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.”
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
It seems that “FSU” has unwittingly become the monster it was designed to kill. Forcing its ideology, values and beliefs upon others through violence and by any means necessary, Friends Stand United mirrors another organization, Neo-Nazism. Both “gangs” intimidate and victimize people around them to gain control or spread its word. Each uses mob rule to gain power and respect. FSU does not see itself as a gang, but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is in fact a duck.
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.
If people just kept to themselves they wouldn’t have anything to worry about,FSU strips punks ofthe power they think they have,there are a;ot of punks out there shooting there mouths off and starting fights every second they have a chance but it seems that when a group gets organized every body crys Wolf,well I support FSU.
drug abuse, alcoholism and racism are what’s wrong with the hardcore scene. i believe that FSU is what’s right about it. so what if they use violence to force their beliefs down some punk’s throat–that punk shouldn’t have been doing what ever he was doing. violence has a place in hardcore–drugs, alcohol and racism do not.
FSU sets a good example if you ask me, they live a SxE life style and teach you to respect and stand up for yourself. After all thats basically the rule of thumb, you talk shit you get beat. If you respect them they respect you. If i ever meet an FSU member id thank them for keeping the scene real
For the people out there that support FSU: they kill innocent people for no reason at all. My brother was killed by a group of them. They don’t fight one on one. They are scum and will go to hell someday. the sooner the better…
When you kids say “hardcore”, your talking about Discharge, Minor threat, and Social Unrest right? Oh wait thats when I was young…you must meen Greenday, Blink 182 and Pennywise.
1980=Jocks
2008=FSU
to all the people who live under rocks and dont know what hardcore is about shut up learn about sh*t b4 u open your dumb mouths.hardcore is about unity and helping eachother out.NoT GOIN TO SEE HATEBREED HAVE A FSU FUCK THROW A TABLE AT YOU CUZ U DONT SEE Y A TABLE SHOULD BE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PIT.You know AT least a PUNK will fight you one on one and not HIDE behind The “gang” fsu are nazis.forcing beleifs down on someone are what Hardline Jocks do.Its all good to stand as One in unity but somewhere these guys got it wrong.it aint a football field.
I try not to celebrate when someone dies, but when that one FSU POS got wasted in Arizona I couldn’t feel too bad about it. The next day it’s like “Wah, wah, the guy’s a father, what a tragedy”. Fuck him, his kid’s better off without a moronic, thuggish manchild of a dad in the picture. Hey slick, here’s a thought; develop a personality. Try to stand on your own two and form your own opinions. Go a week without violently threatening someone. Shit, maybe get a real job and spend some money improving your life instead of buying hoodies and tattoos. Or in other words; grow the fuck up and quit trying to live out a fantasy of being street, when you could just as easily have become an emo kid.
Haha, FSU give me a break. Bunch of white trash pussies. How bout this, smoke a fucking joint (chill out), try to get some pussy (be happy), and create your own personal opinions and way of life instead of letting a bunch of burnt out neo-nazis give you a protocol on how to wipe your ass. Flex your nuts in my town and end up like your AZ buddy. That’s real life. But I can’t really expect a brain washed fucktard to take a word of advice. Um, What the fuck is ‘hardcore’ anyway??
Somewhere Raybeez is turning in his grave. Fighting nazi’s is one thing. Forcing your views on everyone through intimidation makes you no better than them.
Somewhere Raybeez is turning in his grave. Fighting Nazi’s is on thing. Forcing your views through intimidation makes you just like them.
FSU is BULLSHIT! What to do call a group of people that jumps on someone that have different beliefs than you? a DAMN GANG! Also HEAVY METAL music is nothing but LOUD NOSENSE BULLSHIT!!!!!
use your time wisely to lobby for stiff sentences, instead of more needles violence from an already corrupt system. think about “baby brianna” in Las Cruces, New Mexico. 3 people, mom, dad and uncle, they only got 18 years each for raping and brutally killing an inocent 3 month old baby. we are paying for their upkeep daily.
pull together and LOBBY for life sentences or death to child abusers.
BABY BRIANNA!!! GIVE HER A VOICE SHE NEVER HAD!!!
You can bitch and moan all you want but you won’t change anything. The united states is a diverse place where everybody is entitled to their own beliefs and opinions. Nobody is the same and there are so many different life styles that you all should get the fuck over yourselves realize that not everybody is going to act and go about things the same way. I support FSU, I have friends who are in it. And I would much rather have different groups then have everybody be the same. Because if everyone was the same they must all be like you whiny little pussies in here. AND THAT WOULD REALLY FUCKING SUCK.
FSU is doing what the fuck they want and they should be allowed to so fuck all of you who think different. They are who they want to be. Life is a choice so make it your choice if you dont agree then dont agree but dont fucking disrespect people speaking their opinoin. if malcolm X didnt speak his opinion he would of gotten no where. SO SPEAK OUT. and no fucken child deserves to have a dad killed so dont celebrate over it. They dont kill without reason respect is earned were respect is deserved. They live a good life a respectable one. theres no such thing as going to far for what you believe in so shut the fuck up if you have a problem with it.
You F.S.U. guys are tough and fight
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
Respect is moron code for “I have nothing else to live for”.. Go to school, learn something about the world you live in.
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..
FSU is a bunch of faggoty dudes who have jizz on each other’s backs. What a waste of space. Give up the dream of making a difference and eat a dick.
josh c — you are a jackhole and a bafoon. These FSU idiots are a bunch of fascist cowards… attacking only when they outnumber their opponents. These punks should come down to CA and go start crap in a club in Oakland — let’s se what happens to them then.
to those who support FSU, are you legaly insane? its okay if you don’t support drugs or alcohol, and def okay to not support racism, but if you allow (and practice) violence, aren’t you just committing one of the sins druggies and drunks are accused of, but without having any of the fun of being fucked up? it doesn’t make any sense.
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.
why are all these FSU kids crying about respect anyway? how do they expect to get it from violence?
“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.”
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.
“They dont kill without reason respect is earned were respect is deserved. They live a good life a respectable one. theres no such thing as going to far for what you believe in so shut the fuck up if you have a problem with it.”
OMG are you kiddin me?? You wack-o fuck.. I hope you get taken out of the gene pool yourself real soon.
I think violence is the way to go. Fight fire with fire, no doubt. I think guns should be allowed in clubs so teens can defend themselves.
The irony of these jerk-offs using violence and intimidation to keep hardcore pure is unfortunately lost on them. They have nothing to do with hardcore – they’re just testosterone-addled apes. Everybody needs to sneer at FSU shirts, they should be banned form all venues – but most importntly, everybody should laugh at them unti they slink away.
keeping hardcore real? what the hell do you seattle fucks know about ‘real hardcore’? haha give me a break. hardcore has been ‘real’ in many years. the fact that you have a gang threatening kids at all ages shows exposes the disconnect between what was and what should be. i grew up in DC where there actually was a hardcore scene. this shit wouldn’t fly there. i wonder if these current FSU members are actually familiar with the origins of FSU on the east coast (boston in particular). or do they just order the back catalog from ‘victory records ‘ from amazon.com and call it a day?
seattle hardcore. haha. stick with what you know assholes, go listen to candlebox.
TAKE PHOTOS, FIND OUT WHO THEY ARE, FOLLOW ‘EM HOME … THEY THINK THEY’RE SAFE BECOUSE THEY’RE ANONYMOUS … IF THEY KNEW THAT PEOPLE MIGHT KNOW WHERE THEY LIVED AND FUCK THEIR SHIT UP I THINK THEY’D BE A BIT LESS LIKELY TO FORCE THEIR STEROID ADDLED VIEWS AND EMPOWERED FISTS UPON OTHERS … OR WHATEVER, IF A CLUB FULL OF HARDCORE’S CAN’T TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS THEMSELVES MAYBE THEY SHOULD JUST STAY AT HOME THEMSELVES.
“Give peace a chance”
-John Lennon
I used to know a lot of FSU guys, and after a while I got to like them… But the shit they believe in is completely fucking insane. It’s typical gang mentality and honestly scary. In my time knowing them, a few got arrested, they beat up a LOT of guys, and generally lived in this “traditional skin” dreamworld and thought they were toooo awesome. Yuck. It’s like high school girls with brass knuckles.
AAAAND Luke isn’t 20. He’s 23 or 24 I think. Sorry about your hand Luke.
when your a jet your a jet from your first cigarette to your last dying day! Hey why not have a dance off guys?!
What an amusing bunch of children. Straightedge, hardcore, racism, fights, respect and “The Scene”? Sounds like the SHARPs and Skins of the 90’s, and the jocks and punks of the 80’s. Someone didn’t watch American Hardcore, ’cause I think the adults grew up some time ago.
Hey softcore!, better watch out for the Sharks! XD
Report all intimidation.
Keep FSU losers out of venues.
Protect freedom of expression.
Stand up for the community.
FSU could probably beat up Macho Man Randy Savage if they really put their minds to it. When one sets a goal, anything is possible.
So I therefore say to all memebers of FSU- aim high and realize your dreams!!
Doesn’t the sissy thing (no to drugs and alcohol) conflict with the violence thing?
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
FSU is the same thing as Jugalloes, right? Insane Clown Posse followers?
How old are these people? This is pathetic. Get a job. Few things are more pathetic than groups who define themselves through abstinence as opposed to accomplishment.
FSU? what a joke– “err we’re not getting any respect!– so ah we’re going to be violent retards.” keep up the stupid work you dick-less idiots
this is all retarded but because it sounds like a good pathogen for many darwin awards, it pleases me, and i feel it should escalate and continue so more willful recreational retards off each other.
Neo-Neo Nazis is right. These people aren’t anti-racist, they’re just aggressive assholes.
I thought this was a gay rights group?
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.
I was always an easy mark by my rivals in less caustic arenas. Bring in a nazi punk, you know, and Queerball will talk up and get knocked down. Easy pickings. Martin Sheen.
As much as I truly hate what these ugly, puerile FSU children have done, I feel a little sorry for them.
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.
I remember this problem in 1986 in Pittsburgh. Hardcore people were really tearing up the college scene. Skrewdriver types. Shen I went downtown to talk to the Post Gazette editorial writers about these “shock troops for the white supremacist movement” they yawned.
This article is old as shit, has been disgussed in the slog forum ad-naseum, and tired.
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
They may be the smartest, bravest, most outstanding men on earth until they violate the rights of others. The Supreme Court can be construed as having ruled in favor of such personalities with the “fighting word verdict” which rules that words which would drive the “common” man fight can be ruled incediary. It’s foolish, however, not to see that this ruling was purposeful subversion of democracy by fascists.
You know, Arnold talks disparagingly about “girlie men” and then produces in his android factory these he-rowdies who are so given to feminine hysteria; and at your ages, too. It’s really something.
With apologies to Jay Smooth, Conscientious Punk strikes me as the sort of punk that the punks look at funny because that punk reads too many books. Less of a Johnny Rotten and more of a Henry Rollins.
history channel’s “gangland” did an episode on FSU recently. cops on the east coast treat them like a street gang.