said, "Let's not do this anymore at all." And then everybody did their own projects, but the band was fucking broken up.

John in the middle of some mayhem, Photo: Nathan

Flex Your Head

2011-07-31T23:43:00.002-04:00

Just came across the original version of this classic Minor Threat photo from the back cover of the Flex Your Head comp. I don't recall ever seeing the photo without the high contrast as it's seen on Flex Your Head, so I thought this was kinda cool. -Tim DCXX

Septic Death - "Now That I Have Your Attention, What Do I Do With It?"

2011-07-28T21:58:00.001-04:00

Septic Death - "Now That I Have Your Attention, What Do I Do With It?", my very first hardcore record. Picked it up through the June 1986 issue of Thrasher Magazine when I signed up for my subscription. Pretty extreme album to be ushered in by, definitely not a light weight collection of music by any means. Heavy, intense, manic and just about as raw as it gets. Septic Death really was Pushead's art and vision personified. I definitely had never heard anything like Septic Death up until that point and I'm pretty certain that 25 years later, I still haven't.

Never heard Septic Death? Do yourself a favor and search em' out. Be warned though, they are not for the faint of heart. Prepare yourself for an onslaught of destruction, something along the lines of what bands like Citizens Arrest and Infest went on to do years after Septic Death's demise. A Maximum RockNRoll article said it best, "Religions were formed to create a god, and god was created, so you wouldn't fear death, and the reality of dying is Septic Death". Make and effort, show your hardware. -Tim DCXX

Livewire / Double Cross shirt collaboration round II

2011-07-26T20:40:00.005-04:00

Last week we debuted a brand new Double Cross / Livewire collaboration shirt design and to our surprise, all 36 shirts sold out instantly. In the wake of those shirts selling out, we received a lot of messages from people that wanted shirts, but missed out on that first round. In response, we've decided to order up 48 more shirts, only this time we've switched the athletic gray with vintaged black ink colorway to a brand new colorway, black premium tri-blend tees with vintaged dark gray faded ink.

Again, these shirt are one-sided, printed with super-soft, vintaged ink (16" across) on a black, premium tri-blend track tee (50% Polyester 25% Cotton 25% Rayon.) The shirts are pre-shrunk, extremely soft, and fit like your favorite 20+ year old tee.

So if you're interested, follow the link below or click on the sidebar ad and get your order in quick before this batch sells out. To anyone that got in an order for the first round of shirts, they've all been shipped, so keep an eye on your mail box. And if you were looking for XXL, we've added a few of them this time around. Thanks. -Tim DCXX

Livewire Double Cross Webstore

Another flyer that was an inspiration to this shirt design

Geoff Nicholson - Buffalo photographer

2011-07-25T20:13:00.003-04:00

Civ and Wally with Gorilla Biscuits at The Pipe Dragon, Buffalo NY, Spring 1988, Photo: Geoff Nicholson

One of the things I like the most about doing DCXX is finding people who did some lesser-known albeit very cool stuff during their time in hardcore. A perfect example of this is a guy like Geoff Nicholson, a now California-based photographer who took some great photos of the Buffalo hardcore scene in the late 80s and was a part of the fanzine Pushed Too Far. Some of his great HC shots have circulated over the last couple years, and it made me wonder who was on the other side of the camera. Although some readers may wonder why we would interview a guy who only took some photos for a few years, the reality is that Tim and I love getting more info on practically anybody that was involved with the bands we love - even if was simply by taking photos.

Beyond that, we thought Geoff was able to provide some great info on the Buffalo scene from that time period. Thanks Geoff. -Gordo DCXX
geoffreynicholson.com

Zulu with BOLD at The Pipe Dragon, Buffalo NY, Spring 1988, Photo: Geoff Nicholson

When and where did you first get into punk/HC? What else were you into (or perhaps, not into) at the time?

Prior to punk my music tastes were pretty limited, the Who, Led Zeppelin, the Kinks, many older records my dad had. I first heard "punk" through a friend's older sister when I was very young, 11-12. She used to babysit me and played me the Clash, "London Calling." I was fortunate enough to see the Clash play at the University of Buffalo in 1984, not the best line up, but it was a new experience for me.

Before that, the only live concerts I saw were with my parents, the Kinks and also the Police the year before. Soon after I heard the Clash I got the Sex Pistols "Never Mind the Bollocks." I thought that was a heavy record. I wasn't into many popular bands at that point in junior high, 1980s pop wasn't for me. It wasn't until I started high school in 1985 that I was turned onto hardcore. A friend's older brother played us Black Flag's "Damaged," and various other Los Angeles hardcore bands, Fear, Circle Jerks, and Suicidal Tendencies. From that point on I forgot all about British "punk". I could relate more with the American hardcore bands, plus the sound was much louder, heavier, and faster, plus the bands were more about the music, not all about the funky hair and clothes.

Slap Shot at Metal Shop, North Tonawanda NY, Photo: Geoff Nicholson

How did photography tie in with your interest in live music? Did you shoot bands from the beginning?

Sadly, I wish I had started photographing at shows earlier than I did. I didn't really start actively taking a camera to shows until some point in 1987. My first hardcore show was Black Flag on their final tour in 1986 at Sun Ship studios on Main Street in Buffalo, my second show a few months later was the Circle Jerks at Buff State, and DRI/Dr. Know/Die Kreuzen at a Knights of Columbus hall in Cheektowaga, all were shows I really wish I had taken pictures at. At the time just being at the those shows blew me away.

An X'ed up Roger with Agnostic Front at Metal Shop, North Tonawanda NY, Photo: Geoff Nicholson

A friend and I started making a fanzine called "Pushed Too Far" for a short period of time in 1987-88, this was when I started taking pictures at many shows, SNFU, Agnostic Front, Dag Nasty, Slap Shot, DRI, among others. For the fanzine, my friend Mike did the interviews and I did all the photography. For whatever reason though, I wasn't shooting at all the shows; I guess I was just shooting bands that I really liked. The fanzine was the only place where my hardcore band photos saw the light of day until very recently when I started posting some online. While digging through old negatives I found shots I'd never even seen before. When doing the fanzine I'd just look at the negatives with a lamp and pick a couple to print. I never made proof sheets then, so I never had any idea what other shots I had until years later.

To this day I'm still amazed my film came out ok. I had no real training in photography, just a very basic explanation on how the camera and flash worked from my dad, who did photography and darkroom work as a hobby.

Steve Reddy with Wolf Pack at Metal Shop, North Tonawanda NY, Photo: Geoff Nicholson

What was the Buffalo scene like in the mid/late 80s? Where did you see shows, and what bands stood out both locally and as touring acts?

Many of the original hardcore bands were fading somewhat at the point when my friends and I came into it, it was the start of that second wave of hardcore bands starting. Don't get me wrong, the bands were still amazing and the shows were always a great time. We were considered the kiddies at the early shows, we were 14 at the time. The Buffalo scene was fairly small, so you knew almost everyone. From 1986-1988 shows were going on constantly. Hardcore was everything to us, finding new records and going to shows was all we wanted to do. The scene was tight then, the same people at every show, no one really got seriously hurt in the pit because you looked out for each other. Shows were where everyone would meet, we lived all over the city but the shows brought us together.

It was when metal dudes started coming to shows and thinking that it was ok to try to actually hurt people. It was in that time frame, 1988 or so when the term slam dancing turned into "Moshing." No more circle pit, and shows got rougher. I feel at this point was when you got more morons and meatheads turning up at shows causing problems. Sometimes you'd get skinheads coming down from Toronto for shows on occasion, these guys being the ultimate violent morons in my book. I feel the scene did split somewhat because Buffalo was heavily influenced by East Coast/NYC hardcore bands, as well as the straight edge movement preaching their holier than thou silliness.

Judge at The Pipe Dragon, Buffalo NY, Spring 1988, Photo: Geoff Nicholson

The bands from NYC were great, but it was a different mentality, more of a tough guy thing. I'm not a violent guy, I gravitated to more D.C. bands, Beefeater, Minor Threat, Soulside, Scream, Dag Nasty and one of my all time favorites Government Issue. Bands which were more about being yourself, thinking for yourself, or just having fun. But only a handful of those bands played Buffalo.

It was at the end of the 1980s that it felt like all the bands were starting to sound the same, all either NYC hardcore or bands playing that sound. Sick of it All, Agnostic Front, and Underdog stick out for me as the more memorable bands from NYC, there were other good bands, but it was all too similar for me. Shows were at many different places, Am vets in Riverside, various other Am vets and Knights of Columbus halls, Painters Hall on Elmwood, Mr. Goodbar, numerous great shows at the Metal Shop in North Tonawanda, the Turtle Indian museum in Niagara Falls (Corrosion of Conformity, Gang Green, and Uniform Choice I think), UB, Buff State, the Pipe Dragon had many great shows too, later, in 1988 the River Rock Café was probably the last place I went to hardcore shows in Buffalo. Bands/shows I will always remember: the Circle Jerks at Buff State, an absolutely insane show. We got to meet both Keith Morris and Greg Hetson before the show; I'm not sure why they came up to us, maybe being much younger than most of the people at the college run show. For whatever reason I remember Keith telling us he'd been living off of rice for months, he looked totally emaciated. I didn't know who this guy (Keith) talking to us was until Greg Hetson came up, we recognized him from photos. I recall them both being extremely nice and friendly, which was cool because we knew no one else at the show. Being clueless, my friends and I were standing right up front of the stage before the Circle Jerks came on. When the band hit the stage the crowd turned into a massive tidal wave of bodies. I ended up being pushed onstage, and then on top on a stage monitor, being stepped on by stage divers and the likes, Keith Morris pulled me up and probably saved me from cracking some ribs.

Dag Nasty at Metal Shop, North Tonawanda NY, Photo: Geoff Nicholson

Another fantastic show was SNFU at the Am vets in Riverside. The show was a blast, Chi Peg, the singer, doing flips and hitting donuts into the audience with a tennis racket. Just a great, fun band. Other great shows, any other SNFU show for that matter, the many times DRI played, the Accused, Agnostic Front, Gorilla Biscuits, Murphy's Law, Straight Ahead, Corrosion of Conformity, Dag Nasty, Verbal Assault, Underdog, Suicidal Tendencies, too many to remember.

The most popular local hardcore band had to be Third Man In, later known as New Balance, then finally as Zero Tolerance. Most other local acts played a couple shows and that was it, Pathetic Fallacy, D.I.E., and SAO to name a few. Sadly the Goo Goo Dolls opened for way too many hardcore shows, they were WAY better back then, but didn't really belong opening up for say, DRI. Hell, they even opened for Motorhead in North Tonawanda in 1988. I found that to be quite a joke.

I feel fortunate seeing all the bands I did, I'll always look back and remember what a good time in music that era was, and all the good times we had. It was something that could never repeat itself.

Porcell with Youth Of Today at The Pipe Dragon, Buffalo NY, Spring 1988, Photo: Geoff Nicholson

Another new band to check out

2011-07-24T21:34:00.001-04:00

Peace - Baltimore, MD - Stephen / Vocals, Mike / Guitar, Andy / Bass, Dan / Drums
Peace

Porcell and Tim Brooks on the Pat Sajak show 1989

2011-07-23T14:18:00.001-04:00

Two record collecting sites you should check out

2011-07-21T21:33:00.001-04:00

Kyle's Minor Threat 7" collection

There's a lot of great hardcore blogs and websites out there and considering the fact they we've been doing DCXX for three years now and have accumulated a pretty solid following, I think it's important to shine a little light on the efforts of others. Here are two blogs that are well worth checking out and following. -Tim DCXX

Seeking The Simple is a killer site put together by Rivalry Records mastermind, Kyle Whitlow. Lots of cool content on this site, but the highlight material for me is the showcasing of Kyle's record collection. Kyle has a remarkable eye for detail and leaves no stones unturned when he breaks down each and every record. Kyle's Dischord and Revelation collection is just mind blowing and it's obvious that he's spent a great deal of time documenting everything. Check it out at: Seeking The Simple

Kyel's Warzone - "Lower East Side Crew" 7" collection

The second site I wanted to clue people in to is this very simple, but fun Revelation Records Vinyl Tumblr page. I happened to come across it a few weeks back and have been following it ever since. It's updated pretty much daily, so there's always something new popping up. All the images that have been posted have been collected off the internet, so it's pretty interesting that someone can put together an entire site based solely on Revelation Records vinyl images that they find or that are submitted. I happened to submit some images myself just yesterday, so if there are people reading this and have some Rev vinyl photos, submit away! Here's the link: Revelation Records Vinyl

This insane GB 7" collection photo was pulled off of the Revelation Records Vinyl site

Livewire / Double Cross shirt collaboration

2011-07-20T22:29:00.004-04:00

Brand new Livewire / Double Cross collaboration shirt

It's summertime 2011 and what better time to drop a brand new Double Cross shirt? This design has been brewing for a while now and just finally came to fruition. Double Cross silent-partner and head honcho over at Livewire Records, Ed McKirdy, put this simple yet powerful design together all himself.

Totally inspired by the early 80's, Dischord / X-Claim era, this shirt looks like something you could have picked up at a 1983 Boston, Gallery East, SSD show or a Minor Threat show at the Wilson Center in DC. Shirt quality and print style are all intentionally combined for a vintage look and feel.

This first batch of shirts is limited to a run of 36. The plan is to see how this batch does and from there we'll decide on a second run and alternate color combo. If you like what you see and want to grab one of these, follow the link for more information and get your order in before they are all gone. Thanks for the support. -Tim DCXX

Livewire Double Cross Webstore

This particular Gallery East flyer was a huge inspiration to the design of these new DCXX shirts

Mark Holcomb - Undertow part III

2011-07-19T20:24:00.003-04:00

John with an Undertow sing along at The Glasshouse, 2009, Photo: Tom Holcomb

At this point you're putting out records, and the lyrical content is getting really dark and heavy and emotional. I was just wondering what inspired this shift.

Both me and John probably split the lyrics in half. If there was a song that I wrote and I felt it should be sung a certain way, I was writing the lyrics. But I think both of us were just in a place where it seemed redundant to sing about . . . we were too young, I mean we're not going to sing about politics or the way the world should be. [As for] singing about straight edge - for everybody in Undertow it was a personal thing. In Seattle, outside of Murph, everybody I went to high school with, nobody was straight edge. Just me and him, and maybe a few other kids. But for us it was all a very personal thing. We sang about being vegetarian, but I think we realized kind of quickly, "Everybody's doing this. I'm just going to write about what's fucking bothering me. " All of us in the band didn't necessarily have the best upbringings, and probably listened to a lot of Rites of Spring (laughs).

What kind of upbringing are you talking about here? What kind of home lives did the members have?

I think I can say for me, Murph and Demian that there was sort of absentee parents. And we certainly found a connection with our friends, especially in the band, that we're doing something special, and we LOVE this and we're going to keep doing this. I don't want to say they were all bad, and you'd have to talk to those other guys about it, and my upbringing wasn't BAD. I could do whatever I want from the age of 15 on. You know, come home at midnight.

So you're like a latch-key kid.

Yeah, and so fortunately we found something pretty positive to be involved in. And then John's upbringing - I don't know. He actually lived about 45 minutes away from all of us, so we would see him at practice. We were just talking about personal experiences. And stuff that was like ex-girlfriends, and being in high school, and living on our own for the first time, and it's about family. That's what we could write. I couldn't make a speech like Ray could about, "Let's change the world," because I'm fucking 19, and I'm a fucking fuck-up. Ha.

Mark getting aggro at the Burning Fight show, 2009, Photo: Tom Holcomb

There are a few songs that I want to know specifically what they are about. What's the song "Control" about?

I wrote it, the lyrics to it. For me, and all the guys in Undertow knew this - I guess we felt like we were preaching to the choir. That we felt like we were doing this independent thing, but at that point we felt like everything had kind of shifted into being a clique - that it's all about having an X Swatch, and having the tour shirt, and all this and that, and we're singing songs on stage that people are psyched on and I guess getting from a message from, and we're part of the scene, but we're kind of just speaking out redundancies, you know, about preaching to the choir. And I realized at a certain point, well, I want to be in Indecision, I want to be in Boiling Point, I want to be in these fanzines, but I realized I wasn't really having independent thought, that everything I was doing was kind of based around what's going to elevate Undertow or what's going to make me look better, which is what we all do in cliques, but I realized straight edge at that time had become a clique, where everybody's wearing the same clothes. You can't say for the punk kids, "Look at them with their fucking studs, and jean jackets, and leather jackets," while WE are all wearing the same uniform. Everyone wants the coolest shirt. It just became apparent that this isn’t really independent thought that we're preaching about.

Control -
Follow your rules so I can be myself.
Listen to what you say so I can think for myself.
Everything I say has been said before.
Everything I think has been thought before.
who is in control?
All my beliefs have been traced out for me.
My fate has been laid out for me.
I look in the mirror and all I see is you.
I look at myself and all I see is you.
who is in control?
Ill fight you, Ill resist you.
You cant control me

How about the song "Cedar"?

That's our anti-God song. Nobody in the band is religious. We're all atheists. Some of us have religious upbringings. That [song] is a straight up "No God" [message].

Cedar -
Born into it, taught to believe.
Told to find him inside of me.
Set me free.
Engraved messages, directed to follow. Conditioned path, forced to swallow.
Set me free.
You tell me to kneel, bow down to his grace and plea forgiveness.
If what I've done is wrong in his eyes then let my own spirit be my guide.
Forced to swallow your lies.
I cannot swallow your lies.

You mentioned that your mother is Catholic. Did you have a Catholic upbringing?

Yeah. My mom almost became a nun before she met my dad. I didn't go to Catholic school. It's not as bad as some other people have it. It's pretty mild. I went to First Communion, and did the whole thing up until I was like 13. My mom was like, "I'm tired of dragging you to this shit. If you don't want to go, don't go." I think I've been to church once [since then], on Christmas Eve FOR my mom.

She wasn't heartbroken that you didn't stick with the religion?

She still is to this day! I wouldn't say she thinks I'm going to Hell, but she's scared for me. I guess there's that. Disappointed, I would say. Me and her have talked about this, and she will say, "Well yeah. I'm disappointed, I'm scared. Maybe God won't let you into Heaven."

Murph with Undertow at Burning Fight, 2009, Photo: Tom Holcomb

What did you think of the religious messages in a lot of hardcore lyrics at the time, examples being the whole Krishna-core thing?

I always felt like they had a right to say what they wanted to say, because that to me is the idea about punk rock. And you don't have to listen to it, or you can. It was a little weird, well a lot weird that the guy from Youth of Today became a Hare Krishna, and I know the guys from Cro-Mags. There was this movement going on and people were kind of like, "Oh I love Shelter." But you're singing about being Hare Krishna. I always thought that there's always going to be a balance with bands like Undertow and what's that fucking band that Kent McClard put out? Downcast. There are going to be other bands within the scene saying, "No no, this is fucking stupid," but I always felt like I hated being at shows when people were telling people to shut up on stage. Maybe it's my own personal thing, but I always thought, "Well we're going to get up and say the exact opposite." We're punk rock. Everybody should be entitled to say what they want. Although, in retrospect, I don't think religion has a place in punk rock at all.

Why is that?

Conformity. To me punk rock is about being who you want to be. It doesn't necessarily mean you need have to have a fucking mohawk. It's an ideal that, "I'm independent. I don't need to follow anything." And religion - the whole concept is believing in one thing. Does that make sense?

Yep, it does.

I gotta say I love 108. Everything Vic Dicara does is fucking sick as shit. And I love Rob Fish's voice. It's hard not to like that stuff. Undertow did a bunch of shows with Shelter, and they're all fucking really nice guys, and there are parts of Krishna . . . I'm still vegetarian. So the animal rights movement and kind of being at peace. I think Buddhism is okay in a sense, in that it's more personal thought than it is . . . I don't like religion as a movement, but if you find personal peace in it then I guess I'm okay with that.

What's the song "Everything" about?

I wrote that song too, the lyrics. It's about a specific person, and not in a bad way. It was kind of along the same lines as "Control" in that we realized we were doing things to impress the people that we thought we needed to impress.

Everything -
Tell me how you feel. Your opinion means everything to me. I can't make up my mind. Open my eyes to what you see. Tell me what you're thinking. I need to know. Without knowing what you think, I feel so alone. Why do I let you make the call. Why do I let you decide it all. My world is decided by what you think. Without your voice I sink. Hanging on your every word. Deciding what's right or wrong. The strength that your words bring, make me feel like I belong. Holding you so high. Your thoughts become my religion. Everything you say clouds my own decisions.

It's about a girl right?

No. It's about a dude. It's about a friend. It's just kind of a heart-felt thing that I realized that, wow, I'm trying to impress this person. It was about, "I'm trying to impress these people." Everything I do is . . . I'm trying to remember the lyrics.

Demian with Undertow in 2009, Photo: Tom Holcomb

Who was it about?

I don't want to say. It's kind of embarrassing. (laughs) It's a good friend, I'm still friends with him. He knows the song is about him. If there's a fifth member to Undertow, he might be it. Good friend of everybody's, still hangs out and shit. I think we realized . . . we became self-aware of what we were doing to impress other people. It wasn't just about, "I want to write a great riff." It was, "I want to write this great riff so that I can impress this person who will then influence all these other people." It just kind of became self-aware. I mean there are PLENTY of songs about girls. (laughter)

You just haven't named them yet!

We have like five or six songs about heartbreak.

Were there females that kind of rolled with your posse, so to speak?

Yeah. They used to be called the Underho's. (laughter) Yeah, and I would say there was some cross-pollenization going on.

You mean girls who dated multiple members?

There was one girl who dated three of us that I almost dated, and fooled around with while she was dating John.

John and Mark deliver Undertow to the Burning Fight crowd, Photo: Tom Holcomb

Did you guys get mad at each other for that kind of stuff?

No . . . well yeah. I think Murph and Seth had issues. Me personally, I think I probably screwed up a few situations. I was like, "Well, oh well." I was so involved with music that I didn't really think about girls that much. There were two that kind of broke up the band, made things real hard. But we were all so young. There were some girls that . . . yeah. Were . . . yeah. (laughter) One of them I think is fucking awesome to this day, and one of them, I love hearing that shit's bad for her. And she's dating I don't want to say who, and I don't want to name names, but she's dating a guy in a HUGE band and from what I hear, it's just awful. (laughter) He just cheats on her, and they have a kid together, and she's a fucking mess. The other one was just innocent. Just having fun. "I like this guy so I'm going to like him." The other one I think maybe manipulated shit and really caused a lot of friction.

Moving onto lighter topics . . .

I like talking about all that shit. (laughs)

Tell me about the Seattle-San Diego connection and what kind of influence you had on bands like Unbroken.

I like to think it was mutual. We became friends with them. Ron and Dave used to get us tours. This is the second generation of Undertow where Joel is still singing and Seth . . . well Seth was from San Diego and that was another big connection. So it was really easy for us to come down on spring break and get us shows. You just had to say you were a straight edge band. Seth knew all the guys in Unbroken. I think him and Rob [Moran] grew up together and we became fast friends with those guys. We were all the same age, and those guys treated us SO well. It was our home away from home, and even as years progressed, we were all starting bands, and both Steve [Miller] and Eric [Allen] could fucking play their brains out when they were fucking 16, and Steve could fucking shred. But I think we were all kind of figuring out our bands, and there was a friendly competition between us and Unbroken. And I think for everybody in Undertow, we liked Unbroken more than we liked anybody else in the scene, not just because we knew the dudes, but . . . I mean we loved Integrity, we loved Burn, there are some more examples, but it was really easy for us to go down to play California, and when we did, we stayed in San Diego. Everybody was in Chula Vista, and they called it the Chula Vista Lench Mob. I swear to God it was like 20 dudes deep. And when Undertow came to town, and I'm sure it wasn't just because of us, but when we were in town and there was a show going on, it would be 20 dudes deep, and you knew them all, and it felt like your cousins that you hadn't seen in a while. Everybody just fucking hung out and we broke into swimming pools. It was the best time in our life. As each band got better there was friendly competition. I wanted to impress the guys in Unbroken. Hopefully they wanted to impress us. I think there was mutual respect. There was no real competition. We were just really good friends coming up at the same time, all the same age. Everybody got along amazingly. There was definitely a bond there. To this day, I'd rather play with Unbroken than anybody else.

Mark with Undertow and the sleeveless Slayer shirt, Photo: Tom Holcomb

When you first played in San Diego, you were playing through a specific type of guitar and a specific type of amp, and that influenced the Unbroken guys to buy the exact same equipment. What was that?

It was a Fender M-80. Solid state. MASSIVE gain, but no balls. And then I used to play a BC Rich, because I was trying to rip off Vic [Dicara], but that broke super fast, and I ended up just buying what I could find. It's called The Paul, but I think they're also called Firebrand. It's a woodgrain Les Paul copy, like a Les Paul Jr. It's like thin and . . .

Made by Gibson though.

Yeah. They were like 400 bucks, and I heard now they're going for like 2 grand. I WISH I still had one. Yeah, that quickly became kind of a west coast sound.

Right, because dudes in Unbroken started playing them.

Twice I got phone calls. One dude I know, and one dude I don't. And I don't want to say who it is, but I got calls from people asking me how I got my sound. And at 18, you're like, "Fuck yeah, dude. (laughter) People want to know about MY sound? Hell yeah." The Fender M-80s were like dirt cheap. They were like 300 bucks or something, and durable as hell. But you listen to them now, and it just hurts my ears.

And then there was also a riff from an Undertow song that Unbroken "borrowed" so to speak. (Mark laughs) What two songs were they?

It is "Taken" from Undertow, and I can't recall what song it is from Unbroken. (laughs)

It's on Life. Love. Regret. I can look it up. [the song is "End of a Life Time" - Ben]

I've heard a bunch of different versions of what happened. I've heard that it happened on accident. The other version that I've heard was that, "I heard it and I liked it so much that I wanted to borrow it." I don't know which one is genuine. I like to think that it was borrowed, because it makes me think that the original riff was good enough that somebody liked it so much. I can appreciate that. Because if you listen to some of the Undertow stuff, I'm straight up ripping off Burn and Integrity. I can play you riff for riff a Swiz riff. "Cutting Away" - it's a Swiz riff.

What Swiz song?

It's the very last song on the first LP. [the song is "Frame" - Ben] And it's all music, but at the very last thing they're doing kind of like fills to fill that last "DUN!" And they do it three different ways, but one of them goes, "DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUUUUN . . . DUN DUN." (laughs) I straight up ripped that off. I'm okay with it. It's kind of been an ongoing joke [between Undertow and Unbroken], because there was a friendly competition. Undertow recorded "Taken" and "Cedar" to test out the studio, before Unbroken went into the studio. So I can verify that. (laughs)

Demian drops the bass, Photo: Tom Holcomb

4 new bands to check out

2011-07-18T21:27:00.003-04:00

Step Aside - Tucson, Arizona - Josh / Vocals, David / Guitar, Ryan / Guitar, Chris / Bass, Riley / Drums
Step Aside

The Last Stand - Brooklyn, New York - Michael / Vocals, Stephen / Guitar, Dion / Bass, Jimmy / Drums
The Last Stand

Alert - Western Massachusetts - Mike / Vocals, Kyle / Guitar, Keith / Bass, Jake / Drums
Alert

My Rifle - New York and Georgia - Jason / Vocals, Hobi / Guitar, Lewis / Bass, Andy / Drums
My Rifle

Outburst do it The Hardway

2011-07-17T21:55:00.002-04:00

The Outburst boys hangin' at the beach, Photo: BJ Papas

Months back, Outburst drummer Miles To Joe, sent us a a handful of old Outburst photos that he had dug up, all taken by legendary NYHC photographer, BJ Papas. A couple live shots, but most of them just hang out shots. We held back from posting them, thinking that we needed some sort of commentary to go along with them, but honestly, sometimes photos tell the story themselves.

The only thing Joe had to say about the photos was this following quote… "Catch your magic moment and do it right here and now...it means everything." -Van Halen

Thanks to Joe for sending the photos in, now do yourself a favor and go listen to the Outburst tracks off the Where The Wild Things Are comp. -Tim DCXX

Outburst at CBGB, NYC, Photo: BJ Papas

Outburst in the middle of a game of hoops, NYC style, Photo: BJ Papas

Outburst at The Right Track Inn, Photo: BJ Papas

Outburst frontman, Brian Donohoe, shows off his ball handling skills, Photo: BJ Papas

Bad Flag - Black Brains

2011-07-15T18:48:00.002-04:00

Not sure of the origins or the story behind this photo, but it started circulating today and it was the first I had ever seen or heard of it. It's obviously HR and Rollins, in what I would assume was a Bad Brains set that Henry came up and did guest vocals for. Pretty damn cool either way. If you've got any info on this, feel free to leave it in the comments section. -Tim DCXX

1990 Revelation Records mock record covers

2011-07-14T19:58:00.002-04:00

In 1990 Revelation ran a series of ads promoting a number of records that were slated to be released that year. Various ads had mocked up cover art prior to the release of the records. The majority of of these mocked covers ended up being pretty similar to what the final versions were, but there were some slight differences on a few that I always found to be interesting. Here's a handful of these alternate covers. -Tim DCXX

Rev: 19, Inside Out - 7"
Slightly different cropping of the cover photo here for the Inside Out 7", plus the photo is full bleed. The biggest difference in my eyes is the font choice and placement for Inside Out. Personally I think I prefer this font choice because it's more in line with the typewriter style font that Inside Out used on their shirts.

Rev: 20, Judge - "The Storm" 7"
Different lightning shot here on the Judge "The Storm" 7" cover. Looks to be a church steeple or castle, which I think ads a bit of a creepy/darker factor. Also, no title on the mock as opposed to "There Will Be Quite…" which appears of the actual press.

Rev: 21, Supertouch - "The Earth Is Flat" LP
I always liked this mock up cover for Supertouch's, "The Earth Is Flat". Still very similar to the actual release, but a totally different photo of Mark and Joe, which looks to be taken back stage somewhere. All these ads were black and white, but I thought this cover looked particularly cool in black and white. Like the Judge 7" above, this mocked version had a darker vibe than what appeared on the actual cover and I think I actually prefer it for this one.

Rev: 22, Burn - 7"
The differences on the cover of the Burn 7" are pretty minimal when compared to the actual release, but still there are a couple differences. The mock up has the Burn logo on top as opposed to on the bottom and I definitely think the logo placement made a significant improvement. Those heads in the crowd down there kinda ruin the photo, so covering them up with a Burn logo really turned your attention away from them. The photo cropping was slightly different from this to the release, again making an improvement. I don't know how many bands could use a video screen grab for their record cover and make it look cool, but Rev/Burn definitely made it work for this.

The Way It Is poll wrap up with Ray Cappo

2011-07-14T01:25:00.002-04:00

Ray Cappo and Raybeez break it down at a CB's matinee, Photo: Boiling Point

YOT's "Together" took the win in the most recent poll where we asked you what your favorite track was off of the NYC Hardcore The Way It Is comp. This was also the song Tim and I voted for, although there are at least a dozen other stiff contenders on what might be the best comp of all time. Although I'm personally partial to the version of "Together" that appeared previously on the Together seven inch comp (Tim is vehemently more partial to The Way It Is version) , the Way It Is version still beats out anything else on the record for me.

We figured we would go to the guy who wrote this song, fronted YOT, and put out this comp in 1988 to pick his brain a little. Take it away, Ray... - Gordo DCXX

Ray and Walter with Youth Of Today in Boston, Photo: Unknown

When I wrote the lyrics to "Together" for the Together seven inch compilation, the scene was all over the place as far as idealogies, styles, sounds etc. But, we had one thing in common: we were all misfits from our suburban youth culture. Despite all our differences we were like a family of outcasts in a sense and we all had a mutual respect. This is also what Break Down The Walls the song was about. Straight Edge was for self betterment - not a "better than you" mentality. What was once was inspired for self-edification (this was recognized by the end of the Can't Close My Eyes era of YOT) was now turning very elitist and causing more walls than before.

The reason for doing The Way It Is as an LP that expanded off of the Together seven inch was because we realized there was so much more to offer and that the world at this point was interested. So we doubled up tracks and brought in new material. I remember wanting to get Altercation, I liked those guys. I was also happy to showcase BOLD as opposed to the defunct Crippled Youth name. Nausea were roomates and I was tight with them. Hell, we were tight with everyone back then, even YDL.

But, Together...I didn't write the music to this song and I'm not sure who actually wrote it. Believe it or not, it wasn't my favorite song of ours, as the pace was mid tempo and it was copying bands like Cro-Mags and Bad Brains...thus I felt I couldn't sing it so well. But I wrote the words. Some YOT songs definitely mean so much more to me than others. Off the top of my head, Flame Still Burns, Can't Close My Eyes, Make A Change, What Goes Around, Modern Love Story, I Have Faith, Slow Down, the list goes on. Together would be 65 out of 100 if I had to rate it. Sorry...my opinion only :) - Ray Cappo

Walter with Youth Of Today in Boston, Photo: Unknown

Growing up with kids
I can truly call my friends
there from the beginning
and they'll be there until the end
Together we've built this
and all done our part
together we've stood here
right from the start
With all these great experiences
I know I won't forget
all the places that we've traveled
and the people that we've fucking met
Together we've built this
and all done our part
together we've stood here
right from the start
I will never forget
all that we've done
all that it's meant
There's a youth culture rising
In front of your eyes
take pieces of you in my memory
until the day I die
Together we've built this
and all done our part
together we've stood here
right from the start

Youth Of Today - Together - 86
Supertouch - Searchin' For The Light - 77
Breakdown - Sick People - 57
Warzone - As One - 48
Gorilla Biscuits - Better Than You - 23
Side By Side - Time Is Now - 23
Youth Defense League - Blue Pride - 23
Bold - Wise Up - 22
Gorilla Biscuits - Forgotten - 18
Youth Of Today - Understand - 17
Nausea - Fallout Of Our Being - 16
Warzone - Escape From Your Society - 12
Sick Of It All - Pete's Sake - 11
Side By Side - Dead Serious - 11
Trip 6 - Back With A Vengeance - 8
Sick Of It All - Politics - 8
Krakdown - Ignornace - 4

Classic Cappo taking flight, Photo: Unknown