"I walked the streets the other day"

It seems as if there are finally some new and fresh bands popping up again over here in Belgium and the Netherlands that are actually pretty good. Some of those bands are Vogue (who rerecorded their demo yesterday, as well as a 7"), The Reactionaries (featuring members of Dead Stop, Justice and Restless Youth) and the Dutch band Union Town. Be on the lookout for all these bands, because they are better than your average punk or hardcore band.

I will be spending some blog space on both Vogue and The Reactionaries some day soon, but for now I will urge you to at least check out the MP3s of Union Town by simply clicking here. Be prepared for some late DC influenced hardcore meets Dangerhouse hardcore and mid-paced late '70s with great Dave Smalley influenced vocals. If you like what you hear try to get a hold of their demo, you won't be disappointed.

How do you do? I don't think we've meet, my name is Alec and I'm from Minor Threat!

I just found out that the guy that's asleep on the Minor Threat EP isn't Ian Mackaye, but his brother Alec. I always thought, just like most of you I guess, that Ian was the guy so tired he fell asleep at a show. I even think I remember having read this in Dance Of Days. I'm not 100% sure about that though.


Anyway, Henry Rollins had this to say about the picture:

That’s Alec MacKaye, Ian’s brother. I was standing there when that photo was taken. He was such an interesting guy. Alec and I were roommates in the summer of ’80 for a few weeks. Alec had the bunk bed. He would come in at like at 10 a.m. and say he walked to Bethesda and back. He would go in that outfit—the jeans and trench coat. And he would walk through the simmering D.C. stewpot in that outfit, and get to the show early and just pass out. That picture was taken either between sets or when he’d arrived early to the gig and caught a nappy-nap.


Check out some more great pictures taken by Susie J. Horgan along with little comments by Henry Rollins here. Or buy the book Punk Love here.