Who Am I And Why Am I Here?

By Dave Hyde

Why am I here? Here being a participant in Punk Rock Tacos. I am here because the Punk Rock Tacos brand is something so important to me and who I am. What these fine folks have created and continue to grow is nothing short of amazing.

For me, it comes from the roots of the music scene I grew up loving and becoming a part of. It was something to do with fairly like minded people, most of whom all felt a touch out of step with the rest of our surroundings. We liked things that weren’t normal, we loved music, and we found a community that was full of all the chaos you could ever want while being completely accepted most times.

That scene for me was Chicago and the suburbs of, starting somewhere in the late 1980’s. I grew up in the Pick subdivision of Elmhurst, which was basically Villa Park. My house being on Villa Ave, I could throw a rock over that double yellow line into VP from my front porch steps… which I did often, getting myself into some trouble from time to time. Those are stories for another time and probably another place. I was a bike ride from the legendary McGregors venue in Elmhurst. I would sneak up to shows, find a way in since I rarely had any way to pay my way in, and be exposed to some of the greatest bands I have ever been lucky enough to see. The Vindictives, Screeching Weasel, 8 Bark, Spitboy, Sludgeworth, Green Day, and the list goes on. Most bands were accessible, willing to sit and have conversations with a kid/early teen version of me. Being a fly on the wall at these shows led me to other bands and venues I would gravitate to.

The early 90’s we all (should) know what happened. Punk Rock started finding mainstream success. Chicago was already exploding at the seams with bands big and small. The scene was home. Yet, the growing success meant a lot more bullshit and a ton of conflicting emotions in a just out of high school me. You wanted to be happy for it, but at that age, it was also a feeling like you were losing something that was special and yours. So like any teenager, I quickly grew rebellious towards the whole thing. The timing was perfect as I was also invited to join up with some guys in a band that had plans on being a punk band in this growing punk scene. I used my growing discontent with the scene as motive while becoming part of it. That band was Those Naked Guys.

Let me tell you quickly about Those Naked Guys (TNG for short). The first practice of theirs I went to was alright. Not quite punk rock in my opinion. Sort of an odd combination of Pearl Jam and Green Day. It didn’t take long for us all to meld ideas and create what became a strange blend of punk rock, hardcore, metal and whatever else floated our boat. I am a musician that relies heavily on playing instruments, and this band had me front and center on vocals. I can’t sing my alphabet much less anything else, but the chance to let out what was inside me my entire life to that point was amazing. Screaming, ranting, raving, offending, fighting, you name it. I was game. I was in attack mode. I made fun of and talked shit about everyone. Every band. Every venue. I was determined to be the anti punk in the Chicago punk scene. In doing that, I made a lot of enemies, which I was and am okay with. I also made a lot of friends. I also started to find my next place in the scene that I loved. A fan and a member.

Punk Rock Tacos has all the energies and feelings that I loved most about the music scene in Chicagoland back then. A little more polite to one another, and certainly more aware than we were as kids, but otherwise, it is the same. Something to feel special about being a part of it in any capacity. Community. A spring board for kids just starting bands as well as a place for old, fat guys like me to see if I can even remotely still keep up. We had that when we were younger and it feels great to see it back for new generations and to be part of the elder half, helping pass the torch. Punk Rock fucking Tacos!

After a few years with Those Naked Guys, we hung it up. We went fast and hard and had nothing left to offer at the time. I started to bounce in and out of bands with friends just to fulfill the urge to perform, but do so without having to be Darby Foreskinn of Those Naked Guys, which came with baggage that I was at the time, done packing around with me. It was cool to be a part of some bands and playing some shows that didn’t have to be so outwardly aggressive and where I could enjoy my time with other musicians and fans. Even then, I kind of felt my energy for it all fade to the point that I stopped playing and rarely went to shows. At the time it felt like years, but in reality it was maybe a year.

Then my dear longtime friend Dan, who was the drummer for Those Naked Guys, had started a new band with the singer of the band AYA, which was a dream of Dan’s for many years. They were just staring out and needed to borrow a PA for their rehearsals. Dan hit me up to borrow my PA that was collecting dust and to invite me to see this new band play. I went to their practice space, a stuffy hot garage in Villa Park, and had my mind blown by the 9 odd songs they banged out. That band was Showoff.

There seems to be a lot of people who don’t realize I was not an original member of Showoff. After that visit to their rehearsal, they wanted to know what I thought. I was super impressed. I needed to be part of it. So in typical, arrogant Dave fashion, I also told them they would be better if I replaced their bass player. Somehow that worked and I was in.

Showoff was on a smaller level, what I would consider a supergroup. We had all spent years going to shows, playing in bands, paying our dues. Showoff took off quickly. It was exciting. The dream! Then after a handful of years, I was drained. It had lost everything that made me want to do it to begin with. You know how much it sucks to have your childhood dreams come true, only to realize they don’t make you happy? All by the age of 23? I wouldn’t trade all that time and experience for anything, but I gave it up. For many reasons, but one main reason… it lost touch with the feelings from that scene, that community. All the other reasons were just as valid, but those are all stories for another time.

I needed to reconnect with those roots. I had no idea where to go for them anymore. Chicago had little to offer me as I was Dave Envy, sellout member of major label band, Showoff. People don’t realize (or maybe some do) just how much we were disliked for the expedited path we took to “the top”. People don’t realize how much I was hated between being that asshole who did all he could to piss everyone off in TNG to the sellout wannabe rock star from Showoff. Then the people that did like me, well they were all younger and having me sign autographs while I tried to wander aimlessly through Yorktown mall. So I split. Moved to the middle of nowhere Kentucky.

During those first years with Showoff, I also tried to stay connected to some roots. I started a no budget record label, put out a handful of unknown solo records and bands that I was in on the side, played a couple shows here and there… Anything to try and keep in tune with that scene. That all fell apart since I didn’t have the time to dedicate to it. So by the time I moved to Kentucky, I was done. No more music, no more shows. Just a guy, with a new, young family, trying to figure out how to do life now that everyone else my age had passed me by while I was out making music.

Then one day I stumbled upon a local band some kids started and they had that magic. They just didn’t have a scene. Well, my instincts to be part of it kicked in. I started a new label, recorded and produced their band, released their album, found more bands, and more of the same. We opened a small venue and booked shows every other weekend and watched that grow as well. The feeling I had growing up was back. Somewhat. I ended up in one of the bands I was producing and recording, we took central Kentucky by the balls and in the moment, fizzled out. The venue fell apart due to the building owner being a junkie. Most of the bands broke up. Gone again. It felt like a scene like I once knew just couldn’t sustain itself anymore. Blame that new generation. Blame the internet. Whatever it was, it just never worked. Maybe it was just as fickle back in the day and I was just too young to notice it.

Fast forward a bit and I am back in Showoff, we are playing and recording and doing our thing again. This time completely independently. It was pretty great. Older and wiser (?) you might say. Then at some point, Noah hits me up. Reminds me of all the great times he had as a young guy when he was going to shows, watching us play, the scene, the community, all the things we talked about were the very things I was always chasing since I discovered it for myself as a kid. Noah had an idea growing in him.

Punk Rock Tacos. I started to hear and see things, and Noah was hounding me about this thing he started. I watched this thing double in size month over month from a distance, AKA my computer or phone via Facebook. What an amazing thing. Noah and team found a way to grow this thing and make it sustainable. Showing me and countless others that it can be done. That maybe it never went away. It just needed some love and attention. Whatever it is, Punk Rock Tacos has it figured out. So, like I said earlier, in typical, arrogant fashion, I am trying to find ways to be part of this thing and that is why I am here.

I’ve been to some of the shows, played one of them (with Those Naked Guys!), and am trying to con these guys (and I suppose anyone reading this) to let me have a place to just write. Tell stories. Exercise thoughts with essays. Educate. Whatever. I like to hear myself talk… or in this case, type. I like to think one or two people out there might share thoughts and be interested. Maybe even make it this far into something I babble on and on about. I’m not a writer, so it may get tough sometimes. I am here for you. I am here for Punk Rock Tacos. I am here for me.

If you all will have me, then I will continue to find things to put up on here. I am also a big fan of feedback and participation. So let me know if there are things you want me to consider rambling about, or stories you want to hear about, subject prompts. Whatever. Unless the fine Punk Rock Tacos folks reel me in, I say anything is available for me to write about. I’m an open book... or section of a website in this case.

Remember… Flavour Dave loves you… Everyone else thinks you’re a jerk.