So this isn’t the first time the Stepe brothers have appeared in a Shot of the Week. This shot was circa 1985 at the Stepe brothers ramp in East Peoria, Il. It was used in an article titled “The Skateboarding Stepe Brothers.” That’s Chopper holding the skateboard as extension and Barry on the backside. Who are the Stepe Brothers? Founding members of the hardcore scene in Illinois. Said Barry:
The ramp was the old Stepe Brother Ramp in East Peoria, actually. Brad (AKA Dr Brad here on S&A) used to rip it up all the time. We even had a punk concert on the flatbed once with the Not (From Boston) and the cops showed up about three times. We were slam dancing around the ramp. Then the PA started smoking and caught fire – that was it for punk rock on our Ramp. Our dog, Spanky, used to Fakie along with us on the ramp all the time. He had no problem making it up to the platform either.
Check out the Shot of The Week and a cool bonus shot from the cover of the Illinois State University newspaper, circa 86.
I really like this photo. It feels like I was there. I was there… just not that there. I can almost smell the sidewalk.
8 comments
Prickly Pete
Except for the Ferris Buler’s Day Off listing on the marquee, that bottom photo is pretty timeless.
houseofneil
man, they sure make themselves sound important in that link don’t they? So forget LA I guess, because Peoria IL was apparently the 2nd most important punk rock town in the USA outside of NY.
Goob
gee, and what was LA important for besides reminding everyone that Cali is a joke? The Vandals, Angry Samoans and Dickies were better than the supposedly important LA bands, and voidoid LA didn’t have a foundation such as the New York Dolls and Philly’s Pure Hell and Detroit’s Destroy All Monsters and Idjy that gave a band such as the BB-heads the inspiration to not be all bloodclot an’ stuff.
kilwag
Neil, I don’t think they wrote that. It’s a wiki. Maybe it was Grahm Elvis…
Talentlessquitter
Classic movie!
The other one is ‘Back to School’,released in the same weekend (Wikipedia)
Barry Stepe
No way, if the Stepe Bros wrote that, we would have hyped us up more!(I’m kidding, I’m a kidder!) Don’t take the Stepe bros and their antics too seriously. As a long-time member of the Stepe Bros, I know that we never did. All we did was participate in a HC/Skate microcosm that was happening across the country and is still germinating throughout the world today.
Swamp Thing
Negative Element played Indy and they all stayed over at my house and skated our ramp the next day…Chopper spent about about an hour lying on the flat of our ramp after the show trying to conjure up a fart to light, unsuccessfully. Fun band, great guys.
brad
Stepes’ had the commitment, I saw a whole scene grow around their evil influence. And all we ever did back then was laugh at stuff. In Peoria, people thought street skaters were like homeless people performing and they would give us money.