My First Interview About My Punk/hardcore Book Is Done!

[🪦 Patsmear ●]

Well, it is just a local Fanzine, but I am stoked anyway. I know a few Music people are on the mailing lists for it, so hopefully someone will pick up on it.<img src=\"http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/patsmear/25218_412740035663_745215663_569943.jpg\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" />I will post the interview in a min.Pat

[🪦 Patsmear ●]

*First off, I’d like you to explain how this all started. Was this just a fun thing to do, or do you have a more artistic or academic reason for doing this?**Well, It was soon after Katrina. I was helping my Parents go through boxes of things they were able to save, and came across a box with my name on it.I opened it up and found it was full of flyers that used to hang on my walls. I couldn't believe that my parents pulled them off of the wall and put them in a box for me. I truly thought they were thrown away years ago. I put them all in comic wrappers and into a binder. I then took them to an EyehateGod show at the Bar in Fat City.I knew old friends would be there, as with every EHG show, and thought that they would like a trip down memory lane. It was Jimmy Bower and Mike Williams that said,"This needs to be in a book!"It was so cool to see my buddies stop on every single page, and remember something about the shows.Their smiles on their faces must have matched what I couldn't see on my own. I didn't think about it for a time, but then, thought,Why not? I figured that we needed a voice for our scene. All through my teen years, all I read about was L.A., D.C. New York, nothing about the south. All we would get was a little blurb in the scene reports in Maximum Rock and Roll, and to tell the truth, while I loved the bands from out of town, I didn't give a Sheep about their scene.*How many flyers are in the book? Were there any criteria for inclusion, or is it just as many as you could find from that era? Were there any flyers that you omitted, and why?**You know, I can't give an exact answeryet. It is still changing weekly. I would guess about 320+. I have pulled a few that didn't fit in the scene, like Razor White, and some that were out of the time frame of the book. I have tried to include everything that I can get my hands on. I am also trying to put them in chronological order as best I can, man I wish we would have put years on them!*Are all of these flyers in your personal collection? If not, how many other people helped with contributions? Are there any flyers that have been hard to find, or that you haven’t found yet?**Absolutely not. I started with about 150 from my collection. I then got in touch with Gary LoVerde, Jessica Goldfinch, and Gary Mader. They helped fill gaps at the beginning and end. I hate to say it but Facebook and Myspace are two reasons why I have collected so many. Through the internet grapevine, I was able to get in touch with Karen Barranco of Null and Void, and others like Curtis Cotrell, Bobby Bergeron, and Dave Duplantis.The one flyer that has eluded me is the Exploited show at Storyville. It was such a great show. It NEEDS to be found.*How many of the shows represented in your book did you actually attend? When did you start going to shows, and what was your first one? If you can’t remember your very first show, what about the first one that really sticks with you?**I would love to say that I was at every show, but I would be a liar. I remember the Black Flag and Dead Kennedy's shows in 1985. I couldn't believe two of my favorite bands came to my town and my parents wouldn't let me out of the house. Heh, boy did I show them later on! I couldn't tell you my first show. It could be DRI at St Marks. Not 100% sure.Some of my favorite times in our scene were had at the VFW hall. Man when shows started there, that is when the scene became a family. Those were the days when the bands didn't seperate themselves from the fans. They would be right outside with you.I remember things like the building on fire during the Rollins Band, Skyler setting his face on fire, skank ball, buying pin joints under the bridge, and the old lady having a panic attack cause of her hiney of a grandson. Hell the best times of my life happened there.*Are there any other features to the book other than flyers? Or is it essentially just a big picture book?** Funny, but it started out as one big picture book. Then I thought,How coonoodeling boring would that be? So, I decided to get in touch with friends and see if they wanted to write a story or two for a memories section. It started off sloooowwww. I got maybe 3-4 stories in the first two weeks. Then slowly it started to snoball and I got a decent amount. I think the last count was 35 stories. They range from a tiny paragraph to a full page. I thank each and every one of you all for the stories. They really helped round out the book. It also has a foreword, an In Memory page for our lost friends, a thank you page, and since it is a book about punk/hardcore flyers, a coonoodle you page!*What are your favorite flyers in the book? Do you like them for the memories attached, or for the art? If you have a funny story, please share.** I thik my favorite flyers are the Gang Green show that had the Goo Goo Dolls open. Man did the wrong band on that bill make it! I also, love the EyehateGod/Morris Bart, Misfits/Necros, Circle Jerks at Tip's, and the old Shell Shock flyers with the Horror comic images. I think one of the coolest stories is when the Vandals cancelled at that peace camp and showed up at the Catch 22 show at Teasers. They pulled up and asked to play. They said that since it was Catch 22's show, that the would open instead. As for funny, I remember Storyville when Skip from Catch 22 had his car painted by a pissed off girlfriend. She poured tan house paint all over it. I remember the same night, my van started leaking gas everywhere and Perry from Graveyard Rodeo went to his pluming van, crawled under the my van and fixed the leak with a piece of hose and a clamp. It ran long after I got rid of it. *Do you still collect flyers? Or is this your complete collection? What do you think of flyers today, versus the ones from back then?**You know, I have become Jaded. I still collect flyers from the big bands when they roll through but that seems to be far and few in between. It seems that most of the flyers today are made on a computer. You still have bands like the Pallbearers that use original drawings, but it seems that for the most part the days of friends staying up all night at Kinkos to create the flyers are long gone. See JADED!*How did you keep these so safe and free of decay? Do you have any special ways of storing your collection?** I have done NOTHING to them. They started on my wall, went into a box in an attic and 10 years after the last one went up, the box was opened and they were put into a binder. It now sits on a shelf next to the Answer Me compilation and another binder full of drawings and Letters from Serial Killers. Sounds like another idea for a book doesn't it?*What were your favorite venues back then? How do they compare to the places to play today?** My absolute favorite venue was the VFW hall on Franklin ave. That was a real punk movement. Stage was homemade from plywood and milk crates. I love the fact that with what was essentially a raised empty warehouse, we were able to turn it into something special. As for larger bands, Storyville was the place. It was large enough to fill with loads more people and it had a real stage. Jimmy Buffet of course destroyed what it was. I also have a fond memory of the Showboat in Fat City. That place was so tiny, but man what a great time!A As for places now. I love One Eyed Jacks. Every spot in that place is a good view. The sound is good, and a lot of the people that work there are old friends. The New Howling Wolf is another good spot. giant open room with a bar at the back.*Do you have any plans to curate a sequel? Maybe 1995-2005? Or is this it? ** You know, I would love to say that I have more planned, but I don't. Not right now at least. This book has taken 2 years of my time so far. The only reason I start at 1992, is that is as far back as I could find for flyers. I stopped at 1995 cause that is when I moved away to England. I would love to do a prequel and a sequel, but I don't have any flyers for that. Now it isn't to say I might not try in the future, but I am focused on finishing this one right now. It has been such a great trip down memory lane, I really hope that you all like it. I have worked harder on this than any other projects I have done. Thanks to all that has supported this venture. The best thing about this, is that every single person I met back then, I still call friends today. I don't know of any other scene, or time in my life that I can honestly say that.

[🪦 Homicidal#9 ●]

Outstanding article my friend....take care,Tommy