Episode 018: The Fan Perspective w/ Mike Pelak

Mike Pelak didn’t run a label, play in a band, record bands, own a record store, print merch, run a zine or promote, ok wait he did help promote shows with Bomshelter run by Ricky the artful dodger Saporta.

I’d always see Mike at a lot of shows my band played at and he just had such a positive and happy demeanor about him. He’d always be in the crowd singing the songs back to bands and then hop in a car with some friends and get to the next show that same night. Sometimes making it to 3 or 4 in one weekend.

I wanted to see what it was like from a “fan perspective” so I reached out to Miguel, set up a time to talk and this is what we chat about.

• Flipside records
• Highstrung changing his life
• His old venue tour around NJ
• How it never took too long to get to different towns to watch shows
• The Juliana Theory show where they unplugged Random Task’s amps
• The ecosystem we built by accident
• Why the size of Jersey made it such a good scene
• His thoughts on what caused the shift in the scene from good to different
• The Bombshelter team
• How he and Dave Flores tried to revive promoting shows
• When ska went away
• His stint at Side One Dummy
• What it would be like to go back to venues now and just have a beer

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