Spring 2026
So many changes,… I’ve started from scratch and I’m adding back in the best stuff from the past and working on new stuff for the future. The site now features a few of the classic Free, Live, Bootleg Music that started the site. Since those early days much of my collection had found its way online. I will try to bring back the ones that no one else has posted. I’m very excited about the new chat rooms.
I’ve decided to both personal and political with the site. The mega-sites are far too restricting for me and I hate that when I use them, I’m helping my enemy. You will see more about myself and my life and my beliefs and politics. Some of you will agree, …others, … not so much.
Thank you for visiting. Please come back as this site is, as are most things are, a work in progress.
History.
Written June 22, 2024
On December 7th, 2010, the website RabidGorilla.com was launched. My purpose for doing so was to teach myself how to use the WordPress content management system. After my ‘Hello World.” post, I started posting memes, jokes, links to YouTube videos, …anything I could find. The website was a mirror of my Facebook page and It didn’t get any visitors, with good reason.
At the time I was also deep into the hobby of collecting bootleg recordings which I found and downloaded by way of bittorrent programs. I began a Song of the Day featuring a track from my collection that I hosted on Soundcloud. It quickly became the most popular item on the website and after a few months I redesigned the site so the music was the focus.
Despite my eclectic taste in music, the site gained in popularity and as it did, I was inspired to keep adding new content and finding new ways of promoting the site. I went from posting individual songs to posting entire concerts. To keep the music available I had to purchase advanced plans on Soundcloud.
I tried advertising programs and posting ads on the website but it never gained the audience it needed. The cost of hosting the music could no longer be justified and so I shut the site down in April of 2012 with a promise to return.
Jump ahead to 2016.
I repurpose the site to promote a new business venture: Rabid Gorilla Video Production Services. I had started recording friends and local musical acts with the videos being hosted on YouTube. The business never took off but the videos of the local (Central Maine) punk-rock scene were mildly popular. And they were a blast to make. I thoroughly enjoyed traveling around Maine to record friends and young people who appreciate original live music. From August of 2015 to April of 2019, I recorded over 175 shows from over 75 different bands.
In 2017 I temporarily closed the site again for another re-invention. This time I called it Rabid Gorilla Records. It was a record label that I developed to promote some of the bands I had met and recorded in the past: Angusisdead, Frankie Moon, and Uncle Spudd. Later on I was contacted and ‘signed on’ with a band of young punk rockers from Portland called The Chives.
On April 24th, 2019 I released a physical CD compilation of 21 songs by bands that had been featured on the website. It was a limited printing of 200 copies and most have been given away. The bands on the CD allowed me to produce the CD using the studio recordings of songs that had been on the site in the past. The collection is available on Bandcamp.com.
Although I was unaware at the time, that would be the last act of Rabid Gorilla records. The website has been closed and I have lost touch with the local music scene. I retain the URL for the next incarnation, …whatever that may be.
To be continued.
Since 2010, Rabid Gorilla has been inhabiting the internet in one way or another. It started without form or direction but soon found its purpose. For two years I used the site to share and promote bootleg music recording that I had downloaded from other sites.
The site went dark for a while but in the Summer of 2015 I started recording music acts and publishing original content. The videos were fun to make and appreciated by a small audience.
With the friends and contacts I had made in the Maine punk music scene, I was able to put together the Rabid Gorilla Compilation CD. I had 200 copies printed, gave away most, and sold a few through Bull-Moose Records.
Personal reasons and the COVID outbreak caused the site to go dark again shortly after that.
In 2025 hosting resumed and the site is currently being redesigned for a future use.
Rabid Gorilla merch (I have reduced the prices as much as possible. I make no money from the sales of this merchandise):
https://rabidgorilla.printful.me/