Iron Cross (band)
Encyclopedia
Iron Cross is a hardcore
/Oi!
band from Baltimore, Maryland and Washington D.C..
They play a rough form of streetpunk, and is the first band in the United States
to adopt the skinhead
look and the Oi! musical style. Some early members were original to the DC Skinheads (the first Skinhead scene in North America) and had close ties to the Washington, DC hardcore punk
subculture
, due to its relationship with other hardcore bands, with Ian Mackaye
, and with Dischord Records
. Singer Sab Grey
was one of the many roommates in the Dischord House in Arlington, VA. The band's name — and with most of its members being Skinheads — led to accusations of fascism
, which Grey and others in the band and the original DC Skins have always denied. Grey stated in the 1st Iron Cross press kit in 1982, "...oh, and we're not Nazis!"
band State of Alert
, or as it is known SOA. The only non-skinhead in the band was Ferrando, who has usually maintained a spiky hairstyle.
The band's fourth lineup lasted until just after the recording of their first EP Skinhead Glory, and just prior to its release. That EP features the signature song "Crucified," which was later covered by Agnostic Front
, The Business
, H8Machine, Subculture Squad, and 25 ta Life
. The song, "You're a Rebel" from the band's second EP Hated and Proud was covered by the Boston band Dropkick Murphys
. Songs associated with Hated and Proud were first played at the now famous 9:30 Club, formerly at the corner of 9th and F Streets in DC, as part of a revamping of the band's former live set which members felt was stagnant. This set included both old and new material with a few covers from English Oi! bands.
After Blow left the band he was replaced by John Dunn three days prior to Iron Cross' two set show with the Angelic Upstarts where the band almost exchanged blows with The Upstarts. Dunn had been an original member of the DC Skins and was close friends with the band's members. He still remains so. Dunn left the band just before the release of the Hated and Proud EP. He was replaced by Paul Cleary, who was a founding member of the DC bands Trenchmouth
and Black Market Baby. Iron Cross was introduced to the world beyond the eastern United States
with their three songs on the Dischord compilation Flex Your Head
.
with Haggerty. Ferrando also played in the band Ignition. Haggerty went on to play with bands 3 and Severin. Blow, Dunn, and Cleary went different ways, with Blow and Dunn ending up in Los Angeles
in the late 1980s. Dunn went on to play in multiple line-ups that were part of the new so called "Alternative" scene of the late '80s and early '90s in LA.
Grey moved to England
, where he married and had children. Since then, Iron Cross has re-released their EPs and previously-unreleased material in the form of the full-length CD Live For Now. Grey, who continued performing and expanding his musical style, moved back to Baltimore
and as of 2006, was playing with The Royal Americans (a rockabilly
-style band), was performing solo acoustic shows, and occasionally performed with a new lineup of Iron Cross, which completed a national tour in 2003. A split
release with British oi! band Combat 84
was planned for release on GMM Records in 2002, although this recording never materialized. The mini album, Two Piece and a Biscuit, featuring four songs from Iron Cross and three from The Royal Americans was released in 2007 on 13th State Records.
Ferrando now owns the DC club, The Black Cat. Haggerty lives in the Bay Area and continues to perform. Dunn left LA for Seattle in the mid '90s and is now performing with a Pub Rock style band the Chiswick Kommandos. Blow lives in Austin Texas, with Cleary still being located in the DC area.
The 2009 lineup is: Sab Grey - Vocals, Scotty Powers - Drums, Dimitri Medevev - Bass, Mark Linskey - Guitar, Shadwick Wilde - Guitar.
band Agnostic Front
began covering "Crucified", a song from Iron Cross' EP "Skinhead Glory". Agnostic Front included studio versions of the song on their Liberty And Justice For... and Something's Gotta Give albums. "Crucified" has become a staple cover song for many hardcore
and Oi!
bands. Grey's lyrics refer to being ridiculed for being different, being blamed for society's ills, accused of violence, and intolerance because of the actions of others. The metaphor of being crucified resonated with Leftist/Communist and apolitical skinheads who were sick of being labelled as neo-Nazis because of right-wing extremist who stole the skinhead fashion. White-Power/Fascists who called themselves skinheads also identified with the song due to persecution they received for their social and racial views. Crucified has become an anthem for both factions of skinheads worldwide. Live audiences have taken to adding a chant of "skinhead army!" to the chorus, a line not included in the band's original recording.
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
/Oi!
Oi!
Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
band from Baltimore, Maryland and Washington D.C..
They play a rough form of streetpunk, and is the first band in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to adopt the skinhead
Skinhead
A skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads, the first skinheads were greatly influenced by West Indian rude boys and British mods,...
look and the Oi! musical style. Some early members were original to the DC Skinheads (the first Skinhead scene in North America) and had close ties to the Washington, DC hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
, due to its relationship with other hardcore bands, with Ian Mackaye
Ian MacKaye
Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well...
, and with Dischord Records
Dischord Records
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the independent punk music of the D.C.-area music scene. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles...
. Singer Sab Grey
Sab Grey
Sab Grey is the founder of Iron Cross, one of the United States' first skinhead hardcore/Oi! bands.As a teenager, he began to attend hardcore punk concerts in Washington DC, where he met Ian Mackaye, Henry Rollins, and others in the burgeoning Washington, DC hardcore subculture.In 1980, he founded...
was one of the many roommates in the Dischord House in Arlington, VA. The band's name — and with most of its members being Skinheads — led to accusations of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, which Grey and others in the band and the original DC Skins have always denied. Grey stated in the 1st Iron Cross press kit in 1982, "...oh, and we're not Nazis!"
Career
Iron Cross formed in Washington, DC when Dante Ferrando met Sab Grey. Ferrando was previously in the band Broken Cross with Mark Haggerty while in school. When Grey and Ferrando decided to start a new band, Grey suggested the name Iron Cross. The first lineup consisted of Grey on lead vocals, Haggerty on guitar, Ferrando on drums and John Falls on bass guitar. This lineup lasted a very short time with Falls leaving after Iron Cross' early show at the American University. After Falls' departure the band went through two more bassists before settling on Wendell Blow, the former bassist for the DC hardcore punkHardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
band State of Alert
State of Alert
State of Alert was an American hardcore punk group formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980, and disbanded in 1981.-History:State of Alert were fronted by Henry Garfield, who would later rise to fame as Henry Rollins. They formed in October 1980 and disbanded in July 1981...
, or as it is known SOA. The only non-skinhead in the band was Ferrando, who has usually maintained a spiky hairstyle.
The band's fourth lineup lasted until just after the recording of their first EP Skinhead Glory, and just prior to its release. That EP features the signature song "Crucified," which was later covered by Agnostic Front
Agnostic Front
Agnostic Front is an American hardcore band. The band began playing hardcore similar to their contemporaries, and were thrust to the forefront of the burgeoning New York hardcore scene in the mid-1980s with their widely regarded 1984 classic Victim in Pain before evolving to incorporate thrash...
, The Business
The Business (band)
The Business are an English Oi!/punk rock band formed in 1979 in Lewisham, South London. Their album Suburban Rebels became influential in the Oi! movement...
, H8Machine, Subculture Squad, and 25 ta Life
25 ta Life
25 ta Life is an American band from New York City, originally formed in Queens, N.Y. in mid-1991.- History :The band was started by Frank Smarra and Harry Minas in Astoria, Queens, N.Y., they were soon joined by Fred Mesk and together wrote most of the material that would be on their early...
. The song, "You're a Rebel" from the band's second EP Hated and Proud was covered by the Boston band Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys are an Irish-American punk rock band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. The band was initially signed to independent punk record label Hellcat Records, releasing five albums for the label, and making a name for themselves locally through constant playing and yearly St....
. Songs associated with Hated and Proud were first played at the now famous 9:30 Club, formerly at the corner of 9th and F Streets in DC, as part of a revamping of the band's former live set which members felt was stagnant. This set included both old and new material with a few covers from English Oi! bands.
After Blow left the band he was replaced by John Dunn three days prior to Iron Cross' two set show with the Angelic Upstarts where the band almost exchanged blows with The Upstarts. Dunn had been an original member of the DC Skins and was close friends with the band's members. He still remains so. Dunn left the band just before the release of the Hated and Proud EP. He was replaced by Paul Cleary, who was a founding member of the DC bands Trenchmouth
Trenchmouth
Trenchmouth was a Chicago-based post-hardcore band. Throughout its existence, the band consisted of Damon Locks , Chris DeZutter , Wayne Montana , and Fred Armisen on drums. Their third LP, Trenchmouth vs. The Light of the Sun, was released on East West Records, a division of Elektra Records...
and Black Market Baby. Iron Cross was introduced to the world beyond the eastern United States
Eastern United States
The Eastern United States, the American East, or simply the East is traditionally defined as the states east of the Mississippi River. The first two tiers of states west of the Mississippi have traditionally been considered part of the West, but can be included in the East today; usually in...
with their three songs on the Dischord compilation Flex Your Head
Flex Your Head
Flex Your Head is a punk rock compilation album. It was originally released in January 1982, and was re-released on CD in August 1995. A remastered CD version was released in 2002...
.
Aftermath and new lineup
After further lineup changes that left Grey as the only original member of Iron Cross, the band broke up in 1985. Ferrando went on to form the band Gray MatterGray Matter
"Gray Matter" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the October 1973 issue of Cavalier magazine, and later collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift. It is set in the same area as King's novel Dreamcatcher.-Setting:...
with Haggerty. Ferrando also played in the band Ignition. Haggerty went on to play with bands 3 and Severin. Blow, Dunn, and Cleary went different ways, with Blow and Dunn ending up in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in the late 1980s. Dunn went on to play in multiple line-ups that were part of the new so called "Alternative" scene of the late '80s and early '90s in LA.
Grey moved to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where he married and had children. Since then, Iron Cross has re-released their EPs and previously-unreleased material in the form of the full-length CD Live For Now. Grey, who continued performing and expanding his musical style, moved back to Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
and as of 2006, was playing with The Royal Americans (a rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
-style band), was performing solo acoustic shows, and occasionally performed with a new lineup of Iron Cross, which completed a national tour in 2003. A split
Split album
A split album is a music album which includes tracks by two or more separate artists. There have been singles and EPs released in the same nature, which can be referred to as split singles and split EPs respectively...
release with British oi! band Combat 84
Combat 84
Combat 84 were an English Oi! band active during the early 1980s. Formed in 1981 in Chelsea, London by skinheads 'Chubby' Chris Henderson and 'Deptford' John Armitage, Combat 84 rose to national prominence after being featured in a controversial 1982 BBC Arena documentary about the skinhead...
was planned for release on GMM Records in 2002, although this recording never materialized. The mini album, Two Piece and a Biscuit, featuring four songs from Iron Cross and three from The Royal Americans was released in 2007 on 13th State Records.
Ferrando now owns the DC club, The Black Cat. Haggerty lives in the Bay Area and continues to perform. Dunn left LA for Seattle in the mid '90s and is now performing with a Pub Rock style band the Chiswick Kommandos. Blow lives in Austin Texas, with Cleary still being located in the DC area.
The 2009 lineup is: Sab Grey - Vocals, Scotty Powers - Drums, Dimitri Medevev - Bass, Mark Linskey - Guitar, Shadwick Wilde - Guitar.
"Crucified"
In the mid 1980s, New York hardcoreNew York hardcore
New York hardcore refers to hardcore punk and metalcore music created in New York City and to the subculture associated with that music. New York hardcore grew out of the hardcore scene established in Washington, D.C., by bands such as Bad Brains and Minor Threat. Hardcore '81 is an album by the...
band Agnostic Front
Agnostic Front
Agnostic Front is an American hardcore band. The band began playing hardcore similar to their contemporaries, and were thrust to the forefront of the burgeoning New York hardcore scene in the mid-1980s with their widely regarded 1984 classic Victim in Pain before evolving to incorporate thrash...
began covering "Crucified", a song from Iron Cross' EP "Skinhead Glory". Agnostic Front included studio versions of the song on their Liberty And Justice For... and Something's Gotta Give albums. "Crucified" has become a staple cover song for many hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
and Oi!
Oi!
Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
bands. Grey's lyrics refer to being ridiculed for being different, being blamed for society's ills, accused of violence, and intolerance because of the actions of others. The metaphor of being crucified resonated with Leftist/Communist and apolitical skinheads who were sick of being labelled as neo-Nazis because of right-wing extremist who stole the skinhead fashion. White-Power/Fascists who called themselves skinheads also identified with the song due to persecution they received for their social and racial views. Crucified has become an anthem for both factions of skinheads worldwide. Live audiences have taken to adding a chant of "skinhead army!" to the chorus, a line not included in the band's original recording.
EPs
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1982 | Skinhead Glory
|
| 1983 | Hated and Proud
|
| 2009 | Koi Records Split Vol. 5 (split w/ Keyside Strike)
|
Compilations
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2001 | Live for Now
|
| 2007 | Two Piece and a Biscuit (split w/ The Royal Americans)
|