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
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