What really got me into hardcore...

When I first started getting into hardcore, there wasn't much of a scene in Rochester. Moment of Truth had just broken up and Innerface was in their final days. There was the occasional show here and there, but I was mostly traveling to Buffalo and Syracuse for shows. I had been into the local scene and had been listening to punk rock since the end of 8th grade with my friend Ben. I was quickly realizing that while punk rock had a great message, it lacked the aggression I was looking for at the time. I was a pissed off 15 year old straight edge kid and I needed a good soundtrack for all of this hatred! I was somewhat familiar with hardcore at the time, as I had seen Moment of Truth and Innerface a couple times. I was even listening to Gorilla Biscuits, Minor Threat, Agnostic Front, and Youth of Today pretty heavily by now. The only real live exposure I had in 95 and 96 though was those Moment of Truth shows. Now I am not trying to rag on Moment of Truth, but I always kind of knew there was more to this whole hardcore scene. I found a lot of that on November 3, 1996.

I was a pretty clueless teenager at the time. I did not know much about hardcore or any of the bands that were playing on the show this Sunday afternoon. I tried to act like I did throughout the show anyway though.

Anal Muscle Rips/Shodokan opened up this show. This was a sign of what was to come in Rochester over the next couple years. I wonder how a band like this would go over here now. They were one of the first improv grindcore bands to incorporate mosh parts. And they were usually damn entertaining to boot.

The next two bands are kind of a blur to me. As I mentioned a couple times, I was a young buck then and a lot of these bands were still new to me. Plus, I am pretty sure I caught a Steve Titus forearm to the head at this show. That is something I miss about hardcore, it was such a small community that you could remember seeing random people from show to show. After a while, you would ordinarily become friends with said people just based on common interests alone. Anyway, I guess End of Line was a side band of OKD, although I never heard of them again after this show. UNION I would see again a couple more times. On top of that, their drummer Mike Jeffers is still actively playing in Buffalo hardcore bands (The March is playing here on my birthday). This band had some good songs and some bad, a product of the mid-90s hardcore scene no doubt.

Pennsylvania emo band Autumn was up next. I bought a copy of Open Season fanzine at this show. I sat down and read most of this fanzine throughout Autumn's set. What a shitty band. I am open to having other bands of other genres play shows and all, but bands like this would bore me for years to come.

Next up was One King Down. I really never got too into this band. At least once or twice, I jokingly sang along to their intro but that was for nothing more than a laugh. This band did seem to have a pretty big following for some reason though. They would always get a good response whenever they played Syracuse. The space that this show was at was a small loft on the second or third floor of St. Paul Street. Unfortunately, during OKD's set the kids got a little bit too excited with the mosh and an amp broke one of the windows. One King Down would finish playing and kids didn't go quite as nutty for the rest of their set.

Despair was supposed to play next and did not get to because of the broken window. Scott Vogel was trying to get them to let his band set up in the freight elevator, but it didn't end up happening. I got to see Despair again on New Year's Eve the following month in Buffalo with Battery so I didn't end up caring all that much.

None of these bands have become my favorite hardcore bands over time or anything like that, but I can thank them all for helping light a fire under me that would one day help create Enterprise Hardcore. Everything else I would get into over the years- especially including veganism and DIY Hardcore shows- can be traced back to this night. While hardcore has grown in popularity in recent years, the true scene will always remain alive through underground shows like this.