Black eyes and flying elbows

Much like hardcore punk itself, the Sound and Fury Festival crept up on the scene from seemingly nowhere, built up from the first Sound and Fury at Alpine in 2006, with countless hours of back-breaking, mind-melting labor fueled by the spirit of the DIY ethos and any number of stimulants besides. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it; and in these post-Bush days of navel-gazing and village mentality, it’s the “do” that comes before the “yourself” in DIY.

For three days in Oxnard, more than 50 bands from as far away as New York, Pennsylvania and Texas — bands with evocative, intriguing names like Downpresser, Mother of Mercy, No Tolerance, Streetwalkers, Bracewar, The Mongoloids, Black Breath, Floorpunch, Mammoth Grinder, Mind Eraser, Skin Like Iron, Swamp Thing, Dry-Rot, Sabertooth Zombie and Shai Hulud — will storm the stage, offering hours of pure adrenaline-infused, fist-pumping, steel-eating hardcore passion and joy. It all had to start somewhere, so the question for the bands appearing at the festival is: What was your first time in the pit at a hardcore show like?

Pomona hardcore/death metal hybrid Xibalba: “Uhh . . . scary — but also one of the most exciting and fun things I’ve ever done. Really gets your adrenaline pumping, that’s for sure, and also a good way to show how much you like the band that you’re watching. So all in all, the first time I probably didn’t really know what I was doing, but that didn’t really matter ’cause I just wanted to express how I felt through flailing my arms and legs about, and maybe get a stage dive or two in there.”

Drew Wardlaw, singer with Ventura HC outfit Dry-Rot: “The first time I was ever in a real mosh pit was in Ojai. I was a sophomore in high school. My mom drove me three hours from Atascadero to the Ojai Women’s Center. The first band that played covered the Judge song “I’ve Lost . . .” and the singer said something like, “If any of you know this song, come up and sing along.” I, incidentally, was wearing a Judge shirt, and I probably would have been too scared to go up there but I felt embarrassed because I was wearing the shirt of the band they were covering, so I went up and started singing along. If you are familiar with the song, you know there is that wonderful breakdown halfway through, and when the band went into that, some guy pushed me into the mosh pit and I just started slamming with the few other people there. It was really weird and I didn’t know what was going on; I just kind of went with it. Pretty scary, though.”

Justice Tripp, singer with Baltimore group Trapped Under Ice: “One of my first true hardcore pit experiences happened during Death Threat. They played The Sidebar Tavern in Baltimore with Hatebreed. I was maybe 13, small and scared to death. Surrounding me were grown men in basketball jerseys and bandanas who showed no remorse for new pitters. This was one of the best days of my life.”

Dan Weinraub, singer with Santa Barbara’s Downpresser: “I don’t know if it was at a hardcore show, but I remember my first time circle pitting . . . elbows getting thrown everywhere, people falling down but immediately getting picked back up . . . I was 13 and smitten. I would frequently show up to school on Mondays with bruises, cuts and shiners from that weekend’s show(s), and nobody wanted anything to do with me.”

Rotting Out, Los Angeles: “It was like being in Vietnam in 1968: every man for himself.”  

Luis, vocalist for Alpha & Omega: "I was at the Showcase Theater in Corona CA.  I was scared but had so much adrenalin in me that something just kicked in and before you knew it, I was singing along, stage-diving and moshing at every show."

Tony Pence, vocalist for Deep Sleep: "My first time in the pit was at a Nuclear Assault show in Baltimore in 1987 and it was some long-hair circle-pitting insanity.  I was scared to death but it was great!"

Shawn Foley, drummer for Blacklisted: "Well, if you must know, I was in 8th grade at a local punk/hardcore show and out of nowhere I was punched in the side of the face by a much older person who had a spiked ring on his finger.  The ring left three holes in the side of my cheek and on the walk home after this incident, the blood coagulated and scabbed up but when I got home into my warm house the scab cleared up and the holes opened up once again and my face started bleeding . . . again!  So, for a week or so, I had three dark red dots on my face and for some reason I kept going back to hardcore shows! 

The Carrier: "I was 14 and went to see Blood For Blood at The Axis in Boston.  Shared the pit with some of the biggest and hardest dudes in Boston.  Still goes down as one of the best shows I've ever been to.  Looking back on it, I really liked the feeling of being scared at a gig."

Colin Campbell, screamer for Colin of Arabia: "Around the summer of '94, there was a big show in Boston, and this band I liked, Sam Black Church, was playing, along with the band Slapshot.  Coming around the corner from the train station, there's a long line of skinheads, punks and huge tattooed animals.  When I finally got into the show, I was up near the front and people were stage-diving on top of me, flying everywhere.  Out of nowhere, four or five of the biggest men I have ever seen in my life joined hands and pushed people from the crowd into a massive pit of crazed animals swinging their arms and legs carelessly, and skinheads and punks circle marching with serious malice.  So there I was, barraged with fists, by no choice of my own, with no way out but to climb onto the stage.  I climb out of the pit and onto the stage to try to dive off, as I get onstage, the song stops.  I just try to get down on the edge when the singer of Slapshot - Choke - grabs me by my shirt and says into the mic, "No fucking way - caught up on stage!"  When the band began their next tune, he threw me like a sack of potatoes off the stage.  After their set, I saw two guys with a flashlight on the floor, thinking they are looking for a wallet or watch.  I say, "Hey, guys - what are you looking for?"  The one not holding the flashlight looks up to me with his shirt and face covered in blood and says "My teeth."  I guess I was lucky to just get away with a black eye."  

Sound and Fury Festival, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, July 31 through Aug. 2. El Rodeo Community Center, 451 W. Hueneme Road, Oxnard. Three-day passes: $65, Friday pass: $26; Saturday and Sunday passes are $28 each. Visit www.soundandfuryfestival.com, and get regular updates at www.twitter.com/sound_and_fury.