(All Photos by Zak Rickwalt)
Down a shaded path, on the outskirts of the city, we followed a steady stream of people into a grove of trees that had pushed their way up through a forgotten brick avenue. A surreal, sunny vale, vibrating with excitement. Making our way to the outskirts of the performance area, we found ourselves taken aback by the buzz and spirited smiles of those around us, waiting eagerly to take in the DIY gospel about to be presented to us.
This is a story of the glory and triumph of a new wave of punk in Western New York: Guerilla Showfare.
Specifically, what we witnessed was Guerilla Showfare, Vol. 4, the most recent in a series of generator shows, born from the minds of local punk luminaries Adria Rose Wieszala (Muddle/Torture Agenda), Lucas Kaleta (K-Hole/Muddle/Lowest Form), Eric Bifaro, aka ‘Biff’ (Feral Kid Records, Nervous Tick and the Zipper Lips, Spooky Visions and Science Man) and Maggie, aka ‘Magpie’ (Muddle).
Inspired by tales and videos of similar ventures on the other side of the country, they found themselves driven to recreate this grassroots, self-manifested platform, for their peers, friends, and bands across the Rustbelt.
As the crowd filled out, we were struck by the variance of the attendees — (I, myself, a skinny man in a button down and tight jeans, was particularly scared of sticking out; middle-school fears of poseurism flashing through my mind) — this was, however, quickly allayed, as patrons from all walks of life filed in: kids and teens, mothers and fathers alike. I was reminded immediately that this is what a true punk experience was; not dictated by style, age, or shape of one’s visage, but a philosophical resistance and community shared by all of us, each expressing this in our own, beautifully unique way.
1120: How did this get started? How did you guys come to actually start doing this?
Adria: Well, everybody had kind of been wanting generator shows for a while, and Lucas posed the idea of doing one under this overpass along a bike path, and we were talking about it at some band practices, and we were like: ‘We want to do this series of generator shows.’ And Maggie gave us the name.
Maggie: That's why I'm standing here.
Adria: We all got together and had a generator show with some locals, and it was really well-received, and it's been running fucking great ever since.
Lucas: There was a lot of videos online of the West Coast punk scene doing these shows under bridges and just, like, all these random spots. And I just wanted that in Buffalo. So, no one else was throwing shows. No one was throwing punk shows. Like, there are punk shows that kind of died down lately. So, we wanted to try to ramp it back up.
The bill for Guerilla Showfare, Vol. 4, was graced by the likes of Durex; hardcore punk from Montreal; Putrid Liquid, brutal death metal from Dayton, Ohio; Fentanyl Tapwater from Rochester; ATE, mince from Rochester, and Lowest Form, a brand new hardcore punk band from Buffalo, featuring Lucas and three-fifths of the local hardcore band, Inhaler.
Each and every one of these bands fucking ripped.
Lowest Form was the starting pistol for the evening, ripping thrash metal riffs
and Rollinsesque vocals. They tore the Band-Aid off with quickness, closing the circle in, and did not let up the entire set. Putrid Liquid, Fentanyl Tapwater, and ATE were an especially unique case; with the same vocalist, it appeared as a sort of a similar but evolving concept, growing with each incarnation of death metal riffs and scowling, screaming vocals. It was not simply the same band, but a conscious growing experience, blooming in intensity and depth with every consecutive act. Finally, we come to Durex, a transcendental experience, the highest form of hardcore punk. From the second the singer, Alex Apostolidis, took off their pants, we knew we were in for some shit, and we were not wrong. The most raw, expressive, punk rock followed — the howling vocals, and thrashy beats, left nothing to the imagination, fulfilling every hope imaginable.
The experience was so much more than one could have expected — a self-fulfilled Warped Tour, a punk rock lawn-fete, in which all were welcome. You couldn’t help but be touched by the spirit, and the depth of caring that was provided by the showrunners. It is the heart of what everyone hopes for — an Island of Misfit Toys, on which everyone is welcome. So, we implore you, soon, there will be Guerilla Showfare, Vol. 5 — follow the showrunners, Adria (@fleshpress), Lucas (@razurface_), and Feral Kid Records (xferal_kidx) for upcoming information on Guerilla Showfare, Vol. 5 and beyond.
In closing, we’ll leave you with the thoughts of the showrunners themselves:
1120: So, we would just like to know: How has this affected you personally? This must have touched you.
Adria: Yeah, there's a lot of people, a lot of younger people around here that want an outlet. They're really into this kind of stuff and are really into this kind of music and will go to anything and everything. And we wouldn't be able to do it without that sort of interest. But personally, it's everything I've wanted to see because I love DIY shows, I love basement venues and stuff. But I especially love generator shows. A lot of people have been standing around thinking: ‘You know, we should do this. We could do this. There are so many places we could do it.’ And one day, we were just like, 'Let's see what happens if we actually do… if we actually, like, go for it.’
So, it's been great. I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. I love seeing all the people that come out. And, you know, we have a lot of help with it, too. There's a lot of people who have jumped in behind the scenes. There's a lot of moving hands. We are the faces of it, but there are a lot of people that help us out. We could not do this without the entire Buffalo scene. There's so many people coming together and pitching different equipment, helping hands to move, making sure people stay safe. These shows are so special to me.
Maggie: Basically, anyone who's, like, not a little kid at the shows, has helped so much.
Adria: We've had people come up to us and be like, 'Hey, we're starting a band. Can you put us on a Showfare show?’.
Lucas: That is so awesome to see that new people are starting bands. It's cool just to see punk shows coming back. The punk scene's growing in Buffalo. People know that it's not fizzled out. It's live, and well.
Maggie: Yeah. That was something that all three of us were just, like, so fucking sick of people saying — that shit's dead around here.
Lucas: Yeah, punk’s not dead. Punk’s not dead, and this proves it.
コメント