All Killer, No Filler: Inside Ironhead Records in Port Jervis, New York
Saddled between the New Jersey and Pennsylvania borders, and located in Orange County, New York, Port Jervis is one of those fantastic small cities that in recent years is experiencing a much-deserved renaissance.
I stopped in yesterday after visiting with my folks, he’s got a great selection and it’s rad to have a punk record store in my home town. Pretty weird to see it in Spin magazine though.
New Jersey had an incredible punk rock, ska, and hardcore scene in the mid/late-90s. Breakout bands like Lifetime, Thursday, Bouncing Souls, Bigwig, and Midtown got their start playing in the basements of northern New Jersey’s American Legions, Elks Lodges, VFWs, and fire houses.
Some kind, old punk rockers have archived many of those basement shows on YouTube. You can probably spot a teenaged and bleached-blond Paul somewhere in the crowds.
This is a clip from Outline…not a terribly popular band in our scene at the time, but they were fronted by future-megastar, Taylor Swift-collaborator, and member of Bleachers and Fun, Jack Antonoff.