Photo: Facebook
This interview with Raw Deal/Killing Time guitarist Carl Porcaro was conducted on March 6th, 2014 for my second book, NYHC: New York Hardcore 1980-1990
Who were the first people you knew in Yonkers that were into punk?
Carl Porcaro: It was me and this guy, Don Angelili. We had known each other for a little awhile and started getting into Hardcore in the mid-’80s. You could pretty much identify someone who was into Hardcore back then when they were walking down the street. The subtle difference of what they were wearing would peg it; like patches or t-shirts or whatever.
Did a small crew of people start to gel together up there?
There was a small crew in the Yonkers area who found themselves through hanging out in record stores and other places. Bill Wilson from Blackout Records was a lifeguard at the public pool in Yonkers and Don hung out there too and I think that’s where we met Rich McLoughlin. Jeff Perlin and Anthony Drago we met through a record store called Mad Platters. That’s pretty much how Breakdown came together. We started jamming in my parents’ basement or Rich’s garage and then we eventually settled into Drago’s garage and spent decades there.
Was Breakdown a band that once you got together, you knew it was special?
You could say it really took off, but we had to play fourteen shows outside of New York City before we could even get a show in New York. You could say it took off simply because there was a scene there to play in. If you go play the Right Track Inn in Long Island or The Anthrax in Connecticut, there are people hanging out and they’ll watch you play, but it took us a minute to get gigs in New York. Ray Cappo and Raybeez were the first guys to get us a gig at the Pyramid Club. Then we got a gig at CBGB’s with Uniform Choice and when we played that show, everything kicked off. The crowd knew the lyrics and it was off the hook. But we didn’t play too many more shows after that.
Could you tell me something about that first demo you guys did?
We made a fuckin’ shitload of those demos. We made them all by hand and our friends and girlfriends were dubbing the cassettes. The original line-up didn’t stick around too long but we got to play some good shows and document it with that first demo.
Breakdown’s style was unique and was quickly emulated throughout the east coast. What were your influences?
It was a combination of the Metal stuff we were listening to just a few years prior and the hip hop stuff at the time. We wanted to make songs that would make people move. That was the essence of it. And Jeff had some lyrics everyone could grab onto.
Why did that first line-up of Breakdown break up?
There was clearly other shit brewing that was used as the flashpoint for it to happen. Things are different at that age. People get on your fucking nerves really easily. When you all have different ideas on what to do with the music and all of a sudden, one band member is hanging out in the backseat of a car with another band members’ girlfriend, that’s what sets it off. It all seems so silly in retrospect.
How did you guys bridge what you were doing into forming Raw Deal?
We just wanted to keep doing what we were doing. Me, Rich and Drago just assumed we had as much of a right to play songs as the other guys left in Breakdown. There were three of us and only two of them! We had a show booked up at VFW Hall in Albany with Gorilla Biscuits and we hung out with Steve Reddy, who booked shows up there and was in the band Wolfpack. We asked him to sing for Breakdown at that show and played one gig like that. We wondered what we were going to do for a week or two and Duane at Some Records said ‘You should talk to Anthony, Communale he’s looking for a band’. Anthony came over to Drago’s backyard the day after Thanksgiving in 1987 and it kicked off.
Can you tell me anything about The Loft, the studio where you recorded both the Breakdown and Raw Deal demos?
One of my buddies older brothers’ had a jangle rock type band in the early eighties and they recorded at The Loft, so that’s how we heard about it. We recorded everything live with one take. It worked out for us. There was this hippie guy behind the board who had no clue what we were doing. He seemed annoyed by it all, but it worked out. It was cheap guitars and cheap amps and a lot of energy with all your boys in the studio singing background vocals. It was a free for all.
Do you remember the first show you played as Raw Deal?
Our first Raw Deal show was in early ’88 with Absolution. We picked up where Breakdown left off. Anthony knows everybody, so we were getting great shows right off the bat.
By the end of ‘88, there really seemed to be a division in the scene where there’d be bills with only Straight Edge bands
There was a point where the Straight Edge scene would only have Straight Edge bands on their bills and that changed things. All of a sudden, you’d see a bill with bands like Raw Deal, Maximum Penalty and Sheer Terror. Basically, there’d be these line-ups with every band that wasn’t on that The Way It Is compilation. There shouldn’t have been any division, but there was and it just went further in that direction as time went on and things became more subdivided.
Looking back, what’s your take on the reaction bands like Born Against and Rorschach had towards Raw Deal signing with In-Effect?
We took a lot of shit from the next generation. They would pass out flyers at shows protesting us and shit. If there was anything on of those flyers that was true, is that we got new gear. In terms of anything else on there, it was bullshit. We weren’t on a rock star trip and we didn’t have our own bouncers beating anyone up who got on stage or anything like that.
Was there anything about the deal with In-Effect that seemed a little off or not something you were used to coming from the Hardcore scene?
In-Effect recommended their lawyer to look over the contracts. We were these Hardcore kids sitting in some music industry lawyers Midtown office where there was a gold record from Salt ‘N’ Pepa on the wall. The guy had no clue what we were talking about and it was bizarre shit at the time.
What are some of your fondest memories from those early days of Breakdown and Killing Time?
It’s the first time I got to play live shows. There was a lot of excitement. Everyone was doing something whether they were in a band or doing a ‘zine or putting out records. It felt like this music was new and different and never done before. That’s what it felt like. It was a powerful movement, but it was devoid of any commercial aspect. It was of its own world. There wasn’t any money machine fueling its existence and that’s what was cool about it.
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