Radio Silence / A Selected Visual History of American Hardcore Music

San Diego has a rich hardcore history but a string of releases in the early 1990s made a massive impression on the hardcore scene and we wanted to document this moment in Radio Silence. With the help of Mike Down, Matt Anderson, and Jeff Winterberg we were able to assemble the images and words to capture what was so unique about this time in hardcore and San Diego specifically. There was something very personal about the way the records on Down-Side, Vinyl Communications and Gravity looked. They used textured paper, many covers were stamped and screen-printed by hand. You might know twenty people with an Antioch Arrow 12″ but they all looked completely different. It was a stark contrast with how streamlined other records released at the same time looked. The aesthetic wasn’t as much a fuck you to bands that had slick branded layouts, it was a reflection of San Diego’s scene and resources:

We wanted everything to look expensive, but we were pressing very limited quantities, and had no budget. We would hang out at the paper suppliers and get deals and free paper on some of their newer stocks that they were promoting. We would just have the black ink off-set printed, then had custom stamps made for like 10 bucks. Everyone would come over and we would stamp the colors on the paper. It was like a production line with people folding covers. As our arms got tired some of the stamping would go crazy, so every cover was unique. Recently I had the original artwork for the Forced Down 7″ framed. When it was done, I realized that it cost more than the entire budget for the recording, pressing, and printing of the actual record.

We never had any background in art or design. A lot of the typesetting was done with those old rub-off letters. We would spend nights on end doing layouts with rulers, glue sticks, and blue line photo boards lining up everything by hand. When I think of the hours it took to get the package how we wanted it… It’s crazy, a week of work then could be done now in literally a few hours.
Mike Down (excerpt from Radio Silence)

Soon after the Heroin 7″ came out on Gravity, boasting a screen-printed brown paper bag instead of a traditional printed sleeve it seemed like every band was in a foot race to come up with new packaging. Covers were printed on manila envelopes, paper towels, scraps of cardboard, really anything that was around. Down-Side and Gravity releases weren’t just pieces of vinyl put in a picture sleeve, they had actual packaging with several inserts, something you could soak in while you spun the vinyl.

Mike Down and Matt Anderson took a massive interest in the book and really put things in perspective. Their contributions to Radio Silence blew away our expectations and captured a special moment in hardcore. I was shocked when Mike told me that not only was Amenity practicing again and writing new material but they were organizing a show from the ground up to celebrate the release of Radio Silence in San Diego. Mike and Amenity along with Matt Anderson have worked hard to put together two events for us. One will be a night of San Diego music DJed by several SD legends and the second will be the first Amenity show in 17 years. Amenity went out and found a venue that they could be in control of, a place that was all ages, with a stage they are building themselves to make sure this is a no bullshit hardcore show that everyone can go off to. Be on the look out for a new record from Amenity on Gravity in 2009!

Massive thanks to Mike, Matt, Gravity, Down-Side, Amenity and all the souls in San Diego that gave so much to this project and these parties.

Photo: Amentiy at the Che Cafe, San Diego, California 1990; Photograph by Dave Sine.