After finally getting talking after having seen each other at the blood selling place in Brighton over and over for some years, Pat Beach and I met and became friends. He’s just one of those people that makes everyone in the room a bit happier when they show up…
Dan Shea: You and I both went to Suffolk University for Communications. What the fuck happened?
Pat Beach: I graduated from Suffolk in 2009 ;; like most young individuals I wasn’t ready for college.. I’ve come a long way in life especially since those days. However I didn’t like allot of the college professors I thought they where yuppie scum and for the longest time I felt that if u weren’t capable of killing me I couldnt learn from you.. sounds crazy but that used to be my animal instinct.. I didn’t wanna go to school when I was 19 I wanted to do bad boy things with the fellas ,, I some how graduated spring of 2009 and I’m glad I did, I don’t plan on being a total loser forever.. I currently have a BSA in communications and journalism, and I’m looking into RN programs for the next up coming year..
DS: You are an EMT, which seems like a crazy job. How’d you get into that line of work?
PB: I became an emt in 2011 after leaving my first grown up job as a program manager for public outreach. Public Outreach is a third party fundraising organization that works with numerous charity groups ,, I’ll leave them unnamed .. we all seen those kids before stopping you on streets asking you to sponsor a child in Africa or give to a natural disaster relief program . When I first stared the job I was 23 on probation and looking to do the right thing and get my shit together .. so I hit the streets and hustled like a mother jumpa ,, and got so many international babies sponsored that they made me the assistant manager of the Boston office
After a few months making some boss decisions I was sent to Sonoma California for an upper management career building workshop . it was at the very workshop that I realized my whole business mo was pulling a scam .. so I returned to Boston and basically demoted and eventually fired myself.. knowing the money filled world of corporate 3rd party fundraising was a scam I felt like shit and kinda lost . I mean I just wanted to do the right thing and help people .. so I said fuck it ,, I’ll drive a goddam ambulance. those dudes help people all the time ,, in fact it’s their job..
With a bank account full of charity money I walked to the Maranda Kramer building next to BMC and singed up for emt school with Boston ems.. the rest is history ..
PB: I’ve been an emt now for 4 almost five years with a private company who lets me make my own a schedule so I can tour and play shows .. We’re primally a transport company but we do back up Boston ems , and we do work in the cut ,, so I’ve seen some things .. the worst or most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen was 4 year old on life support being brought back to facility from hospital where he will live the rest of his life connected to a machine making sure he lives. Now the part of the equation that really got me on this one was knowing that child’s mother was at the hospital we were leaving also on life support because she was found OD’d on streets while she was in labor.. I remember thinking to myself man the world is a terrible place ,, and more so ,,, fuck the drugs they brought into this city to make money off of the poor… also there was this whole incest family with aids and developmental issues. They just made my skin craw and the house smelled like a UTI threw up…
DS: You went to Australia a little while ago with Sadist. How do they treat the punks down there?
PB: Australia is where I belong, I often feel like I’m not from this world .. I’m to nice for Boston , and I’m not a hipster which makes it confusing and kinda weird to be a punk in the modern US scene.. Australians are very nice they love jokes and everything thing has a cute nick name.. I loved it .. the drives where long but the radio was ok .. we toured with another dude from Boston band who moved over there 10 years ago, and our friendship didn’t skip a beat .. It felt like we where 22 again sitting in my kitchen in Somerville .. also all the promoters and punks treated us great..
DS: You’re currently playing with Sadist and Purgatory? What other bands have you played in over the years? Any new bands on the horizon?
PB: Sadist , the fucken greater rocker roll swindle ,, has become a part of my identity at this point .. it came into my life when I needed punk the most ,, and has taught me about music, life, culture , and just general decent behavior .. at this point me and Ghost are the only original members left , but Jason is the glue that holds us together.. up downs and all around ,, we’re just punks that have always been punks playing punk .. and I deeply appreciate all the shows tours and life changing opportunities that have come from this three cord wonder that was started in my dead mums shed in Hampton NH … Purgatory, my final manifesto to Boston punk, is pretty much a concept album i wrote two winters ago in reflection towards my Boston existence and feelings of non progression and repeating patterns of harmful situations and a depressing reality.. after I wrote the songs for the demo I surprisingly felt allot better about allot of the issues that kept me awake at night and a homeless person drunk at social events.. so it worked sooner and better than I ever hoped it could of .. the only problem is I no longer feel the soul crushing motivation to write those types of dark songs any more and will be finishing my short lived career as a front man at Purgatory very soon .. I encourage the band to go on and I got much love for the dudes…. well there we go … there it is… ‘at the end of the day I’ve always been trying to do the right thing, in a world gone wrong’ – TPP
