BIOGRAPHY

The story of DYS [short for Department of Youth Services, a state agency that locked up juvenile delinquents] began when Dave Smalley put a sign up in Newbury Comics [then Boston's leading record store on underground music] saying singer and drummer looking to form band. Jonathan Anastas [ex Decadence], who knew Dave Smalley a little and who also worked at Newbury Comics, knew a guy who played guitar so they decided to give it a chance.
They started playing and also recorded a short demo - "Wolfpack". After a couple shows, the guitar player was fired due to drinking/philosophical differences but they kept the drummer and started looking for a new guitar player. Alan Barile from SS Decontrol suggested that they'd play with Andy Strachan and Andy ended up joining the band.
Vocals
Guitar
Bass
Drums
  :  Dave Smalley
  :  Andy Strachan
  :  Jonathan Anastas [ex Decadence]
  :  Dave Collins
The band now released "Brotherhood" for SS Decontrol's XClaim! label.
The Boston Crew
DYS were, along with Negative FX and SS Decontrol [and later on also Last Rights], at the core of the so-called Boston Crew. They were a group of about 20-30 people who used to follow SS Decontrol everywhere they went [and would crew for each other if not all bands were not playing].
There are numerous stories about what they did. One is how they used to roll into New York shows in SS Decontrol's black windowless van with X's painted on their heads. And if they saw a kid in the pit without an X on his head, they'd punch him as he was from New York.
Yes, there was a lot of tension between the Boston and the New York scene. Boston had, along with the Washington DC scene, a Straight Edge mentality and a suburban upbringing. The New York scene was based around the Lower East Side and seemed very street and violent compared to Boston. It also had beggars, Krishnas and other oddities.
As the bands musical skills progressed and as the scene moved toward more of a slow/rock influenced sound the band felt [like many other Boston bands] that a second guitar player was needed. The band auditioned only one, Ross Luongo [ex Impact Unit], and hired him on the spot.
Vocals
Guitar
Guitar
Bass
Drums
  :  Dave Smalley
  :  Andy Strachan
  :  Ross Luongo [ex Impact Unit]
  :  Jonathan Anastas [ex Decadence]
  :  Dave Collins
With that lineup the band wrote and recorded the material for their second, self-titled album. It was issued by Modern Method as they had much better distribution than XClaim!
Just like everything else, the story of DYS had to come to an end. The band had with their second release moved into a more Metal sound. This began to attract the attention of some major label and the band began to fight about what is selling out. The individual band members' musical tastes had also began to fracture so far that no one could write a song the other four agreed on. Thus, knowing they could go no farther, they broke up [this was in 1985].
If you want to find out more about the origin of Boston Hardcore, DYS and Straight Edge, then we recommend reading the Jonathan Anastas interviews we have in the interviews section of this website.
Where Are They Now?
Dave Smalley went on to join Washington DC Hardcore band Dag Nasty, southern California Punk-poppers All and he's presently in Down by Law. A few years ago, he started a Mod band called The Sharpshooters.
Jonathan Anastas went on to join Slapshot soon after DYS split up. He left around 1987/1988 to concentrate on college. He today lives in southern California working as an executive at an advertising agency.
We have no idea what the other members are up to.
Found Any Inaccuracies?
Please don't hesitate to e-mail the webmaster at webmaster@oldtimehardcore.com if you for some reason think the information found on this page is inaccurate or if there's anything you think should be added.