Join The Army…
Join The Army…
2020
Social media art
(photo cred Pep Williams)
There are those that will tell you they been HARDCORE since they wuz born. Truth is they a few and far between. MAAAYBEEE Harley Flanagan of the Cro-Mags MAAYBEE Flea of the Chili Peppers (dont care what you say he is hardcore) and MOST LIKELY MIKE MUIR of Suicidal Tendencies . I can say that with some authority knowing that while everyone else was a Vato in his neighborhood , which is hardcore on its own, him and his homies were breaking norms riding skates and making thrash psycho punk and Hardcore a way of life. Having an influence on both those around him and those afar.
I was just getting out of my Maiden phase and had started listening to “punk rock”. It musta been the summer of grade 8. Me and Kevin Wallace were rolling up and down driveways in the hood as we learned to skate. The Suburbs of Edmonton Alberta could be a mean place for a skater… I think there was 4 of us in about 100 blocks. 1 of em could really skate and well it wasnt us. Between the FUNKERS, THE METALHEADS and REDSNECKS we stuck out like sore thumbs and dealt with a lot of heat. It was a great way to spend them summer days though. An even better way to find our voice as individuals. AND THEN IT HAPPENED !!!
Kevin’s folks were a lot more liberal then mine, my dad was a military man. He got to stay up A LOT later then me. It was a sunny afternoon when I stopped by his place and he told me he had something I had to see. He pulled out a VHS , which atthe time was state of the art for recording television you didn’t wanna miss. This one featured his favs from Good Rocking Tonight. He had something special on it for me this time!!! He showed me the Bad Brains , which I didnt really get, something like the Sex Pistols which I had already seen and then hit me with SUCIDAL!!! I had NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT and WAS HOOKED! they were saying everything I ever wanted to say in a way I wanted to say it. That Day I joined the army !! THE SUICIDAL ARMY!!!
Not only did they have a bad ass sound, it was smart, funny, and their merch was off the hook. In those days you couldn’t walk into a headshop downtown and find an ST shirt. Hell even the skate shop on the other side of town didnt have it and they sure as hell weren’t touring our way anytime soon! The only way to get a shirt was 19.99 american plus 14$ s/h from the back of a Thrasher mag and well that just wasnt happening. So we had to be content with living vicariously through the music and on our decks and that we did. And when we got it into playing music (Walrus was the roadie) it came through again (safe free download)That carried us through most of our teens and into our 20’s. in my mid 20s ART became my primary focus and music was mostly background.
My 30s were spent raising my kid and working… it wouldnt be till my 40’s when I caught them live. And sometimes little boys dreams come true as we were all invited up on stage. yeah thats me living a memory of a lifetime!!!I can honestly admit it also wasnt till my 40 I understood what it meant to join the SUICIDAL ARMY…It wasnt bout being SUICIDAL!?! It was bout being down for life with your beliefs and dreams and being willing to die for em. Age as a funny way of changing you, you could probably never meet a more polite guy then Mike Muir,the fact he is still kicking it old school styles proves you can be SUICIDAL FOR LIFEEE!!!! So JOIN THE ARMY!!!! Thanx Mike!!!
Rossetto Ink 