Tag Archive: Ensign

Breakdown-Ensign-Fastbreak-Floorpunch-Full Speed Ahead @ Casino Skate Park In Asbury Park NJ 5-15-98

My first year of college was finally over and to celebrate this show happened on the final day! Brilliant, right? I went to campus in the morning, took a math final (which also had a few Brick Town crew people in it), and then drove back down to Manahawkin for dinner and then to pick up everyone for the show. After stopping at a rest stop (for some reason I have a vivid memory of this) we headed up the show and made sure we got there on time. We had seen Full Speed Ahead the previous summer and spent…
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Ensign-Speak 714-Automatic-Rain On The Parade @ Princeton Arts Council In Princeton NJ 5-16-98

I was going to make it a three day weekened after the Breakdown show the day before with a Ten Yard Fight show in Philadelphia on Sunday, but I busted up my hand real bad at this show. Automatic was a new band with members of Mouthpiece and By The Grace Of God. They played melodic hardcore (ugh). I interviewed them but never printed it because it came out really badly. Rain On The Parade were, uh, Rain On The Parade. Princeton Arts Council had a nice stage, so I remember getting off a bunch of good dives and even…
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Murphy’s Law-Refuse To Fall-Degenerics at Manville Elks Lodge In Manville NJ Fall 1997

The best part about this show was the “Manville!!!!!!!!!!!!” jokes. The lodge had a bunch of trophies on the wall that straight up looked like some Viking/Game of Thrones stuff. Jimmy Gestapo noticed this and riffed on it a lot during their set. I had to ask around about who else played this show and it turns out it was Refuse To Fall and Degenerics and probably some others. I do remember Refuse To Fall, but I think I went for food during their set. Maybe Ensign played too? There is a pretty high chance that Ensign played any and…
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Ensign-Good Riddance-Weapon X-Hands Tied-Shutdown-In My Eyes-Fastbreak @ Manville Elks Lodge Manville NJ 8-9-97

This show was one of the big end of summer shows (along with Back To School Jam and the show that Gordo did) as the summer of 1997 began to wind down. We packed a crew into my car (and literally packed lunch) and headed up to the show. Weapon X would play their only show. WX had members of Ensign, Purpose, Kurbjaw, and some others and played pretty generic 1988 hardcore. They covered Turning Point and Judge. I interviewed Nate after the show. Their 7” was released in a limited edition of 200. I ended up with a handful…
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Ensign-Grey Area-Kid Dynamite-Kill Your Idols-All Chrome @ Manville Elks Lodge Manville NJ 4-2-99

We made sure to get to this show early for two reasons. First, this was the debut show for the first issue of Parade Brigade Fanzine. We sold a bunch during the show and handed a bunch to various bands for them to get rid of. Second, we had heard All Chrome was a new band from Massachusetts that sounded like Verbal Assault. They sort of did, but with some 90s emo influences. The CD of their records was on constant rotation in my room for a few years after this show. Kill Your Idols were becoming a really hyped…
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Redemption 87-Ensign-Uprise-Rain On The Parade-In My Eyes-Bladecrasher @ New Providence American Legion Hall New Providence NJ 5-30-97

This might have been the first show I ever drove to, but I am not sure. Redemption 87 was one of the first of the “bringing it back” bands that emerged in the middle of the nineties. Their record suddenly popped up in the local record store, advertised as ex members of Token Entry and Unit Pride. Oh, really? Well the record was pretty good, although has not held up that well, and the hype around them was pretty massive. New Providence is at least an hour and a half from Manahawkin, probably more, and I think we took two…
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Ensign-Floorpunch-Saves The Day-Rain On The Parade-Fastbreak-Follow Through-Kill Your Idols @ New Providence American Legion Hall New Providence NJ 11-14-97

This was the record release for Ensign’s first album. There was a major snow storm and some sleet in the area for this show. Of course, Justin and I forged ahead, almost got in an accident, and still managed to basically get to the show first besides a few random people. A few of these random people approached us while we sat on the back of my car. They looked kind of redneckish and said they loved Ensign, but also a bunch of tough guy bands. The one then called someone a fag and said that the bands they liked…
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Full Speed Ahead-The Explosion-Stag Party-Born Annoying-Defiance Engine-Manalive @ Asbury Park NJ 7-26-14

This was supposed to be a secret show, which was not kept very well, for Bl’ast! on the east coast. They ended up cancelling their tour, but the show goes on with The Explosion replacing them. I debated not going to this show after a few friends bailed on it, but figured I could check out Full Speed Ahead again. The show time apparently got pushed back, so this show ended up going really late. After a dreadful time finding parking, I got to the show before any band had even played. This was going to be a long night.…
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In The Blink Of An Eye Fanzine #2: The Reviews

These were the reviews from In The Blink Of An Eye Fanzine #2 (#1 was a brief one pager that a few of these reviews appeared in originally). After a few issues of What Was Said, I switched names and tried pretty unsuccessfully to reboot the fanzine. A lot of the same problems that plagued WWS were all over this one too. This came out in the summer of 1998. I am thinking late in the month of August perhaps? I did not do another fanzine for about eight months before the first issue of Parade Brigade Fanzine came together.…
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Vision-Ensign-The Fire Still Burns at Brighton Bar in West Long Branch, NJ 4-2-05

I do not remember a ton about this show, but as you can from Sam’s photos I am all over this show. The Fire Still Burns were a new band that Nate from Ensign was in with some other people who were in big bands during the nineties. They had a melodic sound, but not really my thing. They seemed to play a lot of shows for awhile. Did Ensign actually play this show? I think they did, but I do not remember anything about them. Vision’s set was pretty subdued because I think a friend of the band had…
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