Clevo Style: A Zine Preview and Playlist on Cleveland's Hardcore History

Written by A. Iwasa

Tony Erba, bassist of 9 Shocks Terror. Photo courtesty of Kevin McCann

Ahead of the release of his new zine Clevo Style: How Decades of Cleveland Punk and Hardcore Shaped the World, A. Iwasa shares some of his favorite Clevo hardcore bands that reflect the community within the underground yet prolific scene.

​I semi-recently found out that when I was in high school in the west suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio in the 1990s, appearing in a zine for the first time, playing in bands and going to shows, Joe Biel was also in the hardcore scene and starting Microcosm Publishing while living in the east suburbs.

We decided to collaborate on this zine together called Clevo Style: How Decades of Cleveland Punk and Hardcore Shaped the World.  It's dedicated to Jim Konya who is somewhat known for having been in Nun Slaughter and 9 Shocks Terror, but he was also in From the Depths and I saw him with Schnauzer seven times!  It's also dedicated to Aragorn, know primarily for publishing with Little Black Cart, he used to write for Maximum Rocknroll. Here's an excerpt of the zine:

Cleveland, Ohio's punk scene has played host and step parent to tens of thousands of kids for over 40 years. A. Iwasa was one of those kids and now with nearly 20 years of distance, he reflects on how Cleveland's weird, unique social and geographic landscape impacts those impressionable young people, shaping them into idealistic, scrappy adults who spread that influence with their own creations. Each one of us (yes, including the publisher of this book) got excited, felt a part of something unique and special. Then got deeply immersed in it until you find that it's not actually meeting your adult needs...before falling too deep into the hole and encountering the darker aspects of post-industrial punk. It feels like one day you suddenly discover how your peers see issues differently than you do. But again, each of these punks that once felt alone in the world go out and create something beautiful in punk's mired visage, even if only to escape yet another destructive home life. 

If you know one Clevo hardcore band, you might be disappointed that the zine has little to do with them.  Along those lines, I saw Ringworm four times around the turn of the century, and I believe every time someone ended up in the hospital.  I had reached out to Ringworm for an interview before, but was asked to write back when my pitch was accepted for sure by an outlet.  For this project I decided I didn't want to try to interview anyone that was harder to access then Henry Rollins (literally my litmus, I interviewed him for the first issue of The Luddite Worker back in 2009).  

Some of the people I was able to interview include Tony Erba from Face Value, 9 Shocks Terror, the H-100s and most recently FYPM, Don Foose of The Spudmonsters and Run Devil Run, Ben Wrecked, also of Whatever..., Ron Kretsch of Proletarian Art Threat and Murdered Man, and Xe La, also of Cows in the Graveyard. You can pre-order a copy of the zine here. 

Clevo Hardcore Playlist

Though I've met a good handful of 9 Shocks Terror fans outside of Ohio over the years, very few of them knew that Tony Erba used front an anthemic, posi, youth crew band.   
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Though I first became a fan of The Spuds because of their sense of humor, I stayed a fan because of the more serious songs such as this one.  This was the band that got me into do-it-yourself hardcore.
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Posi, almost poppy punk.
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One of the first songs I heard by this band, featured on a 7" of theirs.  I saw them seven times back in the '90s.  The most I've ever seen a band on purpose.  As high energy live, and even goofier than their recordings.  
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From the tail end of first wave metalcore.  "The instrument of destruction is the irony of holy war.  WITNESS THE END OF OUR WORLD."
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Some of the individuals from this high school band have gone on to be in much more prominent bands such as Ringworm, Curse of Denial and Integrity.  One of the members ran Dismal Records and distro, which was a huge inspiration to me in the '90s.
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First wave US American hardcore punk.  Their drummer went on to play for Integrity.
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Clevo post-punk.  In 2002, Xe La was hosting open mics more days than not at the time, and performing just with his acoustic guitar.  
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Midwestern Krishnacore super group, featuring Clevo hardcore heavies from The Spudmonsters and In Cold Blood.
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This track appeared on the Ohio Kings compilation record.  Nothing like an anthem named "Not a Fucking Anthem".
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Chimera predecessor band.

Apparently some people think this band was a joke.  They were funny, but good.  Sadly, I never did see them, though from what I understand at least up to COVID they were still playing shows and churning burning butter on stage.
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Keel Haul predecessor band.  They also later had a 7" record and a split CD with Schnauzer, which unfortunately only has one track posted on the YouTube since they progressed impressively over the years..

Pure hardcore.  A One Life Crew predecessor band.  From what I understand, this is their only studio recording. 
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