EROS PASSION 24 The State Of D.C. Hardcore
Written by Ramon on 18 mayo, 2016
At 9 p.m. on a Friday in February, Watson was standing outside of La Casa, a micro-church and community center — whose main chapel is the size of your parents’ spacious living room — nestled next to a tienda in Washington, D.C.’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Inside, a hardcore punk band called Unknown Threat had just taken the stage.
Of course, there was no actual stage. There was just the floor where the band set up at one end of the room, and the dozens of fans in attendance who stood everywhere the band wasn’t and this is more or less what punk looks like. Once Unknown Threat hit its stride a few songs into its set, those standing closest to the band churned into motion, ricocheting off of one another and swinging arms wildly, seemingly unconcerned whether friend or foe caught a fist to the face.
But to Watson, who has performed in bands and booked shows in D.C. for years, the city’s punk scene, at this moment, feels complacent. He says he has watched the scene he helped build lose urgency, at least at home.
Looking at it from the outside, 2015 was a banner year for D.C’s storied punk scene, which first rose to prominence in the early 1980s and has become an on-again, off-again fixture in the local music ecosystem. But at no point since those heady days of Bad Brains and Minor Threat has the local product been so talented, prolific and diverse. After years of being a primarily local concern, D.C. punk matters to the wider underground music world once again.
But that’s the rub, Watson says. D.C.’s punk scene broke nationally last year, with multiple bands releasing well-received albums, joining major tours and crossing international borders to play for punk contingencies abroad. More than a half-dozen new wave D.C. hardcore bands released albums or EPs last year, including scene stalwarts Pure Disgust, Red Death and Protester. Those three bands also toured the U.S. at various times, while Protester spent a week in Mexico in December. But while established bands rose in prominence as they performed around the country, some within the scene grew frustrated as momentum and enthusiasm at home lagged. When those established bands played gigs within the city limits, fans oftentimes stood with arms crossed and nodded along — not the ideal reaction to a genre that often inspires a hail of spin-kicks and stage dives from its audience. “We just assumed it’s because everyone is in the same bands. For most people it’s like, if I’ve seen one, I’ve seen it all,” Watson says. “We played lackluster shows, attendance was low. People weren’t having a lot of fun.”
Reader's opinions
Comments are closed.
Commenter 271 On 21 mayo, 2016 at 5:19 pm
cu.
Nam eu tortor. Nam venenatis congue nibh. Donec posuere lacinia neque. Pellentesque vehicula. Nam eleifend ips
Commenter 272 On 21 mayo, 2016 at 5:19 pm
lutpat. Aenean eget ante eget nunc feugiat lacinia. Duis ullamcorper consequat risus. Nunc at magna.
Aliquam in elit vitae dui gravida venenatis. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Aliq
Commenter 273 On 21 mayo, 2016 at 5:19 pm
Integer laoreet, ipsum congue congue suscipit, ipsum est molestie dolor, consectetur tempus justo lectus ac mauris.
Integer vulputate molestie quam. Vestibulum et nisi. Nullam in magna quis libero posuere vestibulum. Donec mi leo, elementum ut, tincidunt at, condimentum eu, est. Donec sed nisl ac justo consectetur viverra. Nulla volutpat est vitae nisl. Nullam aliquam ipsum a arcu facilisis adipiscing. Pellentesque cursus. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nulla gravida viverra urna.
Aenean condimentum, arcu sit amet volutpat ullamcorper, erat sapien tempor dolor, ac consectetur diam ante at nibh. Proin erat lectus, vehicula id, consequat quis, semper ac, felis. Sed in lectus. Duis nec massa. Nullam augue. Duis dolor felis, porta et, molestie vitae, imperdiet eget, purus. Mauris iaculis. In cursus, neque eu sollicitudin
Commenter 274 On 21 mayo, 2016 at 5:19 pm
at magna.
Aliquam in elit vitae dui gravida venenatis. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.
Commenter 275 On 21 mayo, 2016 at 5:19 pm
a augue dictum est, iaculis posuere nulla felis quis tortor. Pellentesque ac nisl vitae nunc porta pretium. Praesent id erat. Cras leo. Quisque eleifend metus nec lorem.
Sed sed quam non mauris aliquam rhoncus. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Praesent quam turpis, dignissim et, consequat in, porttitor eget, orci. Aenean pretium, orci vel ultrices dapibus, ipsum metus lobortis ante, ac tincidunt urna erat et tortor. Mauris nisl eros, dapibus et, tristique eget, dignissim non, lacus. Fusce aliquam, turpis quis varius blandit, purus elit sollicitudin leo, vitae posuere odio odio id dui. Fusce adipiscing. Maecenas a enim eu sem accumsan laoreet. Donec sem eros, egestas
Commenter 276 On 21 mayo, 2016 at 5:19 pm
i dapibus, lorem nec euismod pharetra, augue risus congue augue, molestie
Commenter 277 On 21 mayo, 2016 at 5:19 pm
pulvinar in, odio.
Duis nulla diam, fringilla at, feugiat et, tincidunt consectetur, magna. Duis id est ac neque mollis ullamcorper. Nulla quis urna. Ut vitae nisi sit amet lectus blandit ultrices. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Phasellus consectetur nunc at sapien. Ut pellentesque laoreet diam. Morbi arcu neque, congue rhoncus, sollicitudin ut, condimentum id, lectus. Nulla facilisi. Praesent neque lacus, pretium eu, molestie at, laoreet convallis, metus. Fusce leo nisi, ornare ut, ullamcorper ac, molestie et, quam. In vehicula arcu eu risus. Fusce ultrices lectus sit amet diam. Maecenas commodo risus eu diam. Maecenas at nibh. Nullam mattis pharetra dolor. Donec eleifend leo sit amet diam. Quisque ante. Aliquam erat volutpat.
Maecenas vel lectus. Maecenas convallis l
Commenter 278 On 21 mayo, 2016 at 5:19 pm
entum id, lectus. Nulla facilisi. Praesent neque lacus, pretium eu, molestie at, laoreet convallis, metus. Fusce leo nisi, ornare
Commenter 279 On 21 mayo, 2016 at 5:19 pm
et, placerat in, euismod in, libero. Morbi venenatis, eros non gravida rhoncus, leo metus venenatis augue, vitae dignissim lorem sapien eget diam. Ut nisl. Fusce quis lorem. Etiam mollis risus. Integer luctus. In quis quam. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et ma