Top 100 Of The Nineties: Endpoint-In A Time Of Hate
By admin on Feb. 6, 2006.
Endpoint
In A Time Of Hate LP
Conversion Records
1991
This is a personal choice. When I was a young punk Model was put on a mix tape for me (turned out said mix tape maker just copied the east coast side of the Voice of 1000’s compilation and said it was a mix) and I loved it a lot. In A Time Of Hate, the LP the song comes from, is a great record of slightly metallic youth crew hardcore with great lyrics about the environment, straight edge, and drunk driving. I’ve always had a soft stop for this one and probably listened to it a lot more in my teens than I did “classic” bands like Bold or Youth of Today.
Endpoint’s later records go from decent to pretty bad in my opinion. They got some chances and got pretty mellow as the years went on. They’d also do a cover of that stupid Rick Springfield song Jesse’s Girl which would haunt my high school years, but let’s tell that story another time. If you like Endpoint I’m sure you already have these records.
This record is out of print as far as I can tell. I’m shocked it hasn’t been reissued by anyone. The Louisville Hardcore wiki page has more information.
Here is an mp3 of Model.
These songs are posted for sample purposes. I post them so that people can be turned on to cool music and hopefully return the favor for someone else. Each mp3 will be up for one week and then will be taken down. please support the bands and labels by buying these records and checking them out when they play your town. DIY hardcore punk bands deserve your support as an alternative to Clear Channel/MTV/RIAA nonsense.
If you are the artist or copyright holder for this song and would like it removed please email me and it will be removed in a timely manner.
Members of this band went on to be in Black Cross and By The Grace Of God.
Rain On The Parade
By admin on Oct. 12, 2005.
John and Justin did this interview in May of 1997 for a zine called We’re Not Gonna Take It, which they never finished. We ended up finally using it in 2000 for Parade Brigade #2.
This interview was conducted at the basketball court down the street from the New Providence Hall during Ensign’s set. Also present were myself and one of ROTP’s friends named Lee. I think I asked one question. John and Justin handled the rest. Ronny Little and Matt Smith give answers.
Who is in the band and what do they do?
Ronny-Right now it’s me, Ronny Little, I sing. Matt Smith plays bass; Chris Ross plays Drums, Justin Phillips and DII on guitars.
When did you start as a band and what was the purpose?
Ronny-Well, I started the band in the summer of 1994 because a lot of bands today aren’t playing the style of hardcore that I want to be hearing except for Mouthpiece and a few others. I just decided that it was time for me to take a whack at this hardcore thing because I’ve done bands but I never actually wrote the music that we were playing. This time I was actually writing the music and I learned how to play guitar, so I could be in a band where I liked the music.
Did any of your other bands ever release anything?
Ronny-I was in a bunch of shitty bands that started out good but they ended up playing really lame shit and that’s why I wanted to learn how to play guitar, so we could go through the process and not write lame songs. So then, I got my shit together, and Rain On The Parade is the first band I’m completely happy with.
We know Rain On The Parade is a Half Off song, but why did you pick that song to name your band after?
Ronny-I was listening to a lot of Half Off when I was starting to write all of the songs. Actually, our original name was Glue, but we decided that a lot of bands use that, like punk bands, but that was before Justin. It was Glue when it was just me and DII and these two guys who really didn’t care about the band. So as soon as they were out DII and I were looking for new members but nothing really came together until the summer of 95 and that’s when we changed our name to Rain On The Parade.
What do you think is the worst hardcore record of all time?
Ronny-I’ll let Matt go first since he’s been silent.
Matt-This list is too long.
Ronny-Probably one of the bands I was in during high school.
Matt-Any band that played before Stand Up played; the bands that didn’t even headline over Stand Up were the worst.
Ronny-Unisound was a really shitty club in Reading PA that all the worst bands would play, but it was cool because all the worst bands would get to play with good bands like Gorilla Biscuits, Token Entry, Judge, Turning Point. I’d have to say that the Unisound bands were the worst hardcore bands around. I really want to choose someone but I can’t. It’s weird because I always knock bands left and right but when somebody asks me I can’t remember the shitty band’s names.
How about the cheesiest bands?
Ronny-Matt think back, what are some really bad records you’ve brought?
Matt-Billingsgate.
Ronny-Billingsgate, yeah! And Even Score, they got it; they are even cheesier than Victory Records shit.
This leads to our next question-Are there any Victory bands that you like?
Matt-By The Grace Of God
Ronny-Yeah, By The Grace Of God; they’re the only band I’d say I like
Do you guys like Murphy’s Law?
Both-Yeah I love Murphy’s Law!
The reason why we asked that is because a lot of people that are straight edge today are so close minded, they say, well Murphy’s Law aren’t edge so we can’t listen to them.
Matt-That’s dumb. I’m straight edge
Ok here we go with the generic style-Do you guys skate?
Matt-Yeah, I skate
Ronny-I skated in high school but I was never really good.
What was the downfall of glam rock?
Matt-Grunge. When grunge became cool and mullets weren’t. People traded in their construction boots and Ratt t-shirts for Soundgarden shirts and Docs. That was the downfall of glam rock.
Ronny-I think the downfall of glam was just how conservative the 90′s got all of a sudden. The 80′s were very wild, the styles were ugly, the crazy patterns and florescent colors. The 90′s we are seeing a lot of bands not wearing costumes on stage. I mean, Twisted Sister-look at them. You know that they don’t walk down the street like that. You know that they don’t walk in for Thanksgiving dinner like that and go HI MOM! in their makeup and big hair and plus I think that glam was just bad. People in the 90′s just woke up.
What do you think of Ebonics?
Ronny-Ebonics? I thought we were talking about hardcore?
Matt-Speak English. Ebonics is a thing people learned like five years ago. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.
Ronny-I know that, that is the way people talk in the ghetto and stuff but sometimes I hear it at a hardcore show.
Matt-I worked in Philly with mostly people from the ghetto and that is how they spoke and I refused to listen to them when they started speaking in Ebonics. I would always be saying “what?” Then they would speak white boy or something and they would explain it to me. They can speak English but they choose not to.
Ronny-I think it’s a racist thing to be honest, you know I don’t think racism is something that is reserved for white people. I’ve seen a lot of fucked up shit and I think that it’s just one more barrier that they are putting between us. I’m speaking a language that I was taught in school; they can be speaking it too. I understand that there is a lot of animosity, that’s fine, actually that’s not fine because I’m not glad it’s there. But they could make it a little easier, I’m not saying all people are like that though. When I hear it at a hardcore show I know that these kids lived in suburban homes and stuff like that. Ebonics just separates people, I don’t know why we can’t just speak the same language.
What band best represents hardcore?
Ronny-Minor Threat or SSD
Who would win in a no holds barred steel cage match, Barney or Grimace?
Ronny-Grimace has that retard strength. There is a reason why dinosaurs are extinct, they were weak. Grimace will pound his ass!
What is Grimace?
Ronny-Grimace is a facial expression, not a purple whatever the hell he is
Before you mentioned Minor Threat was the best representation of hardcore, what do you think of Embrace?
Ronny-I like Embrace
How about Fugazi?
Matt-They’re alright, I mean they never set out to be a hardcore band
What about the whole no dancing thing?
Matt-They aren’t really a danceable band. People see them as an alternative band. I mean, why would you want to dance to Fugazi anyway?
Ronny-I think they play good rock and have been consistent at it for years. Every album they have recorded has been either good or at least ok. Repeater is awesome!
What about Black Flag? What do you think of the rumors of a reunion?
Ronny-I love Black Flag! Is that reunion thing happening? I’ve been hearing about that for years. If they came around to Philly I’d definitely see them. I’d be the first one out, whipping out my credit card and getting tickets from Ticketron.
What do you think happened to Rerun?
Ronny-I think The Doobie Brothers beat his ass after he tried-
Matt-To bootleg tapes and when they saw the tape recorder fall out, they stopped the show. Then they went to Rob’s place and worked it out.
What’s up next for you guys?
Matt-We recorded nine songs and eight of them are on our 7” that is out on My War Records.
How about a full length?
Matt-It was supposed to be out as a full length but it got messed up. Most of the songs weren’t ready so we will try to do that next.
This question is kind of awkward, but if you could see any band do a cover of any band, who would it be and what song?
Ronny-I’m not really big on covers, you know what, I would like to see our band cover Rain On The Parade!
So Ronny, is that Government Issue song named after you?
Ronny-(totally clueless) Sarge?
Nevermind…
Ronny-When Government Issue was playing I was listening to Van Halen and AC/DC so I don’t know.
Most important question of the night-Favorite Van Halen singer?
Ronny-You don’t even have to ask that. Let me make this clear, there was only one Van Halen singer and that is David Lee Roth. They were Van Hagar when David left ok?
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By The Grace Of God
By admin on Sep. 6, 2005.
Mike McKenna did this interview for me also. By The Grace of God has gotten a bad reputation in some circles but I’ve always thought that first 7” they did on Victory totally raged. Plus it’s hard to deny a band that covers Bringin It Down and Plastic Bomb. This was done with Tommy, their drummer, sometime in 1998.
What’s going on in Louisville?
Right now Louisville is doing just fine. We are going through a stage right now where a lot of great new hardcore, punk, and indie rock bands are coming out of the woodwork. Some great new bands you should check out are:
Five Times Fast
Flight 19
The Aasee Lake
Automatic
Tri-tet
Half Seas Over
The Dangers
Espionage
…just to name a few. The only thing that kind of sucks right now is that there are barely any places that will hold all-ages shows. There is a place called Sparks where about 90% of the punk shows are. The club is really cool to us and the people who work there are very cooperative, but the room the bands play in sounds like crap. Rumor has it that some kids are trying to find a place to start a collective but I hear that like every six months and nothing ever happens. I hope it works out this time.
I noticed that By The Grace Of God changed their lineup recently. Who are the new members and have they played in other bands before?
Our two new members’ names are Robby Scott (who replaced Jay Palumbo on guitar) and Brian Roundtree aka “Tree” (who replaced Jon Mobly on bass). So far, everything is working out just great except that Tree tends to hang out with hippies in drum circles and ends up coming to practice all stoned and smelling like patchouli.
By The Grace of God started as an “all star” band of sorts. How exactly did it come about, and more specifically when did you become involved?
By The Grace of God started because Rob and Duncan missed being in a hardcore band together since the breaking up of the all-mighty Endpoint. Duncan went around Louisville and found the biggest straight edge losers he could and asked them to be in a band. So we had our first practice and wrote three songs (Goliath, Pallbearer’s Hymn, and Navigator) and played them over and over again, then a week later we played our first show on a whim with Earth Crisis. Shelter was supposed to play but their van broke down or something so we got up after the opening band and used their equipment and played our three songs and a Judge cover. The room went nuts. It was so fun and exciting but also very sloppy.
The Perspective album sounds more developed than the 7”. Is this because more time was spent in the studio, or was it because at that point By The Grace of God was a full-time band?
Well…neither. The songs on Perspective came out not as aggressive because that’s how they were written. We all didn’t sit down and say “hey, let’s write some more polished hardcore songs.” Hopefully, our next release will be much more aggressive the way I personally like it.
Some people would label By The Grace Of God as a political band. Obviously, there are some very political songs on your records but do you feel that this perception of the band in any way constrains you?
Not really. I am not really educated enough on politics to be as political as I want to be. When Rob writes his lyrics, he sometimes shares them with us so we can all put our ideas to mold it into a better song.
Are the messages reflected in such songs as November’s Lie and Red Hand Plan representative of the feelings of the band or are they mostly expressions of Rob’s ideas?
The songs November’s Lie and Red Hand Plan are expressions of Rob’s ideas.
Does By The Grace of God have any plans to head back into the studio in the near future?
By The Grace of God plans on going back in the studio in April to record songs for a new 7” on Three Little Girls Records out of Louisville, and some for some compilations.
Everyone knows By The Grace of God is on Victory. How did that come about? I mean, nothing against Victory, but why not go with Initial Records, who you not only work with, but is also a hometown label?
Just for the record, By The Grace of God is not on Victory anymore. We didn’t leave on bad terms. We still appreciate everything they did for us but in the long run Victory wasn’t the right label for us. Victory came into question about what labels we wanted to be on because Duncan’s old band Guilt was on Victory and Tony told Duncan that he wanted to put it out. We figured that Tony would probably get it out the fastest so we went with it. It worked out great because our record came out like a couple of months after we recorded it. The reason why we haven’t done anything with Initial is totally over my head. I wanted to release something with Initial from the get go, but it didn’t work out that way.
On the back of the Perspective LP there is a little box which says STRAIGHT EDGE IS A NON-VIOLENT MOVEMENT. I think that is really cool and more straight edge bands should promote non-violence. Do you think that violence in the straight edge community is as bad as everyone says it is?
I think it depends on what scene you are from. Here in Kentucky, we have a semi-violent scene but there are never any fights. The scene here is a lot different than say, New York or New Jersey because it seems that kids dance a whole lot more violent up there than they do in the south. I am strongly opposed to mindless violence and I think it has no place in any hardcore scene. If people have the brain to just talk things out instead of fighting, things wouldn’t be so bad in some scenes. I might get called a sissy for saying this but it’s just the logical thing to do…plain and simple.
What’s new with your other band, The Enkindels?
The Enkindels just finished the recording for our new LP Buzz Clip 2000. It is by far the best Enkindel release yet, much more melodic punk rock than emotional hardcore. We are going to be touring like hell this summer and hopefully go to Europe this winter. I love playing in all sorts of different genres of punk. I also play in a band called The Life Of An Ocean that’s different than anything else I’ve ever done.
What were the bands or albums which made you want to play hardcore?
There are tons and tons of records which made me want to play hardcore, but if I had to narrow it down to three records it would be Minor Threat-Out of Step, Gorilla Biscuits-Start Today, and Bad Religion-Suffer. But still today there are great records that are coming out that totally motivate me like Ten Yard Fight-Back On Track, and Good Riddance-Ballads From The Revolution.
Right now, in your opinion, what are the worst problems in the hardcore community?
Violence, sexism (yes, sexism…look around, it’s still there), and superiority.
What albums are you looking forward to in 1998?
I am looking forward to the new Ink and Dagger LP. I think Don and Sean are going to blow everyone’s ass apart with this next one. The Saves The Day LP. I am also looking forward to the next Boy Sets Fire release.
Any closing comments?
It seems like every five or six months I get a new record that totally blows me away. Recently I got the new Good Riddance LP and it is so fucking amazing. The music is incredible and the lyrics are ingenious. I can’t wait to see them live so I can run around and scream my head off. Check it out; if you don’t you are seriously missing out.
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