Brian Walsby

• In the early ’80s, I discovered the underground and the power of fanzines, writing letters, and soaping stamps. Through that, I discovered that Raleigh, NC had a cool scene brewing. People outside of this area always thought North Carolina was full of rednecks, the Klan and hanging out in Mayberry with Andy and Barn. While that was kind of true (not really) they had some really good bands down here.
• I was smitten with the likes of Corrosion Of Conformity, No Labels, Stillborn Christians, Honor Role and plenty of other bands in NC and Virginia. My fandom for these bands (and the desire to escape my family) called to me away from Sunny Southern California.  I moved to Raleigh in the early spring of 1986 and I haven’t returned to SoCal since. It’s still nice here, even if you have to overlook the usual expensive/modern living kind of crap that’s everywhere.
• This book is a love letter to the bands and the people back then. It was a cool open minded scene, with a huge variety of music and not a lot of rules. Sandwiched between Atlanta and DC, Raleigh and nearby Chapel Hill and Durham had some excellent music and creative driven people. A big thanks for that could be directed to a handful of people and one of those folks was the late Reed Mullin, founding member and drummer of Corrosion Of Conformity. He was a powerful force in connecting bands and people and bringing people to this area. His band is sort of the backbone of this story but there are plenty of others. Ricky Hicks, Sara Bell, Barbara Herring, Mike Dean, Scott Williams, etc etc there are a lot of folks involved. Mixed in with all of that is plenty of remembrances of the times and the culture back then. It’s hard to not be a little proud or even sort of nostalgic when one looks back. It was an innocent time, and a lot of fun. Check it out if you haven’t. Once it’s gone it’s gone forever. Cheers. See you in the pit. -Brian Walsby

100 page perfect bound book. 2000 printed.