Steve Hansgen | |
---|---|
Genres | Hardcore punk |
Occupations | Guitarist |
Instruments | Bass, guitar |
Steve Hansgen is an American musician from Washington, D.C. He is best known as a member of the hardcore punk band Minor Threat. He also played briefly in the D.C. hardcore band Government Issue, and joined Youth Brigade for their short reunion in 2012.
Hansgen became involved in the Washington, D.C. hardcore scene in the early 1980s. [1] He joined Minor Threat as bass guitarist in August 1982 when original bassist Brian Baker, Hansgen's childhood friend, [1] switched to second guitar. [2] Hansgen appeared on the Out of Step LP and toured extensively with the band over the next year. He left Minor Threat in 1983 when its founding members decided to return the band to its original configuration, [2] a few months before their breakup.
Hansgen formed Second Wind with Minor Threat roadie Rich Moore in 1984. They released the Security 12" record later that year. In 1984, he was also a roadie for the reformed Meatmen. [1]
Hansgen played bass in Government Issue in 1986. He appears on several tracks on their 1986 self-titled LP. He left the band later that year.
In the 1990s, Hansgen continued to work as an engineer and producer. Notably, he worked with Tool on their first demo tape and EP, Opiate (1992). [3]
He played bass around this time in Emmapeel with Government Issue vocalist John Stabb. [4] Emmapeel released the "Avenging Punk Rock Godfathers" 7" in 1993.
In 2003, Baker and Hansgen began playing in the side project Middle Aged Brigade, with whom they recorded some demos. [5] The band was active sporadically in the years that followed. In 2009, Steve Hansgen joined Mike Dolfi, Boyd Farrell (both from Black Market Baby) and Phil Ricche (of The Intentions) in the band Rustbuckit.[ citation needed ]
On 29 December 2012, Hansgen reunited with three original members of the seminal DC hardcore band Youth Brigade, vocalist Nathan Strejcek (formerly of seminal band Teen Idles), drummer Danny Ingram and bassist Bert Quieroz for a show at the Washington, D.C. club The Black Cat. The show was a benefit for the D.C. hardcore documentary Salad Days and also featured Scream and Government Issue. That same foursome continued as Youth Brigade and did a second show at the 9:30 Club shortly thereafter as part of the "Punk-Funk Throwdown" series.
Hansgen later played in Dot Dash. [1] [ citation needed ]
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.
Out of Step is the only studio album by American hardcore punk band Minor Threat. It was released on 45 RPM vinyl in April 1983 through Dischord Records. Although Out of Step has only been released on CD in limited quantities, it has been repressed on vinyl as recently as 2010. All tracks from the album are available on Minor Threat's 1989 compilation album Complete Discography.
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.
Brian Baker is an American punk rock musician. He is best known as one of the founding members of the hardcore punk band Minor Threat, and as a guitarist in Bad Religion since 1994. In Minor Threat, he originally played bass guitar before switching to guitar in 1982 when Steve Hansgen joined the band, and then moved back to bass after Hansgen's departure. He also founded Dag Nasty in 1985, was part of the original line-up of Samhain, and has had stints in Doggy Style, The Meatmen, Government Issue, and Junkyard.
Dag Nasty is an American hardcore punk band from Washington D.C., formed in 1985 by guitarist Brian Baker of Minor Threat, drummer Colin Sears and bassist Roger Marbury, both of Bloody Mannequin Orchestra, and vocalist Shawn Brown. Their style of less aggressive, melodic hardcore was influential to post-hardcore; their sound was partly influenced by The Faith and their 1983 EP Subject to Change. Other influences include Descendents, Buzzcocks, and The Clash.
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.
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.
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.
The Fartz were a hardcore punk band that was founded in 1981 and were one of the first well-known bands in their genre from Seattle, Washington. They were signed to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Record label. They were notable not only for playing incredibly fast and heavy music, but also for their politically and socially conscious song lyrics that criticized government policies, religious hypocrisy, racism, sexism, and poverty. Throughout their musical career they championed a blue collar, working class perspective on life.
Brad Logan, sometimes called Brad Minus, is an American punk rock guitarist from Los Angeles, California, who also owns and operates Blacknoise Recordings, and has collaborated on projects with Alternative Tentacles. Logan was the frontman and guitarist for hardcore punk band F-Minus but is most famous for his work in the group Leftöver Crack. In 2018, Logan joined Adolescents following the death their founding bassist Steve Soto.
Flex Your Head is a sampler album featuring early hardcore punk bands from the Washington, D.C., area. It was originally released in January 1982 on Dischord Records, with a pressing of 4,000 copies on vinyl record that sold out within one week; an additional 3,000 copies were released shortly after. In 1982, a third pressing of 2,000 copies was released under license in the United Kingdom by Alternative Tentacles. Each of the first three pressings featured a different front cover.
The Faith was an early American hardcore punk band, from Washington D.C., with strong connections to the scene centered on the Dischord label. Along with Minor Threat, the Faith were key players in the early development of hardcore, with a (later) melodic approach that would influence not just associated acts like Rites of Spring, Embrace and Fugazi, but also a subsequent generation of bands such as Nirvana, whose Kurt Cobain was a vocal fan.
The Untouchables were an American hardcore punk band that arose from the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The band existed from October 1979 until January 1981 and released four tracks.
Minor Disturbance is the debut EP by the American hardcore punk band the Teen Idles, released in December 1980. It was the first release by Dischord Records. Comprising eight songs, Minor Disturbance referenced a number of issues pertinent to the band, from being turned away at local concerts due to their age to what they felt was the increasing complacency of many first wave punk bands. Upon its release, Minor Disturbance received positive reviews from local fanzines and gained airplay on local radio stations.
Complete History Volume One is a compilation album by the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk band Government Issue, compiling the band's recordings from 1982 to 1985. It was released March 28, 2000 through Dr. Strange Records, with a companion album, Complete History Volume Two, released in 2002. Together, the two Complete History albums collect nearly all of the band's recorded output. Volume One intentionally omits the 1981 Legless Bull EP and the tracks "Hey Ronnie" and "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" released on the Flex Your Head compilation, as both of these releases are still in print through Dischord Records.
The High Back Chairs was a band from Washington, DC. Initially consisting of guitarist/vocalist Peter Hayes, guitarist Jim Spellman, bassist/vocalist Charles Steck, and drummer/vocalist Jeff Nelson, the group released its music on the Washington, D.C. punk record label, Dischord Records. The band eschewed the post-hardcore and hardcore punk sounds that Dischord was known for. Instead, the High-Back Chairs' music was highly melodic indie rock, owing more to power pop and jangle pop than to the band's punk rock roots. This was all the more notable since Nelson was a co-founder of Dischord and had played in the influential hardcore punk band, Minor Threat from 1980 to 1983. "Coming out at a time when grunge held a lot of sway in Amerindie land," Trouser Press later said of the band, "this breezy, supremely melodic, gutsy rock seemed almost noble."
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.
John Dukes Schroeder, known professionally as John Stabb, was an American punk rock vocalist and frontman. Best known as one of the founding members of the hardcore punk band Government Issue; he also played in other bands including, Betty Blue, The Factory Incident, Stabb, Stain, Emma Peel, Weatherhead, and History Repeated. He was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Rockville, Maryland, where he attended Colonel Zadok A. Magruder High School. Stabb occasionally acted and was a freelance writer for Washington City Paper and Forced Exposure.
Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980–90) is a documentary written and directed by Scott Crawford. Released on December 19, 2014, the Kickstarter-funded film features early pioneers of the Washington, DC hardcore punk music scene over a decade (1980–1990) including Minor Threat, Fugazi, Bad Brains, Government Issue, Youth Brigade, Teen Idles, Rites of Spring, and others.