Music of Oregon - Underground Hardcore Punk Scene

Underground Hardcore Punk Scene

The Eugene scene in the 1990s consisted of several bars, an anarchist teahouse, Icky's, and almost nightly basement shows. There were several houses that were basically music venues that were notorious enough for larger independent acts to stop at them while on tour in the Northwest. Icky's Teahouse was a stop for acts such as Jawbreaker, Green Day, AFI, Defiance, UK Subs, Mukilteo Fairies (now known as …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), and F.Y.P.

Eugene, Oregon has had a long history of punk rock that came and went various times since the 1980s to the early 2000s. Early 1980's bands were: Ether-Teen (or Etherteen), Wasted Effort (notorious for the punk house where the band members lived), Moose Lodge, Osgood Slaughter.

In the late 1990s there was a thriving hardcore/punk/metal scene where bands such as Yob made their beginnings. Popular local house venues that are considered "underground music venues" were the Animal Farm (which was an anarchist house and practice space for the crust punk and grindcore bands Ahimsa and Fuck God In The Face)on 13th and Oak near Farrels' Ice Cream; yet it allowed bands to play from a wide variety of political/religious beliefs all though unknowingly in some cases). The Animal Farm was a stop for larger acts from out of state such as The Locust, Antagony, Boof, End Of All, and Phobia. After the Animal Farm shut down another anarchist punk house opened up for shows called La Sousa Sole which had shows with political hardcore punk bands such as Tragedy tour through. Another popular venue for hardcore and punk was a Christian centered venue in the basement of a Baptist church on 13th street called "The Garage" which was a common practice space for bands such as Denote The Apex (spazztic "danger rock") and Ninja Death Clan (powerviolence/crust punk grindcore). Many of the most important and influential bands in the "underground" scene were Outreach (straight edge hardcore), Ahimsa (anarchist crust punk/grindcore), Fuck God In The Face (doom sludge crust), Self-Inflicted (high school punk), Destitute (political punk), Denote The Apex (danger rock), Ninja Death Clan (Christian grindcore), Compact 56 (new school punk), and a large group of middle school to high school aged punk kids that made a variety of bands that were oldschool punk, and even one Skinhead-oi band. The most popular band from this group of punks was The Skeevies. Another venue that was used by different promoters was the Irving Grange in the Santa Clara area just outside of Eugene that had all kinds of punk and hardcore shows and even had touring acts. The Eugene underground music scene exploded with popularity in the Northwest and bands from all over Oregon from the cities of Salem, Bend, and Portland toured though as well as bands from Washington. The hardcore/punk/metal scene died down after the early 2000s for unknown reasons.