Kevinsted

Photo: Traci Bergman McMahon

This interview with Kevin “Kevinsted” Hernandez was conducted in the fall of 2015 for my third book, Straight Edge: A Clear-Headed Harcore Punk History.

How did you get involved in punk?

Kevin Hernandez: I played basketball in my neighborhood with two guys, Chris Smith, and Brad Xavier; Brad ended up forming the band Doggy Style. They were really good friends with Pat Dubar and Pat was a really well known local high school baseball pitcher in our area; his photo would be in the newspaper regularly. So, when they told me I had to see this band Uniform Choice and he was the singer, it sparked my interest. It was interesting to me to see guys who played high school sports, yet were into Hardcore.

How important was Uniform Choice to bringing Straight Edge into the Southern California Hardcore scene?

Uniform Choice took it to the next level. Not only were they playing shows regularly, but most importantly, they were at every show supporting bands.

Pat Dubar could always be found in front of shows passing out flyers. I remember he’d do this thing where he would look someone up and down, and then hand them a flyer. Almost as if he was surveying who he would allow going to his show. We’d mimic it a lot and laugh afterward.

I remember there was a Uniform Choice show at this club Flashdance on a Sunday where for the whole night, Pat Dubar wore his hoodie over his head. The band started playing an intro and Dubar was still in the back of the venue. Then he ran up, jumped over the crowd, landed on stage and ripped his hoodie off and his head was completely bald. The place went fuckin’ nuts.

Go back and look at Uniform Choice. You had Pat Dubar with a shaved head wearing Vans. But then you had Vic Maynez the guitarist who was this average joe and then you had Dave Mello the bass player who was a surfer. The drummer at the time Pat Dyson was an ex-football player. The mix intrigued me because you could get a surfer guy coming to the show and saying “Hey, that bass player looks just like me” and then some jock could see Dyson and be lured in and get into the message. Not everyone was wearing Jordans and shorts.

How about Stalag 13?

Stalag 13 was one of our favorite bands. We’d drive up to Santa Barbara to see them quite often. I think they are a very underrated band who don’t get the accolades they deserve.

How did Insted form?

I was going to shows, buying records and trying to be involved in the Hardcore scene as much as possible. It was my entire life at the time. Everything revolved around Straight Edge and the Hardcore scene. I always thought it’d be cool to get a band going, so with a couple buddies, I formed Insted. I think our first official show was playing with Doggy Style at a pool hall in Anaheim.

Playing parties in Orange County is where you would build your name. Most of the time you’d get more people at a party than a show, but most importantly, you’d get this diverse crowd. You got skaters and punk people and jocks and high schoolers; a very wide range of people. And that’s the way a lot of people in Southern California got into Straight Edge or Hardcore.

We sold our Be Someone demo out of our car trunks at parties or shows just to get the word out. We tried to replicate what Uniform Choice did with their demo by putting it in a small manilla envelope with a lyric sheet and a sticker.

What do you think of the impact Insted left on the Hardcore scene?

It seems like Insted gets lost sometimes in the history of hardcore and I think it’s because we didn’t stir up any controversy. Everyone in the band was friends and we had a pretty straight forward message. We were just guys who loved Hardcore, loved Straight Edge, loved the music, loved the message. I don’t think we were some great band musically, but I do think people could see we were one hundred percent invested in our message and the scene. We ate, slept and shit Hardcore twenty-four seven. I’m just thankful to have been a part of it.

Back then, it always seemed to be some controversy around Billy Rubin, his band Half Off and whatever issue they had with Youth of Today. There was always something in Schism or It’s Alive fanzine ragging on either side.

I was never a fan of Half Off, but those guys were at every show and very involved in the scene one hundred percent. Billy Rubin probably doesn’t get enough credit. He was involved whether it was his ‘zine Think, Half Off or putting on shows.

Let’s talk about the first tour of the U.S Insted did in 1988.

It was Insted’s goal to see the country and play shows. So we loaded up the van with about a hundred shirts and left on our first tour of America in the Fall of 1988. We were gone for three months. We stayed for a month in New York at Roger from Agnostic Front’s house. Roger would come to shows with us when we were out there, and I remember people being confused by it, “Wow, why is Roger at an Insted show?” He had all these pit bulls and I’d never seen a damn pit bull in my life at that point. He had one chained up and had some word he’d say that would make the dog attack a person. It was nuts! That’s when I started thinking, “This ain’t Orange County, man!”

The middle of the week shows on the tour was always my favorite. You’re playing Denver to fifty people during a blizzard or Omaha on a Wednesday night with SNFU. Those shows were the best because you knew those people wanted to be there.

In the late 80’s when the Orange County scene had a ton of Straight Edge bands, did you ever think it was just too many bands with the same message?

I didn’t think the scene in Southern California was oversaturated with Straight Edge bands. When Pushed Aside and Against The Wall were opening up for us, I thought they were good bands. My attitude was always the more, the better.

Was there a point where you got disenchanted with where Hardcore and Straight Edge were going?

The scene was changing. Bands were trying to one-up each other and make money. You started hearing bands asking for guarantees at shows. They were thinking they could pay their rent through Hardcore. I always said this: If you need money so bad, go get a job, you know? Wouldn’t you make more money at a job than playing Hardcore? C’mon! Why would you ruin what you worked so hard on to sell out for a few thousand dollars?

Chain of Strength was the beginning of the end for me in that era of Straight Edge Hardcore. They were a manufactured band. When I look back on them, I consider them almost a fraud. They set up a show just to take pictures for the first seven-inch. They stopped in the middle of one song and told people to stage dive on another side of the stage so the photographer could get better pictures. This isn’t second-hand information, I was at that show. You can see me in the pictures on the record. They were as fake as you can get. If that was five years prior, that wouldn’t have been accepted. The word would have got out about them and no one would want them to play shows. They probably would have got their asses kicked.

After that, bands started to go Metal and I didn’t understand that. Why didn’t they just go off and start Metal bands? Then, the Hare Krishna thing came in and I was like “What is this? Are you serious?” So, combined with Judge going Metal and Ray doing the Hare Krishna thing with Shelter, there was a feeling of disconnect among some people who were really into Straight Edge and Hardcore.

So were those some of the reasons Insted break-up?

We were starting to burn out because we went full throttle for so long. We’d do a record, then a tour, then local shows. There were no gaps with Insted. We were getting tired and it had to be one hundred percent or nothing at all. Ninety-five percent was not going to cut it.

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