ONLY PUNKS ARE PRETTY
An intimate look at decades of underground music.
Back in the '80s I would see so many fights break out at punk shows in Chicago, or witness a group of dudes single out and jump someone for no real reason. Riding trains from the south side of the city to the north to see live music was never easy or safe and always posed obstacles for us young punks. There wasn’t a train or bus ride where I wouldn’t ask myself, “What the fuck is gonna happen tonight?” Growing up in gang-infested parts of the city earned me some smarts, and the last thing I would ever do was carry anything on me that was of value, especially my camera.
I was obsessed with seeing live music and would go to almost anything that was happening in Chicago at the time. Entering the ’90s, so many bands were changing and jumping genres, and locally it seemed that bands had lost that hardcore edge to them. I wanted to start one that brought it back. In 1991, Los Crudos were born. Later I would go on to form Limp Wrist as well as Arma Contra Arma, Tragatelo, Harto, Needles, NN, the Shhh, Nrrrv, and, most recently, Canal Irreal.
