[kj] Afro-Punk & Swiz Re: 1000 SUNS Outside Gate and PHANTASMAGORIA

[B. Oliver Sheppard]

Chris,

Decline 3 was better than Decline 2 but how can you top the classic that 
is Decline 1? It's clear Decline 3 is taking place in a diff. era and a 
study of a particular subculture of spare-changing, street punk kids, 
and the bands they like, it's good. But it doesn't have the urgent, 
'Wow, this is insane' feeling I remember getting from Decline 1.

Have not seen any doc on Afro-Punk but it sounds interesting as hell. 
_American hardcore_ does get major props for emphasizing Bad Brains' 
contributions to hardcore and punk, possibly rock 'n roll in general. 
Another one of my favorite hardcore bands, Swiz, who were were around 
from about 1987 to 1992, and from the Washington DC area, was headed up 
by Shawn Brown -- he happens to be African Amrican and has a killer 
voice often compared to Henry Rollins. Before Swiz he was briefly in 
DC's Dag Nasty, the band that had some ex-Minor Threat members in it. 
But they kicked Shawn out because his vocals were too "hard" and they 
wanted a more melodic approach. There is a rare-ish Dag Nasty 1985-1986 
CD that haas all of Dag Nasty's material with Shawn on vocals and it's 
way heavier than anything else Dag nasty ever did; they evolved into an 
uptempo popcore band after he left. Ironically, the CD with him on it 
was the first CD I ever purchased, back in the early 90s, and I was 
blown away.

So, Shawn Brown went to Swiz, which had a little bit of NYHC in the mix 
(Gorilla Biscuits style), a little bit of post-hardcore, and really 
their own very cool thing going that's all their own. After Swiz, Shawn 
sang in Sweetbelly Freakdown (horrible band name), essentially a Swiz 
reunion band who put out one LP in 1997 that is actually pretty damned 
good. Then Brown  went on to Jesus Eater for a few years, which were 
like a Rollins Band-meets-Helmet, heavier groove-type band with a hint 
of Black Sabbath (get Jesus Eater's LP, not their EP), but Jesus Eater 
also broke up. Now I think Shawn Brown is a tattoo artist in Maryland or 
something.

But as far as African-American punk front men go, if the Afro-Punk 
documentary you mention doesn't feature a big chunk of it on Shawn 
Brown, I'd be mightily disappointed! The guy was/is an incredible 
hardcore singer, as good as Henry Rollins ever has been.


AND HERE'S SOME COOL NEWS: Jade Tree offers a FREE downloadable Swiz 
CD-EP in mp3 format, complete with CD insert artwork you can print out 
with directions on how to fold it together and make it into your own DIY 
CD, compliments of the band's ex-members. Keep in mind the tracks on 
this free mp3 are essentially demos and are not as hard as Swiz's final 
stuff -- but it's pretty damned good in any event, for 1987 or 88.

http://www.jadetree.com/mp3/Swiz-With_Ramsey.zip

That's the free EP!

-Oliver





Christof hamille wrote:

> I've been trying to track down a copy of Decline III for years.  

> Allegedly it is coming out with the boxset of all the movies.  But 

> that has been in talk for years.

>

> Picked up American Hardcore today.  Not sure yet on that.

>

> Afro-Punk was pretty good but, obviously, different point of view.

>

> I am in the negotiations stages of doing a documentary and live show 

> on Negative Approach.  Not sure if I can make the legal matters happen 

> but I am hoping so.  And then after that I hope someone cares enough 

> to want to watch it.

>

> Fingers crossed

>

> Chris