Last Friday evening two dozen kids between the ages of 7 and 15 milled around nervously in front of the stage in the auditorium at Oswego East High School. They were VIPs, hanging out in a reserved section that had been roped off with actual rope, while 350 other kids filled up the stadium seating. They’d all come to see Black Wire, an up-and-coming postpunk trio from Leeds, England, and for most of them this was their first show. When front man Dan Wilson asked at the beginning of the band’s set, “Who here has ever been to a concert before?” six little hands went up.
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This was Black Wire’s first U.S. tour, a short jaunt with stops in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Oswego, the home base of the band’s U.S. manager, Bjorn Forsell. Along with an old friend, Meredith Wittich, Forsell started Giant Pecker Records, which released the band’s self-titled debut CD stateside on Tuesday. “I just thought it would be cool to expose the kids to a band that’s well on its way to breaking,” Forsell said. “Most of them had never seen a concert, and those who had, it was at Rosemont Horizon. Meredith and I both have kids, and it’s not like we can take them to shows at the Empty Bottle.” Forsell, 36, who has previously worked as a studio engineer and as a guitar tech for the Cardigans and the Hives, discovered Black Wire through their debut seven-inch, and signed on to work with the band after seeing them a few times in England. Wittich, 34, who has no previous experience in the music business, left her job as a science teacher at Oswego High six months ago to work on the label full-time.
Oswego East’s auditorium, which features an elaborate professional lighting rig and an unbelievably loud sound system, is frequently rented for public events, according to the school’s theater manager, Todd Mielcarz. “We mostly just get recitals in here,” he said. “This kind of show, a punk band, that’s a pretty big deal for us in a presenting season. Our main concern is safety. We’re keeping the VIP roped off so people don’t rush the stage. I don’t think they will.” But physical safety wasn’t the only concern. Though Forsell had submitted copies of Black Wire’s album, along with T-shirts and posters, to the school’s administrators for approval several months earlier, it wasn’t until the day before the concert that objections were raised. Several parents took issue with the title “Hard to Love, Easy to Lay” and also with the explicitness of Forsell’s label name. In order for the concert to go off as planned, “Giant Pecker” had to be blacked out from all posters and promotional materials, no merchandise could be sold, and the band had not only to agree not to play “Hard to Love,” but to not say the word lay at all.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Andrea Bauer.
