Flint Local 432

FLINT FRIENDS: We’re hosting 2 shows at @flintlocal432 this spring!

See Somos live at @flintlocal432 on March 19!

by Daniel Jason Wonacott

When I was fourteen, I attended my first show at the SOMA in San Diego. I went with my best friend Jeff, who had introduced me to punk rock. The show was Face To Face and Less Than Jake. I did not know what to expect. I was pretty excited and frightened to go to my first punk rock show and finally see the bands I had been listening to at home.

Our second entry in On a Safer Scene is with Allison Weiss. You can purchase Allison’s latest record New Love here. We want to thank Allison for taking time to contribute to this series and to a safer scene for everyone.

SICK NEW SHOW ALERT: Koji and Grey Gordon, Sat Nov 21 @ Flint Local 432!

7PM | $7 | 11.21.15 | 124 W. 1st St., Flint MI

Koji (Harrisburg, PA | No Sleep / Run For Cover Records)

Grey Gordon (Fort Wayne, IN | No Sleep Records)

She the Spektor (Flint, MI)

Tim Korenich (Toledo, OH)

Unison (Flint, MI | Stephen of Braidedveins, ex-Empty Orchestra)

FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1071029519574863/

SICK NEW SHOW ALERT: Koji and Grey Gordon, Sat Nov 21 @ Flint Local 432!

7PM | $7 | 11.21.15 | 124 W. 1st St., Flint MI

Koji (Harrisburg, PA | No Sleep / Run For Cover Records)

Grey Gordon (Fort Wayne, IN | No Sleep Records)

She the Spektor (Flint, MI)

Tim Korenich (Toledo, OH)

Unison (Flint, MI | Stephen of Braidedveins, ex-Empty Orchestra)

FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1071029519574863/

I don’t have anything to do for a while so i’m just going to compile a list of female-fronted bands in various ~heavy~ genres (punk, grind, pv, fastcore.) Feel free to reblog and add your own.

Blaster Master - three piece fastcore/powerviolence from los angeles

Bleed the Pigs- black-power violence from tenessee 

Bloodraised- grindcore from italy, (sounds like 90′s american grind)

Catholic Spit- death rock//death punk from Ventura, CA

Circle takes the Square- experimental/screamo with dual male/female vocals from Brunswick, Georgia

Contravene- anarcho/peace punk with dual male/female vocals from phoenix, arizona

Despise You- west coast powerviolence from inglewood, dual vocal style

The Devotchkas- four piece all female street punk from long island, NY

Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation- four piece all female japanese grindcore 

G.L.O.S.S.- transfemme hardcore punk from olympia

Generacion Suicida - raw latinx punk, from LA, dual vocals

Greedy Mouth- powerviolence from texas, self described as a band that “sounds like: Romantic Gorilla, Fuck On The Beach, Charles Bronson” and made for “Fools on a Quest for Weed, Booze, Vegan Food and Bad Movies

Happy Pill Trauma- 2 piece punky grindcore from los angeles, valerie is tough as shit and my favorite song “beheaded rapist” isn’t on their reverbnation anymore. luckily i have it on mp3 

Iskra- blackened crust from victoria, british columbia, lyrical content includes social issues like racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.

Kittie- all-girl four piece metal from canada

Melt-Banana- wild experimental japanese electronic grindcore… exactly

Mind of Asian- four piece fastcore thrashy powerviolence from japan

Mortuary Hacking Session- ALL FEMALE GOREGRIND!!!! so fucking brutal i rarely see women in goregrind let alone an all girl band

O’ God the White Whale- trans woman fronted screamo from north carolina

Pig DNA- brutal punk from Fresno

Purulent Jacuzzi- groovy death metal//gorgrind from Moscow

Rape Revenge- feminist powerviolence from Alberta

Sete Star Sept- two piece japanese noisey grindcore that will fucken tear u apart

Shit Brains- two piece grind/fastcore from los angeles, members of blaster master

Smelling Fetid Corpse (SxFxCx)- grindcore from south america, couldn’t find their exact location

Whorehouse of Representatives- feminist anarcho punk from seattle

Witch Hunt- 3 piece, (2 of which are women) punk from New Jersey//Philly. All three members do vocals. 

Last night I went to a benefit show for a DIY, all inclusive space known as The Firehouse in Worcester, Massachusetts to see The Hotelier. I spent most of the night on the back porch, enveloping a fire pit and feeling more at home with a bunch of strangers than I had felt in my actual hometown for awhile. I felt an overwhelming sense of camaraderie in the atmosphere, and felt it even more when the bassist of Prawn/Sorority Noise came over and introduced himself to me because he noticed my Topshelf Records shirt. I suffer from moderate social anxiety and aside from the three people I was talking to, knew no one there personally. Yet Ryan and I talked for about twenty minutes, mostly about the scene in Boston and how the two of us could work together to get some new things started because honestly, as individuals, measuring a group of people at a show compared to your one self may make it seem like the scene is huge, when in reality it is anything but. We are a minute community spawned specifically to create a welcoming, safe space for anyone who needed a place to be.

I noticed at the beginning of their set the almost equal ratio of genders present, something I hadn’t seen as of late at any show I had been to. It felt unreal. It felt deserved. People like myself and members of The Hotelier have been striving for a more inclusive community since we joined it, yet not even three songs into their set Christian had to pause to explain what a safe space was and how to act in one due to a few attendees’ aggressiveness. His comments were met with a waves of claps, followed by a single “boo”, to which he replied, “how does it feel to know that almost everyone in the room agreed with what I said and you’re just alienating yourself by disagreeing”.

Even with him asserting his stance on show behavior, later on in the night a fight broke out directly behind me. Immediately the band stopped playing and multiple members in the crowd, including one of the owners, attempted to step in and break up the fight. They were unsuccessful, and two people continued to throw punches and slam each other against the wall by the exit which forced all of the members of The Hotelier to drop their instruments and forcibly remove them from the venue. Myself and everyone left in the room were scared, confused, upset, and dissatisfied. Of all places for something of the sort to occur, why here? A benefit show for a safe space?

We never publicly made an announcement, but after the multiple events that have occurred in the scene in the past few months that put the people in the scene in danger, we’ve felt obligated to use our pedestal to try and inform and intervene. We’ve been working with a few close friends, mapping out segments, Skype interviews, and even podcasts on what we (and you) can do to help the scene. It’s necessary. It’s been going on forever, but sometimes it’s hard to relate to it on such a personal level until it happens two feet from you. I just personally wanted to thank everyone in the room that night who was there for the right reasons, and who took and stand and didn’t allow the continuance of such unruly, unacceptable behavior. Things are going to be changing very soon, and it’s because of you and your help.