The Kids Are Alright

If you would drive south on Route 88 from Pittsburgh, you will find yourself, in what locals in Western Pennsylvania call the “Mon Valley,” which is home to a number of small, blue-collar towns that rest on the basin of the Monongahela River. These towns are your typical Western Pennsylvanian, “Rust Belt” communities of the early 21st century that are slowly dying after the collapse of the steel mill industry in the 1980s, and where the local town’s economy continues to decline in the aftermath decades later. One would figure that, stereotypically, small towns, such as the quaint, Mon Valley town of Charleroi, would not offer much commercially, let alone offer places to go and things to do for groups of local teenagers other then cruise down the main street, McKean Avenue, or park their parent’s cars to hangout and munch on cheap french fries in the parking lot outside of the local McDonald’s. However, on any given evening in Charleroi, Pa., there was a place along McKean Ave. for the local kids to gather and listen and enjoy a wide array of live music, and it happens to be at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #167.

The Charleroi VFW was, one would think, a place where the local veterans in the community would meet to share drinks and trade old war stories. However, you wouldn’t be able to tell by standing outside this small, yellow-bricked, rundown building in the middle of town in former “steel mill country” that it has hosted some of the biggest rock acts of “Generation Y.”

The Charleroi VFW hall, like many small towns in the country, was a popular place to rent out to amateur concerts promoters for Do-It- Yourself (DIY) punk rock shows. Since 1999, the VFW has been a popular venue for local and touring bands alike to perform, and many well-known and critically-acclaimed acts of today have had to start by performing at the Charleroi VFW. The All-American Rejects, Say Anything, and the Grammy nominated Fall Out Boy, all, currently, mainstream and major-label artists, have performed at the Charleroi VFW before they achieved huge success. The VFW was also the birthplace of hometown rock heroes, Punchline, who ended up becoming a nationally, well-known rock outfit among the underground punk rock scene and signed a record deal to popular pop/punk rock label, Fueled By Ramen, in 2002; home to other recently popular pop/punk acts, Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, and Paramore.

“The VFW is where we announced that we signed to Fueled by Ramen, “said Steve Soboslai, lead singer and guitarist for Punchline. “Being a local act and performing there, time and time again, it gave us the experience we needed to tour nationally and achieve the success that we have.”

“It’s quite surreal that a small, run-down, VFW hall would host some of the best shows I have ever seen in my entire life,” says Alexander Drizos, of nearby Belle Vernon. “I remember seeing Saosin (a rock ensemble, now signed to major record label, Columbia Records) perform in 2005 and the place was so packed with kids that the singer and guitarists had to perform by standing on the drum riser. Now they play in huge clubs and venues that can fit well over thousands of kids. It was absolutely incredible seeing a band like that, at the time, in such an intimate setting.”

Even local bands drew a colossal amount of fans, if not more, then the bigger, more popular touring acts. Wings of Azrael, a rock band also from nearby Belle Vernon, were one of the most popular rock acts to perform at the VFW. When they self-released their first album, Suspension of Disbelief, is 2004, they hosted a CD release show, which had a record number of attendees that was equal to the attendance that the bigger touring bands brought to the venue.
“The Wings of Azreal CD release show was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen,” says Matt Tod Hough, of Belle Vernon. “I remember walking into the VFW late in the evening and seeing a sea of people while they were performing. You would think that Journey was playing by the number of kids and the excitement that was coming from that room.”

Although the majority of the kids loved the VFW and attended the shows that were held there often, a good number of the Charleroi locals seen the VFW as a public nuisance; a haven for teenagers to experiment with drugs and get into trouble. Police would constantly be sent to the VFW for noise complaints, and to remove kids, who would hangout outside of private residences that accompany the same street as the VFW. After a substantial number of complaints from the community, the executive board members of the VFW eventually voted to close the hall to hosting concerts in 2006, which was a heavy blow to the hearts of the younger, concert-loving community, whom had a deep-rooted, genuine love for the shows held there.
“I’ve always felt that the VFW was a positive place for kids to hangout with their friends and see and listen to amazing performances by awesome bands,” said Josh Bakaitus, owner of Bridgeport Entertainment, a popular Pittsburgh-based, concert production company which got its start by booking local concerts at the VFW. “I feel that not only did it keep the local kids from getting into trouble, but the concerts brought customers to the local businesses in Charleroi, and since its closing, business has suffered for them.”
Josh along with Donald Byron, owner of Playa’ Productions, another concert production company, have campaigned endlessly with the community to convince the members of the VFW to reopen the hall to holding concerts but, unfortunately, they were met with failed success when the VFW ultimately was sold and turned into an appliance store in early 2007.
“It still breaks my heart passing by where the VFW once stood,” said Byron. “It hurts me to say that the place where I saw Fall Out Boy perform years ago is now a place where they sell refurbished air conditioners, it’s disheartening in a way.”

Since the closing of the VFW, both Bakaitus and Byron tried to host shows at Charleroi’s local Italian Club, a couple blocks away from the VFW, which unfortunately, did not see the similar success that the VFW did and the younger community, again, watched as the hall also closed its doors to shows when similar complaints from local residences followed.
Both Playa and Bridgeport have moved their operations to Pittsburgh, where they book concerts in venues around the city, but they still say that if they had a venue to book concerts in Charleroi, they would continue to do so for “sentimental reasons.”
A couple blocks further down McKean Ave. in late 2006, a couple DIY concert lovers recently leased a building and eventually turned it into a new concert venue in Charleroi called “Club Octane,” which continues to provide a replacement for the VFW and Italian Club but again, it has not met the similar success that the VFW did.

“Although the VFW has closed, I know that years from now when I look back on being a teenager, I’ll know that my fondest memories will be going to shows at the VFW,” said Brandon Large, of Charleroi and a former VFW concert attendee, “I mean, I kissed my first girl watching Punchline play.”