Honestly, there's not much I can tell you about Erie, PA other than it was a railroad hub in the early days and then evolved into a steel-mill town.
Also, it's not too far from Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland or NYC.
This brings us to Abngeation - Erie's hardline sXe crew whose sounds was an amalgamation of all those flavors of the bands from the aforementioned towns.
While they may get lumped in w/ the militant hardline thing, their sound evolved in to one that included many elements of thrash/speed metal, as well as eventually becoming sludgy, dark & heavy.
These guys were unique in delivery, but sadly, they packed it in after five years while the rest of the world is stuck with ear-turds like Earth Crisis & Hatebreed...
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ReplyDeletei'm pretty sure i saw these guys at the tail end of the hardline days here in memphis. even though at the time i was a sxe dude, i just didn't jive with what the atmosphere was at the show. the band probably had nothing to do with the atmosphere, but after running around the pit area with hoods up and what not, the last song was interrupted by a female vegan warrior taking over the mic and yelling "vegan power" in quite the tone. it then descended into numerous others joining in the chant as i decided i was done for the night and walked away. the band didn't come across as wackos or jerks, it was just the crowd. good times. and now Raid will be playing the reunion show at the end of this month.
ReplyDeleterockon
Ben -
ReplyDeleteIt's funny because at the time all this stuff was going on, I thought it was all pretty ghey - I was into partying like a madman back then - but I always dug the music. it was the message that I found to be redundant & preachy. Still do.
I've been to many shows like the one you described - even been to some ultra-weird Xtian HC shows that left me feeling blank from all the brainwashing that goes on in that scene - it ain't much different, honestly.
The fashion at the time is a blast to look at as well...
This was the point when they lost their singer iggy and therefore weren't as good. my story with abnegation was an old band of mine played a fest with them in indy and during another band (jihad was their name) kids liked to get naked. Anyways a friend of mine got naked and one of the dudes in abnegation stole my friends clothes so my friend had to walk around naked for a bit until we located their clothes.
ReplyDeleteI didn't listen to Abnegation but a whole lot of similar pissed off metallic SXE HC stuff when I was a kid. At 15, I went through mx own militant SXE phase-for about half a year, then I felt it was kinda stupid and nearly all of the guys I was hanging with just seemed to be in it so they could act like elitist assholes and tell other people what they should or shouldn't do. It was pretty strict, no drugs, no alcohol, a vegetarian or even better, vegan diet and no sex, not even whacking off...(at 15! what were we thinking??? kids are STUPID!). Anyway, today, I explained to a buddy at work why I was a vegetarian (the only thing that still makes sense to me and to which I stuck for over 20 years now) and when I told him about this, he asked me "But what did you DO all day?". I thought about it and had to reply: "well, mostly we were angry and pissed off all the time". He thought that was pretty funny, and so did I :-).
ReplyDeleteStill dig the music though...so I'm sure I will like this...
Could've swore I had this. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
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Nice one Philbert. I love reading these old tales when we were SXE and looking back we see the errors of our ways. I never had the X on wrists tho, but i did used to wank daily.
ReplyDeleteStraight Edge For Life? NO THANKS!
about that fest in Indy...That was me and a dude from indy named ryan ?. to this day one of the best practical jokes i ever played a hand in. watching 10 kids walking around naked at a show was hilarious.on a sidenote...jihad was an amzing band.
ReplyDeleteiggy