About
Iconic Punk Rock
Spike Polite & Sewage
Biography
Spike Polite is a New York City-based musician, model, actor, club dj and Lower East Side music historian. For the past 30 years, his primary and longest-standing project is the band now known as Spike Polite & Sewage NYC. Currently the political punk rock band consists of Spike on vocals and guitar, Michelle Shocked on bass and vocals, and Anthony Romano on drums. The band released its Pandemonium EP https://open.spotify.com/artist/3akw8CnOdxQ2NSqmA8eHux?si=-lj34qO0RISVBwIL5Bs2NA on Rotten Bastard Records https://www.rottenbastardrecords.com/ on October 16, 2021. Spike Polite is available for interviews with the media.
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The Lower East Side of New York City is not what most people would call a "nice" neighborhood. It has a unique and gritty vibe, and its historical turbulence has attracted or spawned creativity in art and music for several decades. This is reflected in the music that has been born from that community. Spike Polite & Sewage NYC have lived that reality and are a substantial but sometimes overlooked part of its underground legacy.
Spike Polite & Sewage NYC was born during a period of unrest in Tompkins Square Park in 1991. Street punks attending a political rally united against the police after witnessing police brutality against an innocent African American who lived in the park. The concert goers and neighborhood residents wrestled their friend back from the police's hold, launching what the local tabloids called the Mayday Riot of Tompkins Square Park. One newspaper displayed Spike Polite as the lead picture in the three-page article covering the event. Ironically, Spike and the young rebels whom the officers pushed into a police van wound up forming a band called HumYn Sewage. Upon release, the band members gravitated to the 13th Street Squat, also the headquarters for the local anarchists and squatters movements. HumYn Sewage began getting gigs at punk shows.
The Yippies invited Humyn Sewage to perform at the Pot Parade on May Day 1992.
Local documentarian Clayton Patterson videotaped the performance which was then played on public access television. That same year, the Punk Rock Beer Olympics invited HumYn Sewage to perform; this became an annual gig for the band. Beer Olympics 1992 punk rock
In 1993, Todd Phillips directed the GG Allin documentary, Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies, against the backdrop of New York's punk scene. HumYn Sewage was among the bands who opened for Allin at a concert at the Gas Station on East Second Street and Avenue B. Little did anyone know that Allin would be performing his last concert ever.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum filmed The Origins of Punk in 1995 and filmed a HumYn Sewage rehearsal and interviewed Spike in front of CBGB's. Where Did Punk Start?
Eastwood Talent in 1995 signed Spike to its roster. Spike's first modeling gig was an Armani fashion shoot in Chelsea. Spike modelled for Deborah Harry and Shepard Fairey’s clothing line OBEY at CBGB in 1996. Eastwood also placed Spike as a punk rocker in several productions shot in New York, including Law & Order and NYPD Blue.
After several personnel changes, HumYn Sewage became Sewage nYc in 1996. Soon thereafter, Eastwood Talent sent out the band to weekly auditions for shows ranging from Howard Stern's radio show to a Wendy's commercial. The band landed a skit on Late Night with David Letterman. GG Allin's guitarist, William Gilmore Weber III, tracked a demo for the band at his Lower East Side studio. Sewage nYc recorded a techno/punk version of "Punk Religion," for Payday Records.
In 1996, Sewage nYc released "Love Song" on a 7-inch split with Hammer Brain. Polite continued his acting career, appearing in the film 200 Cigarettes, filmed in the Lower East Side at Coney Island High. Sewage nYc also recorded the song "Rock N Roll Revolution" for Spike Lee's Summer of Sam; their performance of the song was ultimately used in a television commercial for the film.
Sewage nYc released its debut album, Sewage,Punk Religion through Grim Reaper Records, on September 1, 1998. The lineupSatan is Everywhere by Sewage included Polite on vocals and guitar, Dante Rosati on bass and backup vocals, and Mark Zero on drums and gang vocals. The sessions were recorded in New York City at the Music Building on Eighth Avenue, produced by Bad Brains roadie Alvin Robinson.
During that era, Joey Ramone regularly booked Sewage nYc for his holiday parties at the Continental Divide. Sewage nYc also performed at Coney Island High, Don Hill's, Club Life, and other punk clubs.
For a period of time, Spike was enrolled in mandatory classes at the School of Hard Knocks; the academic stretch https://jammerzine.com/jammerzine-exclusive-the-triumphant-return-of-spike-polite-and-sewage/ was a result of his not having watched enough cop shows to adequately discern who in his company was America's Most Wanted. Spike graduated and subsequently completed the Post Release Supervision Sessions, and Dedicated Lanes Productions https://www.company-detail.com/company-dedicated-lane-productions-inc-3954401 created Spike Resurrected, a film directed by Chris Ryan. The film depicted Spike critiquing the evolution of the local punk scene.
By 2010, Spike assembled another line-up and Sewage nYc performed locally, most notably at Club Europa and Tompkins Square Park. The band recorded the Out of Hell Alive EP which included the tracks "What Happened to the Punk Rock?”, “Rock & Roll Revolution", and "Sewage Hi-Def".SEWAGE Hi Def - music video ( mischief night edit )
In 2013, while working as a bike messenger, Polite was struck by three vehicles. His injuries limited his acting roles to core background work on the television shows Gotham and The Blacklist. Even as Spike recovered, the television sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt hired him to portray DJ Traphouse in episode 205.
Sewage nYc signed in 2015 to Professional Punkers record label from Milan, Italy.Professional Punkers - Intro The band recorded the single "Department of Corrections,"Sewage NYC PunkRock - Department Of Correction - European Tour 2015 @Circolo Svolta (Italy) collaborated with the Butchers on a track entitled "Io e Te," The Butchers PunkRock ft. Spike Polite (NYC) - Io e Te [OFFICIAL VIDEO] and performed on a three-week European tour followed by a U.S. west coast tour.
Polite sang in another local punk band, Reagan Youth, from 2016-2018, continued acting on television and film productions shot in New York, and DJ'ed at downtown punk rock bars. During breaks in Reagan Youth's tour, Spike formed lineups of Spike Polite & Sewage to tour Europe DiscoMostro, Sewage, BLAK VOMIT, I RAKIA, The Butchers Scuotivento' HC Fest #1 and America for the Italian Sessions album and the later singles of "OrgaZm" Orgazmand "Runaway Rebel." Rehegoo Records signed all three singles, and Professional Punkers also released the singles on their vinyl compilation protesting Donald Trump in 2018.
Sewage released a nine-song album https://youtu.be/RcgK1EKVdHg in 2020, but the band was unable to promote it due to the Covid19 pandemic. Instead, Spike stuck to DJ’ing from home every Monday on Whatever68 radio.net while writing what would become the Pandemonium EP. Now named Spike Polite & Sewage NYC, the new power trio consists of Spike on vocals and guitar, Michelle Shocked on bass and vocals, and Anthony Romano on drums. Together, the trio recorded the Pandemonium EP, POLICE BRUTALITYwhich was recorded analog at Flux Magnetic Studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and later mixed at Billy Corbin's studio. The final mix was created at If And Only If Productions. Spike Polite & Sewage released the Pandemonium EP on Rotten Bastard Records on October 16, 2021.
In live performances, Spike Polite & Sewage performs the entire Pandemonium EP as well as the Italian Sessions album along with additional tracks. The new EP is currently for sale at Generation Records https://www.generationrecords.com/ and online at https://spikesewage.bandcamp.com/.
Websites: https://linktr.ee/spikepolite
Contact: sewagenycpunkrock@gmail.com
(January 1, 2022)
Photo Gallery
Sewage nYc Merchnadise
sticker PANDOMINIUM artwork
$2.00
($2.00 shipping)
Round stickers of the PANDAMONIUM RELEASES ARTWORK
street punk riot scene
sewAge nYc merchandise
Italian Sessions Buttons
$5.00
($3.50 shipping)
Spike Polite button from inner cd design of "The Italian Sessions" release .
Hey Everybody!
Check out the new band buttons in the merchandise section below.