When I was 14 we were living in the projects on Clinton and Fresno street and I saw the Beatles
on tv. It had a huge effect on me. Whatever it was they were doing I wanted to be a part of it. It
started a sunday night ritual of watching the Ed Sullivan Show just to see the rock bands appear.
After many months of guitar practice I ended up playing in a couple of teenage cover bands in
the 60's. My first real gig was at the Fresno Veterans Memorial Auditorium in 1966. It was a
Battle of the Bands and the name of our band was Copasetic Copulation, a name I thought up
that we quickly dropped by the time we played our second gig. That second gig was to be our last
and we were billed as Muscle, a name chosen by our lead singer at the time, David Urrutia,
because none of us had muscles. It was at the Sunnyside Swim and Raquet Club and was our
first-ever paying gig, $35. It's funny how I remember every well-paying gig and every gig I got
stiffed at. After that I played only occasionally into the 70's. But I always had an acoustic guitar
handy and played it from time to time. In the early 70s I would jam with
Tom Moore on 3-chord blues progressions from every angle. But, always, as one guy plays rhythm
and the other guy plays lead. Then, next bar, trade off. That honed my basic guitar chops of both
rhythm and lead.
In the late 70's I got a job at Tower Records and that led to joining a new band that was starting
up called the Subtractions. They were playing this new kind of rock called punk. Almost no rules
except to be punk, whatever that was. Defining it ended up becoming it's main feature.
Sometimes it seemed like it was as many different things as there were people in it.
After brief stints in a couple of punk and new wave bands I finally settled in on a band with my
girlfriend, Joceylin in 1981. Our first lead singer, Eric Tsuda thought up the name CAPITOL
PUNISHMENT. We continued to do this band as it drifted little by little away from punk and into
metally hardcore. Time went by. A lot of time went by. From '81 to '95 we went through several
different lead singers and drummers. We ended up going on a couple of US and European tours
and playing a lot of recording sessions. We put out a variety of records and CDs on several
different labels. In 1983 I released our first record on my newly-formed, Stagedive Records label
and continued to release records, tapes and CDs over the years to this day. From '85-'92 I
operated a brick and mortar record store in Fresno under the same name. In 2001 I finally joined
the digital age and continued to distribute various content online. All in all it has been good fun.
Still playing in a band, occasional solo performances and always working on new material.
Dale Stewart 9JUN2009.
on tv. It had a huge effect on me. Whatever it was they were doing I wanted to be a part of it. It
started a sunday night ritual of watching the Ed Sullivan Show just to see the rock bands appear.
After many months of guitar practice I ended up playing in a couple of teenage cover bands in
the 60's. My first real gig was at the Fresno Veterans Memorial Auditorium in 1966. It was a
Battle of the Bands and the name of our band was Copasetic Copulation, a name I thought up
that we quickly dropped by the time we played our second gig. That second gig was to be our last
and we were billed as Muscle, a name chosen by our lead singer at the time, David Urrutia,
because none of us had muscles. It was at the Sunnyside Swim and Raquet Club and was our
first-ever paying gig, $35. It's funny how I remember every well-paying gig and every gig I got
stiffed at. After that I played only occasionally into the 70's. But I always had an acoustic guitar
handy and played it from time to time. In the early 70s I would jam with
Tom Moore on 3-chord blues progressions from every angle. But, always, as one guy plays rhythm
and the other guy plays lead. Then, next bar, trade off. That honed my basic guitar chops of both
rhythm and lead.
In the late 70's I got a job at Tower Records and that led to joining a new band that was starting
up called the Subtractions. They were playing this new kind of rock called punk. Almost no rules
except to be punk, whatever that was. Defining it ended up becoming it's main feature.
Sometimes it seemed like it was as many different things as there were people in it.
After brief stints in a couple of punk and new wave bands I finally settled in on a band with my
girlfriend, Joceylin in 1981. Our first lead singer, Eric Tsuda thought up the name CAPITOL
PUNISHMENT. We continued to do this band as it drifted little by little away from punk and into
metally hardcore. Time went by. A lot of time went by. From '81 to '95 we went through several
different lead singers and drummers. We ended up going on a couple of US and European tours
and playing a lot of recording sessions. We put out a variety of records and CDs on several
different labels. In 1983 I released our first record on my newly-formed, Stagedive Records label
and continued to release records, tapes and CDs over the years to this day. From '85-'92 I
operated a brick and mortar record store in Fresno under the same name. In 2001 I finally joined
the digital age and continued to distribute various content online. All in all it has been good fun.
Still playing in a band, occasional solo performances and always working on new material.
Dale Stewart 9JUN2009.
| I'm really into politics, history and music. I have found some of my most inspiring motivations in life from Democratic policy and politicians. You could say I'm a fishing and hunting Democrat, minus the hunting part cause I don't like guns. Or a Labor Union Democrat only I'm not in a union. I call myself a moderate Democrat. |
| Here are some of my recordings: |
| Funston Terrace Projects Fresno Bee photo |
From the Projects to CBGBs
| dalstart@sbcglobal.net punksnax@hotmail.com Here are my other pages on the net: http://twitter.com/dalestewar559 http://www.facebook.com/dalestewart http://www.youtube.com/user/dustups http://fresnofamous.com/ http://twitpic.com/photos/dalestewart559 http://www.myspace.com/dalenthedustups http://www.myspace. com/capitolpunishmentfresno http://www.myspace. com/stagediverecordsfresno http://www.myspace. com/hardcore84compilation http://www.flickr. com/photos/29908091@N00/ http://streamofcrust.blogspot.com |