Youth of Today
Revelation Records is perhaps hardcore’s most iconic record label. With heavyweights like Gorilla Biscuits, 7 Seconds and Youth of Today in their lineup, the label has cemented their place as a necessary pillar of an entire genre. Even today, Revelation Records is still just as relevant, giving hardcore artists like Torso and Primal Rite the “rub” that extends their reach all around the world, a world that would be much softer without Revelation Records.
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This special weekend, where four of the label’s most influential bands would share the same stage on two co-headlining nights, was an event that could only take place in Los Angeles, at 1720, and booked by SOS Productions. 7 Seconds and Judge on Night 1, Youth of Today and the final Side by Side reunion show on Night 2. This was a bill too good to be true even in New York, for all the legendary matinee shows they witnessed, they never got see a collaboration this epic. There was almost a religious aspect to the shows, as if hardcore kids all over California had to make pilgrimage to beat witness to this holy happening. And though religion and hardcore are often considered at odds, the book of Revelation Records is full of ideology, whether it be Hare Krishna or militant straight edge.
As Ray Kappo put it, the one word to use to describe this weekend was: “Sammy-Palooza”, referring to the drummer of each headliner playing that weekend, Sammy Siegler. Sammy’s talent and endurance is unparalleled in punk these days.
The crowd at these shows wasn’t typical of hardcore. Not only were the older heads present but the true straight-edge heads as well, the ones who aren’t just down with any species of hardcore. They only show up for their scene, to feel their values echoed through every song and pit. This sort has their own worldview that isn’t shared by the rest of modern hardcore, they do not follow trends and are unafraid of being outsiders, even among the hardcore scene.
Between sets, I noted in a 1720-patio conversation, the sort of political figures members of these forefather hardcore bands follow. As older punks go, you see more conservative opinions, whether they be as agreeable as being anti-vax or as divisive as being anti-BLM. This is in heavy contrast to contemporary hardcore politics which are more or less analogous with wokeness, especially in Los Angeles, where anti-zionism has been integrated as unspoken hardcore status quo. Still though, as toxic as politics can be, splitting families apart these days, leftist hardcore kids still give their flowers to the old heads while being fully aware of their politics.
The reason for this is dually because the music goes unbelievably hard and because these bands created hardcore’s identity, and no shift in socio-political dynamics can take that away from them. Personally, I came for Judge. My favorite hardcore band. A band I truly fell in love with after watching Vice’s 4 part documentary on Mike Judge. Because I felt like an outsider to hardcore, just as he did when he first toured the New York scene, I identified with him and his lyrics even though I was never militant straight edge. In fact, I was a smoker for most of my life, and yet, the attitude and conviction behind every Judge lyric and riff made their sound undeniable to me.
Judge was the first of the major bands to play 1 night after having Major Pain and Firestarter crack the show open. Legendary guitarist, John Porcelly, or Porcell as he’s known as, immediately steps up any set to such a high level of intensity, nearing the supreme with such powerful noise and presence, that both his band and the audience can’t help but match his wavelength or get left behind, and at Judge shows, no one gets left behind. They went through all the straight edge classics, songs of a darker lyrical nature than most hardcore displays of power. Songs like “The Storm” detailing the quiet fallout of a race-war, probably couldn’t, or at least wouldn’t, be written in 2024.
It’s nearly impossible to follow Judge in front of a hardcore audience unless you change things up and 7 Seconds did just that, belting out their signature melodic hardcore punk that put them in the same breath as Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and the rest of those seminal punk bands. Covers like “99 Red Balloons” gave the evening a vibration that the New York bands never really delved into, namely joy. 7 Seconds is joyous punk and to celebrate the bands that came together to play before Los Angeles this weekend, perhaps there was no better feeling to close out the night.
Night 2 began with the threat of rain but the clouds cleared and kept 1720 dry, so every ear could hear the wisdom of Youth of Today’s Ray Kappo and Side by Side’s Jules Massee. Jules’ wisdom didn’t come from ancient teachings or form of mysticism. It was purely knowledge that came from living. He talked about forgetting the many things that divided us and instead focusing on what we all had in common. Perhaps if we could, not only would our problems seem smaller and more fixable, but there would probably be far less pain in the world.
Side by Side got back together for a festival appearance at first before playing a few select shows culminating in this Los Angeles performance. Even though the band only came out with one album, You’re Only Young Once… Even still, that album was so beloved , that it’s echoes reverberate to this day. Their set was pure energy, ripping and youthful, with hardcore kids spilling onto the stage in seemingly endless numbers.
Youth of Today closed out the night, filling their set with mantras backed by riffs that raised everyone spirits while expanding everyone’s consciousness. Straight Edge/Vegan hardcore’s essential ethos was cleanliness over the filth of their punk forefathers. They dressed in athletic wear, cut their hair short and ate clean. No drugs. No alcohol. No cigarettes. No meat. But beyond that, there was an even more essential filth not to let into your reality. One of Ray’s monologues was about how our thoughts can heal us or destroy us. The purpose of meditation is to purge us of any thoughts, let alone the negative ones, making it an essential part of the Hare Krishna religion.
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When you examine hardcore closely, you see it’s has always been connected to religion. Whether it be Bad Brains’ Rastafarianism, the Hare Krishnas in Cro-Mags and Youth of Today, a skinhead nailed to a cross, Christian Metalcore, or today’s modern marxist wokeness, which is adhered to as an all-enveloping ideology that lends itself to music, art and any other form of human expression. Regardless of what everyone believed that night, as hardcore kids we stand with conviction whether we’re marxist or zionist. However on that night, simply as hardcore kids in front of the legends that created the sound we love, we were stood and slammed together, unified to pay homage.
The book of revelation holds the promise of the end of the world. The house of Revelation Records offers another promise, that if we stand together, and if we choose to fight for each other, not with each other, if we come together, then nothing can stop us.
Words by: Rob Shepyer
Photos by: Taylor Wong
