The Birth of Punk in NEO
Presented by Thomas Mulready and Vanity Crash
The Birth of Punk in NEO celebrates the fountainhead of punk rock in Northeast Ohio prefacing the scenes in New York and London, presented by Thomas Mulready and Vanity Crash. The NEO Rewind Series celebrates the surprising musical history of the region with 10 events in 2026 across 5 venues in NEO.
The Birth of Punk in NEO. Years before punk reared its ugly head in New York or London, a group of misfits, art students and disaffected youth in Cleveland, Akron & Kent, Ohio, many of them appalled by the massacre at Kent State University, spun off bands and artists that eventually moved on to New York and London as leaders of the new punk scene.
Obsessive musicologist Thomas Mulready, in collaboration with glam punk goth heroes Vanity Crash/Queue Up, turn their attention to a movement that still shakes the world to this day. This multi-media event includes special musical guests from the Cleveland/Akron/Kent axis performing seminal music from this pioneering era that changed music for all time.
Performing live in concert:
* Bizarros
* Robert Conn Band
* Massive Hotdog Recall
* Patty No!
* Vanity Crash/Queue Up
* Mirrors
In addition to live music, the shows feature exclusive video interviews with artists from the region who were instrumental in the early punk scene, and whose influence penetrated worldwide:
* Stiv Bators (Dead Boys, Lords of The New Church, in a vintage interview from 1979)
* Craig W. Bell (Mirrors, Rocket From The Tombs, Saucers, X__X, co-wrote Final Solution)
* Adele Bertei (The Wolves, The Contortions, The Bloods, Brian Eno, Thomas Dolby)
* Chris Butler (Waitresses, Tin Huey)
* Denny Carleton (The Lost Souls, The Choir, Moses, Milk, The Pagans)
* Robert Kidney (15-60-75 The Numbers Band, spawning Devo, The Waitresses, Tin Huey)
* Marky Ray (Rock & Roll Mercenary, Nine Inch Nails, Butthole Surfers, Jesus & Mary Gang, terrible parade, Death on a Stick, Death of Samantha, The New Salem Witch Hunters, the Jim Rose Circus)
* Plus interviews with all the performing artists on the bill
The live shows will feature legendary bands performing songs that made Northeast Ohio known as a punk breeding ground, along with a selection of their own original songs. Bizarros will rock the stage with their early standout Young Girls at Market, plus two newer originals. Robert Conn Band with original Pagan vocalist Bill DeGidio will perform Six and Change, the first Pagans release, along with newer material. Al Mothersbaugh of Massive Hot Dog Recall channels his cousins, Mark & Bob Mothersbaugh, by covering DEVO’s Shout, plus their own hit, Kick My Ass in the Balls and another original. Mirrors most recent lineup will honor the recently passed Jamie Klimek by performing the classic Shirley plus two recently released songs. Patty No! with vocalist Kristin Casale performs the Pretenders’ Precious and the Dead Boys’ Sonic Reducer, plus an original. Vanity Crash reunites as Queue Up with Ali Garrigan to perform Unit 5’s No Ones Girl and Pere Ubu’s Final Solution, plus originals.
It's a concert. It's a documentary. It's a docu-concert on the history of punk in Northeast Ohio.
