Reviews For The Week Of August 1st
By admin on Aug. 1, 2011.
Full Speed Ahead at their reunion show a few months ago. I didn’t even know this happened until I saw the video on YouTube…
Boston Strangler
Demo
Somewhere between Impact Unit and SSD (aka sounds like Fit For Abuse!) comes Boston Strangler. A quick five track demo of ugly 82 hardcore. More soon?
Gone But Not Forgotten
Seattle Crew Demo
Hey, this is pretty good! Somewhere near Confront and Floorpunch, this demo is good Straight Edge hardcore complete with hooded edgeman on the cover.
Negative Approach
Friends Of No One 7″
Taang Records
What is with the cover? A cartoonish drawing of what a hardcore show apparently looks like really takes away from the overall package here. I’m not surprised there is more unreleased Negative Approach (apparently there is even more), but I am surprised that the final lineup put these songs onto record. Recorded late in the band’s career, this record includes very raw recordings of some of the gnarly live songs they were playing near the end like Kiss Me Kill Me and Genocide. The versions on the Total Recall CD are some of the most incredible, ugly, music ever played (Dave Flynn: They sound like a hyena killing its prey) and these versions aren’t as harsh, but still worth checking out.
Force Fed
Self Titled 7″
Painkiller Records
Fast hardcore in the vein of Infest. I guess the term “power violence” applies here. Great stuff. Worth checking out.
Government Issue
Boycott Stabb Sessions CD
Dischord Records
Continuing Dischord’s series of reissues complete the complete sessions for GI’s Boycott Stabb record. I’ve never been a huge GI fan, alternating between finding them somewhat boring and pretty decent, but this session is good. I like some of the versions of older songs from their seven inches better on this version. This isn’t really essential, but worth picking up if you’re a fan.
Dusted Angel
Self Titled 7″
Corruption Records
Boring rock/stoner rock from former members of Bl’ast!. I need to listen to Power of Expression for the rest of the afternoon after this crap.
Our Gang
Uprising LP
Jack Roy Records
Collection of this late eighties NYHC band’s demos and other recordings. I love their tracks on the New Breed compilation, but a lot of their other material is lacking. The basic premise here is a mixture of Youth of Today and Breakdown, but some tracks work better than others. Their later, more rock/melodic songs are not interesting at all. Members of this band went on to be in Citizens Arrest and Born Against.
True Colors
Consider It Done 7″
Control Records
Not the New York band, but a band from Europe. Decent Gorilla Biscuits style hardcore that gets heavier on the melody as the record goes on. Not really my thing.
Career Suicide
Cherry Beach 7″
Sewercide Records
I have always liked Career Suicide a lot and this record is no exception. Snotty, early eighties style hardcore from Canada that never seems to bore me or let down. I think a few songs on here are covers.
At The Cost Of An Animal
By admin on Feb. 18, 2009.
A few weeks back, someone asked for stories about how people came to become vegetarians. As many people might know, I stopped eating meat a few years before I got fully involved with hardcore. I often tell a story about refusing to eat for a week because no one believed me (it still seems so strange to me that people think it is WEIRD not to eat meat) and another one about standing up to my parents on one of the, mercifully, few vacations we ever went on.
The seeds of this came a little bit before that. If you’ll remember back to the first Iraq War for a moment in the early nineties. I was only a little sixth grade outcast, but I was already not really feeling the yellow ribbon fever that had taken over the nation. My middle school years were spent getting beat up, spit on, depantsed, and seriously fucked up with in some pretty disturbing ways that I don’t want to go into here. I dug my grave further during sixth grade when I began to vocally talk about not being too psyched on The War.
We would watch briefings every morning (I never figured out why) during first and second period. My biggest problem with the whole situation was that there seemed to be a lot of not only innocents being killed (“collateral damage,” a barbaric term) but holy sites were being destroyed. Now, by sixth grade the whole higher power thing wasn’t really my thing already, I wouldn’t officially refer to myself as an atheist until a year or two later, but it seemed pretty disturbing that the so-called good guys would bomb thousands of years old holy shrines.
I had a guidance counselor I used to talk to while we waited to go into school every morning. We both loved the New York Rangers and would discuss the previous night’s game. Once in awhile I would bring up my concerns about not only innocent humans but innocent landmarks being destroyed. He would listen, eager for a troubled child to open up, and try to walk me through why I would feel this way. Critically thinking about this led me to decide that not only was war the wrong but so was the death and destruction that came with it.
This led me to start thinking about what else was wrong. A television show I watched at the time had a teenage protagonist who became a vegetarian during the show’s run. I thought back to Operation Desert Storm. If bombing countries into oblivion for a non-sustainable (I was also OBSESSED with solar power at this time) energy source (I remember the six am news each morning where they would drearily announce that oil had reach thirty dollars a barrel. Doh.) was wrong, isn’t killing animals when you don’t really have to also wrong? Why do we eat meat? Why does our diet have to have so much collateral damage?
A year later, we moved to southern New Jersey to get away from the hellish nightmare my childhood was becoming. The first day of school, I sat down in period eight and introduced myself to the long haired kid who sat across from me. It turned out, he liked punk rock and was a vegetarian.
Ah ha!
We would talk in class about animal rights and what I would soon come to know as hardcore bands. I didn’t get serious about either until the next year, but all the pieces of the puzzle came together. If it weren’t for a lot of those early bands I heard like M.D.C., Youth Of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, Nausea, etc I wouldn’t have stuck with hardcore probably.
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Mental/Mind Eraser/Get Real/Robot Whales/Little Rascals
By admin on Jul. 29, 2006.
Mental/Mind Eraser/Get Real/Robot Whales/Little Rascals
May 6th 2005
Brick NJ
Dave Flynn and I headed up to Brick for this one. We almost bailed upon finding out that Mind Eraser had canceled, but I am glad we still made the trip. Since it was just the two of us, we took my truck to its first hardcore show in a few years. At this point Dave usually drives so it was actually somewhat cool to drive for once. After dealing with the pouring rain, some crappy directions, and a trip to the mighty Santosa’s for vegan Chinese food, we finally found the venue. This is another VFW (I guess?) in Brick. Just how many VFWs does Brick have!? There seems to be at least three or four. I guess we missed the openers so after meeting up with some friends from the shore & Boston, plus the Brick locals, it was time for The Little Rascals to play.
I had never heard these guys before but quickly, after Gorilla Biscuits and Project X covers, they had my attention. They play heavy NYHC styled stuff just like Brick brother band Get Real. Soon enough they were also busting out a Slapshot cover, which got both Dave and I diving into the crowd and hitting the dance floor. A few more originals and then a Sheer Terror cover to end the set and both of us were sold on these guys! What a pleasant surprise to open the show.
We missed most of Robot Whales’ set to go get something to drink but I did enjoy what I heard. Apparently they intro’d with Electric Funeral. Robot Whales ended with a Quicksand cover. I am very interested in checking out their LP.
Either Get Real played next or before Robot Whales (mental note-stop writing show reviews six months later). They got a pretty crazy reaction. There were tons of people dancing, diving, and seeming like they were having a lot of fun. I really like Shore Style, but even I was surprised by how crazy the reaction was. At one point, Brett got his shorts ripped off, which lead to a lot of laughs. I hit the dance floor for their cover of Life of My Own, after which they played maybe one or two more before calling it a night. Easily this was one of the best sets I have seen all year.
As I said before, we were pretty bummed that Mind Eraser canceled this show. While Mental was setting up, I was sitting on the stage. At one point, I looked over at them and thought, “Man, they should open with a Mind Eraser song.” Well, low and behold, about two minutes later they were tearing through Chewed Up, Spit Out. YES! As that faded out they went right into History 101 (I think?) and tore through a great set. There was no way to really top Get Real’s set, but Mental got a great reaction anyway. A few songs before the end of their set, the power went out and that was the end of the night for all of us.
This was a great show. I was happy to get to eat in Brick and to be able to see a lot of friends I don’t see too often.
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Ten Yard Fight
By admin on Jul. 28, 2006.
I interviewed Clevo from the band Ten Yard Fight in May of 1998 (I think?) for my old fanzine Broken Behind This Wall.
How did you end up in Ten Yard Fight?
That’s a good question. It all started in the summer of 1995. I had gotten out of the Army the summer before and my life just kind of sucked. I had a lot of personal problems and I needed a change. I got back into Straight Edge when I got out of the Army and I started going to shows again now that I had a lot more freedom to do what I wanted. Well, in the spring of 95, my mother was getting transferred to Boston and, like I said, I needed a change in my life so she was like, I could move to Boston with her and live rent free and to go to school up here. So I figured I had nothing to lose, plus I always remembered Boston having a good scene with Slapshot and Wrecking Crew, so I did it. The thing was, while I was in the Army, I kept listening to the hardcore that I loved like Youth Of Today, Judge, Gorilla Biscuits, and stuff like that. When I got home nobody was really playing that anymore. I ended up meeting Rama at school and he told me about Ten Yard Fight being like all the bands that I loved, and through him I met Anthony P. and Sweet Pete, and then I went to a party at the 38 house and met Lacroix and Wrench. So I was hanging out with Lacroix, helping him with Extent, and going to a few shows around here with them, using my mom’s car to take equipment, and selling merch. Then on my twenty forth birthday I went on a road trip to New Jersey with Ten Yard Fight and got to hang out with all of them and I told them that I wanted to go on tour with them, even though they weren’t planning on taking anyone. I went on the first tour, took care of the money and merch, and carried equipment. After we got back I just kept doing that and started handling booking and keeping that shit in order. When John broke his hand last year I filled in on bass for two shows. By the time the summer tour was rolling around we still didn’t have a steady lineup, and the tour was a month away. I was going on the tour anyways, so they decided that John would try out to play guitar and I would have a try out at bass. We already knew that we could all get along, it was just to see if either of us could play. We decided that we would do it with the lineup of me on bass and John on guitar for at least the tour, and when we got back we just kept it.
How long were you in the Army for?
I was in the Army for four years.
What made you go into the Army? Was it a good experience for you?
My senior year in high school I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, and my best friend had already joined. I asked him about it and he set up an interview with a recruiter for me. The recruiter came to my house and told me all about the benefits and I kinda just joined. About three months later I left for basic training and this was during the whole Iraq thing. I finished basic training and went on to advanced training where you learn your job. I worked in communications and while I was at advanced training the bombing of Iraq started. I had orders to go over there, but the war was over so fast I never had to go. After that, I was sent to Germany for two years which was really cool. I was nineteen years old, right out of high school, and I got to go all around Europe. After that I went to Colorado for the rest of my time in the Army. I got to see a lot of awesome stuff the whole time I was in and I had a lot of fun. It definitely isn’t a life for everyone, and sometimes I’m surprised that I made it through as easily as I did, but it was a really good experience for me.
What is going on with Ten Yard Fight right now?
Well we recently got a new guitar player. His name is Tim and he moved to Boston from Maine just to be in the band. He was the first kid we tried out, and then we went to Europe, and when we got back he was still available. We figured that since he could play the songs and hang out and get along with us he was our man. The sad thing is that not too many people expressed interest in trying out or if they did, they lived a million miles away. It would be hard enough to just pick up and move, but these kids don’t think about a place to live or jobs or anything. Plus they have to come here to try out first and then we’d have to think about it. But Tim is in; he’s working out really well. We weren’t going to play any shows until the end of April but he’s working out so well that we got asked to play at the end of March and we’re doing it. So basically we are just practicing a lot and trying to write new songs. We have a new one we’re gonna play at our next show. We are also trying to get our summer tour plans together for a full US tour and hopefully when we get back we’ll record a seven inch for Equal Vision.
Where do you go to school?
I went to Northeastern University majoring in music industry. I stopped going after the last quarter, it just wasn’t doing it for me anymore. I may go back later on, but Northeastern i so expensive, I really can’t afford it anymore, and a lot of the classes I was taking were not teaching me anything I haven’t learned from being in and around bands.
Recently, this has been on my mind a lot. What do you think of people who talk shit under fake names on the internet? A lot of people talk shit about people like Tim McMahon, Susan Wills, um…me, and occasionally I see it about Ten Yard Fight too.
I’m really glad you asked about that. That is by far the lamest thing you could possibly do, pretend to be someone and try to bring that person down by spreading lies. It is no different than telling lies to anyone within earshot or lying in a fanzine. Actually, it is worse because I think it is easier to access the message boards than it is to get a little fanzine of about one hundred copies. Kids from all around the world can read this shit. I think the internet is an important tool when it is used for its intended purpose: to get information out to a lot of people. But when these fakes use it to gain a little fame from their friends, it is such bullshit.
If you go on and say you are Lacroix, or Tim, or little Jimmy Straight Edge and talk trash about bands or spread lies, you are such a fucking coward. Didn’t those Youth Of Today lyrics you learned so you could impress your friends by showing them how “old school” you are when the Youth Of Today covers get played at the shows. Take a fucking stand. Speak up! Stand up and say what you got to say, don’t hide behind some lame pseudonym or even worse-someone else’s name. I know, I always put posts as The Clevo, but you’ll always see my email address on the EVR board. If I say something that pisses someone off, I expect to hear about it, and will accept the full consequences of my actions if I am called on my shit.
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The First Step-What We Know
By admin on Jun. 12, 2006.
The First Step
What We Know LP
Rivalry Records
I’ve always been pretty lukewarm towards The First Step. Live I have always enjoyed them but on record they are pretty flat sounding. Maybe it is my growing boredom with this style? Well, much like Tragedy last week, this is a record that has been hyped to death. Add that to the fact that Wally from Gorilla Biscuits produced it has left the kids salivating for this one. Well, Wally producing a record does nothing for because that dude hasn’t done anything I like since about 1990 or so. Doesn’t he play crappy indie pop shit now? Ugh. The First Step play 1988 inspired youth crew hardcore that reminds me a lot of the second Insted LP What We Believe. If I was straight edge, sixteen, and hyped up on positive hardcore, I think I would love this record. However, sadly, I am twenty-six, haven’t been straight edge for a long time, and am totally burnt out on this stuff. I can definitely hear Wally’s influence on this too; a lot of these songs sound like unreleased Gorilla Biscuits songs. By the end of side one I was pretty bored with this. If you like this kind of thing though, I think you are gonna love this record.
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