UNARTIG

Saturday December 6th, 2008, Complete Control NYC & Guillotine presented One Big Crowd: A tribute to the legendary A7 club @ The Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, NYC. (((unartig))) was there to capture the event for you. Below are clips and full sets of all the bands we caught on camera, plus a recollection by Jeff Terranova of Up Front/Smorgasboard Records fame. Antidote and Urban Waste contributed exclusive blurps. Enjoy!

[Drew Stone – Antidote]
Vary rarely in life can you go back and make something right that for a long time was so very, very wrong. In another words sometimes you can “Reheat the soufflé”. The Antidote set at the A7 reunion show Dec. 6th at the Knitting Factory in NYC was one of those amazing rare times in life.
17 years ago Antidote broke up in a horrible haze of drugs, alcohol and all around bad feelings. The band just bottomed out and it was time to move on. When I finally walked away from the band I was able to get on with my life and among other things become a fairly successful film producer / director. Eventually everyone in the band (with one notable exception) got clean and sober as well.
When we were asked to play the A7 “reunion” show I was somewhat skeptical. Does anyone give a shit about this band at this point? Would there be people there? Was it going to be worth the hassle of pulling it together and rehearsing for the show? These questions and more were swiftly answered as soon as we set foot on the stage of the Knitting Factory that night. Incredibly the place was packed to the rafters with people and the energy was palatable. It was obvious that Antidote was one of the bands that the kids came to see. As soon as we hit the first chords to “Life As One” the place exploded and thru the whole set the level of excitement was ratcheted higher and higher. Kids swarmed the stage going crazy and knew all the lyrics to all the songs including The High & The Mighty songs that we played. It was a very surreal moment and best of all there was an element that the band didn’t have for the last few years of it’s existence……It was a lot of fun.
To be able to get on stage 17 years later and bust it “Antidote style” clean and sober was and will always be a great moment in my life. I am forever grateful to the kids who came out to the show and represented as well as Torsten who had the insight to film the set. Thanks to him this special moment will now live forever thru the magic of the internet for all to see. I must mention the promoter Bryan Swirsky who busted his ass and took way too much abuse but in the end did an incredible job pulling it all together. However the greatest praise is reserved for my band-mates REA, Zum and The Nunz who truly rose to the occasion many years and lifetimes later and fuckin “Crushed it Antidote style”.
Yes my friend sometimes you CAN go back and “Reheat the soufflé”
Be true to yourself.
Drew Stone | Antidote – Vocals | N.Y.C. May 2009

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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