Lickity Split

Here is another Axis Club classic, though they played at the Tombstone this night. I went to High School with several of these fellows, and jammed with them fairly regularly. They were a fun group, sort of poppy punk in a DC sort of vein. Their drummer, was about the best drummer in town. Everybody fought over getting him to play for their bands and little pet projects. He even played for my band a few times. He is in a reggae band now, but I haven't really kept up with him. I believe the band he was in before Lickity Split was called Jefferson Golfcart. I never heard them play, if they ever did, but they sure had a cool name!

The band Why Am I were also friends of mine. They were from the Arlington, TX crowd. Their sound was a little more metal than the other guys, with introspective lyrics. I was not the fondest of their musical style, but they were friends and they could play very well. They also put on a good show. Why Am I had a pretty good following in the Arlington, TX area for a while. I believe they broke up when the members went off to college.

The Dragworms... Well I don't remember much about them except that they were loud. I seem to remember them as being somewhat of a noise type band. Sort of like an early Tool.

At any rate these were fun times, at the very end of the hardcore days, just before the grunge takeover. It was always fun to kick those druggie hairball metal-heads out of the Tombstone for a punk rock show.

Riot Squad

I remember driving around for hours looking for this studio, so we could see the show. We never found it, and ended up hanging out downtown instead. Looked sort of interesting, too bad we missed it. We did get this cool punk rock flyer out of it. Honestly, these guys looked a little TOO punk rock.

Ultraman - Axis Club

Here is a flyer from the late eighties. It is from the notorious Axis Club near Fort Worth's hospital district (not a good part of town). Fort Worth had a severe lack of clubs and punk venues until this one showed up. It caused quite a stir for the short time that it existed, and lot's of now famous bands toured through it. Nirvana and Babes in Toyland are a few that ring a bell, along with quite a slew of DC bands. These bands were not well known at the time, as punk had not made the transition to grunge that happened in the early '90's. Ultraman was one of the later Hardcore bands. I went to the show, but I do not think I ever made it inside to see them.

DOA Leaflet

I got this leaflet at the D.O.A. show in Dallas. I believe it was at the Theater Gallery around 1985, but am not sure. D.O.A. were pretty serious Anarchists, and did not like to see people getting thomped in the "pit". They handed these out before the show. It was to no avail, as the show degenerated into a riot when the "skins" arrived. Then somebody got shot and the cops busted it up with riot gear. We ran for our lives!

Jesus Chrysler

I don't really remember much about this one, but the flyer is pretty cool. I think it took place around 1986 or so. The 500 Cafe was one of about a million little clubs that would spring up overnight, last a few shows and then drop off the map. It was located near the Deep Ellum part of Dallas, a place with a very dangerous and seedy reputation at the time. You literally took your life into your hands to go there at night. Later on it got a bit trendy, and the Deep Ellum neighborhood cleaned itself up, sort of like the West End in the downtown area. It still remained a little dangerous, but nothing like it had been in it's early days. It was not unusual in the early to mid eighties for a punk show to get violent and for people to get killed during this period. It was also commonplace to get robbed by a bum while waiting to get in to see a show, or for skinheads to bust up the show.

Ignition and Raided X

I don't remember where I picked up this flyer, but I do remember the show. The Tombstone Factory was originally just that, and old tombstone factory on the East Side of Fort Worth on the bad side of town. It had a notorious reputation for all things indecent, and was owned and managed by a guy named Jerry Warden, who was one of the founding members of the now famous metal band Pantera. The punks couldn't stand him, and only went to his shows because there was no place else at the time that didn't involve a long drive to Dallas (most punks had no car).

At any rate, this show was interesting, even though I had seen Ignition a few nights before in Dallas (I had a car). I remember seeing the guitarist from the English band, Conflict, hanging out in the parking lot. I talked with him for a while, since we were fellow mohicans.

A few of my good friends were in the band Why Am I, and I played roadie for them this night.