Sometime around 1990, while skimming through the pages of Good & Plenty fanzine, I noticed some particularly great photos of bands like Youth Of Today, Gorilla Biscuits and Beyond. Upon further research, I discovered that these particular photos were all taken by a guy named Brian Boog. At the time I was doing my own fanzine, Common Sense, so I thought I'd ask Gabe, the guy who did Good & Plenty, if he'd be able to hook me up with contact info for Brian. For whatever reason Gabe wasn't into passing the info on, so that was the end of that.
18 or so years later, while skimming through Facebook, I come across the very same Youth Of Today photos that I had seen in Good & Plenty. Turns out Brian is on Facebook and had been posting a ton of his photos. Although Common Sense has been dead for 19 years, I thought it was worth checking in with Brian to see if he'd be down to contribute some of his photos to Double Cross. Thankfully Brian obliged. For the past few weeks we've been trying to put something together with Brian and finally we've got our first entry from him. This one is his story on the SWASIDE tour (Swiz, American Standard, Soul Side tour) and in true Brian Boog fashion, it's accompanined by a collection of great photos documenting his story. Hopefully this will be the first of many contributions from Brian. -Tim DCXX
L to R J American Standard, Shawn Swiz, Scott and Johnny Soul Side, Photo: Nicole DiGiorgi Chavez
Hello Everybody! Brian Boog from Rhode Island here. Let me start by saying that one of the only reasons our tiny state of Rhode Island had Punk/Hardcore shows in the 80s and 90s was because of Brian Simmons at Crossroad Productions. We also had Doug Carron who ran Pied Piper Productions in Providence, but that’s another story for another day. Back to Crossroad Production shows. What was really great about Crossroad shows was that they were at a club that was a 2 minute skateboard ride away from my house called The Blue Pelican. Brian put on a bunch of shows at The Blue Pelican, almost all those classic Sunday matinees. Going to every show, I became friends with Brian Simmons and ended up going to many, many shows in many different states together. Most of the shows following around our home town heroes, Verbal Assault.
Shawn Brown with Swiz, Photo: Nicole DiGiorgi Chavez
This is one of those shows that I remember. It was July 17th, 1988, the middle of summer! Being a big fan of Soul Side, I remember being super psyched to see them, but the band that I and everybody that I knew was freaking out about was Swiz. We were going to see Swiz in Newport, RI! Shawn Brown, Dag Nasty’s first singer in our town!! So the day of the show is here and we go, hang out outside, American Standard plays their set, cool. Swiz sets up, and we are about to pee our pants because of the excitement of seeing Shawn Brown play. They play the first song and then the sound guy shuts the PA off. Story goes that Livingston Taylor, brother of James, is playing later that night and doesn’t like the look of the people in the club and tells the sound guy to cut the PA off. Well, people were not happy. Swiz played their set, refusing to get off the stage, with Shawn Brown screaming his vocals over the band without a PA. As dissapointing and lame as it was, it was kind of cool to see this.
Soul Side never played.
J Colangelo, Jason Farell, Bill Dolan, Bobby Sullivan, Scott McCloud and Pete Verbal Assault, Photo: Nicole DiGiorgi Chavez
After the show we all went to Brian Simmons's parents house/farm (where Brian took over and made it into a gigantic, amazing, Organic farm), played volleyball and had pizza. Being a 17 year old kid in the same room/yard as these guys was pretty freaking cool! Twenty years later and I’m still in contact with them! - Brian Boog
American Standard, Photo: Nicole DiGiorgi Chavez
Jon Troutman, AS Roadie, Nathan Swiz, Jay A Toaste longtime Verbal Assault roadie, Photo: Nicole DiGiorgi Chavez
Bill Dolan American Standard, Alex Daniels Swiz, Photo: Nicole DiGiorgi Chavez
Nathan and Jason from Swiz, Photo: Nicole DiGiorgi Chavez
Nathan Larson of Swiz with the Germs shirt and some Tropicana, Photo: Nicole DiGiorgi Chavez
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Brian Boog on SWASIDE in Rhode Island
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Very informative. Now can we hear about the youth of today bdtw tour please?
ReplyDeleteYeah I've got the rest of RJ Vail's YOT BDTW story coming soon, just waiting on some photos from him. I'm pretty sure once we get the rest of it up here, it will be well worth the wait. Thanks for asking though.
ReplyDeleteawesome, id rather hear about swiz and soulside anyday over yot.keep up the good work
ReplyDeletefor the record, haven't even read the article yet. SWASIDE stories, you had me at the start. I'm saying AMSTAND "Wonderland," most underrated record 87-90. Perfect blend of melody and aggression. Suckers don't know. Marco, what up?
ReplyDelete1. Soulside was freaking amazing. Probably the most highly underrated Dischord band. Scott McCloud's riffs on the "Trigger" and "Bass" releases were just plain sick and Bobby's lyrics were mostly gold.
ReplyDelete2. I know I'm in the vast minority on this one but I loved Rain Like The Sound of Trains. Whatever happened to Bobby Sullivan? Last I heard he was living in the hills of North Carolina.
3. I love Swiz but I totally can not stand Nathan Larson. That lucky son of a bitch is married to Nina Persson of The Cardigans and A Camp. I guess every dog has its day. Jason Farrell also had some sick guitar Quicksandish magic on the first Bluetip album.
4. Great post. Like the other poster insinuated, some DC hardcore is a refreshing breather from the Youth of Today clones.
Great pics of two of DC's finest. They must have made 20 ad's for this tour - they printed one every month in MRR and Flipside. Plus, they made a "thank you" ad after the tour was finished. A nice touch if you ask me. Jason Farrell's guitar work is intensely original and refreshing, but his graphic design work is awe-inspiring. The man should be collecting royalties from half of the shit out there today that passes as graphic design. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah - Common Sense #1 was the shit. It had GB, Enuf, Turning Point and great record reviews. Lots of pics from City Gardens, too! If only Tim & Tony made it to issue #2...
awesome post!!!The world needs to hear more about SWASIDE!!!
ReplyDeleteahhh, the good old days of DC. I miss those bands. Soulside and Swiz are still in my blood. I was lucky to see them. Plus, American Standard, was always great.
ReplyDeleteBobby Sullivan is now playing in a reggae band in NC.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=129746535
Spontaneous Earth
man, you should have posted some video of swiz, soulside and american standard!
ReplyDeleteHey AJ --
ReplyDeleteI guess the same person who told you someone who worked at Reconstruction had to flee to New Mexico also told you there was only one issue of cXs. Tim and I did two issues of Common Sense. At least two of the interviews from the 2nd issue appeared here on DCXX in the past.
TR
I really don't recall the conversation about Brian's photo's. It has been about 20 years now. I honestly have been inspired by Doublecross to post some of the photos I have acquired over the years as well... I hope there are no hard feelings, as I would not have any idea why i didn't give his info up. it is possible I didn't have it. I honestly don't recall.Either way, there are some cool pics here.
ReplyDelete