F
Some genuine, vintage 80's Florida Punk Rock.
In 1984, I went to my first two punk shows. Both were locally organized and consisted entirely of bands from around Florida. The first one took place at the American Legion Hall in Jensen Beach. Foul Existence from Ft. Pierce opened the show. It was probably their first gig, and they weren't too good. Then there was some band from, I think, Cocoa Beach. They may have even been Air Force guys--they had that look to them. I can't remember their name, but they were playing DC style hardcore really well, and they were the band most of the kids were most impressed by. My favorite act of the night was Nat King Kong from Ft. Meyers. They were a bunch of hippie/metal heads, with this big, lanky, Joey Ramone-looking lead singer named Jesus Fish Superbeer. They stumbled onto stage drunk and stoned, announced they were gonna play a song from their favorite album, and started playing "Paranoid" (hey, that was my favorite album too at the time!) very badly. Halfway through they broke down completely, then Jesus Fish Superbeer pulled out a piece of paper and announced they were gonna play a song that they had written in the van on the way there, called "I Want Your Hot Cunt." Which were the only words, repeated over and over, but he kept reading them off the paper. That went about one verse, then broke down, and I believe they ended with "Louie Louie."
[EDIT: This flyer from the Jensen Beach show scanned from the book Going Underground: American Punk 1979-1992 by George Hurchalla. Apparantly, George went to my high school, but was about 4 years older than me.]
The next band was called something like Generic Death, and they played a long time. They were OK. I remember thinking they had a cool guitar sound, but that's about it. Then the first of the major bands of the night, Pagan Faith from Tampa. They were pretty damn great, Black Flag style hardcore, but the cops broke the show up after a couple songs. So we all ended up driving out to the causeway, Pagan Faith setting up again, playing a couple more songs (including a cover of The Dictators' "Faster and Louder," which they introduced as "a cool song, even though it's done by some shitty rock band"), and getting broken up by the cops again. The headliners were supposed to be Roach Motel, Rat Cafeteria and Disorderly Conduct, but none of them ever got to play.
[EDIT: some new information has come to light, man. Bob suggests that the mystery band from Cocoa Beach may have been American Waste, which I think is correct.]
You know what was really cool about that show? There was a keg of free beer available, nobody carding, just like if it were a party in the woods!
The next show was during the following school year--that's the only chronological reference I have for it, but I think it was still 1984. No Policy, from Stuart or Jensen Beach, opened the show. Again, I'm pretty sure it was their first gig, and they weren't that good yet, but hey, they were local boys, I support 'em. Then there was some band called Screamin' and the Fits, who started with a few covers (I remember "Six Pack" and "I Just Want Some Skank"), then played a bunch of shitty originals. Then Foul Existence again, who by this time were starting to sound pretty good. And next up was the F performance you see in the videos above and below.
[EDIT: Well, the above flyer, which Bob just sent me a copy of (Jason Emmett designed the background, the late Dave "Rat" Anderson finished it up) shows that the show took place in February, thus it's actually early 1985, and not 1984. Bob also swears that Pagan Faith played that night. Maybe I missed their set to make a run to the convenience store?]
F were great. They were cracking jokes, insulting the punks, and playing some really great hardcore, although what really won me over was the faithful covers of AC/DC's "Beatin' Around the Bush" and Cheap Trick's "Clock Strikes Ten" (they also started off with just the "Hey Ho Let's Go" part of "Blitzkrieg Bop" and ended with just the "Gabba Gabba Hey" section of "Pinhead"). There had been talk that Gay Cowboys in Bondage were going to play. They didn't, but Milo, the singer, got onstage with F (both the bassist and drummer were in both bands) to sing the GCIB song "More Bruises." F played the song, but for some reason, Milo chose to sing the lyrics to The Sex Pistols' "Bodies" to it.
[EDIT: I got a comment from none other than Milo on this subject. Milo says "But your account of St. Loucie is incorrect. I never sang on a stage with F at any show. And I never knew until you posted the flyer about the show at all. So you may want to remove that part. F never had me on a stage to sing with them." I'm not sure who I saw singing "Bodies" that night, or what I saw, but I guess if he says he wasn't there, he'd know better than I do.]
The above clip contains my favorite part of the show. The intro to "Attack" has the group chanting "Reagan Loves You." F were into Reagan (I thought at the time this was just to piss punks off, but apparantly they were big libertarian conservatives--Phil Blumel, the lead singer, sometimes went by the stage name John Galt [ugh!]), and the intention of that was probably to get a rise out of people, but punk is so built on sarcasm/irony/satire/whatever that it was impossible to convince someone you were sincerely into Reagan. So instead, all these punks were singing along and skanking to what they assumed to be another sarcastic anti-Reagan anthem.
F had a new record out, You Are an EP, and they were selling copies of it at the show which they had hand-decorated with magic markers. Several of my friends bought one that day, but I didn't have the money, so I picked one up at the record store the next week. Thus, my decorations are on the shrinkwrap, and slowly deteriorating. Great record, though.
Next was The Body Bags, a pretty good hardcore band, and then Disorderly Conduct from Ft. Pierce, who shared their guitarist with F. DC were great. They played a sort of metal-edged punk that was still far enough over to the punk end to not be speed metal. I ended up seeing them 3 or 4 times, and they rocked the house each time. Eventually, they put out a pretty good album called Amen, and now their lead singer, Casey Chaos, has a goth metal band called Amen, who I hear will be on the Henry Rollins show this week (possibly with F/Disorderly Conduct guitarist Ken Decter). Roach Motel were supposed to be on the bill, but they supposedly got arrested. So the headliner ended up being Nat King Kong! They started off with a 10-minute version of The Butthole Surfers' "The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave." Unbelievable. At the end, they went into "Paranoid," but I can't remember if they played the whole song. Definitely a night to remember.
In 1984, I went to my first two punk shows. Both were locally organized and consisted entirely of bands from around Florida. The first one took place at the American Legion Hall in Jensen Beach. Foul Existence from Ft. Pierce opened the show. It was probably their first gig, and they weren't too good. Then there was some band from, I think, Cocoa Beach. They may have even been Air Force guys--they had that look to them. I can't remember their name, but they were playing DC style hardcore really well, and they were the band most of the kids were most impressed by. My favorite act of the night was Nat King Kong from Ft. Meyers. They were a bunch of hippie/metal heads, with this big, lanky, Joey Ramone-looking lead singer named Jesus Fish Superbeer. They stumbled onto stage drunk and stoned, announced they were gonna play a song from their favorite album, and started playing "Paranoid" (hey, that was my favorite album too at the time!) very badly. Halfway through they broke down completely, then Jesus Fish Superbeer pulled out a piece of paper and announced they were gonna play a song that they had written in the van on the way there, called "I Want Your Hot Cunt." Which were the only words, repeated over and over, but he kept reading them off the paper. That went about one verse, then broke down, and I believe they ended with "Louie Louie."
[EDIT: This flyer from the Jensen Beach show scanned from the book Going Underground: American Punk 1979-1992 by George Hurchalla. Apparantly, George went to my high school, but was about 4 years older than me.]
The next band was called something like Generic Death, and they played a long time. They were OK. I remember thinking they had a cool guitar sound, but that's about it. Then the first of the major bands of the night, Pagan Faith from Tampa. They were pretty damn great, Black Flag style hardcore, but the cops broke the show up after a couple songs. So we all ended up driving out to the causeway, Pagan Faith setting up again, playing a couple more songs (including a cover of The Dictators' "Faster and Louder," which they introduced as "a cool song, even though it's done by some shitty rock band"), and getting broken up by the cops again. The headliners were supposed to be Roach Motel, Rat Cafeteria and Disorderly Conduct, but none of them ever got to play.
[EDIT: some new information has come to light, man. Bob suggests that the mystery band from Cocoa Beach may have been American Waste, which I think is correct.]
You know what was really cool about that show? There was a keg of free beer available, nobody carding, just like if it were a party in the woods!
The next show was during the following school year--that's the only chronological reference I have for it, but I think it was still 1984. No Policy, from Stuart or Jensen Beach, opened the show. Again, I'm pretty sure it was their first gig, and they weren't that good yet, but hey, they were local boys, I support 'em. Then there was some band called Screamin' and the Fits, who started with a few covers (I remember "Six Pack" and "I Just Want Some Skank"), then played a bunch of shitty originals. Then Foul Existence again, who by this time were starting to sound pretty good. And next up was the F performance you see in the videos above and below.
[EDIT: Well, the above flyer, which Bob just sent me a copy of (Jason Emmett designed the background, the late Dave "Rat" Anderson finished it up) shows that the show took place in February, thus it's actually early 1985, and not 1984. Bob also swears that Pagan Faith played that night. Maybe I missed their set to make a run to the convenience store?]
F were great. They were cracking jokes, insulting the punks, and playing some really great hardcore, although what really won me over was the faithful covers of AC/DC's "Beatin' Around the Bush" and Cheap Trick's "Clock Strikes Ten" (they also started off with just the "Hey Ho Let's Go" part of "Blitzkrieg Bop" and ended with just the "Gabba Gabba Hey" section of "Pinhead"). There had been talk that Gay Cowboys in Bondage were going to play. They didn't, but Milo, the singer, got onstage with F (both the bassist and drummer were in both bands) to sing the GCIB song "More Bruises." F played the song, but for some reason, Milo chose to sing the lyrics to The Sex Pistols' "Bodies" to it.
[EDIT: I got a comment from none other than Milo on this subject. Milo says "But your account of St. Loucie is incorrect. I never sang on a stage with F at any show. And I never knew until you posted the flyer about the show at all. So you may want to remove that part. F never had me on a stage to sing with them." I'm not sure who I saw singing "Bodies" that night, or what I saw, but I guess if he says he wasn't there, he'd know better than I do.]
The above clip contains my favorite part of the show. The intro to "Attack" has the group chanting "Reagan Loves You." F were into Reagan (I thought at the time this was just to piss punks off, but apparantly they were big libertarian conservatives--Phil Blumel, the lead singer, sometimes went by the stage name John Galt [ugh!]), and the intention of that was probably to get a rise out of people, but punk is so built on sarcasm/irony/satire/whatever that it was impossible to convince someone you were sincerely into Reagan. So instead, all these punks were singing along and skanking to what they assumed to be another sarcastic anti-Reagan anthem.
F had a new record out, You Are an EP, and they were selling copies of it at the show which they had hand-decorated with magic markers. Several of my friends bought one that day, but I didn't have the money, so I picked one up at the record store the next week. Thus, my decorations are on the shrinkwrap, and slowly deteriorating. Great record, though.
Next was The Body Bags, a pretty good hardcore band, and then Disorderly Conduct from Ft. Pierce, who shared their guitarist with F. DC were great. They played a sort of metal-edged punk that was still far enough over to the punk end to not be speed metal. I ended up seeing them 3 or 4 times, and they rocked the house each time. Eventually, they put out a pretty good album called Amen, and now their lead singer, Casey Chaos, has a goth metal band called Amen, who I hear will be on the Henry Rollins show this week (possibly with F/Disorderly Conduct guitarist Ken Decter). Roach Motel were supposed to be on the bill, but they supposedly got arrested. So the headliner ended up being Nat King Kong! They started off with a 10-minute version of The Butthole Surfers' "The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave." Unbelievable. At the end, they went into "Paranoid," but I can't remember if they played the whole song. Definitely a night to remember.
posted by Chris Oliver at 11:33 AM
5 Comments:
Ken Decter was actually playing guitar for Amen on the Henry Rollins Show.
I don't know where/how Casey managed to dig him up...Good move.
Saw a few shows between Jacksonville (Einstein), Miami (Cameo), Tampa (Cuban), Gainesville (Dish), points in between, inc. various DAV, PWP, SOI halls.
Charley Deppner
(formerly of Melbourne, Florida)
Ken played with Disorderly Conduct back in the day. He and Casey Chaos go way back to the 1984 time frame.
25th Anniversary re-release of F "You Are An EP" and "Mess You Up"...classic 80's hardcore punk on red, white, and blue 12" vinyl edition...now available at www.pukenvomitrecords.com
REMASTERED with BONUS TRACKS on both sides !! Also includes original inserts and new poster .!!
Ha! I put on those shows and was the bass player for Disorderly Conduct. Good memories!!!
I want say Chris, you have captured a truly memorable piece of my youth! Thanks for your amazing memory and attention to detail! I remember when the late great Dave Anderson got up on stage to sing one of the songs, and Mark Buncy did a drunken backfill and landed on his insane mohawk! And my first ever "wall of death" at the PSL show. Hope all is well Chris! Merry New Year!
Rick Cleveland
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