Welcome everyone to This Was The Scene, the podcast that takes a look back at the late 90s / early 2000 Nj Jersey Punk scene, I am your host, Mike Doyle.

Mike Pelak didn’t run a label, play in a band, record bands, own a record store, print merch, run a zine or promote, ok wait he did help promote shows with Bomshelter run by Ricky the artful dodger Saporta.

I’d always see Mike at a lot of shows my band played at and he just had such a positive and happy demeanor about him. He’d always be in the crowd singing the songs back to bands and then hop in a car with some friends and get to the next show that same night. Sometimes making it to 3 or 4 in one weekend.

I wanted to see what it was like from a “fan perspective” so I reached out to Miguel, set up a time to talk and this is what we chat about.

• Flipside records 6:16
• Highstrung changing his life 8:33
• His old venue tour around NJ 15:20
• How it never took too long to get to different towns to watch shows
• The Juliana Theory show where they unplugged Random Task’s amps
• The ecosystem we built by accident
• Why the size of Jersey made it such a good scene
• His thoughts on what caused the shift in the scene from good to different
• The Bombshelter team
• How he and Dave Flores tried to revive promoting shows
• When ska went away
• His stint at Side One Dummy
• What it would be like to go back to venues now and just have a beer

I have 2 more episodes to promote the Lanemeyer, humble beginnings, jettison show July 21 at Debonair Musichall in Teaneck, NJ. However, this time I have an important announcement… it’s sold out….    Totally fucking with you. But imagine if you were planning on going and found out that it was?

The actual announcement is that we are ending presale at 5pm Friday July 20, the day before the show.

Make sure that this doesn’t happen in real life and head over to this was the scene.com, click the purple button that says CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS and get your tickets. Presale is $15 and it’s $20 at the door.

As always, thank you to the people who’ve donated to the podcast. If you’d like to do so just go to thiswasthescene.com and send whatever you’d like. It helps me with the $20/month to keep this thing live. I’m still in the process of designing shirts to sell to help keep this thing alive so keep checking the this was the scene facebook page for updates.

I’ve officially added merchandise to the website. If you’d like to check the shirts out just go to thiswasthescene.com.

Pre-order for Lanemeyer's re-release of their first album "Stories for the Big Screen" is available here I Surrender Records. This is a limited re-mastered pressing of 250 copies that’s on green vinyl, has an etching on one side that says GOD I MISS YOU GOD I MISS THIS PLACE, and be the only place to find our cover of with or without you since that won’t be released digitally.

The release date for the record is July 20 which is the day before our show at debonair in Teaneck. Yes, we will have copies at the show to sell.

Also, if you’re around Clifton, new jersey this evening, July 13, you should check out the show at the Clash Bar. That’s all I will say.

Feel free to subscribe, leave a review and share this with anyone who would love some nostalgia.

With that said, lets get started.

The Bergenfield girls were show promoters in the northern part of jersey who were made up of Melissa, Erin, and Kathy. They were just 3 awesome chicks who had a passion for punk rock and decided to start putting on shows. Back in the day, my old band Lanemeyer loved getting asked to play on the shows they put on. The majority of them were at the Teaneck American Legion which became a staple for watching great bands even though it was such a tiny space. This interview is pretty awesome because A. Melissa is the shit. And B, if gives you an inside look on what went into actually putting on a show between paying for the hall, getting bands to show up and play on time, dealing with potential brawls in the parking lot, and more.

Funny story is that after hearing episode 2 or 3 of this podcast, Melissa reached out to me and Jeremy from humble and asked what we thought of playing a reunion show. We thought it was a swell idea and that’s why you can see both of our bands play at debonair musical in Teaneck NJ on Saturday July 21 with special guests Jettison. You can purchase tickets at thiswasthescene.com Go there, scroll down and click on the purple button that says CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS.

I asked Melissa to be on the podcast, she said hell yes and this is what we talk about:

• My Bronx Tale story
• Bands that we consider ours
• The Aquabats
• Paramus park mall
• Heckle
• How they booked bands by cold calling them
• How they found Teaneck’s American legion hall
• Were shows stressful to put on?
• How they had to keep the peace at some shows
• How local shows were very similar around the country
• Were any bands a pain in the ass
• The Westwood garage
• How did it come to an end
• How the Lanemeyer/Humble reunion show the July came about
• And a ton more

As always, thank you to the people who’ve donated to the podcast. If you’d like to do so just go to thiswasthescene.com and send whatever you’d like. It helps me with the $20/month to keep this thing live. I’m still in the process of designing shirts to sell to help keep this thing alive so keep checking the this was the scene facebook page for updates.

I’ve officially added merchandise to the website. If you’d like to check the shirts out just go to thiswasthescene.com.

I can officially announce that thanks to Rob Hitt from old school punk rockers Midtown, will be re-releasing Lanemeyer’s first album Stories for the big screen on vinyl. This will be on his record label I surrender records. This is a limited re-mastered pressing of 250 copies that’s on green vinyl, has an etching on one side that says GOD I MISS YOU GOD I MISS THIS PLACE, and be the only place to find our cover of with or without you since that won’t be released digitally.

Presale starts July 9 at 11am and the release date for the record is July 20 which is the day before our show at debonair in Teaneck. Yes, we will have copies at the show to sell.

Feel free to subscribe, leave a review and share this with anyone who would love some nostalgia.

With that said, let's get started.

Taxicab Samurais were a ska punk band made up of members Dave, Dan, Chris, Mark, Mike and Roman. They were influenced by Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Youth of Today, Slapstick, Suicide Machines, Bosstones, LTJ, H2O, Face to Face.

I asked Dave Flores if he’d grace the podcast with his words and he agreed. Here’s what we talk about -

• The North Jersey Pop Punk facebook group
• His daily life with Robert Heiner of Humble Beginnings
• His first band called Urine
• What made them go the Ska route
• Back to the beach introducing Ska to us
• Being courted by Some Records
• His uncle hand in Roulette Records became Pinball
• The demo he still owes Joe Pulito
• Ben from Random Task
• The benefit of compilations
• What was the dynamic like in the band
• Razza
• Jon bigwigs influence on Daves facial hair
• The Face to Face, Suicide Machines Show at Irving Plaza
• Getting merchandise printed on Workshirts
• The Tuesday Broadways West Orange Show
• The 2000 flushes incident
• The throw down at West Orange
• And a ton more

Before we being, mark your calendars for

July 21 at the Debonair Music hall in Teaneck NJ my old band Lanemeyer will be sharing the stage with our buddies Humble Beginnings and Jettison. Pre sale tickets are currently available for $15 and then $20 at the door. You can find them at thiswasthescene.com. Go there, scroll down and click on the purple button that says CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS. We’ll also be throwing an after party until 2 am at Debonair once shows is over. It should be swell

As always, thank you to the people who’ve donated to the podcast. If you’d like to do so just go to thiswasthescene.com and send whatever you’d like. It helps me with the $20/month to keep this thing live. I’m still in the process of designing shirts to sell to help keep this thing alive so keep checking the this was the scene facebook page for updates.

Welcome everyone to This Was The Scene, the podcast that takes a look back at the late 90s / early 2000 Nj Jersey Punk scene, I am your host, Mike Doyle.

NJ Joystick was a punk/hardcore band that blended shades of old emo and pop punk producing catchy, fast, and energetic songs that compare to the likes of fellow NJ legends, Lifetime. The line up consisted of Brett, Jay, the Pat and almighty Dan.

The band released a 4-song EP called …A Mile In Change in 1997 on Roulette Records before it became Pinball, and followed up in 1998 with their full length LP, New Song For The Ride, on Annoyance Records (www.annoyances.com).

These guys were always a blast to watch live because they just showed up and had fun. I reached out to Brett to see if he’d like to give me some dirt and he responded with “Would love to!” He then reached out to Jay who was also down to be on the podcast and this is what we talked about:

• What were all of us really look for in the scene
• Jay’s superpower memory with jersey geography
• Where did the Joystick name come from
• Where their first demo was recorded
• How fast did they typically write songs
• How we mapped out Jersey because of going to shows
• The backyard show where the Dad yelled at everyone
• Dating girls while being in a band
• We break down the meaning behind some of the songs
• Would they be able to write a new Joystick song today
• Do they have songs that they could still record?
• And a ton more

Before we being, mark your calendars for

July 21 at the Debonair Music hall in Teaneck NJ my old band Lanemeyer will be sharing the stage with our buddies Humble Beginnings and Jettison. Pre sale tickets are currently available for $15 and then $20 at the door. You can find them at thiswasthescene.com. Go there, scroll down and click on the purple button that says CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS. We’ll also be throwing an after party until 2 am at Debonair once shows is over. It should be swell

As always, thank you to the people who’ve donated to the podcast. If you’d like to do so just go to thiswasthescene.com and send whatever you’d like. It helps me with the $20/month to keep this thing live. I’m still in the process of designing shirts to sell to help keep this thing alive so keep checking the this was the scene facebook page for updates.

OCG was a ska band from New Jersey. Their members consisted of Nick, Dave, Keith, Pete, Stuart, Mark, Mike, Chris, and Dan.

They were founded in 1997 by a group of Union High School musicians. The band played a fusion of ska punk, jazz, ska-core, and what many refer to as ska-rap. OCG followed up the success of their 7 inch record "7 Inches of OCG" in early 1998, with the release "From Downtown", both released on the Pinball Records label. Hits such as "Bill Kozby You", "Xample", "Be With You", and "Skank Away" were popular with high school teenagers, often belonging to the straight edge movement.

I got extra frontman Mike Struening on the phone and this is what we talked about:

• The instant connection people from the scene have when they haven’t seen each other in decades
• How we usually didn’t know what town’s people were from
• Op Ivy
• Desmond Dekker
• The difficulty in buying music from new bands when we were all broke
• His transition from hardcore to ska
• How someone needs to find the real world video they made
• Were they all straight edge
• What happened at the last show to cause them to stop playing during the first song
• Scene points
• Why everyone besides the bands have a successful career in music
• Will there be a reunion show
• And a shit ton more

Before we being, mark your calendars for

July 21 at the Debonair Music hall in Teaneck NJ my old band Lanemeyer will be sharing the stage with our buddies Humble Beginnings and Jettison. Pre-sale tickets are currently available for $15 and then $20 at the door. You can find them at thiswasthescene.com. Go there, scroll down and click on the purple button that says CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS. We’ll also be throwing an after party until 2 am at Debonair once shows is over. It should be swell

As always, thank you to the people who’ve donated to the podcast. Especially Omar Ahmed who gave a super generous donation this week. If you’d like to do so just go to thiswasthescene.com and send whatever you’d like. It helps me with the $20/month to keep this thing live. I’m still in the process of designing shirts to sell to help keep this thing alive so keep checking the this was the scene facebook page for updates.

Also, I own an animation company so if you head up your companies marketing and are frustrated that people don’t get what you do, then check out my animation company drive80.com

You can hear OCG here.

Welcome everyone to This Was The Scene, the podcast that takes a look back at the late 90s / early 2000 Nj Jersey Punk scene, I am your host, Mike Doyle.

Penfold was a Jersey post-punk emo band who formed in 1995 with members Brian, Mike, Rich, and Steve. The natural course of live performances soon ensued and the band began to build a small following. After playing music together for over 10 years, 3 record releases (1997’s “your eyes have all the answers” 7 inch, 1998’s “amateurs and professionals” EP, and 2001’s “our first taste of escape” LP) and hundreds of live shows, in March of 2003 penfold decided to call it a day.

Their final show took place in Old Bridge, New Jersey at the M & M hall on March 22nd. They played 2 sets lovingly to an audience of old and new friends from all over the world. It was an incredible day for the four. 

I reached out to Brian Carley who fronted the band, asked if he wanted to give the fine audience of this podcast some insight into the band and this is what we talked about:

• Which Led Zeppelin song first gave him the feels
• His love for 120 minutes
• How bands shirts would get people weird looks in high school
• The NJ lottery gifting him his first guitar
• The dynamic of the brothers in the band
• Were his parents into him being in a band?
• How Ben from Dillinger Escape plan told him about Trax East while in the computer lab in college
• Who was it that gave him confidence about his voice
• What was up with the white shirts?
• What was up with our amps
• Did they like being called emo?
• What’s I’ll take you everywhere actually about
• What would he do differently if he could go in time
• The Japan shows
• Is he playing music now
• And more

Before we being, mark your calendars (yes each week I’m going to talk about this) for July 21 at the Debonair Music hall in Teaneck NJ my old band Lanemeyer will be sharing the stage with our buddies Humble Beginnings and Jettison. Pre-sale tickets are currently available for $15 and then $20 at the door. You can find them at thiswasthescene.com. Go there, scroll down and click on the purple button that says CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS. We’ll also be throwing an after party until 2 am at Debonair once shows is over. It should be swell

As always, thank you to the people who’ve donated to the podcast. If you’d like to do so just go to thiswasthescene.com and send whatever you’d like. It helps me with the $20/month to keep this thing live. I’m still in the process of designing shirts to sell to help keep this thing alive so keep checking the this was the scene facebook page for updates.

If you’d like to be a sponsor just email [email protected] and if you own a company that struggles to explain to people what you do, then check out my company drive80.com because we solve this with explainer animations.

Feel free to subscribe, leave a review and share this with anyone who would love some nostalgia.

Welcome everyone to This Was The Scene, the podcast that takes a look back at the late 90s / early 2000 Nj Jersey Punk scene, I am your host, Mike Doyle.

LWL is a three piece pop-punk band from the quaint woodland community of Bernardsville, NJ. Their band members consisted of Steve on guitar and vocals, Rob on bass and Ivan on the drums.

Unlike the many other punk bands which call NJ their home, LWL had a magnificent sound all to their own. The fierce but catchy guitar riffs combined with the overpowering tone of the bass and the blazing speed of the drums created a sound which is all but dull. Add in melodic vocals and stirring harmonies and you've got a masterpiece. No, wait, you've got LWL.

Thank you Sputnikmusic.com for doing the work for me on that write-up. I was able to reconnect with Steve a few weeks back and break down the origins of the band.

In this interview, we talk about -

• We briefly talk about Avery
• How they started playing shows
• Dan from Joystick
• How he preferred local bands over bigger bands
• Taxicab Samurais
• What is Left Wing Lester
• Which songwriting style was easier to write, a pissed off song or happy song?
• Rob joining the band and how it benefited the band
• Our weekend tour with them
• How Steve’s geeking out on the WWE got me into it
• Jay Pinball
• Their school bus
• What was up with Dunkin Donuts
• More Dan from Joystick
• Why other bands made it and we didn’t
• Heath Midtown almost being in the band
• How he reconnected with Chris Badami after listening to this podcast
• And a shit ton more

Before we being, mark your calendars for July 21 at the Debonair Music hall in Teaneck NJ my old band Lanemeyer will be sharing the stage with our buddies Humble Beginnings and Jettison. Pre-sale tickets are currently available for $15 and then $20 at the door.

Tickets are definitely selling so get in on the action before it sells out. You can find tickets thiswasthescene.com or in the show notes.

There will be some more surprises in the upcoming weeks which I will talk about in the coming weeks. One thing that I will be mentioning is the after party at Debonair once shows is over. The venue will be open until 2 am and we are getting a special guest DJ who will be spinning some punk rock. 

Thank you again to the people who’ve donated to the podcast. If you’d like to do so just go to thiswasthescene.com and send whatever you’d like. It helps me with the $20/month to keep this thing live. I’m actually in the process of making shirts so keep checking the thiswasthescene facebook page or thiswasthescene.com to see if they’d be something you’d rock in public.

And also, thanks again to everyone who has text or facebook messaged me with your kind words about the show. I love hearing from everyone and am surprised that so many people are actually listening to this thing. It’s very thoughtful and I appreciate all of your messages.

Feel free to subscribe, leave a review and share this with anyone who would love some nostalgia.

With that said, let's get started.

Welcome everyone to This Was The Scene, the podcast that takes a look back at the late 90s / early 2000 Nj Jersey Punk scene, I am your host, Mike Doyle.

Bigwig is a punk rock band from New Jersey, who formed in 1995. Their original lineup back in the late 90s composed of Josh, John, Dan who was later replaced by Matt and Tom.

The line up since then has seen members come and go but the one thing that has stayed consistent is Tom Petta heading up the band. When I first saw these guys play I was floored. They’d take the stage or floor of a legion hall and the place would blow the fuck up. They just brought this raw energy and it everyone in the crowd would give it right back to them. After seeing them live I decided to never step on a stage and play in front of a crowd unless I was going to authentically give it all that I had.

Songs like Flavor Ice, Drunken Night, and 1 800 whipped were the soundtrack to my friends and my summer back in 1997. They were one of the few bands back then that showed all of the other bands that Yes it is possible to go on tour and actually make this your life and I thank them for this.

After many attempts to coordinate our schedules, I was finally able to get Tom on the phone for this interview and this is what we talk about:

• Why being scared by a band’s sound was intriguing to him
• What album made him want to start a band
• When he broke out on his own to create Bigwig
• How he got the dreads
• who did most of the booking to get bigwig out on the road
• Roger from less than Jake going nuts for them at warped tour
• If they actually had 2 minivans for touring
• how they got on Fearless
• Where unmerry melodies was recorded
• Why newer bands probably don’t make it
• how he comes up with songs
• What’s up with Canada
• His call with Chris from Propagandhidi
• And a ton more

Before we being, Here are a few things to note:

If you are looking to get shirts or apparel printed up for your band or small business then check out my buddy Casey Lee Morgan’s company SSV Printing. They are based out of  Bloomingdale NJ. have been printing shirts and apparel for many years. Casey would absolutely love to print for you. Hit him up at [email protected].  Mention this podcast for some extra special love.

Side note, he will be printing the shirts for our Lanemeyer reunion show on July 21 at Debonair Music hall in Teaneck NJ. We will be sharing the stage with our buddies Humble Beginnings and Jettison. Pre-sale tickets are currently available for $15 and then $20 at the door. We’ve already sold a ton so make sure you get in on the action before it sells out. Next week I will have some more news about potential vinyl…

Thank you again to the people who’ve donated to the podcast. If you’d like to do so just go to thiswasthescene.com and send whatever you’d like. It helps me with the $20/month to keep this thing live.

You can find tickets thiswasthescene.com or in the show notes.

Boxcar was a pop punk band based out of South Jersey. Their members were Derek, Newman, and Jay Battle who was later replaced by Bnuts.  Their sound was a nice mix of the Lifetime, Digger, Jawbreaker and the Cure, in my opinion. I reached out to Newman and he suggested getting Brendan AKA Bnuts on the call and the following conversation ensued -

In this interview, we talk about -

• Where They Got The Name Of The Band
• When Newman Started Playing An Upside Down Bass
• How B-Nuts And Chris Jammed Years Before Being In Boxcar Together
• The Comps That Were Always Being Put Out Back In The Day
• Which Lifetime Album Is The Best One
• Their Show With Donuts N Glory
• The 7 In Artworks
• How Newman Wrote Got After Their Pipeline Show
• What Their Songs Were Actually About
• How A Digger Song Inspired One Of Their Best Songs
• What It Was Like To Record With Steve Evetts
• Their Decendents Cover Show No Black Friday This Year
• Where Did They Want To Band To Go
• Have They Kept Up With Their Punk Rock Ethics
• And More

Before we being, thank you again to the people who’ve donated to the podcast. If you’d like to do so just go to thiswasthescene.com and send whatever you’d like. It helps me with the $20/month to keep this thing live.

Also, July 21at Debonair Music Hall in Teaneck NJ, my old band Lanemeyer will be playing a reunion show with our buddies Humble Beginnings and Jettison. The reason for the show is that it’s been 20 years since us and Humble put out our first albums. I believe Jettison is set to play some LWL songs in their list . Pre sale tickets are $15 and then $20 at the door. We’ve already sold a ton so make sure you get in on the action before it sells out.

You can find tickets at thiswasthescene.com or here.

Welcome everyone to This Was The Scene, the podcast that takes a look back at the late 90s / early 2000 Nj Jersey Punk scene, I am your host, Mike Doyle.

There were a lot of punk/emo/hardcore bands that came out of the Jersey scene. I didn’t realize how many there actually were until Joe Pulito showed up in the North Jersey Pop Punk facebook group and said, hi everyone, I’ve archived all of it. I mean, I don’t think he has 100% of the bands but I Think he has like 99%.

This is purely a passion project for Joe because he’s not getting paid and this takes sooo much fucking time to do. Heath Midtown said it best in his interview, episode 003, when he stated that Joe is doing the Lord's work. If you are looking for ANY bands back in the late 90s early 2000s era then check out njpparchive.com

• The Mxpx Show In Bordentown
• Our Thoughts On Saves The Day Having A Hand In Changing The Scene
• Drive Thru’S Rise In The Scene
• Dashboard Break Up With Drive Thru
• Asbury Park Brewery
• Brian Fallon’S Stint In Lanemeyer
• How He Started The Njpp Archive
• How He Actually Acquired The Songs
• If He’S Gotten Yelled At By Any Bands, Yet
• His Process For Getting All Of This Music Online
• How The Initial Original Youtube Channel Got Disabled
• What The Future Holds For The Archive
• And A Ton More

Before we being, thank you again to the people who’ve donated to the podcast. If you’d like to do so just go to thiswasthescene.com and send whatever you’d like.

Also, if you were a fan of my old band Lanemeyer and our buddies Humble Beginnings then Mark your calendars for Saturday, July 21 because both of our bands will be playing a 20-year anniversary show at Debonair Music Hall in Teaneck NJ. Presale tickets will be $15 and then $20 at the door.

It’s been 20 years since both of us released our first records and we decided to get together and have a party. I don’t know about Humble but I can Gauran fucking Tee you that this is THE last Lanemeyer show that we will ever play. To get your tickets head to https://debonairmusichall.showare.com/ and order them today.

Thank you to the Bergenfield girls for putting this together.

Feel free to subscribe, leave a review and share this with anyone who would love some nostalgia.

With that said, let's get started.