By Benjamin Joe

Mark Miller came to Buffalo for college in 1991. What he found was a lifetime of music and community.

Now in his 50s, Miller has been listening to Spaced, Jewel Tone and Do Crime — all hardcore bands in Buffalo.

He said when he started going to shows there wasn’t anyone who had reached his present age, but times have changed. The new scene is mostly twenty-somethings, but all ages-shows and the willingness of himself and peers to come out have turned the dial towards inclusivity, at least in the terms of age.

“It’s cool, I guess we’re the uncles of the hardcore scene,” he said of the apparent elder

statesmanship in the community that he and his friends have fallen into.

Miller doesn’t just watch the shows, he’s also in a band called Hold Out. “We’re a band of dads,” he said and laughed. He also does a podcast called Nickel City Soundtrack Podcast (@ncspodcast716) where he and his partners talk via Zoom about old shows, new bands and interesting pieces of hardcore lore in the Buffalo scene.

Miller said that when he came to Buffalo he started learning about hardcore. He said he found a house of punks and started hanging out with them. By 1993 he was “into hardcore.”

There were venues such as The Funeral Home on Ontario Street, The Icon, The Mercury Theater and, later, Mohawk Place. Now the Rec Room on Chippewa, Amvets Post, Amy’s Place and Casa Di Francesca’s in South Buffalo are the places Miller has been circulating for shows. Generator shows have also been popping up, he said, adding that one show was under the I-190, or so he’s heard.

The best thing about hardcore? That would be the people.

“To me hardcore has never been about a sound, but I always felt the scene of hardcore scene … I felt it was a place where people like me, outcasts, could find a place to be normal,” Miller explained.

While a simple Google search can show the casual reader (and listener) what to expect in terms of “a sound,” you have to go to a live show for a real sense of what hardcore is about, he said:

“Even though I’m not a big hardcore dancer …  I feel like hardcore dancing is part of the whole tribal nature of it. It’s like we’re doing this whole thing together, even if some people think it’s dumb. I think it’s cool that all these kids are moving to the music and feeling the music …

“And if it’s violent, it’s violent, and that keeps it not for everyone … I like the expression and the energy of hardcore, the stage dives, the dancing.”

Violent or not, Miller said that while fists may fly, there’s something of a feeling or an agreement that this “whole thing” isn’t like the outside world and that makes it unlike any other genre of music.

“Usually when people hit each other at shows, there’s no animosity. If someone hit someone at a metal show, a fight would probably break out, even though there are fights at hardcore shows,” Miller said. “I don’t mind it. I think it teaches you to keep your head on a swivel. I brought a camera to shows for many years and never had anything get broken at a show.”

Still not frightened off? Miller says a newbie might want to check out Amy’s Place, the vegan restaurant in University Heights, for listings of shows.

“If you want to see what my ideal of a show is as a band in Buffalo, I think Spaced is a band to see. I think Jewel Tone, as well. They elicit a response. The sing-a-longs and — where they can have them — the stage dives. Stuff like that,” he said.

“Come to a show if you want to see what hardcore is all about.”

Benjamin Joe writes about music and the arts – particularly hardcore punk – for The Buffalo Hive.