When the Edge Turns Crust
The band R.A.M.B.O. was founded in Philadelphia in 1999. Famed for its eclecticism, self-irony, extensive touring, and anarchist politics, R.A.M.B.O. was one of the few bands that earned itself both the attributes “crust” and “straight edge.” The band dissolved in 2007. Bull Gervasi, formerly of Policy Of Three (1989-95) and Four Hundred Years (1997-2000), was R.A.M.B.O.’s bass player. He lives in Philly and is a member of the Mariposa Food Co-op managing collective.
Unfortunately, I do think it’s a foreign concept to most crust punks. There seems to be this segment in the scene that just can’t let go of the ‘77 style “get fucked up and fuck shit up” stereotype. I’ve gotten shit from people for not wanting to drink or smoke weed with them.
It is true that there are many political bands within the crust punk scene, but only a very small contingent of straight edge bands. I find it hard to say why that is. For me personally there always seemed to be a natural connection to straight edge—especially with part of the scene coming from the “peace punk” scene of the 80s. Also within a radical political context it just makes so much sense. I don’t take issue with punks who drink on occasion or brew their own beer. I think folks should do to themselves whatever they want. However, I do take issue with drunk punks following a tired stereotype or with political punks supporting corporate alcohol/tobacco companies that target “at risk” populations and profit from people’s addictions. I think it’s unfortunate that the crust scene is still so dominated by the drunk punk image. That’s exactly how “The Man” wants us to act! (Image 23.1)
Image 23.1
As far as US straight edge is concerned, I think it’s rarely synonymous with politics or activism these days, other than a few small scenes. That doesn’t make it particularly attractive to political crust punks either.
As far as commercialization goes, I think that this goes for any aspect of punk at this point. Look at the expensive and elaborate uniforms that many punks have regardless of the particular scene they count themselves in. Maybe some of them are less commercialized than others, but a lot are highly stylized and expensive nonetheless. There’s also the fetishization of record collecting.
For me, the straight edge hardcore scene has lost most of its connection to punk at this point, so it barely even registers for me as something to consider. So, yes, on that level the criticism certainly resonates with me. Straight edge has never been a style for me. I’ve never been one to “X up” or wear straight edge shirts. But I can absolutely get behind a movement that promotes personal responsibility and accountability.
When I first started going to shows in the late 80s, the straight edge scene was just starting to become popular in Philadelphia. At that point there were just punk shows, period. Everyone played together, all the distros sold all sorts of bands’ records, and the only real division was between the punks and the nazi skins.
We put on shows in New Jersey at the Harwan Theater through the early 90s and it was the same thing. It wasn’t until the straight edge hardcore scene started to get violent and apolitical that the division occurred. It was about 1993 around here. The straight edge scene in the north eastern part of the US was very dominated by the New York hardcore scene. Once that scene started to go more mainstream it really went downhill. The shows started to be full of the meathead assholes I hated from high school. It had little resemblance to the punk scene I knew and loved.
That was when my friends and I all left that scene to start doing our own thing, which became part of the mid-90s DIY punk scene. That scene was very political, predominately straight edge and a musical mix similar to my earlier days at shows. We started a group called the Cabbage Collective where we put on shows with crust, emo, riot grrl, pop punk bands and whatever else we could come up with. We never had a problem. Well, except for the Citizen Fish and Spitboy show were some crusty train hoppers broke beer bottles outside and tagged the bathrooms. Then we got kicked out of that space.
The crusty train hopper scene in the US has little to do with the actual crust punk scene. “Train hopping” refers to boarding freight trains illegally as a mode of transportation. It became popular in the US during the Great Depression as a way to get from one place to another while looking for work. Sometime in the 1990s, a subculture with ties to the punk scene developed around using freight trains as a means of free transport. It consists mostly of homeless and often violent and addicted youths that would hop trains from city to city. They often squat in northeast or northwest towns during the warmer months, then hop south for the winter. They are often hostile towards punks that aren’t part of their scene, especially straight edge folks. Quite often they would just turn up at shows and expect to get in for free. They were more interested in a meeting place than in the actual show and would usually cause trouble whether you let them in or not. That particular night, we wouldn’t let them in for free, so they hung out outside, drank, and broke bottles before tagging the bathroom as well as the outside of the venue.
Victory was still coming up at that point, but yes, we very intentionally set ourselves apart. No serious conflicts though. The overall scene in the US was big enough to sustain smaller scenes. We just found our own venue, picked who we wanted to support, and asked them to play, read, or table at our shows. We felt strongly about providing a drug, alcohol, and smoke free space, but we figured that style and attitude ought not to be more important than substance.
Forming R.A.M.B.O. was directly related to that. R.A.M.B.O. was basically a reaction to how increasingly violent the scene had become leading up to 2000. We wanted to play heavy music, but we wanted to have a safe environment for whoever wanted to come. It’s funny to think that, given the ways things had developed, this seemed like a novel concept.
R.A.M.B.O. came out of a love for crust and hardcore, a strong set of beliefs, and a love of fun. At the time R.A.M.B.O. started, the hardcore scene here in Philly was dominated by violent assholes. We wanted to create a safe space for punks of all sorts to enjoy crust music with hardcore breakdowns played by straight edge vegan anarchists. I think that’s why people caught on to us. We brought together certain ideas at a time when that wasn’t really done, and people got what they wanted from it. Some marginalized groups within the punk scene felt safer at our shows, some people were excited about our politics, some liked the music we played, some were into the props, and some dug all of it. We did have a lot of straight edge fans, but not so much in the traditional hardcore scene sense. We mostly attracted the punk rock misfits that didn’t fit into all the neatly defined scenes of recent years—into which we didn’t fit either. I’m very thankful to the punk scene for everything we were able to do. Our experiences were phenomenal—except for the broken foot, the broken leg, and the typhoid fever, but that’s another story...
There is such a huge crust punk/grindcore scene in Southeast Asia! Both our tours there were incredible. I’m so thankful that we had the opportunity to meet so many great folks and play in so many places that most Westerners will never go. It was all possible because of the global DIY punk network. We met a handful of straight edge crust punks there, but everyone showed us incredible kindness and was genuinely interested in what we were about.
The scenes in each country are quite different and only a few of them are strongly linked. When we went to Indonesia, some folks from Malaysia and Singapore came with us to create a stronger DIY network in the region. Things like that were quite inspiring. We planned the tour in such a way that we would have several days in each place to hang out with the punks outside of playing shows. This really enriched the whole experience. We got to see their favorite places, eat with them, see nature, and we were able to really get to know each other.
First off, the name was a joke suggested by a friend of Tony’s because Sylvester Stallone went to his High School in North-East Philly. It became an acronym to pay homage to the Japanese band G.I.S.M. whose name was kind of nonsensical too.
As far as the labels go, you covered most of them. We wanted things to be spelled out very clearly for those who were interested: we believed in these things, we sang about them, we had information about them on our table and in our records, and we literally beat you over the head with them, in a fun way of course. I felt really good about our overt politics as a way to try to introduce people to new ideas or spark conversation. At the bottom of it all, we were four or five individuals with similar politics and a love of punk and fun.
For me it was also really important to give back to the punk scene because it had provided me with so much guidance early on. Bands like Conflict, 7 Seconds, Youth of Today, and Discharge allowed me to escape into a different world, but more importantly, provided the framework for me to become who I am today.
The rest of our lives became more of a priority. We all had a lot happening and it just felt like it was time to move on. As you said, we had been touring quite a bit and I personally felt like I couldn’t devote enough time to either my home life or the band. I was and still am a manager at our neighborhood food co-op and I was also working on an old communal house. Tony was planning to move to Arizona for school and a relationship, Andy was beginning to work more on films, Dave was moving to Pittsburgh to relocate his vegetable oil vehicle conversion company, and Mick was just starting school to be an electrician.
We had a great run as a DIY band. We managed to accomplish quite a bit. As a band we were always trying to push things to the next level, and I feel that this is how we try to live our lives too.
Lucky for us it is illegal in Pennsylvania for alcohol to be sold outside of state-run liquor stores. I do spend a lot of time at the co-op. It is a great example of a democratically run business that adheres to most of my anarchist principles. There are over a thousand people that are members/owners of the business, I’m part of a small staff collective that manages the storefront, we make decisions by consensus, everyone works and everyone pays the same prices, we have direct relationships with about twenty local farmers who grow organic produce, 90 percent of our members live within a few blocks of the store, and we provide access to high quality food at reasonable prices in an underserved neighborhood.
I live in a communal house with five others. The house was purchased in 1989 with the intention of providing affordable housing for anarchists/activists. It was built in the 1890s and maintenance requires a lot of time and energy. It’s a huge eight-bedroom, four-story Victorian style twin that was bought for $7000 because there had been a fire in it. In 1999, a few friends and I took over responsibility. This past year we started on some serious structural projects to insure the house’s longevity.
I love traveling and nature, and so I try to get out of the city as much as possible, either for a bike camping trip or to help friends maple sugaring, seaweed harvesting, bird watching, mushroom hunting, or something like that. My partner and I have been trying to teach ourselves how to garden the past few years. We maintain a guerrilla garden in an abandoned lot near my house. I like to be as self-sufficient as possible. So I’m always trying to learn new skills.
Since I was twelve I’ve been involved in the punk scene. It’s part of me like an appendage. It has influenced every aspect of my life and will always be with me. After R.A.M.B.O. I was pretty burnt on playing music and needed a break from it. I needed some time to focus on the other aspects of my life. So I haven’t been playing much music since, other than in a handful of cover bands—Minor Threat, 7 Seconds, The Misfits, Iron Maiden—for our annual Halloween events.
It seems to be cyclical and I think we’re due for a resurgence of politically charged straight edge punk! I think it’s a perfect time for a new crop of punks with a righteous analysis to evolve from the ashes of the outdated crust punk/straight edge hardcore stereotypes. There’s plenty of lyrical fodder these days, that’s for sure. Look at the state of the world and the political climate. The youth are also inundated with advertising at a level unlike any other in history. Much of this is coming from alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical companies that sure as hell don’t have our health or well-being at heart. I’m optimistic.