I am thrilled to announce that I have a two page spread in the Shining Life Press fanzine anthology. My pages reprint the interview I did with Floorpunch right before their European Tour in early 1999. Click here.
This was a benefit for Nate from Ensign/Vision/Strength 691/Etc. I spent a lot of time outside at this show catching up with friends, but it was pretty cold out so eventually we went inside. I was never a big fan of Endeavor, but they sounded good, as did Killing Time and Sick of it All. The main event for me was, of course, Floorpunch, who opened with a Youth of Today cover they had never done before. They were great as always. I think I left during the Cro-Mags set to get home a bit early because I had to…
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Back to Philadelphia I went for another show. The night before had some controversy, with a band doing an “All Lives Matter” statement that riled up a lot of people, but also led to some hilarious meltdowns by some old timers. I love being called a “new jack” while in my late thirties! Breakdown and Floorpunch were great, of course, but I remember these HUGE pits with barely anyone in them. I hate that about modern shows: The pit just automatically is…there. It feels so inauthentic and performative. Just like so many other things in the modern hardcore scene. There…
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I spent most of this show hanging out at the table of a friend’s band and catching up with other friends. One of my students came up to us at one point and could not believe I knew the people in said band. I just shrugged and said I had known them for 20 years and that they needed to get over thinking people in bands are somehow in some hierarchical tier above them. I did watch NAILS and caught up with Todd, plus Killing Time and Negative Approach. The main events for this show were Floorpunch and Breakdown, and…
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I missed the opener because I was outside catching up with a lot of friends. Stag Party not only has members I went to college with, but also to high school with! Neat. Ekulu is a band I just cannot get into at all. Every song feels like it is a minute too long and something is just….off. No one seems to agree with me about this though. Shark Attack, with some lineup changes, were really good and busted out a new cover of “Bloodstains” even. Floorpunch were solid as always. They are so tight these days. Porter alluded to…
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Mercifully, this show got moved to Casino Skate Park. The openers were Full Speed Ahead, OS101, and Kid Dynamite, who were still fairly new and I had not yet heard before this show. I was not impressed. The bottomline is every band got their normal excellent reactions, but especially Vision and Floorpunch. Burn were really good. There were a couple of scuffles during their set because people were going off hard. I remember being told to avoid someone because “you don’t want to fuck with him.” Whatever.
This show was done by Maggie Rosario. I did a flyer for it with a Sailor Moon background that I only have a cruddy scan for at the moment. My only copy got wrecked when I pulled it off my wall to scan, so I had to take it out of a fanzine. I also helped get Reach The Sky onto this show sometime during that week. Back in the 90s we got so much done via ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger before texting, Skype, etc. CC4J were a band that got back together to play some shows around this…
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Rain On The Parade did not play this show. They had played their “final” show, before getting back together the next summer, a few weeks before. This was the record release show for the Floorpunch LP. The record had come out maybe a month before and we had been listening to it non-stop. I went on a date the night before (with someone who ended up being best friends with the sister of a friend of ours) and could not sit still during the date because I was so excited for the gig. I worked all morning and when I…
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This show seemed to pop up real suddenly a few weeks before, but I made sure to get a ticket. I have always missed Token Entry at their reunions (1994, 2011), so I definitely wanted to check them out. Adding Search to the show definitely sealed the deal for me. I missed both Out Of Body and Only Glory because I was outside waiting for a friend to arrive at the show. Nerve Endings were okay, but I didn’t feel too moved by them either way. Search are a new band member ex members of Mouthpiece, Hands Tied, Turning Point,…
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When Floorpunch started playing gigs again, I kept missing them because of school and then work. This show was originally supposed to be in December, but a big snow storm the day of the show postponed it for a month or so. I got so lost going to this show. I missed my exit on the Turnpike and had to drive around in a circle for about 20 minutes before figuring it out. I missed a few bands, but got there just as Mind Eraser began playing and I watched them from the back of the room. They opened with…
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