SS Decontrol - VFW Hall, Mt. Auburn, Cambridge, MA - March 4, 1983

I swear that I do not intend for this blog to be a direct supplement to the End On End podcast, which I co-host, but, sometimes, there is some overlap.

In early June of this year, we released two episodes which specifically covered SS Decontrol's classic debut 'The Kids Will Have Their Say' (1982 - a Dischord/X-Claim split release), and SSD more generally, and, more generally than that, the Boston hardcore scene of the early '80s that coalesced around SSD.

So - if you want your fill of SSD content - you can find the main episode here, which features a full interview with Nancy Barile (with Al getting on the phone for a few minutes as well), and clips of interviews I did with Dave Smalley, Jonathan Anastas and Mike Gitter, and the supplemental episode here, featuring the full interviews with Smalley, Anastas & Gitter.  Speaking of Nancy Barile, she has a book coming out this fall which should be an incredible read.  Anyone who is a member of the SSD Facebook group, or belongs to any of the hardcore-based groups that Nancy is in, knows that she's a great storyteller and this book is bound to be chock full of great tales from that time.

But for those who don't want to listen to hours and hours of Brian and I blabbing away, let's just say quickly that SS Decontrol (originally Society System Decontrol....and then later simply SSD) were the most important band of the early '80s Boston hardcore scene.  They were to Boston what Black Flag were to Los Angeles, what the Dead Kennedys were to San Francisco, what Minor Threat was to D.C., etc.  They were the band that inspired other Boston kids to start bands, the band that started their own record label to document their corner of the world (Al Barile's X-Claim), the band that spawned the Boston Crew - they were the proverbial rock that was thrown into the pond from which the ripples emanated outward.

But more than just an important band, they also released two albums, 'Kids..." and the 1983 EP 'Get It Away' (X-Claim), which are indisputably two of American hardcore's great classics (personally, I give a slight edge to 'Get It Away', but both belong in your record collection). 

This show is from March 4, 1983, at a VFW Hall in Cambridge, MA - quite a line-up with the bill also featuring Minor Threat, Necros, F.U.'s, and Negative FX.

The set opens with the then-unreleased "How We Rock" (the intro & the song proper), which would be the title-track to the following year's release [at which point the band officially shortened their name to "SSD" and began to write longer songs which saw a heavy metal influence, but, in my opinion, it's still a hardcore record and still a good one, if not a great one], followed by the old Shangri-Las song "Remember (Walking in the Sand)", although, given the place and time (and Springa's banter preceding the song), my guess is that it's really more of a cover of the Aerosmith cover (who released the song on their 1979 'Night in the Ruts' album and hit #67 on the charts with it).  This is followed by a bunch of songs from 'Get It Away', which also had not yet been released, having been released two months later in May 1983....but I'm guessing most of the crowd already knew these songs.  The set closes out with "Boston Crew" - a theme song, but one that was never properly released (a live version appeared on the posthumous 'Power' comp that was released in 1992 on Taang!).  Oddly amiss are any songs from 'Kids...'.

The recording is obviously raw, clearly not any sort of professional or soundboard recording - but that's what you get with these old tapes from the tape-trading box.  It's still a fun listen by a band that sounded like it was on fire while they were at the top of their game.  The line-up would have been their classic five-piece line-up of Springa (vocals), Al Barile & Francois Levesque (guitars), Jaime Sciarappa (bass) and Chris Foley (drums).

SETLIST:

How We Rock Intro (0:28)
How We Rock (3:00)
Remember (Walking in the Sand) (6:25)
Get It Away (9:55)
Glue (12:22)
Under The Influence (14:00)
Nothing Done (15:45)
Boston Crew (17:25)

Jeff Kaplan 1 · SS Decontrol - VFW Hall, Cambridge, MA (3-4-83)

Garden Variety - Right Track Inn, Freeport, NY - 6/3/93

I'm fairly certain I have at least a few Garden Variety shows in my collection....but since this is the first - this is the one that gets the story.

Garden Variety is a big band for me.  Although my ground-zero year for discovering punk/hardcore/underground music was 1986, I did not start going to shows until late-1991.  Garden Variety were the first band from the local scene that I really gravitated towards and was able to watch grow from playing clubs on Long Island in front of five people late on a Thursday night (like this show I have for you today) to gaining much deserved national attention a few short years later.

My introduction to Garden Variety involves some personal history...so it's a nice excuse to share.  Aaron Pagdon and I met our freshman year of college - Hofstra University on Long Island in the fall of 1991.  Aaron was from Pittsburgh and I was from Merrick - about ten minutes south of Hofstra.  I met him during freshman orientation - he was wearing a Black Flag "Police Story" shirt (you know the one) and I couldn't resist introducing myself.  We became friendly - saying hello to each other here & there when we would bump into each other on campus.  After getting kicked out of "The Freshman Center", a failed Hofstra experiment (for reasons that should be obvious), and after not being too happy being paired up with a frat-football-jock, he took an opportunity to be my roommate after some difficulties I had with my first roommate ended with him moving out.  It also didn't hurt that I lived a few floors above his girlfriend at the time.

As we became closer friends and began discussing and listening to music more, and as we were both musicians (he had played in hardcore bands in high school such as Upper Hand, Direct Action and Ten Feet Tall....I had only played in cover bands through high school - such as Elektra, A Touch of Class, Infinity and V.O.I.D. (Visions of Infinite Delirium)), we decided to start a band.

Aaron and I have been in bands together ever since....it won't be too long before this relationship - one of both friendship and musicianship - will be 30 years old.  We are primarily known as a rhythm section (I'm the bassist, he's the drummer), having rooted more obscure bands such as Humstinger and Quarters, and somewhat better known bands such as The Judas Iscariot and Hudson Falcons (for one album/tour cycle and occasional gigs to this day), although in Two Man Advantage, our best known band, I play guitar and he plays drums.

But in the beginning, he wanted to play guitar and I wanted to play drums.  He knew a guy named Ron who went to Hofstra who played bass, and now we just needed a singer.

One night we were flipping through our local, free, weekly music paper, The Island Ear, and came across a classified ad - something like - "singer looking for band, into Bad Religion, Government Issue and Circle Jerks" - or something like that.  I insisted we call....Aaron was resistant at first, thinking whoever it was had probably "been around the block a few times" and wouldn't want anything to do with us.  But I said we had nothing to lose and there was no downside to calling him....so we did.

We both spoke to him that night....on the other end was Vinny Segarra from Howard Beach - owner of the most baritone of voices.  We all hit it off pretty well over the phone.  He told us that his band, Situated Chaos, had just broken up and he was looking for a new one.  He just wanted to play straight-ahead three-chord hardcore....which at that moment, is also what we wanted to do - so it sounded like a possible match.  He also mentioned that he ran a record label - Mint Tone - who had put out a few records to that point (Situated Chaos, Functional Idiots, Disemboweled Corpse, and The Thing).  His next record was going to be the first 7" by this band Garden Variety, based out of Valley Stream, and why don't we meet up with him at their next show the following week, at The Spiral opening up for Bad Trip.  We said "sure" - but how would we know who he was?  He simply said, "don't worry - you'll know".

The next week, we headed to The Spiral which I remember being pretty packed, and we instantly figured out who Vinny was....he was the biggest dude in the room....by far!  I would be lying if I said I remember all that much about Garden Variety or Bad Trip that night - because I was just too excited about having just met the singer in my new band and my punk rock circle of friends widening - something that was severely lacking in my high school days where most of my punk rock discoveries were made in solitude, or with the one friend I had who was open to the punk rock journey - Lloyd Zare (another super close friend to this day) who, unfortunately, lived several towns away and I could only see on weekends.

Vinny joined the band - and that was the first of three versions of my first, "real", original band - Humstinger.  Although Humstinger may not have gone onto fame and fortune - Vinny remains a very close friend to this day.

After that, I would become a loyal Garden Variety fan.  I was at the show when Vinny opened up the boxes of the 'Hedge' 7" (recorded at Inner Ear with Don Zientara!) - it was at a little bar in Island Park I think (or was it Oceanside?...Long Beach?) - and man - I brought that home and listened to it for days.  It was just three incredibly catchy songs in the Jawbreaker/Superchunk/Squirrel Bait mold - one could say post-hardcore or the harder-edged version of emo that was emerging at that time...but with a definite original spin and superior musicianship by all three members:  vocalist/bassist Anthony Roman, guitarist Anthony Rizzo, and drummer Joe Gorelick.

For quite a time, they were Long Island's secret - they played a ton and I saw them almost every time, even befriending them to a certain extent.  It was through Garden Variety that, after some Humstinger line-up changes, we met Kevin McManus who would be our guitarist through the second and third versions of that band (Kevin would slowly drift away from Humstinger to focus on Farckus Affair before turning up in the final line-up of Dahlia Seed).  Anthony Roman also offered up some advice after hearing our initial try at a demo, that convinced us we should go back and give it a second try (he was right - and we did).

Eventually, after much hard work and endless playing, and continuing their evolution as songwriters, the band, as it inevitably had to, breached the barriers of Long Island.  They released their first, self-titled record in 1993 on Gern Blandsten, and their second, and final, full-length on Headhunter in 1995 titled 'Knocking The Skill Level', along with split 7"'s with Dahlia Seed (Mint Tone - '94), Chune (Headhunger/Cargo - '94), Hell No (Reservoir - '95), and Jejune (Montalban Hotel - '97), not to mention contributing to a variety of comps.  In 2019, Arctic Rodeo Recordings put out the long overdue 'Complete Discography 1991-1996' boxset (although I don't think it's actually "complete" as it's missing the demo and I think a few of the split/comp tracks (I have to double-check that one), and certainly not any of the live recordings in my collection that I plan to share with y'all).

But as all good things do - Garden Variety ended.  By that point, they had long outgrown the small, Long Island clubs and were regularly either headlining shows or securing main-support slots on big shows and touring the country to national recognition.  I think the last time I saw them was at CBGB opening for Jawbox - probably around '95 or '96.  But man - I saw them a zillion times in their earlier days - circa '92-'94 - and have a few of those shows on tape.

Garden Variety was certainly a huge influence on the Long Island scene as it emerged in the late-'90s and early-'00s, and, even though the band has never played a reunion show, all three members have continued to play music to the present day, Anthony Roman most notably in Radio 4, Anthony Rizzo with Vic Thrill (and many others - including bands well outside the indie rock orbit), and Joe Gorelick in Big Collapse, The Fifty Two X, Retisonic, Red Hare, Bluetip and Marah.

This show was from the Right Track Inn in Freeport.  Tons of stories could be told about that place.  RTI opened in 1973 and closed it's doors about 25 years later.  I almost played my first show there when I was in high school, but I was too young (but I did end up playing there a couple of times a few years later - including with Humstinger with Aaron and Vinny....and, a bit later, my band Jody Crutch opened for Garden Variety there).  The RTI had regular hardcore shows there through the '80s - Crumbsuckers, Leeway, and Ludichrist were all regulars over there.  Even some bigger names - like Joan Jett & The Blackhearts and Dream Theater (in their super early days) graced that stage.

This show is from Thursday, June 3, 1993.  Anthony Roman's opening banter reveals that My Favorite and Down Patrick opened this one up (and that they would also be playing RTI only one week later - which demonstrates just how much GV gigged the local scene at that time).  The setlist features one demo track ("Puzzled" - the stand-out track on that demo), two tracks from the 'Hedge' 7", and the rest filled out with songs that would be released later that year on the self-titled Gern Blandsten LP (some of the songs didn't even have titles at the time).  When that album did come out, I already knew every song on it.  That album, for me, wasn't so much the presentation of new material, but rather a compilation of material that I had been seeing them play live for a year.

Another personal tidbit is that the "Justin" in the song "Rode (For Justin)" was Justin Nortillo.  Justin was the singer/bassist in a New Jersey-based band called State Speed.  I first met those guys at a house show that Garden Variety played out in Montclair, NJ (I think maybe some of the Leo brothers lived there - not sure).  Their drummer fucked up one too many times for their guitarist (Chris Infante, an original member of Chisel), who stormed off the stage mid-set.  I ended up becoming State Speed's drummer for the rest of their existence - about another year or so.  It was a good band, and after a pretty good show at Brownie's (opening up for Garden Variety) - I never heard from those guys again....which was weird...but - whatever...

More Garden Variety shows to come in the future, I'm sure.  It'll be less talk, more rock going forward as my story has now been told.

There is some tape noise that rears its ugly head here & there....apologies for that....but - you know - this tape is now over 27 years old - so gimme a break!

SETLIST:

Hat Head (0:00)
Fall In (5:09)
Binder (9:41)
Puzzled (14:23)
Hedge (18:00)
Turnout (20:40)
Rode (For Justin) (24:10)
Closet (29:40)
Pretty Mouth (35:40)

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Garden Variety - Right Track Inn, Freeport, NY (6/3/93)

Double-O - the complete works

As I mentioned last blog post, I co-host the End On End podcast with Brian Gathy where we go record-by-record through the Dischord Records catalog.  So, this post is well-timed, because a few days from now, we'll be tackling Dischord 10 1/2 - the Double-O 7", released in 1983 as a split label release with R&B Records.  I anticipate that episode will be released into the world on Monday, July 27th - so please check it out.

Double-O's original line-up was formed in 1981 by vocalist Eric Lagdameo (ex-Red C (see last blog post)), guitarist Tom Clinton (Youth Brigade), bassist Bert Queiroz (ex-Untouchables & Youth Brigade), and drummer Rich Moore (ex-Untouchables).  So, again, a common theme of the Dischord Records bands were short lifespans with constant re-configurations into new line-ups and new bands.  So, you could consider Double-O a bit of a "second generation" D.C. hardcore band, although Bert was already onto band number three, and 1981 does seem a little early to be calling anything "second generation" anyway.

While Double-O existed at a time of evolution for the D.C. hardcore scene (i.e., Scream and the re-birth of Minor Threat), Double-O stayed true to the original, raw, straight-forward hardcore of the earlier bands these guys were in - at least on the early demos.

At some point in the band's history, and I'm a little unclear as to exactly when, guitarist Jason Carmer replaced Tom Clinton.  My ASSUMPTION is that this was at some point between the demos and the 7" - only because in THIS INTERVIEW, done before the release of the 7", but after Jason had joined the band, his entrance credited with a forward leap musically - and the 7" certainly bears that out.  The demos are raw in both music and sound, and while there is much song overlap across the five demo sessions, none of those demo-era songs ended up on the 7".  Four of the five 7" tracks stay true to the hardcore roots, but are more developed and tightened up, while one song in particular - "Death Of a Friend", almost sounds like a song from another band that accidentally found its way onto the record, sounding more like something that would have been on TSOL's 'Beneath the Shadows' or Bad Religion's 'Into The Unknown'.  It's a daring departure.  The 7" was a split label release between Dischord and R&B Records, the "R&B" standing for "Rich" and "Bert", who also released Second Wind's 'Security' 12", 9353's 'To Whom It May Consume' LP, and Gray Matter's 'Food For Thought' LP (later re-released as Dischord 48 in 1990).

Following the demise of Double-O, Eric would reconnect with his former Red C bandmate, Toni Young, to form Dove ("Ambivalence", which would appear on the Fountain of Youth 'Bouncing Babies' comp was apparently originally a Double-O song as it appears in the live set from Wilson Center), Jason would go onto play with 9353, James Williamson and a bunch of others and seemingly went onto win some Grammys (!), Bert played with Tesco Vee and the Meatmen, Second Wind, Rain, and Manifesto, and became a photographer who now resides in Germany,  Rich also did some time with Tesco Vee and would step out from behind the kit to sing for Second Wind.

All of this pre-7" stuff was culled from a few bootlegs:  the 'Double Barrelled' 2x7" (1993 - Burned in DC Records), 'Early DC Hardcore 1981-1983' (2006 - Tribute) and the split LP with Red C - 'XXX' (2016 - DC Sound Records).

In addition to the five demo sessions, I've included the version of "The End" that appeared on the 'Charred Remains' cassette comp (originally released in 1982 on both Noise Records and Version Sound, and then later released in 2014 by Radio Raheem) a live set from Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. (9/17/82) (also on the bill:  Social Distortion, Youth Brigade (LA), Effigies, Iron Cross and Faith), and a YouTube link to the 7" itself, which has never been re-released (or even bootlegged as far as I know) and which easily goes for over $100 these days, if you can find it at all (only 2000 pressed).

Leave your thoughts in the comments!

"The End" - from the Charred Remains comp.

Jeff Kaplan 1 · The End

Session 1 (demo)

1.  Take A Position

2.  No Reply

3.  The End

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Double-O - Session 1 (demo)

Putting DC On The Map (demo - '82)

1.  The End

2.  Take A Position

3.  No Limits

4.  No Reply

5.  Don't You Understand

6.  Putting DC On The Map

7.  Fade Out

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Double-O - 'Putting DC On The Map' demo (1982)

Session 3

1.  The End

2.  No Reply

3.  No Limits

4.  Take A Position

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Double-O - 'Session 3' (demo)

Session 4

1.  The End

2.  Take A Position

3.  No Limits

4.  No Reply

5.  Putting DC On The Map

6.  Fade Out

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Double-O - 'Session 4' (demo)

Session 5

1.  The End

2.  No Reply

3.  No Limits

4.  Take A Position

5.  No Reply

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Double-O - 'Session 5' demo

Live at Wilson Center, Washington, D.C. (9/17/82)

1.  Intro

2.  The End

3.  No Reply

4.  Darkside

5.  No Reason

6.  Your Image

7.  Funeral

8.  You've Lost

9.  Ambivalence

10.  Fade Out

11.  Putting DC On The Map

12.  Is It Better

13.  Take A Position

14.  Grey To Black

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Double-O - Live at Wilson Center, Washington, D.C. (9/17/82)

Double-O 7"

1.  You've Lost

2.  Is It Better

3.  Grey To Black

4.  Death Of A Friend

5.  There's No Reasoning

Red C - Pressure's On demo (1981)

For those who don't know, I currently co-host the End On End podcast with Brian Gathy.  Our goal is to go through the entire Dischord Records catalog, record by record.

Brian started the podcast several months back and, with his original co-host, Aldred, released episodes covering the first several Dischord releases (Teen Idles, SOA, both Minor Threat 7"'s, Government Issue, Necros & Youth Brigade).  When Aldred left the podcast, Brian reached out to me - really because of my aborted attempt to blog my way through the Dischord catalog via THIS VERY BLOG a few years back (those posts still readily available - I think I did them in 2018).  Of course, I said "yes".

As of this writing, we have done two episodes for the 'Flex Your Head' comp, SSD ('Kids Will Have Their Say'), the Void/Faith split (one episode for each side), Iron Cross ('Skinhead Glory') and Scream ('Still Screaming').  We just recorded an episode last night covering the 2014 D.C. hardcore documentary 'Salad Days', which will feature an interview with director Scott Crawford.

In any case - you can check out the End On End podcast here - https://www.buzzsprout.com/893587 - and if you dig it - please subscribe & spread the word!  Thank you!

We already covered a bit of ground on Red C on the second Flex Your Head episode (the one covering Side Two)  - so please check that out if you get a chance.

But, since this blog is separate & apart from that podcast - I guess I should cover at least a LITTLE bit of ground.

Red C were from Washington, D.C. and were a part of the original, early Dischord scene that revolved around a bunch of hardcore kids from Georgetown who formed bands like the ones mentioned above, who would quickly break-up with their members re-configuring into new bands, who would also complete their mission, break-up, rinse, repeat.

Red C were Eric Lagdameo (vocals), Pete Murray (guitar), Toni Young (bass) and Tomas Squip (drums).  The story goes that Tomas, who recently moved to D.C. from Switzerland, was walking down M Street when he ran into a crew of D.C. punks who were being interviewed for an article about the punk scene for the Washington Post.  It was through that meeting that he was introduced to Eric Lagdameo.  Tomas was looking for a band, Eric was looking for a drummer, and Red C was formed with Toni Young and original guitarist Leo.  Leo left the band after only a couple of shows and was replaced by Pete Murray, who had been in The Stab with the future John Stabb of Government Issue.

Prior to Red C, Toni Young had been in the band Peer Pressure, who also featured David Byers (who went on to play with HR and Zion Train), Tom Berard and Danny Ingram (who went on to play in Youth Brigade, Madhouse, Strange Boutique, Emmapeel, Dot Dash, among others).  Toni is also notable for being the only female on the Flex Your Head comp and, in fact, the only woman to play on a Dischord release for quite some time (until the Fire Party album maybe? - get back to me on that).

Red C only played a few shows before breaking up, but during that time they recorded a demo at Hit & Run Studios in the summer of 1981, the four songs on the 'Flex Your Head' comp (recorded "around Christmastime" according to the FYH insert - I'm assuming at Inner Ear, but I'm not 100% sure), and there was a rumored second demo recorded in their basement, but that has never surfaced, and may have been in Toni's possession.

Peter Murray would go on to play in Artificial Peace, Marginal Man and Season to Risk.  Eric Lagdameo and Toni Young would join up to play in Dove (although Eric's next band will be the subject of the next blog post), and Tomas Squip would step out from behind the kit to front Beefeater and Fidelity Jones.  Toni, sadly, passed away from pneumonia in the mid-'80s.

In 2010, Tomas, now known as Onam Ben-Israel, gave a four-part interview which can be found on YouTube.  The first interview goes into some Red C history.

Unfortunately, there simply is not too much in the way of any recorded legacy.  The four tracks on the 'Flex Your Head' comp being the only officially released material.  I happen to think their songs are highlights of that comp, as they expanded beyond the most rudimentary hardcore displayed by many of those early bands, who were all-thrash all the time, to include some reggae influences and some slower and moodier sections.  The song "Pressure's On" might be my favorite on the entire compilation, and was later covered by quite a few bands, including Rocket From The Crypt, Citizen's Arrest, Ceremony and Plan of Attack.

You can check out the four Red C 'Flex Your Head' tracks on the Bandcamp page (credit also for providing some of this bio material):  https://redc.bandcamp.com/

Many of the early Dischord bands got the demo re-release treatment in the early 2010s, but Red C's 1981 demo - 'Pressure's On' - has never been officially released.  While that demo exists in my tape-trading cassette pile, this is a vinyl rip from a bootleg released on "DC Sound Records" in 2016 called 'XXX', which also included the Double-O demo - and - yes - that will be the subject of the next post.

Two of the songs that would later show up on 'Flex Your Head' - "Pressure's On" and "6 O'Clock News" - appear here, in a more primitive form, along with 13 other tracks.  Red C simply never got their due in my opinion, which is why I hope a few more people go back and give their brief legacy at least a bit of attention.

TRACK-LIST:

Authority
Scam Out
Lies
Dark Circles
Farewell
Pressure's On
Bullshit
Clockwork Orange
Ambivalence
6 O'Clock News
Boredom
You're Blind
Social Minority
Hostage
No Way

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Red C - Pressure's On demo

Jawbreaker - ABC No Rio, New York City - 5/31/93

DISCLAIMER: I am slowly beginning to convert my old cassettes from my tape-trading days into digital form. These are live shows, demos, rehearsal tapes, etc. that I either taped personally or received through tape-trading. Nothing here is commercially available, I am not looking to make even one cent off of any of this. This is simply for sharing some of my collection with fans who may have never heard them. While I don't believe there are any legal issues with this - no different than videotaping a show and putting it on YouTube - out of respect for the bands, if any bandmembers do not want this content to be made available, please contact me at captain2man at yahoo dot com - or leave a comment - and I will be happy to oblige. As far as sound quality - hey - these were recorded a minimum of 20 years ago, and probably longer, on a handheld two-track recorder.  It is what it is.  If you're looking for pristine soundboard recordings, this isn't the place.


Over the course of a few short years, essentially between 1989 and 1996, Jawbreaker skyrocketed from underground DIY darlings to a band who found a new audience via the 'Dear You' record, released on Geffen in 1995.  While 'Dear You' has gone down in history as this groundbreaking and highly influential album, I can tell you that at the time, many of the band's fans who had been with them since their earlier days were deeply disappointed and let down and, in many ways, felt betrayed.  This, especially in light of the band's very aggressive anti-major label stance, documented on songs such as "Indictment" (short for the original title: "Scathing Indictment of the Pop Industry"): "So crazy it just might work / Then we'll quit our jobs / We could be the next group that you rob." 

Although the whole major label debate has cooled down over time, especially in light of the way the record industry itself has had to change and adjust with growing technology, it was a very big deal at the time.  A new debate would spark to life every time a band who had been on an independent label did something we all felt they shouldn't have.  With Jawbreaker, it felt especially egregious because of their outspoken stance in favor of independent labels.  On one hand, bands have the right to dictate their future and conduct their band business as they see fit.  On the other hand, the indie bands that signed to majors, with a few notable exceptions, probably didn't get the experiences that they had hoped for.  I'm assuming Jawbreaker's experience wasn't that much different from all the other bands who were the big fish in the small pond, only to then find themselves very small fish in a huge ocean. The fact that Jawbreaker broke up less than a year after 'Dear You' came out probably speaks for itself.  I have yet to see the 2017 Jawbreaker documentary 'Don't Break Down', but I have to assume the issue is addressed.

I first discovered Jawbreaker in the fall of 1991 during my freshman year of college. I had acquired their two 1989 7"'s: 'Whack & Blite' (Blackball Records) and 'Busy' (Shredder), and 1990's debut LP, 'Unfun' (Shredder).

To be honest, it took a little while for that first album to sink in - but once it grabbed hold, I was a fan for life - and as much as I do love the later records (and yes, grudgingly, I even kind of like 'Dear You' after all these years), 'Unfun' has always remained my favorite.

Each song has hooks for miles, is emotionally potent, but are musically interesting in an original way. Chris Bauermeister's bass playing was such a huge part of their sound in those earlier days and, unfortunately, as time went on, his basslines became a little simpler and less distinctive. Blake's voice was gravelly, as if he entered the recording studio after smoking a few cigarettes in a row, but still with such a great sense of melody. Adam's drumming drove the songs and was often inventive.

The first time I saw them was at ABC No Rio on August 31, 1992, with Hell No and 1.6 Band. It was an early ABC show for me (although not quite the first) and the first time seeing any of those bands, and I became a fan of all of them. The show was packed and sweaty, and even moreso because of the late-August heat in a space that had virtually no ventilation. After the show, I sat in the back of their van with my friends Frank and Aaron who did a zine called 'Kill the Messenger'. I sat quietly while they conducted the interview, but I remember being there and really feeling like I was in the presence of greatness and something that, as big as it was then, was about to get even bigger. I remember them asking about the major label issue, and one of them basically saying they would occasionally "do the lunch" - even at this stage they were getting that attention - but ultimately, their anti-major label stance was made pretty clear. I know that at least at one time, I had a tape of that show and if I ever do come across it, I'll post it.

As a huge fan of that album, it was always a little bit of a disappointment seeing them because even as early as 1992, they had stopped playing almost every song on it (only exceptions being "Fine Day" and "Want", albeit in an altered form).  The song "Pack It Up" on the 1992 'Chesterfield King' 12" makes it clear you wouldn't be hearing those songs anymore:  "Don't play Busy, Imaginary, Incomplete and Seethruskin / Drone and Gutless / Wound and Mean Guy / Equalized is overrated".

The show being presented here was from exactly nine months later - May 31, 1993 (Memorial Day) - with Hell No, Affirmative Action, Sleeper & Half Man opening up (I may have some of those sets as well - stay tuned). Jawbreaker had played CBGB two days before and the tour was titled the 'When It Pains It Roars' tour.  You can tell from the setlist that, in the grand tradition of bands like Husker Du, their sets were about what they were doing right NOW, which meant, you might not hear a whole lot of songs you were familiar with.  More than half of this set came from '24 Hour Revenge Therapy' - an album that would not be released until the following February.

SETLIST:

Do You Still Hate Me?
Jinx Removing
Donatello
Boxcar
Indictment
Chesterfield King
The Boat Dreams From The Hill
Outpatient
Fine Day
Sleep
Parabola

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Jawbreaker - ABC No Rio, NYC - 5-31-93

Pacifier - the 3 Cynical interview (Nov. '95)

So here ends the visit back in time to late-'95 and my one-off zine, 3 Cynical, and, specifically, the interviews that were published - but rarely read.

As I've lived with my old copy of that zine over the past few weeks, I have to say that I'm really proud of the work we did.  The zine had columns, reviews, interviews, photos.  My close friend, Lloyd Zare, did a killer job on the layout.  

An entire second issue was completely done and laid out.  We had interviews set to go with the Swingin' Utters, Gaunt, Hammerhead and Cows.  I have absolutely no idea where the laid out pages of that potential second issue went off to, but if I ever come across them, I'll give them the same treatment - since those interviews were genuinely never read by anyone but us.

A big, big thanks to Kerry Crandall Zion, Marc Lopez (a/k/a Mo Farted), Lloyd Zare (a/k/a Lloyd B. Free), Phil Lerman, Jen Maler, Ron Zion (a/k/a Ron Noiz), Richard Gilman-Opalsky, Aaron Pagdon, Vinny Segarra, Suzanne Stillinger & Adam Zare for bringing it to life.  I'm happy to say that I'm still very close friends with most of the people on this list all these years later.

The final interview is with Long Island's own Pacifier.  The four guys in the band, vocalist Myk Rudnick, guitarist Ron Noiz, bassist Marc Lopez & drummer Harry Rawlings, are all, to this day, close friends of mine....true brothers.  At the time this interview was done, I was in a band with Ron called Quarters.  About two years after this interview was done, I would find myself in Two Man Advantage with Myk, Marc & Harry.  I have spent many hours, have traveled many miles and slept on many floors next to these guys.  Two of them, Marc & Ron, made contributions to 3 Cynical. 

Pacifier mixed elements of traditional hardcore, post-hardcore and dissonant noise-rock into their own unique mix.  They were around from roughly 1995 to 1998, played a ton of shows, and each individual member was a regular presence in the scene.  Marc booked weekly shows for a long time at Deja One in Mineola and brought tons of national bands to Long Island.  20 years later he would do it all over again, founding SBC Bookings, which regularly booked shows for a couple of years at Amityville Music Hall.

Pacifier were fairly prolific in their few years.  Aside from being regulars on the stage, they released a demo ('Thank You, Todd Barber'), contributed two songs to the 'New York Underground! Hardcore and Beyond!  Volume One' comp (Clean Recordings), one song to the 'Definitely Not the Majors' comp (Bush League Records), released a split 7" with Pipefitter (Circus Max Music), and closed out their career with their best work - the full-length 'The Best Possible Thing at the Worst Possible Time' (Clean Recordings)  (which I'm listening to as I type this).

To get to the present day with these guys.  Myk, Marc & Harry were all founding members of Two Man Advantage.  Harry left the band around 2003, but is still someone I love bumping into at shows and talking forever with when we do.  Marc left the band in 2001, rejoined in 2015 and left again in 2018.  Marc and Harry were also founding members of Warsaw Sage and The Great Lie.  Marc might be retired from music....but never say never.  Myk...one of my closest friends - is still screaming the back-ups in Two Man Advantage.

Ron has been in Rochester since around the time that Pacifier broke up.  He was in a great band called Oceans of Insects who came down to Long Island twice.  They are no longer around, unfortunately, but their two albums, 'Heathen Mythology' (2012) & 'Return to the Sea' (2015) are available on Bandcamp (https://oceansofinsects.bandcamp.com/).

Ron currently has a project going called De-Auth - and you can give them a "Like" by going to https://www.facebook.com/De-Auth-105192881090326/.

Am I missing something?  Probably.  Suffice to say - I love each of these guys - as musicians & bandmates for sure - but first & foremost - as great friends.

*************************************************************

I interviewed Pacifier at a practice space in Franklin Square, NY, sometime in mid-November.  They are a relatively new band based on Long Island.  Hardcore with a bit of a twist.  As of this interview, Pacifier have played one show - at the Pyramid in NYC.  They are also playing Thanksgiving weekend at CBGB.  Pacifier are Myk (vocals), Mr. Ron Noiz (guitar), Marc (bass), and Harry (drums) - Jeff

3C:  Weapon of choice?

Myk: Microphone.

Ron: My 12" penis.

Marc: My thiwappater.

Harry:  My wit.

3C:  You're a pretty new band, how about a history?

Ron:  Marc and I found each other at an Under the Volcano [best Long Island zine - ed.] showcase.  I think it was their fifth anniversary show, at the Continental.  I met him through Joe Kowalski.  A couple of weeks later I left my band...

Marc:  We talked there.  I hadn't played in two years, the last band I was in was the Vicious Beatniks.  I was just itchin' to play, so I mentioned it to Ron....I've known him a long time.

Ron:  Two weeks later I went to a party and Harry was there, and Harry said he was interested.  It was a party for a girl who never showed up.  She didn't speak English.  This guy Bill liked her and they made a party for her to come out to, she didn't even show up.

Marc:  So it was just us three for the first two-and-a-half to three months.  We started in May.

Ron:  We got Harry in June.  We were looking for a singer for a long time, and then we found Myk.

3C:  How did you find Myk?  Or actually, how did you find them?

Myk:  By accident, really.  Ron was fooling around with my two roommates...

3C:  At the same time?

Myk:  Oh yeah.  It was odd...I walked in on them, it was really ugly.  But seriously, I went to check them out at practice one time, just hanging out.  Then, Ron called me, and said, "Hey, I have another band and we're looking for a singer....do you wanna try out?"  At the time, things were hectic so I couldn't do it.  About three or four weeks later, I remember Chet came back with a tape of Ron's band...I listened to it and then Ron called me.  I made it down to a practice they had in the city.  That was it.  I thought I was going to tryout, but after one practice I was in.

3C:  You're the only one in the band who hasn't been in a band before.  What is the experience like for you?  To jump into a band so fast.

Myk:  Well singing was really a weird thing for me because....like you said, these guys have all been in bands and play instruments, so it was just them doing something they've done before.  I've never been in a band, more or less have I ever sung in a band before.  I didn't know what style it was, I didn't know how I sang.  Whatever it sounded like to me, that's what I did.  Some songs worked, some didn't, over time, we've played with it.  The first show was a trip, though.  I was a fucking nervous wreck.

3C:  For the rest of you, how was it playing with someone who hadn't been in a band before?

Marc:  I thought it was neat to work with Myk...it was cool.

Ron: It was cool.

Marc:  It went over very smooth, we didn't have to deal with any egos...like this is my way or this is your way.  There are no egos in this band.  That's a major factor as to why I still play.

3C:  Ron, you were in Antifreeze.  Why the jump to Pacifier?  Was there an overlap?  Why didn't that band work?

Ron:  In Antifreeze it was kind of a personality clash.  I wrote a lot of songs for that band and they wouldn't want to play them.  I would come in with a song and they didn't want to learn it like that.  We didn't have a drummer...we were always looking for a drummer.  One night, the personalities clashed.  I called up Rich Black, superhung editor of Under the Volcano.  I asked him if he knew any bass players.  He told me about Joe Kowalski and Marc.  A week after I quit Antifreeze, Marc and I started jamming.  There was no overlap.

Myk:  The rest is history.

3C:  You've played one show so far, at the Pyramid...what did you think of that first show?

Ron:  The sound sucked.  It was like a free practice.

Marc:  Yeah, a free practice was all it was.  It was good for Myk to get on stage, too.  Even though he knew half the people there, it was good for him to get up there.  When we get gigs, and he doesn't know anyone there, it's going to be a bonus for him.

Harry:  For Marc to have not been on a stage in two years, and for Myk to not have fronted a band before, it was a good first show.  There were glitches, but it was a good first show.

Marc:  It takes time.

Myk:  The hardest thing is playing without a monitor.  It went in and out on me....I thought it was the microphone.  I had already broken two microphones at practice.  I figured I had done something wrong, but I hadn't.  During the first song, it just went out.  I ended up grabbing Ron's mic.  The guy who called himself a soundman....

Marc:  Mohawk man!

Myk: ...yeah, mohawk man comes up and says that it's just the monitor.  I ended up going onto the floor while the rest of the band's on stage.  Just so I could hear what's going on.

Harry:  You became one with the people.

Myk:  I became one with the crowd.

Marc:  You got tired of me beating the shit out of you on stage.

Myk:  Marc beat the shit out of me with his bass, which I didn't know until we watched the video later.

3C:  Harry, you were in another band that night, Sounds of Kaos.  What's the status of that band?  I heard you've broken up.

Harry:  I think the band as it was....yeah.  Sounds of Kaos.  I always thought that was a stupid name anyway, that was kind of our last show.  It was a collective decision to replace the guitarist.  We tried that and we got a new guitarist, and the bass player didn't want to work with him.  He gave everyone an ultimatum....kind of a me or him thing.  There were so many things going on, it was crazy.  We want to figure out which direction we're going in.  It's now me, the keyboardist, who I think is playing bass now, and the guitarist who just came in.  It's a big question mark right now.

3C:  So, Harry and Ron are in bands aside from this one...I was wondering how the other guys feel about having bandmates with other responsibilities.

Marc:  No, it doesn't bother me now.  I have so many other things going on.  In December, when I have more free time....I can't see it being a problem because we all talk.  That's the whole key, we all speak to each other on a regular basis.  If someone's got a problem, we air it out.  I can't see it being a problem as long as we work together.  

Myk:  I haven't seen it be a problem, and I don't see it being a problem.  I work basically two jobs and I do this.  I'm as busy as the rest of the guys.  They do their other things, I do my other things.  We basically work around that, so it's not much different.  I do this for fun, basically.  I'm probably the least serious of the setup, so I just kind of go with the flow.  If they've got other stuff, that's cool.

Harry:  As far as input....making sure everyone's 110% all the time, playing with that other band at the time, they had stuff I couldn't get with Pacifier, and Pacifier offers me things I definitely couldn't get with playing in any other band.  I don't know, Ron will probably agree, whatever we're involved in other than Pacifier, musically, it's always going to add up in the end.  Pacifier will have something to offer...he can offer Pacifier something that he can't offer anyone else, and Pacifier will have something to offer Ron.  Does that make sense?

3C:  That's nice, actually.

Ron:  It's like, when you have children...you don't have just one and stop...you have two [actually, I'm an only child, but we get the point - ed.].  You don't see one as, "I gotta stop there."  You wanna grow...flourish.

3C:  Ron is pretty much, although not exclusively, the main songwriter for Pacifier, is that a fair statement?

Ron:  In the beginning, I wrote about 60% of the stuff.  That's just the way it happened.

Marc:  I hadn't written a song in two years.  I brought back two old songs that I had written before, that we still play today, and I think I've written three other ones.  If a song is missing a part, or something needs to be changed, Ron will fix it...or vice versa...it works out good.

Harry:  Most of the ideas come from Ron since he has the time to sit around and play all day.

3C:  Ron, being that you do write a lot of the songs for Pacifier, and you do write a lot of songs for the other band you're in [Quarters] how do you figure out which songs go to which band?

Ron:  Usually I'll be noodling around and I'll have a song at some point....both bands have different styles.  Quarters is a little more complicated in the sense of arrangements and stuff like that.  With Pacifier, it's the style, too, this is more of an AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!! thing.

Marc:  This band is more straightforward.

Ron:  I can see which song will work better with which band.  There was a case with one song, our newest one, which is called "C Sharp" right now....not sure if I like that title, we'll change it once we get it really working...that was a song for whichever band got to it first.  Both bands have a backlog of songs that I really want to work on.  They're both different.

3C:  What do you hope the listener gets out of your music?

Marc:  A release.  Release everything that's bothering you.  When we're on stage....when I play I like to go fucking nuts as much as I can.  That's how I release things, I hope the person in the audience can feel that too.

Ron:  I want people to actually listen to the music.  I think we sound very different, you can't even describe the music.  I want people to be able to reach in and see what we're doing and appreciate it for what it is.  This sounds corny, but we want to move people....the lyrics have meaning, even if sometimes it sounds like they don't.

Marc:  I don't think there's one song with any bullshit, stupid lyrics.

3C:  What do you feel is the best song, lyrically, that you've written?  Tell us about it.

Marc:  The best song I've ever written is called "Hate Crime".  My brother and his roommate got bashed for batting on the other side of the plate.  It hit me in the heart to see my brother beat up.  He wouldn't allow me to go to court because I'd beat the shit out of the guy in the court for beating up on my brother.  It was a good way for me to release that, too.

Myk:  Since I've joined the band, that song actually turns out to be one of my two favorite songs to do.  It felt weird to me after our first show, Marc's brother, who came with his friends, came up to me and said that that was the best he'd ever heard that song before.  It's such a meaningful song to Marc and his brother, which they made very clear to me, it just meant so much to me when they came up and said that that was just the way it was supposed to be.  They just got a lot out of it.

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Pacifier - Hate Crime

                  

3C:  What's the other song that you really enjoy doing?

Myk:  It's called "Drop D" or "Drop Dead", I'm not exactly sure why we named it.  What, do you guys tune down?

Marc:  Yeah.

Myk:  Basically they tune down to 'D'.

Harry:  You're giving away our secrets.

Myk:  I've always been into the more heavy music, that's arguably our heaviest song.  I can really get into it.  Musically it's our heaviest song, not lyrically.

Marc:  Lyrically it's different.  It's about a girl.

Ron:  Yeah, I wrote it.  It's about someone who dropped dead.  The name fit, we dropped to 'D' so..."Drop Dead"!

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Pacifier - Drop Dead

3C:  Ron, lyrically, what do you feel is the best song you've written?

Ron:  I have two of them.  One of them is called "A Human Torch" in which Myk and I sort of trade off vocals.  It's a pretty spiritual song, "Reach my hands out to the sky, I'm never gonna die.  Shed my skin and let me fly.  Float on up to the sky."  It's just about releasing your spirit.  Letting yourself be free.  The other song that I wrote that I really like, lyrically, is called "Learn About Face" [??? - ed.].  I was watching the movie 'Higher Learning'...there were so many different things in that movie about education and letting yourself grow.  But being in an institution, you end up being stifled there.  The lyrics just flowed out.  I made an Engine Kid reference in the song.  In which Myk chose to drop the "kid".  He just says "Engine"....that's cool.

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Pacifier - A Human Torch

3C:  You've only played one show, you're going to play another show soon.  I've heard that you guys have a possible tour lined up?  How?  What?  Why?

Marc:  It's not definite or anything.

3C:  Well, OK, given that it might not happen....what circumstances might make it happen?

Marc:  My connections.  I grew up in L.A.  Orange County, actually.  Everybody knows what it's about.  I grew up with Black Flag, T.S.O.L., Social Distortion, Circle Jerks.  A lot of kids grow up to a lot of different music, I grew up with punk rock.  I'm 31 now, and I've been going at it for 16 years, and it's definitely what I'm supposed to be doing.  As far as the connections, I don't want to say any names, I don't like blowing my own horn.  I have friends who are in established bands, very prominent bands, I'll put it that way, that have known me for a long time.  They would help us out, since I've helped them out many times.  Friends help friends and that's pretty much how we can do it.  I don't want to use connections to get what we don't deserve.  No bullshit, if it can't be done right, then I don't want to do it.  It does help to have friends in higher places.

Myk:  Connections have basically gotten us what we've gotten so far.  The show at the Pyramid was through Harry.  Our next show, which is going to be at CB's is through my roommate who books shows.  It was a really nice hook-up and a really nice gesture.

Marc:  I've tried to put on a couple of shows myself and the lack of venues on Long Island is absolutely fucking horrible.  The worst I've seen.

3C:  Do you feel that you really have to be in a clique in order to get shows?

Marc:  Yeah, absolutely.  We all know who puts on the shows on the Island.  I respect the guy a lot, he's a great guy.

Myk:  Little RT [Artie Phillie - ed.] probably does more at this point in time than anybody does for that whole scene.

Marc:  For up and coming bands on the Island, to not know Little RT is like not even being in a band.  You're not going to get anywhere.  You can play the city all you want, but how often are your 15- or 16-year-old friends gonna trek into the city to see a show?  You need to play the Island.

Myk:  That's not to say that RT has a monopoly, he's a great guy, he does it when nobody else does.  People should take a cue from him and learn a lesson.  It is work, but it's so worth it.  You get the recognition, you get to see who you want, you get to see something grow.  You can almost call him the president of a company because of what he's built up from nothing.

Marc:  People don't understand the hard work and what it takes to put on one stinkin' show.  I tried to do it myself and it took me five days, and I finally got shut down.  But you have to be persistent.  RT is lucky in that he's got access to a venue, not as often as he would like, but at least he has the access.  That's key.

3C:  Do you think the problem on Long Island is lack of venues or lack of willpower by people to get things done?

Myk: It's a combination.

Marc:  I don't think it's a lack of willpower by any means.

Myk:  I think it's a lack of enough people with willpower  Other people do shows on L.I., it's just far and few between.  It's really hard for small bands, us being an exception since we do have strong connections everywhere.  But a new upcoming band not in our situation, they've got to get up and do things for themselves.  A lot of them haven't learned yet, and hopefully they all will.  There's a lot of good stuff out there.

Ron:  It's frustrating enough getting a show anyway.

Marc:  I've never seen that.  On every corner there was a place we could play.  Once the shows got too violent where everything was being destroyed, they began to cut down.  I'm going back to '81 now.  It got cut down to maybe two or three venues in Orange County.  Now, I mean, I brought some fanzines for these guys to look at from when I was home in May, and they just couldn't believe the venues.  Any night, anywhere in Southern California, you can see anyone you want.  Every night of the week.  If you want to see a straight-edge band, a hardcore band, a Cali-pop punk band, you can go somewhere.

Harry:  They also have the choices of venues to play at.

Marc:  I'll buy a warehouse one of these days and give it to RT and let him run it.

Ron:  We were actually talking about the Right Track Inn after it closed down.  We're still looking into that.

Marc:  I have business partners who I've mentioned this to.  They want to see profit.  I have to explain to them it's going to take a year, maybe two years before you see a profit.  I own my own business and I know what it's like.  I'm not just going to shell out money in something I don't believe in.  I totally believe in it.  I'll give out my share.  Trying to sell it to other people with no clue as to what we're doing....it's tough.  It's like me trying to sell you a tractor right now....what the fuck do you need a tractor for?

3C:  So when this tour comes along...you work....will this band take priority over that?

Marc:  Oh yeah.

Myk:  Marc's in a good situation in that he does own his own business.  If he wants to up and go off for a week or two, he has that option.  I hopefully around that time will have vacation time from my job.  If not, I'll hopefully be able to work something out.  If something like this was to materialize, I would seriously consider quitting my job to do it.

Harry:  I give 110% to whatever I'm doing when I'm doing it.  If everything falls in place, and these guys say, look we gotta do these shows, then I'm there.  That's all I have to say.  It's not a question of anything else.

Marc:  The first thing I'd like to do before any lengthy tour is to set up some weekend tours.  Go to Boston one night and Providence the next night.  And Sunday night we're in Philly.  Just to get a feel for it.  We were hanging out with The Joykiller on Sunday night and Jack [Grisham] is so fucking tired.  He's been on the road since June.  I can't imagine that.

Myk:  I can't imagine being away for five months.

3C:  Any recording plans?

Myk:  Hopefully this month.

Marc:  Definitely something by December 1st.  We want to do at least five or six songs.  I know Rich [Black] at Winged Disk Records and he said something about possibly working with us.  I have a friend in a band called Pipefitter from Seattle, maybe do a split 7" with them.  If it happens it happens.

(it happened)