![]() It was a part-time hobby that didn’t provide a living, but it was fun. ![]() People in the scene started referring to me as Craig Sinister. All the bands on my label were local punk rockers and played at the Fireside Bowl. “I started a record label, Sinister, during my last year of high school in 1996. Managing partner, Colley Elevator Company, Bensenville, Ill. There’s the cheekiness of being punk rock, but at the end of the day, there’s a lot of mutual respect for one another.”Įarth Crisis at the Fireside Bowl (Photo courtesy of on Instagram) Craig Zomchek (BUS ’02, MBA ’05) If you were cool enough to be at that show on that Thursday night, everybody was cool with you. “If you fell down, everybody around you would pick you back up. You were in the middle of a cool punk-ska show and dancing on top of each other. Sometimes someone would crowdsurf and punch the ceiling tiles, dust would rain down and get in your eyes and mouth, and you’d wonder what chemicals you were inhaling. It would get super hot and heavy with cigarette smoke. You could see a lesser-known band, and there’d be 40 people there, or a group like Oblivion or Apocalypse Hoboken, which would pack the place. “They had shows every night, and it was usually just a $5 cover. It instilled compassion for other people’s perspectives and struggles, which is an absolute requirement for a public defender. The separate education I got at those shows provided good lessons as I approached adulthood. My cousin, Brad Krischke (CDM ’01, MS ’05), lived at DePaul, and I’d go to punk rock and ska shows with him. “I started going to the Fireside Bowl when I was 15. I really enjoyed that kind of music, and I still do today.”įireside crowd (Photo courtesy of on Instagram) Scott Krischke (LAS ’05)įederal public defender, Eastern District of Missouri, St. “Going to all-ages shows on any given night was a cool thing for teenagers. If you didn’t play at the Fireside or you’d never been there, then you weren’t punk enough, right? “The venue was pretty dingy, but It became an iconic punk scene. There was no competition with one another. ![]() The Chicago punk community was really strong, and we all got along. There were early formations of bands that later ended up making it big, like Alkaline Trio. “We made a lot of friends with bands that eventually dominated the Fireside, like the Bollweevils, Los Crudos, Oblivion, No Empathy, Apocalypse Hoboken, Smoking Popes. ![]() One of them, Bug Hunt, played at the Fireside Bowl a couple of times. “I drummed in a few punk bands in the early to mid-’90s. Cesar Peña (SCPS ’11)įinancial consultant, Fidelity Investments, Schaumburg, Ill. We asked four DePaul alumni who were there to share their memories with us. Fullerton Parkway slam-danced its way into punk rock history as an underground, all-ages punk, ska and emo scene rivaling New York City’s CBGB. But from 1994 to 2004, the venerable venue located two miles west of DePaul’s Lincoln Park Campus at 2648 W. Mosh pits, crowdsurfing and the torrential tempos of punk rock bands no longer lay siege to Chicago’s famed Fireside Bowl, now a freshly scrubbed, family-friendly bowling alley. Alumni share their memories of attending the punk rock concerts at the Fireside Bowl
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