South Florida Punk and Hardcore

The South Florida scene as described by Greg Baker of the Miami New Times as having had, "Plenty of enormously talented and defiantly original bands. Clubs galore willing to stage them. Record labels. A radio program. Press. Retail outlets catering to the cool. All of it wide open to local music. A scene that was a scene. A legacy. In the land that time forgot."[1]

Eras

1977–1982

Bands

Charlie Pickett still plays shows in South Florida and beyond. He is working on new material in 2015.

Heteros played primarily in Key West fronted by Tommy Toledo, Lou Kemia-guitars, Greggy Shithead-Drums and Just Steve on Bass.

F had its start in a band named Chaos. It was a band made up of high school friends that later morphed into F. F was formed in the early 1980s and was first featured on "The Land that Time Forgot" compilation issued by the Open Books & Records Label. The band then split into 2 groups. The band referred to as the punk or metal F contained the original singer/songwriter Flash/Angelo Pillitteri, original drummer Pete Moss and the original bass player Bruce Norris. This F fronted by Flash has gone on to release 9 full length releases and 1 ep. The band is still currently touring throughout the US and released a new album in 2015.

1983–1985

Bands

1986–1988

Disorderly Conduct was a metal-edged punk band from Melbourne

featuring Casey Chaos and later Ken Decter. Disorderly Conduct became Amen after the band relocated to Los Angeles.

After seeing Black Flag for the first time, Casey Chaos started recording songs for his first hardcore band Casey and the Skate Punx. The band changed its name to Disorderly Conduct. They released one album, "Amen" and were featured on many compilations, one of which was titled "Flipside Magazine Compilation Vol. 2".

Not Dead Yet (1986–88) was one of Miami's first prominent hardcore punk bands. Not Dead Yet, along with other local bands such as Chocolate Grasshopper, FWA and Cultural Brain Rot, helped establish the Miami punk scene in the 1980s. Not Dead Yet was influenced by bands such as Agnostic Front, Youth of Today, 7 Seconds, G.B.H., and many others.

N.R.K. is an acronym for the word anarchy. The band was founded by drummer George Graquitena in 1986. The band's name was later changed to The Accused. N.R.K. was very heavily influenced by the old school punk bands, Dead Kennedys and Black Flag.

The Roidz (1986-1990) were the first prominent hardcore band out of West Palm Beach. The band predates the speed metal uprising that occurred in Palm Beach County by a few years, but their brand of hi-speed, chaotic punk has been noted as having influenced several of those bands, including Raped Ape and Meatlocker. The Roidz appeared onstage at several noted concerts of the day including the infamous GG Allin Ybor City show (June 9, 1989) and The Mentors in Lantana, FL 1987. Members of The Roidz would resurface in Nashville, TN (2002–present) as The Creeping Cruds.

The F-Boyz were known for their insane stage antics and their own brand of "punk mock n roll" (punk rock, with a very tongue-in-cheek take on the genre, basically poking fun at anything and everything). They were very heavily influenced by bands such as The Meatmen, Stevie Stiletto, The Misfits, Elvis Presley and even Kiss. The F-Boyz (later changing their name to Fuckboyz) eventually moved to San Francisco from South Florida.

1989–1992

Jobbernowl was a melodic punk band, in the vein of ALL, Descendents and Big Drill Car. Jobbernowl recorded a 7-inch for Re-Core-Ds records from Germany, and a 10-inch for Dr. Strange records. They were also featured on a limited edition compilation record on Dr. Strange records, featuring bands such as Face To Face and Guttermouth.

Cell 63 was a straight-up roots rock/punk band influenced by Hüsker Dü, Social Distortion and The Replacements. The band was also influenced by South Florida bands such as Psycho Daisies and Charlie Pickett.[2] Cell 63 recorded and released a self-titled CD, CELL 63, and another titled Once Upon A Drunk.

Powerhouse was the first youth crew hardcore band in South Florida. They featured future members of Where Fear and Weapons Meet, Cavity, Machine, and the Judas Factor. They released one 7-inch on New Age Records titled "Death Of A Salesman (Self Titled)"[3]

LOAD was formed in the early nineties in south Florida by former member of Jobberknowl, drummer Fausto Figuerdo and former members of Insanity Assassin (Brad Stewart's band pre-Marilyn Manson), guitarist Jeff Tucci and vocalist Robert Johnston better known as Bobby Load. LOAD released 4 seven inches, "Does Dead Godflesh Smell?","Pastor's Day", "Sleestack", and "LumberJack Death Luge" as well as a self titled LP and the full length "Feel the Power" on 702 records before disbanding in the early 2000s. Face To Face

SPLAT! was a punk rock band from Miami's Coconut Grove Axl Icky - Vocals/Guitar, Frankie Pointless - Bass/Vocals, Johnny Slob - Drums/Vocals formed from members of Eyes of Pandora, Big Mouth, Human Oddities the summer of 1992. The band went on hiatus after the tragic death of original drummer Ronnie Quizbert. Johnny Slob joined the band and went on to record and tour extensively from 1993-2003. Releasing 2 7" singles and 2 full length releases on No Clue Records. After several lineup changes the band called it quits in 2003....

1993–2000

2000-Present

Support network

Record stores

Rich Ulloa opened his first Yesterday and Today Records store in June 1981.[4]

Record labels

Sublapse Records was owned and operated by Barry Soltz who also published Suburban Relapse. Sublapse Records released records by Gay Cowboys In Bondage, Morbid Opera and the Psycho Daisies' first album.[5]

D.I.Y. releases

Recording studios

Clubs and venues

Fort Lauderdale. The Eat played their first gig here July 14, 1979. Both the Eat and The Cichlids played here several times[13]

Hollywood. Charlie Pickett and the Eggs played their first gig here in November 1979.

Hollywood
F played one of their first gigs here as the early version of the band "Chaos".

Fort Lauderdale

Hallandale
F played here with the Misfits. There is a video of one of F's gigs here(on their YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUO5PuVyXQ4 ). The manager of the club called the police when the drop ceiling was smashed during this show.

27 Birds was a converted "Big Daddy's" located on Bird Road in Coconut Grove. The first show featured The Front and Cats on Holiday.[14]

Hallandale

Fireman's Hall, in Fort Lauderdale, Fl, was perhaps the worst place on earth to host concerts.

Ives Diary Road, North Miami.

Housed in an Italian Restaurant at 1203 Federal Highway in Hollywood, Fl., The Cell was advertised as a "Progressive New Music Danceteria." The Cell was founded and run by the weiss twins Mike Spike and Mike World. Bob Slade did the Promotions. and for the dj the weiss twins did all of that and there were often live shows. the weiss twins are back in Hollywood after 20 years jon and scott weiss they are still in the biz they go by edk nodrecords you can find them on Facebook

In June 1985, The Skating Center raised the rent on Richard Shelter so he moved the Toxic Reasons show from the Skating Center to The Cell.[15]

Raw Power played a show at the Skating Center. They were in town a few days and stopped into The Cell. To everyone's surprise, they decided to play two hard sets.[16]

2025 Pembroke Road, Hollywood, Fl

In late July 1985, Gold Coast Live Magazine started sponsoring shows on Sunday nights at Godmother's in Hollywood. On Monday's the club became "Mother's" and featured local original music bands. Catharine Anderson, publisher of G.C.L. booked the bands and Mary Ann Nazzaro (a.k.a. Ruby Cadilac) provided lighting and sound equipment. Rick Lennick did D.J. duty. The second show, featuring The Drills, Rugged Edge and Rock City Angels was so successful there was not a drop of beer left for the club's regular customers the following day. The club was packed to capacity.

813 S.E. 1st Ave, Hallandale, FL

The Treehouse was best known as a Heavy Metal club but for a period of time hosted "Bob Slade Sunday's" and "Gold Coast Live Mondays."[17]

3151 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd

Frank (Rat Bastard) Falestra and Hal Spector opened Banal in late 1985.

Magazines and fanzines

Notable fanzines covering this period in South Florida underground music include Mouth of the Rat, Borington Journal, Alternative Rhythms, Twist, Suburban Relapse, Tropical Depression and Gold Coast Live!. In early 2011, FAU hosted an exhibit titled "The Punk Years" by Raymond Pettibon. Writer, photographer and skateboard historian, Craig Snyder created the "back wall" of the display which consisted of flyers from Florida punk shows.[18] Craig Snyder and his friend Bill Proe were the design and production team for Suburban Relapse.

Suburban Relapse was a South Florida fanzine first published in 1981 by Barry Soltz. Soltz published 13 print issues over a 4-year period.

The Borington Journal was a fanzine "loosely related to the South Florida punk scene."[19] Borington Journal was published by Dave Fun between 1980 and 1982. There were eight issues.

The very first South Florida Punk rag, starting in late 1978/early 1979. Founded by early scene fixture David (Daze) Parsons, who would move to NYC in 1981 to start "Rat Cage Records" store and then the label of the same name. Rat Cage would eventually release The Beastie Boys debut punk vinyl.

Alternative Rhythms was a free bi-monthly magazine published by Sam Rosenthal. AR was published from April 1981 thru January 1986 when Rosenthal relocated to California. AR started small and eventually grew to "44 pages, had a real press run of 8,000 copies and was distributed by United Parcel Service to 40 locations in 12 states."[20]

Tropical Depression was first published in February 1984. It had a circulation of 1,000 issues locally and 300 nationally. There were four issues of Tropical Depression.[21]

Editor: Toni Latino Asst Editor: Bob Slade Creative: Mike Shannon Photography: Rick Lennick & Paula Wagner

Editor: Catharine J. Anderson Editorial Staff: Chooch, Lou Ming, Bob Slade, Rick Lennick, Freddie St. Jude, Sally Hui. Support Staff: Kim Fredericks, Tya Durand

Rag was not so much a punk and hardcore magazine but rather a local music magazine. Published by Dino Fedele, Rag was popular for its ads. Many a band found their next drummer in Rag's want ads.

The Latest Rage was conceived by Beth Nussbaum. Nussbaum wanted to fill the void left by the demise of Gold Coast Live! Beth met with GCL editor Catharine J. Anderson, graphic designer Linda Silecchia and Ali Silecchia and planted the seed. Due to other commitments, Nussbaum never had time to work on the project but the others went ahead and published three issues before losing interest due to other projects each were working on.

Published by Erick Lyle (aka Iggy Scam).

Documentaries

"Another Night at the Agora" is a documentary about the early South Florida music scene.

"Invisible Bands" details the late 1970s & early 1980s punk scene in South Florida.

Radio stations and shows

WLRN was the home of "Off The Beaten Path" which was hosted by Bob Slade on Monday nights. Monday night was the night to hear the latest releases by national and international punk and hardcore bands. Bob Slade also gave plenty of airtime to local artists. Slade often interviewd local acts on the air and played their latest releases as well. "Off The Beaten Path" aired until 1999 when the station apparently lost some funding and decided to reshuffle its programming to appeal to an NPR audience.[22]

WDNA featured "The Hotel Chelsea Radio Show" on some Saturday afternoons c. 1982-1985, with host Kevin Yelvington, then an M.A. student at Florida International University, with his brother Barry Yelvington, also a student at FIU, as musical director. They formed the band (see above) the Pictures of Nothing with drummer Andrew Arslanian and guitarist Charles Scheer.

Off the Beaten Path evolved from a radio program called "Radio Free Living Room" which was started by Leslie Wimmer, Ted Gottfried and Dave Parsons, and Eric Moss. "Radio at that time was both struggling but there were public stations. There was WLRN, WDNA, Eric Moss's radio, BUS was still hanging around. Dave Parsons actually named the radio program that Ted and Eric Moss, the manager of The Eat and I started, that was called Radio Free Living Room. So that was Monday, from midnight to 2:00. That became Off The Beaten Path with Bob Slade, who was also a big mover and shaker back at that time," recalls Wimmer.[23]

According to Geg Baker, Moss acquired a Monday late-night time slot on the nonprofit WLRN-FM and went on the air on August 5, 1980.[24]

Persons of note (promoters, club DJs, photographers, artists, etc.)

Bill Ashton was a writer for The Miami Herald.[23] Ashton moved to Atlanta and started Safety Net Records with Jim Johnson.

Founded Safety Net Records with Bill Ashton. Played with The Chant, Charlie Pickett and the Eggs and the D.T. Martyrs. His photographs appeared on records by the Cichlids, Charlie Pickett and the Eggs, Larry Joe Miller, The Essentials, and The Eat. Jimmy was a roadie for The Cichlids, and he also wrote articles and took photographs for The Rag.

Music journalist for the Sun-Sentinel S.Florida newspaper. Cohick wrote several features on local music, especially the punk/ d.i.y scene through the early 1980s.

Walter Czachowski is also known as "Walter CZ." Lead vocalist/guitarist in The Essentials and The Chant. Provided the cover artwork for The Land That Time Forgot LP released by Open Records, the God Punishes The Eat EP, and 2 singles and 2 albums by Charlie Pickett and the Eggs.[23]

Robert Mascaro is described as visionary by former Miami Herald Music Critic Bill Ashton.[23]

Founder, editor, and head writer of Suburban Relapse Fanzine. Started and ran Sublapse Records which had 3 releases. Created one of the first video magazines, Sublapse Video which had only one issue.

In his Autobiography, Marilyn Manson describes Bob Slade as "a punk-rock DJ in Miami with a Monkees-style bowl haircut."[25] Bob Slade was both a radio DJ (WLRN's "Off the Beaten Path") and a club DJ. Slade was also a music critic, journalist and concert promoter.

Rick Lennick was known as "DJ Rick." Rick started spinning records at the Agora Ballroom in the late 1970s. He later became a DJ at Flynn's where he "helped the club bring in national and international acts such as Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, and The Exploited. He also wrote for various fanzines in the area and in the early Eighties released Florida Explosion, a cassette compilation of Miami punk and underground groups."[26] Rick Lennick was many things: photographer, journalist, DJ, music critic and music promoter. In 1985 Rick released "The Florida Explosion" cassette. "The Florida Explosion" was a compilation of 28 alternative and hardcore original music classics by South Florida bands.[27] Rick served as DJ at the Agora Ballroom, Flynn's, The Cell, Mother's, The Treehouse, and The Button South among others. Rick died April 21, 1996.

Photographer. Bass player.

Rat Bastard (Frank Falestra) is a guitarist, bassist and audio engineer. Falestra played guitar in Myrin and the 2 Wotz in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In the early 1980s he co-founded Sync Studios in Miami Beach and Esync Records. Among his studio credits are Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids first demo cassette, and Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids' After School Special in 1991. Rat Bastard books and promotes experimental and rock music in Miami, most often at Churchill's Pub. "For about twenty-five years Rat was part of what has become known as the Miami noise scene that played at Churchill's every Thursday. He is often referred to as the godfather of a scene that has produced the likes of Harry Pussy, Drive Choir, Kreamy 'Lectric Santa, No Fun Fest organizer Carlos Giffoni and his band Monotract, and newer acts like hahahelp!, Curious Hair, Dumbo, Amanda Green, Luciano Guidini, Fantom, Childproof, Dino Felipe, and Otto Von Schirach."[28]

Writer, musician, historian, artist

Slammie Productions and its partners produce dozens of rock, punk and metal concerts every year from many of the nation's top booking agencies. Slammie Productions also promotes local South Florida bands. Among the bands that have gone on to national success while working with Slammie Productions on a local level are Against All Authority, Dashboard Confessional, Further Seems Forever, Genitorturers, Marilyn Manson, New Found Glory, Nonpoint, Poison The Well and Puya.[29] The South Florida Slammie Awards (1992–1999) was Florida's longest running original rock awards showcase and has featured such top local artists as Marilyn Manson, Nonpoint, Darwin's Waiting Room, Puya, Endo, The Genitorturers, Jack Off Jill, Collapsing Lungs, Further Seems Forever, Strongarm and Shai Hulud. La Fiesta De Punk Rock (2000–present) showcases the area's growing punk scene and has been one of the area's premiere local events, featuring performances by New Found Glory, Against All Authority, Glasseater and other up-and-coming bands. Freedom Fest (2000–2001) was a charity/benefit event that rose to the occasion for a 50-band showcase that raised money for victims of the World Trade Center attack.[29]

Jim Hayward founded Slammie Productions in 1992 as a vehicle to promote the Slammie Awards and local and national acts. He sat on management panels at the Southeast Music Conference and other industry events and produced and released several independent CDs that were distributed internationally. Hayward has also been a professional journalist for more than 25 years and has worked at such publications as The Palm Beach Post and The Miami Herald. As a music writer in the late 1980s, he covered the local and national rock scenes and interviewed artists such as Aerosmith, Metallica, The Scorpions, The Cult, Heart, Judas Priest and many others.[29]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1993-10-20/news/glory-days/
  2. ↑ http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1993-02-03/music/prisoners-of-rock-and-roll/
  3. ↑ http://southfloridamusicscene.blogspot.com/2008/02/powerhouse.html
  4. ↑ http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1993-10-20/news/glory-days/5/
  5. ↑ http://www.trashfever.com/suren.htm
  6. ↑ Discogs.com. Releases:Futurisk – The Sound Of Futurism 1980 / Army Now www.discogs.com. Retrieved September 21, 2011
  7. ↑ The Quietus: A Minimal Wave Interview: Futurisk's Jeremy Kolosine thequietus.com. Retrieved September 20, 2011
  8. ↑ Discogs.com Releases:Futurisk – Futurisk – Player Piano EP Discogs.com Retrieved September 21, 2011
  9. ↑ Dangerous Minds: More pioneering synthpunk from Futurisk. dangerousminds.net Retrieved September 20, 2011
  10. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Menstrual-Cycles-Retirement-Home/release/2131969
  11. ↑ http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/cult-heroes-no-xx-rock-city-angels/
  12. ↑ officialfsite.com
  13. ↑ http://www.theeat.net/gigs.htm
  14. ↑ http://limestonelounge.yuku.com/topic/1145/27-BIRDS
  15. ↑ Gold Coast Live! p. 11, July 1985
  16. ↑ Gold Coast Live! p. 3, July 1985
  17. ↑ http://www.trashfever.com/gimme_shelter/calendar_treehouse.jpg
  18. ↑ http://www.bocamag.com/blog/fau-exhibition-offers-slice-of-south-florida-punk-rock-history/
  19. ↑ http://www.trashfever.com/boringtonjournal.htm
  20. ↑ http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1986-01-17/features/8601040571_1_magazine-first-issue-local-bands
  21. ↑ http://www.dementlieu.com/users/obik/arc/zines/index.html
  22. ↑ http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1999-02-04/news/riptide/
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 http://www.trashfever.com/lunchforseven.htm
  24. ↑ http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1993-10-20/news/glory-days/3/
  25. ↑ The Long Hard Road Out of Hell By Marilyn Manson, Neil Strauss, p. 108
  26. ↑ http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1996-05-02/news/reverb/2/
  27. ↑ http://loumingpresents.blogspot.com/2008/06/florida-explosion-compilation-1985.html
  28. ↑ http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/09/music/miamis-godfather-of-noise
  29. 1 2 3 http://www.slammie.com/bio.htm

External links

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