12/20/03 @ The Lansdale Moose (before it became known as 3rd and Walnut)

I recently moved back to Lansdale (gracias allah) and have slowly been getting my shit unpacked and all. i had put this flyer in a frame a while back and found it in a box a couple days ago and thought i should do a post on it. It wasn't until i was on my way home from work this morning that i remembered that the Strikeback set from this show was recorded. I listened to it on my way home and cracked up at most of the shit said on mic. I definitely say "faggot" like 50 times and it gives me douche chills. anyway, here it goes from my best recollections:

I'm pretty sure Gavlick got arrested at this show, or almost arrested, because there is mention of it during the strikeback set. It was his 21st birthday that night, which is insane to think about because he just had his 30th birthday show in philly last week. crazy. I don't recall anything special about the Inane set, although i'm sure it was awesome as their shows always were. Leavenworth played second and it was a fun set. i remember this was when Josh Buck was living with us and he brought a new style of moshing to this show. kids dug it, there were no problems. it was cool. The picture of buckley/keevil that is one the back of Leavenworth's What Lies Ahead EP was taken at this show. I believe you can see Evan from XIII PFP/Forever I Burn/Cetus/Morbid Entre in the background post-weight-loss but pre-hair-cut. ha.

I have a video of the leavenworth and strikeback sets somewhere. the Strikeback set was awesome at this show. It was Scott "whoodle" Mclellan's last show with the band and a lot of friends from all over PA/NJ/DE came out to see him off. This was a time when a lot of us rolled really thick with people from AC and Wilmington and what not. some people were bound by such letters as DGC and numbers as 609, but that was never my thing. If there's one thing that could be said about us back in these days it is definitely that we rolled hard. Almost all the crazy stories i have of getting jumped/fighting/destroying shit/causing problems were from back in this era and it was a time that makes me smile. Politically, things were pretty cool back then in the hardcore scene. Little beef existed and when things went down, it was handled. the end. i'll leave it at that.

The Minor Times played after us and were kind of the odd man out on this lineup, but being a lansdale show, they fit in just fine. This was one of the first shows that they played with Matt Leo on bass after they kicked Justin Lebarge out. I love Justin, it's been a while since i've seen him. Hope he's doing well. This was around the time that they started using more theatrics in their live show i believe. Lights/TV monitors/etc... These are things that made TMT one of the most unique bands to catch live. I missed their last few shows they played locally because i was always on tour, but the last time i recall seeing them was at the Troc balcony with Doomriders and Disfear i think. i might be wrong about that. either way, this was a good show for the Minor Times as i recall.

How It Ends played last and this was when they still had Ross singing. I'm not sure who all was playing for the band at this time. It was before i was in the band and before Todd returned to the mic for them, so they were playing stuff exclusively from the first 3-song demo/So It Shall Be LP. Their shows were slightly awkward back then because their sound was way more Sepultura-sounding than Dysphoria was, which is what the members had left off from. This is years before bands like Xibalba would take that same sound and ride the hype train with it all around the world. Weird how that sort of thing works. I remember very little else about this show and keep mixing up memories of the HIE set with their set at the 100 demons/ALOL/Palehorse show that happened about a year or so after. I remember moshing for HIE in a tux at one of those shows. there's pictures somewhere. that 100 demons show was sick. i need to find a flyer for this and do a write up. but yeah, this was a cool show with a lansdale-exclusive lineup that was stacked to say the least. hopefully 2013 will bring more to this blog and shit. i'm tired.

10/11/12 at the Luxor

So last night, this show took place at the Luxor place next to the taco bell on broad street. I was pretty apprehensive about it since new venues rarely work out that well, especially around here. The lineup was mostly punk bands and Hysterian, our current local mosh heavyweights. I went with the intention of making sure things ran smoothly and what not. For a thursday night, the turnout was great. for a first show for a venue, the turnout was amazing. for an all-local show in the suburbs, the turnout was awesome. Pretty much everything about it was great. The fact that this place is a hookah lounge and smoking is allowed/encouraged inside is the only thing that wasn't cool, but if it's a new place to do shows on a weeknight not far from the beaten path, i'll take that. The reaction of Hysterian was incredible, with people on the floor ranging in age over 2 decades. The younger metalcore kids that come out for Hysterian are products of older kids not beating them up for acting out of line. they dance harder than they are, which years ago was a huge No-No. I'm ok with this as long as people don't let things get too out of hand. Eventually, some kids will be made examples of, I can pretty much promise that, but hopefully i'm wrong. There was some sort of scrap during Dugout, but it was resolved quickly and nobody cared. ANYWAY... This was a mixed-bill lineup with a wide array of kids in attendance. Besides some laughable posturing from the "security", everyone got along and had a good time. This is what has made Lansdale the unique haven for underground music that is always has been. A place where people respect each other without completely compromising the lawlessness that the punk and hardcore scene has; and must maintain to stay real. In my mind it's like the scene in The New Guy where everyone is apologizing to each other outside the school. The tuba-playing midget gets along with the jocks and everyone stands up to the dude(s) trying to compromise that. Don't fall for the traps that many hardcore kids/bands/scenes fall for: Dividing the scene to fit a more refined product. All that leads to is condescending attitudes and the thinning of the herd until everyone that remains involved moves on with life, or to another town to leech onto another scene's reserves. You can roll your eyes at us or make fun of us all you want, I'll still be able to cut you down verbally faster than you can run to someone bigger to stand up for you. Young kids: think about these words, they are tested and true. Old people: be proud this torch has been carried on. Lansdale forever.

LANSDALE FOREVER SHIRTS!

ok I made a bunch of these for the big CHINE/INKLING/DYSPHORIA/INANE show and sold out of them. fret not Lansdallions, i have printed more. $12 ppd, sizes S - XXXL. lansdale pride!

SIZE

small $12.00 USD medium $12.00 USD large $12.00 USD XL $12.00 USD XXL $12.00 USD XXXL $12.00 USD

North Penn YMCA "Music Fest" 5/31/03

This show was so fucking weird. This was a time in lansdale where not a whole lot of shows were going on in the borough. Most of the "old" lansdale bands had broken up or become inactive by this point. Most shows my bands played were in Doylestown or Delco at venues like Harrykats (home of the most indestructible wall ever). As for lansdale, what once was a stronghold of harder bands turned into more of a "music" scene. The group of bands made up of most of the kids in high school/just out of high school at this time were more indie sounding. Bands like Nexus, The Premier, No Outlet (who had been active since they/we were in middle school) and even Tally-Ho (probably the worst band to ever consider themselves good ever) were actively playing school battle of the bands and weird stuff like that. This generation of Lansdallions would produce kids like Dan Campbell, Matt Brasch and Nick Steinborn, all who have gone on to experience insurmountable success with their band the Wonder Years. I remember when the Wonder Years started (i want to say around 04?) and it was just a side project of The Premier. People like CJ Morgan and North Penn Homecoming King, Football team captain George Farrel would also come out of this batch of kids, and it's awesome to still see them playing in bands today. Crazy.

Another thing to note about this time period was that this was right around when Lansdale and Doylestown sort of grew out of the whole "let's hate each other for no reason" thing. Bands like Dead Again, Ellipsis, Kidnapping Lindbergh, Skeeter and some others were playing. Those kids would go on to do bands like Let Down, Mother of Mercy, Wrong Answer, CDC, Rock Bottom and several others. Realistically, this was an awesome time to be a hardcore/punk kid in the Philly suburbs, because shows were greatly integrated compared to years before. Unfortunately, this sort of open-mindedness has become diluted in many ways. Either way, a lot of great friends were made in this time period and that should never be taken for granted. My best friend in the entire world, John Bowes, would be introduced to me around this time as well, which is a whole other story all together.

ANYWAY, so this show was promoted by the Y as a teen band jam dance party type thing so I remember being slightly apprehensive about playing it. the Y had done shows randomly before this and would continue to do random shows to this day, almost always being handled by different people. Jason Fine, who once drummed for Nessiteras, Leavenworth, Cetus, DKD, Trace Fury and a few others, has a dad. his dad ran the sound at this show and did announcements and shit, it was funny. He is a pretty over-the-top guy that makes fun of everybody. So that was cool. There was an actual stage and small barrier (i think). The crazy thing about this show was the turnout. This show had at least 300 kids in attendance. which is crazy since i think Nutbox might've headlined. that or No Outlet. I don't fucking remember. Either way, a ton of kids poured into the Y's gym for this show and this was just when i started carrying around a donation jar for my reptile rescue. A guy i met that day through a mutual friend hyped it up and got money from all sorts of kids and shit. His name was Steve "Pollcat" Pollman and he remains a great friend to this day. Friends from central PA, jersey, Delaware and all over came out for this so that was really cool. Spoken Silence played this show with Andy Moholt singing and i remember he did a bunch of rolls and stuff on stage and that impressed me. I like acrobatics and shit. Leavenworth and Inane had recently released the split CD Dinosaur Eating Demon Monkey and the songs both bands played live from it always went over awesome. Inane had previously released a demo or two and leavenworth had put out our first DIY EP called The Modern Testament. Inane covered the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers theme song at this show and everyone loved it. I'm pretty sure i used "OOGIE BOOGIE LANSDALE" as a mosh call at one point. I remember i wore a death threat shirt to this show and i somehow lost it at/after it. Barcode had Brendan Detweiler, who was Nutbox's official dancer. Did veronica coker play drums for them? i want to say she did. There was a couple almost fights during Leavenworth's set but all in all this was a chill show with a ton of kids. I would say we sold some splits but judging by the amount I have weighing down my snake tank lids i don't think we sold more than 4 of them, like ever. ha. I'm sure this show ended with a bunch of us going to Michael's and me eating and obnoxious amount of perogies while Little "mexico" Matt (i swear there's like 17 little matt's out there) told the tallest tales known to man. after that we undoubtedly went back to the leavenhouse and kicked it...hard. I went to Europe for the first time a day or two after this and i brought the spoken silence shirt that i bought from them at this show. I definitely was wearing it while on a tour of some church in Salzburg, Austria and i got kicked out of the church for sitting on the thing that Mozart's sister was baptized in. my life is stupid.

Lansdale Skatepark Benefit 5/29/99

This was the first show my one band, Nessiteras, ever played. I sang for the band so it was my first time behind the mic without a trombone in my hands so i remember being so nervous it wasn't even funny. We opened this show and i remember walking up to my band and being like "alright let's do this" and realized there was no mic. Jay Grubb, who is one of my oldest and dearest friends, set up the show...and didn't get a PA. hahaha. To be fair i'm not sure if it was that he forgot or the venue said we could use their stuff and nobody thought of bringing mics/cables. either way, The DJ dude that had his little booth in the corner hooked it up though and we used the house speakers as a PA. Nessiteras was what you could call a "rap-core" band, and yes, we were beyond embarrassing.

Let's start out with the fact that Buckley (whom went on to play in Leavenworth, Cetus, Drop Anchor and many others) was playing through his crate half stack and crate head. If i remember correctly he had spiked blonde hair at the time too. Kevin Wells, our bassist, was probably adorned in several hemp necklaces and jncos with some sort of hawaiian shirt. Jason Fine was drumming for the band. He went on to play for leavenworth and cetus for some time and is now married and has a really cute dog(s). He had the most ridiculous drum kit ever (DW custom i believe) with a ton of cymbals and shit. looking back on it we were totally the late 90s equivalent to the bands that open shows today and have full road cases and all. haha. at least Jason was. the rest of us were sort of ripped out of a page of revolver magazine. I think i was wearing my chine shirt with Lee jeans cut off at the bottom and spray-painted airwalks. I'm fairly certain i had gel in my hair as well, parted in the middle of course. anyway, jay grubb moshed for us and then some of our other friends did and i felt like the coolest person alive.

I'm pretty sure nutbox played next and i literally don't remember our set. it's kind of like i'm an idiot. Manhunt played and i have a hard time differentiating between times i saw them. Every time we saw them play we pretty much just made fun of them. I felt terrible about it but i was just part of a crowd of immature kids (keep in mind i was making fun of someone after rapping in airwalks). we were cool with those guys (and girl) and watched them go on to form Fall River, which was worlds better as a band. John Collier (sp?) was their guitar player and then he drummed in Fall River i think. he was a really good dude. we had kind of a falling out after the borough hall brawl but i'm pretty sure he is a teacher or something now. the original drummer of Manhunt worked at the petstore i've gone to my whole life and he used to hook me up with crickets. Alex from the Curve Shooters worked their too. Me and the drummer definitely had a conversation about how we should start blowing up McDonalds and shit. hahaha.

I think this may have been the record release show for Charlie Brown Gets a Valentine (please correct me if i'm wrong). The record came with crayons and a black and white cover that you could color yourself, hahaha. Lansdale's own Spoiled Records put it out and Schwa never lacked in innovation. Charlie Brown Gets a Valentine was from maryland and they were one of several bands that had a second (or maybe even primary) home in Lansdale. They had a side band called Politically Erect that played Scott McClellan's show at the Moose in Lansdale (now 3rd and Walnut) in the fall of '98. At that point in time we definitely called scott "Satan" and he had shoulder-length hair. yo, we all sucked. Scott and I went vegan around the same time, and it was awesome having a friend to do that with, cause at that point it wasn't quite that accepted in our circle of friends. Scott is doing the electric at Coldcuts Merch LLC and it's awesome that he's engaged and has a great dog that can pull trains and shit.

I don't remember the public's set or inkling's set because those are 2 bands that i saw so many goddamned times that they all bled together. *EDIT* the unsuspecting publics didn't play, but the wiseacres did* All in all my memory has sort of failed me this time because i can pretty much only remember the Nessiteras set. Believe it or not, I actually stopped myself from getting into completely off track stories and tried to keep it as close to this show as possible. my mind runs and shit, i'm an idiot. It's a bummer that Lansdale never really had a skatepark. we had that set of ramps or whatever you want to call them behind the North Penn YMCA but that shit was barely worth going to, which is probably why it failed.

i still to this day have a "nessiteras: lansdale hardcore" sticker on my parent's mailbox.

"THE WORLD IS OURS" Hoods/Dysphoria/Above This World Split CD...Dysohoria's Final Recordings

This 3-way split CD was released in 1999 on West Coast Worldwide Records. This was one of the first releases on the label, run by Mikey Hoods. Both Hoods and Above This World were bands from northern California, and Dysphoria was from awesomedale. Before their signing to Eulogy records, Hoods were in a long-drawn battle with Victory records and more than one of their songs has been dedicated to their hatred of Tony Victory. Either way, this was released around the time that that beef was going down so perhaps it being "self-released" by Mike had something to do with that. the first 3 tracks on this CD are by the Hoods. or Hoods. I know the band is just "Hoods" but I always say "the Hoods". whatever. The third track, titled Above This World, is my favorite Hoods song of all time. The middle 3 songs are what would turn out to be the last recordings Dysphoria ever released. Withered (probably my favorite song they ever released), All Is Lost, and Endless War...so fucking good. The last 3 tracks by the BAND Above This World have less of an impact. So this album is basically like an upside down hamburger. Awesome start/bottom, amazingly filling middle and sort of an easily-overshadowed end/top. I guess it could be a normally place hamburger if you start at the top, but whatever. I'm an idiot. I don't have a link to the full release so for now, you'll only get the Dysphoria tracks. We are hopefully going to to get around to released a Dyscography on GTR records, with all the shit they released as well as an unreleased cover and a live set all on one album. be on the lookout and what not.

DOWNLOAD THE DYSPHORIA TRACKS HERE

Here is a low-quality video of Dysphoria playing "Endless War" off of this split in Telford, PA. I think this show was on December 2nd or 3rd, 2000. I have a crazy memory when it comes to shows. This was Leavenworth's second show and i was 17 at the time. XBROKEN WILLX played (who had members of inane, the wonder years (i think nick was in it at least), the red baron (brett moved to florida later on) and i think CDC as well. I don't know, but we "split a set" with them to play this show. Truly an honor to have played with Dysphoria that night. I'm sure Manhunt played as they were the house band at this venue. A few things about this show...It was at the Telford Borough Hall, and went on to be known as the "borough hall brawl" show. a couple of us Lansdallions and some Boyertown kids (they are the big ones that look nordic) got into it with a few of the local Telford dudes. Looking back on it, it was totally retarded and only happened because people didn't know "what's up" or whatever. I originally attempted to break things up, but i ended up throwing a few punches and probably looked like the biggest dork in the world. Either way, the show got shut down shortly after this song and this was one of Dysphoria's last shows of that era. I am the goofy idiot in khakis and a blue/white striped shirt with a butt cut. i hate myself.

THE ARCHIVE

http://www.stamphill.com/music

that is a list of download links for a TON of old lansdale bands and bands that played here a lot. i'll probably be taking one release or band at a time and doing a write up on them with some pictures and shit if possible. but for now: download the SHIT out of that shit. I edited the previous post and included the link for the comp. party.

"the comp" release show 3/28/98

A part of me wants to say this was in 1997, but I'm pretty sure it was '98. I remember getting a flyer for this show from Matt Turzo of Blue Collar Underworld. We played in jazz band together at Pennfield Middle School and he was a year behind me, so it was definitely either 8th or 9th grade for me, which would have been '97 or '98. Whatever. This show was moved somewhat last minute to The Knights of Colombus on 8th and Kennilworth in Lansdale. I remember my parents dropping me off at this show and my mom being like "these people look scary, are you sure you should go here?" haha. Needless to say, I went in.

I missed Magnus, who had Nick and Dan who later went on to form Cold World. *actually magnus didn't play, RELAPSE did (thanks derek calhoun). Relapse would later turn into INKLING, who would later morph into THE MINOR TIMES* I saw Chamber and I think the one dude from Strength For A Reason drummed for them, but i could be mistaken about that. I remember them talking about one of their members getting in a car accident or something. I wasn't too into them at the time, but they were definitely ahead of their time in the high-pitched screamy metalcore world. 2 or 3 years later, a million bands that sounded like them popped up out of south jersey and they plagued shows at the killtime and shit. Dysphoria played earlier on and i was SO STOKED on them. Todd sang with a backpack on and i was like "that's so cool". haha. I'm not sure if i watched surrounded but i remember watching XIII PFP and thinking I should play in a band like that, being the superb trombone player that i was at that time. Chine played and they were all covered in this orange shit. I remember standing in the middle of the floor waiting for them to play and no one knew where they were, then they all came in looking like SNooki's of the late 90s. Ryan got some of the orange shit on me and i swear to god it never came off. I was wearing my Deftones screaming kitty shirt and i was pissed that it was stained. i wore that shirt like every day. I forget when PP&G played but i do remember i never liked them, mostly because their singer's name was Dave Leck and he was a complete tool. He was in my sister's grade and our names were way too similar to like him. Blue Collar Underworld played and i left halfway through the set cause my dad showed up. He walked in in with his normal happiest-dude-in-the-world demeanor and looked about as out of place as a good band on warped tour. it was funny. I went home that night and played my dysphoria CD while air-drumming to it like i saw chris play. He was left handed, so i probably looked retarded.

I don't remember if i actually picked up the SCREAM AND BE HEARD compilation that night, because i know i bought (or re-bought) it from the Sam Goody in the KOP mall around christmas time. i'm pretty sure i bought it before this show, if it was available then. i'm not sure. Either way i remember being bummed that the Dysphoria tracks were off the Full Length that i already had. That CD, Hope Without Reason, changed my life. I suppose the SABH comp did as well in a lot of ways, but I got the Dyshporia CD first. I had never heard music like that played and it was so harsh being played at that show, it was like I could touch it. gayest/most awesome shit ever. Judd, who played guitar for Dysphoria, was talking to a girl who i went to school with. I remember being like "dude she's like 14" and he was like "dude i'm 16" and i couldn't get over it. I thought he was like 24. He had full sleeves for christ's sake. haha. Dysphoria's merch girl, who went on to marry drummer Chris Spear and have 2 beautiful girls with him, was really nice to me and she let me take like ten round Dysphoria stickers. I put one on my one snake cage and it is still there to this day. I believe a put a couple on some signs around town as well. I think this was the first release from DOUBLE DOWN RECORDS, which was at that time run by Mitch from XIII PFP and Dr. Schwa. 2 people learned a lot from, have endless amounts of respect for, and remain friends with to this day. I believe the label sort of became Mitch's thing after a while and Dr. Schwa went on to do Spoiled Records, who would later put out the Unsuspecting Public 7", CBGAV 7" and CBGAV/Inkling split 7". If anybody has some pictures from this show, i would love to put them here.

Here's the cover of the comp. featuring Schwa with died blond hair, Tom Grind of XIII PFP and Todd Dysphoria's armpit about to be licked by some weird dude.


DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE COMP HERE

For The Lansdallions

I've talked about doing a blog that focuses on the Lansdale music scene for a couple years now. As I'm sitting here watching "Pot Zombies" on demand at 5 am on a Thursday, it hit me that finally doing this would be a much better use of my time. If you are reading this blog, odds are you are from Lansdale (making you a Lansdallion) or are somewhat familiar with a band from this area. Awesome, that rules. Here's why Lansdale has always been a diamond in the rough when it comes to local scenes.

Small/local music scenes are everywhere in the world. Punk scenes, hardcore scenes, indie scenes...this is a common part of western society. What has always been different about Lansdale is that there is just one scene: THE scene. When I started going to shows around this area, it was a very diverse and close-knit group of bands/kids that made up the shit here. Being from the culturally diverse suburb that we were from, we were brought up to be open-minded and accepting of all walks of life, that transpired to the music scene(s) here and what resulted was a group of kids that didn't feel the need to segregate ourselves anymore than we already were. We weren't taught to look down to a group of people for dressing differently than us because we recognized that we were ALL already being looked down on by every "normal" person out there.

People have always said the cliche "it doesn't matter where you come from or what you look like" and then go on to make fun of the goth kids in the corner or the wigger bobbing his head in the back. We really DIDN'T care what you look like or where you came from (unless it was Doylestown) and I like to think that it is more or less still like that. Sure, dying your hair green and wearing jncos is pointless and not necessary to prove any sort of point, but who cares if you want to do that? go for it. Lansdale was a place where you could see a Puerto Rican dude in XXXL tommy hilfiger jumpsuit dancing next to a shitty white kid with a mohawk and nobody gave a fuck. The gang mentality that plagues today's hardcore and punk scenes never had and never will have a place here. We've had problems here and there, but on the whole, we have an awesome scene that is a perfect metaphor for what makes America great: Diversity, Unity, and Sincerity.

We have always been different. Dress codes have never really applied here and the hierarchy of people that "matter" is kept in line by the fact that our scene is held down by some of the realest people alive and we keep each other's egos in check. People from this scene have played on every continent but Antarctica and South America (I believe, i know the other 4 Continents have been covered). We have played to multiple thousands of people at a time and come back to play in our own basements to each other and nobody else. We are everything that has ever been real in underground music and I hope that the next generation of kids can keep up with what we've put down for them.

I recently went to a punk show at the North Penn YMCA in Lansdale. The only band I knew playing was Dugout, a pop-punkish band from here whose members I had recently met when some of us went to talk to the borough council about securing a venue in Lansdale. I didn't really even know them that well, but being at that show was the weirdest shit ever, and i was literally old enough to've fathered everyone else there. I talked with the Dugout guys that night and they told stories about watching me play with my bands over the passed decade and I realized it was exactly how I always saw the people a generation or so ahead of me. It made me feel like I've done more than just wast my money on records and live in my parent's basement. It felt good.

So, here it is. A blog to tell the tales of yesteryear, from the people that lived it. I have been a part of the Lansdale scene since 1997, and it was at full strength back then. There are people that have done far more for far longer than I have, so I welcome them to comment, interject, correct and add to this as much as possible. if you have a flyer, picture, question, story...anything at all, email it to me and i'll post it here with proper credits. davebloodsport@yahoo.com . Thanks, and enjoy.

-Dave Heck



"So many have come and gone
Never to understand
We must all get along
Can't comprehend
If we all can see it through
To better days
Make this all worth while"

- Todd Cramer "Last Man Out"/Dysphoria