"When it comes to The Punk Rock, it seems that "credibility" is the name of the game. Or "street-cred". Who you know. Who knows you. Who you blow. Who blows you. It's become such a name game that it's almost impossible to tell the diamonds from the dog shit.

The Lower East Side's STITCHES don't have that problem. They don't need "the music industry" telling everyone how Curt, who played in the seminal punk band The Radicts, influenced everyone from suburban kids in their garages to everyone's favorites, Rancid. They don't need punk superstar Joey Ramone vouching for them, even though he gladly does. They don't need their label telling you that Lower East Side Stitches has shared the stage with such acts as The Dickies, D-Generation, Bouncing Souls, Murphy's Law, and host of others. And they don't need me telling you that Damian, Mick, and James, along with Curt, are as good as they get. It's on the kid's faces at all their shows."

-George Tabb Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.