04.22.18

We recently went down to VCU’s Special Collections on to take stock of fliers they have on hand related to any OVOLR! artists. In addition to finding an old 500$Fine flier, we also came across some very cool, early Richmond punk / hardcore fliers, as well as a great collection of GWAR things.

First up, some fliers from the 90s…

…an early 90s flier for a show at ‘The Pyramid’, which was a club on Boulevard. Inquisition going as ‘The Inquisition’ on this one, very early. I believe I went to this show. I only went to the Pyramid once before it closed, think this was then…

…cool flier for some of our fellow southside friends, Top Heavy (Fronted by Larry Floyd, who went on to play in a bunch of other bands, but also, played drums in Shitload of Pain) and the Warheads, with Schlameal…

…a most bad ass Eucharist flier. Eucharist and Wardance where two of the most overlooked bands from back then, I think. KC from Wardcance was a super cool person. Shortly after we first met, he let me make copies of a bunch of his records, stuff like Symarip, Sham 69, UK Subs: Things that in the early 90s were quite hard to get, aside from shitty bootlegs. But KC had the original records. But yeah, a heavy, fun show…

…one of the 500$fine fliers we found…

…500$Fine also ended up playing this show, IIRC…

…they also had this handbill about the RVA Punk Nation, which was something I was involved in, and whom 500$Fine’s ‘forward’ record was released as a benefit for. We’ve been planning on posting something more in-depth about the RVA Punk Nation, so keep an eye for that in the future…

…and then there is this flier, which I had a copy of in my personal collection up until I lost it a few years ago. This is one of my most favorite fliers ever, and I was suprised to see it here. No idea who made these, but they popped up on poles around Richmond in the mid-90s, and I loved the sentiment, a fightback against the jocks… def appropriate…

…and a Twister’s lineup bill for May/June. So many shows! and look how many were early (all ages)….

And from there, the collection went mostly into GWAR stuff, A LOT of GWAR stuff. As a Richmonder, we almost all have a GWAR Story. Me, I never saw them, because fuck getting covered in a bunch of random stuff. However, when I was a kid, Scumdogs was a favorite album. In the 2000s, running MortarWorks, I actually got to master what would be the Dave Brockie Experience (GWAR’s singer) last record, and I was taken back by how nice Dave was. I had just shot promo photos of the studio, and for some reason, Brockie was scanning things in our lobby, and offered to scan in the photos for me. So while I was mastering the record, he was scanning in those photos for me. Seems a little inappropriate now (who’s working for who? Me, I was working for THEM) but gives an idea of the kind of dude Brockie was.. super cool…

…a flier for a show at Rockitz (Later The Metro, then Empire) that was also a video shoot…

…and this super-cool illustrated flier for a show at Rockitz with a description of each GWAR character. I feel like they should have required these to be handed out to everyone, so you’d understand the characters in their universe…

…a flier for the GWAR fan club…

…and a copy of the Richmond News Leader (which merged with another Richmond paper to form the Richmond-Times Dispatch) with a special on GWAR…

…before GWAR was GWAR, they were a hardcore band called Deth Piggy, playing here with Wendy O Williams…

…and a crazy lineup featuring not only Death Piggy, but Richmond’s White Cross, iconic punk band, the two of which featured members of GWAR …

…and also Unseen Force, whome had this flier for a record release show (and whose Bassist, Greta Brinkman, I interviewed in my Various Things podcast series here)…

…and both the Alter Natives and Honor Role at the Jade Elephant (long gone club)…

..and then some more general fliers/images from the state of punk in the 80s/90s. Here, a basement show featuring HUASIPUNGO…

…Psychic TV, Jesus Wept and Doom (the Uk Doom?) at Rockitz…

…COC, Sorrid Doctrine, and Days Of at Rockitz…

…contiuning on the Rockitz shows with Dag Nasty!…

…and then a NOFX show at ‘Tony’s Pizza’…

…and then mixed in with all of this, a photo of Minor Threat, which is from something (nice lettering of each person’s name) but not sure what.

Overall, it was really awesome to find all of this, in such good condition, being taken care of by a library. And VCU takes their archive seriously, with special facilities dedicated to it. In addition to logging in to view it, they ask that you wash your hands at the sink provided, then provide the archive materials on a steel cart, where you take them to a viewing room to observe them. Very cool.

Also very cool seeing the lineage of the culture of punk rock in these boxes and knowing that in some small way, we all contribute to a bigger culture with our art. Very empowering.