IRON LUNG

Iron Lung from the first UGZ Speed Trials at Burnt Ramen in Richmond, 2003.

The following year we held them at the Slaughterhaus in Oakland, and then a couple of years later we held a few at Gilman, but even then I had to come out the pocket at first for posters, decorations, and trophies.  Thankfully Will Rutherford (who also painted the walls behind the Gilman stage for us) stepped in as treasurer at some point and I was able to get reimbursed for some of that stuff.  The trophies were from a spot in Fremont, and I used to drive out there from Berkeley to pick them up, usually a day or two before the shows.  Gilman was never that supportive of the UGZ Speed Trials, but there were always enough of us to win the vote.

UGZ Speed Trials

Here’s a Larry Wolfley photo taken at Burnt Ramen, and in the background you can see the top of a UGZ Speed Trials poster from 2002, the first year we did one.

SBITCH

Sbitch from Austin, Texas, by way of El Paso, at Burnt Ramen in 2001. Rampaging Insane Depravity Fest. Photo by Sam Bortnick

S.T.F.U.

This was going to be a Flashback Friday post, but we'll start off a new week with this photo of Tony S.T.F.U., from the band S.T.F.U., hanging outside of a Dischord tribute show we booked at Burnt Ramen Studios in Richmond, California in 2003.  I've posted the flyer design below, but it's important to note that the actual flyers for that show were all hand screened using various color combinations.  Due to our D.I.Y. approach, and a lack of silkscreening experience, no two were the same.  The bands that played the Dischord tribute show, with the exception of the Scurvy Dogs, were all bands that we'd booked numerous times at venues like Burnt Ramen, Mission Records, and Gilman between 2001-2004.

Dystrophy

A couple of photos from Libertatia 2002, which took place at Warm Water Cove in San Francisco, CA.

If the turnout looks small, that's because it was. 2002 was a busy year for the Ear2TheGround Punx, which was basically UGZ Presents & friends holding down the fort at places like Burnt Ramen, and also doing our best to support the Pyrate Punx crew by including them on bigger events like the Rampaging Insane Depravity Fests. 2002 was not such a busy year for the Pyrate Punx, and by the end of the year the only active members of the crew were (to the best of my memory) Russ, Marcus, Jeremiah, and eventually myself when I was voted in as head booker (Marcus' old position). That caused a riff in the Pyrate Punx, and long story short, Marcus and I kind of broke off and did our own thing for a couple of years after that. Pyrate Punx remained a relatively small operation until the fateful day that I convinced Marcus Da Anarchist to sign up for a Myspace account, and the rest is history. Now the Pyrate Punx thing is international, or so I've been told by newer members of 'da crew'.

Our staff photographer Sam Bortnick snapped these photos of DYSTROPHY, along with some others that I'll post at a later time. DYSTROPHY were one of the best young Bay Area hardcore bands at the time, and they played a bunch of shows for us, including the Rampaging Insane Depravity Fest and the first ever UGZ Speed Trials.

IRON LUNG

Filmed at the first UGZ Speed Trials, which took place at Burnt Ramen in Richmond, California back in 2002.