Positive Force DC is an activist organization founded in 1985 by members of the punk community in Washington, D.C. It has organized hundreds of benefit concerts for community and activist groups, and worked alongside Fugazi, Bikini Kill, Nation of Ulysses, Girls Against Boys, Q and Not U and other bands arising from the capital’s punk scene. Positive Force has also engaged in many other forms of progressive activism in the D.C. area, and from about 1985 to the mid-1990s there was a Positive Force house in Arlington, Virginia, where various members of the group lived and which the organization operated from. [1]
The original Positive Force group started in 1984 in Reno, Nevada, with people in and around the band 7 Seconds. Several members of Reno Positive Force moved to Las Vegas and started a chapter there later that year. The idea spread across the United States following the March 1985 publication of an article in Maximum RocknRoll. Positive Force came together in Washington, D.C., in summer 1985 – Revolution Summer, influenced by the straight edge movement, according to Dance of Days, a book on the history of D.C. punk by Positive Force DC co-founder Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins. [2] While up to a dozen chapters existed at one point or another, the Washington, D.C. group is the only one to survive the 1980s. It continues to operate today. [3]
In 1991, University of Maryland student David M. Weinstein created a documentary called "Wake Up! A Profile of Positive Force" as both a 9-minute and a 28-minute film. He described it as: "A documentary about Positive Force, a loosely organized group of young people working for social change. P.F. members volunteer in the Washington, D.C. community and promote benefit rock concerts for a wide variety of groups. They also try to live according to a set of humane values." The 9-minute short was a 1992 nominee at the Rosebud Film & Video Festival in Arlington, Virginia.
Positive Force is also featured in the 2011 documentary Positive Force: More Than a Witness: 25 Years of Punk Politics In Action by Robin Bell. [4]
As of January 2000, Positive Force DC had organized nearly 300 benefit concerts that raised more than $200,000 for organizations that work to help residents of Washington, D.C., meet their basic needs or to produce "progressive/revolutionary change," according to the group’s Web site.
Positive Force and its members have volunteered on behalf of organizations in the capital, [5] and have organized and participated in protests against government policy at the local, national and international levels.
Andersen compiled the State of the Union album, which featured 16 Washington, D.C. bands and was issued in 1989 by Dischord Records to raise funds for the American Civil Liberties Union and the Community for Creative Nonviolence, according to Dischord.
Through much of its history, Positive Force offered communal meeting and living space for like-minded groups and individuals. The group provided significant financial support for the Flemming Center, which houses the Positive Force office and several other progressive organizations in Washington, D.C.
Positive Force organized the All Our Power conference, which occurred from October 6 to 8, 2006, in Washington, D.C. The aim of the conference was to include speakers, panel discussions and workshops offering people within the punk community with information on a range of options for activism. Additional conferences are planned for Chicago and San Francisco, according to the All Our Power Web site. As a follow-up to the conference, the group in 2007 is organizing monthly benefit concerts in Washington, D.C., for local community and activist organizations.
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.
Rites of Spring was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in late 1983. Along with Embrace, and Beefeater, they were one of the mainstay acts of the 1985 Revolution Summer movement which took place within the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk scene.
Embrace was a short-lived American hardcore band from Washington, D.C., active from the summer of 1985 to the spring of 1986. Along with Rites of Spring, and Beefeater, it was one of the mainstay acts of the 1985 Revolution Summer movement, and was one of the first bands to be dubbed in the press as emotional hardcore, though the members had rejected the term since its creation. The band included lead vocalist Ian MacKaye of the defunct hardcore punk act Minor Threat and three former members of his brother Alec's band, the Faith: guitarist Michael Hampton, drummer Ivor Hanson, and bassist Chris Bald. Hampton and Hanson had also previously played together in S.O.A. The band played their first show on July 28, 1985, at Food for Thought, a former restaurant and music venue located on Washington, D.C.'s Dupont Circle; their ninth and final show was held at the 9:30 Club in March 1986. The only recording released by the quartet was their posthumous 1987 self-titled album, Embrace, being influenced by the Faith EP Subject to Change.
Embrace is the debut record and the only release by the American post-hardcore band Embrace.
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.
Washington, D.C. hardcore, commonly referred to as D.C. hardcore, sometimes styled in writing as harDCore, is the hardcore punk scene of Washington, D.C. Emerging in late 1979, it is considered one of the first and most influential punk scenes in the United States.
Skewbald/Grand Union, also known as 2 Songs, is the eponymous archival EP featuring the only studio recordings by American hardcore punk band Skewbald/Grand Union.
Fire Party was a band from Washington, D.C. They were together from the autumn of 1986 to the spring of 1990. The band members were Amy Pickering (vocals), Natalie Avery (guitar), Kate Samworth (bass), and Nicky Thomas (drums).
Beefeater was an American post-hardcore band from late 1984 until late 1986. Along with Embrace and Rites of Spring, they were one of the mainstay acts of the 1985 Revolution Summer movement which took place within the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk scene. They were pioneers of the post-hardcore genre in the mid-1980s with bands like Embrace, Rites of Spring and Gray Matter, among others.
Soulside, also spelled Soul Side, was an American post-hardcore band from the greater Washington, D.C. area. The original name of the band was Lunchmeat which was formed by high school students Bobby Sullivan, Chris Thomson, Scott McCloud and Alexis Fleisig in 1985. Lunchmeat played their last show under that name on August 29 of the same year as the group went on hiatus while the members went to college.
A punk house is a dwelling occupied by members of the punk subculture.
Mark Andersen is a punk rock community activist and author who lives in Washington D.C. He was born and raised in rural Montana, and moved to Washington D.C. in 1984 to attend graduate school at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
The Brian MacKenzie Infoshop was a self-managed social center located at 1426 Ninth St., in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The volunteer-run anarchist co-operative ran the basement infoshop from May 2003 until December 2008. For the first four years, it was open every day to sell books and records. It also served as a community center, hangout, and meeting place for local radicals. Events included talks by Ward Churchill, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Nate Powell and Josh MacPhee.
Bloody Mannequin Orchestra were an influential early 1980s punk band from Bethesda, MD. They formed around a small, but active, scene at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and were part of the larger D.C hardcore community. The band members were Colin Sears, Roger Marbury, Alex Mahoney, Sharon Cheslow and Charles Bennington.
Bobby Sullivan is a musician and activist.
Bent edge or curved edge was a hardcore punk subculture that was formed as counter-movement to the straight edge movement. It was started by members of Washington, DC hardcore scene who were fed up with the rigidness and intolerance in the nascent straight edge scene. To combat straight edge, they started throwing beer- and drug-fuelled punk shows. The point of these shows was to be the complete antithesis of straight edge.
Youth Brigade was an American hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C., formed in late 1980 and disbanded in 1981. They released the Possible EP and appeared on the Flex Your Head compilation, both on Dischord Records. Although active for less than a year, they were nevertheless contributors to the development of D.C. hardcore punk and have influenced many other bands. Several members briefly reunited for performances in 2012 and 2013.
The single play record "Me and You", also known as Egg Hunt, and 2 Songs, is the first and only stand-alone release by the American experimental post-hardcore duo Egg Hunt.
Revolution Summer was a phrase coined by an employee of Dischord Records in an effort to revive the hardcore punk scene of Washington, D.C. that occurred during the summer of 1985.
Holy Rollers was an American punk band that formed in 1988 in Washington, D.C. The band initially was composed of guitarist/vocalist Marc Lambiotte, bassist/vocalist Joe Aronstamn, and drummer/vocalist Max Micozzi. Band members alternated lead vocals and Holy Rollers were the first D.C. punk band to incorporate three-part harmonies. Music historians and authors Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins described the band's sound as "kinetic punk-funk" with "passionate, message-driven songs." Holy Rollers were a part of new trend in post-hardcore artistic diversity that developed within the D.C. punk scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. They released three albums on Dischord Records, an American punk label that Noisey described as "one of the most respected and revered [record labels], punk or otherwise, in the world." As AllMusic declared, "[w]ithout being an arena act or coming off with the aggrandizing air of one, the Holy Rollers still make big music that can inspire and go beyond simple post-hardcore approaches."