Rebels don't rust

by Sean McCarthy

Belonging and rebellion are important components of many teenagers’ lives, and for Freetown’s Josh Gagne, punk rock was the perfect soundtrack for his adolescence – a timely melding of frustrations and friendships, messages that still resonate with him to this day.

As the vocalist for the hardcore punk band American War Machine, the new co-owner of Dipper Café in New Bedford’s North End, the owner of a custom motorcycle shop, and the host of a popular podcast and a television show, the 51-year-old Gagne is living a diverse and unconventional life. And that’s just what he wants.

“I was attracted to punk rock for the same reasons I’m into it today: the rebellion, questioning authority, and speaking truth to power,” Gagne says. “I don’t believe the mainstream narratives that the government and big corporations are sending our way.”

Gagne’s introduction to punk rock came when he was 13 years old, living in Dartmouth and listening to underground music on the UMass Dartmouth radio station, WSMU.

“I loved bands like Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Kennedys, Agent Orange, Discharge, GBH, and Blitz,” he says. “I would record songs on the radio and go to Good Vibrations in Dartmouth to try to find records by the bands they played.”

And punk rock meant bonding with similar spirits.

“Most of my really tight, lifelong friends that I have today were made during that time in my life,” he says. “I loved that it was a tightknit community. Back then it wasn’t cool to be into the punk rock culture, so you had to have a tightknit crew. You were fighting people for what you believed in. I was getting into one or two altercations a week for being a skateboarding punk rock kid. I made really tight bonds with people who introduced me to more bands, we made cassette tapes of bands, and shared them with each other.”

Gagne has seen social and cultural shifts around punk rock.

“A lot of the punk rock kids today are being co-opted,” he says. “They’re going along, forgetting Punk Rock 101, which questions authority. No one’s doing that anymore and it’s more important than ever. It wasn’t like it is now where the punk rockers are the cool kids.”

American War Machine makes intense music and Gagne’s vocal delivery is a guttural shriek that may seem like torture on his vocal cords. He got his start as a hardcore vocalist with the band Intent To Injure in 1987, and would eventually become the voice of the band Civil Defense a decade later. American War Machine formed in 2016, and they have released a full-length record (“Unholy War”) and the single “Prey Drive,” both available online. The band performs throughout the northeast, with many shows in the Boston area.

From his first rehearsals with Intent To Injure, Gagne was strengthening his voice into the powerhouse he is today.

“In that band we didn’t have a P.A. system and a microphone, so I had to scream to be heard over the amps and drums,” he recalls. “Singing this music is therapeutic. The hardcore music scene is a major part of my life, and there’s no shortage of things to be pissed off about.”

Gagne has grown from his days of basement bands. This February, American War Machine toured Europe as part of the “Boston Takeover 2023 Tour,” where they played 17 shows in 17 days. The stretch included shows in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Poland, Austria, and Czechia. American War Machine was joined on the tour by Boston hardcore bands Slapshot, Death Before Dishonor, and Risk.

“It was great waking up every day in another country with a completely different culture from the one you were in the day before,” he says. “Audiences in Europe are really into this stuff, and they’re very

In Europe people come out to shows more. There’s a large turnout. Scenes and venues are funded by the governments of the countries. They make guarantees and there’s greater hospitality for the bands so it’s easier to tour there.”

Moshing and more

But Gagne has plenty taking place on this side of the Atlantic. Last October, he bought the Dipper Café with Quincy’s Ryan Packer, the bass player for both American War Machine and Slapshot. They purchased the bar from Josh’s father, Wayne Gagne, and his business partner Kirk Whiting. Packer and Gagne have been friends for more than a dozen years.

Since reopening last November, the Dipper Café is off to a good start. Every Tuesday night it is the site for open mics, an opportunity for local musicians to perform that is drawing a robust turnout. The bar recently offered an acoustic performance by the Boston punk band, A Loss for Words, that filled the room. Gagne and Packer are planning to do more acoustic shows with national bands that they have made connections with during their punk rock careers. They also intend to have Gong Show Karaoke Nights in addition to pool and darts leagues. “We don’t have enough space for five-piece electronic bands,” Gagne says. “But things are going well with the open mics. Chris Guaraldi, the host, is doing an amazing job coordinating it and bringing people in.”

The Dipper Café is not Gagne’s only business endeavor. He also owns the tattoo shop Atomic Ink in Swansea, and Choppahead Kustom Cycles in Freetown. He is the host of two media ventures: the Big Truth Podcast and Choppahead TV. The Big Truth Podcast is receiving ample attention on Spotify, featuring interviews with people who “live and breathe outside the mainstream conventional box… exploring different views on contemporary topics and alternative career paths.” Choppahead TV is a show on the Tubi channel that broadcasts programming devoted to custom bike builders, craftsmen, and motorcycle events. Season 1 is available now.

Gagne is also a graduate of GNB Voc-Tech with a concentration in Graphic Arts.

American War Machine is in the process of writing new material as a follow-up to “Unholy War,” which was released in 2019. Like many hardcore bands, American War Machine will play as many all-ages concerts as possible – events that were vital experiences for Gagne during his adolescent years.

“As a kid, all-ages shows were super important, because they were the only shows we could go to,” Gagne says. “Cool bands playing 21-plus shows were a bummer because we couldn’t get in. There were more matinee shows and all-ages shows back then. The world was less litigious, you could get away with more.”

But being a part of the punk and hardcore scene goes beyond the music.

“When you go to punk and hardcore shows you get introduced to the culture, you inevitably get more involved,” Gagne says. “With the ‘Do-It-Yourself’ ethic that’s involved, you may start selling merchandise, you may start a record label, you may start a magazine, you may start taking photographs, you may learn some skills. When we were young we started booking our own shows and it was a bonding experience. Hardcore is a tight-knit, participatory scene – it’s something you don’t leave.”