By Abi Riot
Just a short few years ago, the Casualties could be seen painted in scratchy hand writing on the back of leathers, torn patches crapily sewn on pant legs and on the dirty T's being worn by scrawny Oi's hanging out in the 711 parking lot. What has happened to the love and dedication for this band? Recently, friends have been cracking out the terpintine and taking the Casualties off their leathers, taking off their patches, and selling their shirts to young teenage girls with wrist bands and low top black converse. The reason behind this sudden hatred is different for many people. Some use the simple excuse of "selling out", the harsh term used sadly more often than ever, hearing Rancid, Bad Religion, Anti-Flag on the Pop radio stations, whom were all never too good to start out with. I can't deny that I haven't seen 12 year old girls wearing Casualties shirts and seeing over priced casualties patches in glass cases at Hot Topic. To this, I have no explination. Does this change who they are? My veiws are very mixed on that subject. Another reason this band is hated is because they have been acused of being fashion punks, its a reasonable explination when not one member of the casualties has ever been seen with a hair out of place, each chaos spike perfect, each hawk fanned out evenly, their boots laced tightly, not a stud missing from their leathers. In all my time I have never seen a punk, ESPECIALLY a guy, be so consistant with their perfection. Is this a reason to hate them? "It's horrible when you go to a show and the coolest thing there is the bands hair." thats a direct quote from a friend. Why does everyone hate their music so? Is it really that bad? Obviously it couldnt be any worse than a few years ago when you plastered that underground army sticker on your guitar. If you think their music is bad, then you should think a lot of other street punk is bad as well. Drunk Spikey Haired punx, what is so damned wrong with that? Doesn't that discribe 3/4 the punk scene? (Minus the sXe kids). Being drunk is the base of many punk bands, why does it matter so much that they are? If you're going to accuse the casualties of being a bunch of drunk punks (and the rumor of Jorge being a fucker 'cos he cant even drink any more) then give shit to other good bands such as FEAR, every song is about Beer and Sex, and who doesnt love both of those? The casualties play songs about being a punk, they're loud and proud and I think nothing bad of that whatsoever. In fact I think there should be more bands screaming Up the Punx, raise yer fist up high and stop being a traitor. I will continue to put on my casualties records and skank alone in my room, I will continue to pay a few bucks to get into their show (which is next tuesday by the way), the picture of Jake will remain above my bed and I will proudly keep the Casualties on the back of my leather. By all means, have your own opinion about the casualties but just remember that the only thing worse than having a band turn its back on you is turning your back on them.
