January 15th, 2000: Gamewinner, Crash Davis, El Secondhand, Choker, Looks Like Rain @ Sushi Cafe, Baltimore, MD

We now make our way into the 21st century. Exciting stuff. Looks Like Rain's second show. I remember this one being small but fun. Choker featured Chris Camden and Dwayne Bruner from Cross My Heart letting their love of the Doughboys shine (pun intended). Great band. I don't think they ever recorded a proper demo, but I know there were some live tracks floating around cyberspace. El Secondhand were a melodic punk band from NJ who could cover Slayer better than any band I've ever seen. Great dudes. Not sure what any of them are doing these days. Crash Davis was a pretty decent fast hardcore band from western Mass. Gamewinner played with them on their first tour and returned the favor here. I don't know if anyone from Crash Davis went on to form new bands either.

December 19th, 1999: The Swarm, Daybreak, Gamewinner, Brace, Boxcar Children @ Kaffa House, Washington, DC

This was the only time I got to see the Swarm play and they were rad. I thought this show was gonna be a wild one but the turnout was weak. I don't think there were more than 20 people there. I was shocked cuz The Swarm were the shit and I was super pumped for this show. I'm not sure who Boxcar Children were. I think they were a poppy punk band. No idea who was in it or what they're doing now. Alex Dimattesa had a hand in the show. Pretty sure he made the flyer. I think "timmysly" was Tim Hefner, currently of Chaos in Tejas, but I can't remember for sure. To this day The Swarm are my favorite Chris Colohan (Burning Love, Cursed, Left For Dead, etc) band.

December 12th, 1999: Indecision, Kill Your Idols, Zao, Dragbody, Blue Skies Fade, Looks Like Rain

Minus the god-rock, that's a hell of a line up. This was Looks Like Rain's first show. Thanks to our friend Michelle Northam (currently of Sick Fix), she got her friend, a young Nolen Strals (currently of Double Dagger and Posttypography), to make a banner for us. I still have it. We only had four songs and a Misfits cover but I was super pumped to play a show with Kill Your Idols and Indecision. This was when Artie Phillie was on vocals for them. I also thought Blue Skies Fade's first EP was pretty cool. Not sure if they released anything after that but I feel like they did. Dragbody were a noisy/chaotic heavy metallic hardcore band from Florida. Decent, but not really my thing. Great first show. Jamie Arthurs booked it and I made the flyer at work.

December 8th, 1999: Turmoil, Torn Apart, All Out War, Darkest Hour, the Jehovah Jury @ St. Andrew's Church, College Park, MD

I have no recollection of this show at all. Pretty classic metalcore line up. I have no idea who the Jehovah Jury were though. Pretty sure Chris Brady booked this one. Someone share their memories for us.

December 4th, 1999: Kid Dynamite, Thursday, Crispus Attucks, No Justice @ the Wilson Center, Washington, DC

Kid Dynamite broke up a few days before this show so they didn't play. I'm struggling to remember who replaced them. I wanna say Majority Rule but I could be way off. Thursday only had Waiting out at this point so they weren't the huge band they are today. It was cool seeing them as Tucker and Tom are old high school friends of mine and I didn't get to bump into them that often. I still think that first album is pretty decent but I never bothered checking out anything after that. I'm pretty sure this is the show where Timmy chucked one of Gene's cymbal stands into the crowd during the No Justice set which collided straight into the skull of Dave Nada. Pretty sure stitches were involved. Even though KD cancelled this still ended up being a hell of a fun show. This one was a Sara Klemm production.

November 26th/28th, 1999: Page 99, Pig Destroyer, Daybreak, Midiron Blast Shaft, InSpite @ the Ottobar, Baltimore, MD

These two shows were in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Reptilian Records. I only made it to the Sunday matinee show. Great line up. InSpite were a powerviolence band from Harford County that didn't take themselves too seriously but were pretty rad. Nick Vance, currently of Deep Sleep, played drums. Brian Redbeard played bass. Jim Branscome sang. I forget who played guitar. They released a posthumous 7" on Torture Garden Picture Company which is well worth picking up if you ever see it. Midiron Blast Shaft were a noise-rock band with touches of metal/hc from Philly. I have no idea what any of the members are doing these days. I interviewed Page 99 during this show for the one and only physical issue of Speech Impediment zine that exists. Daybreak and De Nada were also interviewed in it. RIP Reptilian Records.

November 13th, 1999: Crispus Attucks, What Lies Ahead, Striking Distance, Brace, Gamewinner @ Kaffa House, Washington, DC

A solid local show at the Kaffa House. Not sure who set up the show but it looks like a Steve Clark flyer. Gamewinner is the only band here that I haven't mentioned before. This is a band near and dear to my heart. All good people, some of which I still hang out with or talk to on a regular basis. I released their 7" on my label at the time, Emogeddon Records, and my old band Looks Like Rain would play and hit the road with them often. I'll have to dig up the CD master for the 7" so I can upload it for your listening pleasure. Nik Korpon, who sang, is currently teaching classes (English I think) at CCBC in Essex, MD and has just had his first novel published, titled "Stay God". He also played in The Failure Design, a cool local post-hardcore band. Guitar player #1, Andrew "Duff" Duffy went on to start Desperate Measures before fading out of hardcore for a dependable job at BGE. Guitar player #2, Alex Dimattesa, is an avid reader/helper with this blog, currently works for the Independent Label Collective in Richmond, VA, operates Grave Mistake Records, plays in Government Warning and Wasted Time, and previously played in Crispus Attucks and Mendoza. He also loves quoting Fear of a Black Hat. Pat Martin played bass and would go on to play in Never Enough and sing for The Wishing Sickness (aka the Rock Band). He is currently bartending at the Ottobar and roadie-ing for Thursday and Strike Anywhere (literally currently for the latter, like right now). Ryan Brown played drums and would go on to play in Brace and Black Birds (the Baltimore one). Great band. Someone remind me to upload that 7", or do so yourself if you've already got it ripped.

November 9th/18th, 1999: Get Up Kids, At the Drive-In, Frodus... / Saves the Day, Grey Area, the Exploder... @ St. Andrew's Church, College Park, MD

Here's a flyer for two great shows at St. Andrew's Church. Maybe this STD show was the poop-doo show? I can't remember. That Get Up Kids show may have been the first show to "sell out" St. Andrew's Church. It was freakin' huge. Jamie booked the shows. I made the flyers. Woo.

Interesting note: There's been a show on November 9th on every year since the blog began.

November 6th, 1999: De Nada, River City High, Crispus Attucks @ Cambridge Community Center, UMD, College Park, MD

I'm not sure I actually went to this show. Not sure where on campus the Cambridge Community Center was. Strange line up. I'd guess it was the De Nada/Crispus Attucks - Latebloomer :: River City High - Funsize connection. I liked RCH's first record and they played the area quite a bit around that time. Lost interest with the second one though.

November 5th, 1999: Led By the Blind, Akuma, Daybreak, Objection To Oppression

I don't remember anything about this crust-tastic show. I'm sure I just went to see Daybreak. I can't remember who was in Akuma or Objection to Oppression cuz I didn't really pay attention to that scene at the time, so I'm not sure if any of them are still playing in bands. Not sure if this was my first time at the Sushi Cafe or not but it probably was. The Sushi Cafe would become a pretty standard venue for a year or so. Jin, the proprietor, moved his sushi restaurant from well-trafficked but expensive Fells Point over to the supposedly soon-to-be-redeveloped SoWeBo (south west Baltimore), right across the street from the Hollins Market. His rent was much cheaper but it was hard getting people through the door in the low-income neighborhood so he opened up his second floor to punk bands. I can't verify but word on the street was he was pretty lax about enforcing the legal drinking age. I booked and saw some pretty rad shows in that space during it's time as a Baltimore punk venue but alas the redevelopment never came and he just wasn't getting the restaurant traffic he desired to he packed up shop and moved out west. I believe the building houses a title agency currently.

October 21st, 1999: Kill Your Idols, No Justice, What Lies Ahead, Sleep It Off @ Phantasmagoria, Wheaton, MD

This was a fun show. I'm trying to remember who was in Sleep It Off. I think it was Laurel area kids. I wanna say Andy Norton (Praise, Champion, Desperate Measures, Warpriest...) was in the band. I could be remembering that wrong. Someone refresh my memory. I'm pretty sure this was the show where Timmy and John kept kicking at each other during the No Justice set. Timmy liked to get wild during the NJ sets and his band members weren't off limits in the chaos. John had had enough at during the set and may have threw his bass at Timmy at one point. Can't remember if this was John's last show with them or not. This is a classic Steve Clark flyer.

October 20th, 1999: Franklin, Q and not U, Scaramouche, the Future Perfect @ UMBC Patapsco Hall, Baltimore, MD

Here's a show I went to more for the cause than for the bands themselves. They're all fine bands, just not really my thing. I had been involved in the college radio station at UMBC since my freshman year and worked my way up through the ranks to assistant station manager. I spent a lot of time there, made some cool friends who I still keep in touch with, and got introduced to a lot of cool music through my time there. Station volunteer Drew Theimann put this show together in the basement of one of the dorms. The Future Perfect were a rad new band made up of members of Blank and Bridgewater. I don't think they ever recorded a demo but they played locally a bunch and I always enjoyed seeing them. I have no idea who Scaramouche were. Q and not U were the darlings of the DC indie scene. They were the first band signed to Dischord that had no members of previous Dischord bands since the first year of the label. They played smart catchy music and the kids loved 'em. Franklin were a dub/reggae influenced indie band from Philly. Their rhythm section was incredible.

October 16th, 1999: Fastbreak, Reach the Sky, Bane, One King Down, Daltonic @ St. Andrew's Church, College Park, MD

Minus Daltonic, this show was rad as hell. Actually, this was post-God Loves, Man Kills One King Down and that album blew so I remember not being too stoked on them at this show. Bane, Reach the Sky, and Fastbreak were three of my favorite bands at the time and they all killed it. Fastbreak's Fast Cars, Fast Women record was great. Whenever You're Ready was pretty good too. I know a lot of people were bummed on it when it came out cuz it seemed like they were trying to jump on the Saves the Day bandwagon, but I thought it had a bunch of good songs. I made the flyer while working a temp job in an office where I had maybe one hour's worth of work to do in an eight hour day. Needless to say I learned to love messageboards while working that job.

September 24th, 1999: Daybreak, De Nada, the Thumbs @ CV house, Baltimore, MD

Rad little Baltimore basement show here. This house is on the other side of the block from where I currently live. After I scanned this flyer I walked the dogs over there to see if it would jog any memories but no such luck. I have no idea who lived there at the time of the show. My guess would be one of the Thumbs. I know it wasn't anyone in Daybreak or De Nada. I'd be stoked if there were basement shows in my neighborhood these days. The only other house I remember doing shows in Charles Village was Brody from Bridgewater's parents' house on the 200 block of E. 32nd St. I was living two blocks up the street on Guilford Ave when I saw a flyer for a show there with Torn Apart, Bridgewater, Christ, and Underneath in 1997. It was rad being able to skate two blocks downhill for a show. Anway, if anyone has any memories of the show above, or any other Charles Village house shows, please share.

September 19th, 1999: Get Up Kids, Saves the Day, Six Going On Seven, Ampersand @ St.Andrew's Church, College Park, MD

The next day we hauled it back to Maryland for this show at St. Andrew's Church in College Park. I'm pretty sure this was the infamous "poop-doo" show. For those unaware, this was an incident involving a local rabble rouser that was working on footage for his pre-Jackass video show of him doing stupid/gross/funny stunts. He took a bit of his own shit and smeared it on the door handles of Saves the Day's van and hid inside a dumpster with his video camera waiting for them to come outside after the show to load their van back up and catch their reaction on tape. For reasons I can't remember, he never did get the footage he wanted but I remember sweeping up the church after the show and hearing them all yelling and freaking out outside when they found what lay in store for them. Pretty foul stuff. This also may have been the show when Saves the Day had the bright idea to bring a bunch of those plastic balls from ball pits at kids' playlands, like at McDonald's, and toss them into the crowd. As would be expected, the balls started getting whipped back at them from the crowd, which got pretty annoying for the band pretty quickly. As far as the bands go, they were all great. I was pretty into every band that played so it was a good time for me.

September 18th, 1999: Earth Crisis, Brother's Keeper, Buried Alive, the Enkindels @ Forward Hall, Erie, PA

This show was put on by Mike Ski, frontman for Brother's Keeper, as a celebration of his wedding the day before. I can't remember who I made the trek up to Erie with but I'm sure Kelly Shaw was involved. I think The Enkindels were the band I was most excited to see. I was playing their Buzzclip 2000 record a lot around this time. Buried Alive always kinda bored me. Brother's Keeper were fun but I wasn't digging them as much by this time as I had earlier. I had no interest in Earth Crisis's Breed the Killer album and besides that they pretty much only played the "hits" from their earlier stuff, which was fine and fun, but they just didn't do much for me anymore. Still, the entire show had a really fun vibe to it and it was all for a happy occasion. Too bad sometimes the memories last longer than the marriage.

August 22nd, 1999: Time Flies, For the Living, Gun It, Affront, Striking Distance, What Lies Ahead, Brace... @ Falls Church VFW, Falls Church, VA

I'm not sure if this was the first show that Tru, Steve, and Eric booked at the Falls Church VFW, but I'm pretty sure it was the first show I attended there. Pretty sure I did sound for it. Those guys would go on to host some incredible show at that place. I have no recollection of Left Hand Black. Not even sure who Matter of Pride were. I'm assuming they were some NoVA locals who didn't do much. This was Brace in their original line up. Let's just say that they improved greatly over the years in their later line ups. Still, it was through this line up that I got introduced to Steve McPherson and Carrimus Henton, two stand up members of the DC hardcore community. I mentioned What Lies Ahead in the last post. Great band. Maybe one of those guys or Alex D will be kind enough to post a link to their demo and/or 7" for all to hear. Striking Distance were a brand new band featuring Dave Byrd, known only as a drummer up to this point, on vocals. I can't remember if they had their 7" out yet by this show, but as soon as I picked it up I was hooked. They brought a rage rarely seen to the area and were a very welcome addition. Affront were some of the dudes that went on to form The Scare. They were a bit more youth crew influenced than their current band but still had touches of that AFI influence, only an earlier incarnation of that band. I have no recollection of who was in Gun It. I remember the name and I know I saw them a couple times but I have no memory of them. For the Living and Time Flies, along with Count Me Out, were the bands carrying the youth crew flag for the DC/VA/MD area at the time. Time Flies were always fun to see live. Good show.

August 6th, 1999: Chernobyl Kids, Bionic Man, What Lies Ahead @ Joe's Movement Emporium, Mt. Rainier, MD

This was a nice little local show at a new venue. I'm not sure if this was the first show at Joe's or not. I think John Mutchler set it up, but I could be wrong. Joe's Movement Emporium was a dance studio near DC that became a pretty regular venue for hardcore shows for a few years. What Lies Ahead were a great "negative youth crew" band featuring Trevor from Longshot on vocals, Dave and Tem from De Nada on guitar and bass, and Matt Moulis from Emerge on drums. They were great. Steve from the First Step released their 7" on his short-lived label, Urgency Records. Grave Mistake later bought his remaining copies and re-released it with a new cover. Definitely look for that one if you don't already own it. Bionic Man were a band that seemed most active in the late 90s/early 2000s but seemed to pop back up every now and then over the following years. They had a cool sound that mixed gruff melodic stuff like Hot Water Music with more traditional fast hardcore. I know they have a few recordings out there but I don't own any. The main guy behind the band, Shane, is a stellar dude and an excellent guitar player. He's been playing in some metal bands lately from what I understand. Chernobyl Kids were a fairly new band made up of Funny from the Pee Tanks, John from Crew Jones (later the Aftermath, No Justice), Steve from Longshot (later No Justice, 86 Mentality), and Matt from SQUID. They were an awesome Dag Nasty-ish sounding band. They released a demo, a split 7" with my old band, Looks Like Rain, and a full-length CD that I highly recommend seeking out. One of my all-time favorite area bands. Cool show.

July 30th, 1999: the Thumbs, Panthro UK United 13, the Degenerics, Shoutbus!, Worthless @ the Wilson Center, Washington, DC

Not sure if that's Sara Klemm or Beauchamp listed on the flyer as the contact person. Pretty sure this was my first time going to the Wilson Center for a show. It definitely felt like hallowed ground for me. The place has such incredible hardcore history. Worthless were a pretty decent punk band from New Jersey. I think Fid from the Measure [SA] played with them for a bit. Can't remember if he played this show or not but I feel like I remember seeing him there. A year or so after this they would go on to sue or threaten to sue Lookout! Records over an Ann Beretta song that completely lifted the tune from one of their songs. I can't remember the outcome of the ordeal but it was interesting to say the least. Shoutbus! were an eccentric band of DC folk. I couldn't even tell you who to compare them to. I remember Billups was in the band. He's been writing for Razorcake lately and is also doing his own short story writing and living in Tucson. I can't remember who else was in the band. This was my first time seeing the Degenerics and I've been hooked ever since. Their LP wasn't out yet but I picked up a 7" they had. The Degenerics are one of the most underrated bands in hardcore history. Their musicianship is mindblowing. They don't sound like Bad Brains but the comparison is fitting. Totally tight, super fast, high energy hardcore punk. I highly recommend picking up their Generica LP if you don't already own it. PUKU13 were back in town a month after their visit with Hot Water Music and Leatherface. Decent band for sure. The Thumbs were Baltimore's punk rock heroes. Ex-members of the Pee Tanks and other classic MD bands. I can't remember if Randy or Phil was playing drums with them at this show. If you're into local music and you're unfamiliar with the band, go find Make America Strong. These days Mike and Bobby are playing in Sick Sick Birds (well, Bobby is on a school hiatus right now, but he's still in the band).

July 25th, 1999: Ensign, Stretch Armstrong, Good Clean Fun, Mainstrike, For the Living @ Phantasmagoria, Wheaton, MD

A day later and I'm back at Phantaz for a youth crew revival show. I'm not sure who set up this show. I don't recognize the email address on the flyer. The most memorable thing about the show was some choice stage banter from the singer of Mainstrike, in choppy English with a Dutch accent. The crowd was pretty tame, as they can tend to be at matinee shows and the singer was really trying hard to get kids pumped up. At one point between songs as he was pacing the stage he shouted, "C'mon! This is a hardcore show, not a walk in the park! Let's go!" As you might expect it didn't fire up the crowd like he might have hoped. I know there was more but I'm drawing a blank right now. The whole show remained pretty tame despite every bands' best efforts to get the crowd going. It was the late 90s and the youth crew revival thing was getting stale.

July 24th, 1999: Grade, Cross My Heart, Radar Mercury, Allied War Effort @ Phantasmagoria, Wheaton, MD

Here we have a silk-screened 8.5" x 11" flyer done by David Hardy. I know I went to this show but I don't remember much about it. Grade's Under the Radar album wasn't out yet but I'm pretty sure they mostly played songs off of that album. I think by this point Kyle had cut off the dreads and was sporting the rockin' 'do and chinstrap that so many people found so humorous at the time, especially coming from someone who was known for being somewhat grubby. I was never big into Grade, but there are definitely a few pretty good songs on Under the Radar. Cross My Heart were always great to see, especially in this era of their self-titled record. Their later records definitely had a lot of good songs on them, but every song on that first one was great. I don't think I realized that Radar Mercury played this area as much as they did until doing this blog. Fun, catchy band. Allied War Effort was made up of a bunch of "older" Baltimore and DC punks having some fun and making a racket with very loosely structured songs. I remember Mike Wolf and Mike D being in the band. Maybe Jim Ventosa was as well. I can't remember who else.

June 18th, 1999: Reversal of Man, Combatwoundedveteran, ForceFedGlass, Joshua Fit For Battle, Daybreak @ Black Aggie's, Baltimore, MD

Florida invades Maryland yet again. This time for some grind/powerviolence action. Didn't Combatwoundedveteran coin the term "powerviolence"? I believe this kid Angel booked this show. I used to see Angel and Jordan hanging around together all the time. Jordan would eventually move to Florida and become Against Me!'s merch guy/manager and start Sabot Records. Sabot released records for Lucero, Against Me!, None More Black, the Gaslight Anthem and more. Not a bad roster. I remember at the time thinking that those two were just a bunch of goofy drunk punks. Glad I got proven wrong. Not sure what Angel is doing these days. You don't see too many two color flyers. Nice touch. Black Aggie's (formerly known as the Laff n Spit) was a building on the corner of Hollins St. and S. Carrollton Ave., in SoWeBo, near the Sushi Cafe. Someone will have to refresh my memory. Was this the show where we showed up to open up and get ready for the show to find that Black Aggie's had flooded after some heavy rain storms? It flooded so bad that part of the second floor had caved in creating a wet mess of wood and plaster. Pretty sure that was this show but it could have been another one. Anyway, on to the bands...I pretty much only went to see Daybreak and hear Reversal of Man play that one song about Earth Crisis. I didn't care much for the sound of most of these bands. All out fast, chaotic, and screamy. At least Daybreak kept an undercurrent of hardcore going within their music. The rest of the bands were just a chaotic screamy mess to me. People flipped out over this shit at the time. Probably still do. Tony Pence has a good story about ForceFedGlass trying to mooch off of a tour they had booked, calling up the promoters and telling them they were on tour with Daybreak (which they weren't) and need to get added to the show. I can think of a couple other bands that tried this trick around this time. Lame. This show would have been eBay gold a few years ago. Don't know if anyone cares anymore though.

EDIT: Maryland expatriate Jim Branscome reminded me that National Acrobat hopped on this show. I knew there was a reason I was there so early but couldn't remember exactly. Members of National Acrobat went on to form Coliseum and Young Widows, as well as a bunch of other great Louisville bands. They also used pics of a show I did for them at the Sushi Cafe for one of their releases (the glitter pics). Jim also remembers that there was a two hour gap between National Acrobat and Daybreak for some reason and that Reversal of Man didn't even play "Get the Kid With the Sideburns". Good memory Jim. Thanks!

June 15th, 1999: Hot Water Music, Leatherface, Swank, Panthro UK United 13 @ St. Andrew's Church, College Park, MD

Two days later and I get to see Hot Water Music and Leatherface again, this time in a much better venue. Jamie Arthurs and I began working on this show together, but by the time the show came around I was a bit disillusioned by the whole booking agent thing, which just wasn't my idea of how punk bands operate, that I let Jamie take things on himself and stepped back from booking these big shows that would be held at the Church and stuck to helping out the smaller bands at smaller venues. I still helped Jamie staff the Church shows but I just had no interest in being involved in dealing with parties other than the band members. Hot Water Music were one of my favorite bands at the time and they played a great, hot, sweaty set. Leatherface were great to see live and thankfully played a set full of hits sprinkled with a couple of songs from their split with HWM. It was cool to see a bunch of "older" people come out of the woodwork for them. Swank was kind of a funk/ska/punk band from Virginia featuring the inimitable Tony Weinbender, future head honcho of The Fest in Gainesville, FL. Dave from Codeseven also played trombone for them sometimes as a fill in, but I can't remember if he played this show or not. It sounds like an odd combination of sounds, but they made it work. Very high energy and especially fun live. Panthro UK United 13 were a solid band from Gainesville on No Idea Records. They had a couple of really good songs and then a handful of decent ones. The bass player Jimmy "The Truth" would move to DC a few years later to start SuperChinchillaRescueMission with members of Latebloomer and De Nada. Good stuff.

June 13th, 1999: Hot Water Music, Kid Dynamite, Leatherface, Radar Mercury @ Chameleon Club, Lancaster, PA

What a line up. I think I went to this show by myself which, looking back, kind of blows my mind that I couldn't find anyone else to travel an hour and a half with me for this show. Maybe cuz it was a work night, but that's no excuse. This was my first time seeing Leatherface. Unfortunately it was at the Chameleon Club which is a terrible venue for hardcore/punk shows. Shitty staff, meathead security, and a barrier in front of the stage. Weak. If I remember correctly Kid Dynamite's split 10" with 88 Fingers Louie had come out just before this show. Their songs on that split were great. All the bands on this show were really good but it was just a lame vibe cuz of the venue. Thankfully I'd be seeing HWM and Leatherface again in College Park a couple of days later.

May 28th/29th, 1999: The final Sound Exchange shows

This is the flyer for the final two shows held at the Sound Exchange in Ellicott City, MD. SX was run by the genial Josh Greenbaum and staffed (I think mostly voluntarily) by a good group of Columbia/Ellicott City punks, notably Jon Falk and Aaron Fishbein (the Falsies). I found the place on a whim when I moved into a house in between Ellicott City and Catonsville and took a bike ride into old EC. To my surprise I found a little punk rock record shop nestled cozily amongst the antique stores and boutiques. I checked it out and found some flyers for some upcoming shows, one of which was for Kill Your Idols. Stoked that the place was doing shows for cool bands I became a regular there and met many of the people that I am still close with today. I saw and booked a lot of rad shows there. Josh lived in the apartment above the store and during and after the shows he would hold Tetris tournaments up there. Lots of rad late night hangouts. Josh was working on writing a book about those years of his life but I'm not sure if it's still being worked on or not. As you can see by the flyer, Josh was always super supportive of local bands and the store was really an important factor in getting a lot of Columbia, Baltimore, Annapolis, and College Park area bands some good shows. For those with poor eyesight, the line ups for the shows were: Kill Your Idols, Codeseven, Torn Apart, El Secondhand, Chernobyl Kids, Allied War Effort, Bullet Holes and Blood Stains, and Third Strike on the first day and Purpose, Two Man Advantage, Crispus Attucks, De Nada, Mendoza, East Liberty, The Falsies, Code Blue, and Third Strike on the second day. Josh now lives in Brooklyn working quite happily as a pet groomer. It's always good when I get to bump into him. Thanks for the memories and the friendships Josh.

BONUS TIDBIT: I used to live up the road from the Sound Exchange. Literally up the road. You went up a big hill from Ellicott City to get to my house, so I became known to those around the store as "Mike From Up the Street". If you read this blog regularly you know that I have a terrible memory. The time that the Sound Exchange was around was the time before everyone had a cell phone. I know most of the people I knew did not. I called the Sound Exchange so often to chat or book shows that it was one of the few phone numbers I had memorized. One night while driving some friends to the movies in Towson (on a suspended driver's license) I got pulled over for speeding and got arrested. I got taken to a police station somewhere around Reisterstown and the only phone number I could think to call was Josh's. He and his roommate Jason came to bail me out and from then on out I became known as "Mike From Up the River". That crew was the best.

photos from March 19th, 1999 show at St. Andrew's Church

I found a bunch of photos that I scanned and edited but forgot to upload for the March 19th, 1999 show entry (Kid Dynamite, Grey Area, Kill Your Idols, Fast Times. Sorry, no Good Clean Fun photos). I forgot that Kid Dynamite was in between bass players at this time so Ernie from Grey Area Played bass for them this night.

Fast Times

Kill Your Idols

Grey Area

Kid Dynamite

MACRoCk 1999 photos

Here's those photos from MACRoCk 1999. I couldn't find any of the ones of bands playing, though I know I have some. Maybe one day. Until then, here's the MD posse...

(I don't remember the names of the four on the left. The group on the right is Alex D at top left, Cristin Ryan to his right, Mike D to her right, Aaron Fishbein in the middle, Funny at bottom left and Chris Penna at bottom right.)

May 9th, 1999: Ensign, Kill Your Idols, Good Clean Fun, Committed @ Stalag 13, Philadelphia, PA

A few weeks after my last visit and I'm back in Philly at Stalag 13 for another show. I never liked Committed. The fact that the singer really tried to ape Ray Cappo always bothered me. Good Clean Fun were still pretty fun at this time. I remember them covering "Not Just Boys Fun" and most of the crowd going apeshit. Kill Your Idols were the band I primarily went to see. They were great. I broke my hand getting rammed into the speaker during their Sheer Terror cover by Jesse from Something In the Water. To this day I wonder if it was on purpose or not since I was friends with some of the people that went to his house to fuck with him after he made a rather disrespectful comment about the frontman of a very popular band at the time. I never cared for the dude and that didn't help matters. Ensign's Cast the First Stone album had just come out and while there were a few decent songs on it, it didn't really grab me like their previous stuff had. Actually, to this day I still think their debut 7" and their split with Good Riddance contain their best stuff. They played a good amount of of the older songs at this show along with the best songs off their new album so it was a good set, although my hand was a bit sore (I didn't realize it was broken until the next day) so I couldn't fully enjoy it. Good show.

EDIT: Former Ensign/Something In the Water/Purpose member Chris Oliver noted that I was remembering some of my history incorrectly...It wasn't Jesse's house that they visited but Jesse said something along the same lines when Looks Like Rain played a house show in New Brunswick with Something In the Water, Tear It Up, and Holding On, and that had gotten back to that same group of people, though this time nothing came of it except for some words on some message boards, but he said something that made me think he thought it was me that said something, and that's why I wondered if the shove during KYI's set in Philly was purposeful, but the New Brunswick house show wasn't until August of 2001 so this was not the show where I broke my hand, it was another KYI set and it may have been at the Killtime since I think Stalag 13 was not still running in August of 2001. My memory sucks.

April 30th, 1999: Daybreak, De Nada, Kojak, Lycosa, Midian, Noothgrush, Page 99, Pig Destroyer, Xibalba @ E-Level, JHU, Baltimore, MD

Here's another flyer for a show at a room on a college campus that I'm pretty sure doesn't exist anymore due to renovations. I only heard about ten or so shows booked at E-Level at Johns Hopkins University, and I probably caught four of them. Strike Anywhere played there when they still only had a demo out. This was the first show I saw there. Keeve from Daybreak booked it. I think this may have been the only Necrofest. Solid line up of grind, powerviolence, and metal bands. Xibalba was Ben Valis (Small Intestine, Stars of the Dogon), Dan Jensen, and friends doing some evil metal. Pig Destroyer is one of my all time favorite heavy band names. I don't remember what they sounded like back then compared to now, but everyone into that stuff in the area was super into them from the start, so I'm sure they ruled then as they rule now. I remember picking up the Pg. 99 /Enemy Soil split 7" at this show. This kinda stuff was never really my scene so I couldn't tell you anything about Noothgrush, Midian, Lycosa, or Kojak. I'm sure some of my readers will have a better recollection of this show.

April 23rd, 1999: Zegota, Page 99, De Nada, Hiretsukan, Haddonfield @ Stamp Student Union, UMD, College Park, MD

Let's see here...I remember catching Haddonfield and seeing Colin play drums for the first time and being really impressed. Wait, I think I probably saw Colin play drums for Disbelief, but my memory is a little hazy there. Anyway, Colin was young and he was a beast. He went on to play drums for Most Precious Blood and the reformed Damnation AD. Joe Denney sang if I remember correctly. Solid line up of locals. Good heavy band. I think there was a demo. I didn't care much for Hiretsukan or Zegota and De Nada and Page 99 were great as usual. I know there were a few shows at the Stamp Student Union, which I don't think exists anymore, but I think this was the only one I caught there. My memory sucks. Someone help me out with better details of this show.

April 18th, 1999: Turmoil, Another Victim, the Judas Factor @ Stalag 13, Philadelphia, PA

This would have been the record release show for The Process Of... which was a pretty good Turmoil record, but I didn't like it quite as much as Anchor. Actually, those are the only two Turmoil records I ever listen to. I didn't care much for From Bleeding Hands and I stopped paying attention after The Process Of... I honestly don't remember anything about this show. You read my thoughts on The Judas Factor in one of last week's posts and I thought Another Victim were pretty boring. Stalag 13 was a rad DIY venue in west Philadelphia that had a pretty good run and hosted some great shows in the late 90s/early 2000s. It was a pretty much gutted house so the show room was almost the size of the entire first floor. I think the old kitchen was still walled off and there was a backyard you could hang out in. I never went upstairs, but I remember it being accessible at one time. It had a good sized stage and a decent enough PA. The neighborhood was probably about the same as where the Loft was in Baltimore, so if you were used to going to shows in west Baltimore, it didn't seem like that big of a deal, but I remember constantly hearing complaints from out-of-towners about how sketchy the neighborhood was. Whatever, there was a pretty good pizza place a few blocks away and parking was almost never a problem.

April 10th, 1999: MACRoCk '99 day two

I found those photos that I promised in the last post but I just got a new computer and my scanner is so old there are no updated drivers for it, so I have to go get a new scanner. Pics coming shortly...

Here we have a flyer from the second day of the MACRoCk festival. This show was a blast. I was really stoked on almost every band on this show. I'm not sure if the Submerge on the flyer is the band from Long Island or not. Not even sure I caught them on this night. Radar Mercury were a pretty decent indie/rock/punk band from NJ featuring some of the guys from Endeavor and the bassist from Bound. I think Doghouse put out their debut EP. It had some pretty good songs on it. I never loved the Jazz June, but they were a decent band. ErrorType:11 were an indie rock band from New York on Walter Schreifels's label, Some Records, with an all-star cast of Long Islanders from bands like Mind Over Matter, Bad Trip, Clockwise, and Milhouse. I have their debut CD, their EP on Crank, and their split with Gameface on Revelation and I like it all. Ann Beretta's Bitter Tongues CD is still on regular rotation on my iPod. Didn't care much for anything after that but they were great live at this time (unlike at the reunion shows from a couple of years ago when they played everything at half speed). I was super pumped to see Discount as I had only seen them once before and they were great. They mostly played stuff from Crash Diagnostic, which is a fine record, but it was the Half Fiction songs that really got me excited. Hot Water Music played an incredible set. I loved everything they had released at this point and they played a good mix of all of it. I remember most of our crew being right up front for this show and everyone singing their hearts out and having a blast. I've got some pictures of this set. Coming soon, I promise.

April 9th, 1999: Two MACRoCk showcases, Harrisonburg, VA

This would have been the second or third MACRoCk (Mid-Atlantic College Radio Conference) festival I attended. It's held annually at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA and while I haven't paid attention since 2000 or so when I stopped being a part of the UMBC radio station (except when The Spark played in 2006) I remember the ones in the late 90s being chock-full of great bands. The first one I went to had Archers of Loaf as the headliner with the Get Up Kids (pre-Something To Write Home About) on the same bill. I also saw Alkaline Trio for the first time (pre-From Here To Infirmary) at a MACRoCk festival. I remember this particular trip to the festival being really fun as we had a good group of people from Baltimore and College Park all traveling and staying together. That bottom flyer is kinda funny to think about these days. Darkest Hour as the opener. Saves the Day on a show with a bunch of metal and metalcore bands. Nothingface, who nobody ever gave a shit about, not even in Baltimore, their hometown, as the headliner. I don't remember too much about the Lovitt showcase. I think I only went to watch Frodus. I may have caught Engine Down as well as I always thought they were good live. I've got some good pics of our crew, featuring Alex Dimattesa (with dyed blonde hair), Cristin Ryan, Chris Penna, Funny, and others, that'll I'll have to dig up.

March 24th, 1999: Angels In the Architecture, Ampersand, Houseboy, Midway @ Sound Exchange, Ellicott City, MD

Here's a flyer for Ampersand's first show at the Sound Exchange in Ellicott City. By the looks of it I'd say it was a collaborative show between Josh, who ran the SX, and Johnny or Carl from Ampersand. It's definitely a Carl Caracia flyer. Ampersand was Johnny and Adam from Prisoner of Conscience teaming up with Carl from Underneath. I can't remember who played drums, but it might have been George from P.O.C. (and later The Convocation Of...). I recorded their demo at UMBC for a studio recording class I was taking at the time. The band was very much influenced by the mid - late 90s Dischord bands. Kinda heavy, but with a touch of groove. A little Fugazi, a little Lungfish, as well as some other influences. They definitely had some cool songs. Angels In the Architecture were a post-hardcore/indie/emo band from Michigan (I think). Not really my thing but they were friends with John from Ampersand. I have no idea who the other two bands are. This was definitely a sparsely attended show but the record store was small so it worked well for that sort of thing.

March 21st, 1999: Turmoil, Torn Apart, the Judas Factor, the Old Grey Whistle Test @ Phantasmagoria, Wheaton, MD

I don't remember too much from this show except that I had never heard of The Old Grey Whistle Test before this night and I was really impressed by them. I believe they were from northern Virginia, but I couldn't tell you who was in the band or what any of the members went on to do. I don't even know if they ever put a demo or anything out. They were just a really good melodic rock-influenced hardcore band. If anyone has any info on them, or knows of any available recordings, please let me know. The Judas Factor was Rob Fish's band after 108 broke up. They had a similar discordant heavy sound, but none of their stuff ever really grabbed me like 108 did. Torn Apart were always fun to see live and I liked Turmoil live better than I did on record. There's a couple songs they have that just slay in a live setting. Chris Brady did this show.