Antiseen's Destructo Rock Revisits York on Their 30th Anniversary Tour

The kings of Destructo Rock, Antiseen, the boys from Brutalsville, celebrate an unbelievable 30 year run of their raw punk rock with a return to York April 27th at the Depot. It's been so long since they have been to York, the club they played, the mighty Thunder Rock, is now a mattress store. That night was a grand noisefest that must have been at least 15 years ago! The Antiseen juggernaut continues today and now spans continents and decades and resulted in piles of releases from all over the world. A 30 year career in this business in quite a feat, and the fact that guitarist Joe Young and singer Jeff Clayton are still standing while an army of bassists and drummers have passed thru the lineup (and they seem to have a way of coming back too) is a testament to some intense inner drive and the power of 3 chords. My t-shirt from the 20th anniversary says ANTiSEEN , 20 years, 3 chords and a helluva bloody trail. I guess they'll have to make a new one now. It has been a helluva bloody trail indeed. Jeff Clayton's crusade began with the self-released Drastic ep way back in 84, while Joe was still learning how to play guitar, and the band created their own scene. Punk rock, a few basic chords and fuck it all attitude was all that the young Charlotte band needed. My friend Dale Duncan who knew real rock first hand gladly hooked me up with the boys and I started selling their records. Dale later joined the band and they recorded their 1st LP Honor Among Thieves which I was able to release on Bona Fide with the help of Mark Turner and Chopper Records. You might say the rest is history--hundreds of shows, countless records and even a big fat book, have cemented the band in rock and roll legend. They are still Antiseen and take no prisoners, they don't follow trends, and they play really loud. The frenzied, furious shows with the ringleader Clayton looking like a deranged mountain man while clutching his barbed wire walking stick and pounding his head till it bleeds, are a blur of sound augmented by Jeff's howling and Joe's screaming guitar. My buddy Dale left soon after recording that first lp. He had the misfortune of picking up Jeff's stick and standing too close to the flashpots! Dale left for the safe life of playing the blues and making pottery, leaving Jeff and Joe to carry on with another bass player. It's now been 30 years of carrying on, and many lesser bands have come and gone, but the racket made by these guys has reached to Europe and back and mercifully landed the band in York for one gig this Saturday night! Offering their support will be the local favorites Wrath of Typhon, along with the Tight Fits and the Ravagers. Show starts at 9 and should be a great time. Come on out and spread the love! Real Rock shreds to pieces just about anything, and that's what's goin down at the depot Saturday.

York Record Riot to be held May 23rd

It's time for the York Record Riot once again! Wednesday May 23rd from 6-9, the York Emporium (343 W. Market St.) will host this quarterly event for vinyl enthusiasts of all kinds.  The wondrous Emporium has been host to all sorts of events from a scream contest to cigar box guitar festivals and even civil war reenactments, and the Emporium master, the esteemed Jim Lewin welcomes all kinds of vinyl freaks and music lovers to share in their passion.  In addition to having his own room filled with records, Mr. Lewin has generously opened his shop to local record dealers and fellow collectors to provide a unique opportunity to buy, sell, and/or trade their wares.  Whether your love is 60s R & B, Rock and Roll, Jazz, Hillbilly, Doo Wop, Disco, Punk or simply everything else, this free event promises to bring a plethora of vinyl goodies to downtown York on a Wednesday night!

This Wednseday night shindig is simply a fun event bringing a huge assortment of recorded music together with those who love to spin it.  Dea;ers and collectors from all over PA and MD will converge on the Emporium to chat, brag, and buy and sell.  New this time will be Slovenly Records with their large catolog of wild punk rock and garage bands on Slovenly and their sister label Black Gladiator, as well as label distributed product from like minded folks.  A shout goes out to Bazooka Joe and Christine, aka the Thing With Two Heads, for not only spinning great tunes, and booking great shows like the Bo-Kays at the Depot, but also for bringing all the great Slovenly releases to our record riot!  So whether you're looking for some ancient, primitive rocker, or some brand new slightly sleazy and feverish rock'n'roll, you just might find something at the riot that trips your trigger.

The Record Riot also provides a great chance for the public to bring their own records to swap or sell,as we welcome anyone to bring their unwanted vinyl and join in the festivities.  Whether your forte is 70s funk, way-out jazz, hip-hop, garage bands, new wave, honky tonk or classic rock, dust off those records and bring them to the Emporium.  If you are mad about records, you'd be crazy not to show up on the 23rd!  The vast assemblage of records in one convenient spot will be the best thing going in York on the evening of the 23rd, and it just might offer the chance of turning up that long sought after piece of wax, or maybe turning your unwanted records into someone else's treasures.

RIP John Hornick Jr.

Back around 1981 I had never met John Hornick, but soon our paths would cross and become intertwined-- joined at the hip by a passion for wild music with pounding drums and frantic distorted guitars. At the time, the underground music scene in DC/Baltimore/Central PA was flourishing with strong punk bands like the Bad Brains and the Slickee Boys, a band who owed more to the Seeds than the Sex Pistols. The Slickees intense shows were a whir of color and their local following was so big they would knock the national stars, like Jermaine Jackson and Duran Duran, off the cover of the local entertainment rags. Its no coincidence that I was already friends with the Slickees one guitarist, Kim Kane, through our mutual interest in collecting psychedelic garage records, and I was a huge fan of the band as well. It turns out John Hornick was a Slickees fan too, and at an Angry Samoans show, he met Kim and gave him a tape of his band, the Embryonic Magnetos. Soon that tape made its way to yours truly who was compiling a modern psych comp which would become The Train to Disaster. The Magnetos songs were loud crude and great and I wanted them on the LP.

It turns out John was kicked out of the band and they were rechristened the Left. John's musical talents, but not his spirit, were sorta non-existent but that never stopped him from assembling a vast pile of unusual guitars, pedals, and distortion boxes and trying to get onstage with any band that would let him. John's love of garage music and quest for knowledge fueled his passion which soon merged with his ability to draw and the Innervoid fanzine was born. Together with Jim Swope of the Left and Fat Pat Newman, John put out six issues filled with anything thing but the usual. Insane collages, silly comics, creepy art and wild music of all types were to be expected. John became the self-proclaimed "voice of the young, brave, restless, useless, intolerant and unimpressed final generation." Soon the Left went on to release two very successful LPs with both John and Pat doing covers for their 1st EP It's The World!. The dueling covers depicted unique comic visions of Armageddon with Pat's featuring the world covered with a pile of shit, sinking into a sea of beer cans with everyone fighting each other; Hornick's cover was an also amazing piece of comic art as two gap mouthed pointy toothed, bloodshot bug eyed, stalk-headed aliens looking through their spaceship windshield at the Earth on fire. That psychotronic style humor infused both John's writing and his art. John's life was teenage rebellion, rock and roll music, and the pursuit of fine, and maybe just a bit trashy, art. He never got to live out his dream of living in a old school bus, or entering the national wheelchair race on a Bona Fide sponsored chair. John Hornick can now live out his dreams, planted forever in the marble orchard.

It's now been a couple months since John left this planet in early January. Please accept my apologies for taking so long to post, as this writing hasn't been easy. John was a great friend and we all miss him so much. His last few years weren't too easy as many times he went from one VA hospital to another and suffered from inadequate care. The highlights were when we could visit him and Pat would bring him a stuffed sub from the local American Legion. John was a big guy with a big appetite, and I'm sad to say, if he had had a few more good meals, he might still be around today. He spent his last years in relative isolation, living in the middle of nowhere--coal mining country, Elbert, WV--cut off from his friends and most of civilization. His rambling phone calls were always welcome, as he would gush about his You Tube finds like the Saicos, The Cramps at Napa Mental Hospital, the Bunnys or Porter Wagoner's "Rubber Room." John could find the most amazing My Space pages, and he loved the Garage Hangover site as well. I tried to get him to draw another cover for my still unreleased Central PA 70s psych comp, Unlock Your Mind, but sadly he drew very little in his last years, and the Innervoid #7 never came close to seeing the light of day.

I write this post to highlight his work which remains under-appreciated but stellar nonetheless. His two LP covers he did for Bona Fide, the Left's It's the World and Attack Of The Jersey Teens, are pure brilliance, and his fanzine was a true gem of trashy teenage culture. Hornick's work and his life were a testament to an insane form of teenage rebellion. His love for the Slickee Boys, the Cramps, Roky Erickson and the Sonics sent John on a lifelong adventure and he took us all along for quite a ride.


Even though John left the Left as they morphed into a deadly rock and roll band, he loomed quite large and together they shared a unique space in the broader scheme of things. John was only too glad to tell their story in the liner notes to our Jesus Loves the Left CD. Outcasts in their little town in western MD, they carved themselves a spot in infamy with their take on life. Now revered by those in the know worldwide, and amazingly still kicking around sounding better than ever for anyone who gives a shit (me, for one!), the Left(and I) lost a big hunk of their past and a great friend when John Hornick died. In John's memory, here is his shining moment, a Left rehearsal with John filling in for singer Brian Sefsic. John had the foresight to bring along his boombox to immortalize the one time they let him sing, and he screams out a monster version of the Dirty Wurds garage classic "Why". At the end Jim Swope says "you don't have to scream, John!" Coming from a guy whose amp was usually on 11, a humorous aside. You might wanna know, this hot take followed 3 ill-fated, but smokin' attempts at the Sonics' "Shot Down." Now Big John got shot down for the last time, but somewhere he's still making noise and his amp is set on 11 too.

York Record Riot Saturday Night 5-9 June 25th!

Once again, the York Emporium hosts a gathering of vinyl enthusiasts--this time moving to Saturday evening June 25th from 5-9. Featuring a wide variety of recorded music, mostly in vinyl, this is a great place to find that elusive LP or 45, or even get rid of some surplus wax. Visit theyorkemporium.com for directions or stop by at 343 W. Market St in York, PA to get in on the fun. Come on down for some dusty old discs and maybe a few new ones-rock, soul, jazz country, you name it! Thousands of 45s and Lps of all types in all price ranges, and as always, admission is free of charge, and you check to check out the massive array of books and just plain cool stuff at the emporium too. Anyone wanting to sell or trade their old records are welcome to bring them along as there is no set-up fee to sell. Hope to see you there, and bring some friends too! Our gracious host Jim Lewin will be on hand with refreshments and some of his wife Pam's super tasty treats as well! This is our first try at a Saturday night show, and if this goes well we will make it a regular happening in downtown York!

I apologize for not making regular posts to my neglected blog, but this will change in the future, and once again I will provide a window into the world of musical wonderment on a regular basis. I promise, really.

York Record Riot Returns February 23rd!

YORK RECORD RIOT
Wed. February 23rd 5-8 pm
York Emporium, 343 W. Market St.,York PA
717-846-2866
FREE ADMISSION ! Buy/ Sell/ Trade LPs 45s Cds
FREE Parking and Refreshments
Tons of Vinyl for sale!
SNOW DATE IF NEEDED FEB. 26TH 12-5pm

The York Emporium once again invites all vinyl enthusiasts for a night of recording buying and swapping Wednesday February 23rd from 5-8PM. Conveniently located in downtown York at 343 W. Market, the Emporium will host a gathering of vinyl sellers and collectors from all over with a wide array of all sizes and types of vinyl and maybe even a few cds too. This free show is always a blast, so get out of hibernation and come on down. Bring your own records to swap too! The comfy confines of the York Emporium are the perfect place to get out and have a fun evening in the middle of this awful winter! We have also added a snow date the following Saturday if needed!

Whether you are looking for that elusive soul 45, rare punk, some way out jazz, or maybe some central PA hillbilly tunes, The York Record Riot offers a great chance to browse some goodies looking to find happy homes. Surely, this time of year an escape is needed, and this free show is a great opportunity for music fans to get some new old wax to add to their collections, and you can even browse the huge book warehouse as well too!

Summer's End Brings Avalanche of Record Shows to the Mid-Atlantic

Please forgive my extended summer vacation from my blog as I delved headfirst into the vinyl subculture even to the point of eschewing the online world in favor of getting my hands dirty and feeding my mind. This post is for those , who like myself, cling to their 7 & 12" slabs of vinyl as if the world was about to end, those who try to roll away the stone with a few spins of a disc. For those who truly cling, the cold, flat computer screen is just no match for a room full of records.

Our fun-filled month of shows gets started on Wednesday September 29th at 6PM with our own York Record Riot at the amazing York Emporium, 343 W. Market St. Imagine a cavernous building filled with books and records invaded by a good variety of dealers and collectors with even more records, in a friendly cozy atmosphere where one can truly dig some tunes. It's a little funky show in a big funky place where all are welcomed, especially those bringing fine records. This little local show is unlike any other, and may be the only semi regular Wednesday show around. As such, its a fine tune-up for the incredible Allentown 45 and 78 show on Saturday Oct 1!

The 23rd Semi-Annual 45 and 78 show at Merchant's Square Mall in Allentown is simply the biggest and best (not to mention first) 45 show in the country. Tears have been shed over the records that have been bought or almost bought there, and some of the finest dealers and collectors in the world will showcase their remarkable records. WFMU may have the biggest record show, but those who search for the rarest 45s visit Allentown first. And if you just happen to be looking for shiny, brand new blues 78's from the 20s, or maybe a few scratchy ones, you will be in luck too. Just bring your pocketbook and you will be rewarded. As an added bonus, the all-format show on Sunday the 3rd will expand the selection with even more dealers adding LPs and Cds to the mix to make for a fine weekend for sure.

After taking a week to recover from Allentown, Oct 10 would be a great day to check out the longest running monthly record show in the US, the Keystone Record Collectors show at the Continental Inn on RT 30 in Lancaster. This location is the best yet for this show which remains a solid place to buy and sell all kinds of records. Easy access, lots of parking, and a spacious showroom make this a sure bet. Add the fact that some dealers do only the KRC show, you really ought to go every month!

That's about it for the vinyl show roundup, unless you go to the next weekend, when on Sat Oct 16th the mammoth Yotk Book Paper Record and Comic Fair returns for its fall show. In their new digs at the Holiday Inn the shindig has it all in one big room or two. After all, you need stuff to read while listening to your new records right? Then you might as well finish a month of trolling for wax in Baltimore Sunday the 17th at the Arbutus Fire Hall, which is simply an amazing place to get some vinyl at totally fair prices! So for those who are not content to sit in front of a computer screen, or listen to their ipod, or looking for apps for their smart phone, etc etc, the Mid-Atlantic has many opportunites to dig, dig and dig some more and find a tangible piece of music to welcome into the home! It's your mission should you choose to accept it...

York Record Riot Returns May 26th With Its Righteous Record Ruckus!

Due to the success of the very first York Record Riot this past February, the decision has been made to have the fun Wednesday night record swap on a quarterly basis, beginning with the May 26th show! Hosted by the multi-tasking, used books and more, warehouse the York Emporium, the first record swap was a blast, well attended and a quite cozy event all around. Essentially a wildly divergent group of folks turned up to sell and buy some old vinyl, and even swell out of the area record shops like Mr. Suit of Lancaster and Own Guru of Baltimore showed up with their wares.

So the big Wednesday night riot will return in just a few weeks, on May 26th, and it remains a lone oasis of vinyl culture in downtown York, a free event that offers a fine diversion from run of the mill fare, as one can find inexpensive wonders galore and maybe a few worthy expensive ones too. The friendly atmosphere of Jim Lewin's wonderful emporium is a big plus and his wife Pam sure can make some good brownies too! It's like the old days when all the record shows were all sort of informal gatherings, and fun and music was the order of the day. Things certainly have changed since the 45 and the LP arrived on the scene, and some of those artifacts are now valued and treasured. Crate diggers have returned vinyl to its proper place in the scheme of things, rescuing and reissuing lost treasures and giving the artists some long overdue attention.

The show at the Emporium again will have a wide range of sellers from all over, and gives the vinyl hungry crowd one little spot where they can browse a traveling record store and rediscover some lost treasures on their own. Who knows, maybe even some of the famous York records will show up, like the Loose Enz, The Chapparals, or the Blues Spectrum! I could only hope, really. Calling all you great central PA bands of the 60s like the Emperors, the Shaynes, The Centurys, the Evil I, etc., dig out your records and photos and bring them down! Things surely will be happening at the York Emporium the night of May 26th. As they say, it's all for the love of rock and roll, or soul, or jazz or hillbilly, etc. Come on down and join us Wednesday night for a little bit of action, good music and good times!