xConorx
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2003
- Messages
- 579
- Location
- Belfast,India Street Youth Crew
- Website
- www.hardcore-times.com
Yo what an amazing band they were. Someone reminded me they'd down an interview for the Times back in the day so I had a look in the archive and dug it up. Bust!
No sex, no drugs, just rock'n'roll
Abstract (Document Summary)Despite the dingy surroundings of the run-down Manchester pub, the air is pure - there is not a whiff of cigarette smoke or cannabis anywhere - and no one, not a single rebellious teenager among them, is drinking alcohol. On the wall a promotional T-shirt hangs for sale; its logo reads It's a Straight Edge thing... you wouldn't understand.
The average person would indeed find it hard to understand the mindset of Straight Edge, a phenomenon that started in America in the early 1980s and is gathering pace in Britain. Straight Edgers are devotees of hardcore punk music but, unlike their predecessors who followed the drunken, spitting, drug culture espoused by the Sex Pistols, they do not drink, smoke or take drugs. Many also refuse to indulge in casual sex or drink caffeine and most are vegan.
Melanie Milligan, 22, the band's guitarist and composer, is a nursery assistant. She started drinking at 12 with her friends. "It was mainly cider, anything that we could get served at the off- licence," she says. "Then one night when I was about 14 I had been drinking quite a lot and I met someone from Straight Edge and he said 'You know, you don't have to do this' and it all made complete sense. It's about using your energy for something more positive. If you are a girl my age you need to have your wits about you. If you drink you lose your ability to reason, but you need to make conscious decisions all the time. My Mum and Dad were pleased because they had such a hard time with me when I was younger. But they don't acknowledge it as Straight Edge, they just think I don't drink or take drugs."
No sex, no drugs, just rock'n'roll
Abstract (Document Summary)Despite the dingy surroundings of the run-down Manchester pub, the air is pure - there is not a whiff of cigarette smoke or cannabis anywhere - and no one, not a single rebellious teenager among them, is drinking alcohol. On the wall a promotional T-shirt hangs for sale; its logo reads It's a Straight Edge thing... you wouldn't understand.
The average person would indeed find it hard to understand the mindset of Straight Edge, a phenomenon that started in America in the early 1980s and is gathering pace in Britain. Straight Edgers are devotees of hardcore punk music but, unlike their predecessors who followed the drunken, spitting, drug culture espoused by the Sex Pistols, they do not drink, smoke or take drugs. Many also refuse to indulge in casual sex or drink caffeine and most are vegan.
Melanie Milligan, 22, the band's guitarist and composer, is a nursery assistant. She started drinking at 12 with her friends. "It was mainly cider, anything that we could get served at the off- licence," she says. "Then one night when I was about 14 I had been drinking quite a lot and I met someone from Straight Edge and he said 'You know, you don't have to do this' and it all made complete sense. It's about using your energy for something more positive. If you are a girl my age you need to have your wits about you. If you drink you lose your ability to reason, but you need to make conscious decisions all the time. My Mum and Dad were pleased because they had such a hard time with me when I was younger. But they don't acknowledge it as Straight Edge, they just think I don't drink or take drugs."