Max Ward Collection of Powerviolence Material, 1990s-early 2000s

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Summary

Creators:
Ward, Max
Abstract:
The collection documents the emergence of the Powerviolence music scene, a little known subgenre of hardcore punk, which was primarily active in the 1990s through the early 2000s. Materials consists of original fliers, posters, handbills, correspondence, photographs, stickers, zines, and patches collected by San Francisco Bay Area drummer, Max Ward.
Extent:
5.6 linear feet (10 boxes, 2 flat oversize boxes)
Language:
Materials are primarily in English, some materials in Japanese.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Max Ward Collection of Powerviolence Material (Collection 2345). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of materials collected by drummer Max Ward related to the powerviolence scene from the 1990s to early 2000s. Includes original fliers, posters, handbills, correspondence, photographs, stickers, zines and patches, documenting the emergence of the scene in the San Francisco Bay Area through to when Ward moved to Japan in the early 2000s.

Biographical / historical:

Powerviolence is a subgenre of hardcore punk known for dissonant, fast, and short songs with constant tempo changes. It emerged in the early 1990s, primarily on the West Coast of the United States, with bands like Man is the Bastard, Spazz, and Capitalist Casualties. Some trace the origins of powerviolence back to late 1980s hardcore bands such as Siege and SSD. Many of the leading powerviolence bands had dissolved by the early 2000s but some some continue to tour.

Max Ward, sometimes known as Hirax Max, was a San Francisco Bay Area drummer who played in the bands Spazz, Plutocracy, Capitalist Casualties, What Happens Next?, Bombs of Death, and Scholastic Deth[sic]. He was a major influence in the powerviolence scene. Ward was also the founder of 625 Thrashcore Records, which booked tours and released records for local, national, and international powerviolence bands. He produced the zine Mosh of Ass and contributed to the zine Maximumrocknroll. As of 2017, Ward is a professor of History at Middlebury College in Vermont.

Acquisition information:
Purchase, Johnson Rare Books Archives, 2017.
Processing information:

Processed by Kuhelika Ghosh under the supervision of Courtney Dean in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), 2017.

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Problematic Content and Description in UCLA's Library Collections and Archives.

Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  • Series 1: Correspondence, photographs, and zines, 1990s-early 2000s
  • Series 2: Fliers and stickers, 1990s-early 2000s

Original order of materials was maintained.

Physical location:
Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Max Ward Collection of Powerviolence Material (Collection 2345). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Website