About Eagle Street

Eagle Street Hard Core (ESHC) was a 900 square foot house located in a densely populated neighborhood about a mile from the MTSU campus. Ethan Rose (of Black Market Kidney Surgeon, Torsion, Toxic Culture, Wrekt, Uncle Skunkle, etc.) and Jack Brunson (of Big, If True, Toxic Culture, Casual Sects, Uncle Skunkle) moved into the house in 2010. This house was home or a home base for many, many punks – at one point, there were 5 people, 3 rats, 2 cats, and 1 dog living in the 3 bedroom, 1 bath home. The neighborhood was dangerous at times, but rent was only $600. The kitchen housed a homemade screenprinting rig for a while, which Jack and Ethan used to print Uncle Skunkle and FF Records merch (they used the oven to dry the ink). This home spawned two businesses – FF Records and Jack’s Guitarcheology – both of which are still in operation.

Shows at Eagle did not start until after Jack (and Jayme) moved out. Ethan and DFitz rearranged the house to accommodate shows in the main living room, and hangout space in one of the bedrooms (where VHS tapes would play all night). On show nights, you would find people hanging out in every corner of the house and yard. Bands played in the main room and attendees would fill every open space. The small space had the added bonus of making a small crowd feel bigger. ESHC hosted bands from all over the world – including Total Chaos, Revolt, Moose Knuckle, and White Dog Suicide (from Switzerland!). During FF Fest III, Dusty Wojtas (aka Dusty Whytis) and other musicians played folk punk in the back yard in between the indoor bands.

The inside of the house had lots of character. Ethan painted the ceiling in the show room to look like a VHS color bar test, and the walls were lined with mattresses. There was no overhead light in the main room – only a floor lamp behind the drum set and ambient light from the kitchen and hallway. One of the mattresses was spraypainted with “I’VE GOT THE BIBLE BELT AROUND MY THROAT” and shows up in many pictures. The kitchen cabinets were painted mint green and peach. Across from the fridge was a display case full of random items and bands would use the case to lay out their merch. The hangout room had a leather couch, a wall full of VHS tapes, and was plastered in photocopies of 80s show flyers. There was graffiti in all sorts of places, including the door to the laundry room (which now resides in the CXR show room). 

The street on which this house resides has a long history of punk rock happenings that were not show related, but were nonetheless influential to the scene. Prior to the house at 1406, there were two other houses hosting punk rock practice spaces, screen printing (another business started on Eagle Street – Merch Kitchen), and general hangout space. As Mark Adam VanZant explained, “There was a time where almost every punk/hardcore band in the city practiced at eagle 1.0 even if they didn’t live there or share members.”

For a laugh, check out the Zillow listing for a cleaned up Eagle Street.