I Just Want To Stay In The Garage All Night
by: Matthew Hundley
This is a story about Garageland, to echo lyrics from the Clash. It's about a scene, a music, a mindset. It's about the a culture established by the Sex Pistols, 7 seconds, the Misfits and Black Flag.
This story is about a certain craving. [“gimme gimme gimme – gimme some more.”] For community. For a “scene.” For release. [“gimme gimme gimme – don’t ask what for.”] For an environment where there is no authority. No watchdogs. Where you can be free to be yourself. Locally, there is an environment that offers this chance to let go and become entrenched in music, a place called FSU garage.
Tonight I am “the guy doing the interview.” I show up and take a seat at the FSU house (which is adjacent to the garage). Bad Business, a band from New York is hanging in the living room with some of the house guys watching “Problem Child.” They played a basement show in Minneapolis last night. They’ll play at the “haunted” art center in Saint Louis tomorrow. [“The dude that runs it is this college prof who teaches ethnomusicology or something. Used to be into punk rock 20 ears ago and now he’s getting back into it.” ] Then Louisville and then back to Chicago. But tonight they are here. Playing a garage full of teens and twenty-somethings.
Here is much like anywhere. You show up in the dark. Hang out with some like-minded high school and college people. You’ve got a place to crash. Pizza. Money for gas and maybe some to spare. “Here” is a basement, a garage, a VFW hall, a small club. You’re being booked because you like to play fast. You’re here because others want to tap into your energy for a moment. To get caught up in the roaring vocals and the constant thrashing of chords and toms and cymbals. For the normally pensive, this is a chance to let out your aggressions and forget.
I have not forgotten. House parties, garages, church basements, the U-Haul, Deans Parkade Lounge, the Boat House. Drednex, Hollowmen, Social Unrest, MIA, Descendents, Black Flag. Getting caught up in the music. Thrashing my body on the dance floor. The regular faces of the local “scene.” But this is not my story. This is the story of kids today. Getting together in a garage where mattresses serve as wardens to keep sound from escaping into the surrounding residential neighborhood.
This is about bands like Modern Life Is War. It’s about not having to answer to anyone. [“All of those times, we tried our very hardest, and our best was never good enough for them. Well, those days have come to and end, my friends. We no longer answer to anyone and this new life is ours to live. -- from “Late Bloomers,” by Modern Life is War.] It’s about seeking clarity among the chaos of mass media. [“Force fed from the outside. We live a crowded life it seems. Fragile minds in a fast paced world. Can't compute the images coming through the screens. Can't seem to bridge the gap between AM reality and late night schemes.” From “Clarity,” by MLIW.]. And it’s about doing your own thing. [“Focus on the pain and find the strength to make your own reality.” From “Self Preservation,” by MLIW.]
What I’m catching from my conversations tonight is that there is this network of people countrywide now. They are for a common cause – punk rock, if that’s truly the right term for it. Let’s just say it’s for the music. They are networking by e-mail and setting up tours. Hawking their own wares, typically t-shirts, 7” vinyl and CDs. And having a blast.
”I’m a photography and philosophy major from Providence, Rhode Island, “ Shawn, the lead singer from Bad Business tells me as he paints seagulls on pieces of paper and creates sketch books of animal drawings. He’s never been to the Midwest so this is new territory, new faces for him. He’s hoping to get the Art Institute when the band hits Chicago Friday.
”You know the clubs are fine,” Jeff of Modern Life is War tells me. “But you never know what you’ll get paid. The promoter is looking at the bottom line. You’re lucky to get a gaze from the guys at the bar. It’s just not the same.”
So they connect with others who really want to have them come to their town, and likewise the guys at the FSU house book bands that they like. Bands they want to hear and meet. Sometimes these are bands they ended up on a bill with somewhere else, or met while traveling. And so there is a reciprocity of actions that takes place and relationships develop across this great land of ours (okay I’m getting sappy about the punk rock ethos here).
So what’s this all about then. It’s about loving music. It’s about wanting to be free. Free to have fun. Free to get loud. Free to express yourself. Free to let off some steam. You do this by playing, watching, dancing, thrashing, bobbing your head, sweating, yelling and letting off steam. And you do this in an environment where you are comfortable. Where you know many of the people (at least by face) that are around you.
Tonight I was one of those faces. “The guy doing the interview.” Checking in on a scene where I once treaded and glad to see the scene is alive. Which brings up another question. As the FSU crew graduate from college and move on Iaskk "Will there be another batch of recruits to take their place?" I guess we’ll have to check back and see 6 months from now. If the demand is there, the punk rock will live on in Garageland.
**Click for photography from 10.24.03 FSU show**
Garageland
(Strummer/Jones)
Back in the garage with my B.S. detector
Carbon monoxide making sure it's effective
People ringing up making offers for my life
But I just wanna stay in the garage all night
We're a garage band
We come from garageland
Meanwhile things are hotting up in the West End alright
Contracts in the offices, groups in the night
My bummin' slummin' friends have all got new boots
An' someone just asked me if the group would wear suits
I don't wanna hear about what the rich are doing
I don't wanna go to where the rich are going
They think they're so clever, they think they're so right
But the truth is only known by guttersnipes
There's twenty-two singers! But one microphone
Back in the garage
There's five guitar players! But one guitar
Back in the garage
Complaints! Complaints! Wot an old bag
Back in the garage
All night
Posted: December 28, 2003  
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