For punks, your first basement show is a right of passage. It‰’s your first adventure into the real world of punk and for most, it‰’s a life changing experience.

This week I sat in on WVAU‰’s own Punk Is The Worst Form of Music (except all others) online radio show to talk to co-hosts Zach Moore and Zach Lesher about their first basement shows.

Courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan

Zach Moore‰’s first official basement adventure came in college. A current journalism major/political science minor, Zach grew up on Long Island, NY, where VFW halls were the main punk venue. Zach found his first DC basement show via a friend, in northwest DC at a house lovingly named Porter Haus. The notable band on the bill was Cud Eastbound and they played to an intimate crowd of six people.

Zach Lesher has a similar story to Zach Moore, in that his first basement show was also here in DC while attending AU. This Zach, a sociology major, grew up in Juneau, Alaska, a place with little to no punk scene or local shows. Zach Lesher attended his first basement show with Zach Moore at a favorite venue of mine, The Rocketship. The artists at this show were Ghost Mice and Bernays Propaganda, who were then on tour. Also on the bill was Spoonboy, aka the singer of DC favorites The Max Levine Ensemble.

As for recent basement shows these boys have attended, Zach Moore has also been frequenting shows in Annapolis, Maryland, held on a local dock that happens to have outlets and a very lenient local enforcement agency. He also recently saw Pat The Bunny and One Man Romance play. Zach recalled the show as being very small, which he says is fitting and indicative of the general folk punk scene here. The scene is so small, in fact, that when an electric punk band played the whole crowd just wasn‰’t feeling it.

We wrapped up by talking about my love of AFI, their mutual love for Pat the Bunny and Zach Lesher‰’s love for Andrew Jackson Jihad.