Gainesville Punk: A History of Bands & Music

by Matt Walker

Overview

Known for The Fest, Less Than Jake and Hot Water Music, Gainesville became a creative hub in the 1980s and '90s for many of punk rock's greats.

Whether playing at the Hardback or wild house parties, earnest acts like Against Me!, Spoke and Roach Motel all emerged and thrived in the small northern Florida city. Radon burst onto the scene with chaotic energy while Mutley Chix helped inspire local torchbearers No Idea Records. Through this succinct history, author Matt Walker traces each successive generation's contributions and amplifies the fidelity of the Gainesville scene.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626197671
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	11/07/2016
Series:	Landmarks
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Matt Walker works as a communication specialist at the University of Florida. He has been writing about music and playing the guitar for over fifteen years. Matt was the founder and editor of Lead Us Down, a website dedicated to covering local punk and indie music in Gainesville, from 2011 to 2014. He served as music editor and then editor of Satellite Magazine, a Gainesville monthly paper dedicated to arts, culture and music in the region. Matt earned his BA in English literature from Valdosta State University and his master's degree in journalism from the University of Florida.

Table of Contents

Foreword Patrick Hughes 9

Preface 11

Acknowledgements 13

Part I Just Hanging Out, 1981-1988

1 Roach Motel and Gainesville Punk's First Wave 17

2 Gainesville Punk's New Torchbearers 30

3 A New 'Zine in Town 35

4 Psychic Violents Explore 38

5 Doldrums Explode 44

6 No Idea's First Record 50

Part II The Lifting, 1989-1999

7 Gainesville Punk Finds a Home 57

8 Spoke and Radon Usher in a New Era 61

9 Less Than Jake Grows, Spoke and Radon Call It a Day 73

10 Gainesville Punk Evolves 78

11 The Sound Engineer 84

12 Finding the Rhythms 86

13 Less Than Jake Goes National 93

14 Gainesville Punk Diversifies and Innovates 95

15 Breaking Up, Regrouping 104

16 Gainesville Punk Thrives 108

17 The End of an Era 115

Part III Reinventing, 2000-2006

18 Gainesville Punk Disperses 121

19 Against Me! Operates Outside the System 127

20 Gainesville Punk for the New Millennium 134

21 Against Me! Rises to National Stage 138

22 The Venues Shuffle Once More 141

23 The Pest Ushers in Another New Era for Gainesville Punk 143

Afterword 147

Bibliography 149

Index 155

About the Author 159

Editorial Reviews

"Walker meticulously researched this volume through numerous interviews with the musicians, business owners and record producers who were there. He digs deep into old fanzine articles from recent years to nearly 40 years ago, even including a reproduction of the controversial Roach Motel poster that heralded the band and punk's arrival to Gainesville....Walker knows his stuff .Valdosta Daily Times


"This weekend, thousands of frat bros will leave the sleepy college town of Gainesville, Florida, while a comparable number of street punks, deep-pocketed music fans, and various riff-raff flood its streets. It's a bizarre Halloween switcheroo that happens because the University of Florida Gators happen to take on their rivals in a recurring out-of-town football game that takes place at the same time as a giant punk rock festival known as the Fest kicks off. The few hours when the jocks and their Southern belle counterparts collide with the influx of train-hoppers is always glorious. Gainesville Punk: A History of Bands and Music, [released this week,] explores how the place that produced people like Tom Petty, Stephen Stills, and John Vanderslice went on to incubate talents like Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! and Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music." Vice Magazine


"A little more punk history will be coming to FEST during its "Flea Market" that pops up during registration time on Friday. Matt Walker will be set up to debut his book "Gainesville Punk: A History of Bands and Music." The Arcadia Publishing website previews the book by saying that "Gainesville became a creative hub in the 1980s and '90s for many of punk rock's greats.""
Gainesville Sun


"The book follows the history of several classic Gainesville bands. Notable mentions include Roach Motel and Spoke. In "Gainesville Punk," Walker interviews members from a lot of big acts that got their start in Gainesville. 'I got to interview some people from Hot Water Music, Less Than Jake and Against Me!' Walker said. 'But I also got to talk to a lot of bands who are smaller and currently living in Gainesville. The primary source material for the book was talking directly to musicians.'" The Independent Florida Alligator


"Matthew Walker doesn't miss a thing with Gainesville Punk: A History of Bands and Music.
The book is an all-killer-no-filler telling of how Gainesville, Florida's thriving punk scene grew up and evolved to national prominence over the course of three decades from the early 1980s to the present." theonlyfredsmith.com


"The first of its kind, Gainesville Punk: A History of Bands and More by local author Matt Walker, provides an intimate look at the Gainesville punk music scene through the ages. Organized into three parts, the book describes three distinct musical eras. In the first part, Walker describes the origins of the punk scene, with a particular emphasis on bands Roach Motel and Mutley Chix. The other two sections describe revivals of the scene, the evolution of the local sound, and the ascent of Less Than Jake and Against Me! respectively.

Though it is a work of nonfiction, Gainesville Punk reads like a narrative. Compelling storytelling links seemingly every band in the punk scene, describing how they influenced each other and helped establish major record labels, zines, and venues that are still around today." The Florida Basement

From the Publisher