Dan O'Mahony | |
---|---|
Birth name | Dan O'Mahony |
Born | 2 October 1967 |
Origin | Orange County, California, U.S. |
Genres | Straight edge |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, author, journalist, activist |
Instrument(s) | Vocals |
Years active | 1987 - Current |
Labels | Revelation Records |
Website | PointNineNine.com |
Dan O'Mahony (born October 2, 1967) is a musician, writer, and political activist from Orange County, California, USA. He is currently the West Coast Chairman of the .99 Advocacy Fund and Point nine nine.
In the 1980s, O'Mahony was the lead singer for hardcore straight edge band No For An Answer (NFAA). The band is credited with being one of the cornerstones of the straight edge movement on the west coast [1] [2] and was the first west coast release by the prominent independent label Revelation Records. Later O'Mahony recorded records as the lead singer of bands such as Carry Nation, Voicebox, Speak 714, John Henry Holiday, God Forgot, and 411, which released the album This Isn't Me in 1991. In all he sang on 11 records not counting assorted compilations and numerous live releases. Throughout his career O'Mahony was known for the heavily activist nature of his lyrics espousing the rejection of homophobia, domestic abuse, the First Gulf War, and many self-destructive behaviors. [3]
In 2009 O'Mahony began experimenting with spoken word, organizing performances with Kevin Seconds and Sam McPheeters. [4]
O'Mahony is the author of two autobiographical books, Three Legged Race and Four Letter World. He worked as a columnist for the seminal punk rock monthly publication Maximum Rocknroll from the mid-1980s until the early 1990s. In 2010 he began accepting assignments as a freelance journalist and writing for various political blogs.
O'Mahony is considered a stout progressive and a populist. In 2011 as a result of disillusion with the unfocused nature of his local Occupy movement, O'Mahony co-founded the .99 Advocacy Fund and Point Nine Nine.
Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C., by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guitarist Lyle Preslar to form Minor Threat. They added a fifth member, Steve Hansgen, in 1982, playing bass, while Baker switched to second guitar.
Hardcore punk is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk scenes in San Francisco and Southern California which arose as a reaction against the still predominant hippie cultural climate of the time. It was also inspired by Washington D.C. and New York punk rock and early proto-punk. Hardcore punk generally disavows commercialism, the established music industry and "anything similar to the characteristics of mainstream rock" and often addresses social and political topics with "confrontational, politically-charged lyrics."
The Adolescents are an American punk rock band formed in Fullerton, California in 1979. Part of the hardcore punk movement in southern California in the early 1980s, they were one of the main punk acts to emerge from Orange County, along with their peers in Agent Orange and Social Distortion. Founding bassist Steve Soto was the sole constant member of the band since its inception until his 2018 death, with singer Tony Reflex being in the group for all but one album.
In the United States, California is commonly associated with the film, music, and arts industries; there are numerous world-famous Californian musicians. New genres of music, such as surf rock and third wave ska, have their origins in California.
Hardline is a deep ecology subculture that has its roots in the vegan straight edge hardcore punk scene. It is commonly seen as a more extreme version of straight edge. From its outset, Hardline adherents put out statements and literature pushing a biocentric view of the world, which advocated for militant veganism, animal rights, anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality, and a much more militant version of the straight edge philosophy, which advocates for a no alcohol, no drugs, no tobacco lifestyle. The Hardline worldview has been described variously as ecoauthoritarian and ecofascist in nature. Nonetheless, Hardline co-founder Sean Muttaqi adamantly rejected racism even while sending mixed signals about fascism.
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver. They are often referred to as being among the "founders" of hardcore punk, along with Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, Germs, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore.
Earth Crisis is an American hardcore punk band from Syracuse, New York, active from 1989 until 2001, reuniting in 2007. Since 1993 the band's longest serving members are vocalist Karl Buechner, lead guitarist Scott Crouse, bassist Ian Edwards and drummer Dennis Merrick. Their third and current rhythm guitarist Erick Edwards joined the band in 1998.
Youth crew is a music subculture of hardcore punk, which was particularly prominent during the New York hardcore scene of the late 1980s. Youth crew is distinguished from other punk styles by its optimism and moralistic outlook. The original youth crew bands and fans were predominantly straight edge and vegetarian or vegan.
Youth of Today is an American hardcore punk band, initially active from 1985 to 1990 before reforming in 2010. The band played a major role in establishing the "Youth Crew" subculture of hardcore, both espousing and evolving the philosophies of the straight edge and vegetarian lifestyles.
Agent Orange is an American punk rock band formed in Placentia, California, in 1979. The band was one of the first to mix punk rock with surf music.
James Shanahan, known professionally as Jamey Jasta, is an American vocalist, best known as the lead singer of metalcore band Hatebreed and sludge metal band Kingdom of Sorrow. Jasta also fronts metalcore band Icepick. Prior to Hatebreed, he fronted the hardcore band Jasta 14.
Steve Soto was an American musician. Soto was a multi-talented instrumentalist, a founding member of California punk rock band Agent Orange in 1979, and a founding member of Adolescents in 1980 performing on bass guitar in both bands. Soto was also a member of Legal Weapon, Joyride, Manic Hispanic, Punk Rock Karaoke, and the punk supergroup 22 Jacks. Soto also fronted his own band, Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts, starting in 2008.
Since the mid-1970s, California has had thriving regional punk rock movements. It primarily consists of bands from the Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County, San Diego, San Fernando Valley, San Francisco, Fresno, Bakersfield, Alameda County, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Oakland and Berkeley areas.
Martin Sorrondeguy is the singer of American hardcore punk bands Los Crudos and Limp Wrist, the founder of the DIY record label Lengua Armada Discos, and a prominent figure in both the straight edge scene and the queercore scene. He currently does vocals in the band Needles.
M.I.A. is an American 1980s punk rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada. The band's sound is generally hardcore and thrasher, though they produced more melodic and progressive sounds in their later albums. AllMusic called the band "one of the 50 best So-Cal punk bands of the great early-'80s second wave explosion."
Straight edge is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs, in reaction to the excesses of punk subculture. Some adherents refrain from engaging in promiscuous sex, follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, and do not use caffeine or prescription drugs. The term "straight edge" was adopted from the 1981 song "Straight Edge" by the hardcore punk band Minor Threat.
Canadian hardcore punk originated in the early 1980s. It was harder, faster, and heavier than the Canadian punk rock that preceded it. Hardcore punk is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A. may have helped to popularize the term with the title of their 1981 album, Hardcore '81. Hardcore historian Steven Blush said that the term "hardcore" is also a reference to the sense of being "fed up" with the existing punk and new wave music. Blush also states that the term refers to "an extreme: the absolute most Punk."An article in Drowned in Sound argues that 1980s-era "hardcore is the true spirit of punk", because "after all the poseurs and fashionistas fucked off to the next trend of skinny pink ties with New Romantic haircuts, singing wimpy lyrics", the punk scene consisted only of people "completely dedicated to the DIY ethics". One definition of the genre is "a form of exceptionally harsh punk rock."
Fed Up! was an American straight edge hardcore and Krishna Conscious band formed by Caine Rose and Jai Nitai Holzman in late 1987 and active until 1989.
TKO Records is an independent punk rock record label in Portland, Oregon. The label is primarily known for its role in the late 1990s American street punk scene and has continued its notability as a source of new releases, reissues, and archival recordings. The OC Weekly newspaper recognized the label as "best record label" in Orange County in 2011 and its record store of the same name as "best punk-rock record store" in Orange County, 2008.
Animal rights are closely associated with two ideologies of the punk subculture: anarcho-punk and straight edge. This association dates back to the 1980s and has been expressed in areas that include song lyrics, benefit concerts for animal rights organisations, and militant actions of activists influenced by punk music. Among the latter, Rod Coronado, Peter Daniel Young and members of SHAC are notable. This issue spread into various punk rock and hardcore subgenres, e.g. crust punk, metalcore and grindcore, eventually becoming a distinctive feature of punk culture.