Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980-90)

Utilitarian, easy to understand, and difficult to corrupt – Henry Rollins on Dischord

If you haven’t had the chance to see Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980-90) yet, put it on your to-do list. It’s a fascinating look at a punk community that would go on to influence many others. And it has a powerful message about community.

The documentary features interviews with the DC punk and music community including Ian MacKaye, Jeff Nelson, Henry Rollins, Dante Ferrando, Skipp Groff, Don Zientera, Jenny Toomey, Mark Robinson, Jason Farrell, Fred Armisen, John Stabb, Amy Pickering, Mark Andersen, Brendan Canty, Geoff Turner, Brian Baker, Dave Grohl, Kim Coletta, Craig Wedren, and J. Robbins

The film was directed by Scott Crawford, who began attending shows in D.C. before he could drive, and produced by Jim Saah, who has been photographing bands in D.C. since the early 1980s.

They included some pretty great live footage in the doc including Minor Threat, S.O.A., Void, Bad Brains, Government Issue, Fire Party, Marginal Man, Soulside, Scream, Faith, Rites of Spring, Marginal Man, Jawbox, Nation of Ulysses, Shudder to Think, and Fugazi.

Jim Saah, Salad Days producer and photographer, and Mark Robinson of Unrest and TeenBeat Records taking questions from the audience at The Somerville Theatre.

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Rock Shop is pleased to present an encore screening on Tuesday, July 7 at The Somerville Theatre at 7:30pm. Tickets are available at The Somerville Box Office and online here.

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Here’s a list of upcoming screenings of Salad Days.

7/7 Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC @ The Somerville Theatre

For those of you that missed the previous screening of Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980-90) or didn’t get in because it was sold out, Rock Shop is pleased to present an encore screening on Tuesday, July 7 at The Somerville Theatre at 7:30pm.

Tickets are available at The Somerville Box Office and online here.

Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980-90) is a documentary film that examines the early DIY punk scene in the Nation’s Capital. It was a decade when seminal bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Government Issue, Scream, Void, Faith, Rites of Spring, Marginal Man, Fugazi, and others released their own records and booked their own shows—without major record label constraints or mainstream media scrutiny. Contextually, it was a cultural watershed that predated the alternative music explosion of the 1990s (and the industry’s subsequent implosion). Thirty years later, DC’s original DIY punk spirit serves as a reminder of the hopefulness of youth, the power of community and the strength of conviction.

6/4 I Need a Dodge! – Joe Strummer on the Run – Boston debut film screening @ The Somerville Theatre

‘I Need a Dodge!’ Trailer from Tindog films on Vimeo.

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Thursday, June 4, 2015

Rock Shop presents
I Need a Dodge! – Joe Strummer on the Run – Boston debut film screening

The Somerville Theatre
55 Davis Square
Somerville, MA 02144

All Ages $10
7:30pm

Advance Tickets * FB Event

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Soon after the filmmaker started investigating Joe Strummer’s refuge in Spain in 1984/5, they’d heard a recording of an interview on Spanish national radio from 1997. In the interview Joe talks about a car he had in Madrid some years earlier. One day he left the car in a carpark but couldn’t remember which one. And there it stayed. In the interview Joe appeals to the Spanish people to help him find his car. The filmmaker couldn’t help wondering what had happened to Joe’s Dodge and what he was doing in Madrid without the rest of The Clash. I thought I’d dig around…Joe Strummer touched many peoples’ lives in Spain during this period. He became friends with the biggest stars in Spanish music and produced an LP for a rock band from Granada. Everyone interviewed for the film tells an interesting and often funny tale of their time with a rock star at a professional and personal crossroads. It was a story that needed to be told and an investigation that needed to be carried completed – just in case!

 

Ryan Agate of O’Brien’s

Last night, I took my Venue Management class from Bay State College to O’Brien’s Pub to talk to the booker Ryan Agate.

Ryan has over a decade of experience booking various rooms in the Boston area. Mainly focused on smaller venues/bands, occasionally he will work in bigger rooms.

I’ve known Ryan for around 10 years and have never had a bad experience dealing with him.

I asked him to talk to my class about O’Brien’s, how booking works, and how the shows work there.

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O’Brien’s is a 70 capacity small club located in the heart of Allston, MA. It’s mostly 18+ during the week and 21+ on weekends. It’s open every night of the week and usually features 3-4 bands.

As the booker for O’Brien’s, Ryan is the first line of contact for many of the newer bands in the city of Boston. It’s where a lot of bands play their first show or their first few shows. A lot of bands come to him with a full line-up in mind, but if not, he’ll do his best to pair your band with other like-minded bands.

The deal at O’Brien’s is so reasonable ($75 on weeknights / $100 on weekends) that any band that can bring 10-20 of their friends out to the show is going to walk with some money at the end of the night.

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Ryan, what do you look for in new bands that you book?

When looking for new bands, we want people who are passionate about the music they make and are excited to play, but on top of it all, are easy to work with. As I always say, a smile goes a long way!

What’s the best way for a band to get a show at O’Brien’s?

Bands can reach me at obriensbooking[at]gmail.com

How far in advance do they need to contact you?

For weekends, 3-4 months out, as much as I hate that. For weekends, 2-3 months usually works, but there are always last minute changes.

Anything else new bands should know about playing shows at O’Brien’s?

A good attitude always helps!

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Check out obrienspubboston.com for a schedule and more information.

 

4/9 RYE COALITION: The Story of the Hard Luck Five @ The Somerville Theatre

Rock Shop is pleased to present the Boston premiere of Rye Coalition: The Story of the Hard Luck Five at The Somerville Theatre on Thursday, April 9, 2015 at 8pm:

We are honored to be joined by director Jenni Matz, who will be available after the film to answer questions and tell some stories about Rye and the film.

Tickets are available HERE. FB event is HERE.

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Like countless rockers before them, Rye Coalition were childhood best friends who started a band in a basement with a couple simple goals in mind: have fun and play good music. As one of the first bands to develop the new “emo” sound, they were at the forefront of a movement that included Shellac, Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker and Karp (with whom they later recorded a legendary 12″ split). Rye Coalition’s first recording was a demo cassette tape (1994’s “Dancing Man”, self-released), backed by an East Coast tour in a beat up school bus long before most of them had their driver’s license. As their talent and fan base grew, they released albums on indie labels and toured the country for over ten years on bigger and bigger bills: (At The Drive-In, Mars Volta, Queens of the Stone Age).

After gaining momentum from 2002′s “On Top” LP, engineered by Steve Albini, they were signed to Dreamworks Records and none other than Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) came on as their producer. Then, it all imploded.

Supplemented with the band’s own home movies, the filmmaker has continuously documented these singular rockers for over a decade, brazenly chronicling choice moments with Rye Coalition (and those who know them well) on tour, at home and in the studio. Although the band was praised by critics and supported by an absurdly dedicated grassroots fan base, somehow these Jersey rockers never got their due. Until now.

Featuring: Steve Albini (Shellac), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Tim Green (Nation of Ulysses), Jared Warren (Melvins). 2014; 77 minutes. Dir. Jenni Matz. 

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Winner, Best Documentary Film, New Jersey International Film Festival 
Winner, Best Rock Documentary, AMFM Film Festival 
Winner, Best Music Documentary, Kingston Film Festival (2014).
Winner, Best Local Film, Golden Door Film Festival 
Winner, Best Director- Feature Documentary, AC Cinefest

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Rock Shop was started by Kevin Hoskins and Steve Theo (of Pirate!) as a gathering to give back to the music community by hosting discussions, guest speakers, and panels on topics we feel would benefit artists and bands.

We gather to meet new people and discuss topics relevant to bands, artists, and the music community.

More information on Rock Shop is here and you can view a list of past of topics here. You can follow us on Twitter here.

3/27 Salad Days @ The Somerville Theatre

Salad Days Official Trailer from Scott Crawford on Vimeo

Rock Shop is honored and thrilled to present the Boston premiere of Salad Days.

The film will be screened at The Somerville Theatre on Friday, March 27th, 2015 at 7:30pm.

Advance tickets are available HERE.

FB Event is HERE.

A discussion with Jim Saah (Producer, photographer) and Mark Robinson (Unrest, Teen-Beat Records) will follow the screening!

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SALAD DAYS: The Birth of Hardcore Punk in the Nation’s Capital”  is a [documentary] that examines the fertile Washington, DC punk scene of the 1980s. This was a particularly important time in the evolution of punk and independent music, with DC based bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Black Market Baby, the Faith, the Slickee Boys, Void, Government Issue, Marginal Man, Dag Nasty, 9353, Gray Matter, Beefeater, Scream, Rites of Spring, Fugazi, Shudder to Think, Nation of Ulysses, Jawbox and others defining the DC aesthetic. Local record labels like Dischord, Fountain of Youth, Teen Beat, and Simple Machines would become standard-bearers for the DIY revolution.

A lot has been written about the pre-Nirvana period of American punk rock, but there’s never been an examination of DC’s contribution. We’ve spent the last year interviewing dozens of the participants who helped create the local music scene in the 1980s— musicians, photographers, DJs, activists, and writers—to tell the story of one of the most inspiring (and misunderstood) decades in independent music. We’ve also sorted through hundreds of photos, live videos, flyers and zines for inclusion in the film.

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Rock Shop was started by Kevin Hoskins and Steve Theo (of Pirate!) as a gathering to give back to the music community by hosting discussions, guest speakers, and panels on topics we feel would benefit artists and bands.

We gather to meet new people and discuss topics relevant to bands, artists, and the music community.

More information on Rock Shop is here and you can view a list of past of topics here. You can follow us on Twitter here.