150 Rounds

[boosttheday]

So, I figured I would write a story on here since I'm pretty new and haven't really been that active on the forums. Here goes.

In my hometown there was no music scene whatsoever, let alone a punk scene. So, myself and my buddy Aj, took it upon ourselves to create one. We had been playing in a four piece punk band called "Not Ready" for some time now and we decided to get things off the ground we would have to start throwing our own shows, since being in a bumfuck town like ours made for little out of town show opportunities.

So for our first shows, before we were finally able to get out of town to play we rented out a basement bar called "The Hideaway." However they were only willing to rent it out on tuesdays which didn't work for us, so we ended up finding a local Lions Club called Chaffey Hall just a few minutes out of town. This became homebase for us, as well as a number of other local bands. Our first few shows were fairly successful, a fair amount of people came out, we all got blasted and played music and hurled ourselves at eachother. A lot of the kids that came out weren't even into punk or metal, I think they were just happy to have something more to do than sit around and watch TV or talk to their dipshit, redneck neighbours.

Anyways, to get to the point, at one of our later shows at Chaffey, we were playing with a few ontario based punk bands; The Apathetics, Charlotte Swallows and Corporation. (I recommend checking all of them out if you're into ska-punk or just punk in general) It must have been around midnight and the place was packed and we were all very drunk. I guess some of the neighbours must have finally gotten fed up with us because someone called the cops. At the time they arrived I was out back drinking and talking shit. A bunch of kids yelled pigs and a lot of kids bailed, but myself, Aj and his sister Casey had to go talk to them since we were the ones who had put the show on it. It was around this time that Charlotte Swallows was playing their song "Larry Davis Vs. N.Y.C" which proudly screams "Cop Killer!" from time to time. So we're talking to the cops and they're telling us how we're too loud and that they've had reports of fighting, vandalism and drug use (most of that wasn't true) and then they start going on about how all of the bands playing are anti-police and how if they hear "Cop Killer" one more time they're going to start shooting in "self defence." The idea was ridiculous: a bunch of big mean assholes with guns "scared" of a couple dozen skinny kids with guitars, ha. Anyhow, this whole time Casey is trying to explain how it's not an actual threat and how some people are more educated than others and whatnot when all of a sudden the cop grabs her and pulls her face close to his and just screams "Maybe you shouldn't fuck with someone carrying 150 rounds bitch." and throws her to the ground and walks inside all macho with the other cops. After that they went and busted a few kids sleeping in cars outside and shut us down for the night a half hour later. They also set up a little search station thing at the end of the driveway where they checked all the kids leaving the show. Anyways, could've been a lot worse, but they were still mighty big assholes. Just thought I'd share.

 

[Beegod Santana]

"Maybe you shouldn't fuck with someone carrying 150 rounds bitch." and throws her to the ground and walks inside all macho with the other cops.

I had a similar experience with the corpis christie tx pd once. Only he made the point even clearer with his shiny police boots. Still beat getting arrested though.

Seeing that you're in canada you should file a complaint and try to get as many witnesses as you can together to testify against that guy. Tossing little girls to the ground doesn't go over to well with a lot of people.

 

[boosttheday]

Dag yo. Po'lice are rough all over lol. Yeah, I probably should have, but it was so long ago now. I once had one of local pigs smash my head into a concrete wall for coming out from under a bridge. I always think back and wish I had filed a complaint about that bastard.

 

[bote]

bummer. Hope that doesn´t discourage you from putting together more shows.

 

[boosttheday]

Nah, we put a bunch more on after that. We always have to deal with them arriving at some point in the night, but its worth it.

 

[boosttheday]

Haha, yeah, we knew he was bullshitting, trying to come off as badass like you said. No single beat cop like that carrys 150 rounds on his person.

 

[boosttheday]

First off, I actually think it's more punk to express your opinion.

Secondly, this was not your typical punk show. As I said, I lived in a very small town with no punk scene whatsoever. The only "punks" that were present were the actual bands playing, the rest were regular kids from around the town that came out on a friday night because there was nothing better to do.

So, in this situation there is no packs of punks hanging around. There was no dope, there was alcohol, but not inside the venue and frankly I wouldn't say any of us were "acting crazy" or "trying to be hardcore." We were playing music, moshing, skanking and listening to music. Overall I would say the energy inside was positive.

The show was there because we wanted to bring a music scene to the town as well as to give kids something to do on a friday or saturday night instead of having them bored, angry and frustrated and having them go out and car hop or smash windows.

Yes, there was anti-police lyrics in some of the bands songs, but that's something that you'll find in every form of music. And the fact is none of us threatened the police, none of us were rude to the police and none of us grabbed the cops and threw them onto the pavement like they did to this little girl.

We allowed them to come inside and look around and do their job. And we expected them to come, and have since. As you said, it's a punk show, the police will make an appearance. We know this. But that doesn't mean that it is acceptable for a police officer to grab a little girl and throw her hard as he can onto concrete because a band playing inside played a song that was anti-police. Especially when she is the one trying to explain that some people are educated about these matters and others are not, some people look at it from both angles and others just say it because its "punk rock" or "badass."

Fact is they have a job to do, so they have every right to be there. However, they should approach it from a mature standpoint. They, being the authority and being the adults should conduct themselves in an adult manner and not become so offended that they feel the need to physically and verbally assault children. If more police acted as the adults they are and fulfilled their job in the way it is set out by the people that allow them this power then I believe there wouldn't be nearly as many anti-police songs, groups or demonstrations. By getting so angry at something like this they enforce the stereotype that all police are to be feared and are dangerous or corrupt.

I mean, if I work at Mcdonalds and someone threatens me or angers me I do not jump across the counter throw them to the ground and then verbally assault them. I do not threaten to shoot them and their friends. I do my job in the mature and appropriate manner and let it go. I understand we are all human and have our breaking points, but we really didn't push them, they arrived, we told them what was going on, brought them in, answered their questions and in less than 10 minutes had them screaming and threatening our lives. We were 100% cooperative.

I also understand that their job carries much more risk and stress than Mcdonalds, however, this does not excuse them from going outside of their boundaries and purposely intimidating and assaulting someone who has not broken any law or done any ill towards them. She was cooperative before and even after they assaulted her. Police are trained to access risk in a situation and there was no risk at this concert, if you had been there I'm sure even you would agree with me.

 

[Skankin Jerry]

damn. All kids sing about in my town is NOT doing drugs, and being hardcore straightedge. All the more reason to show up wasted and punch people. Keep putting on the punk shows, man.

 

[finn]

Too bad you didn't record that, it would have made a great opening to an anti-cop hardcore song.