Oh man, 1995...what a year. I graduated high school, about to embark on the (failed) experiment known as college, and went to so many shows it was ridiculous.
I remember buying the CIV "punk haircuts" s/t seven inch at tower records on third and broadway. Picking it up out of the bin the block letters drew me in, the "hey i know that sign...its over by st marks at the barber school" recognition. Then i turned it over and saw the REV star on the back and just grabbed it. I mean, cmon...its on REV, the mark of quality, it has to be good. I went home and listened to it and was blown away...the b-side was even better, i mean lou from sick of it all was on there. I did not have the hardcore history down at the time, i did not know that this was essentially the gorilla biscuits. I would head back to school and tell everyone of this record. I would bring it over to people's houses, i would make tapes. I remember when my friends called me to tell me that there was a video on mtv for "cant wait one minute more", i could not believe it.
Suffice it to say, i was super high on the band CIV, still am actually...saw them last year, right up front singing along. This show was not the first time i got to see them...that is the problem with this jump in shows, i saw them the May before, and hopefully writing that entry soon. This show at Coney Island High, was only the second time i got to see them, and much smaller than limelight...and now they had a video and all my preaching lead to a really large group of people heading to see them from my school/circle of friends. (i remember someone's girlfriend x'ing up cause she thought it was cool...i berated her til she washed it off.)
The flyer for the show, which the internet is failing me on finding, was the Thing from the fantastic four just punching, and of course it was on orange paper. Just 2 bands at coney was almost unheard of. I knew we had to get there early, the opening band we had never heard of, texas is the reason, needed to be seen. Now i had no knowledge of the band or what they sounded like, but i had gotten a flyer for a show in jersey back in June that they were on Snapcase/mouthpiece/bloodlet/the doughnuts/texas is the reason, plus the flyer mentioned that it was ex members of shelter and 108. I KNEW i had to see them, i KNEW EXACTLY what they were going to sound like.
I have never been more wrong in my life.
I have never been so happy to be so wrong in my life.
I can't tell you the setlist. I can't tell you how long they played. I can tell you that i stood there with my jaw on the floor like i had just been struck by a bolt. I can tell you that i felt every note and every drum hit in my bones. I can tell you my life changed that night. And the band i was there to see, that i was super crazy about, was still going to play AFTER THAT!
CIV came on and fully entertained the crowd. The stage diving and mosh pits were back. The crowd much more into it, much less confused than they were during titr's set. No one was jaded and considered "can't wait one minute more" to be representative of selling out, or being indicative of the scene going mainstream or anything. Everyone sang along and had a good time. It was hot, it was sweaty, it was fantastic.
That night cemented the already pretty goddamn solid commitment i had to new york, the punk scene, the hardcore scene, the emo scene whatever you want to call it now...it was all hardcore then, to the point that tonight July 22, 2013, eighteen years later, and entire lifetime later, mathematically, i will be seeing Texas is the Reason for more than likely the last time, in a room about the same size as that first time, and my passion and love for those songs has only grown from that time. They are a part of me, and i will always have them in my heart, and on my hard drive, and on a variety of colored vinyl...
