Kill this scene and bring the old one back

As you may know, but if you're younger you probably don't, the Cumberland area used to have a pretty kickass music scene. And with the closing of Ahern's, The Storm Cellar, and every other venue, it died. However, the kids still stuck around...or became scene kids and then influenced the younger kids to become scene kids that don't even know what the "scene" is about. That's why this scene is dead, but we still need to exterminate the zombies. At this point, it's like fuck it. Just give us ANY kind of music (besides these fucking cover bands and Queen City Funk and Soul). Even the hardcore bands that stole the scene from the other (I think BETTER) genres are now gone. So we have like 3 or 4 underground bands that do nothing except sometimes write songs and play for their friends (I Forget and The Upstairs being two of them). The Romney scene died within a year since all of the Romney-based bands broke up and the only bands left are like pending metal bands (pending meaning that they're writing songs and contemplating making an appearance one day).

Anyway, so all of the punk bands died. The Sirs, ScReW-b@lZ, Grenade Brigade, and whoever else there was. They're all gone now. They're not even GONE, they just don't play anymore because there is nowhere TO play. The fact that I Forget is together is kind of stupid in an area like this, but we do what we do to get by. I wish it was still one of those show-every-weekened areas. Hell, there used to be two or three shows every weekend and everyone would go. Except for me, being the bad scene kid I am, because something would always stop me from getting to Ahern's. I did, however, go to the Storm Cellar 3 or 4 times to watch some local and touring acts.

And I don't even think it's just here. Apparently lots of places are losing their scene. (When saying "scene" here, I don't mean the scenesters and their arms race.) That isn't cool. Martinsburg still has a punk scene going I think, though. The area has Disclosure and The Vankills and there's A Squir Gun Drive By, Sin City Gamblers, The Undercover Saints, and probably a bunch more. We're trying to jump into that shit, but we're also trying to get something going here back home. Yeah, The ScReW-b@lZ are reuniting and we're opening for them. It's gonna be fucking badass. What day is that? I think February 27th. It's gonna be fuckin' awesome. You see, we've never really been THAT punk before, but the punk scene eats us up for some reason. Maybe it's because we KNOW punk. I know my punk, by god. I can't wait for the day someone calls me a poseur and I get to kick his/her ass. Anyway, the punk scene is amazing if you haven't witnessed it first hand. There's kind of an arms race on who's more punk, but no one really cares if you're not very punk as long as you don't wear a "Use your brain; vote McCain" shirt. To a NOFX/D4 show! We should have lynched that guy just for being a dumbass.

I really don't know where I'm going with this whole post, but I'll take it somewhere. This is my message to YOU: when there is a show, you fucking do everything in your power to get to it and watch every band that plays. We need to kill the fucking scene kids (I thought I saw David Irwin about 4 times the other night at Walmart, but it was just other boys and girls that looked just like him) and then show what's left of them what a real show is. We need our punk army to punch them in the face every time they try to bring their drama to a show, too. Shows are not the place! This is your show behaviour lesson for the day! Go to shows, fucking mosh, fucking sing, fucking dance, fucking fuck shit up (but don't break things that will make the venue have to close or the show end or I'll personally dismember body parts from you). When I Forget plays up in Frostburg with Anarcoustic, The Undercover Saints, and ScReW-b@lZ, I expect you to fucking be there singing and dancing along even if you really don't know what's going on. I'll fucking choreograph a dance to each I Forget song and post a video of how it's done on Youtube with the song lyrics if I have to to get you to dance and sing at our shows. Oh and for the love of anything, clap, cheer, whistle, eat shit, fire a gun, or do anything that shows that you appreciated the song after one is done being played. There's nothing worse than silence after a band rips through a song. Even if they completely soil themselves by sucking, give them encouragement to play the next song better. The scene is about sticking together and fighting for a cause, not about tearing each other apart and seeing who can have choppier hair and tighter pants. You know what a battle for choppier hair and tighter pants results in? Fat, bald girls in skinny jeans. Not a pretty sight or thought.

I might sound like Teddy Roosevelt, but the scene doesn't need to be destroyed, it just needs to be regulated. They got it all, but they've got it all wrong in the words of The Hives. So go fuckin' rock your ass off to some local music whenever the chance arises. The music scene's survival depends on your attendance. Don't fuck it up and let it die again if it comes back.

love,
Kyle