Straight edge bands JUDGE, Earth Crisis and Integrity and supporting bands Witness Chamber and Opposing Force, performed one of two sold-out shows on Sunday night at the volunteer-led venue in Berkeley. 

The show came just a couple of days after National Edge Day on Oct. 17, originating from a 1999 “Edge Fest” in Boston, Mass., according to a National Calendar article on Straight Edge Day.

The term “straight edge” means to be drug and alcohol free, with most participants considering the use of substances to be a corruption of life, according to a Nov. 18, 2022 article from Britannica.

Will Henderson, frontman for Opposing Force, said Earth Crisis and their beliefs of being straight edge shaped him and the music he plays.

“That culture has impacted my life by making it a lot better to be myself around people who share similar interests with me,” Henderson said. “Straight edge to me, it just means that you kind of have to abstain from drugs and alcohol, any mind-altering substances.”

Henderson said bands like Earth Crisis haven’t changed their political or social opinions by much within the last 30 years and stay progressive on subjects like gay marriage, veganism and political oppression.

Song names from Earth Crisis, like “Destroy the Machines” and “Ultramilitance,” prove their critiques on social and political subjects. 

Lyrics from both “Destroy the Machines” and “Ultramilitance” talk about the destruction of nature

by industrial evolution and political corruption, while also serving as a call to action. 

The lyrics to the song “Ultramilitance” said that the destruction of the environment is for corporate profit, with lyrics reading, “A rainforest seen as nothing more than an area on a map/ to be stripped of resources for corporate profit / The indigenous cultures and animals are displaced or destroyed / unless bulldozers are disabled to prevent access,” according to lyrics website Genius.

All bands talked about similar subjects in their lyrics throughout the night and claimed to be “straight edge.”

“[Earth Crisis] kind of really brought veganism to the mainstream and they also were talking about things like the genocide of Native Americans and kinds of systemic abuse…” Henderson said. “It just really goes to show that [Earth Crisis] were thinking pretty deeply about what was going on and they stood for what they were talking about.” 

He said that it’s important to uplift younger voices and offer an all-ages space; otherwise, the current hardcore punk scene would die.

The Bay Area punk scene found a heart in the East Bay with venues like Ruthie’s Inn and eventually 924 Gilman Street, which helped fuel a socially and politically active city in the 1970s and 1980s, according to a National Geographic article. 

Despite the unity that bands were able to bring, drugs became a prominent subject in lyrics and performance, as artists used drugs and alcohol to rebel against social norms at the time, according to a Desert Hope Treatment Center article. 

Straight edge as a culture helped to combat this, allowing for a chance to get clean and find a sense of new freedom, according to the same article. 

“Hardcore’s all about giving back to the community,” Henderson said. “If the hardcore scene isn’t led by younger bands, then it’s just going to be a bunch of old dudes and that’s kind of depressing…” 

The 924 Gilman Street venue itself is filled with graffiti and band stickers, as well as other pieces of decoration like broken guitars, basketball hoops and its own concession stand close to the main entrance.

Zines, volunteer information, as well as posters, are also available inside the venue, mostly free for show-goers to take. 
The venue has remained an established volunteer-led music venue since 1986, according to the 924 Gilman website.

The venue gets funding from a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Alternative Music Foundation, as well as through community fundraising and donations, according to the same website.
Wade Freeman, a former volunteer at 924 Gilman Street, said he was trusted to run bi-weekly Super Smash Bros. tournaments when he was 15. 

“I feel like this type of show, where it’s a lot of older bands from the ’80s and ’90s, lets people who are adjacent into going to punk shows … allows them to experience the culture with people their age,” Freeman said.  

The crowd Sunday night was mixed with young audience members with parents staying closer towards the back of the venue, while others took part in moshing.

Once Earth Crisis performed, the crowd riled up and began to grab the microphone from the vocalist with passion, not aggression.

Karl Buechner, the vocalist of Earth Crisis, said that for both young and old, it’s never too late to change your way of living, both drug and alcohol free.

“It doesn’t matter who’s around you, or what they’re doing, but if you stay true, it’ll make your life so much easier,” said Buechner. “The drugs, the weed, the whatever, it’s all a roadblock. It’ll stop you from going where you want to go.”

In a 2009 interview with the news website Syracuse, Buechner reveals that he was essentially scared straight by watching kids his age that he grew up with at the time beginning to drink and try certain drugs, and eventually becoming addicted and losing their passions. 

Buechner said it’s incredible how far the straight edge culture has grown, with more people affected by substance addictions gravitating towards the movement, according to the same interview.

Nick Worthington, an attendee and photographer of the show, said he’s been straight edge for 15 years, with this show being important to himself and the culture.

“Two out of three of the tour packers are like critical bands to the culture of straight edge,” said Worthington. “Between Judge and Earth Crisis … It’s my first time seeing both of those bands, so this has been like a long time coming for me.”

Another impact of straight edge culture is the aspect of becoming vegan or vegetarian, almost as a form of remaining pure, something that intensified in the late 1980s and sometimes led to violence as a means of promoting straight edge behavior, according to the Desert Hope Treatment Center article.

This means of spreading messages of sobriety and animal liberation was quickly frowned upon by law enforcement and some animal rights activists, according to the same article. 

Earth Crisis lyrics, although not inciting violence, are prominent in promoting animal liberation, with their 2022 song “Vegan For The Animals,” directly stating lyrics about fighting to save animals. 

Will Swafford, an attendee, said he enjoyed every set of the night, saying how he wouldn’t be vegan or straight edge if it weren’t for Earth Crisis.

“They’ve got a huge impact on me, the way I think about the world, and the way I think about humanity’s place in the world,” Swafford said.