Why do you go to shows?

[Mikey]

This is a simple question, but also one that could provoke 2000 word essays depending on how deeply you feel about it. But I want to know a few things from people, primarily "why do you go to shows?" and secondly from the other thread, this is something Willa made me wonder. How do you feel about our scene changing in a direction you don't necessarily control or like, IE expanding or shifting. Does that mean you don't want to be a hardcore kid/or don't count as one if other people interpret it as something new and different?

[Hollow]

I have a serious headache and have to take off to class soon. I'll get into this later.

[grind/bro]

...because it's fun.

[Mikey]

...because it's fun.

Weak answer. I was expecting at least one person to cheap out and use this response though. Come on man, there is no meat in that literary steak. I said it.

D-
*please see me after class mr. smart alec!

[grind/bro]

...because it's fun.

Weak answer. I was expecting at least one person to cheap out and use this response though. Come on man, there is no meat in that literary steak. I said it.

D-
*please see me after class mr. smart alec!

The simplest answer is the best answer. When shows stop being "fun", I'll stop going. When there are armed guards, people are forced to stand in rows and the music is a series of harsh electronic tones I'd stop goin...wait I'd totally go to that! That would be so atmospheric!!

[dalamar501]

Shows started out for me as really some amazing small community that blew me away. I had no idea that it existed here i got sold on the music so fast and really what it all stood for or the history etc. Getting connected with people and also when i really connected with straight edge and well just the cliche thing of having other people around that were also really into that and people who weren't but understood / respected that. Also seeing in modern music how much this scene or style of music has influenced almost every aspect of of music in some way. Kind of. Also using this is as a connection. It really is a connection with people around the world. Traveling to Champion's last show in Seattle myself and tyler didn't know anyone in Seattle. We went on the internet made accounts on nwhardcore asked around some random individual we didn't know said we could stay at his place. Now to me this doesn't seem a big deal as i understand it but at the time it was kind of mind blowing to show up and have a place to stay with someone just because of a style of music that we all listen to but it creates these connections. We had a great weekend connecting further with some germans, an australian and other americans also staying at this punk house we ended up at. Also just at those shows and Champion BBQ on the Sunday everyone there friendly realizing even people in this bands that were huge / influential to me are just people you can chat with was awesome. Everyone was welcoming. Ha talking with a friend of ours once we told her about how through hardcore we personally would have no problem finding a place to stay with a person down with the core anywhere in the world. She said when she was still a jeovah witness before she dropped out it was like that no matter what town she was traveling to she could go stay with them because of the shared faith. Is that what we have here? Because we are involved in a scene that is so intimate and "family/friend" forming that if we meet other people who are also into those bands they will gladly give us a floor to sleep. I know whenever me or tyler used to see someone downtown or elsewhere with some sort of sweet band merch we would get excited and talk to them. This scene really means a lot to me i find everyone involved in it to be a great person that i can trust. Some years i didn't really see much of them outside of shows but when i did it was like never missing a beat. So many other scenes don't really understand it. So many others don't do stuff outside of shows. Sure some will have a core group that may involved some of the bands but in ours we will invite anyone new to come hang out with us after shows other scenes here in town can be kind of snobs. Even how we do shows / bands tour is for the most part different. Shows aren't a vehicle for promoters to make money. We do things as cheap as possible, the bands we have come to town ask for the minimal amount of money to cover their costs of getting here that's it. They are just interested in coming and playing their music sharing it with other communities. Really i have a deep love for this community and wouldn't trade it for anything. Hell i have dropped tons of money into trying to keep it alive here in Victoria when there wasn't much going on. The people at EI couldn't understand why I promoted shows when i overall lost money in the long run, I had to explain it was more of a hobby than a self-employed job.

About this scene changing into a direction i don't necessarily like or can control well there isn't much i can do about that as it happens. Stuff like that does and i feel i would either just distance myself from it if it was really changing to something i didn't like away from what i saw it as or if it was changing to something new that i didn't understand try to move with it. Or just turn into some jaded old dude at shows that tells all the kids about back in the day. I will still count as a hardcore kid i was a part of something. What we have here is something it may be different then what it will be called or will become but it was still hardcore now. It has gone through various changes over the last 30 years and in each of those areas probably changed enough for thos people to "don't count as one" but they were all hardcore kids in their time and should still be considered one now despite things changing and being something new and different. Music evolves, social cliques evolve.

[tylerp]

troy's post - tl;dr

I like to observe live punk rock and roll music.

[keith.]

i go to shows for a few reasons i guess. diggin on the tunes. diggin on ma frands

i was always the one who would wrangle everyone else to go to shows back home and it was always so hard cause i was just with a different group of people that didnt like the same music as me. so it was always "hey come see this show tonight its gonna be really fun youll like it i swear" but people are close minded most of the time so it was always annoying

so i just started going to shows alone. mostly for vancouver shows, every now and then i get someone who will say "wow i could never go to a show by myself im so jealous" like wtf? you like the band dont you? its going to be fun regardless. some of the best shows ive seen were when i went by myself and met new people. Bison, High on Fire, Priestess ect ect ect

i like meeting new people, and local shows have def helped me break out of my "shyness" as a teen. especially in vic.

[xchadx]

.

[grind/bro]

House shows > bigger shows at venues.

[keith.]

house shows have spoiled me

[ZACH ATTACK]

I go to shows because it's fun to hang out and watch bands playing a type of music that I like. There's also an element of supporting one's community, but I think that's more of a byproduct. Nobody ever spontaneously says "I want to support local punk rock!" without first going to a show and having a really good time that makes them want to be a part of the community. When you get right down to it "supporting the community" is almost a selfish act as it serves to perpetuate things that one already enjoys and wants to have more of.

I don't really give much thought to hardcore expanding in changing in ways I can't control. I'm comfortable with who I am and what hardcore punk means to me has nothing to do with anybody else. I could wake up tomorrow and hardcore could be about holding hands and singing kumbaya, and I'd still be moshing to Haymaker in my bedroom. The fact of the matter is that there will never be a single coherent definition of "hardcore" and it will always be a a fluid concept absorbing new influences and philosophies so to try and take control over it's progress is a fools errand. I'm not edge, but I've heard a lot of people who are say that that only worry about their own edge. I guess I only worry about my own core.

[wolfgang]

I'd like to say that I go to shows to see bands I like and have fun...but frankly, most of the shows I end up going to are with bands I don't like, and alot of the time, I don't have much fun. I think most of the reason I go to shows these days is out of habit.I've spent 20+ years going to 1 to 3 shows a week, and even when there is nothing I want to see, Is still find myself going to see whatever is happening. I've haven't gone to shows to hang out with friends since I was a teenager, and I've got differnet taste in music than alot of my friends, so I go see alot of shows alone...travel alone tto see alot of shows, etc. I haven't been a "kid" for 15+ years, and haven't been a hardcore kid since 1987.

I've seen amazing house shows, mind blowing bar shows...had absolutely killer experiences seeing bands in barns, under bridges, in empty beer vats, abandoned ice factories, in haunted hotels, italian restaurants, skateparks, bowling alleys, cemetaries, school gyms, hundreds of halls, laudymats, arcades, pizza places, ice cram parlors, record stores, etc, etc. I guess the reson I go to shows is to try to recapture some of the great moments I've had seeing bands before...and maybe have my mind blown by some unexpected band in an unexpected place.

[Andrew]

I'd like to say that I go to shows to see bands I like and have fun...but frankly, most of the shows I end up going to are with bands I don't like, and alot of the time, I don't have much fun. I think most of the reason I go to shows these days is out of habit.I've spent 20+ years going to 1 to 3 shows a week, and even when there is nothing I want to see, Is still find myself going to see whatever is happening. I've haven't gone to shows to hang out with friends since I was a teenager, and I've got differnet taste in music than alot of my friends, so I go see alot of shows alone...travel alone tto see alot of shows, etc. I haven't been a "kid" for 15+ years, and haven't been a hardcore kid since 1987.

I've seen amazing house shows, mind blowing bar shows...had absolutely killer experiences seeing bands in barns, under bridges, in empty beer vats, abandoned ice factories, in haunted hotels, italian restaurants, skateparks, bowling alleys, cemetaries, school gyms, hundreds of halls, laudymats, arcades, pizza places, ice cram parlors, record stores, etc, etc. I guess the reson I go to shows is to try to recapture some of the great moments I've had seeing bands before...and maybe have my mind blown by some unexpected band in an unexpected place.

Damn, have we met?

What kind of music excites you these days? What are some of the best shows you've ever seen?

[wolfgang]

Damn, have we met?

What kind of music excites you these days? What are some of the best shows you've ever seen?

Nope...I don't think we've met. What kind of music excites me these days? Same old shit...some raw basement punk shit from the past, retarded noise made by half-wits, stooopid kids playing crappy gear, stompin combos made up half-inept musicians trying to ape some bands from the 60's, skinny dudes with skinny ties playing cheesy pop music on Richenbachers, guys in T-shirts and jeans playing punk-rock faster and simpler than it was done in the 70's, beeps blips eeps and ops with some chick gargling acid over top...anything with energy, where the band looks like they are there for a reason, and the songs make me move and get stuck in my head for hours. Mostly music that was that pulls it's influences from stuff that happened before 1985.

Best shows I've ever seen? So many...SNFU at any show before 1988..and between 1985 and now...Naked raygun, COC, No rebate, Mummies, Mighty Ceasars, Headcoats, Untamed Youth, The Drags, Okmoniks, Fallouts, Smogtown, Blank-Its, Mass hysteri, Red Dons, Dead kennedys, Boss Martians, Von zippers, No talents, Circle Jerks, Government Issue, Wasted Time, Deke Dickersons all star frat combo, Fevers, Le Shok, Count Backwurds, Splash 4, Down Syndrome, Spits, Brentwoods, Cripples, Speds, Observers, Regulations, 7 seconds, Flying Dutchmen, Angry Angles, Spaceshits, Rip Offs, Eddie and The Hot Rods, Mudhoney, Accused, Forbidden Dimension, Feelers, Functional Blackouts. Plus so many less memorable bands that had amazing moments in amazing places.

I dunno...I guess these days I find myself looking for something that is unexpected...I LOVE punk-rock, I just want to see something I don't see everyday...that's what's gonna leave an impression these days. Or just a really great fucking bands. You just don't get enough of either in Victoria...

[Andrew]

Do you go to shows at the Tr0yler?

[dalamar501]

Do you go to shows at the Tr0yler?

he played the troyler at the last show. he was The New Krime.

[Andrew]

Do you go to shows at the Tr0yler?

he played the legendary castle at the last show. he was The New Krime.

Aah, OK, cool. Watched you play but didn't get to meet you.

[Rude Boy Puff]

2 reasons

[Hollow]

"Hardcore is what it's all about, take a hit of weed and fucking hang out". GODDAMN do I love Death Threat.

Also, Crowd Deterrent=Youngstown's most violent, and dear Lord is that saying something. When the Cleveland kids are terrified of you, you know you're doing something right. The stories comin' out of Youngstown are simultaneously horrifying and hilarious.