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Walls Of Jericho - Candace Kucsulain

#Candace Kucsulain #Candace Puopolo #Apathemy #Walls Of Jericho #candace kucsulain #WALLS OF JERICHO #vegetarism #hc #hardcore punk #metal #metal music #metalcore #Death Metal #Deathcore #Industrial #Metalcore #women in metal #women in music #2000s hardcore #music #Trustkill Records #C. Kucsulain #Candace #Candance #Kucsulain

Damn, I WISH the punk scene in the 2000s had been like "this song's about wishing I was born a girl" and "here's a song about sucking some dude's dick behind the CVS" and stuff like you youngins seem to think it was based on the internet's rose-colored glasses. It got better, it really did. Still, I don't think I can impress upon you how homophobic, how misogynistic, and how dangerous it was to be in the punk/hardcore music scene in the early 2000s.

The rampant violence and paranoia following 9/11 and the U.S.'s cultural disassembly made the scene so unstable.

In truth, it was like, if you were hardcore and you went to a straightedge show, you got your teeth knocked out. If you were a chick and you went to (literally any) show, you were lucky if you only got groped. If you were queer in any sense, you learned how to keep that shit on the low because you could very easily be killed if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you were a person of color, you kept your head the fuck down. If you jumped around at the wrong kind of show, you could get beat up. If you hardcore danced at the wrong kind of show, you could get beat up. If you moshed at the wrong kind of show, you could get beat up. Wearing the wrong teeshirt? Yeah, you guessed it.

There were so many unwritten rules that you had to follow in order to simply stay safe. Just getting by in the scene was hard. Gaining respect was a fucking chore.

It was worth it. It was so, incredibly worth it, because there were good people there and the music was amazing. There was an undercurrent the whole time of resistance. There was such a pushback against this vitriolic, violent, othering mindset that, eventually, we won.

I will forever be grateful to the band dudes who sat in parking lots with me when I was a teenager so that I could safely wait for my mom to come pick me up after shows. I can never repay all of the older kids who looked after me, picked me up when I fell, gave me bandaids, and helped me out. Similarly, I looked out for others, because that's how it works.

There were more people who wanted the scene to thrive, to grow, to be full of good, kind people who welcomed others and who made good art. That is why it matters and why we look back fondly now, but it could have gone another way so easily. I am writing this not to piss on your dreams. Just the opposite! I want everyone who longs for this era, who feels like they were born too late, to take stock of their local scene. Consider how you can get involved. If you feel welcome, great! If you don't, elbow your way in and make a space where you will welcome others.

A better scene is possible. We made one.