Shit's Fucked Up
Local FSU Gang Disrupts All-Ages Hardcore Scene
Tools
On Thursday, December 22, Dangers, a hardcore band from Southern California, loaded their gear into West Seattle’s American Legion Hall, excited to play another show on their West Coast tour. The show never happened, though—a threat of violence shut it down. As 50 or more kids paid the $7 cover charge and filed into the venue, about a dozen members of a small but intimidating gang called FSU (Friends Stand United, or, as some call them, Fuck Shit Up), quietly stood outside the building. Dangers’ singer, Al Brown, wasn’t surprised FSU was there. A few months ago, when Dangers played a house show in Tacoma, members of FSU showed up, and according to Brown, said, “If Dangers plays, Al’s going to the hospital.”
Hoping to avoid any sort of conflict this time around, Brown and Matt Weltner, the show’s booker, approached the group of men. “It was explained that as long as we didn’t do anything ‘faggoty,’ we would be all right,” says Brown. “They said they were there to respect hardcore and as long as they weren’t disrespected, then nothing bad would happen.”
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Dangers, an abrasive hardcore quartet of young twentysomethings, could play, but they couldn’t perform “Neo Neo-Nazis (Stop Fucking Shit Up),” a song where Brown criticizes FSU’s violent practices. If they did, the men told Brown, “You know what’s gonna happen,” alluding to the past, when Brown suffered minor injuries after being assaulted by FSU members outside a show in L.A. (Police weren’t called.) In lieu of censoring their set, or suffering the violent consequences, Weltner and Dangers decided to cancel the show.
The fact that a dozen guys have made it their mission to dictate what can and can’t happen in the scene and are capable of shutting down a local hardcore show is alarming. Seattle’s music community has worked hard to make all-ages concerts legal and safe—and those shows have overwhelmingly been safe since the passing of the All-Ages Dance Ordinance in 2002. Even more surprising is the fact that the incident was completely ignored by local media. If a dozen young black men showed up to a local hiphop show threatening fans, performers, and promoters with violence, it’d easily make front-page news. Seattle’s chapter of FSU is, for the most part, a group of linebacker-sized white males in their early to mid-20s who often wear FSU T-shirts and sweatshirts and come from suburban neighborhoods. And despite being tied to a number of violent incidences over the past two years, they still aren’t on the radar as anything more than a nuisance.
FSU started in the ’80s as a group on the East Coast aiming to eliminate racism from the hardcore music scene. As Nazi skinheads became less prominent in the community (perhaps due in part to the work of groups like FSU), the gang sort of fizzled out. They re-emerged in the mid-’90s in areas like Boston, New Jersey, Arizona, Los Angeles, and Seattle. While the group doesn’t seem to have a discernable political agenda today (members declined to comment when asked), FSU members have claimed on message boards that their actions are in response to those who “speak out against them” or “disrespect” them. All they’re asking for, they say, is respect, and if they feel they aren’t getting it, the situation often ends in violence.
Earlier this month, one incident involving FSU’s Arizona chapter came to a fatal conclusion. According to the Arizona Daily Star, members of FSU, armed with hammers and machetes, invaded the venue and started shoving concertgoers. The fights moved out onto the street and one injured young man ran to his car, pulled a gun, and fired a shot at an FSU member who was chasing him. The FSU member died at the hospital later that night.
Luckily, things have yet to turn that tragic in Seattle, but the city has still suffered its share of blows. According to his bandmates and concertgoers who were there, a member of a local hardcore band suffered minor injuries after a show in Seattle when members of FSU jumped him, allegedly for “talking shit” about them on a local message board. And this summer, concertgoers reported that another kid was attacked during a Paradox concert when he confronted FSU guys for hitting his friend in the mosh pit. Twenty-year-old Lucas Thilman says he was beaten at a house party last July, when members of FSU refused to leave. He suffered a concussion, brain contusions, and a broken hand. FSU has also reportedly threatened a number of local music fans and bookers, to the point where some feel it’s unsafe to book and attend shows. While members of FSU were reached for comment, they declined to say anything on record.
According to the Seattle Police Department, the cops looked into FSU after another incident at Studio Seven, a rock club in the SoDo neighborhood, but considered the gang to be of little threat since they are a small group and seemingly disorganized. Still, certain members of Seattle’s hardcore scene have had enough.
Earlier this week, three men were fired from their security jobs at the rock club El Corazón because they have ties to FSU. El Corazón owner Lori LeFavor says it was a difficult decision to make, but she felt as though she had little choice since she’s received a number of phone calls and e-mails from concerned parents who don’t feel comfortable sending their kids to a venue that employs “gang members.”
Also following Thursday’s incident, a group of bookers, band members, and music fans joined forces and decided to take a stand against FSU. Though they’re still in talks as to what actions need to be taken, they’ve brainstormed ideas including alerting area club owners as to who local FSU members and bands are and organizing citywide boycotts against clubs and people who support them.
LeFavor hopes a peaceful conclusion can be reached. She’s offering to host a “State of Hardcore” public forum at El Corazón. The public would be invited to come voice their concerns and start searching for solutions regarding the current problems in the hardcore scene.
Some still feel, though, that more drastic measures need to be taken. One man, a music fan who has been active in the hardcore community for almost a decade in every role from musician to booker (and who wants to remain anonymous out of concern for his safety), first noticed a problem two years ago. “When one member of FSU busted in the face of a 15-year-old kid at the Redmond Fire House, that was the first indication there was a problem,” he says. “We hoped the violence would go away, but obviously, when they’re capable of rolling up to a DIY show and getting it shut down, things have only gotten worse. Now’s the time to start doing something about it.”
megan@thestranger.com
Commenting was not available when this article was originally published.
Every gang has its gimmicks to create unity and the sense of family among its ranks. FSU uses the straight edge credo or drug and alcohol free living, however they fail to realize that fighting and brutal violence has become their drug of choice. They are addicted to the smell of fear and blood of whoever may be on the wrong end of their opinion; yet another parallel to Neo-Nazism.
To see that this organization is wielding its fists to submit concert goers, concert promoters, and the musicians themselves is unacceptable. Violence used in this way is above all else cowardly and hypocritical. How many hospital visits, cracked skulls and deaths will it take to stop this madness? If it were up to FSU we would all be in a hospital bed for expressing our own opinions and freedoms.
1980=Jocks
2008=FSU
BABY BRIANNA!!! GIVE HER A VOICE SHE NEVER HAD!!!
very well, and as often as possible
swarm your enemies out numbering
them. You've just set up a perfect
pretext for when I come in contact
with one or more of you, to use the
help of my two brothers; Smith and
Wesson. Given your documented his-
tory, be ready to be the recipient of
justifiable homicide
What is it exactly that FSU "believes in" that they are fighting so hard for? I pray to god it's not "respect"... This is laughable. I actually laughed out loud numerous times reading this article. Honestly, how can you praise American diversity and use that to justify beating up people that don't agree with you? No one has the right to assault someone.. stupid people are so silly..
violence is not okay, and hardcore is about music, not about acting like a dumbfuck. you're gonna end up ruining the music you supposedly care about.
and btw, if i was an eighteen year old just getting into the scene and saw a bunch of juiced up fratboys starting fights and another group of people just fucked up and having fun peacefully, i'd hang out with the latter. fighting is not a good recruiting tool, unless you are in fact, a tool.
Oops, that wasn't very smart! What's that about bringing a knife to a gun fight?
Every time I read about some FSU skidmark getting killed I can't help it, I just gotta let loose with a big belly laugh.
OMG are you kiddin me?? You wack-o fuck.. I hope you get taken out of the gene pool yourself real soon.
seattle hardcore. haha. stick with what you know assholes, go listen to candlebox.
AAAAND Luke isn't 20. He's 23 or 24 I think. Sorry about your hand Luke.
Keep FSU losers out of venues.
Protect freedom of expression.
Stand up for the community.
So I therefore say to all memebers of FSU- aim high and realize your dreams!!
Aren't you saying you're just mama's boys (and followers of Barbara Bush) who get angry
when people have any fun?
Captain Kerk
Fairies Stand United? And that they bash straight people? No?
I bet other prisoners will like them in jail, so clean and pure, and not all ravaged by drugs and alcohol. They'll be the first picked when other prisoners need sexual relief.
FSU is well on its way to solidly establishing itself as a monumental sociological failure. Many of FSU's recruits -- lonely, insecure and impressionable -- have surely begun to sense that their terrible conduct doesn't offer the fulfillment they expected. Rather than enjoying genuine friendship, forthrightness, and positive influence, they've become collectively unintelligent menace, unworthy of any conscientious person's respect.
FSU's tragic wastes band together and hurt people. These individuals may exhibit decent behavior while removed from their shameful, stupid social microcosm. But together, they become a group of bad people. They do bad things. They are bad people.
So much for earning respect. Fear and resentment are not the same as respect. Our current Presidential administration operates under a policy of belligerent unilateral action, global intimidation, and violence. This hasn't exactly earned Bush et. al. world-wide respect, has it?
While it seems strange that the poor young dudes in FSU expect to earn respect by similar means is baffling -- but it's a textbook sociological phenomenon that's been happening since the beginnings of human interaction. This only compounds their failure; not only are they producing results directly oppositional to their goals, but they're doing it in a tired, common, unoriginal way. They're behind the curve of evolution away from violent behavior.
Fortunately, kids grow up. FSU has failed to establish a positive public impression -- their recruitment will wane. And eventually, its members will learn the error of their ways.
That's where my sympathy comes from. The horrible moment when a foolish menace realizes that he's been living poorly. Worse, that he's hurt countless people without justification. That he's wasted his life fostering negativity and pain wherever he went. I can't imagine what a crushing weight that would be.
Hardcore is a beautiful thing -- we get to come together as brothers and sisters to engage in a communal, cathartic celebration of aggression and power. But if it's not kept constructive and fun, it might as well die. Right along with FSU.
However, there still seems to be a lot of fools talking about shit they do not know about. First, not everyone in FSU is straight edge, so those who "support" them based on that alone just proved they don't even know the Seattle FSU people they "support", so your ass is full of shit. For those who call them " mindless thugs" with out any real, first hand knowledge of the violent incidents and their context, you are full of shit; those of you under 25 talking about "real hardcore" you already know you are full of shit. Point is, unless you know what you are talking about, shut the fuck up. You probably don't know who they are, yet you talk smack, or even support a group of individuals you don't know... Shut the f up
fuck fsu and fuck spoiled white boys with baseball bats. No one get's my respect without earning and if those jerks want anyone to respect them they should sit the fuck down and let everyone have a good time.
I really hope this conversation happens and that we get fsu out of our city. Everyone deserves to be safe and we shouldn't have to be looking over our shoulders and shows and parties, hoping not to say the wrong thing about the wrong person. Fsu doesn't own this town, it's music scenes or it's venues.
Yeah, FELLA, I probably am that kind of punk. But I say we need more Rollins' and Biafras, fewer Rottens and Vicious', and way fewer dangerous dickheads.
FSU: throw away your brass knuckles and volunteer at a soup kitchen.
they do nothing more than what nazis did in the 80's. the swarm attack is SO SO fucking PUSSY. fight someone one on one you fucking idiots. thats the only way pussy ass punks can fight. you get mad when people drink and do drugs, WHY? who gives a shit, its your own personal freedom, again another nazi-commi tactic. id love to see these assholes show up in ATL at rap show and talk shit about drinking, they wouldnt leave the spot they were standing, maybe in a ambulance straight to grady. they target people that are alone or with like 3 people, then 25 of them attack. we beat the shit out of people that dont like our beliefs, wow so did the christains in the crusades, the nazis in germany, the commifucks in china, i mean come on you think beating up people that want to have fun is cool. thats why i pack, point blank period. the assfuck JOE HARDCORE, come on man, does this retard have any idea his name he took is a gay porn star! lmao
The shows were in crime ridden South Central LA, and East Los Angeles. They fought traditional Black gangs and Mexican gangs. These fought so punks could walk down the street with out being harassed. FSU can not light a candle next to these older and true punk rock gangs. FSU is not voicing the needs of all punk rockers. They are only voicing their own personal agenda. FSU makes noise until a new generation pushes them into history.
What will FSU do when the Maravilla gang, or Avenues gang, or 18 Street gang go after them? These gangs each have thousands of members in prisons and in Los Angeles streets. What will FSU do when they get their attention? These and other LA gangs have weapons and members consisting of hard convicted felons. FSU should not try to get their attention.
"Punk ain't no religious cult. Punk means thinking for yourself. You ain't hardcore 'cause you spike your hair, when a jock still lives inside your head.
"If you've come to fight, get out of here. You ain't no better than the bouncers. We ain't trying to be police. When you ape the cops, it ain't anarchy.
"Ten guys jump one, what a man! You fight each other, the police state wins. Stab your backs when you trash our halls. Trash a bank, if you've got real balls!"
Then again, since I'm under 25, I'm not a true punk, so what do I know about it?
if they really wanted to keep the "scene" real. then they would let anyone speak their beliefs.
whether that be religious, political, etc.
Hardcore has become about fashion, kids coming to shows to hook up, or to just plain be seen at the show. What FSU is doing, is simply trying to hold on to something and keep it pure. Ask any parent in the world, you want a child to grow up right you need discipline. Well Hardcore is there child, and without discipline and guidance, it will become just another fad.
So basically, what I'm trying to say is. Fuck all you ignorant holier than thou assholes who feel that FSU member deserve to die. I'm sure there was one point in your life where you bullied someone at school, or at work, or at church and you felt damn proud of yourself for being superior to them. Stop being hypocrits, don't talk shit about a subject you don't know about, and stay the fuck out of hardcore.
I come from the BH 94110 and my Cal Anderson posse and Lincoln Res / bobbyMo gang will ice-latte your asses. We will get postmodern up upon thee. I defakate you not - respet the Frank TJ Mackey!
Lower NW Side (aka the pine trees) Rulz! These colors don't run!
Love it or leave it!
-Peter John Thomas
I come from the BH 94110 and my Cal Anderson posse and Lincoln Res / bobbyMo gang will ice-latte your asses. We will get postmodern up upon thee. I defakate you not - respet the Frank TJ Mackey!
Lower NW Side (aka the pine trees) Rulz! These colors don't run!
Love it or leave it!
-Peter John Thomas
This isn't about hardcore and commercialism anymore its about gang violence. If this keeps up that guy in AZ isn't gonna be the last one to die. "You play you pay", now you FSU guys will learn the meaning of that first hand.
Just my thought but maybe if people besides Grudge City put these kids in their place they would no longer be a threat anywhere. Just my 2 cents.
i think FSU should be rewarded for getting rid of nazis and gang banging garbage. the country has failed to protect us from gangs so tey formed a "militia" to protect themselves from real gang members, as was there right. 2nd ammendment cock suckers







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