EX-STRAIGHT EDGE FRONTMAN HASHTAGS FOR THE FIRST TIME AND #FEELSLIKEASELLOUT

Orange County, CA

Syd V. Cias, former front man for late ‘90’s straight edge band, “No Fun At All,” recently quit his job as manager of the Tire Center at Costco in Tustin, CA to start an online magazine inspired by all things Ian MacKaye.

The magazine, about straight edge living is aptly named, “Intergrity.” He told Awesome that while he loves the writing and coming up with new articles like “10 Reasons Why Alkaline Water and Brown Rice Are the Perfect Meal” and “You’re Guilty Because You’re Wrong,” he is finding it difficult to navigate this new world of social media without feeling like he is selling out.

“I feel like I’m a straight edge pioneer in this area.

A few weeks ago, I opened an Instagram account because I was told that it was the new do-it-yourself and independent way to market Integrity. Come on, do-it -yourself…independent…that’s classic straight edge philosophy, right. I found the perfect picture I took of Ian Mackaye at one of Fugazi’s Palladium shows back in ’93. In the picture, Ian is chastising my friend Glenn D. Zig for being too aggressive in the pit. Ian is pointing his finger at Glenn, who had some dude in a front headlock and looks like he is screaming ‘Whoooooo,’ like Ric Flair. I was going to post it as is, but was told I should make up a clever hashtag, so like-minded people searching for the same message would be directed to it through Instagram algorithms.

After brainstorming for about twenty minutes, I finally wrote #Ifyouactlikeacretinyou’llbejudged and posted the picture. Crazy enough, the picture went viral, though I’m not certain it had anything to do with my hashtag.

Unfortunately, I feel hashtag guilt. Like Ian Mackaye walked in on me after I drank a fifth of whiskey, ate a rare buffalo steak, and kicked an old lady in the teeth while listening to Offspring. I had this life-sized poster of Fugazi in my office, and I had to take it down, because everytime I looked at it, I felt like, Ian Mackaye was judging me. Calling me, ‘Hashtagger,’ like it’s a bad thing.”

When asked if Syd has hashtagged, since, Syd admitted that he has and also believes that he is addicted to hashtagging. “While I feel #straightedgeguilt, there’s #noretreatnow, so I might as well #borestraightahead.”