General Admission Standing Room Only

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GUTTERMOUTH

Formed in Huntington Beach, California in 1988, Guttermouth was heavily influenced by the Southern California punk rock scenes of the 1980s which spawned bands such as the Adolescents, The Vandals, Social Distortion, Fear, Descendents, Angry Samoans, Bad Religion and Black Flag. The band took these influences and developed their own style of fast, punk tempos with humorously sarcastic and offensive lyrics coupled with equally outrageous and offensive behavior, developing a reputation for chaotic live shows. Guttermouth is the perfect blend of what California-based punk rock is all about and one of the seminal bands in the US skate-punk scene.

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THE F.U.'S

The band initially consisted of John Sox, Steve Grimes, Bob Furapples, and Wayne Maestri. The band name was taken from a comment made by Wendy O. Williams in an interview in which she said something to the effect that "Smashing TVs is a great way to say 'F you' to society." The F.U.'s started out playing fast, thrashy hardcore punk, and their first recorded output was on the 1982 Modern Method compilation, This Is Boston, Not L.A. which also featured tracks by Gang Green, Jerry's Kids and The Freeze. A companion 7-inch EP, Unsafe At Any Speed, included another F.U.'s track.

Later the same year, their debut album, Kill For Christ, was released on X-Claim Records, featuring cover artwork by Septic Death frontman Brian 'Pushead' Schroeder, known for his work with Metallica, and Danzig depicting Jesus with a machine gun.

Their second album, also on X-Claim, My America, saw them labelled as right wing nationalists due to its patriotic lyrics (which were sarcastic), and artwork. The satirical punk band The Dead Milkmen poked fun at the band's supposed right-wing views on their song "Tiny Town" from the album Big Lizard in My Backyard.

The band's final album as The F.U.'s, Do We Really Want To Hurt You? followed in 1984, on Gasatanka/Enigma. With this album, the band had begun to take a more heavy metal direction, which was taken further when the band changed name to Straw Dogs, with guitarist Steve Martin and drummer Chris "Bones" Jones added to the line-up. As Straw Dogs, the band released an EP followed by two albums. Drummer Chris Jones died tragically in a car crash the day after the debut Straw Dogs EP was released.

The F.U.'s material has been re-released on Classy Records and more recently on Taang! Records. The band is no longer on Taang! and have a release on it's own label, Yankee Vandal.

John Sox reintroduced the music of F.U.'s and Straw Dogs by forming the band Payload! in 2006 with Richie Rich, Bobby Frankenheim (who later joined the reunited DYS), Jack Snyder, and Mick Stunt. When approached by Katie Goldman of Gallery East to participate in an upcoming documentary called xxx ALL AGES xxx Sox decided to reunite all of the original members with members of Payload! to form the first hardcore supergroup for lack of a better term. Sharing the stage for a sold out live show at Club Lido in Revere were, Sox, Grimes, Furapples, Maestri, Rich, and Stunt.

The F.U.'s performed a reunion show in the Boston area on August 29, 2010, The show was in support of xxx ALL AGES xxx, a documentary about the original hardcore punk scene in Boston in the early 1980s, being produced in association with Stone Films NYC.

Having had a good deal of fun and a great crowd reaction at the show, The F.U.'s have become an ongoing concern, playing gigs in the US, and Europe, recording a song for a compilation called Cashing in on Christmas Vol. III for Black Hole Records and Recording a split vinyl EP with Somhinoise from Catalan distributed by Thrashtocat.

The current lineup is John Sox, vocals, Steve Grimes, guitar, Ian King, guitar, Slade Anderson, bass, and Bob Furapples, drums.

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JON CASPI & THE FIRST GUN

"Combining the soulful, grassroots NJ blues of Bruce Springsteen with the hard speed, ragged electric economy of The Ramones, Jon Caspi and The First Gun create a new vernacular that cuts from the arteries of Queens to the dunes of Asbury Park" - Punk Rock Bowling

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