About

Bryne Yancey:

I, Bryne Yancey, was born in 1984 in the coastal city of Melbourne, Florida, United States and have been living in the area ever since. Awash with strip malls, elderly retirees and red state ideals, it’s not exactly the Mecca of the punk world, or of any music world for that matter. I spent most of my early days listening to either whatever was popular or whatever my parents were listening to, which wasn’t as bad as it sounds. My southern heritage (yes, us few native Floridians are southerners, we have the accents and charm to prove it) allowed me to be reared on classic rock and country, and once I got old enough to stop pretending I was too cool to listen to any of that stuff, I gained a greater appreciation for it and felt grateful about my subsequent open-mindedness.

My roots in punk rock are similar to those of many people my age — Green Day, The Offspring, Punk-o-Rama and later the internet and websites like Punknews.org. I heard Dookie and Smash when I was 10 or 11, and while I knew then that the attitude and agressiveness behind punk rock caused me to like it quite a bit more than any other genre of music, I didn’t know that I’d end up a punk rock lifer.

I wanted badly to be in a band. My dad bought me a guitar for my 15th birthday and after a couple months of noodling around and realizing I wasn’t going to be the next incarnation of Hendrix, I got bored and put it down. I still wanted to be involved in music somehow, and I enjoyed writing even then despite my horrible ability, so I started writing for myself whenever I got the chance. I never thought anyone would want to read my abhorrent words but with the explosion of the internet, I got over that and began publishing reviews and other poorly-written things, and I’m still doing it today.

As my awesome gift to the internet, What We Hate went live on Christmas Day 2006. Initially, I started WWH as an outlet for my writing about music, and yeah, that’s still what it is, but it’s become more than I ever thought it would be. What once was a one-man, sporadically updated blog has morphed into a full-fledged, almost-daily updated webzine with a diverse staff of contributors spread evenly across the east coast (fuck you?), offering distinct perspectives from within their scenes and communities. What we lack in proximity we make up for in solidarity, and a desire to give back to a community that has given us so much. It’s a cliche for sure, but punk rock saved our lives. And we’re eternally grateful.

Don’t get me wrong though — even though our growth has been steady, we’re still small time. Most of us have real jobs. We don’t do this for money or notoriety or fringe benefits (though they are nice!) or anything else other than out of love for the bands, labels and any of our other friends we support, because most of them are small time just like us. Their reasons for doing what they do are much the same as ours. I can’t think of another music subculture that’s anything like it — a community that’s as much about the people behind the music as the music itself. We’re all just regular people, working regular jobs and hoping to have the time in our days and money left in our bank accounts to go to a show and have acting stupid be the norm, or to finally find some long-lost vinyl artifact after months of thumbing through record store shelves. We might come from different places and backgrounds, but at the end of the day we’re one in the same, keeping this shit alive until the next generation comes along.

The format of WWH has never been clearly defined — it’s not uncommon to see objective news, subjective opinion or both in the same post. I guess it’s been so fluid because of a combination of staff turnover, general apathy on my part, and my sometimes perfectionist mentality. I can’t promise what the future holds, but I can promise we’ll be here doing something, anything, whether it’s spouting off opinions, reporting, whatever. By the by, any fun we poke at a group of people, band, or subculture is light-hearted and never intended to be malicious. If you’re working in opinion-based writing, you’re bound to offend someone, but seriously, if you can’t laugh at yourself you probably need to lighten up. We do it all the time and trust us, it’s healthy.

Thanks for reading.

–Bryne Yancey August 17, 2008

Barrie Cohn:

I’m Barrie. A lowly female (don’t let the name fool you), 27 years young; Brooklyn, NY born and raised (on the playground was where I spent most of my days…) and where I still reside. I’ve been writing actively since age 9 and more recently, my “punk media” credits include some random webzines here and there as well as a couple of pieces for Punknews. Bad Religion and Rancid were my gateway bands to punk rock at age 13 and I haven’t looked back since. I’ve been writing for What We Hate since July of 2008.

Currently, my music taste is fairly eclectic more or less. For a good idea, some of my favorite all-time bands are as follows: Strung Out, H2O, Avail, Down To Nothing, Marathon, Paint It Black, Another Breath, Quicksand, Texas Is The Reason, Snapcase, Sense Field, Toad The Wet Sprocket, and Minor Threat. Obviously I love way more but those are all the bands that have mattered the most to me over the years and have changed my life for the better. As silly as it sounds, music is the only thing that keeps me going in an otherwise awful world.

Some of my other projects that I’m actively involved in are as follows:

I do a weekly Internet radio show called Generic Insight Radio. Check it out, I’d like to think it rules.

I book shows semi-regularly in NYC under the moniker Cathartic Life Booking. Check out that link for upcoming show listings/info and whatnot.

I also do a small, independent public relations “firm” (term used very loosely) called Generic Insight PR which basically makes me a “DIY publicist”, if such a thing actually existed. I handle PR stuff (writing press releases, handling album info sheets, general media promo) for smaller/unsigned/independent labels and bands, basically as a way to help smaller bands get noticed by the punk media (zines, news sites, etc.) and help them get the word out. Some of my “clients” (again, used very loosely, as everyone I work with I consider a friend too) include Sakes Alive!!, Farewell Party Records (Rochester, NY), Eternal Hope Records (Washington, DC), FPR bands Caleb Lionheart and Heavy Hearted, and EHR bands Incendiary and Gaining Ground.

Mike French:

Alright, here we go, the magnificent biography of yours truly:

At the wee age of 9, Mike picked up his first musical instrument: the Guitar. Three years later, he purchased the Descendents’ “I Don’t Want To Grow Up” and for better or for worse, his love for punk music was sealed. He currently resides in a small suburb located in the DC Metropolitan area of Maryland (Good Charlotte and All Time Low represent, yeah, you all want to sleep with him) and plays guitar in a band he helped start in November 2007. He is a vegetarian, suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and loves long walks at night with romantic partners. Word up.

Stephanie Lynch:

I have been writing my whole life – fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, etc.  I have a passion for it, along with visual art, history, music, and food.  I write the occasional music or venue/event review if I feel so inclined.  I am a senior at the University of Central Florida and am majoring in the Humanities.  I hope to find a career based in my zeal for culture, and to move somewhere that embraces this.