I’m Not Holding Your Coat

I’m Not Holding Your Coat: My Bruises-and-All Memoir of Punk Rock Rebellion is Nancy Barile’s firsthand account of growing up inside the early American hardcore punk scene.

Barile came of age as a music-obsessed Catholic school kid before becoming deeply involved in the Philadelphia punk underground, booking some of the city’s earliest DIY hardcore shows and working with bands as the scene was still inventing itself. Her story crosses paths with Minor Threat, SSD, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, S.O.A. and others who helped define early-’80s hardcore.

The book moves between Philadelphia and Boston, documenting punk riots, DIY venues, scene politics, friendships, relationships, and the chaotic energy surrounding hardcore before it became codified into a recognizable subculture. Rather than a detached history, I’m Not Holding Your Coat is written from the perspective of someone who was actually there, booking shows, managing bands, and navigating the personalities and tensions that shaped the era.

The book opens with an extended conversation between Barile and Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi, reflecting on their friendship and experiences in the formative U.S. hardcore scene.