Former Richmond zinester Chris Terry, who now lives in Chicago, has started a blog devoted to archiving the artwork of 90s Richmond band the Young Pioneers, who featured former members of Born Against and Universal Order of Armageddon, future members of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and the Wrangler Brutes, and seem way too obscure in the present day considering how outstanding they were. Inspired by the photo book Banned In DC, a photographic history of the early 80s DC hardcore scene compiled by Cynthia Connolly, Leslie Clague, and Sharon Cheslow; as well as by our own work with the recent Strange Daze RVA minimag, Chris set about uploading his collection of Young Pioneers flyers, album art, and lyric sheets to the internet. He's added about 20 posts over the last couple of weeks, but is looking for contributions of artwork that he doesn't already have, so if you've got any Young Pioneers-related art in your collection that hasn't already appeared on his blog, please contact Chris through his website, at chrislterry.com.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE BLOG!
After the jump, check out a couple of classic Young Pioneers tunes, as well as Chris Terry's full statement about his reasons for starting this blog.
"Employer's Blacklist" (originally by The Business), "(In The) Imperial Homeland"
"Carlos The Jackal", "Fuck The Labor Pool"
Chris's statement:
This is a fan site for the 1990s Richmond, Virginia punk band the (Young) Pioneers. I was a teenager at the time, and first saw them with popular local bands like Avail, Inquisition and Action Patrol. But the Pioneers would also play with more left field acts, and through going to their shows, I got to know bands like Karp, Modest Mouse, Men's Recovery Project and The VSS.
The (Young) Pioneers existed from roughly 1994-'99, and were lead by singer/guitarist Adam Nathanson, formerly of the hardcore bands Born Against and Life's Blood. Their longest-running lineup featured bassist Marty Key, who later played with Ted Leo and now runs the record store Steady Sounds, and drummer Brooks Headley, formerly of Universal Order of Armageddon and now a lauded pastry chef in NYC.
Their sound was rootsy punk: a distorted take on rock 'n' roll, early Bob Dylan and the Civil Rights-era soul of Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions. They were a definite precursor the early 2000s folk-punk movement, made most popular by Against Me! and This Bike is a Pipe Bomb.
The Pioneers' lyrics combined tales of lumpen Richmond with allusions to 20th century rebel politics: Black Panthers, Zapatistas, Carlos the Jackyl... The band's aesthetic fit the bill, using photocopiers to marry iconic black power and punk imagery with leftist political propaganda. I consider their album and poster art to be the apotheosis of the photocopier manipulation that defined 1990s punk scene through zines like Cometbus and clip art loving bands like Nathanson's old group Born Against.
I made this site to share and preserve the incredible imagery created by one of my all-time favorite bands. These pictures are all from my personal collection, and I was inspired to share them after checking out RVA80SHC.tumblr.com and rereading "Banned in DC," a photobook documenting the early '80s DC hardcore scene. If you have any (Young) Pioneers art that you don't see here, please email me. You can contact me through ChrisLTerry.com. My name is Chris Terry and I am a writer living in Chicago. I am also seeking (Young) Pioneers MP3s to stream on this site - I have most of their music on vinyl.