Syracuse Ska Forum

I was just going through the syracuse ska page, and was scrolling through the definitions and read about two Skin crews. I've known such crews exist, but it is almost like they don't....like they are a secret society...or as if it was just a trend for a while...is it just like a bunch of people meeting in the basement of someone's house, drinking beer and disscussing the sorry state of the community ? I would think they would be more of a productive group, not just people with a patch on a jacket who go to shows dance a little.

Are they still around? or have they just disbanded, or on the down-low?

there is no point to crews
crews dont do anything productive

The Buffalo Boot Crew is still active, but not really as an entity that takes a stance on issues or coordinates events. It's just The Clockers and their buddies, as far as I know. They go to shows, hang out and drink together, like any other circle of friends.

Rochester used to have a trad crew, well before my time - I only know about it from Alex and Jon talking about it. Jon grew his hair out, got married, and has a kid now (fairly typical path for a skin.)

When I claimed skin in '03, there was me, Alex and Drew, who plays keys for The Glow. Drew still digs the music, but he let the look go, and I haven't seen Alex in almost a year. There may be other skins out there, but I don't see them at the shows I attend.

It's kind of sad, but it seems appropriate. I'm unusual for several reasons. I'm more intellectual and less conservative than the skins I've met. I don't drink much. It's a youth subculture, and I came to it in my early twenties. I came in alone, so it fits that I'm the only one left. I like the look, I like the values of working class pride and loyalty to your friends.

But skin is an old answer to questions every generation must respond to themselves.

Besides, I still have a crew. So what if they're not skinheads?

EDIT: I completely forgot about Jeff Grover, who I knew before either of us claimed skin and got me curious about skinhead culture. Like many skins, he got a girl and settled down a bit. Going to school in Pennsylvania, last I recall.

Crews are just tightly knit groups of friends.

Humans thrive and achieve with the support of groups. This is not something to fight or be ashamed of.

The heroic loner, blazing a trail without any help, is bullshit.

the syracuse ska site talks about skinhead crews in the late eighties but it was more in the early nineties. our skins in syracuse were split between
our lefty political crew that would protest the klan in auburn etc and the
nazi skins who hung out on marshall st beach and had some fort drum guys involved. the rochester RUSH skins we had some contact with and would go to each others shows. they had fanzines and patches etc. ours wasnt really a drinking in someones basement thing. just kind of evolved out of our punk scene through ska influences. new times did a cover piece on the punk scene that touched on the skins as well. have a dusty copy somewhere. from adam oi to ras adam simeon
evolution. .... a

all im saying is, you dont have to be a "crew" to be friends
plus once a crew labels themselves, it becomes exclusive or at least there is a feeling of exclusiveness to outsiders
if we created the syracuse ska crew and then there was a rochester ska crew formed, we would become two separate entities
i'm not saying a war would break out, but once you fall under a tent of a name it changes other people's peception of you
would a skinhead crew accept a non-skin member? of course not, that defeats the whole purpose of having a skinhead crew
would a straight edge crew accept a member who does not follow the straight edge lifestyle? certainly not
what do you have from these two examples of crews?
you have skinhead unity and straight edge unity
what is it proving or accomplishing?
at the end of the day, there is really no point to becoming a crew as opposed to just being friends because anyone can be a friend

And I'm saying that your definition of "crew" is too narrow.

in the early 90's our skinhead "crew" was a tiny faction of the punk/x-core scene. it was NOt exclusive we had things in common diff from our punk pals, but the whole alt scene was our scene collectively. the hateedge crew on the otherhand WAS more in line of what you are implying people got disowned or beat down for drinking etc.. when they took over the local punk/hardcore shows was when i bowed out.

A crew is another shape of human gathering. It is not inherently good or bad, any more than tribes, cliques, unions, religious congregations or political parties.

I agree with Trevor but I see where Twitch and ra are coming from.
I think it's better just to be friends.

THE SYRACUSE SLUGGERS IS GONNN GETCHA!

You people never take a stance on anything.

Agreeing with or seeing both sides is bull.

Say what you f*ck think not what other people think.

I did.... THEY GONNN GETCHA!

The Main Street Firm. It was back when Alex and John lived on Main Street in Brockport that we were tightest - Brian Wilcox moved here from Chicago, Grover started hanging out, lots of alcohol was consumed, and a good time was had by all. When they got kicked out of that place, everyone pretty much still hung out for about another year or so (until they all moved out of 890 S. Clinton), then everyone really started going their separate ways.

With regard to inclusiveness, when I lived (for a short time) in Plattsburgh, there was a group of punks & skins (about 10 altogether). We were the Plattsburgh United Bootboys. No reason for anyone to be exclusive - we're all in the same boat in this shitty life was the attitude, and the Main Street boys were never any different.


In some places, too, crewing up is almost a necessity. When I was in Plattsburgh, I used to go to Montreal a lot - I was old enough to drink there. The SHARP crew there was one of the tightest I've ever seen anywhere, largely because the boneheads there were plentiful. In fact, one of the few fights I've been in in my life was with boneheads there. The attitude with them was that there was no middle ground whatsoever - you were either a SHARP or a bonehead. Even though I didn't strictly consider myself a SHARP, I am Jewish...


Anyhow, I don't know of many more skins around Rochester at all. There was John Gorman, but last I heard he's living out near Albion somewhere, completely off his rocker (whacked in the head by a falling pipe when he was in the Navy). SuperDave, who used to be a bonehead, has seen the error of his ways (and the impression I've gotten is that he doesn't really like to talk about it). Other than that, there's just Alex left from the old days, as far as I know.

Twitch, remind me to loan you my copy of "Spirit of '69" if you don't have it already.

I heard Canada is crazy with that shit. Montreal area like huge f*ck' rumbles straight outta the 70s and 80s between groups.