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1997

Drawn from the punk collections at UMD, these images illustrate the year in D.C. punk. Explore by category or click an image to find more.

Further Listening

All Scars. Early Ambient. Dischord Records/Slowdime, album.

Branch Manager. Anything Tribal. Dischord Records, album.

Chisel. Set You Free. Gern Blandsten Records, album.

The Dismemberment Plan. The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified. DeSoto Records, album.

The Dismemberment Plan. What Do You Want Me To Say/Since You Died. DeSoto Records, single.

Edsel. Extended Play. Radiopaque Recordings/Dischord Records, EP.

The Impossible Five. Eleven Hours In Antwerp. Gern Blandsten, album.

Jenhitt. In the Cold Light of Winter. Shute Records, album.

Kerosene 454. Came by to Kill Me. Dischord Records, album.

The Most Secret Method and The Dusters. Dischord Records/Superbad Records 10-inch split EP.

My Life in Rain. Slowburn. Allied Recordings, album.

The Sorts. This Is… Gateway Sounds. Copper Spurs Productions/Spring Records, album.

Sweetbelly Freakdown. Sweetbelly Freakdown. Jade Tree Records, album.

Tsunami. A Brilliant Mistake. Simple Machines, album.

Velocity Girl and Chisel. Shute Records, split single.

FLIERS

Small hand-cut half sheet all-text yellow-gold flier with band names in handwritten script and show information in a monospaced bitmap font.

Corm and Sarge concert flier – Black Cat, Washington, D.C., January 13, 1997

Yellow and black flier with band names in large label-maker like slab font over newspaper classified ads.

Corm and Sarge concert flier – Black Cat, Washington, D.C., January 13, 1997

White flier with band names in large serif font above a pixelated image of a person with tongue sticking out.

Chisel, A Minor Forest, and Shoutbus – Black Cat, Washington, D.C., February 15, 1997

White flier with band names in jagged hand-written lettering and a black and white photograph of a small auditorium with two chairs and a candelabra onstage.

The Most Secret Method and Science Kit – The Cadillac Club, Washington, D.C., February 26, 1997

A black and white flier with illustrations of three characters: a humanoid cat in a suit, a woman without pupils and a sacred heart tattoo on her chest, and a distressed looking woman in a baseball t-shirt.

Kerosene 454, the Most Secret Method, and Boys Life – Black Cat, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1997

All=text pale blue flier with band names in capped serif font and genre description in lowercase sans-serif black text.

Savage Boys and Girls Club and The Impossible Five – University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, April 12, 1997

Pale blue flier with band names in worn letterpress font surrounded by large overlapping ovals.

Most Secret Method and Jenhitt – University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, April 21, 1997

Black and white hand-drawn flier with a woman wearing a black dress and pearls with a prominent tattoo on her arm bearing her teeth.

Les Trois Malheures, Ethel Meserve, and Wrong Button – Galaxy Hut, Arlington, VA, May 31, 1997

Small land-scape oriented flier with two illustrated panels: a woman looking into the distance and two people, one looking at the viewer and the other pointing downwards.

The Most Secret Method and Sea Tiger – Galaxy Hut, Arlington, Virginia, June 1, 1997

A small flier with a black and white photograph of a hollow-body guitar leaned against an amp and a large red trapezoid with oblique text overlaid on both.

Kerosene 454, Bluetip, and Burning Airlines – Black Cat, Washington, D.C. - September 5, 1997

Black and white hand-drawn and lettered fleir with an illustration of a man in a striped button-down shirt with large white feathered wings looking to one side and a woman in a t-shirt with a halo and eyes closed standing between a sign affixed to the wall with an arrow pointed upward.

Modest Mouse, The Most Secret Method, Other Star People concert flier – Black Cat, Washington, D.C., September 6, 1997

Black and white all-text flier with alternating black text on white background and white text on blakc background.

Mineral, The Better Automatic, The Get Up Kids, and Jejune concert flier – University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, September 9, 1997

Black and white flier with a dotted line connecting 'United Poultry Concerns' and 'Positive Force' along with a small photograph of a rooster surrounded by chicks.

Dismemberment Plan and Smart Went Crazy concert flier – St. Margaret’s Church, Washington, D.C., September 13, 1997 (Design 1)

Weathered black landscape-oriented flier with text in white serif font and a black eyed susan in the center.

Dismemberment Plan and Smart Went Crazy concert flier – St. Margaret’s Church, Washington, D.C., September 13, 1997 (Design 2)

Weathered green and white flier with hand-drawn lettering over a photograph of a child pouring a small bottle into a glass jar.

The Most Secret Method, The Dusters, The Better Automatic – Resin House, Rockville, Maryland, September 21, 1997

The Crainium, Miranda July, and The Stigmatics concert flier – Project Space, Washington, D.C., circa October 1, 1997

Black and white flier with text in all-lowercased lightweight sans serif font over a pixelated illustration of a kaiju-like robot destroying a city as people flee.

Franklin, Jenhitt, The Elusive, and Atom & His Package concert flier - WMUC, College Park, Maryland, October 11, 1997

Long, narrow, all-text flier with band names and venue information in plain, black sans-serif font on a white background.

Impossible Five concert flier – River Road Unitarian Church, Bethesda, Maryland, October 12, 1997

ZINES

Newsprint zine cover with cursive script text in black ink with two black and white photographs, one of Todd Bell and Chris Broach playing bass and guitar and another more abstract photo of musicians performing onstage.

Held Like Sound, Issue 1, Spring/Summer 1997

Black and white zine cover with a small picture of three children superimposed on a grainy photograph of a caved-in cieling, viewed from below.

Brickthrower, Issue 1, June 1997

Black and white zine cover with a large illustration of a muscular person wearing a black cap, short-sleeve shirt, and pants raising a brick over their head, ringed with jagged bolts.

Brickthrower, Issue 2, September 1997

Red and black zine cover with a small dark obscure illustration of a humanoid figure diving into the ocean.

Brickthrower, Issue 3, December 1997

EPHEMERA

A poster with a black and white fisheye-lens photo of a drumset and other instruments in a recording studio, the photo is processed to be mostly blue and black and there is bold elongated yellow text.

The Delta 72, The Soul Of A New Machine promotional poster, 1997

A black and white flier with a large illustration of a polaroud of a young woman with her arm around a humanoid figure with their head engulfed in flames.

The Dusters and the Most Secret Method, split 10-inch EP promotional poster, 1997

A poster with a large photograph of the members of trans am, one posed shirtless, standing and looking leftward. Text is below in black and white lowercased Helvetica.

Trans Am, Surrender To The Night promotional poster, 1997

PHOTOS

A black and white photograph of a band composed of four young men playing guitars and drums on a small elevated stage, surrounded on all sides by audience members.

Kerosene 454 performing at Mind Over Matter festival, Wayne, Michigan, March 7, 1997

A photograph of Johanna Claasen, with short light-colored hair, black button-down shirt and baggy jeans plays a black bass guitar and sings onstage.

Johanna Claasen of the Most Secret Method, Black Cat, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1997

A photograph of Marc Nelson, with short brown hair wearing an overshirt and jeans playing an SG-shaped guitar plays and sings onstage obsacured by stage lights.

Marc Nelson of the Most Secret Method, Black Cat, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1997

A photograph of Marc Nelson on his knees onstage moves his guitar through the air with his back to the audience.

Marc Nelson of the Most Secret Method, Black Cat, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1997

Wearing a plain white t-shirt, Ryan Nelson plays drums onstage in a motion-blurred photograph.

Ryan Nelson of the Most Secret Method, Black Cat, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1997

A photograph of three young men playing guitars onstage, blurred by their motion.

Kerosene 454 performing at the Black Cat, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1997

A photograph of a man in a flannel shirt plays guitar in the foreground while a man plays guitars and sings with a scrunched face onstage.

Kerosene 454 performing at the Black Cat, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1997

A color photograph of a four-piece band onstage looking toward their drummer in front of four rows of audience members standing in front of the stage.

Kerosene 454 and audience, Black Cat, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1997

A poster with a black and white fisheye-lens photo of a drumset and other instruments in a recording studio, the photo is processed to be mostly blue and black and there is bold elongated yellow text.

Les Trois Malheures performing at Galaxy Hut, Arlington, Virginia, May 31, 1997

A poster with a black and white fisheye-lens photo of a drumset and other instruments in a recording studio, the photo is processed to be mostly blue and black and there is bold elongated yellow text.

The Sorts performing at the White Lodge, State College, Pennsylvania, November 7, 1997

A poster with a black and white fisheye-lens photo of a drumset and other instruments in a recording studio, the photo is processed to be mostly blue and black and there is bold elongated yellow text.

The Sorts at the White Lodge, State College, Pennsylvania, November 7, 1997

A poster with a black and white fisheye-lens photo of a drumset and other instruments in a recording studio, the photo is processed to be mostly blue and black and there is bold elongated yellow text.

Josh LaRue of the Sorts performing at the Black Cat, November 19, 1997

A poster with a black and white fisheye-lens photo of a drumset and other instruments in a recording studio, the photo is processed to be mostly blue and black and there is bold elongated yellow text.

The Sorts performing at the Black Cat, November 19, 1997

A poster with a black and white fisheye-lens photo of a drumset and other instruments in a recording studio, the photo is processed to be mostly blue and black and there is bold elongated yellow text.

The Sorts photograph, Washington, D.C., Black Cat, November 19, 1997

A poster with a black and white fisheye-lens photo of a drumset and other instruments in a recording studio, the photo is processed to be mostly blue and black and there is bold elongated yellow text.

Jenhitt performing live at WMUC, College Park, Maryland, 1997

A poster with a black and white fisheye-lens photo of a drumset and other instruments in a recording studio, the photo is processed to be mostly blue and black and there is bold elongated yellow text.

Jenhitt performing live at WMUC, College Park, Maryland, 1997

About

Persistent Vision presents the University of Maryland's digitized special collections materials related to punk in the Washington, D.C. area. Most of these materials reside at Special Collections in Performing Arts (SCPA) in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. These materials help to tell the story of a subculture and a community that has thrived since 1976.

Curators: John Davis, Ben Jackson
Design: Ben Jackson, Natalie Salive
Authors: Ben Jackson, John Davis, and Jessica Grimmer

With help from: Cindy Zhao, Jeremy Gottwig, Amanda Henderson, Gabby Cameron, Hayden Kramer

Contact Us

Special Collections in Performing Arts is located in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library on University of Maryland’s College Park campus.

For general information about the library and our collections, contact us