Poppin' my musical cherry

My very first real hardcore punk show I went to was sometime in the winter of 1982-83. I was a fifteen yr old high school sophomore and one of the few other kids that I managed to befriend was a senior who saw that I was into punk & hardcore. He asked if I wanted to go up to Richmond to see DC's Void play an all-ages matinée. I was floored and jumped at the chance to go to "the big city" and see a band that had a real record out. I had only watched my friends bands practice and saw them play with other fledgling local acts at parties until then. I had been to a bunch of arena concerts already by this point, but never in a small scuzzy club and never to see such adrenaline-filled, intense music that was on my level. The clip above that was taken about the same time was pretty representative. The openings acts that afternoon were great, but Void was ferocious, even downright scary. They really even differentiated themselves from their peers at the time by incorporating a more metallic and blistering sound than the usually somewhat tinny sounding hardcore bands of the day. Their music seriously made you wanna go violently insane (again check out the video). Void had a huge impact on my taste for aggressive music; their songs weren't just some backdrop to garden variety teenage delinquency, but shook you to your core. I have continued to go back and listen to their meager output over the years which only consisted of 1/2 an LP http://www.dischord.com/release/8 and a couple singles. It was sloppy, but their intensity set a benchmark as far as I am concerned. Their best stuff can still shine and often surpass many more modern bands influenced by this kind of thing. I understand their drummer recently passed away; wherever you are thanks for kicking my ass.



Fast forward a handful of years and I like many kids who had gotten into hardcore were getting fed up, bored, more educated, or whatever and was in search of new sounds. I had discovered more arty offerings through various people in college, assorted post punk, indie pop and what have you, but I wanted to have fun. I was tired of the negativity and the more male-dominated audiences at shows I went to in college in DC that had become too much like high school jocks trying to start fights at every turn with racist BS, or other redneck-like attitudes. So one rather dreary night during my spring break me and a friend who was visiting me went down to small yet infamous dive of a rock club on the recommendation of a roommate to check out The Cynics from Pittsburgh. I really knew nothing about them other than they notoriously put on a good show. This was my first live introduction to what would become one of my continued musical passions: Garage Rock/Punk. All of the intensity was there that I saw and heard earlier with Void yet now you could hum along to it and girls liked to dance to it. I was hooked. The singer that night danced around in the crowd, wailed on his harmonica, and got the whole room moving. This time, however it was not an effort to clobber everyone around you, but to actually dance with them...fun. Who would have thunk it? I saw The Cynics many times after and even opened for them once, but it was that first show that blew me away forever. The irony of these two events is that I now play in a band with both guys from back then. More tales of cycling and music madness to come.