Lead singer of The Claw and Philadelphia punk stalwart Little Mikey Brosnan was struck and killed by a car at 48th and Springfield late Saturday night / early Sunday morning. Mikey was heavily involved in the Philadelphia punk scene for more than a decade, putting on shows and singing in bands including Eighth Fire, Dead Alive, Manual Seven, Grim Aria, and his latest, The Claw. Mikey was one of the most important people involved in establishing Stalag 13 as a place for all-ages shows.

I can’t stop thinking about Mikey passing away. When i first got to college, Mikey was one of the first punx that i made friends with. I don’t even remember how we met. For a while, Philly was uptighty emo-central and it was very clique-y. It was people like Mikey that kept me coming back to shows. Him just saying “Hi!” when he saw me standing around meant a lot to me.

And don’t even get me started on Stalag 13 - the West Philly warehouse that Mikey and friends turned into an all ages DIY mecca that bands all over the world still talk about. That place was magical. I consider myself lucky to have gone to shows there. The all ages scene in Philadelphia would be very different today had it not been for Mikey and his friends and Stalag 13.

Anyway, even though Mikey was more of a “punk” than I’ll ever be, I’ll always remember that when I first met him he was psyched about Blacktrain Jack and Bouncing Souls shows. I probably hadn’t said more than 5 words to him since like 1994 or something (aka Stalag days) but I’ll miss him. His metal band, The Claw, played downstairs during at least two different of my England Belongs To Twee DJ nights. I wish I’d have stopped down to watch their full set. I wish I stopped down to say hello. R.I.P., buddy. You deserved better. We’ll miss you.

After the jump, Mr. Mike McKee was kind enough to send me an interview that he did with Mikey this past spring for a magazine article about the legendary Stalag 13…

the warehouse he helped change into a pivotal all-ages venue for the East Coast and American punk scene. Unfortunately, because of the limited scope of the article, the interview doesn’t make any mention of ANY of Mikey’s bands, all of which will always have a special place in some peoples’ hearts and memories.

Interview by Mike McKee:

This isn’t meant to be anything more than it is; it’s just an interview about Stalag 13 and how it all came about. But, I thought some people might get a kick out of reading Mikey in his own voice and his own words, talking—essentially (although not intentionally)—about how his life brought all of us together.

I’ve added some notes to clarify things for some people.

Obviously, I’m in the bold italics, and Mikey is in the regular font.

Below the interview are a few quotes from his friends back around 1992-1997…

When and how did you wind up moving into Stalag 13? How did the place look physically and structurally when you moved in as opposed to how the place looked a few years later?

It was in the fall of 94. I was living in a van with my friend Jay Warren. My friend Mega Jimmy told me he saw this warehouse space for rent right in between Killtime and the Fakehouse. So I called up the landlord and went to look at it.
It was a dump. the backdoor was bricked up. There was two bathrooms with no shower. The heat didn’t work. there was just a small hole in the ceiling with a ladder to the second floor. There were cracked ceiling joists, and the electrical system in the house was probably a fire hazard. But we loved it and moved in anyway.

I spent the first three weeks watching Hogans Heroes when I got off the night shift, and sleeping downstairs next to a kerosene heater since it was November and freezing cold. At first it was just Jimmy, Pete, and I - but Pete couldn’t hack it and moved out after three weeks. So I moved upstairs. We got the heat fixed. We converted one of the bathrooms to a shower. I repaired the floor and ceiling joists in my room upstairs. Laid some carpet and put up drywall. My room just looked like a room in a crappy apartment, a refuge from the shithole out the door.

[note: this wintery ennui and fixation with Hogans Heroes reruns sparked christening the warehouse Stalag 13—the cabin the POWs in the show were housed in.]

But overtime we built stairs (even after my dog [note: this was Ton Ton, originally Mikey’s parent’s dog, the big white fluffy thing that was raised on VENISON!] had learned to climb the ladder to my room) and rooms, a stage and got into the backyard. The backyard is where the trash monster lived and ruled through the whole tenure there. That’s a whole other story…

Who moved in next?

Tim, Jay, and Andrew [note: Not Martini] moved in to the downstairs. There was a myriad of characters that either lived there or may have well lived there over time. There was of course Rob Banks, Billy, Ken, Brad, Jen, Tim, Tom, and Ultra Matt. Plus the usual array of travelers, friends and idiots passed out on the floor.

How would you describe the living situation there during your tenure? How did it change over time?

It was one of the most stressful and chaotic living experiences I have ever had. I would do it all over again.
We didn’t go through a winter where the heat wasn’t off for at least part of it. whether for broken heaters or unpaid bills. There was always a sea of broken bottles and spilled beer on the floors. Swimming with the never ending cast of characters in and out of the door. You could go weeks without any contact of the sun upon your skin. Just the dim glow of the sparse lights in the building. The place was always alive with some sort of activity, be it some band practicing for the first and last time, a show, some junkie overdosing in the backyard, or a bunch of dicks starting a fight.

There was one time after The Creeps (pittsburgh) had played, And Ajax (Submachine/The Creeps) decided to stay in town. I had paid my roommates, Billy and Ken, $4 to clean the house. They wanted beer so they jumped at the chance. Well, drunken logic led them to decide that since they were going to clean the place, they could trash it first. Those 10 blue plastic recycling containers were overflowing with glistening remnants of chaos, laughter from the past week. They just couldn’t resist their siren song. I remember hearing the sounds of breaking glass, and came running down the stairs to find Billy rolling naked in the glass and Ajax picking up entire crates and throwing them in the air over his head. For about the next hour Billy, Ken, Ajax and Ultra Matt proceeded to break every single bottle in the house. I guess it was kinda zen, but I always found this calming solace in the midst of all the mayhem.

What made you want to start organizing shows at Stalag? What did you roommates think of all that?

Well, as soon as we moved in, the idea was to start having bands play. And we had our first show on February 11th just three months after we moved in. Of course, no one knew what a pain in the ass it is to actually run shows, and the first few had a lot of problems.

Comparatively, the first one ran pretty smoothly. It was with, Dissucks, The Applicators, and the Abreacts. All local bands and everyone was fine getting paid in beer. The second show had two bands from outta town, which is when we realized we needed to stop buying kegs so we could pay the bands. That show had Limecell, Animal Farm (WI), Fuck face(CA), Wendy-o-matic doing spoken word, and I can’t remember who else played. (The) Show started late, we had problems with the PA., due to poor planning the outta town bands played last. So I think Animal Farm went on at like 3:30 in the morning.

Must not have left too bad an impression since most of them moved here…[Animal Farm contained members who were later in Machine that Flashes and Zed - to bands that lived in Philly]

The key was always that everyone had fun, which at that time was always the case.

Much of the printed word devoted to Stalag 13 in newspapers and magazines has been related to its connection (tangential or otherwise) to either Sean Agnew and the early days of R5 productions OR the involvement of Tony Pointless. I’m curious what about the full Stalag story - do you feel anything has been missed or left out because of that?

They definitely played a huge part in the history of Stalag, and took it to a different level. I never wanted to do more then 4-6 shows a month. It was my house and I wanted some time without 150 people in my living room. Plus, it was an illegal venue and if you start doing too many shows eventually it’s gonna get noticed and the city will shut you down.

I think the part that is missed the most is the fact that it created a sense of community among the thriving independent scene–especially with the kids our age and younger. The older punks had their Love Club and Pizzazz, but the younger ones hadn’t had anything like that yet. Stalag was more than a venue. it was a home. It was a place people would just come to hang out. We made friends with a lot of the neighbors, including Way’s Lounge, the bar across the street. They actually use to put up stickers from the bands. But that changed a lot after some asshole ripped the sink from their Men’s Room wall. Then they started complaining.

We had Tiny, Grandma Dynamite (preceding Kid Dynamite by several years), Otis the Superman Rapper, and Tyrone to name a few of the characters that would come by. I think they [the newspapers and stuff, not Sean and company] always missed the human element, that was what made gave Stalag it’s personality.

Luckily, I had made friends with the police from the station down the street. They knew there was better things for them to do than bust a few kids drinking. The one sergeant use to come by and everyone would freak out thinking the show was getting shut down. All he wanted was to say “Hi” to me and see if I wanted to buy a bass head, or if his friend’s country band could play sometime.

What did you like best about the venue? What made it problematic?

It’s still my favorite place to see a show. No big stage, no back stage (other than the bedrooms upstairs, but that doesn’t count). It just felt like you were hanging out with a bunch of friends. If it was too crowded, it could get a bit claustrophobic. Plus with the stage being up front, it made getting in and out difficult. Plus you always had to police the front to make sure no one was drinking as well as cleanup the whole block after the show to keep the neighbors happy.

What are some of the most memorable shows you saw or booked there?

One of my favorite shows was the Logical Nonsense, Burn The Priest, and Zed show I booked. The energy of the crowd was just amazing. Everyone was having so much fun. If someone fell down they got picked up. The bands were amazing.
Some of the best shows though happened last minute and there was almost no one there to witness them. One was when Fuckface and Hickey called up and asked to play the next day. They had their own PA and everything. I think 15 people showed up—

Yeah, mostly from our house!

Matt from Fuckface had dyed his hair with blue Koolaide, which had since run and made him look like a deranged Smurf. He proceeded to get naked and stick the mic cable up his ass while they were playing. I was glad it wasn’t my PA. Both bands ended up hanging out for two days. I think that’s what made it so memorable. Just getting to know the people involved with these two bands.

One other one that stands out in my mind was one of the first Atom and His Package shows. Scott Beiben had booked a show for this band Nautical Almanac out of Wisconsin. I think there were maybe 20 people there, but N.A. set up all this shit all over the warehouse. They had fireworks, big wheels–yeah that’s right–some guy in snow pants running around with a projector displaying films on the walls ceilings or on people.

And after all this Atom comes on and turns the whole place into a dance party. That’s right - a bunch of crusty kids dancing. Simply amazing.

Did”running” the space become more difficult as it became more established and more of a “place to be” and a “place to play?”

It became harder to book local bands as more touring bands came through, and we had to start turning shows away.

Careful now, you sound like Bossman Agnew!

[laughter]

No, it’s hard once it’s a destination… To what extent do you think Stalag helped put Philadelphia “on the map,” rather than a waystop between DC and New York? Cuz that’s certainly what it felt like in those years right before Stalag.

It became place they wanted to play. It became a place you tried to book as opposed to an after thought. They knew people would come out and it wasn’t another bar. They always had a place to stay. We paid the bands, fed them when we could.
Who were the people you consider heavily involved in organizing, running shows at Stalag?

In the beginning the responsibility fell mostly on me. Then as things moved along it was Andrew Martini and you (Mike McKee) started booking shows and helping out.

We had other people that would book shows like Sean Agnew, Pat from Violent Society, and “Daddy Cuff” [note: the father of Mike from The Cuffs, a streetpunky band from New Jersey who owned a bowling alley and would have shows there… surreal], among others. We started developing a support group of people to run everything. It was around the time when I was moving out that Tony Pointless took a more active interest in the venue. I was a bit burned out at that point, trying to work full time and dealing with everything involved … all while having no bathroom. It can take its toll.

Other “famous” venues of this sort often seem to have started with some formal organization or mission–like ABC No Rio or Gilman Street. Stalag, in comparison, had no official governance model or whatever… just some friends doing shit, occasionally working together. Did this make things difficult or lead to confusion ever?

Well, it definitely made for a lot of chaos. People booking shows and not telling anyone ‘till there’s a band at your front door expecting to play. No one wanting to police the front, or work the door (or, letting all their friends in for free). In the beginning it was pretty messy. As things progressed, we learned from our mistakes and worked to find better ways to handle it. From a space that started off as just a bunch of friends wanting to have fun to a world destination for bands. I think we just took it as it came and tried our best to make it work.

Obviously, Mikey Brosnan organized things initially, but he got burned out eventually since he tried to do everything himself. But he made it happen initially. And definitely when Stalag started, everyone one of us were friends with Mikey. We all wanted the space to be fun.
–Andrew Martini

I think me, Brosnan and Gay Peter moved in together, then Brosnan and I told Peter to leave over his drug use. Then Brosnan was in and out, but his dog was there! Then a revolving cast of clowns lived in various other parts, without much rent paying.
Me and Mikey’s names were the only ones on the lease.
–Mega Jimmy

When we got Dasar and Tast to come and graffiti the inside of the warehouse, the only thing we saved was a mural Mikey had painted in the early days with a strong anti-drug message. (“If you’ve come here to shoot something, how about a gun to your head?”) Everything else from the old days got painted over or adapted.
–Tony Pointless

Mikey did consistently amazing metal and crust shows. I was lucky enough to randomly see part of one of the first shows Mikey Brosnan set up there while I was in high school and the contrast between attending a 14 or 15 person event like that and watching two later promoters book concerts for bands like Converge and BoySetsFire, where my hand was numbered at 355 at the door made me realize just how much had changed in such a short amount of time and how Stalag 13 could never last the way it was going. Changes I noticed after Mikey left were a less squatter/city kid attendance at shows and a more sizable suburban based population of regulars.
–Joe Gervasi

I recall the relationship with the cops being fairly lax; we wanted just to police ourselves. Once, Little Mikey called the cops on some nazis who were fucking with shit and, if I recall correctly, the cop he was speaking to made illusions to dumping them in the backyard and how no one would care.
–Nick “Super Fan” Tenaglia

(thanks to Mike McKee for letting us reprint this interview. - Labuda)