HERE'S THE DIRT...
This Bio was supposed to be short and to the point but The Oi! Scouts have had a lot of lineup changes over the years, and felt that a lot of different people deserved credit and recognition- Matt
The Oi! Scouts are a NJ based Oi/StreetPunk band that have played with many great bands including Squiggy, The Wretched Ones, The Unseen, The Casualties, The Cuffs, Blanks 77 and countless others. The band was started in mid 96 by Gabe on Guitar and Matt on bass. The recruited fellow punk Roger and drummer Jay and did a few shows with now famous or shall we say imfamous favorites like "Scumbag", "Im So Sick of Rock N Roll", "Nuke the Nazis" and "Fuck you Up" the band did a few local shows with friends Squiggy, Flatus and Headwound.The band played a huge backyard show with the Casualties and Banner Of Hope and received a lot of positive feedback.
Around the end of 96 the band went through a few line up changes. Jay left the band and Matt, Gabe and Roger started practicing with their friend Paul on drums. Roger departed after a few practices and gave up on the band. After a few more embarassing line up changes in early 1998, The Oi! Scouts became Bernard on Vocals, Matt on Guitar,Gabe on Bass and Paul on Drums. Matt had switched to guitar due to the fact that Gabe left the band after being injured in a stabbing that took place by a Nazi (who is now behind bars).
After Gabe rejoined on bass ,the band became very pleased with the new sound and started to practice very seriously. Many songs were written by Matt and Gabe around this time. New favorites (which we now call our Rah-Rah punk songs) like "Another Battle", the new and improved "Police Harrassment" "Oi! Punx" and "War is Sick" became local favorites by our friends and the growing scene in our hometown of Newton(Home of Squigtone Records). The Band Started doing a lot of local and out of area shows at places like The Newton Moose and The Cove. After a few shows, Doug from Squiggy asked us if we wanted to do a split 7" on his new label Squigtone Records. The band was very honored and went in the studio for the first time in November and recorded "Police Harassment" and "Another Battle"- the Split 7" came out with Squiggy in December of 97.
The Band started playing a lot of their favorite clubs like The Pipeline, Coney Island High ,The Stone Pony and many many Legion Halls and VFW's. Around Janurary, after a month or two of supporting the Squigtone 7", Jake from The Casualties noticed the band and asked if they would like to do a 4 song E.P on his new label Charged Records. The Oi! Scouts, who had grown up listening to The Casualties and were very influenced by 82 style bands kindly accecpted his offer. The band visited their favorite Studio (Clearcut Studios)for a few more sessions in early 98. They recorded new songs like "Revolution" "Thugs" "War Is Sick" "Oi! Punx" and some old tunes like "Anarchy People" and ""Nuke the Nazis".
The Oi! Scouts played a few more local shows and did a large show with The Casualties at Coney Island high in NYC around March. The band gave 3 new songs to Doug for his "Seige the Day" Cd Comp and a small tour with Squiggy including dates in Boston and some other New England areas were planned. Around this time, tensions were growing betweeen some of the members in the band. Its really no ones business but Bernard was asked to leave the band in July of 98 after ditching a handful of shows and practices.The 3 remaining Oi! Scouts called Jake a day before his band left for Japan and assured him we werent breaking up for good, due to the fact that the Charged 7" was due out soon. Gabe, Matt and Paul decided to get a new singer. The band didnt really have anyone in mind, so Matt asked his friend Josh to sing. The Oi! Scouts took the rest of the summer off from shows and practiced.
They started playing with Josh in October of 98. They played a lot of shows in NJ/NYC and out on Long Island with bands like Blind Society. The Oi! Scouts and Blind Society decided to do a split record together on Squigtone Records. The band went back to the studio and rerecorded "Boots for The Beat Down" and a new song called "MTV". It was released on November 7th and the 2 bands played a release show in Toms River.This show was unfortunatly the last Oi! Scout show of 98 and the band parted seperate ways.
Gabe joined The Outsiders and moved to Newark. Paul joined Squiggy. Matt and Gabe stopped speaking to each other for about 4 months due to a stupid argument over the phone.And so everyone thought The Oi! Scouts were dead.........................TO BE CONTINUED !!!!!!!!!
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