Bobby Sullivan - Soulside

Bobby Sullivan with Soulside at Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ, Photo: Ken Salerno

Last year, sometime shortly after we launched Double Cross, we started posting memorable show entries from various people that have been involved in the hardcore scene over the years. We did quite a few entries like this and I always thought that it made for an interesting read, so I decided to bring it back.

Kicking this returning feature off is Mr. Bobby Sullivan from D.C.'s Soulside. Expect many more memorable show entries in the coming weeks. Big thanks to Bobby and all who have participated so far. -Tim DCXX

Seeing Minor Threat's last show was mind blowing, especially with the Big Boys from TX, doing their brand of punk/funk, and Trouble Funk headlining - a serious DC funk band in the Go-Go genre (sampled a lot by Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys). That was my first stab at slam dancing and stage diving. Once punk got mainstream I lamented how uniform the sound got. I liked how back in the day there were so many different sounding punk bands. Punk was the attitude and a revolutionary approach to making music, not necessarily the end sound. Everybody was trying something different and too few got recognized.

Beefeater is one of those bands I thought should have gotten more recognition, but I guess that funk blend really made sense to me, coming from DC.

The Bad Brains are a perfect example. Seeing them right after the Rock For Light album changed my LIFE forever! Those lyrics with that delivery...wow. Soon afterwards HR took me under his wing and I got schooled. Ian was the same way. In that DC scene we practically wrote songs together. That mentoring approach that the older brothers took was priceless. I still look up to Ian and HR to this day. I'm still giving thanks!

Matt and Drew talk BOLD / Murphy's Law

BOLD at City Gardens, Trenton NJ, 1988, Photo: Ken Salerno

Tim's post last week on Murphy's Law and BOLD at the Black 'N Blue bowl reminded me of a story involving the two that came up in an interview Tim and I did with Matt and Drew a few years back. Here it is, along with some great photos Ken Salerno took of BOLD at City Gardens in early 1988...-Gordo DCXX

Drew: Around 1986, Crippled Youth was still kind of a novelty. And even though we were kinda loud about straight edge, we kinda got a pass because we were so young. Especially in New York, nobody really gave us a hard time because of our age.

Matt: But I do remember one time we kind of dug ourselves a hole. Maximum Rock 'N Roll wanted to do this little feature interview on us, so they sent us the questions. And one of the questions was about straight edge, and if we got a hard time for it or if we got heat for speaking our minds about it. So Drew and I were doing the answers and taking time to formulate our answers...

Drew: And I made the mistake of saying like, "If Murphy's Law can sing about drinking their beer, why can't we sing about being straight edge?" We really thought we were making a valid and righteous point, but in retrospect, we were 14, and it's just not the type of rational thing you say, especially pulling Murphy's Law into it. And I loved Murphy's Law, but the context was terrible.


Matt with BOLD at City Gardens, Photo: Ken Salerno

Matt: So yeah, and soon after that, I was at The Ritz and Murphy's Law is playing. And Jimmy goes to introduce the song "Care Bear," and he says in a very direct and not so friendly way, "THAT'S FOR YOU CRIPPLED YOUTH!!!" Like right at that moment, the whole club parted and like the spotlight went on me. It wasn't a lot of fun. It felt very tense.

Drew: Yeah, big mistake. But I think it smoothed over.

Matt: Yeah, the next day, Mark Ryan, who was close with us but also close with Jimmy and those guys, he went to them and smoothed it over, basically explaining we didn't mean anything by it and that we were ok kids. But I think that may have been a wake up call. After that, we were cool with them.

Poll results for favorite hardcore video

I mean really, what is there to say? Cro-Mags - We Gotta Know... you had to know it would take the crown. If you needed a reminder why, here it is above... and now you know. -Tim DCXX

Cro-Mags - We Gotta Know - 191
Youth Of Today - No More - 102
Judge - Where It Went - 59
Bad Brains - I Against I - 31
Sick Of It All - Injustice System - 28

Rev Files : The GB edition

Original Gorilla Biscuits 7" mock ups, notice alternate Rev logo on back cover, Photo: Tim DCXX


Gorilla Biscuits at Club Unisound, Reading PA, a random photo that was found in a GB folder, Photo: Tim DCXX


Original Gorilla Biscuits logo made with rub-off letters and would be used on the GB "Hold Your Ground" shirt, Photo: Tim DCXX


Original GB 7" first pressing B Side label photo of Lukey Luke, Photo: Tim DCXX


Original hand written thanks list to be used on the GB 7", Photo: Tim DCXX

Jeff Banks on "Street" Regis Guerin

Regis Guerin's high school ID, Courtesy of: Jeff Banks

California legend and one of our favorite DCXX contributors, Jeff Banks, returns with a little ditty about Chorus bassist, Regis...Street Regis to you. -Gordo DCXX

So I’m at this Uniform Choice show. It’s sometime in 1986 at Fender’s in Long Beach. Steve Winders and I are watching the bands (Winders and I were in a Straight Edge band called Denial, which would later merge into the 2nd incarnation of Visual Discrimination). “Who is that guy?,” says Winders. We watch as this big, ridiculously strong, defensive lineman-looking guy is throwing people at will off the stage, cold-cocking anyone who gets in his path, and glaring at everyone and no one in the building. “Stay clear of that dude,” is about all I say.

“There he is again,” says Winders. This time we are at a 7 Seconds show. I couldn’t figure it out. The Sons of Samoa seemed to defer to him. The LADS didn’t fuck with him and all the UC guys seemed to love him. And he was everywhere.

I go up to some guy who I sort of knew who was talking to this fellow earlier in the evening. I point. “Who is THAT guy?” “Regis. Street Regis. From the Sloth Crew. He’s a Huntington Beach guy.”

I don’t know what the hell Sloth Crew is. I never went to Huntington Beach because of the HB Skins (who never seemed to fuck with Regis either by the way). Winders and I were from Cerritos. We were essentially 501-wearing, wino shoe-having, JC Penney plain white T-shirt sporting, gold Harrington when it’s cold out, honorary Mexican in certain circles, basketball playing 4 to 6 times a week punks who were straight edge.

But I had to get to know this guy. I started asking around.

The stories about him were legendary. From knocking the teeth out of a Calvin Klein model guy to Burt Reynolds bar room brawls where guys get dragged down the bar and thrown into the wall, shattering glass and smashing all the alcohol bottles.


Regis and Ike with Chorus Of Disapproval at JayBob's, June 1990, Photo: Dave Sine

When I saw him wearing green high top Nike basketball shoes I knew I had an in. I was wearing the same shoes. I of course invade his personal space. “Let me see those big boy.” He looked at me like I was coming on to him. I pointed to my sneakers. This dude breaks into the most genuine kid-like smile imaginable and shakes my hand. We talk. He plays bass. More importantly he plays basketball.

We set up games. I get to know Joe Nelson. Sawyer, Winders and I are running and gunning in dunk ball games in Orange County with the likes of Pat Dubar. It was awesome.

Years later Ike Golub and I were considering actually putting a band together. “I think I might know the perfect guy.”

Too many great Wild West stories. In the years to come he would single-handedly take on a group of skinheads in DC, fight a crowd of knuckleheads at Club DV8. One time when I was at Berkeley, Regis, Sabatini, Helmet and I played as the band XProhibitionX at the Kloyne Co-op with Green Day. Sabatini got loud and next thing I know we are confronted by about 10 guys. A dude in a leather vest steps to Regis and Regis yells, “Venice Beach motherfucker,” and it was on. It was like the restaurant scene when the Black Widows are looking for Philo Beddoe and take on the locals from the coffee shop. We were the locals.

But this may be the best Street Regis story ever. For me at least.

It was at an Angel game. Regis, Shep, Lepak and me. We are leaving. On the freeway an egg is thrown and breaks on our windshield. “Follow that piece of shit,” says Regis. We go miles on I-5 at high speeds. Weaving. Honking. Screaming. Regis is saying the license plate number over and over like a mantra. They lose us. We go to Del to decompress. A year later Regis and Shep see the car and confirm the plate. They follow and the car goes to a house party with about 100 people. The driver gets out and walks in. Regis follows. “Motherfucker. You threw an egg on my car.” He has the guy by the collar. The guy has no clue. “Angels Mariners motherfucker. You egged my car.” The guy actually starts shaking and says he has a twin brother who has access to the car a year ago and swears it was not him. “Regis open hand (and very audibly), slaps the guy across the face. “Bitch.” And walks out.

If I knew that story the night of the green Nikes, I just might have come on to him.


Street Regis with The Chorus in Arizona, 1994, Photo: Hornberger

Dan O'Mahony Part II

Dan and Gavin with No For An Answer at The Anthrax, Photo: Jeff Ladd

Everyone seemed to dig Part 1 from Dan O on Monday, so here comes more. -Gordo DCXX

As far as specific positives and negatives go, the whole late 80's thing espoused some wonderful ideals in terms of general positivity, rejecting self destructive lifestyles, championing racial tolerance, redefining gender roles ("not just boys fun!") etc. I look back fondly on the years when I knew so many like minded people willing to commit such amazing amounts of energy to forwarding that values system. New bands, zines, labels, and kids promoting their own shows were everywhere. It was different than any time before it, faster growing, more national, more mutually supportive, and more exciting.

It was at the point when this basically socio-political / activist mindset started to very literally enforce a dress code clear down to defining acceptable brand names (ie. Champion, Nike etc.) that I could not relate. I wasn't a popular kid in school, and wasn't interested in in infusing cool kid social behavior into our otherwise noble counterculture. Let's keep in mind this is a ground one perspective, '83, '84, '85, '86 veteran/fanzine kid/first wave Rev artist, and from where I stood the values of positive hardcore/straight edge were changing, slowly coming to resemble more of what I by nature was hard wired to reject than that which I loved to embrace. This is not really an indictment of any individuals, but rather the danger of any large group, particularly that young. I think I'm getting a little doctrinaire and preachy here where it's not really neccessary so I'll back off now. Breathe...


Dan with No For An Answer at CBGB, NYC, Photo: Ken Salerno

Yes, positives and negatives.

NFAA travelled by extreme means, an 80's hardcore band that did the east coast by plane but the west coast via a Chevy Celebrity station wagon. The "Answer Wagon" that we claimed slept 5 comfortably with equipment! As far as the east coast is concerned we played CBGB and the Anthrax at their zenith (CB's with Government Issue on one trip!) and looking back I wish we'd documented those days better. Joe Nelson did a good job for you guys detailing being locked in the Anthrax overnight during a blizzard. California boys learning quickly about the east coast winter!

The EP recording was intended as a demo just like Gavin says. No real time went into the production, we joked around singing "We Are The World" during the backups session, recorded a cover of AF's "Last Warning", and had a very good, very amateur time, but when Porcell got hold of it and deemed it record worthy I pushed pretty hard to make it exactly that. Looking back the only Revelation stuff on the shelves at that time were Warzone and the Together comp. The production value on "You Laugh" fit right in, but by the time it was released, SOIA, GB and others had gotten a little slicker, a little beefier, and we sounded remedial. Nowadays I listen to that record and love how young and spastic we sound. You can't create that vibe intentionally.


Dan O high fives the crowd at CBGB's, Photo: Ken Salerno

Black N Blue Bowl, Brooklyn NY 2009

Matt BOLD in front of the Brooklyn crowd, Photo: Future-Breed.com

Here's a breakdown of the bands I was able to catch at this past weekends 2009 Black N Blue Bowl in Brooklyn New York. Big thanks to Future-Breed.com for the photos that I snagged to dress this piece up. For more photos from all the bands that played, go to Future-Breed.com -Tim DCXX

Due to prior engagements, I wasn't able to make it out to the show until about 7:30 PM and considering the show started at 2:00 PM, it was inevitable that I was going to miss a good chunk of the bands. Not that I was all that familiar with the majority of bands that I was to miss, but I probably would have caught a few of them had I been able to get there earlier.


Kenny Aherns with an Urban Waste sing along, Photo: Future-Breed.com

So the first band I got to see was Urban Waste and I was pretty stoked that I was able to get there in time to catch them. The Urban Waste EP is a classic piece of New York Hardcore vinyl and It's been a favorite of mine for a long time. Line up wise, they had three original members, singer-Kenny Aherns, guitarist-Johnny Waste and drummer-John Dancy and the bassist looked to be a relatively young kid. They opened the set with "Police Brutality" and the crowd got into them from the first note. They sounded great and there was a fair amount of stage dives, sing alongs and dancing, so the combination made it fun to watch.


Jimmy Gestapo with Murphy's Law, Cavity Creeps style, Photo: Future-Breed.com

Murphy's Law went on next and had it not been for Jimmy Gestapo, I wouldn't have recognized any of the members. Crazy to think about how many different line up changes Murphy's Law have had over the years. I will say, Jimmy manages to find solid bands to back him and this line up was no different. They played a decent mix of the first two albums and what I would assume was post-Back With a Bong material, although I couldn't swear to it considering I've never heard any or their releases after Back With a Bong. The highlight to me was "Cavity Creeps", which is always a crowd pleaser. Jimmy carried a a beer in his hand almost the entire set, only to put it down to swill back a bottle of Jagermeister or to smoke a joint. Age apparently has not softened Mr. Gestapo or affected his love of booze and weed. My only complaint was with the drunken meat head that felt it was necessary to climb on stage for every song, put his arm around Jimmy and proceed to wave and preform the whole "raise the roof" gesture. Dude was obviously fueled by Schlitz and it appeared that even Jimmy was becoming annoyed. It didn't take long before Jimmy would just push the dude off the stage and back into the crowd. Overall an entertaining set, but when is a Murphy's Law set not?


The Search continues, BOLD at the Black N Blue Bowl 2009, Photo: Future-Breed.com

Next up was the band of the hour, for me at least... BOLD. Let me assure you, they fuckin' destroyed. It's been way too long since BOLD has played and I was psyched to to be seeing them again. With a tweaked TC3-less lineup, Porcell brought in long time friend and Swedish import, Daniel Larsson to fill out the missing TC3 guitar work and the chemistry was obvious. Completing the rest of the line up was drummer Vinny Panza, and K-Town originals Tim Brooks on bass and frontman Matt Warnke. BOLD opened with "Talk Is Cheap" and the crowd responded immediately. Sing alongs and stage dives were plentyful and the band continued to demolish through each and every song. All the songs were stand outs, but my personal favorites like "Search", "You're The Friend I Don't Need", "Clear", "Having My Say" and "Wise Up" inspired me to smash my fists on the stage, just as they did 20 years ago when seeing BOLD. They finished the set with "Wise Up" and the crowd kicked it up a notch to give BOLD their due send off. Through the mayhem I managed to pull myself on stage and jolt across the stage to dive over Matt's back and into a pile of people singing, "It's time to WISE UP, you must WISE UP!". Words can not describe just how heavy, tight and powerful BOLD sounded and to all those that were slighted by the poor recording quality of Speak Out, hopefully Saturday's set helped set the record straight and you could hear just how those songs are and were suppose to sound. People really seemed to connect with what was happening on stage and after the set, I heard nothing but positive BOLD talk. Hopefully we see more from BOLD this summer.


Porcell in the face of the Brooklyn crowd deliviering some New York Crew, Photo: Future-Breed.com

In the past for the BOLD encore, Porcell would take the mic and sing "Nailed to the X", but this night in Brooklyn New York, the band had different plans. Porcell put down his guitar, Matt passed him the mic and the pre-song banter began. A fired up, X'ed up, Porcell with mic in hand shouted something along the lines of, "This song goes out to all the guys that welcomed me into the New York Hardcore scene, guys like Vinny Stigma, Harley, Raybeez, Jimmy Gestapo... this one is for them and it's for all of you, it's called "New York Crew". Before the first note was played, chaos erupted. Bodies were flying everywhere, screaming voices sang along to every note from every direction, Porcell threw his body into the crowd over and over again and quite honestly I could do very little but stand there and stare. Partly because things were so chaotic and I wanted to minimize bodily injury and partly because I just wanted to watch and soak it all in. Towards the end of the song, Daniel's guitar went out, he dove into the crowd and the crowd continued as if it never missed a beat. Those days are gone man, but they're not forgot... and this just reinforced that.


Anthony Communale with Killing Time at the Black N Blue Bowl 2009, Photo: Future-Breed.com

Had it been any other band, I would have not wanted to see them hit the stage after what had just gone down, but with Killing Time going on next, I knew the crowd had been properly warmed up. Now I haven't seen Killing Time in quite awhile, but man... they have not missed a step. Still as great as always and the crowd ate them up. They tore through all the "Brightside" classics as well as a handful of newer tracks and I had a great time just hanging back and watching everything unfold. With the exception of a few drunken meat heads that felt the need to hang around on the stage and try to pal up with Anthony arm in arm for sing alongs, the set was pretty spot on.


A fired up Porcell at the Black N Blue Bowl, Brooklyn NY 2009, Photo: Future-Breed.com

My friend Karl who I had come to the show with, was looking to bail after Killing Time's set and considering how exhausted I was, I was completely fine with that. On our way out we ended up running into Porcell and catching up with him for awhile, as well as the rest of the BOLD guys. An early exit turned into a not so early exit and after stopping in Manhattan for some late night eats, I didn't get home until close to 3:00 AM. When all was said and done, I had a great time, saw a handful or awesome bands and was stoked I made the trek.


Murphy's Law mayhem in Brooklyn, Photo: Future-Breed.com