Most of Milwaukee's pre-Internet punk scene has gone under-documented, some of it lost to the ages. The Web site MilwaukeeHardcore.net has helped fill in some of the gaps, offering biographies of many of the city's forgotten bands, but it wasn't until the summer launch of a new site, MKEpunk.com, that listeners could hear out-of-print music from these bands. The site posts albums from long-defunct '80s and '90s Milwaukee-area punk, hardcore and emo bands under a Creative Commons license, so users can download the music for free while the artists retain the rights.
The site hosts dozens of releases, including ones from Ceilishrine, Compound Red, Damitol, Alligator Gun, Cleveland Bound Death Sentence and Infestation, some of them transfered to mp3s from cassette tape. Collectively, they capture a snapshot not only of the city but also of punk at a time. Stingray Candy 100, the 1995 album by the Madison band None Left Standing, for instance, is a great example of the Fugazi-styled emo of the mid-'90s.
MKEpunk founder Jeremy Ampe talked about his efforts to archive some of Wisconsin's lost music.
What are your ties to the local punk scene?
I'm a fan. I started going to shows in the early '90s. I didn't have it in me to play an instrument so I just designed 7-inches, tapes and CDs for my friends. I'm an art director now but it's still just my way of compensating for never learning to play guitar.
What caused you to start the site? Where did you get the idea?
About seven or eight years ago a lot of people started digitizing their band's old tapes and records and putting them on CD. They'd burn a copy for anyone that wanted one. That's cool if you were still in touch with the guys, but so many people you used to see at shows you've either lost touch with or they're spread all over the world. I was designing Web sites and I thought it would be great to put this stuff online. But at the time hosting was so expensive that storing and transferring all that music each time someone downloaded it would have cost a fortune.
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This summer I finally picked the idea back up again. I asked Pete Prodoehel (who runs MilwaukeeHardcore.net and who runs MilwaukeeHardcore.net and was in several bands back in the day such as Buried, 10 Boy Summer and Hardware) if he wanted to get involved. He agreed. I figured we're both busy with work and family but between the two of us we'd be able to dedicate enough time to it. Once the site launched we got lucky and found a lot of additional help in acquiring and digitizing music.
Since we only put music up with permission of the bands, tracking down the people is the hardest part since some of these bands are over 25 years old. It's like a scavenger hunt to find both the music and the people. Several times the members didn't have a copy of the music themselves and they say "Let me know if you find it so I can download it."
What are some of the albums on your site you're most excited about?
I grew up on Alligator Gun and Compound Red so getting permission from them to put the music up was exciting. The Tense Experts who where were playing shows back in 1981 is also a favorite. Getting exposed to the music that was coming out of Milwaukee before I was into it is a lot of fun.
Are there any you're hoping to post that you can't find?
I'd like to get permission to put up Ablo Diablo. They were an amazing band in the mid-'90s that people should hear.
The Ama-Dots from the early '80s had the best female vocals that completely capture the punk sound of that era. [And] Wild Kingdom... everyone wants Wild Kingdom.
