Everybody's Scene

Everybody's Scene: The Story of Connecticut's Anthrax Club by Chris Daily

Prior to reading this book, I did not have much knowledge of the Connecticut hardcore punk rock scene of the 80's.  This book chronicles the history of the Sheridan brothers, Brian and Shaun, launch of the now famous Anthrax Club.  The club was an art gallery upstairs and a music venue in the basement during the early days.  Eventually, they grew out of a few buildings and settled on solely being a music venue.

The book chronicles the history through interviewing members of the scene from that era.  There are plenty of pictures of the multiple venue locations, club regulars, and bands that played the venues over the years.  It also does a decent job of the chronology of the local Connecticut punk bands including the transition and startup of the straight edge scene.

There is an interesting story about how Reflex from Pain told their lead singer, a young Ray Cappo, that the band was breaking up only to start a new band, 76% Uncertain, with a new singer.  I guess you could blame the Knapp brothers for the start of that knucklehead straight edge scene.

If you are into the history of regional punk rock, I recommend that you read this book to get an understanding of what was going on in Connecticut in the 1980's.  The Anthrax Club played an important part in bridging NYC and Boston for many of bands on tour throughout the USA back then.