It’s no surprise that Ray Cappo, of bands such as Youth Of Today and Shelter, has lots of stories about New York in the ’80s. On the latest episode of The Hard Times Podcast, he tells Matt and Bill, “You could get away with murder easily if you really wanted to.”
But Ray wasn’t there to murder. Ray was there to mosh.
At a U.K. Subs show Ray remembers, “Everyone started moshing and I was like ‘Oh my god they’re moshing!’ The word mosh wasn’t public. The word mosh was exclusively for New Yorkers and you had to be on the inside. So to me I was like ‘They’re Slam Dancing!’ But in New York, there’s a way to Slam Dance. This ’80s slam dance was a very exclusive style you needed to be trained in, so that was my day of getting trained.”
“So I just went right for the slam,” he continues, “which was like running, banging, knocking people over, people of clout, people that could cause danger upon me. And sure enough, a hand grabs me by the neck… cocks his fist back to punch my lights out — think I was literally in tenth grade — and I just look at him and I go ‘I’m sorry, I’m new to this! I don’t know what to do!'”
To hear more wild stories from Ray (and there are some good ones) check out the latest episode of The Hard Times Podcast. You can also see the podcast on The Hard Times YouTube channel!
