Welcome to the Suspects (DC) Homepage!

We'd like to take a moment to say THE SUSPECTS DC have been very active doing their part to keep the spirit of punk moving along, paying homage to the past & maybe throwing something new into the mix since 2001. OK, so we know this website is bare bones, well, that's how it goes in punk rock & life in general, you get what you pay for, and we aren't paying for this so there ya go. So we got that going for us, which is nice.


Upcoming Shows...


Winter 2009/2010 tour in the works



2008/2009 news: Band appears on "Punk Rock America" on OTF Records. Visit OTF-Records.com




List of old shows (and otherwise notable dates)....
Debuted March 27, 1993 @ Zippy's House in Fairfax, VA alongside King James & Brethren.
Songs played at debut included Things Might Get Ugly (District Blues), Swords of the Fallen, Public Defender (S.O.A. cover), Emotional Blackmail (UK Subs cover), Waco, Are You Responsible, Bondage & Suspected.

Sean continued to appear w/The Suspects at clubs such as Asylum (1993), O'Carroll's (11/13/1994\on a bill including I.F.U.) & Black Cat (3/11/1995\on a bill with Killdozer & Caspar Brotzman Massaker). Furthermore, Sean & Dave performed The Suspects originals & covers all thru-out the second half of the 90s on bills alongside bands such as FEAR, THE NIHILISTICS, UK SUBS, THE BLOOD & US CHAOS. Sean is credited as the founder of the band in interviews in Maximum Rock N Roll + Suburban Voice (issue #41 -15th Anniv. Special-). After denials regarding the contributions of Sean to the band from a few ex-members, Sean was left w/no other choice but to reform the band w/original second guitarist Dave to set the record straight. As two time Iron Cross member Myk Dolfi stated on DC Punk Website PHEER's message board in 1999 when questioned about the legitimacy of playing part in a reunion band, "Yes, you are right, the members at the re-union show did not play on the records,...I met alot of skinheads at the show, some who remember thAt we were in the band, some who didn't, but all of them said it was going to be great to hear the songs again...hell, with only a handful of practices, we kicked ass! as well as gave you some new songs."

Following those prophetic words, Sean appeared w/o apology at the helm of the band he'd started 8 years prior on August 27, 2001 in the first area Suspects appearance in 4 years as we gigged with Absent Without Leave (MD), KickFlip & The Last Sunrise in a house in Fredericksburg, VA. The band was joined by former Malefice & Dizzy Dizzy powerhouse drummer Jim Richman, simply the best drummer to date EVER to play in the Suspects tearing thru a 18 song set. If people didn't remember Sean had started the band & given a few people in DC a very big break, and spearheaded the 3rd coming of DC punk...THEY WOULD NOW!!

On Nov 29th, 2001, we played @ High Fidelity in Woodbridge, VA with GRAVES featuring guys who played with the Misfits during the GEFFEN Years ALONGSIDE Standstill(formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly - debut of this MD band), Fallen Heroes & No Diving [Note flyer below was made b4 the gig was moved venue & datewise]

on Jan 9, 2002 @ Velvet Lounge in Wash. D.C. w/ Thee Black One from NJ + Grand Belial's Key
We'd like to thank Flo for her aide in organizing on this bill.

On Jan. 12, 2002 @ a house in Mt. Airy MD w/Knuckle Deep & True Unholy Death (both featuring Sparky Voyles -formerly of Criminal Element/M.O.D., 32 Mildreds & Dying Fetus- & now in Misery Index) plus Krass Judgement (No VA thrash metal).
-Ian's last show on Bass-

Gig on Feb. 27, 2002 @ Velvet Lounge, Wash DC w/Gibit & not with Amazing Transparent Man from IL on Springman Rec. outta Cali. (who broke down in B'more...hence the no show)

on March 23, 2002 @ Red Door in Allentown, PA w/Tobasco Cat & No Sex for Sal
1 time show as a 5 pc. Still waiting to be paid for this show.

on Mar. 29, 2002 @ AG Center, Westminster, MD w/ One Up On Lucy from Newport PA & MethalOrange from MD. Also, supposedly also playing were: The Venkmans, Act of Falling, Misdirected, San Box & In clover. We succeeded in missing them all.
Did a Danzig tune. Videotape somewhere.

On March 31, 2002 (sunday) @ The Spotlight, Woodbridge, VA with the deathstar 5

On June 16, 2002 @ The Spotlight, Woodbridge, VA w/Last Chance (members of Stand still), MethalOrange from MD, Nourish the Flame (on Blood & Ink) from NC, Narcissus from Canton OH & Comin Correct

On July 13, 2002 @ 929 Cafe (formerly Twisters) in Richmond, VA w/Steel Reserve Crew, One Slack Mind from VA, S.i.K. from WV, Green is Mean from MD & Failed Resistance from IL.

On July 19, 2002 @ Safari Lounge in Providence RI with Citizens Unrest, Another Dead Juliette, Noveau Riche & Brighton Rocks

On July 21, 2002 @ Bloodshed in Baltimore, MD with Counter Action (Pittsburgh) & Blackwatch (Baltimore)

On July 28, 2002 @ Charm City Sports Complex, York PA w/25 Ta Life, XLooking Forward (ex-Subsist), Strength for a Reason & Not without Resistance

On Aug. 9, 2002 @ "Dirt Farm" a house in Adelphi, PG County, MD with Dead Letter Auction from Ft Wayne, IN & Fat Austin (from Towson MD)
Cops showed up before our set, waited for them to split, did a half acoustic, half electric set to appease narky neighbors.

On Aug 28th, 2002 @ Velvet Lounge, Wash DC w/The Mentors, 4X (from Newark DE) & The Screwz
1st show with another 5 piece line-up

on Aug 29, 2002 @ The Depot in Baltimore, MD w/Reflux & Worlds Apart

On Aug 31, 2002 @ The Spotlight, Woodbridge, VA with Shindig, Savage Remains, the Gentries & Dawn Undercover

On Sept 3, 2002 @ 929 in Richmond, VA with A Global Threat, Clit45 & Defiance

On Sept 12, 2002 @ Shooter Luke's, Fairmont, WV w/Complimentary Chaos [R.i.P.] & Hate Skrape

On Sept 19, 2002 @ Jaxx, Springfield VA w/No Warning from Canada me thinks, Hope Conspiracy, The Infamous (sick of talk recordings/MD), Cro-Mags-NYC (John Joseph PLUS AJ Novello of Leeway/Both Worlds & a bass player from Shelter) [read Harley's & Parris's take on all this] & 1 other area band

on Sept 21, 2002 @ Red Door in Allentown, PA

Brief Phone Interview w/Ross Senack aka DJ ROSSSTAR on his PUNK ROCK SHOW Wednesday October 16th 2002 aired live on WVAU

On October 31, 2002 @ Old Stafford Middle School Gym @ 31 Stafford Avenue, Stafford VA w/Savage Remains, One More Reason, Beg For Your Life & Poseur Bill

On November 7th, 2002 (Thursday) @ Hal Daddy's, Baltimore, MD w/The Homeowners, Brat & Spindel

EUROPE TOUR #1 NOV 2002 {all dates w/Mata-Ratos}

Key Personnel: Rui Kilito/Stage-Driver, Jorge/House Sound-Driver, Isabel/Merch

November 20th, 2002 @ Le Son, Coimbra, Portugal
Like all the Portugal dates, this was a packed show in a 2 story bar. Mata-Ratos having been #5 in the charts over U2 & Michael Jackson back in 1990 accounts for the large turnouts. There isn't a punk rocker in Portugal that doesn't know the band.

November 22nd, 2002 @ Associação Satori 666, Querença (Algarve), Portugal
As with Le Son, a solid venue - in fact the 1st 2 dates are the same clubs that Mission UK is hitting on their current tour. Paschal the head honcho is a geezer into old style punk so alot of Ruts was played in the club.

November 23rd, 2002 @ Centro Cultural de St. Andre, Mangualde, Portugal (8º Mangualde Hard Metal Fest) with: Avulsed, Omited GR on SB Records, Demon Dagger, Alien Squad, Dismal, Freedoom (classic crust punk from Portugal), Albert Fish (off A NOSSA LUTA comp), Necrose, Diskarga Etilika & Campo Minado
Only caught M.R., Avulsed & Omited GR due to a nice flat tire 5 miles from the gig. The center tried to give us beans w/only pork fat. I bitched & out came a plate of cooked meat. LIFE WAS GOOD. Omited GR were backstage eating & carrying on too. Our whole band banged out rhythms to their chants w/forks, knives & metal plates.

November 24th, 2002 @ Anoeta, Vigo, Spain w/Los Faltones
Singer of Los Faltones said I (sean narrating here) looked like Keanu Reeves ugly brother. His band did Suffragete City. Motorhead had played this bar about a year prior.

November 26th, 2002 @ Napoleon, Tours, France
Slept in the car morning of the gig & near froze to death. I hate this country for obvious reasons: scenery on the road blows, too many tolls & most french do indeed hate americans. All that said, our hosts were gracious & the club was cool as fuck. At the end of the nite, a friend of our hosts came over & introduced us to the world of UNCLE LAUNCHER, possibly the most annoying videogame ever.

November 27th, 2002 @ Cabaret Voltaire, Binche, Belgium
Cruxshadows had a gig here the night after we played but the bar made no effort to do anything to promote the show resulting in by far the worst turn out of any of the gigs on the tour. After the show, a case of what must be the worst belgian beer FREEDOM was given to the bands along with some lame ass pasta. I never knew i'd have to travel all the way to Binche to taste Freedom.

November 28th, 2002 @ Bullis, Chemnitz, Germany
As soon as we pit stopped in Germany, picked up Reissdorf in a can. Club gave us unlimited amount of beer like Braustolz & consumed a nice dinner of rice & chili that kicked ass. Meals were included @ most shows which I had no complaints about.

November 29th, 2002 @ K17 Club, Berlin, Germany
A skinhead in the club named Timu hooked me up w/3 shots of Babalou in the course of a hour combined w/a bunch of beer I was drinking with my comp tickets. After M.R. was done, the club had a 80s/goth/whatever dance party. That was the 1st time the whole nite most of the skins danced. Go figure. Napalm Death, Daily Terror & a few other cool shows were going on around the time we were in Berlin @ this club.

November 30th, 2002 @ AJZ, Erfurt, Germany w/The Shocks from Berlin & STROHSÄCKE
Club/Squat gave us 6 drink tickets per member & 1 killer meal. The next morning departed on a 40 hour ride back to Lisbon. Was able to enjoy Super Bock which is only rivaled by Sagres in Portugal on the ride home once we neared Lisbon. France's idiotic highway rules prevent the sale of alcohol @ all truck stops so it was a very dry stretch of road in France puncuated by a early morning stop several hours south of Paris where I put 2 & 2 together & discovered that not only is a 2,75 Euro Orangina indication of mass bloodsucking but so are tolls every fucking minute. The flight home on British Airways was a miserable experience with announcers saying more "SHHHHED-JEWEL" instead of Schedule which annoyed the fuck out of all us on the flight over. Customs was asleep @ Dulles & brought back more spanish Corn Nuts which I picked up in Basque country which i thought ruled.



At this juncture, it's important to address the entirely false accusations made by 2001-early 2003 ex-help to enemies of the band. Sean, the singer was accused in a piece of slander which was hatched around June 2003 of having stolen all the proceeds of the European venture by disgruntled ex-help. I suspect some of the reason includes refusing to manage their other band. The full reason really doesn't matter. Here's a letter dated July 29, 2003 from the singer of Mata-Ratos who doubled as accountant for that tour absolving me of any theft & dishonesty in this fiduciary matter.

"I’ve send him a full detail report on what we’ve got on each show. On total in all the shows we’ve got around 3000 euros (wich makes 1500 for each band). But I’ve also told him (full detail) that the total expenses (van & car rental, gas, peages, sleeps in Vigo and Belgium) we’re around 3200 euros. So nobody earn shit. We’ve covered the difference (around 200 euros) with our merchandising money since you had already spent big money to come to Europe. "

"Don’t remember giving you a dime…well maybe some time I gave you some coins when I was drunk but never gave bands money away…got to stop drinking and acting like Saint Francis!"

I'll close my thoughts on this whole fat lie by stating I am a personal witness to a visit by my entire 2002 euro-tour line-up to the Portugal Ultra store in Lisbon which we all later found out was owned & operated by racist football hooligans who support beating up african football supporters at games. Anyone wishing to take sides with our former band members out of any spite they have for me is invited to take their side by purchasing "HOOLIGAN: A Tribute to football fans" where they appeared with planning & forethought alongside neo-nazi bands Guarda de Ferro (Hitler's Iron Guard) and Combate. This was released by that very same Portugal Ultra shop in 2004. For those of you who are stupid, that was 2 years after we all found out they were nazis. Would any true anti-racist get together with the nazi enthusiasts of any sport to celebrate a shared sports interest? Glad it isnt me who's band was teaming up with people from the Portuguese "Identity" scene. What next? Will Anti-Flag appear on a CD with White Wash to pay homage to tennis?





Dec. 13th, 2002 @ Broadway Central Cafe, South Amboy, NJ w/F.O. The Smack Magnet & Stutter

Dec. 14th, 2002 @ House on Rt. 1, South Brunswick, NJ w/Lethal Aggression

Dec. 21st, 2002 @ The Spotlight, Woodbridge, VA w/Savage Remains, Brain Invaders, The Independents, Shell Shock (NYC), Obscene Pain Syndicate & The Homeowners

2003:

Jan 25: w/Stations, Latchkey & Bedrockers @ Spotlight, Woodbridge, VA

Feb 22?: Iroquois, Roanoke, VA w/Stations & Pissant
Would like to thank Dylan of Stations for offering to give us a 2nd show (a 3rd show of our 2 bands on the same bill) after having seen us twice in our after 1998 form and for the new line-up which had just changed. Here's a nice email I saved from him.

Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2003 03:00:24 +0000

Sean-
Hey,how's it goin'?A band from Slovenia,huh?Crazy.....
Well,booking isn't really done that far in advance for that club,but
I'll go ahead and mark that down,see what's up closer to
August,maybe late June.Hope the new band's doing well.
Take it easy,
Dylan
http://www.thisisstations.com

Apr 4: Sharpshooters, Manassas, VA w/Tighten?
Major line-up change, band improves exponentially.

Apr 12: Cruzers, Norfolk, VA w/Unabomber & Memphis Murder Men (formerly called Brain Invaders)

Apr 26: Van Duzer Inn, Staten Isl., NY w/Eyes of Hate (R.I.P. Al), Sangwich, Hate Trash Disasters & The Clap

May 10: Broadneck FYC, Annapolis, MD w/Shortbus? & Underscore?

May 17, 2003 Where: New Market Grange Hall, N.M., MD With: The Suspects DC, Ana Pupedan, Stevens, Full Minute of Mercury, Spaceman Spiff, Split 66, Blue Sky Goodbye & Lies the Answer

June 13 house party in Chantilly, VA

6/21/2003: Nutstock #2 Fairfax, VA w/Rex Morgan, M.D. Trio & many more

July 4 @ 123: The Caterpillar Scheme; Law Biting Citizens; Scribe

3 Day Mini-Tour in UK
9/4/2003: R.M.S, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales w/Kingz of Chaos, Fistfuck & 1 other

9/5/2003: Rhondda Hotel, Porth, Wales w/Fallible & curfew?

9/6/2003: B'ham Punx Picnic at Royal George in B'ham, England w/Rabies Babies, Hardcore, Indicator, Order (Japan), Runnin' Riot & more



Jan 17, 2004: Hagerstown @ Wilson Ruritan w/At Arms, and i think Stupyd Cow + Twin Cheek Assault or Magrudergrind

Aug 05: Nutstock Fest #3, Fairfax, VA

Oct 16, 2008 Philly, PA w/Victor Victor Band

Dec, 2008 Arlington, VA w/Sandboxer





a word on "THE SUSPECTS" is in order...it was a naive move on a band in the pre-internet age to really believe they were the first band to pull this monicker as their own. If it's too good to be true, IT IS. Every time i dig to find the 1st band using the name, i uncover another band that had the idea even earlier! So far, my research has uncovered 2 known brit punk bands from 75-85 period in England, a 1978 Belgian band, a 1979 California band, a 1979 NJ band, a 1983 Richmond VA band & several bands in existence now. Links to a few of the "SUSPECTS" follow below.
Steve Wynn, better known for Dream Syndicate, had a 1979 California band that recorded a 7" Talking Loud
A '82 UK band led by DAVE ASGROVE was called THE SUSPECTS & was on CRASS RECORDS "BULLSHIT DETECTOR, VOLUME 2"
A '83 Richmond, VA band featured drummer Peter Headley (later of Vapor Rhinos & Dirt Ball) released a LP.
A 8 piece Houston, Texas SKA band started gigging out in Oct. '93 - the following blurb was lifted from a AOL page. "The Suspects play very energetic and somewhat traditional ska. They have two albums out Nintey Nine Paid and How I Learned to Stop Worying and Love the Ska."
Bill Bailey (of Destroy All Monsters fame) has his Suspects in MN doing classic rock with a husband/wife team.
For giggles...go look on MP3 & see how many bands thought they had a original band name.
It's like we say in our song "We're the Suspects"...."any punk can do this, go start a band today".

Email us in confidence to "I think your band rules"