I had always heard about this incident and was bummed that I missed it. I always love viewing a good debacle. I attended a bunch of shows at Middlesex while I still lived in Harrisburg and they were pretty legendary from this era. Attendance was great, bands were amzing, just an all around hardcore fucking utopia.
Obviously kids are more than welcome to voice their opinion if you have different ideas etc... but it's another thing to throw shit on someone, fuck with their equipment, and to mock them right up in their face. I mean you can't really be too surprised if you get some sort of intense (sometimes violent) reaction for doing something like that. I mean can you honestly be shocked or surprised if you're fucking with someone and pushing buttons that they stand up for themselves? Anyway, that's just my opinion. And really this was NJ in the mid 90s, fights at shows weren't really an unheard of thing haha. Enjoy.
On a side note, the lyrics to "Forged in the Flames" still ring truer today than they did 15 years ago. - ems
Description from the person who posted this video:
"ok here we go: earth crisis played middlesex, NJ in 96 and funny stuff happened.
i'll break it down so you can skip to the good parts.
1st they play forged in flames and nothing happens.
then they play inherit the wasteland and around 2:30 is when beer cans and yogurt get thrown on stage...cant really see much though and they keep playing the song.
around 4:40 karl gives a little speech and then they play forced march.
at right around the 6 min mark is when someone jumps on stage in a fur coat and all hell breaks loose. sadly...the fur coat is not caught on film but the aftermath is.
then they eventually play the song. (with guitars cutting out due to someone unplugging stuff under the stage)"
14 comments:
I was definitely at this show. It was pretty crazy. I was up front and when Karl through the fur coat guy off stage, his elbow hit me in the eye... HARD!! I was seriously tearing up for about 10 minutes afterwards and couldn't see for a while.
Wow. Great find on this one. The show was great - I'm not one for violence, but it was definitely memorable.
earth crisis..... terrible band.
Haha, funny and lame! But at least back then people did shit, now the same person would probably just troll on a message board.
oh yes, Earth Crisis. That was Bill Florio's favourite band in the 90's.
I missed this show, but it was funny how stories of it blazed through the hardcore grapevine and the mid 90's was before the Inter-highway really kicked into full use.
That said, I'm sure by the time the story made its way from NJ to the West coast it had Karl pulling a sawed off shotgun on some kid and the rest of the guys wearing SWAT gear while tossing tear gas canisters into the crowd.
Best hardcore show fight ever was Strife @ The Chameleon Club in like '96. I think the entire crowd as well as the band beat the shit out of the bouncers - good stuff.
John, I was definitely at the STRIFE debacle as well. I remember they kept turning the lights off during the fight which is a real genius idea. I just remember seeing my one friend on top of the crowd working and crawling his way towards the bouncers all the while reaching into his sock trying to pull out his blade. When the lights went back off I just put my back against the wall and covered my face. Crazy shit man, crazy shit indeed.
Haha, funny and lame! But at least back then people did shit, now the same person would probably just troll on a message board.
Quoted for truth. The interwebs have just about destroyed this balls out behaviour - instead everyone retreats to their keyboards...
I was at that Strife show. I started the night at the front of the stage for Hard College's set, and luckily moved to the back of the room for Strife. That was crazy. I remember Jeremy Weiss from CI Records jumped up on stage and start yelling at everyone.
Its hard to feel sorry for Earth Crisis, they helped to convince a generation of straight edge kids that being a revolutionary was little more than tough-guy posturing, ripped off metal riffs, crypto-fascist obsessions with "purity" and a healthy dose of misogyny and heterosexism. This is line is actually in "Firestorm" (if I remember correctly): 'let the round-ups begin.' Stop and think about that. Is the sentiment in that line something that you can honestly support? Can you look at yourself in the mirror and say "let the round ups begin"?
That being said, the Courage Crew (from Dayton, OH) had fights like that at almost every show--went there once with Birthright, two metal heads were moshing it up to one of the opening bands and the CC kids went at them with elbows and kicks. It ended up getting taken outside and apparently the two kids got a beating from several very big guys. I stayed inside and watched the band. I'm glad I did.
I was at this show and think the fur coat guy was Pat Tutek, a NJ regular. I was past my vegan sxe years at this point, but I remember sitting with Karl after everything simmered down. He was truly dumbfounded that someone would interrupt their set with that sort of stunt.
Wasn't at that show but was at many during the era. I think it was Pat Tutek who did that. Sounds right. I remember seeing Earth Crisis at Wetlands at the time just for the novelty of it and was disappointed when they didn't jump behind the bar and smash all the liquor bottles as we had hoped. Fucking posers.
The way I heard it, the coat Tutek was wearing was faux fur.
To set the record straight (no pun intended) Yes, the fur coat was worn by Pat Tutek, who was at this point Straightedge and veg (who knows if he still is, pretty much everyone isn't anymore from that time), but was kind of a (vegi)wiener who wanted attention from the regulators at Middlesex, Jeff Dagastino, Floorpunch, Brett Beach, and the like. All those dudes were appalled that EC was playing their zone. Granted I think a band like EC with all the idolization they were getting coulda stand a bit of criticism, but this video turned into the biggest homo-erotic fantasy I could have ever imagined. I am still vegan and straightedge, so.... Maybe it all meant nothing? Hmmm. I need to eat something. I am hungry.
Oh... And yes the coat was fake.
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