I’m semi new to this, at least blogging through profane, so try to bear that in mind. Last time I recall any blogging was myspace, and that’s been a few year now… so let’s give this a shot…
So it’s 12/21/12, and I currently live in a popular part of Brooklyn, and work at a fairly popular store in Queens. I never bought into the Mayan calendar/end of the world thing that is currently in the news and has been for about two years or more now, and I think the only one I might have known that would have gave it any heed would have been Bill from Opposition Rising (I think he has a song touching on the subject, doesn’t mean he was a firm believer) or possibly the old crew from The Tower in Cleveland (which became Tower 2012 and as of this is dead a few weeks now), who were fanatical about it (allegedly) and moved to Athens and lived off the grid preparing for 12/21/12. Looking at the clock it’s 10:41, so I’m gonna call it that the world won’t be ending today. Unless the West Coast fucks it up, which could happen.
So alas, I can’t spend my blog on PE going on about today being the end times, and while I seem to be known by a decent amount of cities/states around the U$A, it only seems appropriate to give a proper look into why I’d be accepted into the PE family and get these words I’ve typed out with Law And Order on in the background as I sip a beer after a day of work, posted onto the Profane site instead of one I had to make with pics of cats or dogs and plug on facebook. So I’ll leave you with my resume/credentials, and then next week I’ll be on the road with Common Enemy so I’ll probably to a tour report blog for those two weeks, and when I get back I can go over past encounters or just wax poetic… Or I might write several from the road if I get board because Blog Master Ben Crew said to do it as much as I want.
I grew up in a city called Elyria, that currently has a population in the 54-55 thousand range. So not a big city. We were about 30 minutes from Cleveland though, so later on in my teenage years and early 20’s at least there was what seemed like a big city close by. I’m gonna jump ahead and skip a lot of stuff I’ll go into at some point, but when I was in high school, a friend of a friends dad opened a music venue in down town Elyria called The Spot, and me and a few friends would hang out there. I became friends with the owner through my love of music, and would help out where I could and pretty much worked for free in exchange for getting in free. My friend Ben and I saved our money and booked the first sold out show there by booking MC Chris on his first real tour. Eventually, a band called American Distress came through, which had Skwert from Choking Victim on vocals, and Shayne, the bassist for Choking Victim during No Gods/No Managers was there merch guy. He ended up meeting another friend of a friend, and they ended up dating for several years. I eventually became very good friends with both of them and lived with them in Ohio for a while and would go to C-Squat in Manhattan to visit them, and would eventually become friends with the entire building and lived there off and on for a few years in various peoples rooms, either watching it while they were away, sleeping in there beds, and sometimes on the floor. I booked the Star Fucking Hipsters on there first tour for one of several Ohio dates and then caught a ride with them to Chicago to catch a ride with a band called Destroy Everything, (on Skwerts label, Tent City) back to Ohio.
I’ll go into future band stories (and there are a lot), but I’m realizing this is already getting a bit long for a first post that just says who I am, so I’ll just list bands I’ve shared road time with, booked, etc. I’ve done merch and drove a few times for Leftover Crack, booked and caught rides from Millions of Dead Cops, worked with Punk Island and ABC No Rio , and am friends with and booked bands (several of which have been in PE at some point) such as Hellmouth, Suicide Machines, Mustard Plug, Morning Glory, She Rides, In Defence, Disaster Strikes, Phobia, Common Enemy, Agitator, Trace The Veins, Still Alive, Antiseptic, Death Mold, Skelptarsis, Star Fucking Hipsters, Mouth Sewn Shut, Opposition Rising, Embrace The Kill, (A) Truth, Wreak Havoc, Destroy Everything, Ray Grady’s, and a ton more. I’ve only played in two bands, one in Ohio that didn’t do much called Counterfeit America, and the C-Squat house band Dog That Bites Everyone. Through Dog That Bites Everyone I got to have the honor of playing with Steve Lake (Zounds) and the most amazing show I will ever play, opening for Steve Ignorants Last Supper Tour (I still owe so much thanks to my friend Joanne who booked that show and let us play).
I still go on the road with bands because I’m lucky enough to have a job that currently lets me, and I’m still involved with helping out bands and hope to be in one again soon. Anyone reading this in New York that’s interested in starting a new project, feel free to hit me up. Or just to write and say this blog sucks. Just e-mail me at PornoDave666@yahoo.com
I’ll leave it there for now. I’ll try to write again soon, at least to post the Common Enemy tour dates in case any PE followers want to come out to the shows and talk or share a beer. It’s 11:12 now, so I’m gonna enjoy the subtle panic of thinking in the back of my head that maybe, just maybe, the world might end in the next 48 minutes.
Profane Existence 