Insted part II

Insted at CBGB's 2004, Photo: Traci McMahon

Did you guys ever encounter any of the more militant sides of straight edge?

Rich: Absolutely. That started happening towards the end of our (career). You had the "Hard Edge" straight edge stuff, which was real militant and the Vegan Reich (hard line vegan band) thing started to happen with vegetarianism.

Steve: Bands in Florida and Memphis.

Rich: We encountered it but not in a negative way.

Steve: We knew some of those guys and kind of watched them evolve into that. I remember one time we were going through Memphis and I was a little worried, (wondering) "How are these guys going to react to us?" (Our attitude) was sort of "Hey" (in a friendly tone) and they were very much like (punching hand) "We'll kill you." And I didn't take it very seriously but I didn't know how it was going to be interacting with them.

And they were sort of just fine and accepting of you guys?

Steve: Yeah, they were fine. It was old friends, so while. . . How can I word this? I like to surround myself with people with different opinions, so for me it's ok that Rich likes different movies from me, because it would be kind of dull to talk and always agree on the same things. So while I totally disagree with the Hard Line movement it was still interesting to me to talk about that. It's been too long and we have definitely grown apart but at the time, being that involved (with hardcore) you knew those kids and it was something to talk about. It was a different opinion than yours and it was interesting to debate.


Steve with Insted at the Showcase in 2004

What caused Insted to break up in 1991?

Steve: I think at the time of couple of things had happened. I think that A) the sound of hardcore was changing to be more metal/crossover like a Judge/Snapcase/Cro-Mags type of thing. That was the thing at the time, and traditional sounding hardcore was becoming extinct in a weird way. Thatm coupled with the fact that Kev was interested in getting married and was going to be moving to Colorado made it so that (maintaining the band) was becoming very difficult and he wanted to start a family. In part we also felt, "You know what? We're a punk band." We did a couple albums, a 7", we did a few tours, we'd done a bunch of shows, played with the greatest bands. We said what we had to say. We said our piece and looking back it would have been nice to do another album and we were going that way with writing, but Kevin was ready to check out early. If we were not all into it we weren't going to just slide through and put together some kind of shitty record. And I think that was kind of the conversation where if you can't be 100% committed than it was a waste of everyone's time and it was against everything that we started.

Rich: It was time.

So in a sense did you guys feel like you were kind of out of vogue in the hardcore scene?

Rich: We were getting there for sure.

Steve: We felt like we were definitely heading down that path.

Rich: 'Cause everyone was just going that way. All the bands that you see (from that time period), like early 90's hardcore. . . What does that sound like? But we were not that type of band that was going to try to go that way. We'd rather just stop and we did. So me, Steve, and Bear started like a college rock band. Rather than taking the name Insted just because we were popular (we moved on). Not knocking 7Seconds who kind of went through the whole range of stuff and then came back and did hardcore or even Agnostic Front for that fact, who wanted to cross over and then went into Oi! or whatever, and then went back to hardcore. Uniform Choice went to a different sound. They were experimenting with different stuff. We were just saying let's do it; let's just be done and do it in a Minor Threat style where this is done.

Steve: Yeah. Now I'm gonna do Embrace. I think too, like anybody else we were fans of hardcore so I think sometimes we had the fan perspective of when a band (changes drastically). And every band is entitled to change; Don't get me wrong, but you can't help but look at it from a fan's perspective. Like I'd rather listen to "The Crew," "Walk Together, Rock Together," or even "New Wind" than "Ourselves." Like, this is not what I want to listen to from 7 Seconds, and some people love that record and that's great. I'm sure that those guys (in the band) think that "Ourselves" is a better record than the aforementioned albums but we said "Let's not milk the name." Let's go do this and leave the hardcore kids alone. We don't need to pull them in.

Rich: We closed the book. Kevin went off and got married and did his thing. We remained friends, there was no falling out with the band, hating each other. We walked away from it all and me and Steve and Bear were musicians and we wanted to continue playing music and we thought, "Are we going to continue doing another punk band?" We did Insted and we were happy and content with it and we were successful in our own way. So we met up with another group of guys and we set out to play some different types of music. That doesn't mean that we checked out of the scene; we were still buying records, we were still going to shows, still believed in the same things that we talked about with Insted. We just decided it was time to do something different and that's what we did.


Kevin at CBGB, NYC 1988, Photo: Jeff Ladd

Steve: I think that's it. When we were on tour we were listening to a wide array of music. I remember listening to Violent Femmes a lot on tour. You were just getting hardcore every night and bands were always giving us stuff and every morning we'd wake each other up with Ill Repute. It was always "Oxnard." You were sleeping with your head next to the speaker, "Oxnard was going to get you."

(singing) "Naaaaaardcooore!"

Steve: Yeah exactly and it was always cued up. It would be like "Oh we gotta do it to him. He's sleeping."

How did you decide to do the reunion thing in 2004?

Rich: It was kind of one of those things where we were departed from the hardcore scene for a while and the records had gone out of print. Every once in a while we would cross paths with people who would ask about it. And then one of our friends came to us and said "Well, why not? Is anyone interested?" We kind of took a look at that and then we got in touch with Dave Mandel from Indecision Records and he said he would help us out with the project.

Steve: There were some specific things that we asked for. We wanted pictures from Kent McClard (HeartattaCk Fanzine editor) included.

Rich: It was sort of all of these things and we had a contract with Epitaph. We had to find out if they would give the record (to Indecision) and if we could collect all of these old records and put it out without any legal problems.

Steve: The main goal was that we needed to put out something high quality. If we were going to do it then we wanted to do it right. (We didn't want) to end up with the Grilled Cheese (Records) version that has just the 7" and the first album on it.

Rich: Kevin comes home every year for the holidays so it was easy to talk to everyone about it and we were all into the idea.


Rich and Steve at the Radio Silence book release party 2008

I'd always taped our rehearsals and we were working on some new material that never saw the light when we broke up. When we did break up we didn't have enough for an album and we had a contract with Epitaph who only did full lengths. So we had this stuff that we could add to the discography to give it some more value and show you the beginning of the band all the way to the end. Then when it was finally coming out the talks of reunions came up (to support the discography) and we were really skeptical of the word "reunion."

Steve: From the get go when we broke up we said "no reunions."

Rich: Yeah "Let's shake hands, it's done." I guess you should say never say never. Fifteen years later we were presented with this idea and it wasn't like "This guy is down on his luck and needs a quick buck" or "I've got an ego so let's get up on stage and do it." We kind of thought there was a reason with the discography and had to celebrate it.

Steve: And we had to get together to complete the songs (for the discography). And Rich and I, when we discussed doing another band together, we had never captured the chemistry that we had with Insted.

Rich: Yeah after Crash Course broke up, we'd think about it and it was like there always something interesting about Insted where we'd never argue, we always got along, it was always fun.

Steve: It wasn't the best musicians but somehow the group always worked together.

We got together and we recorded these songs that Rich had archived and it was "OK let's relearn these songs" and record them and if they turn out then we'll put them on the discography. When we got together it was like we had never quit playing together, and well Rich and I never really had, but we had quit playing songs like this together. Barret came in with the guitar and we rehearsed real quick and got him up and running and and it was like "OK, sounds like where we left off."

Dave Mandel and Paul and some other friends of ours were really pushing us to do this. When they heard the two songs they were like "You should just do it. You guys have a good legacy and you broke up on good terms. Everybody likes you guys." The more people that came around prodding, we were like "We just need to do this to give people a kick in the ass."

Rich: The scene needs something like this.

Steve: So we said "OK let's rehearse a couple of times and we'll see how it goes." If we're going to do it we we're going to do it right. We were not gonna come out half- cocked, unrehearsed. From ideas come ideas and it became, "we're really going to do this; We're gonna do small venues and low door prices." Then I think there was something in there like, "If CBGB's will do a reunion show with us then we'll do it."

Rich: There was talk about being out here in California and there wasn't really a scene. Ya know, where did all of the kids end up these days? And it was nowhere.

Steve: We'd pop into shows and there wouldn't be many people and we'd be like "What happened? There was a thousand people at shows when we were running around. What happened?"

Rich: We got in touch with people who were talking on the Livewire (Records) board and it felt like there was a demand. When we booked a few shows on the East Coast the promoters in L.A. said, "Wait a minute you guys are an O.C. band and you're not going to do any shows in California? Are you kidding me?" Then all of a sudden we started getting calls from Europe and decided to do that. It all worked out and and we had a cool celebration of the discography. And then back at CBGB's we decided to record our set so we could have a cool (piece of) memorabilia and that's how the "Live at CBGB's" (record) came about.


Kevinsted at CB's, Photo: Jeff Ladd

The Revelation files continued

Original Gorilla Biscuits 7" side G label art / paste up, Photo: Tim DCXX

This is the continuation of my scouring through the original Revelation artwork files and the photos that I took while I was there. Considering I took roughly 100 photos of various record layout elements and I've only posted a few so far, expect plenty more to follow in the near future. - Tim DCXX


Original Judge photos, some that were used on "Bringin' It Down", some that weren't, all great, Photo: Tim DCXX


Rev 3, Sick Of It All 7" original B side label photo, Photo: Tim DCXX


A collection of original Youth Of Today photos that were used on the final 7", Photo: Tim DCXX


Although not Revelation used artwork, original Violent Children art from 1984 that was stored with all the early Rev release folders, Photo: Tim DCXX


A random early shot of Cappo blowing out candles on a birthday cake while Porcell looks on, Photo: Tim DCXX

Poll results for favorite punk movie

Another poll and more surprising results... to me at least. Not that I have anything against American Hardcore, I think it's an incredibly well put together documentary on the birth of the American Hardcore scene. I'm just surprised because it seems to me that the majority of people hold a bit of a grudge against it's writer, Stephen Blush, for his opinion on hardcore dying by 1985. To me the movie is well worth it's weight in gold just for the Jack Grisham (T.S.O.L.) and SSD content alone. With that being said, my vote did not go to American Hardcore, but to Another State of Mind.

I remember seeing Another State of Mind for the first time sometime around 1986 / 1987 and being completely blown away by it. From the scene with Mike Ness of Social Distortion writing and playing the song "Another State of Mind" on an acoustic guitar, to Brian in that empty room teaching the film crew how to slam dance, to the mic going out during Minor Threat's set and the the crowd singing along without it. To me Another State of Mind is just flawless all the way through. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and buy the DVD. If you haven't seen American Hardcore or any of these other movies, see them because in my opinion, they are all well worth watching. -Tim DCXX

American Hardcore - 97
Another State of Mind - 72
Repo Man - 67
The Decline of Western Civilization - 44
Suburbia - 33
Sid and Nancy - 9
The Filth and the Fury - 4

James Unite Part II

UniteWebZine.com

Part two of our interview with Unite Fanzine / Webzine editor and New York Hardcore veteran, James Unite. - Tim DCXX

That era (late 80s into early 90s) was a great time for fanzines, the list is endless. What was your favorite? Most underrated? Most overhyped? Where did Unite fit in to the scheme of things?

Your right, it was a great time for fanzine culture and there were a lot of really creative people out there speaking their minds and supporting a lot of worthy bands. There were so many that offered different outlooks on the scene, the bands and the politics. Some of my favorites were earlier ones like XXX but also Schism, Smorgasbord, Open Your Eyes and in a sense In Effect.

Chris Wynne (of In Effect) and I started our zines around the same time. I considered him a friend and a contemporary. I think In Effect was one step ahead of Unite and that showed in its growth and longevity. The best fanzine in the area and maybe even in the country at the time was Boiling Point. Tom and crew had the best layouts, the best images and the coolest interviews. They were ahead of their time in concept and layout. That was the zine I really looked up to and aspired to. I never got close though.


Walter with GB at CB's, Photo: James Unite

After that initial explosion of zines there was No Answers and of course Anti-Matter which in hindsight continue to inspire me till this day. Norm's interviewing style put everyone else's to shame. He is the main reason I brought Unite back as an online presence. I wanted my interviews to go beyond the show and the influences. I want to get to the heart of the person. In Memory was underrated because he didn't have any fancy layouts or pictures of people stage diving in their Nikes but Dave K. knew hardcore and he wasn't afraid to call people out who were faking it. That was the only zine who's editor intimidated me with his writing style and knowledge of the music.

There was another zine that came out later in the early 90s by the name of Budget. It was just what the name entailed but the writing was very personal. Chrissy Piper really put her heart into that zine and it showed in her approach to interviews and articles. She went on to become a well-known photographer so she's inspired me on two levels.

Overrated???? Well that's the easiest question I've ever been asked. It was without a doubt Maximum Rock N Roll. Amazing how they packed so much crap into so many pages. They also made a point to either slag or ignore what was happening in New York.

As for me I'm not sure where I fit in. I was just a kid having a great time. I never did anything groundbreaking but people seemed to like it. I am still amazed when people call me James Unite. I would have to say I fit in somewhere in the middle with zines like In Effect and New Breed (which is often overlooked). One misconception however was that Unite was a Straight Edge zine which it wasn't. I was never really straight edge in the true sense of the word. I wanted Unite to appeal to all corners of what was considered the scene at the time. In retrospect I think the skinhead kids outside of CBGB's helped to sell the most copies.


James Unite over the years, Photos courtesy of James

By the beginning of the 90s, the NYC scene began to crumble due to the violence at shows and a whole other slew of issues. Many people jumped ship, you seemed to remain tied to the same things you were always into. What did you see going on in the scene around you at that time?

That was a really strange and dark time for me. I hated what the scene had become. A lot of what happened seemed to center around CBGB's for some reason. I can go back to an interview I did with Gus Pena last summer where he mentioned that a lot of the leaders in the scene were off touring. "So who was running the roost?"

But in hindsight it was also a good thing. I think Hardcore at the time had become this breeding ground for mediocrity. There were so many new bands and new kids coming into the scene and they all seemed to be patterning themselves around either Youth of Today or Breakdown. I have no problem with wearing your influences on your sleeve but it got ridiculous. It was also the same with fashion. I think by destroying the blueprint and starting over people were able to breathe much needed new life into Hardcore. ABC-No-Rio was a perfect example. I think people like Mike Bullshit, Freddy Alva and a lot of other people were able to create something that was more family oriented. They kept the instigators out and helped to foster something a little more laid back and fun.

It was a great time for new and more original bands. It also created this door where a lot of the people who were in it for the moment or the even the violence to move on to other things. There were a ton of new labels, bands and creative people who would go on to do great things. There were a lot of people jumping ship but they were jumping for good reasons. People who do the same thing over and over and expect different results are categorically crazy.

That time opened the door for some great music like Quicksand, No Escape, Burn and so many others. Born Against was also a band that really made a statement with their music. I'll go back to a few other interviews I did this year. In the 90s it seemed like NYHC moved to New Jersey. There were so many bands that were either from NYC or had the flavor of NYHC playing shows in NJ. So during most of the 90s I was traveling out to New Jersey for my hardcore. I couldn't relate to the whole thug core mentality and metal bands calling themselves hardcore. There were tons of basement shows, people renting out VFW halls and putting on shows anywhere they could. That's when you had bands that carried that hardcore spirit but were more musically evolved. You can't survive in this world without change and without evolving.

I'll always be in love with that early hardcore sound but if things had stayed the same and everyone was still moving in the same circle what would be the point? As dark as that time may have seemed in retrospect I am glad it happened. It was a new decade and maybe we needed a change. I remember trying to bring Unite back in '94 to embrace that change and cover the amazing music that was coming out at the time.


Randy Show Of Force and Ike Stand Proud, Photo: James Unite

Astoria, Queens - New York City Hardcore

Outburst sing along at CBGB, NYC, Photo courtesy of Miles To Joe

Joe Outburst occasionally hits me up with some great little tidbits and funny stories, most of which will turn into full blown entries here eventually. Not that we haven't already had some Outburst coverage, but we're always down for some more stories from the Queens boys. Joe linked me to a piece on the Blackout! Records site he wrote about the backstory of the Queens hardcore scene of the 1980s (www.blackoutrecords.com/blog). Though I had seen this before, I thought it was worth posting up here for those who may not have checked it out. NYHC. -Gordo DCXX


A roof top view from Astoria, Queens NYC, Photo: MDPNY

“Yeah that’s right, you can tell by the way this song is…Astoria, Queens rules!” Jimmy Gestapo - “A Day In The Life” by Murphy’s Law

During the golden ages of “New York Hardcore”, you could paint the term NYHC with a broad brush. The bands, friends & fans that made up that unforgettable scene could always claim representation from somewhere within New York City’s five boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island) as well as Westchester, Connecticut and New Jersey. And there was plenty of neighborhood and crew representation to go around: “Lower East Side“, “Youth Crew“, “Alleyway Crew“…just to name a few.

But today, I'd like to take a few minutes to reminisce fondly about my hometown - the little neighborhood in Queens that spawned her share of NYHC bands - Astoria.

When you take a roll call of the bands that had members who either lived in Astoria, went to school in Astoria or just came to Astoria to hang out, the list is pretty remarkable: Kraut, Major Conflict, Murphy’s Law, New York Hoods, Abombanation, Token Entry (originally Gilligan’s Revenge), Leeway (originally The Unruled), Outburst, Breakdown, Show of Force, Fit Of Anger, Cold Front, Everybody Gets Hurt. (Please comment if I’ve inadvertently forgotten any other band(s)….)

If you took a census of the blocks on the south side of Astoria Park from 12th street to 18th street, on any given night in the mid to late 80’s, you’d have an Astoria Park bench where A.J.(Leeway), Saso (original Leeway drummer), Mike Dijan (Show Of Force, Breakdown, plenty of other bands), Tony (Show Of Force), Nick (Cold Front), Chris (Fit of Anger, EGH), George and myself (Outburst) would all be hanging out for hours on end. I remember one night, Eddie (Leeway) brought Doug (Kraut, Cro-Mags) to hang out at the park and we heard a few rough cuts from what was to be The Age Of Quarrel record.


Outburst at CB's with Gavin Van Vlack on guest vocals, Photo courtesy of Miles To Joe

Anthony (Token Entry, Raw Deal/Killing Time), A.J. and all five original members of Outburst attended St. John’s Preparatory, Astoria’s Catholic high school. Just a few blocks away on Ditmars Boulevard was Pizza Palace, where the hardcore kids (the few that there were in the early days) would congregate after school. A few more blocks from there, you had the Pyramids, a public area by the Con Edison plant on 20th Avenue that doubled as a skateboard park. Kraut memorialized the park fondly in the song “Pyramids” on their Wetting The Scythe record.

You could’ve ventured a couple of miles east to neighboring Jackson Heights, where Anthony, Civ, Walter, Arthur (Gorilla Biscuits) and Dylan Schrifels & Gus Pena hung out. Or, you could’ve went back to Astoria Park South and hung out at the apartment/studio of B.J. Papas - NYHC’s resident and loyal photographer. On any given night, you could’ve been hanging out there, shooting the breeze with Pete from Sick Of It All or Mackie from the Cro-Mags, or even a certain founder of Blackout! Records. Since B.J. was (and still is) one of the coolest girls you’ll ever meet, and she only lived a mere two blocks from me, I found myself hanging out there quite often.

For a great period piece on Astoria and what it was like in 1986, check out the film A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, starring Robert Downey, Jr., Rosario Dawson & Shia LeBeouf. The film was written & directed by Astoria native Dito Montiel (Major Conflict, Gutterboy). Coincidentally, Dito’s dad was George’s little league baseball coach and one Halloween night, during an Astoria Park/Ditmars Blvd egging rivalry, some of my friends and I were fire-extinguished in an alley somewhere near 21st street by Dito. All in good (and retrospectively dangerous) fun, of course.

Whenever I hear “A Day In The Life” I still get a kick out of Jimmy’s line, comically bragging about his hometown that ruled beer & herb. He may have been singing tongue-in-cheek, but he was definitely onto something. Thank you, Astoria, Queens.


R Train departing 46th street station, Astoria, Queens NYC, Photo: Olm

Gorilla Biscuits - Super7 2nd press

Alex from Super7 fills us in on the second press of the Gorilla Biscuits figure. Hold your ground... -Tim DCXX

We are releasing the 2nd version of the toy on Saturday April 18th 7pm in store (only) and Sunday April 19th on the web at 11 am PST. Price is $55. The first version sold out in 2 hours so if you are a San Francisco local, stop by on Saturday.

The Second Pressing is cast in banana yellow vinyl, with black, white, grey, purple and orange spray, to match the second pressing of Gorilla Biscuits' Self Titled 7".

Super7 1628 Post St. San Francisco CA 94115

If you are interested in being on our GB list and haven't emailed me already, feel free to email me at Alex@super7store.com

Chain Of Strength - Best Of Times

Chain Of Strength - What Holds Us Apart cover shot from The Anthrax, Norwalk CT, Photo courtesy of Dan Rawe

You might have seen some of these classic photos from Chain Of Strength's "What Holds Us Apart" 7" or through Dan Rawe's Flickr account, either way, here they are once again and all in one place. As for the back story on these photos, they come from the collection of Dan Rawe, who was apart of Foundation Records in the late 80's early 90's and acquired them through his work with the label. Dan gave us the go ahead to post these here, but I will say that neither us nor Dan is clear on the photo credit for all the photos. If you dig Chain like DCXX digs Chain, you'll appreciate this. Those were special times, those were our times... -Tim DCXX


Frosty, Alex and Curtis at CBGB, NYC, Photo: Noah Uman


Ryan and Curtis at CBGB, NYC, Photo courtesy of Dan Rawe


Alex Pain down on his knees at CBGB, NYC, Photo: John Hiltz


Chris Bratton destroying the kit with Chain, Photo courtesy of Dan Rawe


Ryan Hoffman and Alex Pain at CBGB, NYC, Photo: John Hiltz


Ryan and Alex with Chain at Gilman Street, Berkeley CA, Photo courtesy of Dan Rawe


Ryan, Curtis and Frosty at CBGB, NYC, Photo courtesy of Dan Rawe