Punk Rock Writing

Josh Kiley, the former lead singer of 1980s straight edge band Deadlift , now lives the quiet life of family man in Ayer, Massachusetts. The once formidable frontman has traded hitting punks in the pit with a taped up hockey stick for soccer games and trips to Home Depot to gather annuals and perennials. He still sports an 'X' on his shoulder with the words “Clean till Death” etched below in a Celtic script. However, this weekend at a soccer game, some parents thought they saw something amiss. The sprawling acres of soccer fields sit next to the Wachusett Brewery and during halftime a group of males that Josh calls “Dads Who Drink” disappear and leave Josh alone to educate the wives and kids on the virtues of abstinence and clean living. On this day, Josh noticed the dads were late returning and could possibly miss the start of half two. He announced he was walking over to the brewery to retrieve these wayward dads. Playing the hero came naturally to Josh. It was time for

We all know hardcore bands are tough as nails but this story takes the cake or at least the pink frosting demo. 1980s hardcore legends The Webelos whose trademark is to play shows in torn and tattered boy scout uniforms have reunited to support the 30th anniversary of their breakthrough album 'Where Eagle Scouts Dare'.  The Webelos consist of original front man Dave Decadence on vocals and three kids in their late teens on guitar, bass, and drums, respectively. Dave has repeatedly denied rumors that the new bandmates are his three sons, Mike, Robbie, and Chip despite the striking resemblance. "They are session musicians and fans of the band who just happen to be teenagers," he told The People's Fanzine writer Donny Oswald.     At a recent Webelos show in Detroit at The Annex, local scouts Troop 182 crashed the pit in pristine uniforms and mixed it up with the band's fans in their torn scout garb. Oswald who was covering the show for his fanzine described

In the 80s in Waltham, I could count on two hands the number of kids who liked punk rock and hardcore music. Three of the kids were friends of mine and the other half dozen or so were older kids who worked at Waltham Hospital and hung out at Lena's Pizza. They wore punk rock garb and one of them had orange hair. They seemed more into the Sex Pistols classic punk than the hardcore revolution that was emerging in Boston on the heels of 'This Is Boston Not LA'. This revolution did not extend to Waltham and my friends and I had to go into the city for the music we liked best to places like Newbury Comics and then sneak the forbidden fruit back into Waltham. I would say 99% of the citizens who were into music listened to album rock or disco and both groups belittled me for listening to punk and hardcore. While I liked some metal and hard rock like Aerosmith and AC/DC at the time, I hated pop music, top 40, and disco. KISS 108 was popular with the jocks and student coun

In the early 80s, I discovered a vault of unchartered music via college radio on the side left of the dial.    On Friday nights in Waltham from the perch of my bedroom, I listened to Boston College radio WZBC and The Hardcore Hour with Dave Smalley and Curtis Casella. They played all the latest songs from established and new punk rock bands. I had to keep the music very low because my Dad deplored punk rock and would kick the door open if I ever blasted it. Once I had made the tape, I would crank it up in my headphones or car stereo. The weekly radio show was my passport to music and discovery of countless bands like The Necros, Husker Du, and all the Boston bands like SSD, DYS, F.U.s, and Jerry's Kids. I recorded each show on a TDK cassette and sent or sometimes hand delivered them to my cousin Johnny D in Newport, RI. Johnny then shared the latest and greatest hardcore stylings with his friends. Sometimes a crowd would be waiting at the Davis house for me or the tapes