Monday, May 27, 2013

P is for Patriotism

$10. A small price to pay for freedom

Forgive me for being a lil Yankee-centric here (hey, I did a post about Justice/Russia), but as I sit here in my bedroom having just ingested 6-7 pounds of Watermelon, listening to Ted Nugent and planning a night of BBQ's and basketball with my friends, I decided to slap a lil bloggy-blog on"patriotic" hardcore.

I know the American Flag has started to become a mainstay in HC design again, but looking at this flyer...wow. America! Almost exclusively NY/NJ bands, some pretty well known (Biohazard) and some a little more obscure (Sick Society). I like the fact that Maximum Penalty is playing, along with a band called Maximum Force...and then a band called Brute Force. I'm not entirely sure about how far 'right' some of these bands went, so don't crucify me for any of that (actually, go to Hell, I don't care what you think). Not a lot of variation in the names there. Still a pretty hefty lineup, and how late do you think this ran since it started at 7 PM? The Icemen need no introduction, and neither do Fit of Anger (doesn't Porter talk about how they're better than Chain of Strength in the Floorpunch 'Final Mosh' vid? Maybe I'm mis-hearing). American Eagle had a much better name/logo than recorded output and I really wish I'd come up with the name Savage Choir.

Anyway, benefit for vets. I dig that. I'm in the process of writing an essay/short story about my uncle who first heard rock n' roll music (Cream Disraeli Gears I think...) while traipsing through the jungles of Vietnam. How much crazier of a context for RNR would it give you if it was coupled with land mines, agent orange and blitzkrieging air raids on villages? I come from a military town. I'm not going to get into any politics here, but many people I hold dear (Daniel Montgomery) have served, or are currently serving in the armed forces. For those observing this day here in the States, have fun and be safe. For those who aren't, seek out some Fit of Anger MP3's and mosh in yer room.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

N is for No Warning

I'm never gonna work another day in my life. 

When I interviewed Chris Morgado for the STILL pending Drug Dogs #3, we talked a lot about this band (the zine’s still in development hell btw). The thing that many people will remember about No Warning is how they went from writing arguably one of the most classic LPs of 2000s core (like Morgado said on the Trumbull blog, no matter how bad everyone wanted to write them off as generic tough guy mosh-foolery, Ill Blood uses absolutely NO recycled riffs anywhere, all killer) to schlepping out a sorta ok LP that pandered to mainstream audiences. Yeah, lots of idiots like to pretend to dig it in an attempt to show how open minded they are or something ridiculous, but they know in their heart of hearts that Suffer Survive just isn't great. End of story. I can, however, still get behind how shamelessly it was touted as being their ticket to fame and fortune.


This band in their prime, NYHC via Toronto, was baller, and in no small part because of the rumors attached to them. Having a demo tape of Ill Blood songs re-recorded with white power lyrics, a certain affinity for Biohazard comparisons and a definite rep for being dicks on message boards got people talking and/or hating...which meant I was paying attention.


I don’t think this art was ever used anywhere, but I’m told that during Suffer Survive era, it was on their website as “fan art” which is laughable in itself. I like that there’s an original version of it (featuring a naughty symbol and a giant minotaur schlong respectively) and then a “censored” version. Cool stuff.

I’ll never tire of the 7” and Ill Blood, but a tour with Machine Head in promotion for Suffer Survive still gives me douche chills as I look back on it.


[Edit: it's now 2018 and I've come around on Suffer Survive. I dig it now]

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

M is for The Machetes


Locals only, dick!

M is for The Machetes. One of the more enigmatic bands under the My War Records banner. Literal surf punk from HB that was really reckless and seemed isolated from other hardcore trends happening at the time (2004-ish). In fact, when I talked to Westbrook/Knife Fight about his favorite My War related band (Drug Dogs #2), this was the one he picked. I’m not sure if it’s officially part of the catalog (though the My War logo is on the tape jacket), and what ended up happening with these guys. Maybe it was just a symptom of the label’s demise and the band just got swallowed up into the California surf.

Really great stuff that’ll likely get buried in the sands of time...but worth tracking down. Only some cassettes/CD-Rs exist of this. Most heads say they sounded like Aggression. Serious drawl
....

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

L is for Last Rights

NUFF SAID
Because they made the best hardcore 7" of all time....and I just watched the Slapshot documentary. I'm not gonna say any more on the matter.

Monday, May 13, 2013

K is for Knife Fight

Westbrook's wardrobe hearkens to a bygone era of when you could guarantee an S&T shirt wasn't a bootleg

Good, burly "eighties" sounding stuff from the 2000's era that introduced many to some lesser known HC/Punk gems by way of their cover choices (America's HC being the most notable for me). I remember reading some doofus-y show review or column in MRR and the person writing it said that Jon Westbrook looked like a "scrapper" because he wore a flannel at a show. 

I later asked Jon about this in an interview with my own zine, and he seemed as perplexed by the question as me. He also told me a story of when Knife Fight toured with Mental before Lockin Out mania had hit fever-pitch proportions and some heroin addict tried to petition Greg's camo pants from him...Anyway, a band who's status is a live/dead hybrid, and who've never released a weak record. This pic is from the first 7" insert on My War. Mean, tuff and wholly disinterested in technical finesse...how I like it.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

J is for Justice

Sick of the durrrrrt, shoved in mah faaaaace


I was born in the U.S., spent my elementary school years (1992-1997) in the UK and then moved back, so I consider myself pretty rounded...but when it comes to Mother Russia, I admit my attitudes are (shamefully) Ameri-centric. Images of fur hats, Tetris music and James Bond villains abound, and despite the best humanitarian efforts of dorky thrash metal songs from my youth (Anthrax - "Russia/you really think they'll blow up the world/like they love their lives less?") I never looked too far into the country as a source of cool music or hardcore.

A lot of this changed with growing up. Back when I was doing my crappy zine in college, I got a demo in the mail by a Russian band in the mail called Hoods Up 495 (if any of those dudes stumble upon this, hit me up) that I really enjoyed. The demo was called "Droppin' Many Putins" and essentially sounded like Cypress Hill with a little bit of HC chug. The fact that someone from the opposite side of the world, in a country that I knew nothing about had created a band that fused some of the influences that I'd come up with (the first Cypress Hill record is a BANGER and completely inescapable by anyone who skated in the late 90s and early 2000s) wreaked my play-doh mind to tatters. Since then, I've kept an eye on the country. In a recent-ish interview with United Stance in Mosher's Delight, Spoiler makes note of some cool Russian (and Ukranian) bands and I'm gonna quote him here because I really can't say it any better myself.


The scene has been real active there [Russia] and the Ukraine and I think it rules. It makes a lot more sense to be into hardcore and straight edge when you're surrounded by Krokodil, armies of Nazi skinheads and streets you're not safe in before dawn. Check out Degenerative Behavior, Rearranged, The Pack (RIP) and Big City Bastards.


Good stuff. I had the good fortune of seeing Justice (the real Justice, not those electrofroot Spin mag impostors) a bunch of times in 2005-2006 and they were great at every show. I got literal Goosebumps when they "debuted" the Up and Down material at a show in Richmond and then closed the set with "Searchin' for the Light." Anyway, great to see that Russian hardcore fans are getting the same kind of opportunities I got, to see great hardcore.


Sorry for all the extraneous sap here. I just really think it's great to see bands of this caliber playing in places so remote to an appreciate audience (cue that embarrassing video of Have Heart playing to African pre teens). I'll get more bitter tomorrow.


Happy mothers day. Give your Mom's a call. 




Thursday, May 9, 2013

I is for Insight

"Caring Edge" zine? Oh brother...
Essentially the first straight edge HC band to come from Salty City, and in my opinion, one of the only ones who haven't sucked the salami. This is the part where some internet e-herb in a kangol and overalls goes "dude, Triphammer was lyke....soooo good," to which I simply shrug and say "OK. If you say so."

Not a ton of recorded output, just a 7" on Victory and then a song on those comps. At the reunion, I was told  they had some unreleased songs but it's anybody's guess as to whether or not they'll see a release. 


Minus the goofy slap bass part, "Silent Shore" is baller.


Integrity need no intro...but wasn't Head Strong the name of an early 2000's Nu-Metal band? I remember sampler discs being passed around when I was in high school.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

No Justice's Angelfire site (CORE CORE CORE #8)

TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDSTER FRIENDS
Everyone of us with more than a few brain beans to mash together knows No Justice rules. One need only peep their last show on cable access to catch a teensy glimpse of the chaos and fury contained within. Yeah they're starting to get a little more hype (what with turd bands like Losin' It covering their songs on Toxicbreed comps) but I got two copies of Still Fighting (red and yellow) from Adele Collins' distro...arguably the only thing she ever had in that horrendous metalcore flea-market that was worth paying for.

Anyway, in what might be the equivalent of Warner Bros still active Space Jam website, my internet/zinester bud Scott Kilcoyne hipped me to an Angelfire site that No Justice set up in their short(ish) existence. Bad late 90s/early 2000's art and all. Man, what an era. My favorite.


I've tried (and failed) numerous times to recover the awesome skateboarding/Soundgarden tribute Angelfire site I made in middle school to no avail. Consider my heart genuinely warmed with nostalgia. 


Leave a comment on their guestbook here.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

H is for H100s

DIS-MANTLE, DIS-MANTLE, DIS-MANTLLLLE
In keeping with today's theme of all things gnarly and vile coming from Cleveland (3 girls escaping from some dude's sex dungeon after being held hostage there for 10 years?!) I present one of my all time favorites: The H-100s! Just listen to the aggressive crowd baiting on the Live in Cleveland LP and you'll start to crack the code (or huff some copier toner and bash your head into a wall...same diff).

Cleveland hardcore has always been weird and perverse, limping to the off-beat thump of its own drum and that's what I dig about it. I'm always tempted to look at the 90's as a "black hole" period for hardcore (an explanation some have used to explain why so many early 00's bands started aping the 80's sound) because I just can't groove on the lion's share of basketball jersey clad, shadowboxing vegan warrior dirt-freekery that comes part and parcel with the Clinton era. That being said, it's the decade that brought us Floorpunch, the H-100s and Left for Dead so it couldn't have been all bad. 


Not a lotta talk about the H-100s in this post, but the music does the talking. Seek out everything they did (there isn't much) and pray for the day your crappy no-talent Rage Against the Machine karaoke outfit can write a song that comes anywhere close to "Dismantle."

Sunday, May 5, 2013

G is for Gut Instinct



This image isn't new, I've seen this one pop up on MSG boards since the mid 2000's, but it's a quality one. I'm not sure the story surrounding this one (did they play a nazi club?), but Gut Instinct ruled, and Nazis fucking suck. (If anyone knows the story, let me know in the comments!) People took notice of Baltimore hardcore's....um.....hardness once they'd seen The Wire but hardcore wise, it existed long before that.

Here are a few other neat observations about this Gut Instinct picture: 
  • Champion gear on the guy on the far left. I was at Urban Outfitters yesterday (don't ask) and noticed they were selling it at inflated prices? WHUT? Cop that shit at Wal Mart! 
  • Anyway, shirt tucked into jeans like Choke, and his hockey jersey in the infamous Negative FX vs. Mission of Burma fans show,
  • Icemen T-shirt. Nothing more to say there.
  • Camo shorts (pants?). What a great look that shouldn't ever phase-out of hardcore. They remind me of moshing to bad bands in my high school auditorium.



Friday, May 3, 2013

F is for Freddy Madball

GROWING CONCERN
F is for Freddy Madball. We all know the stories about the familial connection to Roger Miret, and most have probably seen an image or two of him as a pre-pub singing for ‘em, but here’s one I hadn’t seen til recently. Madball was recently “banned” from Salt Lake City because the city “doesn’t permit hardcore bands to play,” (there’s a whole Facebook thing about it, go find it on their page) and that’s stupid...but let’s talk about this image:


Freddy Cricien as a Beb wearing what looks to be a homemade AF tee cropped into a midriff.
Stigma’s shirt says “Samaritan Halfway Society.” Maybe ironic. I don't know. NYHC had a certain love affair with angel dust.
If you peep Stigma’s right hand, it kind of looks like he has 6 fingers. Kinda. Aliens.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

E is for Ebro

It ain't hard to tell

 E is for Ebro...as in Ebro Virumbales. Ebro Charles Bronson, Los Crudos, MK-Ultra, Ruination and Punch in the Face. In light of the new(ish) live PITF 12” just recently released, here’s this, which comes from the insert. Ripping hardcore punk that never got enough hype for how good it was, and despite the fact that Town of Hardcore always seemed to have their back and to be in on it (creating one of the best zine covers of the 00’s). 

Chicago is one of hardcore’s best towns. In the footage from Jim Grimes birthday show, Dave Weinberg (Suicide File) calls it HC’s Las Vegas, where old bands go to die. Maybe he’s onto something...I just have a penchant for scrappy stuff that comes from the Midwest.