Thanks to some fortunate networking, convenient scheduling, and a borrowed sedan, Sles and I took a concert road trip near the end of our senior year. When the Link 80 tour was announced, naturally we were planing on seeing them at the Galaxy Club in Dallas. But when we realized they were playing Austin the day before (because tour routing, obv.) it was time to book a personal 2 night Link 80 Texas tour. BennyD had some drum-and-bass DJing friends (Ron-e and girlfriend) who graciously offered us the living room floor of their apartment for the night, so we were all set.
I assume the show was the typical furious assault of brass instruments, unity-based lyrics, and sweaty rock jumps; it was the after show I still remember. We were 18 with no other plans in a foreign city, might as well ask the band what they were doing after the show, right? You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
A few minutes later we loaded the tour manager and two horn players in the back of my mom’s car to go hangout with the rest of the bands at their hotel. Two of the three would go on to be members of RX Bandits (Steve Choi – Guitar/Keys, Aaron Nagel – Sax/Artwork). A panicked moment at the trunk and we decided on a Where’s Arnie CD to happen to be playing to look cool for our new friends. First thing anyone notices, the brand new Blink 182 record that just came out (Take Off Your Pants and Jacket), scene points obliterated.
They did end up asking about “Damn Girl” (the ‘single’ off the Where’s Arnie record we were gifted a copy of in a Chic-Fil-A parking lot), so mission accomplished I guess. Perhaps Sles remembers, but I really don’t know why it wasn’t a Code 21 CD we played for them. Probably couldn’t handle how awesome the songs were.
Anyway, we hung out around the pool, heard killer tour stories, and got to talk with some of our musical heroes for a few hours. Point 2 thinking I was cooler than I was: I called our host couple announcing we’d be home “late” because we were chilling with that ska band. “Oh, just 1? Our show will just be getting started.” Fair enough. The gate code she provided didn’t work and there was unsurprisingly little traffic through the complex gate after midnight. It wasn’t until after Ryan had scaled the fence that a car rolled through.
As evidenced by their black shirts with black text screen-printed on them, Link 80 and the rest of today’s band embraced the moniker “Against The Rest” originally set out by Traina and friends. They called themselves ATRC, Against The Rest Crew. Thus, today’s is the Against The Rest edition.
Link 80 “For the Crown”
What a pleasant surprise it was to find music videos for all of today’s songs. Turns out Rancid “Time Bomb”, RBF “Beer”, and MMBT “Impression that I Get” weren’t the only ska songs with videos (as MTV2 would have me believe). I’d say a parkour rich chase through a city building is a good approximation of the intensity of a Link 80 concert.
Doing a bit a research for this week’s blog, I came across the album cover from The Struggle Continues I’d seen hundreds of times. It never clicked that the map was of the Bay Area, where they are from. Funny enough, you can see where I live now on the cover.
Knowledge “Gnat (I’m All Alone)”
At the time, I thought Nick Traina — first lead singer of Link 80, son of Danielle Steel, teen-aged human — took the cliche rock star way out, a heroin overdose. Knowing now that he suffered with bi-polar, and that it was his fourth attempt at his life that finally succeeded, I shudder at how dismissive I was about the pain his family and friends must feel.
I was heartened to learn of the Nick Traina Foundation, a non-profit Danielle Steel founded to make a meaningful contribution in the field of mental health.
Again, I never knew a video for this existed (pre-YouTube and all). It’d be tough to capture the full emotion of this track, but the video is done beautifully enough to kick up some dust in the few different rooms I’ve watched it in.
Destiny, my destiny
Nick Traina – Link 80
No escaping that’s for me
RX Bandits “…And the Battle Begun”
Welcome to the blog, one of my favorite bands of all time. Sure, Metallica and Alk3 are like what?!? The start of this description is why I’m such a fan of the phrase “Don’t believe everything you think.”
This video features Asian Man Records tour manager turned guitar/keys shredder Steve Choi and the rest of those damn bandits. Where was the RefusedTV channel when I was 17?
