Wednesday, December 3, 2008

An A7 reunion


Tony Rettman has the story in the Voice on the A7 reunion show taking place Saturday at the Knitting Factory.

Located on the corner of Avenue A and East 7th up until its demise in 1984, A7 was — and still is — a place of legend. Agnostic Front, Heart Attack, the Beastie Boys, Urban Waste, the Abused, the Misguided, and countless others regaled the moshing masses at this shoebox-sized spot long before CBGB ever accepted them. And now that the entire Lower East Side is a fuckin' romper room, it's time for a reunion.

Co-promoter Bryan Swirsky considers Saturday night's event (subtitled "One Big Crowd," after an early NYHC compilation) both a celebration and a tribute to the "action-first" style prominent in the East Village underground at the time. "These weren't soft-handed kids from Iowa putting on a show in the most horrible neighborhood in Brooklyn to call it 'authentic,' " he says. "These were runaways involved in bad activity mixing with hardcore punks who were also rubbing elbows with curious suburban kids coming in for the shows. There was no irony dripping from the fangs of cultural vampires. There was no time to be a culture vampire back then. You just did it."
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5 comments:

  1. JamesChanceOfficialDecember 3, 2008 at 9:10 AM

    Are you going to this show? I'm playing bass with a band called Borscht.

    ReplyDelete
  2. esquared™December 3, 2008 at 9:50 AM

    I am so there. Thanks for this info. I'm hoping there won't be a surprise appearance by the Jonas Brothers or Hanna Montana.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 3, 2008 at 10:29 AM

    I saw the Borscht photo on your site...Do you know what time you're on...? I'm going to do my best to wiggle out of a stupid holiday commitment that I found myself in...

    ReplyDelete
  4. JamesChanceOfficialDecember 3, 2008 at 10:49 AM

    We're playing somewhere between 7:45 and 8:05, or possibly later depending on what pans out with the other bands over the next few days.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousDecember 8, 2008 at 7:38 PM

    This was a great show sold out and people waiting outside trying to get in. Amazing show im still recovering! It was like going home to 82 .... The Abused!!!! Killed it one of the best hardcore band ever!! The kids did'nt know much of their stuff but wow just like in the day... Antidote di ok ecept they looked like Run DMC ... UW were just like in the day also drunk lol. Wendy Eager and Johnny Stiff and RY it was and still is nuts video has been posted I hope some put up more Abused video they were sick! http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=a7+one+big+crowd&search_type=&aq=f

    ReplyDelete

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