My name is Brian Jarrett and I'm a computer programmer and 
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By BrianI guess I’ve now become the unofficial historian of the Nitro/Charleston music scene during the early to mid 1990s. Having said that, the memorabilia and other information I have from that time is focused primarily around my band, Flood, since that’s what I had most access to. I do have some stuff from other bands but it’s pretty limited. Over the past few years several people involved in the scene from those days have provided additional information (which I’ve included on the site). That has allowed me to fill in some gaps and to provide a sightly different perspective on the scene than that of my own.
That got me thinking about attempting to expand the history of the Nitro scene on this site to include much more than my own experiences. I can’t imagine that the 500 or so people who attended these shows regularly don’t have any mementos of their own from those days. I know for a fact there are over 500 personal experiences out there, most of which have probably never been written down or even shared with others.
So if you’ve got something about the scene you’d like to share on this site then I’d be more than happy to include it here. If you have any old flyers that I don’t already have, scan them and send them my way. I’ll include them in the flyers section. If you have any audio recordings from your band or a live show, send them to me and I’ll add them here. I have a relatively large photo gallery from this period so I’m looking for photos as well. I’m also looking for video recordings. I’d love to flesh out the Nitro section of the site to include as much as possible and make it less about my experiences playing in Flood and more about the entire scene and all the bands and people who made it what it was.
I’m always looking for personal stories from those days. If you have any recollections you’d like to share feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page. It’s the quickest and easiest way to contribute to the site.
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The Nitro music movement was a very integral part of my introduction to West Virginia Hardcore/Heavy Metal scene. Around 94′, I was forced to move back to Logan county after I made straight D’s in my freshmen year of college. I was around 19 at the time. My guitarist at the time and I would travel up to Nitro every weekend with a couple packs of cigerettes and about $20 between us to partake in the massive groundswell knows as The Pit. I knew what I was witnessing was something very special. We formed a 2 man band at that time simply just so we could play at The Pit and LKM and be a part of this. My favorite memory from this time was this…
Around this same time, I was helping a young high school band try to get out of Logan County as well. They were called Harvest and was fronted by a 15 yr old alt rock kid named Jeff Ellis. I talked to Lisa Brannon and she told me to bring them up and she’d put them on a bill for me. I drove with Harvest to their first gig outside the county to The Pit. The were billed to open for a Heavy Metal act from Weston, WV called Temper. This was my first introduction Temper and their guitarist Tony Rohrbough. It was a very rough introduction for Harvest but ultimately, Jeff Ellis would become a mainstay in the WV music scene, albeit 10 years later. Tony and I would, 6 years later, reunite and form the band Byzantine. Thanks Nitro Music scene for fascilitating this great experience for me!
OJ, I remember Harvest. I believe I was in Shindig when we played down in Logan. It might have been Dirt Bear. I really can’t remember. But I remember playing in the Logan area and Harvest was playing. Not that my opinion matters much, but I remember being impressed.
I was a part of the scene for a long time. Even before Nitro was the place to play. I can remember seeing Pale Hecate shows when I was in junior high and playing in a thrash metal band of my own called Last Rites.
It was this same time frame that I heard a band called Camel Beast which would completely change my outlook on music. And I’d give anything to have a copy of the 2 demos that I used to have of that band.
I’m going to sound like a grumpy old man, but I get the feeling that the kids who go to shows today and maybe some of the bands, have no true knowledge of the scene that was before them.
Amazing times that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Holy shit, I haven’t heard anybody talk about Pale Hecate in years. I almost forgot about them.
\m/ Fockin’ A, right!
Bobby Hughes….AMAZING.
Damn…my metal horns didn’t quite come out like I expected.
I’m in Huntington and was a DJ forever at MU. I have been trying to remember a CD compilation that came out with Charleston bands in the early 90′s. do you know what that is? I can’t remember any bands and it is killing me. Something with Mary or Jane in it (hah hah).
Anything?
You are thinking Crazy Jane. I remember the CD, but can’t remember the name. Mike Lipton (WV Music Hall of Fame) would know.