The 90’s El Paso Punk Scene was released in issue #21, August 2009.
This is part of our Memory Lane Tour Sessions.
Article by Daniel Salas.
The punk scene in El Paso in the 90s was exciting and very much alive all over the city. You can catch shows in every part of town. The scene thrived on a DIY (as in do it yourself) ethic where everyone within the scene helped out whether it was providing a location, bands, equipment or creating a flyer. The Marxist idealism in the scene meant that there was no hierarchy between the bands and everyone was equal. There were a lot of similarities and also a lot of differences in the music scene of the 90s as compared to today.
For the most part of the 90s, there was no use of this thing called the World Wide Web. There was no internet to research music and the local music stores had little to offer. Believe it or not kids, there was no myspace. For the fist half of the decade, if you wanted to hear new music you would go to a punk show. There was a certain level of appreciation and interest one would have when out of town bands would come into town, which there were many, partly because El Paso was included in Book Your Own Fuckin’ Life, a resource guide for the Punk and DIY community. Basically it was a book full of addresses and contacts from all over the US where traveling bands can get a hold of someone if they needed a place to play or stay when on tour.
Shows would go down in all kinds of places, mainly backyards where you could see local bands such as Not So Happy, Degrean, Tu Edge, Los Booshes, The Glitter Girls, Attempted Urns, Egon, The Members of The Yellow Press, Sbitch, NMS, Purile, VBF, Short Hate Temper, Fixed Idea, Rope, or The Veronicas to name a few, really. Other interesting places included Gordo’s on the corner of Mesa and Cincinnati (I believe now it is called O2 lounge) where you could have caught bands like At The Drive-In giving one of their explosive performances (Cedric would toss himself around even then), there was Ralph’s Pizzeria in downtown where you can catch bands like Debaser or my then band The Belvederes, the Golden Age Center which held legendary shows such as the cover bands show.
All the El Paso punk bands where set to cover bigger known punk bands like Bad Religion, The Queers, or The Vindictives. Tons and tons of people showed up even from out of town thinking it was really the bigger bands not the locals that were going to play. Nonetheless everyone still had a good time. On Texas St there was The Attic where you can catch many punk bands such as Wednesday, The Fla Fla Flunkies or The Frantics or any other type of band for that matter (metal, ska, reggae,). The Attic was a special place because they were very accepting of the local punk bands and would have a lot of under age shows (most of the bands performing where under age themselves). If you’ve seen the movie Dig (documentary of the California band The Brian Jonestown Massacre), the part where one of the band members gets kicked in the face by another person in the band is in the parking lot of The Attic (ha!). You can see the wall with the Graf art on the side.
Probably the most legendary place/venue in El Paso from the 90s was The Rugburn. The Rugburn was run by the punks for the punks on Alameda St. Not an official venue, the building on the inside was covered in graffiti, posters and flyers, and had no working bathroom. You could have caugh shows here by Pragmatic, NMS (Nightmare Sqaud), The Chigliaks or benefit shows for Food Not Bombs where canned goods got you in the door. The Rugburn once came out on the local news because of a confrontation between the El Paso Police Dept and the local punks. Apparently the police showed up to one of the shows in true eppd fashion, harassing the punks and being aggressive, there was a mini riot of sorts. The news interviewed the staff and some local punks. But like modern day El Paso, all these venues closed soon after they opened.
Many scenesters had no interest in MTV or anything associated with the music pumping out of radio or television because it represented the mainstream which also meant big corporations and major labels where there was no substance. They preferred the sounds of the underground where there was more variety and you weren’t force fed music. Local record distro No Wave records were the answer to the lack of music in El Paso. Local punk Alex Martinez (who was also in legendary punk bands Faction X and also Sbitch who appeared on the cover of punk magazine Maximum Rock & Roll!) would basically show up to shows with crates full of independent underground records which would sell like candy. Independent labels existed and where sprouting everywhere even in El Paso. The Sun City had small labels such as Oofas! Records which was the home of the lower valleys own pop-punksters the Sicteens who were all the rage in there time, released two 7 inch records. The punk and rollers The Chinese Love Beads and also The Hellcats (both also from the lower valley) released records out of there own label Yucky Bus where on the insert of their records included funny stories and also advertisements for future 7 inch releases such as Omar Rodriguez Lopez (you know who) fronting his own punk band of the time Jerk. The Sun City also had Western Breed record which was home to bands such as At The Drive-In (released there first 7 inch record Hell Paso which the original on this label sells for a butt load), melodic punks Out Of Hand, and also saw a demo tape release for Jim Ward’s (ATDI, Sparta, Sleeepercar) band Self.
The consistency then was as it is now was the same, up and down. The bands would break up and venues would close. The music however lives on in the heart and soul of this town. You can feel it in the air; it’s always been there, even before the 90s. Music in this town is a tradition and is important part of the culture. The proactive approach to our creative interest brought the people together harmoniously. It’s what we do to cure us from the isolation and boredom and is a reflection of our surroundings including Juarez and Las Cruces, as both cities were also involved in the mixing of bands and venues. You can feel the vibrancy even today, and hopefully it can carry on into the future.