Taken from McKaig’s journal-
This is my recent letter to Outburn magazine, in response to a question that was asked of Dave Peters of Throwdown in their recent interview in the July issue:
To Shawn Macomber:
When you asked Throwdown a question concerning “gangs of hard-line straight edge kids in Syracuse and Salt Lake City were beating up people for smoking and setting fire to McDonald’s restaurants†I’m concerned about where you get your information from. What Syracuse straight edge kids did these things? What specifically are you talking about? Who, supposedly, were the victims of these attacks? As the primary promoter of hardcore shows in Syracuse during the time that these things supposedly happened, I never witnessed nor heard of one single incident remotely relating to what you describe. Because, primarily, of the lyrics of several Earth Crisis songs (taken out of context and exaggerated), and also because of the perpetual hardcore rumor mill, actions such as those that you describe were assigned to our scene, without any of it actually happening. The members of Earth Crisis, Path of Resistance and other long-term members of the Syracuse hardcore scene never sanctioned or participated in such actions, and encouraged only constructive dialogue and compassionate action on the part of any who described themselves as “straight-edge†or “vegan†who were members of our scene. I’m surprised that the rumors concerning the Syracuse hardcore scene perpetuate to this day, due to the contribution of people such as yourself through questions asked during an interview of a band not even in existence when these things supposedly happened.
So, to hopefully put it to rest, finally … There were no “gangs of hard-line straight edge kids†attacking people because they weren’t straight edge (or, for that matter, for any other reason), there were no McDonald’s restaurants set on fire, there were ABSOLUTELY NO FIGHTS at hardcore shows in Syracuse during the whole time I was doing shows there through most of the ‘90’s (how many scenes can you say that about?). I guard the reputation of what I and many other like-minded people in Syracuse accomplished during that time jealously, and I take issue with the perpetuation of malicious rumors based on … nothing. Ask any band (straight edge or not) that played those shows, ask any participant, ask any promoter who was at an all ages hardcore show in Syracuse about the Syracuse scene during that time, they will tell you the same thing. Everyone (again, straight-edge, vegan … or neither) was treated with respect at our scene, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
John McKaig
jmmckaig@hotmail.com
