East Coast Tsunami fest is a 2 day hardcore festival taking place September 28th and 29th in Reading, PA at a venue called Reverb:
1402 N. 9th Street, Reading PA – 610-743-3069
The lineup of the Tsunami fest includes several classic hardcore bands such as Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, and D.R.I., many of whom are Anti-Racist and Anti-Fascist bands.
One band on the lineup is quite the opposite of that, though.
One Life Crew is a Cleveland-based band with a long and (self) celebrated (though sometimes inconsistent) history of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Their first album contained a track called “Pure Disgust,” which was racist vitrol against hispanic immigrants.
At The 1996 Cleveland Hardcore Fest, a member of One Life Crew attacked a kid for giving them the finger during “pure disgust.” It devolved into a big brawl and the band was dropped from Victory Records.
Upset with Victory’s decision, two prank phone calls made by Chubby Fresh were recorded and subsequently released on the internet. The calls were placed to members of Victory Records’ most popular bands at the time, Earth Crisis and Snapcase.
One of the calls leaves no doubt as to where OLC stands on racism and homophobia.
One Life Crew also put out a split with Empire Falls, a Nazi hardcore band that has played several shows for Pennsylvania Nazi crew The Keystone State Skinheads.
A few years ago OLC was booked to play a reunion show at the First Unitarian Church in Philly. Philly Anti-Racist Action was able to get the church to cancel the show, but it was moved to another venue at the last minute. The show was attended by several Nazis, who make up a large portion of the band’s fan base.
Anyone planning on attending Tsunami Fest should be on the lookout for Nazis, and if you agree with us that a band like OLC has no business sharing the stage with the likes of Madball and the Causalities, call the venue and tell them so.