Salutations from up north!

We’re always open to people contributing to SWNK and when Adam approached us to write columns for us we didn’t have to think long about it. Here’s his first contribution. Enjoy!

Do you remember the first time you had purchased a record? What were your thoughts at the time? Were you maybe aloof or maybe you pissed yourself just a little in sheer excitement? I was 13 and had been handling my father’s records for years prior. This first record was different though. It was mine, and it wasn’t of the classic rock persuasion. It’s was undeniable 100% punk rock. It was at this quaint little record shop (now defunct) downtown in Kansas City. I threw down my $7.49 with my change bouncing everywhere. Just to show this guy me preconceived notion of Punk Rock. I had QUINCY PUNX: Were not punks…but we play them on TV: 12” and had random dribbles of piss running down my leg as I couldn’t wait to get home and hear it. Like Golem and ‘his precious’ I had mine now. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Salvation through musical destruction was on my horizon. Sliding that black slab of wax on my table and carefully placing the headphones on my head, I pressed the button. The red light came on. BOOM! The chainsaw guitars started just shredding my ears followed by the sandy howl of the vocals. It completely justified all those little dribblets of piss. This was my new drug just pounding my skull and sending shock waves of goosebumps through my body. I had no idea what addiction was but I knew I was hooked. As the record tore me a new asshole through the first side and ‘Safety Pins’ came on, I found out that this cult of Punk Rock went deeper than I had thought. It was a way of existence. As Dave screamed /And if you can’t handle that/Kiss my fuckin ASSSS! Like poetry it just went into my heart and started an inferno. An inferno that continues to burn to this day. Just that moment. That one moment when it all clicked. I was helpless against it’s influence and power. I had to have more.

We are the wizards- Adam.

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