Series: The Drug Issue, Part 11 Of 13

STRAIGHT EDGE ROCKS AGAINST DRUGS

Local band Burden is using hard-core punk music to deliver a positive message.

Sean Spear was an addict while he was still a teenager. He lived on the
streets, and in his early 20s, he nearly died of a drug overdose.

Jason Kolins has never had a problem with drugs and alcohol, and has chosen
to live his life clean and sober.

The two friends come from totally different backgrounds, but their message
is the same, and it can be heard in the music of their band, Burden.

"It's a personal choice. We're not preaching, not pushing. To each his own,
but we've found being drug-free has worked in our lives," said Kolins.

Burden plays a type of music called straight edge, a subculture of
hard-core punk rock that promotes a lifestyle free from drugs, alcohol,
tobacco and promiscuous sex.

The genre got its start in in Washington, D.C., in the early 1980s.
Underage teenagers, through a loophole in the law, were able to get into
clubs to see live bands, provided they had a large, black X on their hands
so bartenders would know not to serve them alcohol.

Soon, even people who were old enough to drink were marking their hands to
indicate they were there for the music, not the booze.

Kolins and Spear had played together in other bands, and in 1996 formed
Burden with the knowledge that the Vancouver area had never had a
straight-edge band that really made an impact.

Their purpose was simple: to play music, have fun, and show others that
there is lots to get out of life without using drugs and alcohol.

"Peer pressure is so hard," said Kolins, a Cloverdale resident who works
for Langley Township. "If you can help one kid know that they are not
uncool if they are sober and drug-free, and that there are people out there
who feel the same . . ."

"I don't know if the music will turn someone's life around if they were
really involved with hard drug use," said Spears, who now works as a youth
substance abuse counsellor for the Impact Society, "but I think straight
edge is a really good reinforcement of those positive beliefs and values."

Last summer, Burden spent five weeks touring Europe in support of its most
recent album, If You Don't Stand For Something, You'll Fall for Anything.

The CD is available at local record stores, and the band's website is at
www.vancouverhardcore.com/burden.

Burden will be headlining the six-band Off the Streets for Christmas show,
Sunday, Dec. 9, at the Wise Hall in Vancouver. Tickets are available at the
door.

The band will also be playing the Cobalt Hotel in Vancouver on Dec. 15.