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Jonathan Anastas | |
|---|---|
| Born | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Genres | hardcore punk & heavy metal |
| Occupation | musician |
Jonathan Anastas is an American gaming, entertainment, media, marketing and sports executive, and a musician who co-founded a number of Boston hardcore punk bands.
From his teen years (recording for the first time at age 15), Anastas was involved in the American musical movement known as hardcore punk. He co-formed and played bass in the seminal Boston hardcore bands DYS and Slapshot, writing and playing on the DYS records Brotherhood and DYS as well as Slapshot's debut record Back on the Map (all re-issued by Taang! Records in various formats). DYS, with Anastas, reformed for the first time in over 20 years, headlining the Gallery East Reunion Festival and "xxx All Ages xxx" movie shoot in front of over 1,000 fans on August 29, 2010, and have continued to tour punk top festivals in the US and Europe up to the pandemic shut-down of live music events. Jonathan joined Slapshot as a special guest for the 2021 stand of 30th Reunion shows in Boston.
Anastas and his bands were a part of the straight edge movement, made famous by Minor Threat as a call for youth to live a clean and conscientious life, rejecting drugs, alcohol and smoking. [1] DYS are also known for their early role in the crossover movement, where hardcore punk bands attempted a more commercial hard rock sound and looked toward recording deals within the mainstream major label system, inventing the idea of a "hardcore power ballad" to describe a track on their second metal-influenced album. [2]
Jonathan also wrote and holds publishing rights to the song "Slam" on Modern Method Record's This Is Boston, Not L.A. collection. [3] He played bass on the song. The track was subsequently used to score MTV's Santa Claus, the Man, the Myth, the Slam Dancer holiday promo, which ran for over 15 years.
Anastas released the single Black Daze the first from his solo-based project DYSBANDED in 2024.
Anastas' contributions to hardcore punk were documented in the books American Hardcore: A Tribal History by Steven Blush, All Ages, Reflections on Straight Edge by Beth Lahickey, Radio Silence by Nathan Nedorostek and Anthony Pappalardo and "Straight Edge by Tony Rettman. Anastas is also featured in the film adaptation of American Hardcore (film), released by Sony Pictures in 2006, and was interviewed for the DVD retrospective Chip on My Shoulder: The History of Slapshot directed by acclaimed music video director Ian McFarland. The Slapshot movie was released in February 2014 after a long distribution delay and followed its debut at the 2009 Boston Independent Film Festival, where it was the first screening to sell out. Additionally, Anastas appears in Director Drew Stone and Executive Producer Duane Lucia's movie xxx All Ages xxx, a film that made its debut on April 27, 2012, also at the Boston Independent Film Festival, and also the first screening to sell out (in under 2 hours).
A left-handed bass player, Anastas has been using a mix of vintage and current production Fender Jazz and Precision basses post-Reunion but has also been seen with a Gibson T-bird. His amps are vintage SVT tubed amps, SVT VR reissues, SVT 8X10 cabs, and a Tech 21 SansAmp DI driver. During the late period of the band's first incarnation, Jonathan played Marshall 4X15 cabs and a Marshall Superbass 100 head, as influenced by Lemmy as well as a custom Hamer Blitz.
For DYSBANDED, Jonathan has been playing 1970s Gibson Les Pauls, a 2005 Les Paul TV Special Custom Shop re-issue, serial number 00001 through Marshall Jubilee and JCM800 amplification.
Following his music career, Anastas entered the advertising and marketing industry, focusing on digital. [4] holding executive positions at Mullen, Saatchi & Saatchi, Omnicom's Think New Ideas and Tribal DDB holding Red Urban, where he was president. He ran marketing at Atari, the video game publisher, was a senior marketing executive at Activision, was Chief Marketing Officer at The Enthusiast Network (TEN) until the company's sale to Discovery in 2017, then Chief Marketing Officer at LiveXLive Media (NASDAQ: LIVX). He most recently served as Group CMO for ONE Championship and ONE eSports.
On March 23, 2023, Anastas was named Chief Executive Officer of ClashTV, [5] an interactive live-streaming platform that streams street basketball from legendary summer basketball leagues including Rucker, Dyckman, and Gersh in New York City; mixed martial arts in partnership with M-1, BKB, EFC; and podcasts featuring a variety of hosts, including ClashTV board member and investor Chris "Gotti" Lorenzo, co-founder of Murder Inc. Records and CEO of Ad Ventures Music.
Anastas's work has been recognized by the Silicon Alley Reporter, The Industry Standard, Adweek [6] and Ad Age . He has spoken at several digital, mobile, content, gaming, and CMO conferences, both domestic and international. His 21st-century campaigns have been awarded multiple EFFIES, Cannes Lions, and other industry accolades.
Hardcore punk is a punk rock subgenre 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".
Taang! Records is an independent record label with a roster of hardcore punk, punk rock, Oi!, power pop, ska, indie rock, psychedelic, and ambient artists and bands founded by Curtis Casella in Boston, Massachusetts in 1983.
SSD was a straight edge hardcore band from Boston. They released two records as SS Decontrol and then formally changed their name to SSD. As SSD they released two more records with a heavy metal influenced sound. However, the group is often simply referred to, including all its periods, as SSD.
The Teen Idles were an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in September 1979. Consisting of teenagers Nathan Strejcek, Geordie Grindle, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, they recorded two demo sessions and the 1980 Minor Disturbance EP before breaking up in November 1980. The influential independent record label Dischord Records was originally created with the sole purpose of releasing The Teen Idles Minor Disturbance 7" record. They were an early landmark in the D.C. hardcore movement, and MacKaye and Nelson would later form the seminal punk rock outfit Minor Threat.
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.
DYS is an American straight edge hardcore punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, who were part of the "Boston Crew" in the 1980s, along with contemporaries such as SSD and Negative FX. The group later expanded their sound, becoming one of the first hardcore bands to veer into heavy metal.
Dave Smalley is an American musician, best known as the lead singer for the hardcore punk bands DYS and Dag Nasty, and skate punk band All as well as lead singer/guitarist with Down by Law. He is known for his influence on pop punk music and his early contributions to the emo genre. He also founded a side project called The Sharpshooters, whose music is influenced by mod revival bands such as The Jam. Smalley has also produced and appeared on Canadian punk band Penelope's second album, Face au silence du monde, recorded by Don Zientara at Inner Ear Studio in Arlington, Virginia.
Ten-yard Fight was an American straight edge, football-themed band formed in 1995 in Boston. Along with In My Eyes and Floorpunch, they spearheaded the youth crew revival in 1997. Ten-yard Fight's "official" last show was in Boston on October 17, 1999, which would become the first National Edge Day. They would later play two additional shows with partial line-ups and a full reunion show at This Is Hardcore festival.
Siege was an American hardcore punk band from Weymouth, Massachusetts. Formed in 1981, they were active in the Boston hardcore scene from 1984 to 1985, and reunited briefly in 1991. Drummer Rob Williams and guitarist Kurt Habelt led a live ensemble of reunion performances between 2016 and 2023.
The F.U.'s are a hardcore punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. They formed in 1981 as a three-piece band, released three records and appeared on the compilation This Is Boston, Not L.A. before changing their name to Straw Dogs in 1986 to market themselves as a heavy metal act. In 2010 The F.U.'s reformed under their original moniker.
Negative FX was a hardcore punk band from Boston, formed in 1981. Though the band lasted only a short time, playing a total of five shows, the band was well known for their involvement in the local straight edge scene of the early 1980s. Along with members of the bands DYS and SS Decontrol (SSD), Negative FX was part of the "Boston Crew", a group of social friends who traveled around the country with SSD and other Boston hardcore bands.
Boston hardcore is the hardcore punk scene of Boston. Beginning the early 1980s, bands such as SSD, DYS, Jerry's Kids and Negative FX formed a nascent hardcore scene in the city that was notably captured on the compilation This Is Boston, Not L.A. (1982). By 1986, many of these bands had either disbanded or departed from the hardcore genre, instead beginning to play heavy metal. During the 1990s, the influence of extreme metal became prominent in the scene with Overcast, Converge, Cave In and Shadows Fall becoming prominent figures in the metalcore genre. However, a reaction against this metal influence quickly took place, which led to the mid-1990s youth crew revival of In My Eyes, Bane and Ten Yard Fight. By 2000, the youth crew revival had declined, and in response to its lyrical positivity, bands including American Nightmare, the Suicide File and the Hope Conspiracy began making music influenced by its music but centred on darker and nihilistic lyrics. In the following years, a reaction also took place against this lyrical style, which led to the rise of positive hardcore bands Mental and Have Heart. The 2000s also saw mainstream successful of Boston melodic metalcore bands including Killswitch Engage, All That Remains and Shadows Fall.
Government Issue was an American hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C. active from 1980 to 1989. The band experienced many changes in membership during its nine-year existence, with singer John Stabb as the only consistent member in an ever-fluctuating lineup that at various times included notable musicians Brian Baker, Mike Fellows, Steve Hansgen, J. Robbins, and Peter Moffett. Government Issue originated from the Washington, D.C. hardcore scene but added elements of heavy metal, new wave, and psychedelic rock on later records. Though this has caused the band to be sometimes overlooked in relation to other Washington, D.C. hardcore acts, their stylistic diversity made them influential to later punk rock groups. Government Issue performed occasional reunion shows in the 2000s and 2010s with various lineups, until Stabb's death from stomach cancer in 2016.
Champion was an American straight edge hardcore punk band formed by vocalist Jim Hesketh and guitarist Chris Williams in the spring of 1999 in Seattle, Washington.
Slapshot is an American hardcore punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band has been active for almost 40 years, releasing eight studio albums and a number of singles and EPs over that time period. Though there have been a significant number of line-up changes, founding member Jack "Choke" Kelly has remained a constant member of the band and its primary vocalist and leader.
American Hardcore: The History of American Punk Rock 1980–1986 is a documentary directed and produced by Paul Rachman and written by Steven Blush. It is based on the 2001 book American Hardcore: A Tribal History also written by Blush. It world premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was released on September 22, 2006 on a limited basis by Sony Pictures Classics. The film features some early pioneers of the hardcore punk music scene including Bad Brains, Black Flag, D.O.A., Minor Threat, Minutemen, SSD, and others. It was released on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on February 20, 2007.
Straight edge is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs in reaction to the punk subculture's excesses. Some adherents refrain from engaging in promiscuous or casual sex, follow a vegetarian or vegan diet and do not consume caffeine or prescription drugs. The term "straight edge" was adopted from the 1981 song "Straight Edge" by the hardcore punk band Minor Threat.
Pagan Babies is an American hardcore punk band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They have been active with their current line-up since January, 2011. The release of Nazi Is Through in February 2019 marked the first recording with their longest-active line-up. Their energy is still on full-display in their live performances playing shows with bands like the Adicts, Slapshot, Alone in a Crowd, Maximum Penalty, Terror, Evacuate, and Ruin, among others.
All Ages: The Boston Hardcore Film, a Gallery East Production in association with Stone Films/NYC, is a documentary directed by Drew Stone, which had its world premier at the Independent Film Festival of Boston on April 27, 2012. The film features interviews, archival footage and the music of Boston’s early hardcore bands including Deep Wound, DYS, Gang Green, Impact Unit, Jerry's Kids, Negative FX, SS Decontrol, The Freeze and The F.U.'s. Also featured in the film are interviews with renowned author Michael Patrick MacDonald, Actress Christine Elise McCarthy, Advertising Executive Jonathan Anastas, Thrasher Magazine Editor Jake Phelps, "American Hardcore" Director Paul Rachman, "Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico Podcast" host Steev Riccardo, and Newbury Comics owner Michael Dreese. All Ages has been released on DVD with numerous extras and director's commentary.
Drew Stone is an American film director, producer, film editor, author and musician. His works include music videos, commercials, documentary films and television.