North Carolina hardcore

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The North Carolina hardcore scene is one of the fastest growing hardcore scenes in the United States of America, ^{[citation needed]} and the site of the original Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill scene.

Contents 1 Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill 2 Greensboro/Winston-Salem 3 Charlotte/Gastonia/Rock Hill 4 910 area code 5 Down East, Greenville, 252 area code

[edit] Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill

The Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina was the site of the largest hardcore punk scene in the South. Based around the metro area's several universities, the Raleigh/Durham scene was a backlash against the conservative values of the surrounding region.

Most area shows took place at Raleigh's The Pier, and Chapel Hill's The Cat's Cradle.

The biggest Raleigh band was Corrosion of Conformity. Originally a hardcore group, CoC have become more metal oriented, often described as a "Southern-fried Black Sabbath." This change' however' may have actually strengthened the North Carolina scene, by emphasizing the scene's southern origins that make it different than other punk/hardcore scenes. The band Antiseen also exemplify that aspect.

Other bands were Stillborn Christians, Th' Cigaretz, No Rock Stars and Colcor. The Ugly Americans from Durham were another pivotal group, often associated with CoC. The Ugly Americans's frontman, Simon Bob Sinister, provided lead vocals on CoC's 1987 12"ep, Technocracy. Also at that time in Chapel Hill was A Number of Things which released an album on NoCore/Fartblossom called "Toasterhead".

Smaller scenes existed outside the Triangle in Winston-Salem; home to Cat Fight, Ill Gotten Gains and Subculture, as well as Bloodmobile, who hailed from Statesville. Many of these smaller scenes were kept alive by the aforementioned C.O.C. through a show exchange system, wherein C.O.C. would invite Subculture to play a houseparty in Raleigh with Subculture returning the favor by hosting C.O.C. at Pockets Deli in Winston.

These scenes were important in that they paved the way for the lively indie rock scene that took place in the early 1990s in areas like Chapel Hill.

Previously in the Durham-Chapel Hill areas, during the late 80's, there were numerous hardcore, punk, and thrash bands. These bands included: Sound Justice, TimeBomb, The Consumed, Rights Reserved, Creeping Flesh, Celibate Commandos, and Strontium Dog. Teen clubs like the Street Scene on Franklin Street or the Duke Coffee House in Durham provided spaces for the local scene. Larger touring bands played places like The Brewery, which still books shows. Smaller scenes, like Greensboro, were host to the likes of Christian Deformities, Dead Drunk, and Stigmata.

Although the 1980's had been an exciting and creative period for Hardcore punk in the Triangle, by the early 1990's the genre had an eclipse with few hardcore bands remaining. Although divergent politically, groups like Patriot and the Polyester Cowboys continued to build on the spirit of hardcore punk. Patriot was and still is a skinhead band which combined Oi! and hardcore. Members of Patriot had previously played in hardcore groups like Time Bomb. The band was rooted in the skinhead gang the Chapel Hill Boot Crew (C.H.B.C.), and while being staunch American nationalists, Patriot and more broadly, C.H.B.C., hailed from the anti-racist skinhead tradition.

The group Polyester Cowboys (PC) was a short lived hardcore act that giged mostly in Raliegh. PC played in the vain of early hardcore ala 7 Seconds. The bands politics were generally libertarian and left-wing.

The Raleigh scene of the mid 1990s was very lively with Resol, Fragrant Cloud, Mold, Stewface, Gnosis, and larger touring bands playing house shows almost every weekend.

The scene has returned in recent years to the Triangle, with new bands such as Between the Buried and Me, Des Ark, and Glass Casket(from winston salem).

[edit] Greensboro/Winston-Salem

In the 1990s, the Triad area had a great punk/hardcore scene. Bands like Naked Angels, Blownapart Bastards, Unsettled, Squatweiler, Code 7 and Rentamerica brought socially conscious (if not downright revolutionary) punk to North Carolina. The hub of the Triad scene in the early 90s was Winston's New Start club, followed by Under The Bridge, Pablo's and The Werehouse. In the mid-90's this shifted to the Dick Street house in Greensboro, with Greensboro's Cedar Street house holding a lot of shows in the late 90s.

Recently, the scene has returned in North Carolina, and has expanded to include Greensboro, with a lesser but important presence in Winston-Salem. It may be argued that North Carolina's hardcore revival is focused more in Greensboro than the Triangle.

Greensboro and Winston-Salem have many popular venues, including Ace's Basement (now closed) (Greensboro), Ziggy's (Winston-Salem), The Flying Anvil (Greensboro), Greene Street (Greensboro), and The Somewhere Else Tavern (Greensboro), and have produced many notable hardcore and indie acts, including Bloodjinn, Alli With an I, Sullivan, and Monday in London. Once a month The Werehouse (Winston-Salem) hosts an evening of 5 to 15 hardcore bands under the name Vomitfest.

Greensboro is also home to prominent indie label Tribunal Records which currently host such underground hardcore favorites as killwhitneydead, The Taste of Blood, Swift, Crimson Spectre, and Rifles at Recess. Tribunal Records has formerly played host to successful bands such as Atreyu, From Autumn to Ashes, and PRAYER FOR CLEANSING.

Kernersville, a town on the outskirts of Greensboro, has become a hotspot, with Creations Skatepark. The skatepark puts on bigger local shows, and is in driving distance from Charlotte, and of course Greensboro / Winston-Salem, combining both collections of music fans. Job For A Cowboy and Animosity played a soldout show at Creations in June 2006, which keeps with the quickly growing tradition of Creations to hold insanely big lineups[1], sometimes at the last minute. Its very common to go to a show at Creations and see at least 6 bands. Bands that have played at Creations include Mortal Treason ( RIP ), War Of Ages, Kingston Falls, Becoming The Archetype, Alesana, My Children My Bride, Nor Am I, Far-Less, Paulson, The Commonwealth, Red Letter Philosophy, Your Name In Vain, Forget About the Stars, Down On Luck, Dead Ringer, Remember Eden, Zeteo, Perfection In Simplicity, The Alexander Set, The Last regard, Of Comatose Nightmares, With These Hands, Red With Vengeance, Call It Quits!, Since Remembered, Amalei, The Fire The Flood, Cambridge, Adira, East River Snorkeling, Let Me Smash, Zombie Gutz, Element Of One, Seven Year Glitch, Lilu Dallas, Bled Across Miles, My Hero Is Me, Philmont, Romeo Is Bleeding, One Big Plain, Farewell, The Verdict, Take A Hike, Buring Regret, Source Of Prosperity, Friday Never Counts, akissforjersey, Perils Of Reasoning, Lowercase, The Dog And Pony Show, Your Eyes My Dreams, CENTURY, The Divining, Onward To Olympas, For Hope And Revenge, Daylight Tragedy, Die As One, Aszelle, Sleeping Alone, This Chance Encounter, Sienna, Chet Stedman, The Lowest Ranks, This Defect Sequence, Let Me Smash, White Knuckle Trucker, A Black Market Diary, Thus Spoke, Diemona, The Silence Before The Fall, A Stained Glass Romance, Knives Exchanging Hands, Bearfight (aka Debbie Does Dallas), Fastest Kid in the 5th Grade, Moxa Mortem, Forever in Despair, Lucy, End of Honor, Icedout, Within Reach, The Damascus Intervention and The American Black Lung.

Creations is known to give any band a chance playing. Kernersville is also home to many up and coming bands such as Advent (ex-Beloved) and Lion.

[edit] Charlotte/Gastonia/Rock Hill

The Queen City has produced notable acts like Antiseen, Misguided Youth, Bitch Magnet, Tonka, and Rabid Salesmen. Hopesfall, the seminal hardcore band from the area (or, at least, formed in the area) rarely plays near Charlotte, and when they do most of the older locals joke that it's the "annual Hopesfall show". Characterized by unusually long, feedback-riddled melodic breakdowns and multi-layered, energetic climaxes, Hopesfall set the course for the hardcore scene that centered around the Tremont Music Hall. On a side note, Hopesfall supposively has practice space in Pineville, NC, which is commonly thought of as part of South Charlotte. Another band in the vein of Hopesfall was Laurelei, a post-hardcore band that actually shared members with Hopesfall. Laurelei, however, was less popular and only released one album, and then broke up in 2001. Currently there are two hardcore bands from Charlotte that are very active at all, Control and Mean Streets.

The Milestone, an 18 and up club which has been open since the early 1980's, is another hotspot for indie/punk music in Charlotte. Neal & Philip, owners of the Milestone, ran a local group called the "Solid Gold Empire", which put on a lot of shows at any hole in the wall they could book at, namely SK-Net Cafe. They took the helm of the Milestone in Fall of 2004.

Although most towns have their "hardcore" crews, Charlotte has the "Dirty South Crew", which consists of mostly punk's and a few bands, notably The Dirty South Revolutionaries (Tent City Records), the DGC from Charlotte, Hematidrosis (aka "Denied", RIP), Moustache Farm and Southside Punx. A few of the "DSC" bands have merged into each other and or split into other bands. Charlotte is also the home to members of the Apocalypse Krew (AK), which also has members in South Carolina, one member is the bassist for the South Carolina hardcore band, Where it Ends. Another member of AK is the singer for the Asheville melodic hardcore band, Secret Lives of the Freemasons.

Central Ave is a popular place in town, with multiple trendy food places, a church turned venue, and a record store owned by the ex-manager of the Charlotte location of Manifest Disc & Tapes. Lunchbox Records has a nice stock of harder to find CDs, being a harder to find place you won't find the common pop CDs that Walmart might have. Lunchbox Records has a fair share of shows, most of which are free, not really in-store shows, since those technically are for bands promoting a new release or a show at a bigger venue that night.

Lunchbox is also across the street from "The Spot" which, use to be called "The Steeple", for anyone who has been in Charlotte more than 2 years. The Spot was called "The Goblin" for a month (March 2006), which was a transition between ownerships. The Spot is now ran by two parties: a few people from Single-Cell Productions, and Eric and friends from The Room (a mostly Hip Hop venue in South Charlotte, closed in 2005). With that said, The Spot does mostly Hip Hop and Goth Electronica shows now, besides the rare hardcore / punk shows that might happen.

[edit] 910 area code

Fayetteville's mid 80's Hardcore Punk Scene: Before the 910 area code was created Fayetteville was contributing to North Carolina's Hardcore Scene. In 1986 bands like Chaotic Memories and Psycho Trendies (who later became Cease To Exist) appeared on the Fayetteville scene. These musicians though young would keep the NC scene alive into the late 80's. Chaotic Memories was started by Guitarist Tripp Culbreth and Drummer Keven Campbell in Keven's garage in 1986. They quickly recruited vocalist Bobby Dougherty. Soon after Bobby "Herself"/"Butane" Dougherty joined, they added bassist Frank Zumbro. Soon after that for a short time they added guitarist Mike Reynolds. In 1986 they would change bassists and lose Reynolds. Bassist Kevin Thomas (From Atlanta, GA scene's - Fat Cheryl Sux) was added to the line up and would bring the Atlanta Scene influence to the group. Chaotic Memories was one of the driving forces (in addition to the Fayettenam Slam Crew) in organizing the Fayetteville scene by renting out local rec. centers, an outdoor stage in front of Hawley's Skate Shop, and a Lions Club Hall to put on "shows". Shows included energetic versions of Chaotic Memories' original songs, including "My Right Hand" ("I'm in love with my right hand") and "Searching For Herself" ("so cold so cold, like a dead girl's body, so cold so cold, and yet so lovely"). These shows also included bands from other scenes like Christian Deformities from Greensboro, Bazooka Joe from Wilmington, and Delaminated Jesus from Raleigh. Chaotic Memories released a self produced LP cassette entitled "Chaotic Memories - The Us The Is The Us The What" in 1988 adding Kevin Horne on guitar as Culbreth was to leave the band in August 1988. Psycho Trendies were also trading shows with Chaotic Memories. Psycho Trendies' leader Mike Dees, bassist Jimi 45, and drummer Tony Trinchitella would rename themselves "Cease To Exist" at some point during this time.

The Fayetteville punk scene was highlighted in neighborhood newspapers by Jimi 45's mother, a local journalist.

Fayetteville's Late 80's early 90's Post Punk Alternative Scene:

Mid 80's Chaotic Memories' Tripp Culbreth went on to join former bassist Frank Zumbro again to from Pontius Pilate with Drummer Chris Knowles and vocalist Kevin Potts (Pott's would later sing for Betrayer a metal thrash band from Wilmington who would play with the likes of COC, Confessor). Pontius Pilate won the 1989 Fayetteville Battle Of The Bands but would soon disband as members would return to their respective colleges. Culbreth would rejoin with Chaotic Memories Kevin Campbell in 90 (more later). From 1989 to 1992 Culbreth recorded with bands The Video Sexxx Popes (LP Cassette- Everybody Do The Virgin Mary - with Drummer Chad Hessenflow, bassist Ben Hunt and vocalist Leslie Brooks) and Penis Envelope (LP cassette - AssHoly - Hunt, Culbreth). Drummer Kevin Campbell of Chaotic Memories would switch from drums to vocals for Chaotic Memories until they disbanded in 1989 and then go on to rejoin with guitarist Tripp Culbreth again in early 90 in Flying Circus along with drummer Joel Darden (who went on to drum for The Raymond Brake and All Night) and Bassist Mike Delassandro (Currently of The Majestic Twelve). Campbell went on to form Railroad Earth of Wilmington. Culbreth would move on to the Raleigh scene in 1992 switching instruments. As a drummer Culbreth performed with several alternative bands such as Felt Unsaid(LP-Leech), Tragic Static (Tragic Static EP release Male Chauvinist Breasts), Push, Chisel and Servo (previously Claude Nova). Culbreth would also take over the reigns during this time as Sound Engineer for the infamous club Fallout Shelter in Raleigh.

The Fayetteville scene was a strong player in the hardcore punk scene in the 80's and continues to produce talented bands.

The Fayetteville, Lumberton, Jacksonville, and Wilmington areas have also contributed to North Carolina's hardcore scene in recent years with such bands as The First Step, Nourish The Flame, Forged In Hate, and Choose Your Weapon. These cities falling under the 910 area codes are more known for their "Tough Guy" style of hardcore, setting them apart from their counterparts in Greensboro & Winston-Salem. The presence of Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune has also played a major part in bringing hardcore "kids" from all over the country into the North Carolina scene.

[edit] Down East, Greenville, 252 area code

Greenville NC Punk History Wiki

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The Greenville Scene holds Hardcore acts such as The Avenger and Romeo Is Bleeding. The biggest Venue in Greenville is Ex-strip club The Silver Bullet which had such acts as Nights like these, Alesana, secret lives of the free masons, and more!.