This Was The Scene Podcast

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.

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.

From 98-2001 My weekends were as follows: go to a show to see local bands play or play said shows with my band Lanemeyer. Afterwords I would go to diners or random parking lots, smoke cigarettes and talk about life with friends I made from these shows.

Thanks to show promoters, like Heath Miller, anyone in the scene had something to do pretty much every weekend. Heath and a ton of other promoters saw that they could be the ones to organize events where we could all come together and create a ruckus.

In this interview we talk about:

• How some bands would do stupid shit
• Kids that would just attend shows in certain areas
• The equipment he started out with
• How he always made sure to pay people what they were promised even if the show sucks
• How bands would never turn down their amps so people could hear the vocals
• How it's sketchy for bands to stay and random peoples homes after a show when they are on tour
• His dropkick Murphy's show in Teaneck American legion where he crammed X people in the hall
• His State Farm commercial at said legion hall
• We do some googling about random band facts
• How the kids these days are making more EDM
• Shows that he's still booking
• How he beat fat mike in poker
• Crazy stories about shows
• 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.

Check out excessdb.com to see what upcoming shows are happening in Jersey and New York City.

Also, make sure you keep your calendars open for something special on July 21 in Teaneck New Jersey.

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

With that said, lets 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.

Lanemeyer was a band formed by my best friend Chris Barker and myself back in 1998 after the Demise of our first band, Congress of Cow which was named after a sexual position we found in a Kama sutra book in the Rockaway mall.

The original line up included Alan Rappaport on guitar and Sean Smith on drums. Through the years we had a revolving door of members that included Rob Heiner, David Patino, Andy Spratt, Brian Fallon and THE Casey Lee Morgan.

We were lucky enough to put out 2 cds, go on 8 tours, have kids sing our songs back to us at shows while being held together as a band by scotch tape. We were basically a ticking time bomb at all times which you will hear more about in this interview.

I loved being in this band. I wanted it to be my life, I wanted to sell out giant clubs and live my life on the road and have thousands of people sing our songs back to us in venues all over the country. Unfortunately or Fortunately however you look at it, that didn't happen.

I didn't start this podcast with my band in mind but then I thought it would be cool to actually talk to My Sean Smith about what went right and all of the things that went wrong.

In this interview we talk about:

- How we met Sean while he was working at HotTopic

- Chris and myself almost dying after our first practice with Sean

- Who came up with name Lanemeyer

- The beginning of the revolving door of guitar players

- What it was like for Sean to book tours without this thing called the internet

- The shit show that was designing the cover of Stories for the Big Screen

- Our first tour

- Kicking Sean out and then getting him back when we were going to break up

- The story of Casey wanting to kill Chris

- How we almost did a Humble Beginnings/ Lanemeyer hybrid band

- The Brian Fallon era

- How I had to take over singing all the super high songs that Chris wrote and how I was able to accomplish it

- Sean's hidden alcoholism during the last tour

- How I thought Sean was on his way to kill me after I officially quit

- And a bunch 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.

Make sure you check out Sean's clothing company for all of your hockey enthusiasts out there at hockeycultureapparel.com. The website shall be live next week so bookmark that shit and mark your calendars.

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

With that said, let's get started.

Michael Cipriano, or Monkey as he is known by everyone, was the roadie for Bigwig for a stint in time. He got the gig after being asked by then guitarist Josh if he wanted to come on the road from them. He said he and 20 years later he's being interviewed on my podcast. Lucky man.

In this interview we talk about:

• How a can of food would take money off the cost of the shows back in the day
• E. Town concrete getting him into a show for free
• How he became Bigwig's roadie
• How josh from Bigwig worked as a taxi driver for Monkey's dad
• How his troubles with the law added issues for him getting into Canada
• How he got rejected at the border with $30 in his pocket and no cell phone
• His Orgy story
• The story about John from Bigwig getting left behind at a truck stop
• Being a drummer for Jettison
• Our thoughts on PA people in general
• Stories about Fletcher from Pennywise
• How being on tours changed his life
• And a ton more.

Other than thank you lists in CDS, Fan Zines were the gateway to finding out about new music. These were put together by kids in the scene who would interview bands, write reviews, and come up with total randomness. They would then spend their own money at Kinkos and print 100s or pages, staples them together and then hand them out for free at shows.

I loved these things. I would grab any zine I could find at a show and read it cover to cover to see who I should be paying attention to. These opened my eyes to bands like Piebald, Lifetime, Coalesce, the Get up kids, and shit ton of others.

Fan Zines I used to read back in the day were Annoying Girl, Brace Face, 4011, Just in time for nothing and one of my favorites, Annoyance by Anthony Schorr called Annoyance zine.

According to the google, aNNOYANCe zine was created in 1990 by two bored kids, Anthony and Erik. The initial issue had a print run of 25 and included info on Pez, yo-yo's, records and annoying your older siblings. Anthony kept it going from there, adding in band interviews, root beer reviews, random commentary on nonsense, and perhaps most famously, wombat drawn by bands and zines. there were 24 issues in total over the next 12 years and a 25th issue which never was published as it was lost in a hard drive crash.

In this interview we talk about:

• How his brother made the first Bouncing Souls shirt designs
• How he started off with a college radio show called the Hertie Gerty Show
• How he came up with the name "annoyance"
• Who his favorite interviews were
• How he started the whole Wombat section in each issue
• How he got Moby to draw a Wombat
• His love of rooter
• His thoughts on seeing Jawbreaker after seeing them 4 or 5 times back in the day
• His record label
• Will he ever make his own root beer
• And a bunch more

Before we being, it seems like there's always some technical issue in these episodes. There's a few parts where there's a buzzing in the background. That's Anthony's phone getting messages. I did my best to cut them out where I could.

Also, I added a donate button the website which is thiswasthescene.com. If you'd like to donate anything from a dollar to more than a dollar that would rock. This just helps me pick up the cost for hosting this thing on libsyn and I would also like to get this back up on Soundcloud.

Big thank you to David Patino for giving me tips on adding compression to the audio, check out his website at www.davidpatino.com

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

With that said, lets get started.

Humble beginnings was a local New Jersey punk band that started in 1996. The roster consisted of Josh, Gabe, Delvecchio, Jeremy, at one point Eben from Saves The Day, Heiner and Conti.

Their sound was influenced by bands like NOFX and even the Beach Boys. Though they never made it to the status that lead singer/songwriter Josh initially envisioned, they were a staple in the New Jersey scene and good friends of mine back in the day.

I was lucky enough to get Josh on a call a few weeks back and ask him a ton of question about Humble and his thoughts on the scene.

In this interview we talk about:

• How Seeing Bigwig Made Him Want To Quit Being In A Band
• His Song Writing Bromance With Chris From Lanemeyer/Day At The Fair
• A Brief Mention Of Ol Rebellion Even Though We Forgot Their Band Name In The Interview
• How They Had A Hard Time Finding A Drummer With The Fat Wreck Speed Until They Stumbled Upon Blank 77 Loving Chris Delvecchio
• Their Tour And 7" With Oblivion
• The Business Of Music
• Lots Of References To Nofx
• His Favorite Nj Band
• His Thoughts On The Get Up Kids "Something To Write Home About" Which Is Actually On Vagrant And Not Epitaph As Said In The Interview)
• Faith 98
• His Transition To Pop Country
• How Liking Statuses And Social Media Posts Would Have Changed The Scene Back In The Day
• And A Ton More

Before we begin, this is interview was super long and at some points, we trailed off on random topics like fonts so I had to cut out about 30 minutes. I'll probably just put this out as bonus material at some point.

Make sure you check out Josh's 2nd band Forever Endeavor's Reunion show Friday, April 20th, 2018 at Debonair Music Hall Doors at 7 PM / Show at 8 PM

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

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Midtown was a band formed from ex-members of Humble Beginnings, Nowhere Fast, and The Royalties.

They create 3 full lengths in their career including 2000s Save the world, lost the girl. I'm not going to lie, back when I was touring, I was quite envious of this band. And I wanted so badly to not like this record but you can't it's just that good.

Heath Saraceno was one of the guitarists in the band and he's probably one of the nicest people on the planet. He was actually the first person I reached out to when I came up with the idea of this podcast and he replied with I'm totally down. If you were a huge Midtown fan, then you will definitely love this interview

Here are some of the things we talk about:

• How Heath Hates Crowds But Pushed Through It To Go To His First Show And Met Dave And Chuck From Weston
• His First Band Nowhere Fast
• His Love For Metal As A Young Buck
• How One Message From His Buddy, Tyler, Changed His Life
• How He Borrowed Amps For The First Midtown Shows
• Their First Tour With One Cool Guy
• What It Was Like Recording With Mark Trombino
• Who Was The Actual "Josh" In Just Rock N Roll Video
• How He Kept His Non-Vegetarian Lifestyle From The Band For 2-3 Years
• How They Almost Got Car Jacked In France
• And A Bunch More

This podcast is self-funded so here's a plug of my animation company.

Feel free to subscribe and share this with anyone who would love some nostalgia. And go check out the NJPP Archive to listen to pretty much all of the NJ bands from back in the day. Thank you Joe Pulito for this.

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.

The first band I was in was called Congress of Cow. We played in our drummer Jeff's basement and had shows in front of our friends in said basement.

Once we started playing legion halls we realized that we needed a demo tape so people would know who the fuck we were.

Enter Chris Badami and Portrait Studios. Chris started Portrait in 1995 and created a ton of albums that helped local punk bands get their sound out to the local masses.

Some of the bands on his recording roster are Dillinger Escape Plan, The Early November, Midtown, most if not all of the Pinball Catalog and my old band Lanemeyer.

In this episode we'll learn:

- How he started in the garage

- labels he recorded records for

- how his studio produced a shit ton of records that launched the scene

- the shift from locally funded records to major label take over

- Dillinger Escape Plan's record with Mike Patton

- How the fall in CDs has had an effect on marketing producers

- and is he sick of recording bands yet?

Before we start, feel free to subscribe and share this with anyone who would love some nostalgia.

With that said, let's get started.