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by Blake Cooper

There is a place, a not so distant place, where punk is not dead. In fact, quite the contrary. In this place, punk is a vicious, living, breathing organism. It is nocturnal. As the sun dies out, the punks emerge from day jobs and school, and get a chance to find a place where they are normal and it’s everyone else that is different. This place changes from time to time, but the signs are always there, usually in the form of graffiti on bathroom walls or swarms of black-attired, spike-haired soldiers out for blood in the mosh pits.

This is the first look. But look closer; this is the punk rock of the new millennium.

Look at the crowd. Nobody's looking for a fight.

Look at the clothes. More than a few of them are littered with anti-nazi, anti-racist, anti-facist messages.

Look in the mosh pits. Almost one hundred percent of the time, if somebody is knocked down, a hand is immediately outstretched to help him back up.

"The music has changed, but it’s still music."

That’s what Luke Schwarzweller, lead vocalist/guitarist for local punk band Public Aggravation said when I asked him if punk was dead. When I walked into the interview, I wasn’t sure. By the end, they had me convinced that it was not.

"It’s just music. Music can never die," Schwarzweller continued to persuade. Dan Wahlers, fellow vocalist/guitarist, chimed in. "There’s always gonna be some kid playing Ramones songs in his garage." Needless to say, they feel very passionately on the subject.

And just in case you were wondering if punk is dead, Public Aggravation would be the band to ask. Since winning a high school battle of the bands in 2003, they have gone on to become one of the area’s most popular punk acts (although the selection in local punk acts has decreased significantly in the last couple years).

And if there’s any doubt, see them live.

At any Public Aggravation show one thing is always certain: the crowd is always into it. And although you might try to chalk this up to the general high energy of the punk rock crowd, you won’t be able to once you see them play live. Forget what the song’s about, forget any political agendas. When the song starts, people are moshing, pumping fists, and freaking out. Aggravation is truly a band that puts on a show for the audience, not for themselves. The stage theatrics are something to behold, and occasionally they will even slip in a few trademark ‘rock star’ moments (i.e., letting the crowd sing, knocking over microphone stands both intentionally and unintentionally, etc.). Onstage they are transformed, and it seems like they take their roles very seriously.

But if you ask any of them about it, it’s not that complex.

"We play what we like, and what the crowd likes." Dan Drohan, the band’s drummer, tried to explain when nobody else from the band was around (ironically, although the rest of the band warned me not to listen to anything he said, he ended up being the most insightful of the group, and the most willing to speak).

I interviewed them backstage at the show they played last month with The Unseen, a punk rock group from Boston, MA, who are one of the biggest acts in modern punk, and it was fairly obvious that they were thrilled to be there. In fact, before we started the interview, they asked if I could take a picture of them with Brain Failure, another punk act from Beijing, China, whose broken English lyrics ("Oh! No apologize | If you want some money | No apologize. | For you!") are insightful, albeit often confusing (just more proof that punk is often not heard but felt).

"The vibe is a lot better at shows like these," said Drohan. "You get a lot more professional vibe."

"It’s definitely different" playing with bigger acts, said Schwarzweller. "You see more people you've never seen before. But we try to play the same."

"We usually do better in little shows." He admitted. I asked him if he thought they had played well at that show. "I think we did pretty good. We didn’t make any noticeable mistakes, anyway."

This is true. From where I stood (in the audience, right behind the moshpit, trying to ward off stray moshers), they played with the confidence of any national touring act. Their set included a breakneck pace of their own sometimes ska-infused punk pieces as well as a few odd covers. The first one was Layla, which they made their own in a way I could not have imagined without witnessing it (try to think of Derek and the Dominoes as a punk band. I bet you can’t). The other cover, a spot-on rendition of Twisted Sister’s "We’re not gonna take it." And what better message for a punk band than Dee Snyder’s crusader mantra: We’re not gonna take it anymore!

"Waffles [aka Wahlers] listens to a lot of 80’s metal, which gives us a different perspective," Schwarzweller said when asked to list some influences. Many were extremely surprising. Although they were all quick to offer up The Clash as a major influence (which would explain the reggae/ska feel to some of their songs), Wahlers just as quickly cited Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

One thing I really wanted to know was how they felt about punk rock, it’s trends, and it’s fans becoming more and more popular with the masses. I assumed, as is the typical opinion of punk rockers as far as I was concerned, they would be upset about what was supposedly the bastardization of their beloved lifestyle. As was the case most of the night, I was surprised.

"I think it’s a good thing," Wahlers said, "because it makes things not as stereotypical. Now people are showing a lot more individuality, and not just going with the typical punk image." They all shared this open-minded sentiment. In fact, Schwarzweller was the only one who seemed to feel some resentment about it, and even he kept an open mind.

"I think it’s cool because more kids get into it, but it can get too publicized sometimes. It’s cool getting a lot of people to come to our shows, but I don’t want to be on MTV or anything."

Another stereotype was broken that night: that of the angry-political punk band.

"It’s just music. You don’t have to have an opinion." Drohan told me. "We just try to stay out of it."

So let’s see what we’ve got. A reggae/classic rock/blues-influenced punk band that isn’t angry, isn’t political, doesn’t hate outsiders, and have an uncanny ability to capture any audience. This was not my typical idea of a punk rock group. But I guess that’s what punk is all about: going against the grain and surprising everyone. And in this case, Public Aggravation have succeeded admirably.

So I wrapped up our conversation with that one burning question: is punk dead? As usual, Drohan was fastest to answer, and he summed it up perfectly.

"Look around. Look at all the kids coming out to these shows. How could punk possibly be dead?"

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

For more information about Public Aggravation, check out their website: www.publicaggravation.com

Copyright (C) 2005 Quadraphonic.