Who’d have thought those guys could be so fond of Christmas music?

The second incident listed gets a lot of attention from commenters, and perhaps deservedly so, but the first one listed honestly disturbed me a lot more. Letting out aggression at shows is good–better there than elsewhere–but maliciousness and targeting isn’t. I stood just a couple of feet from the whole thing (the first incident mentioned) and can tell you there was no cause or provocation at all. The crowd moved well out of the way, and these dancers went after the crowd in order to force a collision. When one of the crowd pushed them back into the middle–not a shove, and nothing out of the ordinary at a show–they went specifically after him. They ruined one showgoer’s night for no reason–not the first time I had heard of this happening, but the first time I had witnessed it–and that’s simply an intolerable offense.

What I don’t think is great is you not taking both sides of the story into consideration before posting this “rant”.

You see, I’m the vocalist of a local hardcore/punk band called “Brainstorm.” Yes, we know it’s an awful name and it’s also the name of a European metal band… Truth is, this band started as a joke.
That aside, we were the band playing when there was a mix up between one of the “dancers” and the bartender. We are not a nice sounding band. We are a very agressive, emotion fueled band. We have always supported kids being aggressive in response to our music. It’s just something that us growing up in this scene have found as a way to deal with our aggression.

That show was going beautifully. The first two bands to open, Violent End and Ghost of Augustine, ruled! After us, local heroes Only The Brave were to take the stage, followed by Creatures, a Hardcore/Metal band from California, and one of the best damn bands around right now if you ask me. Then it was out turn to take the stage. That night was supposed to be our EP release show, so we were definitely excited. Before we began our set, which happened to only be about 10 minutes long, we told the crowd that we wanted to see some action, and if there was enough we would be giving out some EP’s for free. They responded well to this challenge with some stagediving and some “moshing”.

We were playing well and having a good time, when I looked out into the crowd I saw an older man grab a 15 year old kid by the throat. Now I know this kid quite well, being that his older brother is the guitar player for our band, and I know he would never have intentionally hit that man. Then I realized who the man grabbing the kid was. It was the Billiard’s bartender. Well they shut down our PA system and our guitarist ran over and pulled the two apart. The room quickly cleared out and kids rushed outside into the streets where they were met by police. A few kids were put into cuffs for different reasons, most not pertaining to the actual show.

My question is why was that bartender in the room? And why was he so close to the area where the kids were dancing?

You see, it’s not that we don’t have respect for anyone/anything, but when you go to a Hardcore show, you should really know what you’re getting into. Don’t enjoy getting bumped into? Don’t stand so close to “the pit.” I know most of the kids that go to these shows, and I know that none of them are out there to hurt anyone or break anything. They are just letting the music take control of them. And isn’t that the way it should be?

I’m not trying to say we’re perfect, I’m just trying to defend my own way of life. We are an outcast group, by society because of our tattoos and piercings, and more recently by our own hometown music scene, because people refuse to get both sides of the story.