State College punk band Wasted Talent’s anthology album released

While State College in the early 1980s didn’t necessarily boast a punk movement akin to what was happening in New York, D.C. or the Bay Area, it wasn’t completely devoid of a scene either. For a small and select segment of Centre County punk rockers who used to frequent clubs, church basements and house parties, the release of Wasted Talent’s anthology album “Ready to Riot” is sure to conjure up some hazy memories of this brief and fascinating time.

Put out this past summer by the Bakersfield, Calif. label Going Underground Records, “Ready to Riot” is a collection of the raw, powerful and intense punk rock that Wasted Talent perfected at their peak. Although a three-decade buffer is usually enough to quell even the angriest of artists, the songs on “Ready to Riot” still pack a visceral punch — something that serves as a point of pride for the band today.

“Having the songs re-released on vinyl has really brought out the sound in a nice way,” said Wasted Talent’s drummer and primary songwriter Mick Begnal. “It really captures the intensity of the band and how hard we played at the time. There’s really a vitality and a feel to the music that’s survived all this time.”

Formed in late 1981, the quartet quickly made a name for themselves performing anywhere and everywhere they were able. However, the isolation and small population of State College provided the band with both a significant challenge and a unique blueprint for creative expression.

“When we first started out, State College offered us a situation to react against,” Begnal said. “There were a handful of punks who were mostly our friends and some Penn State students, but it was a very small group and was actually sort of dangerous to just be a punk and go around town. State College was a little bit behind the times back then and punk rock was still really shocking to see. We would get taunted and threatened on the street and sometimes it felt like we were taking our lives in our hands just going outside. Although the scene was very small, everyone had these same experiences, so it was very tight and familiar for us.”

Like most bands just starting out, there is always that one group that serves as the stylistic and musical inspiration. For Wasted Talent, The Ramones and The Sex Pistols planted the initial seeds, but Minor Threat was the true game-changer. Both the music and ethos of Minor Threat struck a chord with Wasted Talent and helped the band define who they truly wanted to be. In May 1982, Wasted Talent even had the chance to open for Minor Threat, which was another pivotal moment in their history.

“We started out with the old-school 1977 punk style, playing Ramones covers and then we started speeding it up and began to foster more of a hardcore sound,” Begnal said. “I began to get really into hardcore and seeing Minor Threat in concert was a real wake-up call. I was blown away by them. I was the drummer, so I picked up the tempo and our sound became faster and more hardcore.”

In the early 1980s, State College couldn’t have been further from the epicenter of punk and hardcore. While revered venues like 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, the 930 Club in D.C. and even CBGBs in the Bowery churned out iconic acts, Centre County had to make due with its limbs tied behind its back. While those music halls were seemingly a lifetime away, that punk patented “do it yourself” ethos took hold on Wasted Youth.

“We didn’t really have the opportunity to play a lot of shows, there weren’t really a lot of venues around where a punk rock band could play,” Begnal explained. “We were lucky to play a few gigs on Penn State’s campus and then we eventually were able to play some shows at a few bars in town. We played at The Scorpion and the Brickhouse Tavern, which both no longer exist. But there wasn’t a club in town specifically for punk shows, so we were lucky to get the gigs that we got. Instead, we’d have people come down to our basements and rehearsal spaces to just watch us practice. We really just had to make-do and take what we could get. None of what we were doing was on the mainstream’s radar and this was before the Internet, so we were on our own to get the word out to whoever was interested.

“It was difficult to play, so we had to create our own gigs and do things on an underground level. We had to seek out people who had the same interests as us to get a similar audience. The rejection that we got spurred us on to be more creative. It forced us to go out on our own and not just sit back and wait for some preexisting infrastructure to come calling.”

For Begnal, his time with Wasted Talent was formative and proved to be greatly influential on who he is today.

“It was something that we were all really into and it was a lot of fun playing and performing,” Begnal said. “We went about our thing, full-steam ahead, and didn’t care about what anyone else thought. We weren’t really self-conscious about what we were doing, but the idea that we were writing songs together and then performing them was very empowering and made us feel really positive. Being a part of a scene, however small it was, was just a really good feeling.

“I was 15-years-old when we started the band, but even after listening to the new release, I think that the music still holds up, it’s good stuff. We never really sounded exactly like any other band and had something totally original. Of course I can certainly hear influences in there, but it all came out in a way that was wholly original,” Begnal added.

After Wasted Talent broke up in January 1984, everyone seemed to catch on with another band. Begnal went on to Heart of Darkness and Oblivion (among others), bassist Greta Brinkman joined Unseen Force and eventually performed with Debbie Harry and Moby, while vocalist Stephen “Status Vermin” Buckalew latched onto the bluegrass scene and still performs locally with the Tussey Mountain Moonshiners. The foundation that was established with Wasted Talent is clearly undeniable, and the release of “Ready to Riot” provides them with a loving look back at a youth well-lived.

“When we were performing with Wasted Talent, none of us saw the band as a way to make money, but we were all devoted to it and it was all we wanted to do. We hoped that we would keep it going and be a big part of the underground scene at the time. We just wanted to keep playing music,” Begnal said. “Even though I no longer feel that it’s necessary to wear leather jackets and spike my hair, that punk ethos and the idea of doing things by yourself and not caring about what other people think are qualities that I have carried with me throughout my life.”

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 12:02 PM with the headline "State College punk band Wasted Talent’s anthology album released."