August 24th, 2001.
My introduction into the scene (not to mention my first show ever). My friend Hector told me about this community center that held shows, Southside Community Center, venue named Chemical Freezone (for all the sXe enthusiast or because it was ran by a pastor). This was a time when it wasn't as good as when the venue was back in campbell, but was better than the pop/punk, scrEMO shit they have now. It was my....8th grade summer, Hector and I arrived about an hour early, the bands were still beginning to set up so we went back to his house, hung out at this guy "matt"-or somebody's house and ate his burritos. 8 o' clock crept up on us so we headed back to the show. We supported the fukking scene. We paid our six-damn-dollars each to get in. A semi-decent (i thought they were good) emo band was up, The Story. They were alright. Nothing too special. Then a melodic-hardcore band from Utah played after them, UNFOLD. that shit kicked my ass. I was in awe, i've never heard anything like it. O.K. I couldn't really hear the vocals or much of anything becase the PA system was shit back then, but it was still freaking good. Unfold ended, I bought their release for about 5 bux and got the whole band to autograph a piece of paper. Man,, they were alright, hope they're still around... who am I kidding? they probably aren't.
Next band that played was and still is ass-kicking. ABHORRANCE. When they were still worshipping the devil, distorted up the ass, and weird as FUCk! Man... when the band played... my ass took a beating. Hector got in the pit, but being a newcomer, I stayed out. I still had the shakes. That was my first slap-in-the-face-to-wake-me-up-to-hardcore/thrash. Only I didn't know what it was called, so MUSIC had to temporarily fill in the spaces. During their brutal massacre of a set, I got my arse in gear and bought their cd. i still have it in my room somewhere. Brutal i tell you...BRUTAL. My sister picked my up around 10:30, and there was still one more band left, San Jose ex-punk band Minor Catastrophe. I dunno, their merch table was handing out free pins so i snagged some. With a pin that has skulls and cross bones and the words POOP on it, how can you go wrong? Needless to say, I missed their set, but they were probably good. The perfect ending to an eye-opening night, my sister got in a car accident, thus explaining the early pick-up.
I came home with a handful of goodies, and an angry parent going off about the dent in my sister's car.
June 15, 2003
I still have those cds, the autographs and even the flyer of my first show ever. my sister still drives the car, but the dent is fixed. And Im still supporting the damn scene, paying money to get into shows (whenever i rarely go, that is). The last show i went to that i was completely satisfied with when i left was in January at Luna's, 2003. But thats another story I'll save for another time.