A Service of Nozzlemedia, Inc. Transmission "7/92" Commencing
Albany as an Imaginary Landscape: Exploring the Realm of Possibilities with Adam O.
I have lots of great memories in my punk rock / hardcore adolescence. I was pretty young when I started going to shows, a mere fourteen. I got into the "scene" in October of '85, when my big brother dragged me to a four band show at the Knights of Pythias on Madison Ave. Dave Stein and Combined Effort were putting on shows at that point in time, shows which would be amazingly cheap because the organizers didn't take a cut. Combined Effort was a not-for-profit operation, volunteer run. People would be asked to distribute fliers, put up bands, help with the door, keep things in control, and stay behind to help clean up. In this environment there was lots of room for people to get involved in things, and be a part of a real community. It was possible to go to a show, and know that you had helped to make it happen. That kind of democratic organization was a very important and positive thing for me.
It is of course true that there were plenty of stupid things happening at the time. Albany's "Sex Punks" and the "Hardcore Youth Crew" always despised each other, fights usually broke out once a show, people were constantly getting injured in the pit, and many bands had ignorant views on social and political subjects. There was also the Albany vs. Troycore split; Albany kids hated Troy people and bands because they were into speedmetal and were often racist, and Troy people hated the Albany people because they often had money and liked "wimpy" bands like Embrace, Scream, Beefeater and DagNasty. Occasionally this rivalry produced some pretty nasty fights, but the long car trip between the two cities kept and still keeps things down.
I have to say, overall, that the 1985-1989 hardcore scene in Albany was a very good thing, especially for alienated, creative, intelligent underage kids. Being a part of this scene was one thing that held me through high school without becoming insanely depressed or consigning myself, my ideas, and my creativity to death through conformity. I was one of the top students in my class at Albany High, one of the college bound honors and advanced placement students. I just did not fit in with my classmates, who were pretty stereotypically well off, well adjusted, and boring as all hell. Think of the Jam song "David Watts", and you'll know how I felt. I didn't have nice clothing, new sneakers, a car (I still don't), a girlfriend, or an ego. [oops blew that one Adam, just kidding, m.] Besides a few other like minded people, usually in the higher grades, I really didn't get along or care to get along with the kids from my High School. Being able to meet other similar people through the hardcore scene helped me to realize that in a lot of ways I was superior to the people I despised. I was smarter, more creative, more alive. At that time in my life the only people who were able to understand my ideas were in the Albany "scene". Without them, I would have been lost.
The scene in Albany and elsewhere now seems to be driven by the desire of people to ride the popularity surge of "Alternative" music. Instead of the least "popular" people turning up at shows, there seem to be more people who come from the bored and boring masses of unthinking people. The music has gotten duller and duller, or at least the ideas behind it have. That's ok, though, because it causes people like me to look for something different, an alternative to the "Alternative" scene, that has that same edge, that same drive that the hardcore scene used to. I really don't know what shape these motivations of mine and others will take, but I hope to find what I'm looking for.
In addition to being less interesting than it used to be, there is also less room for people to get involved in the workings of the scene. With five dollar and up admissions, we pay for the things we used to take care of ourselves; like booking shows, posting fliers, working the door, cleaning up and housing and feeding bands. The sense of community has gone, because even when we do help out, the show is the club's or the promoter's, not ours, even if we put up the touring band for the night or get bands shows at local clubs. That which used to be ours, the sense of community and accomplishment, has been taken from us. That sense of being a part of things was a cornerstone of the old hardcore scene. That's a major change that killed a thriving underground culture in Albany.
I think that time has come for there to be a revitalization of youth culture. I think that having shows at QE2 and Bogies is fine, when bigger bands requiring lots of money and a full sound system play the city. [editor's note: Bar shows fucking suck if in Albany beware of asshole bouncers at Bogart's and BE EXTRA CAUTIOUS OF DJ JAMES OF THE QE2. THIS MAN IS SCUM. HE IS A SNAKE. HE WILL RIP YOU OFF. GIVE HIM YOUR SCORN] However, I feel that having every show at clubs where everything is taken care of for you, Mr. and Mrs. punk rocker, is a luxury that we can't afford. I think that it's high time that people started putting on independent, inexpensive, not-for-profit shows again. Running a P.A. isn't that difficult. Working the door and the show is even easier. The D.I.Y. ethic, while marginally dangerous to promoters, is what kept the economic aspects of the hardcore scene alive. Promoters can't make money on a small scene like ours without overcharging at the door or shortchanging the bands, or both. There really isn't enough money in this scene for a promoter to make rent on. That's just how it is, and promoters should probably focus their attentions on bigger bands, at least most of the time. My old band, INTENT, made more money opening up at ABC No Rio (a not-for-profit, volunteer venue in Manhattan's Lower East Side) than it ever did playing local clubs. I quit my old band for personal reasons and because I couldn't afford to lose any more money. Making twelve bucks a gig (per band member), minus six dollars for a broken bass string, a dollar for two 50 slices, a dollar for gas money, and $.25 for the "help a punk make admission" fund leaves a whopping $3.75 to apply towards $1,400 worth of bass gear, not to mention money lost on recording. It just doesn't add up.
In short, I think that we should return to some of the older ways of doing business. There must be a hall somewhere that can be rented for under $150 a night, and a modest P A. rents from $100 to $150. There are enough committed people to take care of the work of doing shows, and to spread out any monetary losses if they occur. Putting on shows can be really fun; you get to hang out with the bands, draw on other people's hands, handle lots of real money, meet people from really far away, and watch people dancing really stupidly. As long as your operation stays in the black, it's really fun and cool.
With any cultural revitalization, new ideas must be introduced along with the old. I want the more political aspects of the "scene" to be more pronounced; I want for political groups to be invited to table, from Planned Parenthood to CCCO to Queer Nation to Peta, and I want to ally the "scene" with the progressive political ideas of our time. I want our scene to be a safe place for gays and lesbians to be out, because they have always been a part of it, after all, they're some of the most alienated people in our society. I'd like it to be a place where ideas are discussed without the presence of hated false intellectual types. I'd like it to be a place where people could explore their human potential in a world that would rather enslave us to time clocks and outdated philosophies. Where the human potential movement of the sixties and seventies left off, we should pick up.
I doubt that these ideas will gain influence until people start to understand how limited things are presently. Right now; there are only three ways to take part; 1) Dress up, go to show, pay doorman, dance, go home. 2) Join a band. 3) Write, and hope people read what you've written. I feel that we should really make it ours again, or at least support the efforts of those who will. I think that the only way we'll keep things going is if we become integral parts of a greater whole spawned by our alienation, our energy and intelligence. At present, "hardcore" and "punk" are corpses, skeletons paraded around on a stick like Christ on a cross, for all to behold and worship. When an independent promoter accuses a singer of a local industrial dance band of being "soft core", you know that the "core" is long dead. We must bury it, finish mourning our loss, and move on. We must start anew. I want the springtime of my youth to live again!
Adam O.
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