HISTORY
The Strap-Ons were an interesting animal. Forged in the hot confusion of A College Preparatory High School (read: Prep school), we were infused with plenty of angst and loathing for our perceived confines�having to wear ties and dress clothes to school every day, not being rich enough or coordinated enough to rise to the upper echelons of the private school. It was the things roiling beneath the surface in both our respective and shared lives, however, that really drove the music and the performances. Suffice it to say, these factors were unique enough to ignite the passions required to fuel an old school punk band, while the ostensible circumstances pointed up the decidedly un-punk facets of our existence.
Shawn and I were enemies during our first year of High School, at least as I saw it. We seemed locked in an epic battle over who was the �most punk�. He had a Screeching Weasel T-Shirt, so I got an Army jacket festooned with home made patches sporting the likes of Black Flag, Minor Threat, and local bands like Violent Society. One day Sophomore year at lunch, Shawn and I got into an argument regarding the lameness of a band I was starting called Shanghied with another cat. I had bought a bass at a flea market for $40, cleaned it up with Turtle Wax, and started writing punk songs. Shawn denounced power chords while I sneered at the rigorous study of Led Zeppelin songbooks and defended the finer points of hacking away at the guitar. The argument ended with my inviting Shawn to come to my house and play Misfits covers in my basement. The band really began that weekend in December of 1995, with the to of us trying not to wake up my parents while attempting to play �Return of the Fly� over and over again after watching Plan 9 from Outer Space.
Ben came to us from the school band, and before that, we went to grade school together. Jeff �Chewy Coulter� had been previously elected to be the Strap Ons� drummer, and while he was crazy enough for the Strap-Ons, we wanted to go farther than he did and our practices with him usually dissolved into monkey business and grilled cheese lunches. We played one awful show and recorded a �interesting� demo called �Long Arm of the Law� with Jeff, and then started looking around. Ben was the only person we knew with drums and he wasn�t really in our social circle. But there it was, the logical choice: a peripheral acquaintance and trumpet player behind the kit. On we pushed, giving poor Ben heaps of hastily recorded bass-and-guitar demos to be learned �by the weekend�. Ben learned quickly, and Shawn�s neighbor Jason was soon making regular visits to the basement with his 4 track. Soon enough, the �What We Stand For� demo was born. It was a C-section. However, our version of the Misfits� �Horror Hotel� wasn�t bad and became a staple of our shows from the beginning, starting with our first show at the Festerville Firehall, which came right in time for the �release� of the tape. Between the tapes and the show, we made enough money for a good microphone, some McDonalds, and another run of DIY tapes. It�s a wonder we weren�t on the cover of �Maximum Rock N Roll� yet. As High School wore on, we progressed at our craft (modestly anyway), and got more shows, playing with the likes of Violent Society, The Boils, Blanks 77, Sinch, CKY, Letter Kills and the Casualties. Pink used to come to our shows too. For real.
After we cut the "Last Straw" CD at Creep Records, we enjoyed decent CD sales and more shows. Tommy Conwell began to feature us on his "Loud and Local" radio show on 94 WYSP. Once it was time to write more material, we began departing from our hard edged punk sound toward a more post-punk/hardcore thing which was musically more complex and called for a broader range of vocal talents. Unfortunately, the last 6 or 7 Strap-Ons tunes never made it to tape, and the �A Different Kind of Hero� album (title according to my notes) never had a chance to germinate. Songs like �Educational Programming�, �Stand Together�, �The Whites of Their Eyes/How to Make Friends�, �The Beginning of the Last Great Insurrection� and �Tomorrow� went over very well (The latter had people singing along the first time we played it in public), but are lost to history. The lyrics, however, are posted on this site for you to enjoy.
Sadly, College saw the collapse of the Strap-Ons, though we managed to play a final show at the Killtime on 39th and Lancaster in West Philadelphia in May of 2000. As I said then while the final notes of �The Beginning of the Last Great Insurrection� still rang: �If you don�t see us again, thank you. It�s been a great ride.� And it was.
--Joel