Cy*Burr // spring 2004

Tree City Rebels
Forget New York City. There was a time when Kent was colorful and punk was king. Take a trip back to the city’s musical renaissance.

Walking past 319 East Summit Street in 2004, it’s impossible to tell that only ten years earlier the unassuming rental was a makeshift punk house. Sometimes called the “Spy House” after former art punk tenants Harriet the Spy, from 1993 to 1996, the house at 319 East Summit was an all-ages haven, filled with postmodern artwork, thrift store kitsch and half working amplifiers.

“It was dilapidated. Cat hair, lots of litter boxes,” says Cory Race, drummer of Party of Helicopters. “Beer spilled everywhere. Totally loud. The weirdest stuff I’ve ever seen. They had a velvet painting of Hulk Hogan and a Jolly Green Giant on their roof. One year, they decorated their house with Christmas lights to make it look like it was on fire.”

“319 East Summit—The Summit Street House, that was the first place,” says Ryan Brannon, bassist for Party of Helicopters. Ten years ago, Brannon was a sophomore at Kent Roosevelt when he started going to punk house shows. “They would put up mattresses over the windows, and we’d get to see a lot of interesting bands play in the living room. Consequently everybody would drink beer, have a good time and check out some cool bands.”

Since the ‘70s, Kent has been a tour stop for many national acts, as well as hometown to some popular bands. Devo shot one of their early videos in the Kent State Governance Chambers. Chrissie Hynde was walking across campus on May 4, 1970.

“They had a velvet painting of Hulk Hogan and a Jolly Green Giant on their roof.”

The Ramones made a tour stop at the old Shark Club in 1985, present-day site of Screwy Louie’s. Since then, artists from Black Flag to Fugazi have performed in Kent. But in the early 1990’s, an explosion of art and music blossomed from our side streets and houses of students. Throughout the next decade, over 40 bands formed, over 70 albums were produced, and hundreds of live shows were performed. Countless cheap t-shirts, stickers, buttons and ‘zines were made independently. By the mid 1990’s, Kent, Ohio had an actual music scene.