A First foray in Space...
I’ve been thinking a lot about space lately. No, not stars, blood moons, or black holes and the like but space as in venues, as in the common areas open to all. The space where you, I, and others meet to interact. Yeah, that kind of space. It seems to me that in some instances we are using it all wrong. Perhaps you agree, perhaps you think I think too much, or perhaps you think I am thinking about something that requires no thought at all. Well…as it happens at the gig Friday night someone brought up this very topic. They asked me if I went to see (insert metallic HC band name here) at “the Post” the other night. He said that it was one of the most violent shows he ever saw; dudes (yes nearly all men) were laying waste to each other while the band played. Oh, how the stars align.
I am not sure where the kung fu dancing style at HC shows first appeared. The acquisition of this fact is of little importance to me and I think I’ll live without that curiosity being satisfied. What does concern me is what it portends for what I thought was a foundational principle of punk/hc/whatever-you-wanna-call-it (this thing we all do). That principle being that a punk/hc show was our show and our space; it belonged to no one person or group; instead belonged to everyone who attended the show. The swinging arms, flying kicks, reckless thrown elbows, destroy utterly this idea by creating malicious enclaves [barriers] between the band and the audience. I know, I know, I don’t get it, I’m old, I’m weak, or maybe it is that my kung fu just isn’t up to snuff, or maybe…just maybe, bear with me…cuz it might pain you to imagine such things…I’m right.
Here’s the scene, you’re at the show really excited to see the bands. Maybe you’ve heard the band, seen them before, or your ‘bro’ hipped you to them and you’re there to check ‘em out. The band takes the stage, turns on their rigs, gives you cannibal come vegan snarl before launching into the sickest riff you’ve heard since that Slayer riff that sounds oh-so-close to what you’re digging now was released…then it happens.
Out of the darkness, you see what looks like a self-defense demonstration. Fists and elbows fly without hesitation, that dude in the short-shorts is swinging his leg around with such speed that you are sure he’s part windmill. Other participants tuck up and throw hands and mule kicks at imaginary attackers besetting them from all sides. Before you know it, the entire crowd has fled from the stage. Cramming themselves into every inch of the periphery with arms held high to protect their faces from the mayhem. The crowd forgets about Constipated Cookie Monster and the Beatdown Five providing the jams and who are pounding the stage like silverback gorillas in need of anger management. When you finally feel comfortable enough to focus on the band you realize that the majority of the space for the crowd is monopolized by a dozen or so “dancers” and the remainder of the crowd is forced far from the band. Mood killed and the show that you wanted to see so badly is now a bad memory which you wish never to repeat.
To many this sounds like an awesome time and mores the pity a typical show. To others, myself included, this sounds absolute shit. Whether or not the band is good or bad, is worth seeing again, or any other information gleamed from watching a band has been supplanted by the inevitable question, is staying in this room to see this band worth losing my teeth or getting knocked the fudge-out? Those questions are nothing new and have been asked since the first guy staged dove (stage-dived? Oh, where are my punk rock grammarians at?) into the crowd. What makes a substantive difference to me is the way in which space is used.
Punk/hc is visceral form of expression that in many cases lacks, utterly, any sense of subtlety. As the form evolved from the late 1970s UK punk and The Ramones style retro-rock into 80s USHC the reaction to the music changed as well. This is not unexpected as the inherit urgency of HC drives people to move without regard for themselves or others. This trend continued with the expansion and popularization of HC. The advent of crossover only worked to increase the ways in which the music elicited reactions in its expanding audience. Pogoing was replaced by slam dancing and stage diving which became (?) moshing [whatever the hell that is anyway?!?!] by the late 80s. Some bands eschewed the physical aspects of punk/hc and issued a challenge to their audiences (Fugazi) while others tired of violence that occasioned their shows and moved towards other audiences (7Seconds). These changes coupled with the inevitable ending HC of other bands, the sound people wanted/loved/expected/demanded was hard to find.
Out of this vacuum came the explosion of late 80s HC bands, mostly SxE, who wanted to revert back to the pre-crossover style of HC and all that came with it. At the same time, those people moved by the crossover thing kept progressing trying to make heavier and more ‘heavy and powerful’ records. Then one day it happened, someone somewhere created the riff that played with just the right drumbeat moved people to stomp around then someone started swing their arms or legs and voila you have whatever-fudge kind of dancing they call it. It may never have been equated before but punk/hc shows are a lot like real estate, location matters.
The closer to the stage one can get at a show the better says I. Being able to see, to hear, and to feel (yes, we talking about feelings) the music is the purest way to enjoy any performance. Plus up the front by the stage packed side by side with all the others wanting the experience, can create a collective sense of shared experience that remains bigger than any single show. The shared sense of release, of elation, and of expression between the band and the crowd is strongest nearest the band. The farther you move from the stage the less effect the band has on the room.
Not everyone wants to be up front smashed together being sweated upon, spat upon, spilled upon, jumped on, knocked around, and generally battered about while interacting with others also trying to enjoy the performance in its purest form. Some people are not terribly interested in the bands performance; they are just there to dance, to slam, to mosh, or whatever the hell you call it. The band is nothing but a soundtrack to release. Don’t get me wrong, to each their own…it’s not my thing (anymore) but I can see the necessity of just exorcising all the pent up emotions, piques, frustrations, and energies that punctuate life. Have at it y’all and ‘¡fuck it up __(insert name of city/state/scene here)___ style!’ All the young punks love a bit of that as the saying goes…
Behind the sing-a-long crowd and the dancing fools is the people who want to see the band, experience the music but would really prefer to be knocked around by kids who do not share the same fears about health insurance deductibles or the fragility of “old bones”. In the back, there a bit more talking, visiting, seeing that person they’ve not seen since the last time (insert band here) played, also beverages flow freely and are consumed more responsibly (suggesting fewer spills not less liver damage). Frankly, if one wants to be honest it is probably these people that bought tickets in advance and upon whose beer sales the venues counts to make a profit from the show. [drink up y’all!!]
I know, I know this a very general example and crowds are rarely described this easily. The point I am trying to make remains apparent though. The collective space of the show, the venue, is divided up amongst the crowd and inside the finite area the space is shared. Everyone has their space to react and to interact with the band and everyone else in attendance. If you want to be right on the stage as close as possible to be splashed with beer, sweat, and be spat upon by the guitarist from Night Birds or accidentally smacked upside the head by the singer of Scream or bass player of Econochrist (true stories y’all…for reals) then have it. If, however, that is not your thing and you just want to go nuts dancing then back it up a few feet and go off. Of course, if none of this appeals to you and all you really want to do is see that band that does it for you then you’ll likely be nearer the back. Sharing is caring y’all, it isn’t always pretty or fair but it making use of a public space for mutual benefit. In stark contrast to the above sits any live video of a beatdown/metalcore type band.
YouTube is replete with videos where huge swaths of space are devoted to a dozen or so people engaged in what appears to be a synchronized martial arts demonstration or an attack by a swarm of invisible bees. What is readily apparent at these shows is how the few “dancers” have pushed the rest of the crowd to the periphery of the venue. There are few to no people at the stage experiencing the show. All those people not “dancing” are trying to balance between watching the band and watching the dancers; undoubtedly they are doing so out of self-defense and for the inevitable train wreck that is foot to head or hand to head contact.
In this exercise I see only one group telling another ‘this is how you will use this space, disagree at your own peril’. Admittedly, I highly doubt any such an utterance emerged from the mouth or mind of any participant. It never had to, the effect is the same. What was once ours is now theirs and that isn’t cool.
Slow your roll young blood…I’m not saying I know what punk is (can anyone really?) and I’m not saying anything negative about any individual, group, band, scene, etc. though clearly I am having a bit of a laugh at your silly asses. What I’m saying is that what is happening with the use of space at some shows is self-defeating, selfish, and in the long-run a dead end for expression.
Let’s really drive this point home shall we…no ambiguity, no mincing words, nothing left to chance or lost in translation…Lest you think I am picking on other forms of expression (personal or musical), or annoyingly kvetching about a style of music I don’t like (I’m not), let me be clear…I am only noting that the way in which the public space is used at one type of show occasioned by this style of dancing is not about shared use. The way in which one small group dominates that space open to all appears to me to be antithetical to all that I believed punk was to be which was a liberating movement and a leveling force opening up avenues of expression to those previously shut out of venues for creative expression.
QED vatos!


















