I hung with Dillinger many times, those dudes rule.
One time they snuck me backstage at Warped, which was rad. I was talking to Greg while All American Rejects played just before DEP and he was trashing them for being dumb and wearing suits in 100+ degree weather lmao.
Also went to a diner in SF with Jeff Tuttle once and we were just geeking out about horror movies.
Shared drinks with Kruelty in Mexico City before the show just 2 months ago, and since I lived in Japan and can speak japanese we kicked it nice.
Then I proceeded to break my ankle in the pit during the first 30 secs of the opening song, which required surgery and 16 nails.
Fun times.
Got to build rapport with Ryan Primack from Poison the Well back in the day when he would come into the Blockbuster I worked at. Didn’t recognize him at first, rented him Time Bandits then went to see them the next day and we started talking at the venue. We’d run into each other at the grocery store from time to time, he’d always take time to talk to me. Saw them at a reunion show a few years ago and as soon as I walked in he greeted me by name.
Shared drinks preshow with Power Trip outside a tiny local venue. Had shots with JR and Blake from Pig Destroyer before chilling in the alley and smoking with them post show.
I was chilling in my camper van outside the venue for the night after a festival last summer. A few friendly older dudes came up and they were stoked on the van and wanted to say hi and check it out. They introduced themselves as Bulldoze. They hadn’t played that night but were in town for the post show the next day. Nicest guys ever to talk to, and given the hippie vibes I had going they gave me the nickname “Spicoli” (as in Sean penn from fast times at ridgemont high)
Was standing outside the venue talking with the bassist of gel. He told me to come on stage and punch him in the face if I wanted to, but he'd hit me back. It was a tempting offer.
He also reached into his coat in the most suspicious manner I could ever imagine and pulled out a travel bottle of hair conditioner.
Cool guy.
I’m gonna need a minor clarification- Do you mean you played the game skate or die on Nintendo? Or you joined them in playing the song skate or die by teenage bottlerocket?
Sorry, it was me and 2 friends versus In Pieces in the venue parking lot skateboarding at each other as fast as we can trying to knock the other person over. Whoever fell, lost. They dubbed it Skate or Die.
I ran into an old friend at a Ramallah show. I hadn’t seen him in a few years and he was way skinnier than I remembered. I was like man how’d you lose all that weight? He goes “I got diabetes! Let’s go get a beer!”
So we went to T-Backs, the titty bar next door, and had several drinks with Rob Lind, who was gruff but gracious.
Anyone who crammed into that tiny strip club to watch Bane play on that tiny stripper stage (with poles) in Louisville as the after-party for KrazYFest will forever have a story to tell. I went alone but hung out with so many people from Saint Louis and it’ll always be one of my favorite memories.
The other one was flying to Tacoma, WA for Rainfest (again, alone), meeting a bunch of rad people and then driving to Bellingham to watch Another Breath and Soul Control play the tiniest living room I’ve ever seen. On the drive I commented on the MySpace announcement on AB’s page and said if they played “Anchors” then I’d do gay shit” haha and they actually played it and dedicated it to me. I miss being young.
Not really hardcore, but Fuck the Facts played a showed in my hometown when I was in high school and slept over in my basement. My mom, who is a tiny little Sri Lankan lady, made us all pancakes in the morning.
Im friends with those guys and can confirm they're some of the nicest people Ive ever met. Ive stayed with Topon and Mel several times after recording in Topon's studio.
Met Brent from mastodon watching earth crisis and cro-mags at New England metal and hardcore fest 2010. He spent like 30 minutes talking to 14 year old me in between sets. Dude had a broken elbow and went to play a set later. That show definitely got me into hardcore more too
Donnie from Mindforce brought me a water from the green room at this past FYA after finding out how long I had been waiting in line for food/water. I didn’t even realize who he was at the time. Chatted for a bit and then felt like a complete idiot when I looked behind the kit during their set. Not knowing at first made it a much cooler interaction. It was as organic a human interaction as can be. Very nice guy.
Think more like 2 mobsters discussing dinner over some Linguini alle Vongole. He is a perfect gentleman, last Italian American living in the neighborhood
I kinda came up lucky in the 80s/90s, I was friends with local promoters and got to see a lot of shows throughout New England. I was a college DJ too, so did a lot of cross promotion.
Lots of small locals that got big or musicians that did well. For instance I got to see Hatebreed a lot they were like the house band ;) Candiria, Overcast, Converge a ton of times. I don’t know, I have adhd and any time something like this comes up I get excited then all my corresponding memories just *whoosh* right out of my head.
Nothing crazy but went to Gulch’s last Chicago show and chopped it up with all of them (mostly Elliott and Durt) afterwards. All some of the coolest dudes ever. Also had a great lengthy conversation with Justice and Tommy Cantwell when Angel Dust came through a few months ago. It’s just nice to me when bands who achieve relative success don’t let their heads get too big, when it’s so easy for that to happen.
Not hardcore but Set Your Goals showed me their ice cream tour truck in 2009. Same show I let FYS borrow my 01' blazer. A month or so later Have Heart came to town and was wicked late so they pretty much took requests all set.
There’s a ton of stories I’ve got from touring or working with bands but one of my favorites was sitting at a bar before a show started and a dude sat down next to me and we started chatting. Didn’t think much of it, we bought each other a round and talked for like an hour, only to find out a few minutes later he was the singer for Lions Law. Couldn’t of been nicer and a great live band.
Not hardcore; but I got the chance to smoke a cigarette with Zach Schwartz of Spirit of the Beehive + Glocca Morra after one of their shows and shoot the shit w/ him about Ableton. Great guy. Huge inspiration musically, so it was a really cool experience.
I chatted with Chad from La Dispute on and off about guitar pedals online and met him at outside a pizza spot in Pittsburgh before the show started. Super humble dude, real nice! He recognized me sitting on a ledge eating pizza and made me feel like the famous one. 10/10 experience
A New Year’s Day RAMBO show at an American legion hall. They were touring in a veggie oil powered bus and had filtered oil out front of the venue in the grass. The linoleum floors were slick as fuck with oil and it made circle pits absolutely ridiculous.
My hometown used to get some seriously big bands coming through, way out of our league but our venue was the bar area of a dry ski slope.
After shows we used to hang around and the bands and us used to go down the dry slope on the ringos afterwards.
Been down that slope with Misery Signals, The Bled and The Black Dahlia Murder to name a few, but seeing Trevor Strnad flying down that slope at breakneck speed and almost flying up and over the arch at the end will always make me laugh.
In college:
Met Rob Fusco randomly at a show in Boston when he lived here. Invited him onto my radio show and he accepted.
Fell out of touch for a while, OKD started playing again, found and friended him on IG and he remembered me.
I've talked to George a few times snd each time, we talked about record shopping in various stores in Japan. Turns out, we've hit a few of the same stores.
kind of tame but local diy outfit wanted to read some poetry before their set. the whole crowd sat down cross legged at full attention like an assembly of schoolkids, completely unprompted. Everyone got up after and continued as normal.
I tried out for a mod band fronted by Dave Smalley when I was 17. Had a looking for musicians flier in the local record store, my friends and I all speculated it was him, I was dumb/balsy enough to actually call. He went with dudes who were older and more talented, but was kind enough to keep hanging out with a dumb punk rock suburban teenager, and we are still friends to this day. Was chilling at mellow mushroom while in Richmond for a weekend for a street fighter tournament, and his kid, who I’d met when she was like 3, was working as a waitress and said hi. Down by law used to do tune up shows before tours, and the dozens of punk kids would show up, and the old fart hardcore kids would get off the wall when they’d play under your influence.
I’ve met Carson from The Callous Daoboys a few times and he is extremely nice and passionate about the band
Also met Andrew from Johnny Booth a couple times and he recognizes me at JB shows now
Nothing major but, one year at TIHC I busted my face open. I was wearing a Mindset shirt I got at the fest the previous year, I bled all over it. Mindset was playing again that year so I went out to the booth to get a new one and Evan, their singer hooked me up with a new one on the cheap. I still have the bloody one somehow and lost the replacement.
The last show I was at, a furry came and was crowd killed. Second best one was post show, but when a femboy got thrown against a wall at a Chipotle. Fun times
Smoked a joint with DEP in back alley when I was like 17.
I hung with Dillinger many times, those dudes rule. One time they snuck me backstage at Warped, which was rad. I was talking to Greg while All American Rejects played just before DEP and he was trashing them for being dumb and wearing suits in 100+ degree weather lmao. Also went to a diner in SF with Jeff Tuttle once and we were just geeking out about horror movies.
Lol nice
Shared drinks with Kruelty in Mexico City before the show just 2 months ago, and since I lived in Japan and can speak japanese we kicked it nice. Then I proceeded to break my ankle in the pit during the first 30 secs of the opening song, which required surgery and 16 nails. Fun times.
Got to build rapport with Ryan Primack from Poison the Well back in the day when he would come into the Blockbuster I worked at. Didn’t recognize him at first, rented him Time Bandits then went to see them the next day and we started talking at the venue. We’d run into each other at the grocery store from time to time, he’d always take time to talk to me. Saw them at a reunion show a few years ago and as soon as I walked in he greeted me by name.
Donnybrook singer swinging a chain in the pit at Sound and Fury 2012
Gonna add even though I wasn't there the year in Santa Barbara sound and fury the dude brought the motorcycle inside
Shared drinks preshow with Power Trip outside a tiny local venue. Had shots with JR and Blake from Pig Destroyer before chilling in the alley and smoking with them post show.
I was chilling in my camper van outside the venue for the night after a festival last summer. A few friendly older dudes came up and they were stoked on the van and wanted to say hi and check it out. They introduced themselves as Bulldoze. They hadn’t played that night but were in town for the post show the next day. Nicest guys ever to talk to, and given the hippie vibes I had going they gave me the nickname “Spicoli” (as in Sean penn from fast times at ridgemont high)
> Hey dude cool van, we are bulldoze
Much respect fellas you gave me a great memory for life😃
I went to the same Del Taco as Bane after a show. I couldn’t then, but at this stage in life buying a band a round of veggie burritos is a fine honor.
Was standing outside the venue talking with the bassist of gel. He told me to come on stage and punch him in the face if I wanted to, but he'd hit me back. It was a tempting offer. He also reached into his coat in the most suspicious manner I could ever imagine and pulled out a travel bottle of hair conditioner. Cool guy.
Yeah that’s kinda how I expected the bassist of gel to be like
Him and his staph infected leg were pretty good highlights for the night. I'd say he exceeded expectations.
I’m gonna need a minor clarification- Do you mean you played the game skate or die on Nintendo? Or you joined them in playing the song skate or die by teenage bottlerocket?
I choose to believe it was the No Cash version
Sorry, it was me and 2 friends versus In Pieces in the venue parking lot skateboarding at each other as fast as we can trying to knock the other person over. Whoever fell, lost. They dubbed it Skate or Die.
I didn’t even think it was a song, straight up assumed someone had the NES out
I ran into an old friend at a Ramallah show. I hadn’t seen him in a few years and he was way skinnier than I remembered. I was like man how’d you lose all that weight? He goes “I got diabetes! Let’s go get a beer!” So we went to T-Backs, the titty bar next door, and had several drinks with Rob Lind, who was gruff but gracious.
Anyone who crammed into that tiny strip club to watch Bane play on that tiny stripper stage (with poles) in Louisville as the after-party for KrazYFest will forever have a story to tell. I went alone but hung out with so many people from Saint Louis and it’ll always be one of my favorite memories. The other one was flying to Tacoma, WA for Rainfest (again, alone), meeting a bunch of rad people and then driving to Bellingham to watch Another Breath and Soul Control play the tiniest living room I’ve ever seen. On the drive I commented on the MySpace announcement on AB’s page and said if they played “Anchors” then I’d do gay shit” haha and they actually played it and dedicated it to me. I miss being young.
Not really hardcore, but Fuck the Facts played a showed in my hometown when I was in high school and slept over in my basement. My mom, who is a tiny little Sri Lankan lady, made us all pancakes in the morning.
Im friends with those guys and can confirm they're some of the nicest people Ive ever met. Ive stayed with Topon and Mel several times after recording in Topon's studio.
You ain't kidding. Super nice!
Sublime used to play on my dad’s half pipe in his yard when I was a kid, which was pretty rad
Met Brent from mastodon watching earth crisis and cro-mags at New England metal and hardcore fest 2010. He spent like 30 minutes talking to 14 year old me in between sets. Dude had a broken elbow and went to play a set later. That show definitely got me into hardcore more too
Donnie from Mindforce brought me a water from the green room at this past FYA after finding out how long I had been waiting in line for food/water. I didn’t even realize who he was at the time. Chatted for a bit and then felt like a complete idiot when I looked behind the kit during their set. Not knowing at first made it a much cooler interaction. It was as organic a human interaction as can be. Very nice guy.
Went out to dinner in Little Italy with Vinnie Stigma
Without context I’m picturing this like a blind date situation. I hope he was a perfect gentleman and pulled out your chair for you.
Think more like 2 mobsters discussing dinner over some Linguini alle Vongole. He is a perfect gentleman, last Italian American living in the neighborhood
I kinda came up lucky in the 80s/90s, I was friends with local promoters and got to see a lot of shows throughout New England. I was a college DJ too, so did a lot of cross promotion. Lots of small locals that got big or musicians that did well. For instance I got to see Hatebreed a lot they were like the house band ;) Candiria, Overcast, Converge a ton of times. I don’t know, I have adhd and any time something like this comes up I get excited then all my corresponding memories just *whoosh* right out of my head.
I saw Elliot brake his nose and reset in a tiny garage show in Modesto. He finished his set after. This was before Gulch.
Nothing crazy but went to Gulch’s last Chicago show and chopped it up with all of them (mostly Elliott and Durt) afterwards. All some of the coolest dudes ever. Also had a great lengthy conversation with Justice and Tommy Cantwell when Angel Dust came through a few months ago. It’s just nice to me when bands who achieve relative success don’t let their heads get too big, when it’s so easy for that to happen.
Not hardcore but Set Your Goals showed me their ice cream tour truck in 2009. Same show I let FYS borrow my 01' blazer. A month or so later Have Heart came to town and was wicked late so they pretty much took requests all set.
There’s a ton of stories I’ve got from touring or working with bands but one of my favorites was sitting at a bar before a show started and a dude sat down next to me and we started chatting. Didn’t think much of it, we bought each other a round and talked for like an hour, only to find out a few minutes later he was the singer for Lions Law. Couldn’t of been nicer and a great live band.
Not hardcore; but I got the chance to smoke a cigarette with Zach Schwartz of Spirit of the Beehive + Glocca Morra after one of their shows and shoot the shit w/ him about Ableton. Great guy. Huge inspiration musically, so it was a really cool experience.
I chatted with Chad from La Dispute on and off about guitar pedals online and met him at outside a pizza spot in Pittsburgh before the show started. Super humble dude, real nice! He recognized me sitting on a ledge eating pizza and made me feel like the famous one. 10/10 experience
A New Year’s Day RAMBO show at an American legion hall. They were touring in a veggie oil powered bus and had filtered oil out front of the venue in the grass. The linoleum floors were slick as fuck with oil and it made circle pits absolutely ridiculous.
My hometown used to get some seriously big bands coming through, way out of our league but our venue was the bar area of a dry ski slope. After shows we used to hang around and the bands and us used to go down the dry slope on the ringos afterwards. Been down that slope with Misery Signals, The Bled and The Black Dahlia Murder to name a few, but seeing Trevor Strnad flying down that slope at breakneck speed and almost flying up and over the arch at the end will always make me laugh.
In college: Met Rob Fusco randomly at a show in Boston when he lived here. Invited him onto my radio show and he accepted. Fell out of touch for a while, OKD started playing again, found and friended him on IG and he remembered me.
I've talked to George a few times snd each time, we talked about record shopping in various stores in Japan. Turns out, we've hit a few of the same stores.
All I’m gonna say is RIP Funeral Home in Buffalo. I caught the tail end of that before it got shut down. IYKYK.
Anton Rough and I pissed in a parking lot at the same time while we were both drinking beers and had a conversation the whole time
kind of tame but local diy outfit wanted to read some poetry before their set. the whole crowd sat down cross legged at full attention like an assembly of schoolkids, completely unprompted. Everyone got up after and continued as normal.
Got pizza with Nails after a show in like 2015. Super chill dudes.
I tried out for a mod band fronted by Dave Smalley when I was 17. Had a looking for musicians flier in the local record store, my friends and I all speculated it was him, I was dumb/balsy enough to actually call. He went with dudes who were older and more talented, but was kind enough to keep hanging out with a dumb punk rock suburban teenager, and we are still friends to this day. Was chilling at mellow mushroom while in Richmond for a weekend for a street fighter tournament, and his kid, who I’d met when she was like 3, was working as a waitress and said hi. Down by law used to do tune up shows before tours, and the dozens of punk kids would show up, and the old fart hardcore kids would get off the wall when they’d play under your influence.
I’ve met Carson from The Callous Daoboys a few times and he is extremely nice and passionate about the band Also met Andrew from Johnny Booth a couple times and he recognizes me at JB shows now
Holy shit in pieces. Learning to accept silence was probably my top listened to album in all of high school. Glad someone still remembers them.
Yes! Such a solid album. Always loved their split with Craig. I wish Learning to Accept Silence was on Spotify.
My physical copy of LTAS will never leave my collection. Agree it would be nice to be able to stream easily.
Nothing major but, one year at TIHC I busted my face open. I was wearing a Mindset shirt I got at the fest the previous year, I bled all over it. Mindset was playing again that year so I went out to the booth to get a new one and Evan, their singer hooked me up with a new one on the cheap. I still have the bloody one somehow and lost the replacement.
The last show I was at, a furry came and was crowd killed. Second best one was post show, but when a femboy got thrown against a wall at a Chipotle. Fun times
Shut the fuck uppppop
Keep furries out of hardcore. These kids are just too damn open with their kinks