Area punk bands are shaping the music scene and keeping fit in the process.
President Clinton recently said that American High Schoolers are too pudgy because they aren't getting enough exercise.
Obviously he's not familiar with Chesterfield county's sweat-drenched high school punk rock scene.
"We're jumping around, getting exercise", Said Zach Wentz, singer and bassist for Cephid. A hard driving Quartet of students from Clover Hill High School with a new CD, "Shot Down". Perhaps it's the water in chesterfield county that makes the area on of the prime breeding grounds for aggressive young punks.
"For young kids, they're great" Said Jerry Burd, manager of Twisters, an extreme music club in Richmond that hosts the area's hottest new bands. "they're the future of the music scene."
Besides Cephid, the Chesterfield punk line-up includes 30 Day Warranty, Point Blank, Vindication, Thousand Mile Summer and Underage.
A recent show that drew 30 Day Warranty, Cephid, and Underage turned Twisers into a sauna as the bands turned up the heat for the all aghes crowd that turned out.
"When you meet eyes with someone in the crowd, and they're feeling the music, that's what it's all about." said Tom Keller.
"Everybody has a great additude", said Bj Nagel, the 17 year-old guitarist and singer for 30 Day Warranty, a group of high school students from Midlothian High School. "It's a great way to live -having fun and being independent."
While many adults look at young punkers and figure they're out of control hooligans, the scene is actually largley populated by deep thinking, open minded young people who are against drugs and alcohol.
"With punk, there's a sense of humanity," Keller said. "You have to work together to succede."
A recent Battle of the Bands at Twisters featuring a slew of young metro Richmond bands crowned 30 Day Warranty as kings, at least until the next big showdown. But that didn't cause any bad blood in the close-knit RVA Punk (Richmond, Va Punk)Brotherhood.
That's why you'll see someone in one band rushing to the stage with a back-up instrument when someone in another band breaks a string or suffers equipment failure in the middle of the set.
"There's a do-it-yourself ethic" shared by the bands, Said 30 Day bassist, Brad Villemagne, 17. "Get it done, help each other out."
Adults think people our age can't do it," added Villemagne. "Kids can't play music. See, we can do it."
Bob Nagel, Bj's father, is one of the biggest fans of 30 Day Warranty. "I love it," he said. I was in a band when i was a little younger than him and never achieved any success or stuck with it like he has."
Anyone who doubts that 15-,16-,17-,18-year olds can't crank out blistering rock and roll should visit Twisters or the Battle of the Bands there next Saturday.
Of course not every parent is exactly thrilled with the whole punk rock thing. Jane Nagel said she worries her son's college education may get shoved aside. The band's road trips make her nervous and that loud and agressive sound kind of over powers her, she added.
After a show in Petersburg, she asked Bj if the band got paid.
"No", she recalled him saying, "But we did get free water!"
"I
m glad they like it so much," Jane Nagel said. I'll be sorry one day when he's rich and famous and I didn't believe in his music."
Even if these young punkers don't find fame and fortune, at least they're staying in shape.
