05-21-2010, 02:21 AM
Here is the story as it will be printed in my upcoming New Orleans Punk/hardcore flyer book. I posted it last year. Hopefully it will go to print soon.My friend Mike from Eyehategod wrote it .Here ya go!Sonovabitch, the late 70’s early 80’s were the Sheep,the glory days of Punk Rock-N-Roll & Hardcore, what atime to have lived through. It’s something I wouldn’ttrade for anything in the world. There will NEVER beanother period like that, fresh new sounds & bandsbusting out from everywhere, in all corners of the Earth.We, The Kids, took the lead, learned those three chords andchanged life as we know it. One of my favorites outfits thatbegan in those salad days are the fantastic Misfits.Combining the best elements of B-grade horror movies withcatchy toe-tapping punk rock elevated these New Jerseyghouls to the very top of the underground scene. But youknow that already. What you don’t know is that I was afifteen year old runaway from the boy’s home that I wasplaced in at the time, when the Misfits toured the UnitedStates right after the ‘Walk Among Us’ LP was released.That album never left my turntable from the first day Istole it.Me and my friend Hatchboy (R.I.P.) drove down toHouston,Texas to see them the day before their show in NewOrleans, as we had done time and time again for bands likeMinor Threat, Black Flag, D.O.A., Circle Jerks, M.D.C., theDicks and so on and on. We got to a local club called TheIsland early that day and saw the red passenger van with theSpiderman face logo on the side and knew that it was themode of transportation for the infamous walking dead hatebreeders of the East Coast. We hung out bullSheepting withthem and quickly became friends and realized how down toearth and cool these Yankee cats were. Imposing? Yes, beingupwards of 6 ft tall (well, except for Glenn and Robo)sportin' the trademark Devilocks and assorted skullemblems and spikes (all this before the coonoodleing show!) butso happy to hang out and meet their fans. They actuallyseemed more excited than we were at the fact that we’ddrove 6 hours from N'awlins to see them. The openingband for this tour was Maumee, Ohio’s own hardcore kingsthe Necros, who were characters in their own right with agreat sense of humor. We were in heaven, these weretwo groups we listened to religiously day in day out andbeing the youth of back in the day we could barely containourselves for that night's gig. A spark in the airin those days just brought like minded people together withthe common bond that something brand new and life affirmingwas happening at that very moment. It was still dangerousback then to look like a punk rocker and be different, butwe were still outcasts then in that scene. The fact that wewore Venom patches and Motorhead jackets pissed off thejaded old punkers and metal heads alike. It wasn't liketoday’s watered down garbage where it’s consideredfashionable, trendy & cool to have a shaved head or dyedhair. We fought for you little coonoodleers. We took the kicksand punches and attacked and beat the jocks and preppiesthat told us we were full of crap. We were passionate thenabout this form of music and expression, and STILL aretoday. Punk Rock was and is a way of life.So anyway, of course the gig ruled; the Necros covered aMisfits song and vice-versa ('Horror Business' and'IQ 32' respectfully) Glenn told the entire audiencethat they should be down front “like these guys”referring & pointing to us, the New Orleans crew. Afterthe show, we helped them load their massive Crimson Ghostamps and all their equipment and then agreed to follow eachother back to NOLA. Watching the backwoods folks stare at usall in a roadside diner and later on the road, the twotouring band vehicles having ketchup fights back and forthon the highway were added attractions to a usually boringinterstate ride. We left the bands in a suburb of our faircity with an ex-soldier of fortune sniper named Sky, whocooked them some down home Italian food to make them allfeel right comfortable. The next night was the home-townshow. The local show was even better than all the previousnight’s affairs, if that’s even possible, with the boysdoing almost everything they knew off of the Beware e.p.,Walk Among Us and the Halloween and Horror Business 7”s.The locals here were insanely wild with constant stagediving and massive crowd back-up vocals. After the show aslew of crazy Sheep happened (like these two nasty hineystrippers from Atlanta; Poison and Venom, doing a live sexshow backstage, which pissed off Doyle, as he had, Ibelieve, just gotten married, but that’s anotherstory…).When everybody finally got organized, we took off for thelocal cemeteries. You see, the graveyards down here inLouisiana are all above ground mausoleum type structuresbecause of the swamp land. They are built in such a way thatso that the bodies and coffins supposedly don’t wash awayin the flood waters. This is unique to our fair city, sobeing the tourists they were, Glenn and Jerry had expressedmuch curiosity about this and even wanted to see the voodooqueen Marie Laveau’s tomb. This was a very scaryproposition as the cemeteries we went to visit werepositioned not but a couple hundred yards from some verycrime-ridden housing projects. So, around 2 in the morning,about thirty-something of us from the show, including themisplaced Misfits, piled out and scattered around the St.Louis Cemeteries and the out-of-towners were rightly amazed.A lot of the poor souls were buried there in the early1800’s, so the sites are very decayed and have beenvictims of much theft and vandalism. Lots of open tombs andif you are into this sort of thing, as we were, it is abeautiful sight to see. After probably an hour or so ofthis, the spectacle of a large group of elaborately dressedpunk rockers (The Misfits were still wearing their stagegear and make-up, etc…) took a toll and the black &white panda prowler cars arrived, lights flashing andhiney cop attitudes blazing. This was 1982, mind you, andanyone outside of our scene would obviously find thissituation mighty strange. Of course, they started theirassumptions immediately: We were robbing graves, we wereSatan worshippers all of the above.They lined us up along the street and interrogated in themost coonoodleed-up way that only New Orleans policemen can pulloff (believe me, this is the South, they're veryoriginal in their brutality).Me and two of my friends were singled out after they foundout that we were juveniles and were way under the age ofeighteen. One of us, a female, had a Mohawk haircut, so theypicked on her more than the rest, asking her “What areyou? You a boy?” Obviously, she was not. She remainedsilent, so the prick in the blue uniform smashes her faceand nose with his departmental issued flashlight, right nextto me, about six inches to my right side. I felt helpless because if I spoke up, they would’ve done the same to me.We were searched, with the cops taking everything from ourpockets. In my case, just some phone numbers, which theycrumpled and threw into the gutter. I could see Glenn, Robo,Doyle, & Jerry side by side down the street a bit, beingquestioned as to why, what, where, and when. They had a gigthe next night in Florida I think, so they were all trippingout that they wouldn’t be out of jail in time. The entirelot of us were hauled to the station and locked up. A few ofmy people had escaped the arrest minutes before the cops sawthem, so the wheels were already turning to bail us all outbecause they immediately got on the phone to get help to us.The next day, the local newspaper featured the article,“20 Punk Rockers Arrested in Cemetery.” It went on tosay that three juveniles were among the group, wearingshirts depicting skeletons (my Necros shirt and myfriend’s Bad Brains one). The Misfits got bailed out earlythe next day and skipped their court date to head to thenext show. They had luckily salvaged their web slingin'vehicle, as the pigs, after searching it, had left itunlocked with the doors wide open in one of the worstneighborhoods in town. I'm not sure how theirinstruments faired. Turns out it was just a misdemeanor sothey were to return at a later date to pay some fines, andthat was the worst of it.The Misfits came back on the next tour, right before therelease of “Wolfs Blood/Earth A.D.” and even played usthe rough mixes from that record then. It was clearly almostthe end of that era for them though as they were alltraveling separately, with the two brothers flying to gigs,while Robo and Glen rode in the equipment truck. Glen hadeven voiced his displeasure to us about the new, fastermaterial.Since that irreplacable and fascinating time of my life,I’ve seen the Danzig band and Samhain, as well as thereformed Misfits numerous times who were really good and allfor what they do, but in all honesty, there is in no way,and no how, is even such a small minute possibility thatthat time of our lives could be recreated. That level offerocity and meaningfulness remains unmatched, forever….Mike IX(Eyehategod, Outlaw Order, Arson Anthem)