Productive Not Destructive: How Sacrilege NYC Shaped A New Direction Of US Punk
Written by Brian DeMoa
Photos from the collection of Jae Monroe (A.P.P.L.E.) and used with permission.
Although being ahead of one's time sounds like a good thing, it usually just means that one is under appreciated, misunderstood, and often forgotten. Musicians and artists who do something different or innovative, or who combine previously known forms in new ways, rarely are noticed in their own time for their unique character. Punk rock is no exception, and Sacrilege was a band that sounded like no other, but were mostly forgotten and whose unique qualities weren't truly understood until decades later. With the legendary Max's Kansas City and CBGB being the birthplaces of bands like The Ramones, New York Dolls, The Dead Boys, and many others, New York City was America's punk capital in the 1970s. But by the 1980s, most of those bands had broken up, or gone mainstream or "new wave," or self destructed.
The music of the 1980s New York City underground was something related to punk, but very different, with new genres like hardcore and "no wave" taking punk's place in New York City's rock music culture. Transitional bands like The Stimulators and The Mad, who musically bridged the gap between 1970s New York punk and 1980s New York hardcore, were overlooked and never received much appreciation. Reagan Youth, led by Dave "Insurgent" Rubinstein, was perhaps New York City's best band for a short time, keeping the punk spirit alive with a sarcastic political sensibility. But with their debut record being released later than it should have, and its ultra-confrontational, frequently misunderstood visual design alienating some people, Reagan Youth was already in decline when their debut album was released in 1984. Emerging out of the short-lived Hellbent in 1984, and including a member of Reagan Youth, Sacrilege played punk rock inspired by Discharge, peace punk, and eventually dark, primitive metal.
Jae Monroe, Marie Alvino, Andy Apathy (Reagan Youth, Urban Waste), Victor Venom, and Antoinette Pappadapolous (in front) at CBGB 1983.
Overlooked by many, Sacrilege is an important piece in the puzzle of 1980s New York punk rock, ahead of their time in every way, a link to both the soon-to-come, as well as the far more distant musical future. Sacrilege stood apart from their peers with a very different (and rapidly evolving) sound, a different look, and music that could not be easily pigeonholed, unknowingly showing a musical future that was not understood at its time, disappearing into obscurity until Wardance Records and Radio Raheem Records teamed up to release Sacrilege's two demos on vinyl as "Thoughts Are But Dreams Till Their Effects Are Tried" in 2013.
Sacrilege's guitarist Victor Dominicis, one of the great underrated guitarists in music, was the key to Sacrilege's sound. Vic began playing music in high school, in a band called Damage Kase, mostly playing Motörhead covers. He was also a big fan of black metal pioneers Venom, getting the nickname "Vic Venom" from the Venom jacket he frequently wore.
Moving on to a more serious band with more originality, Vic and several other NYC area friends formed Hellbent. Formed around the middle of 1983, the lineup of Hellbent was Vic on guitar, Mat Zombie on vocals, Jon Wiley (from Direct Action and Rapid Deployment Force) on bass, and Brian "Damage" Keats on drums. Brian had played in various local punk bands including The Systematics, who had played on the underground cult favorite TV show "The Uncle Floyd Show," before forming Genocide with vocalist Bobby Ebbs in 1979. Genocide played fast, nasty punk, featuring extremely tasteless lyrical content and an over-the-top punk look, with Brian playing on their split album with California melodic punk band M.I.A. before leaving Genocide (who would continue in a more metal musical direction). He later relocated to San Francisco and joined Verbal Abuse. In the fall of 1983, Glenn Danzig asked Brian to join The Misfits as a replacement for ex-Black Flag drummer Robo. He made his live debut in late October in Detroit... a show that ended up being The Misfits final show with Glenn Danzig for over 30 years. An inebriated Brian was kicked out of the band mid-show and replaced by Todd Swalla of The Necros. Perhaps inspired by this debacle to pursue a somewhat higher degree of professionalism, Brian went on to a long career drumming for many bands.
Hellbent live in 1984
Hellbent's sound was an anomaly among the New York hardcore scene of the time, influenced by then-recent punk (Discharge, Misfits), metal (Venom, Judas Priest), as well as earlier proto-punk, hard rock, and punk (The Stooges, Alice Cooper, The Damned). However, their sound was closest to the classic Discharge sound, but less lyrically minimalist. Perhaps because of their unique sound in the local scene, in addition to memorable songs and stronger musicianship than most punk bands, Hellbent got the opportunity to play shows with a wide variety of bands. They opened for Discharge at Rock Hotel's first show on New Year's Eve 1984 and three months later, along with YDI, opened Samhain's first show. They also played shows with bigger international touring bands like GBH, The Exploited, and UK Subs, with touring US bands like The Discks, as well as locals like Blood, Adam 12, and The Psychos. They also recorded two demos, mostly of moderately fast, raw punk in the early 1980s English style, but occasionally slowing things down to a slower pace on some songs featuring longer guitar solos showcasing Vic's impressive guitar skills. Lyrically, the content mostly covered sociopolitical/anarchopunk topics, but also didn't take themselves too seriously, occasionally delving into less serious/tasteless lyrics (ex. "Ballad of Ed Gein"), as well as covers (Germs, Sweet, Steppenwolf, Sham 69). However, Mat's personal issues and tensions in the band caused them to split up in mid-1984.
Hellbent's music then disappeared mostly into obscurity for nearly 35 years before the demos were released on vinyl by Radio Raheem Records in 2018. The band members themselves though immediately went on to new musical projects. After Hellbent, Brian and Jon joined The Kretins (with Leon "Mang" Rossbach, previously of Anti-Warfare and later of Porno Dracula), with Brian later joining Princess Pang and Raging Slab, before relocating to Los Angeles where he played drums for a wide variety of bands ranging from Low Pop Suicide to Susanna Hoffs (of The Bangles) to The Fuzztones. Sadly, his life was cut short by cancer in 2010 at 46 years old. Vic played in a short-lived band called KGB with Fred Armisen, who later joined Trenchmouth before going on to a comedy career which included being a cast member of "Saturday Night Live" and co-star of "Portlandia." KGB's recordings show potential, but they didn't last long enough to fully develop.
Vic also joined the legendary Reagan Youth (as bassist) shortly after the release of their classic "Youth Anthems For The New Order." While on tour with Reagan Youth in San Francisco, Vic ran into Adam Mucci, a New York friend who was planning to return home. Not having the opportunity to be one of the main creative forces in Reagan Youth, Vic decided to start a new band with Adam back in New York. That band would become Sacrilege. Before departing for San Francisco, Adam had played bass for two of New York City's best hardcore bands, having been an original member of Murphy's Law (and playing on their "Bong Blast" tape) and playing on Agnostic Front's debut 7" "United Blood." He'd also played in lesser known bands like Happy Warfare, Kilroy (with AJ Novello, later of Leeway), and Rat Patrol (with Ray "Rayco" Parada, who briefly played drums for Murphy's Law and Major Conflict, and later was vocalist of Abombanation). Adam also was in Rat Poison (also known as Verbal Assault) at their formation, but had left before they ever played live, and shortly after changed their name to Warzone.
After playing in skinhead oriented hardcore bands for several years, Adam's musical tastes changed and became more influenced by Flux Of Pink Indians and other English anarchopunk bands. This new direction led to him forming Direct Action (as their drummer), a more anarcho punk style band with a trio of female vocalists, Jae Monroe (later of A.P.P.L.E.), Fee Haag, and Allegra, and several lineups which included Frank from Counterforce, Jesse Malin (Heart Attack, D-Generation), Hellbent's Jon Wiley, and Jae's brother Vinny (from Counterculture zine and later of A.P.P.L.E.). It was an interesting idea, but the band fell apart after only a few shows and several lineup changes, and Adam moved to San Francisco to play drums for Barely Human, a band best known for their appearance on the classic "P.E.A.C.E." compilation on R Radical Records.
Direct Action live at CBGB in 1984. L to R: Allegra, Jon Wiley and Fee Haag
Future Sacrilege vocalist Clay Rice had grown up in very conservative 1970s Virginia Beach (home to televangelist Pat Robertson's "700 Club"), a military town with a rapidly growing population. After discovering punk by hearing the Sex Pistols "Never Mind the Bollocks" album in 1979 and reading Thrasher magazine a few years later, Clay found something he could relate to far more than his local surroundings. Upon a falling out with his punk-disapproving parents and being expelled from high school with friend Bob "Fishman" Davis and other punks in something of a punk purge, it was time to leave the small town minds behind.
Relocating to Washington DC, Clay lived in an old bread factory and saw the classic 1982 DC hardcore scene. While visiting Virginia Beach, Clay and his friend Tim Copeland decided to move to San Francisco. Tim was playing in a local band, but was looking for a change from Virginia Beach.
After traveling cross-country to San Francisco, they quickly settled into the local punk rock scene, briefly staying with NYHC band Cause For Alarm during their brief relocation to San Francisco. They then lived in The Vats squat (a former Hamm's Brewery location, seen in the first "Dirty Harry" film), where many bands lived and rehearsed, and where they met D.R.I., M.D.C., Dead Kennedys, and others. Of the local SF bands, Crucifix were a particular influence, as they were one of the few bands in the US at that time that had a sound and look similar to European (especially English) bands of that era like Discharge, GBH, The Exploited, and Crass, with Clay and Tim seeing them at the On Broadway Theater (upstairs from the legendary Mabuhay Gardens), run by Dirk Dirksen. Metallica, still a relatively small local band at that time, made a strong impression also.
However, they decided to return to the east coast and start a band in New York City. Soon after arriving in NYC, Clay became friends with John Guzman (aka John John Jesse) of Living Free zine (which showcased John's own original art as well as American and European anarcho punk), and briefly lived at John's family's apartment on the Lower East Side. Clay and Tim also lived in squats at times, with Clay barely escaping a fire at a squat.
Clay and Tim also soon met Victor and Adam and decided to start a new band together, Sacrilege. Although never having been in a band previously, Clay made his live vocal debut at CBGB just a few months later. While they ended up playing less than a dozen shows, Sacrilege made an immediate impression on those who saw them. Building on Hellbent's sound, but taking things even further into the Discharge "d-beat" sound musically, and with an extreme punk look similar to English bands like Discharge, Broken Bones, English Dogs, and GBH, Sacrilege stood out among their NYC contemporaries (Agnostic Front, Murphy's Law, Warzone, Cro-Mags, etc.), most of whom were playing the classic NYHC style and had shaved heads. As this was 1984, it was considered quite controversial to some, not unlike the influx of long-haired metalheads to CBGB hardcore matinees that was also beginning to happen.
Sacrilege also fully embraced the Discharge "d-beat" sound (although it wasn't referred to by that name yet), which no one in New York was playing, and only a handful of American bands (almost all in California) were playing at all at that time. Besides Discharge, influences included other English bands like Disorder and Chaos UK, Scandinavian bands like Anti-Cimex and Appendix, but very few American influences (such as Crucifix). Sacrilege also kept their lyrics serious, leaving behind the sometimes humorous and bad taste songs that Hellbent had occasionally played, as well as the more fun-oriented covers. Although other bands of the time in the New York area had extreme looks (Misfits, Genocide), or anarchist or left wing lyrics (Reagan Youth, False Prophets), no one had combined the extreme punk look, serious political lyrics, and d-beat European punk sound previously in New York. With Clay and Tim being NYC newcomers, the band were considered oddities by some, although Vic also being in Reagan Youth and Adam's past with Murphy's Law and Agnostic Front kept them from being complete outsiders.
Sacrilege's first demo, recorded very early in their existence, is rough and raw. Recorded at Don Fury's studio, it's rawer than even the rawest NYHC to be recorded by the prolific Fury. Adam and Tim's bass and drums are nearly non-stop moderately fast d-beat, nothing too complex, which provides a perfect contrast for Vic's sometimes subtly complex rhythm guitar and his flashy solos. Few guitarists other than a handful of Japanese metalpunk guitarists (ex. Randy Uchida of G.I.S.M.) were playing solos of such technical complexity in punk bands at that time, with most sounding inept when attempting solos, or safely sticking with the tried-and-true, straightforward style of classic 1970s punk. Clay's vocals are harsh shouts and show his influences, sounding at times like a combination of Cal Morris from Discharge and Sothira Pheng from Crucifix. Combined with the lo-fi recording, the vocals are not for everyone, but fit the music almost perfectly. The nine song recording gets better as it proceeds, with the second half containing the more memorable songs. With songs like "House the Homeless," "Star Wars" (about Ronald Reagan's proposed Strategic Defense Initiative, not the movie), and "Media Exploitation," Sacrilege's lyrical focus took a strong sociopolitical stance against militarism and in favor of social justice.
House show in Virginia Beach in 1984 (photo: Bonnie Bush)
They soon were playing shows with a wide variety of New York hardcore and punk bands like Murphy's Law, Major Conflict, Leeway, Gilligan's Revenge/Token Entry, Crumbsuckers, Sheer Terror, Shok, SFA, Scab, Virus, A.P.P.L.E., Cause For Alarm, Ultraviolence, and Norman Bates & The Showerheads at locations including CBGB, The Coventry, and No Se No. They also did a short tour with Reagan Youth, playing with bands like Scream, Black Market Baby, and Malefice, reaching as far south as Virginia, and even made it across the border to Montreal in the north.
Tim Copeland, Adam Mucci, Laure from RAF Punk and Frank in 1985
Laure de Lauris (drummer of RAF Punk), visiting from Italy, returned to Italy with a Sacrilege demo and plans were made with her friends I Refuse It (a quirky, experimental punk band that was a major part of the Granducato Hardcore scene in Toscana, Firenze, Italy) to put out a Sacrilege 7" record. The band recorded four songs from the demo, with cover art to be drawn by Clay.
After more shows, they returned to recording, this time at Bolt Studios, and things had changed drastically with their sound moving in a far more metal direction. Recorded in suitably grim circumstances (the band had stumbled upon a dead body in an alley next to the studio), the recording takes a much darker turn. With Adam and Tim keeping things on the less complex side again (and therefore keeping it from going completely metal), the songs are noticeably longer and sound like nothing else of their time. Clay's vocals are even more abrasive this time around, now sounding a bit like Cal from Discharge's first attempts at more "metal" vocals (but fortunately not sounding like Cal's subsequent cringe-inducing pseudo-metal style) and also sounding reminiscent of Schmier, vocalist of Destruction, in his vocal phrasing. Although songs about war had appeared on the first demo (ex. "Fallout of Our Being"), the second demo's "Soldiers of Destruction" and "War Rages On" continue on in that direction, but with lyrics that are less issue-specific.
Vic's guitar playing is even more over-the-top than the first demo, displaying technical skill rarely ever heard in music so raw. His long, extended solos don't fall into the mindless shredding trap of many technically gifted guitarists and stay relevant to the song and the rhythm section of Adam and Tim. The closing track "Media Exploitation," re-recorded from the first demo, is nearly twice as long as the original version due to the new, more metallic arrangement and shows how much Sacrilege had changed in just a few months. Only one song on the first demo extended beyond three minutes, but the second demo goes completely in the opposite direction, with all but one song over three minutes.
Their metal sound was a natural outgrowth from Tim and Clay's newfound interest in black metal and thrash metal, which were still new, developing genres at the time, as well as Vic letting his love of Venom become even more musically obvious. Although the "crossover" subgenre of adding metal to hardcore punk was an increasingly popular sound at the time, Sacrilege's crossover is drastically different: while other hardcore punk bands were becoming influenced by the "Big 4" thrash metal bands (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax) who were becoming very influential at the time, as well as other major thrash metal bands like Exodus and Testament, Sacrilege was being influenced by an entirely different subgenre of metal. Once again, they were looking to Europe for influences rather than America. Much darker than American thrash, central and northern European black, death, and thrash metal bands like Hellhammer (later Celtic Frost), Bathory, Sodom, Kreator, and Destruction all released classic records in the mid-1980s. Often more occult-obsessed lyrically than most American bands, with rougher production and a more atmospheric vibe of general eeriness, European metal was taking a totally different turn than American metal.
While hardcore punk bands were embracing metal often as a way to become more "accessible" (and sell more records), Sacrilege was moving in a far less accessible direction, with their music becoming much darker and the vocals less "pleasant." The demo sounds like almost nothing else of its time, with only a handful of bands (ex. Amebix, Antisect, Onslaught, and an English band also called Sacrilege) combining punk and dark metal in such a way at that time. In retrospect, Sacrilege's Bolt Studio demo anticipates later genre fusions like "blackened thrash" and "blackened crust" by several decades, sounds far less dated than many other recordings of its era, and could easily be mistaken for any number of post-2000 bands.
Interestingly, Sacrilege is unusual in that unlike most hardcore punk bands that "went metal," they (especially Vic) were actually more technically skilled than some of the metal bands they were influenced by. Most hardcore punk bands had to improve their technical skills drastically to play metal, or more commonly, added a metalhead guitarist to play solos that wouldn't sound inept. Sacrilege was influenced by metal bands that were so extreme that they almost sounded punk, such as Sodom on their earliest recordings which are incredibly sloppy, which adds to the intensity by unintentionally giving them a more punk-like feel. Vic's guitar skills were noticeably better than many of the influences, giving the songs a more genuine feel than the many bands that randomly inserted a new guitarist into their lineup to play guitar solos. Unfortunately, Sacrilege ended up never playing the new Bolt Studios songs live, so their foray into a much more metal direction unintentionally ended up being strictly a studio experiment.
Despite the interesting new direction, Sacrilege was rapidly falling apart. With Clay planning to go back to school and Tim having some serious personal issues, the band's time was quickly running out. An idea had emerged to change the band's name to Nausea due to an abundance of bands already called Sacrilege. With at least two other bands called Sacrilege in existence (one from England, one from Berkeley, CA), a name change seemed like a solution to the problem of two better-known bands with the same name, but with the band split over whether it was a good idea or not, the name change never happened.
After Clay left for school, plans were made to replace him with his friend Bob "Fishman" Davis. However, Tim's issues and others losing interest caused the band to break up completely. The proposed Italian 7" record had still been in development, and went as far as the test pressing stage. With Clay leaving the band to attend school, the cover art was never finished, and with the band's breakup, the 7" completely fell through. The test pressing itself ended up at NYC's Bleecker Bob's record store, mislabeled, with the only identifying marks being that it was from an Italian label and pressed in France at MPO. Unidentified, it ended up being sold on eBay many years later, current whereabouts unknown.
After attending college briefly, Clay moved to Washington, DC where he played in a metal band called Dynamite Jett for several years with Bob "Fishman" Davis (who had nearly replaced him in Sacrilege) on drums, bassist Mark Petherbridge, and Andrew Simmons, who later played guitar for 9353 and Human Rights before his death in 2009. Tim returned to Virginia Beach, but his continuing personal problems consumed him and caused a final and complete rift between himself and Clay.
Adam went on to join an early version of Raging Slab, a band that managed to be behind the times (playing 1970s style stoner rock in the mid-1980s) and ahead of the times (before the 1990s retro stoner rock explosion) simultaneously. After appearing on an early recording on "The Bands That Ate New York" compilation, he left and later appeared in various other bands, including Bad Tuna Experience (a band that included ex-members of No Thanks, Killer Instinct, and XKI), and more recently Daylight Mourner (with Hellbent's Jon Wiley), which went in a very different direction musically from Adam and Jon's pasts, earning favorable comparisons to The Church and Echo & The Bunnymen.
Neil Robinson of Nausea and Tribal War Records in 1987
With Reagan Youth falling apart, Vic next formed Nausea, using the name he'd wanted Sacrilege to change their name to. John Guzman, who had given Clay a place to live when he'd first moved to New York, was a huge fan of Sacrilege and had interviewed them in his zine Living Free. Around the same time as Sacrilege's breakup, John was starting a band with vocalist Neil Robinson and several friends. However, things were not working out at all and lineup changes were made with Vic joining as guitarist. With Vic bringing four Sacrilege songs to add to the four John had written, Nausea was off to a good start.
Sacrilege songs "Fallout Of Our Being" and "Productive Not Destructive" carried on into Nausea, while "House the Homeless" was changed lyrically to become "Smash Racism" (which later became "Here Today" in the later days of Nausea). "Daily Death," originally a Hellbent song that had become a Sacrilege song, became Nausea's "Right to Live." Another Hellbent song, "World of No Tomorrow," became a Nausea song also. Shortly after, the band was completed with the addition of drummer Pablo Jacobson and another vocalist, Amy Keim, who had been in Veil Of Deception (also known as Final Confrontation) and who had put out several issues of Pissbucket zine, as well as one issue of Class War NYC.
Unlike Sacrilege (and their predecessor Hellbent), Nausea had the right sound... and at the right time. While Sacrilege was an oddity that people did not know what to think of, just a short time later there were many bands playing crusty anarchopunk in New York City. The New York scene split into several subgenres with the emergence of "youth crew" straight edge, and many of the earlier hardcore bands going "crossover." Those looking for a more punk-oriented sound and look, and with a more overtly anarchist or left wing political stance formed their own scene. With bands like A.P.P.L.E., Slaughter (later Jesus Chrust), Public Nuisance, Insurgence, The Apostates, and more forming, and with the emergence of zines and venues and activist organizations (Squat or Rot, ABC No Rio, Blackout Books, C Squat, etc.), as well as the Tompkins Square Park Riot bringing worldwide attention to the issues of homelessness and squatters on Manhattan's Lower East Side, things were changed forever.
Sacrilege, ahead of their time, were already gone by then, with Nausea ending up fulfilling the musical promise of Sacrilege. Soon mostly forgotten, their first demo is something of a trial run of Nausea, an interesting look at what Nausea developed from, and the (relatively) more "accessible" recording. The second demo is a shocking anomaly, unique and far ahead of its time without trying to be, and a look at the unexpected directions music can take when musicians aren't worrying about being trendy or popular and just playing whatever they feel, and is a more challenging recording. While not actually creating something entirely new, Sacrilege is a perfect example of a band with excellent musical tastes combining their influences in a new way by ignoring trends and just following their own creative desires, ending up as a band ahead of its time. Fortunately, the Wardance/Radio Raheem co-release of Sacrilege's two demos on vinyl as "Thoughts Are But Dreams Till Their Effects Are Tried" (title from a William Shakespeare quote) in 2013 (including Clay's original cover art, intended for the Italian 7" that never happened) made Sacrilege's brief but interesting discography available once again, and allowed Sacrilege to finally reach the audience they deserved.
Clay Rice with the Wardance/Radio Raheem reissue of Sacrilege’s demo, 2013
RIP Dave Rubinstein, Brian Keats, Leon Rossbach, Fee Haag, Dirk Dirksen, Randy Uchida, Andrew Simmons, and Pablo Jacobson.
Thanks to Freddy Alva and Chris Minicucci for their assistance with this article.
