The following is my contribution to an article about '87 NYHC band Altercation, written by Tony Rettman. Check out the full piece here:
http://noisey.vice.com/blog/vigilantes-45s-and-america-an-oral-history-of-new-york-hardcores-best-kept-secret-altercation
It was 1987 & I was heading down 6th St after school, doing my weekly visit to Some Records in the LES. As I approached the store's basement entrance; I noticed a couple of skinheads using spray paint to stencil ALTERCATION along the stairwell. I asked the shorter of the 2, who I later learnt was a Brooklyn Skin named Johnny Rie, what was up. He responded "Yo, these are my boys & they're playing the Pyramid on Saturday, you best be there!"
The show he mentioned also featured Breakdown & Side By Side, so there was no way I'd miss that anyway. Those Pyramid matinees are some of the best HC shows I've ever attended: All-ages, Raybeez/Ray Cappo working the door, hanging out on Ave A or Tompkins Park in between bands. The two words that come to mind upon hearing/seeing Altercation for the first time that day are Tough & Real. Here you had these streetwise borough kids, roughly my age, getting up on stage with flying V's & shaved heads. Mixing Metal/HC plus a Brooklyn attitude into a ferocious sound that slayed everything in it's path.
Their demo came out shortly after & that was amazing as well. I made sure I went to see them whenever they played next, another scorcher being the Warzone/Youth Of Today record release show @CBGB's. Unfortunately they only played 4 shows before breaking up that year. It seems that Raybeez was also paying close attention when they played, as 3/5ths of Altercation were in Warzone's revised line-up by 1988.
I don't know if that or other reasons were responsible for the band's untimely demise. Like a lot of other bands from that era, I wish they'd stuck around to record a full length but it's cool to see that Andy Guida, one of my favorite NYHC drummers, went on to play on some classic recordings & continues to make vital music. I'm looking forward to seeing the lords of Brooklyn Skinhead Metal/HC play in their ancestral borough next month.
Postscript: I bumped into Jonny Rie on the boardwalk of Coney Island in the early 90's. He was blasting Public Enemy on his boombox. I approached him & said "Yo, Altercation!", he just gave me a weird sidelong glance, picked up his boombox & walked away.
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