Old Time Hardcore X Straight Edge

KRUTCH

2008-01-06T02:04:00.001-08:00

KRUTCH, the undisputed kings of Pennsylvania hardcore, got started in late ´89 the original members being Karl, Sal, Richie, Cheez, & Below. Sal would eventually join the U.S. Navy, leaving the remaining four to maintain Krutch. This original line-up never seriously recorded and it wasn't until late ´93 that their first demo Stand Strong, Stand Alone was complete. By this time Below had moved and his place was filled by Johnny Z. With Johnny came his brother Jamie to play lead guitar.

In 1995 Krutch´s 2nd demo Wheruat would be released, although it had only three songs it was received very well in the hardcore scene, this release showcased the true-to-life lyrics over Krutch´s trademark sound of low tuning and intense drum work. Soon after this release Johnny and Jaime had to leave the area for personal problems. Shawn Battle came from Pittsburgh to play drums and Chris Mavromatis left his old band to join Krutch on lead guitar. With this line-up around ´96 they released their split 7" with Surrounded on Back Ta Basics Rec. This was B.T.B.' 2nd release and made both, the band and label, household names. Krutch's next release Brotherhood - Sisterhood mcd would be on the European label R.P.P. It included their second demo and their two songs off their split 7". Soon after Krutch released another split 7" on the french label Inner Rage Records and with the French band Stormcore. Through all of this Krutch always maintained the hardcore identity. By this time Krutch collaborated with Rick Healey of 25 Ta Life and Pepi Rodreguiz of Livin Proof to start the side project Comin Correct, with whom they have toured in Europe, Japan and of course U.S.

Krutch continued and stayed busy with playing where ever they could in the U.S. but mainly East Coast and Midwest. They played tons of shows with Madball, Biohazard, Life of Agony, Kreator, Downset, Dog Eat Dog etc. in the legendary clubs like ´The Rat` in Boston, ´CBGB's` in NYC, and ´The Pipeline` in wonderful Newark N.J. But on a regular basis the line-up would be with the likes of 25 Ta Life, Fury Of V, V.O.D. or Bulldoze.

Around ´97 Krutch released their debut full-length album Now the Tables Turn on the underground B.T.B. label. The band was not fully satisfied with the recording, but nevertheless the cd was highly acclaimed worldwide. Then one of the founding members Cheez would call the quits. Krutch being no stranger to line-up changes quickly recruited Simon from a local punk-hardcore band called Feeble. With this line-up they toured Europe playing in major clubs as well as squats. They played Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, and France.

After the European tour Krutch released another split 7" The Few The Deep with Simon´s defunct band Feeble. Soon Simon had a kid, then the singer Karl had a kid, so Krutch took long time-off to record a full-length which will be out early 2000. Rich joined Mushmouth just to keep playing while the break.

Now, on the brink of the new millenium, Krutch is ready for the crushin comeback and claim their place on the top of the whole hardcore game. They just released the 2nd album Our Thing - the Mafia Years 89-99 (on Cartel Records). This 12-song cd contains brand-new material and all their hard-to-find tracks re-mastered. Produced by HoyaRoc of Madball. Krutch European tour in Spring 2000.

"Krutch has always remained in the true spirit of hardcore, turning down many record contracts from mainstream labels. After all the time they gave, money they spent, the good times they had, and the bad times they had, they have been one of the few bands never to turn their backs on the scene, the kids or the bands, this band is worthy of respect, and I am thankful for the years and time they have put in the hardcore scene. They formed at a time of Hardcore renewal, and are responsible for much of the recent hardcore success. Although they take no credit, they deserve... Thanks..." The Few and The Deep are back

Madball

2008-01-01T00:10:00.000-08:00

Madball is a New York-based band that originated back in the late 1980s, as a side-project of the legendary NYHC outfit Agnostic Front (Where Agnostic Front's front man Roger Miret would let his younger brother Freddy "Madball" Cricien take the microphone on lead vocals during AF shows).

Band history

After releasing the Ball of Destruction single in 1989, the buzz around the streets was the question of when was Madball going to play next gave birth to an early version of the band playing live on other bills than just AF shows. It wasn't until 1991 when Madball truly hit their stride, when the lineup of Freddy Cricien on vocals, guitarists Matt Henderson and Vinnie Stigma, drummer Will Shepler, and bassist Hoya Roc of Dmize joined forces. The new version of the band (not just all AF members) quickly recorded and released an EP called Droppin' Many Suckas in 1992, which eventually led to the band signing with Roadrunner Records in 1994. After releasing a pair of well-received full-lengths (1994's Set It Off and 1996's Demonstrating My Style) and touring steadily, the band built a sizeable fan base outside their hometown.

1995 saw the band participating in the N.Y.H.C. Documentary. Extensive interviews were conducted with Freddy as well as a performance on July 29th, 1995 at the now defunct "Coney Island High". Freddy's brother, Roger, broke several vertebrae in his back at that show, requiring him to be in traction for the better part of a year.

Consisting of Cricien, Henderson, Hoya, and new drummer John Lafatta, the band recorded Look My Way, which was released in the spring of 1998. Hold It Down followed two years later. The band briefly broke up from early 2001 until late 2002. The current lineup of Freddy Cricien, Hoya Roc, Mitts (ex-Skarhead), and Rigg Ross (ex-Hatebreed) began touring and recording at the end of 2002. Since then, Madball has come out with: Best of Madball in 2003, N.Y.H.C. (EP) in 2004, Legacy in 2005, and Infiltrate The System in 2007.

Along with bands such as Agnostic Front, Vietnom, Bulldoze, Resistance and H2O, they comprise a part of New York's DMS Crew. Vocalist Cricien and bass player Hoya are also in the band Hazen Street, along with members of H2O, Cro-Mags, Angels & Airwaves, and Box Car Racer.

Members

Freddy "Madball" Cricien- Vocals
Hoya Roc - Bass
Mitts - Guitar
Rigg Ross - Drums

Past members

Vinnie Stigma - Guitar (Agnostic Front)
Matt Henderson - Guitar (Blind Approach, Agnostic Front)
Will Shepler - Drums (Agnostic Front)
John Lafata - Drums (Mind Over Matter, Neglect, Sheer Terror)

Discography

Ball of Destruction (7" EP) (1989/1992)
Droppin' Many Suckers (1992)
Set It Off (1994)
Demonstrating My Style (1996)
N.Y.H.C. Documentary Soundtrack (1996)
Look My Way (1998)
Hold It Down (2000)
Best of Madball (2003) - Compilation of greatest hits
N.Y.H.C. EP (2004, Thorp Records)
Legacy (2005)
Infiltrate The System (2007)

Damnation A.D.

2007-12-28T06:11:00.000-08:00

Damnation A.D. is an American band from Washington, D.C.. The group released several albums in the 1990s before disbanding; it reformed in 2007.

One of the true underground hardcore legends in America, Damnation A.D. is resurfacing after an almost eight-year hiatus with the release of their new Victory Records album, In This Life Or The Next. Not only does this D.C.-based band live up to their reputation, but the new blistering sonic attack sounds as sharp and fresh as their original work.

Damnation A.D. first came together in 1993, led by songwriter/guitarist Ken Olden and singer Mike “DC” McTernan. They used their DC punk roots to create an ultra-heavy, dark metallic that became that template for future generations of metal and hardcore bands. DAD’s first full-length came out in 1995, and they put out three other releases before calling it a day. Olden opened a recording studio and got into artist development, McTernan managed a record store and sang in other groups, bassist Alex Merchlinsky moved to New York City to become a graphic designer, and drummer Dave Bryson went on to play in a number of other highly successful bands.

“Time was flying by,” Olden recalls. “Mike, who was doing project called When Tigers Fight, called and basically said, ‘Nobody knows me and my voice better than you; can you record my vocals? He came down here and I was really impressed; his voice was better than ever. Plus, we recorded him on ProTools, which being a studio owner, I had been using for years. I suddenly realized that I had never recorded Damnation on anything other than analog, which has some positive characteristics, but can significantly slow down the pace of the recording process.

“Now, using ProTools, Mike and I were knocking songs out so quickly, I thought, ‘We could really do a great album, and take Damnation A.D. to a new level.’ I started demo-ing new songs, and I was pretty surprised that I came up with a ton of stuff. I wanted to make sure the newer material held up to the older and tested standards, so I asked others if the new stuff held up. I felt the music had to be better than ever, or it wasn’t going to be worth coming back.”

Obviously, the response was unanimous: Damnation A.D. was back—with a renewed energy and a superior musical vision. “Running my own studio and working with all these different groups taught me how to write better songs,” Olden says. “This time I really knew what I wanted us to sound like and how to make it better. There are specific characteristics in great songs, with a certain amount of energy that makes people want to hear them again. What’s more, our musicianship and the production improved, so fans who liked our old songs will hear the same passion in music that sounds better.”

Their fans will also hear the contributions of peers and longtime DAD admirers such as John Henry from Darkest Hour, Carl Buechner from Earth Crisis/Freya, Wes Eisold from Give Up The Ghost—and offering their pipes on the song “If You Could Remember,” Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy. “It’s great to be joined by friends on our new songs,” Olden says. “It’s real easy to say you want to do something together, then be too busy to actually do it. This required a lot of effort on all of our friends’ parts—and they came through. I was even able to develop some of our songs with them; it was real cool to hear their input.”

Olden was also able to refresh a couple of early DAD efforts for In This Life Or The Next. “We brought a couple classic old songs up to 2007 standards,” he says of “The Hangedman” and “Rain is My Veil.” “These songs were written many years ago, and we played them on tour all over the world. After all these years they still hold up—and people still go crazy when they hear them live.”

Expect many tracks from the new CD to be showcased on future tours. “When I’m playing them as a guitarist, I enjoy the physicality of the performance. The new song that will be the most fun to play live will be ‘Let Me In,’ because it’s such a challenge. I’m excited to move forward as an older band now, and it’s a cool opportunity to have our new material out on Victory, which is the best label for the CD to s.

Killing Time

2007-12-26T18:34:00.000-08:00

Killing Time was an influential New York Hardcore (NYHC) band. From their beginnings in 1988, under the name Raw Deal, they went on to record two full-length albums and several EPs, singles, and compilation tracks. The band went through three hiatus before formally disbanding in 1998. However, the band is still sporadically active with several reunions taking place right up until the present day.

History

1988 – Raw Deal

Raw Deal was formed in 1988 by Carl Porcaro, Rich McLoughlin, and Anthony Drago after their former band, Breakdown – another New York hardcore band – split through personal differences. While Breakdown continued as a band without them, Anthony Comunale – formerly of Token Entry – was recruited on vocals and Mike Sentkiewitz – formerly of Sick Of It All – on guitar to round out the Raw Deal line-up.

The band then recorded a demo cassette and set about playing at various venues in New York – most notably at CBGB's which was home to many hardcore punk acts at the time, including Agnostic Front, Warzone, Sick Of It All, Gorilla Biscuits, and Murphy's Law. They also created a second demo which remained uncirculated because, after a show at the Ritz Theatre in New York City, they were signed to the In Effect Records label – a part of Relativity Records – with a view to recording their first full-length album.

1989 – Killing Time and Brightside

Mike Sentkiewitz left the band and they were forced to change their name to Killing Time after legal action was threatened by a heavy metal band of the same name. They entered the Normandy Sound studio in Warren, Rhode Island with famed hardcore producer, Tom Soares – he had previously been involved with recording Cro-Mags' Best Wishes and Gang Green's Older... Budweiser to name but a few. The band performed as a four-piece and re-recorded some of the tracks from their first demo and a few new ones which resulted in the Brightside album being released in November, 1989.

Also, on Blackout Records, a New York hardcore compilation was released which contained two of the band's tracks – "Backtrack" and "Brightside". Called Where The Wild Things Are, it also carried a photograph of the band performing live on the cover – the exact same show where they were picked up by In Effect Records.

1990 – 1991 The first hiatus

After the album was released, Rich McLoughlin expressed a desire to switch from bass to guitar but the rest of the band were not so enthusiastic about this. McLoughlin left and his place was filled by ex-Inside Out bassist, Alex Gopian. The band played a show in California – this being their first and last show on the west coast of America – from which arose a 7" single entitled East Meets West which included the Killing Time track, "Wall of Hate", and tracks by Sick Of It All, Vision, Carry Nation, and Point Blank. However, for most of this period, the band was considered to be in hiatus as they neither recorded nor toured.

1991 – 1992 Happy Hour

In late 1991, Rich McLoughlin rejoined the band in the second guitarist slot for which he had craved and the band entered the studio to record an EP, entitled Happy Hour. It contained four tracks and was released in July, 1992 on Blackout Records. It was also released in Europe on Semaphore Records as a 12" – complete with the second, previously unreleased demo material which the band had recorded before signing for In Effect.

1992 – 1993 The second hiatus

A combination of a bad response to the different musical direction displayed in the material on Happy Hour, compounded by general problems of violence in the New York hardcore scene, resulted in the band again calling time on Killing Time. Joey I, roadie and author of the biography on the band's official website, explained it thus, "...the Hardcore scene itself was changing - becoming more violent and the music becoming secondary to the socializing and posing, they decided to call it quits". The band members joined or formed other bands. Porcaro and McLoughlin started the Rope-A-Dope record label, while Gopian joined a hip-hop band, Justice System. Drago became a police officer in White Plains, New York and Comunale became involved in the financial sector of business.

1994 – European tour

The band reformed briefly in 1994 for a European tour. However, Comunale was unable to resume duties due to job commitments and Gopian's Justice System had signed to MCA Records. They were replaced by ex-Vision vocalist, Dave Franklin, and ex-Judge and Uppercut bassist Lars Weiss.

1994 – 1995 The third hiatus

The band's unfamiliar line-up and general appearance caused mixed reviews from the European music press, and so the band rested yet again. But a flurry of activity was just on the horizon as a renewed interest in hardcore punk was on its way.

1995 – Records, records and more records

1995 saw the beginning of an upturn in the market for hardcore punk. It was not just on the east coast, with Blackout Records leading the way with the New York hardcore and neighboring New Jersey releases – re-issuing a lot of 1980s hardcore and eventually launching the recording careers of bands like H2O – but also the west coast with labels such as Indecision Records and Nitro Records springing up. Victory Records were also prolific releasers of punk from their Chicago, Illinois home in the mid-eastern states.

Comunale returned to the Killing Time fold and also Sean O'Brien came in on bass. Again the band entered the studio and released the Unavoidable EP on Blackout Records in March, 1995. They also recorded a cover version of the Sex Pistols song, "Bodies" which appeared on the compilation, Punk Rock Jukebox – also on Blackout Records. In addition, Brightside was re-released simultaneously in the USA and Europe. On Lost & Found Records, it also contained three of the tracks from the Happy Hour EP. On Victory Records, it contained those three extra tracks plus the material from the band's first demo way back in 1988. The new EP was generally well received and seen as a return from the experimentations which had taken place in the Happy Hour era.

1996 – 1997 The Method

The band entered the LoHo Studio, New York City, in June, 1996 and emerged in August having recorded their second – and what proved to be last – album, The Method. It was released in April, 1997 and marked a return to the harder sound created on the Brightside album, but also a more melodic and intricate element with the addition of short guitar solos.

1998 and beyond – Terminal hiatus

In spite of the success of The Method and the re-emergence of second-wave New York hardcore bands into the third wave of late 1990s hardcore – even first wave veterans, Agnostic Front, were tempted back to the studio – the band played its last show in Newburgh, New York in 1997 and finally brought the band to a rest in 1998.

Drago and Communale continued the professions they had started during their second hiatus; Porcaro now manages and produces local bands and was in the band Electric Frankenstein; McLoughlin went on to perform with Maximum Penaly before forming Skin Kandy with O'Brien – who also played for, amongst others, Electric Frankenstein. Porcaro also plays in two bands, Scream & Scream Again with his wife, and The Monumentals. In 2001, the band reunited to play at Anthony Communales' wedding. In May 2005, the band played two reunion dates at Northsix, Brooklyn, New York followed by the Posi-Numbers Festival in July. They were also due to play at the Hellfest in New Jersey in August, 2005 before the event was cancelled indefinitely.

They are now scheduled to play on June 29th 2007 at Churchill's in Miami.

Official members

Anthony Comunale – vocals
Carl Porcaro – guitar
Rich McLoughlin – guitar
Sean O'Brien – bass
Anthony Drago – drums

Previous members

Mike Sentkiewitz – guitar (c.1988 – 1989)
Alex Gopian – bass (c. 1990 – 1992)
Dave Franklin – vocals (1994)
Lars Weiss – bass (1994)

Discography

Albums/EPs

Brightside (November, 1989) In Effect Records
Happy Hour EP (July, 1992) Blackout Records
Unavoidable EP (March, 1995) Blackout Records
The Method (April, 1997) Blackout Records
Raw Deal demo EP (May, 2005) Dead Serious Records

[edit] Singles

East Meets West 7" (1991) Nemesis Records – "Wall Of Hate" in California, USA
Killing Time/Profound Effect 7" (?) ? – split, contains "Fools Die"

Compilations

Where The Wild Things Are (1989) Blackout Records – "Backtrack" and "Brightside"
Punk Rock Jukebox (1995) Blackout Records – Sex Pistols's "Bodies"
Satisfaction Guaranteed (?) Nawpost – Major Conflict's "Outgroup"
Creepy Crawl (1997) Another Planet – "Fools Die" live

Reissues

Happy Hour 12" EP (1992) Blackout/Semaphore Records – European import contains 2nd Raw Deal demo
Brightside (1995) Lost & Found – contains Happy Hour EP
Brightside (1995) Victory Records – contains Happy Hour EP and 1st Raw Deal demo

Chain of Strength

2007-12-18T07:55:00.000-08:00

Chain of Strength was an influential late '80s/early '90s Straight Edge Hardcore Punk band from Southern California. Their influence has been felt in modern Hardcore bands, and they have been cited as a major influence by prominent Modern Hardcore bands Champion and Comeback Kid.

Biography

The first Chain of Strength release was a 7" EP entitled True Till Death, released through Revelation Records. After parting ways with Revelation, they formed their own Foundation Records to release another 7", What Holds Us Apart. Both of these records eventually fell out of print, yet were still in demand. As a result, Revelation Records released both EPs (plus one unreleased track) as a CD/LP called The One Thing That Still Holds True.

Members

Curt Canales - vocals (Circle Storm)
Ryan Hoffman - guitar (Justice League, Circle Storm)
Chris Bratton - drums (Statue, Justice League, Inside Out, No For An Answer, Drive Like Jehu, Wool)
Alex Barreto - bass (Alien Ant Farm, Statue, Inside Out, Hardstance, Against The Wall, Killing Flame, World's Fastest Car , Ignite)
Frosty - crunch (JOLT, Man Will Surrender)

Discography

True Till Death 7" (Revelation Records)

What Holds Us Apart 7" (Foundation Records)

The One Thing That Still Holds True CD/LP/Cassette (Revelation Records)

Inside Out

2007-12-18T07:42:00.000-08:00

Inside Out was a hardcore band from Orange County, California - notable for being the first band fronted by Zack de la Rocha, later of Rage Against the Machine.

Biography

Inside Out existed from August 1988 to roughly 1991, releasing a single 7" EP, No Spiritual Surrender, in 1990, on Revelation Records (later converted to six song CD). They played several shows and even toured the East Coast once before their breakup in 1991. They had written material for a second record, to be titled Rage Against the Machine (whence the name for de la Rocha's next band came), but the band broke up shortly after their guitarist, Vic DiCara, left the band to become a Hare Krishna monk. Just before his departure Inside Out performed on California radio station KLXU showcasing a number of new songs including the song Rage Against The Machine which had become a staple in their recent live sets. The quality of the recording on the show while adequete for a radio broadcast is not on par with that of the band's demo and EP recordings. Inside Out's outstanding and extremely intense live show insured that the band would become legendary in its own right, even with out de la Rocha's mainstream break-through in Rage Against the Machine. Copies of their live radio appearance, their pre-No Spiritual Surrender demo, as well as various live sets, have circulated the tape trading underground and file sharing world for years as popular items.

Members

CD Line-up

Zack de la Rocha - vocals (Rage Against the Machine, Farside, Hardstance)
Vic DiCara - guitar (Shelter, Beyond, Burn, 108)
Mark Hayworth - bass (Hardstance, Gorilla Biscuits)
Chris Bratton - drums (Justice League, No For An Answer, Chain of Strength, Statue, Drive Like Jehu, Wool)

Alex Barreto - drums (Against the Wall, Chain of Strength, Hardstance, Statue, World's Fastest Car, Ignite, Alien Ant Farm)
Sterling Wilson - bass (Reason to Believe, No for an Answer)

Discography

No Spiritual Surrender - EP, (1990)

Remixes

In 2006, the track "No Spiritual Surrender" was contributed to the mashup album Threat: Music That Inspired the Movie, where it was remixed by Oktopus from Dalek and dubbed "Ghost in the Machine."

Side By Side

2007-12-18T07:10:00.000-08:00

Side By Side was an American hardcore punk band on Revelation Records. They were a band from NY of youth crew persuasion. Recorded output was limited to a single 7", You're Only Young Once... Their 7" was one of the first 10 records on Revelation Records. It was the fifth record they put out. Although the band was short lived, their influence has survived today, as they are a lot of youth crew kids favorite band.

Members

Jules Masse, vocalst
Sam Siegler on drums
Eric Fink on lead guitar
Brian Clark on bass who was also in Mr. Clean an early straight edge band from Brooklyn
- AKA - Billy Sidebyside, Billy Clean, Big Billy Bitter
Alex Brown on rhythm guitar. Alex is notable for putting out Schizm 'Zine, a notable zine in hardcore history.

Discography

You're Only Young Once... 7" (Revelation Records 005, 1988)
- reissued in 1997

Compilation appearances

New York City Hardcore - Together compilation 7" EP(Revelation Records 002, 1987)
New York City Hardcore - The Way It Is compilation CD (Revelation Records 007, 1988)
- reissued in 1992

Judge

2007-12-16T12:17:00.000-08:00

Judge was a New York-based straight edge band; formed in 1987 by Youth of Today guitarist, John "Porcell" Porcelly, and former Death Before Dishonor/Youth of Today drummer, Mike "Judge" Ferraro.

History

Their first release was a 7" EP on Porcell's label Schism (which he ran along with Side By Side/ Gorilla Biscuits guitar-player Alex Brown) entitled New York Crew. The record featured 5 songs, one of which was a cover of "Warriors" by the British oi!/punk band Blitz. On this recording, the band was merely a two-piece, featuring Porcelly on bass and guitar, and Ferraro on vocals and drums. But with the addition of bass-player Jimmy Yu (of Mike's former band Death Before Dishonor, which eventually evolved into Supertouch) and drummer "Lukey" Luke Abbey (Warzone/ Gorilla Biscuits), they got together a fully-functional live line-up.

The band received lots of criticism due to their militant Straight Edge lyrics, especially from fanzines like San Francisco's Maximum Rock'N'Roll. The militant lyrics were a conscious move on the band's part, as they were sick of seeing bands like Youth Of Today, who in reality had a very positive message, get slagged for being too militant. So they decided to give the nay-sayers exactly what they wanted - the most militant Straight Edge band imaginable. And with lyricslike "those drugs are gonna kill you, if i don't get you first", they certainly proved provocavtive to those negative to the straight edge movement. Mike Ferraro has later on admitted that provocation was an important aim for the band.

Judge was not just heavy in message, the music had very metal-influenced riffing, but remained close to its hardcore roots, without going all out metal, such as bands like Agnostic Front and DRI.

With a new line-up of Sammy Siegler (Side By Side/ Youth Of Today/ Project X etc.) on drums and Matt Pincus on bass, the band proceeded to record their full-length LP Bringin' It Down for Revelation Records at Chung King Studios in New York City. The recording was finished, but the band were so unhappy with the result that they decided to scrap it and re-record it at Normandy Sound in Rhode Island, where The Cro-Mags had recorded their landmark The Age of Quarrel album. Revelation did however put out a limited pressing of the original recording, fittingly titled Chung King Can Suck It (LP). It was given to people who had pre-ordered the record, and with only 110 copies pressed (all on white vinyl), it is one of the most sought-after hardcore records in existence, going for as much as $2500+ USD on online auction sites such as eBay.

Eventually, Bringin' It Down was released in 1989, and is considered to this day by many to be one of the best hardcore records of its time.

Judge continued touring up until 1991, and even released another 7" EP, There Will Be Quiet, featuring "The Storm" and "Forget This Time" (the CD-version also contains a cover-version of "When the Levee Breaks", originally by Led Zeppelin).

Careers after Judge

John Porcelly went on to tour and record with Hare Krishna hardcore band Shelter (featuring Ray Cappo of Youth Of Today, as well as a revolving line-up of various other more and less well-known hardcore musicians: Tom Capone of Bold/ Quicksand and Vic DiCara of Beyond/ Inside Out/ 108- to name a few). He later started the bands Never Surrender and Last of The Famous, ran a record label called Fight Fire With Fire and the website TrueTillDeath.com, but all these projects seems to be either scrapped or inactive at this point. He is currently playing with the revived Bold. A book chronicling all issues of his fanzine Schism was also released in late 2005.

Mike Ferraro continued in the band Mike Judge & Old Smoke, a band playing Neil Young-inspired acoustic music. They released a 12" on Revelation Records in 1993.

Sammy Siegler played in several late 80's/early 90's hardcore bands, either regularly or as a replacement. In the mid-late 90's he recorded and toured with the band CIV, featuring Anthony Civarelli and Arthur Smilios of Gorilla Biscuits. He has also appeared in Shelter, and major label rock band Rival Schools, featuring Walter Schreifels (also of Gorilla Biscuits, as well as Quicksand and several other bands). In 2005 he joined Limp Bizkit as temporary replacement for drummer John Otto.

Matt Pincus currently runs the NYC-based record label Some Records, which has released records from bands like Hot Water Music, Errortype 11 and Beyond.

Jimmy Yu became a Zen/ Chan Buddhist monk in 1991 under the name Guogu, and now teaches Buddhism and meditation under the direction of master Sheng Yen.

Discography

Official releases

New York Crew 7" EP (Schism Records (SKIZ-2) (1988) / Revelation Records (REV 14)) (1989)
- 3000 copies in 3 pressings on Schism.
- Later re-pressed on Revelation, with a picture label of Sammy Siegler ripping off a "have your id's ready" sign in front of CBGB's. The 1st press was 4000 black and 1000 blue vinyl. It has later been repressed in the thousands.
Chung King Can Suck It (LP) LP (Revelation Records (REV -1))
- One-time press of 110 on white vinyl.
Bringin' It Down LP (Revelation Records (REV 15)) (1989)
- 1st press: 5458 black vinyl, 712 green vinyl, purple labels.
- 2nd press: black vinyl, red labels.
- 3rd press (and beyond): black vinyl, maroon labels.
- Final press (2001): 333 orange vinyl.
There Will Be Quiet... 7" EP (Revelation Records (REV 20)) (1990)
- 4000 black vinyl, 1000 gold vinyl.
What It Meant: The Complete Discography CD/2xLP (Revelation Records (REV 122)
- Contains all of Judge's recorded output, including Chung King Can Suck It for the first time on an official, non-limited Revelation release.

Bootlegs

Revelation Can Suck It 10" (Revoltation Records) (1992)
- Contains the recording that appears on the limited 'Chung King Can Suck It' LP, but on a 10" format.
No Apologies: The Chung King Sessions LP (Lost & Found Records (LF033)) (1992)
- Another bootleg of the Chung King... LP. Also has 4 additional bonus tracks.
Vivo En WNYU 7"
- Contains part of the band's 1988 appearance on the 'Crucial Chaos' radio-show on NYC's WNYU radio station.
- 500 black vinyl, 50 red vinyl, xeroxed sleeve.

Battery

2007-12-16T12:10:00.000-08:00

Battery is a band partially responsible for the rebirth of Washington DC hardcore. From 1990 to 1998, Battery released a 7", a split 7" with Ignite, two MCDs and three full-lengths on Lost & Found, Conversion, and Revelation Records.

Guitar player and main man was Ken Olden, who also played in Damnation Ad and Better Than A Thousand. He was also playing bass for Youth Of Today on the 2003 European reunion tour.

Singer Brian McTernan owns and operates Salad Days recording studio.

Brian McTernan also played guitar in the D.C. emo hardcore band Ashes. Battery started as a project band in 1990, and their EP "We Won't Fall" was released on the European hardcore label Lost and Found. Brian McTernan was on vocals, Ken Olden on guitars, Toshi Yano on bass and Zac Eller on drums. The band, as it says in the liner notes on the EP, then turned into Worlds Collide, which was more metallic and slower with a "new school" hardcore sound. Brian McTernan was replaced by Matt Burger as vocalist in this new band.

The Battery EP achieved phenomenal success in Europe, especially in Germany, whereas back in the States the band was only well known in the DC area. This led to a reformation of Battery, or at least original singer Brian teamed up with Ken Olden as well as a new bass player, Ben Chused, and a new drummer, Alec Rosenberg. At some point they embarked on an extensive European Tour. They released their first full length album,"Only the Diehard Remain", independently on "Tidal" in the US and on Lost and Found in Europe. This album featured the cover of 7 Seconds "We're Gonna Fight". On this album Ken Olden performed all drum tracks as well as the guitar tracks.

They then released another EP "Let the Past Go", which most likely had Ken Olden performing the drum tracks again. This was followed by "Until the End", their second full length which was released on "Conversion" records in the US and again on Lost and Found in Europe. On this record they covered another 7 Seconds song, "Young Till I Die". By this stage they had a new drummer, Jason Hamacher, who also played in the D.C. band Frodus, however Ken Olden still performed all the drum tracks on this album. This album saw the refinement of the bands old school revival style as its past releases tended to be a bit more thrashier and metallic. The bassist Ben Chused then left the band and moved to Boston to play drums in another Old School revival band Ten Yard Fight. He was replaced with Graham Land who had played 2nd guitar in the early stages of World Collide and who also started Better Than A Thousand with Ken Olden and Ray Cappo, who was the singer for Youth of Today.

Their third and final full length release "Whatever It Takes" was released on the major hardcore label Revelation Records, which in its infancy had put out records of such early hardcore bands as Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits. The drums on this album were, for the first time since the "We Won't Fall" EP, played by someone other than Ken Olden, their live drummer Jason Hamacher. This album was by far the softest of their releases and Brian McTernan said in an interview that the next record would be "more aggressive sounding".

Unfourtunately another release would never materialise as the band broke up due to differences between Brian McTernan and Ken Olden. However Ken Olden did release a compilation CD of Battery's best songs from their past records on a Spanish hardcore label.

Breakdown

2007-12-16T11:41:00.000-08:00

Breakdown was started in 1986, during the resurgence of the hardcore scene. Despite being a NYHC band, being based in Yonkers Breakdown didn't have the Lower East Side Crew-mentality of Warzone and Agnostic Front. By a similar token, unlike some of their other contemporaries like Gorilla Biscuits and Youth Of Today, Breakdown was not a straight edge positive band. They are considered more along the lines of Sheer Terror for their more metallic sound and less-than-positive lyrics. However, Breakdown always had somewhat of a tongue-in-cheek element to them, mostly due to singer Jeff Perlin's humorous live banter and lyrics.

Contrary to popular belief, the original Breakdown lineup only lasted for less than a year. The band continued on with new members through 2001, with Jeff Perlin being the only original member. Notable members include Mike Dijan (Crown of Thorns, Skarhead, Laws of Gravity), AJ Novello (Leeway, Cro-Mags), and virtuoso drummer Lou Medina.

Through all the years Breakdown never did a tour of the U.S., concentrating mostly on the Northeast and Canada. They toured Europe twice (1999 & 2001) with European bands Rykers and Backfire. They also visited Japan in 2001.

Perlin most recently was the front man for Slumlords a Baltimore-based hardcore band that broke up in January of 2007. He is taking a break from music for the time being so he can coach hockey and spend more time with his family and new son.

Mike Dijan, Harry Kazakos and Lou Medina currently play in the female-fronted alternative metal band 'Laws of Gravity'.

Releases

Breakdown released a demo in 1987, as well as a track on the definitive NYHC compilation, Revelation Records New York City Hardcore: The Way It Is and the not-as-popular Blackout Records 'Where The Wild Things Are compilation. They also released a handful of LPs, the latest one in 2000, titled Battle Hymns for an Angry Planet, released by Thorp Records. Other notable releases include Blacklisted and Plus Minus. Breakdown performed at least four live sets on Crucial Chaos, WNYU's hardcore radio show between 1987 and 1994. Dead Serious Records has re-released the demo 7 with a modified artwork. This 7 re-release was a part of the NYHC HALL OF FAME series. The notorious Lost & Found Records also released an unauthorized bootleg of their material entitled "Dissed and Dismissed".

Members

Original demo era line-up

Jeff Perlin – vocals
Don Angellili – guitar
Carl Porcaro – guitar
Rich McLoughlin – bass
Anthony Drago – drums

Past members

Larry Susi – bass (Subzero, Crusade(nyc))
Ritchie Kennon – guitar (Subzero)
Larry Kaplan – drums (now a leader of the Neo-conservatism movement)
Mark Sisto – bass (Maximum Penalty, Joe Coffee)
Mike Dijan – guitar (Skarhead, Laws of Gravity, Crown of Thornz, Cold Front)
Harry Kazakos – bass (Cold Front, Laws of Gravity)
Ray Green – drums (District 9, Laws of Gravity)
Lou Medina – drums (Cold Front)
Rob DeFrosia – guitar (Lethal Aggression, Ironbound NYC)
Chris Ott – guitar (Clenched Fist)
Joe Farley – drums
A.J. Novello – guitar (Leeway, Cro-Mags, Both Worlds)
Alec Walushka - guitar

Sheer Terror

2007-12-15T06:56:00.000-08:00

Sheer Terror was an influential and long-lasting American hardcore band from New York City. The band was one of the first to mix shades of heavy metal with a hardcore punk base, pioneering a heavier style of hardcore that would become popular in the following decades. Formed in late 1984, the band, for the most part, stayed together until 1998, surviving numerous lineup changes and shifts in musical style. In October of 2004, the band reunited and gave two final farewell shows at New York's legendary CBGB Club.

History

The band first came into existence in December 1984 when former Fathead Suburbia vocalist Paul Bearer answered an ad in the Village Voice for a hardcore punk singer. Filling out the original lineup was guitarist Alan Blake, bassist Baron "Barry" Misuraca, and drummer Sam "Reid" Lohman. The band was featured on the 1985 One Big Crowd compilation, and released two cassette demos, No Grounds For Pity and Fall From Grace. Soon after the band broke up due to personality conflicts. Afterwards, Bearer would spend some time in southern California before returning to New York, where he reformed Sheer Terror with Blake, adding Mark Neuman on bass and Jason Martin on drums.

The band soon after began a longtime association with Blackout Records, who released some of their songs on the label's compilation Where The Wild Things Are, in 1989, along with a 7 inch Live At CBGB release. The following year, the band recorded their debut full length Just Can't Hate Enough. The record was engineered by Tommy Victor of Prong. As Victor also worked at CBGB, he was able to allow the band to record live at the famous bar in the morning and afternoon hours before shows were held. The record was released in Germany on Starving Missile Records, and later released stateside under the Blackout name. Just Can't Hate Enough quickly became one of the records that defined the new, heavier sound of hardcore that was emerging at the time, played by bands such as Biohazard and Killing Time, among others. The guitar tone and riffs, in particular, display a large heavy metal influence, especially from Swiss speed metallers Celtic Frost, who were allegedly one of Alan Blake's favorite bands. The band also became known for Bearer's no-nonsense stage personality, with some finding him offensive, and others enjoying his often blunt and obscenity filled humor.

Blake, however, exited the band soon after the record's release. He would later form Darkside, also known as Darkside NYC, which also featured a heavy Celtic Frost influence.

Neuman took the opportunity to switch to guitar, and Mike "Chickie" Walter, a former member of the crossover band Ludichrist, took over on bass duties, only to be replaced a year later by Keith "Zippy" McAdam. With the lineup of Bearer, Neuman, McAdam, and Martin, the band cut a new record in 1991 that was titled Ugly And Proud, and whose planned cover featured a bulldog belonging to Josh Silver of Type O Negative. Seeing the success of Biohazard's eponymous 1990 release, the band planned to release the LP under Maze Records. However, due to the amount of money and time spent on the Biohazard release, Maze was not in the position to release Ugly And Proud. The record was shelved by the label, much to the dismay of the band who could not convince the company to allow them to take the masters elsewhere.

In this time, the band experienced more member turnover, including the return of Chickie to bass duties, and an extended stint with a former glam metal drummer named Dave Todd. Paul Bearer recounts in the liner notes of a later release about his disbelief that Dave, while the band was in Europe, asked him who "Anarchy" was, thinking the circle-A logo he saw spray painted on walls belonged to a band. The tension of having someone in the band who did not understand punk rock ultimately led to finding a new drummer in Pat Cronin.

To make up for the lack of an album, Sheer Terror re-recorded many of the songs from Ugly And Proud, releasing the result on Blackout as Thanks Fer Nuthin, a jab at the owner of Maze Records. According to Bearer, he originally wanted to call the record Canadian Scumbag. However, upon hearing of the band's new album, Maze Records quickly, and finally, released Ugly And Proud, leading to the band having two records on the market with mostly identical songs.

Some tours later, the Old, New, Borrowed, And Blue EP was released. Following the theme of the title, the tracklist included an old song, Walls, a new song, Broken, a cover ("borrowed") song, Everything's Fine by The Saints, and a slow ballad ("blue"), Goodbye, Farewell. The cover depicted an old photograph of Bearer's parents' wedding. Both Bearer and Mark Neuman have commented that due to Josh Silver's production of the EP, it remains their favorite Sheer Terror release. The band even cut the only music video of their career for Broken, which featured a live action depiction of the song's subject, a despondent, alcoholic circus clown.

This, among other things, led to interest from MCA, who signed the band for the recording of 1995's Love Songs for the Unloved. Produced by Tommy Victor, the record reflected a changing band, with slower songs and more clean, operatic singing from Bearer, rather than his usual growls. The upbeat track For Rudy The Kraut even featured an almost ska-sounding horn section. Neuman was also not particularly satisfied with the overall sound of his guitar tracks. The record did not receive the expected attention from fans, and Sheer Terror was soon dropped from MCA, who Bearer later sarcastically referred to as "the Music Cemetery of America".

In the following years, Bearer's self admittedly "pig-headed" personality clashed with the other members of the band, leading to Cronin and Neuman's exit. Sheer Terror managed to press on with a lineup that included former Whiplash drummer Tony Scaglione, and future Cause for Alarm guitarist Jay Banks. This lineup lasted through a U.S. tour with Napalm Death. Shortly after, the band broke up, only to be revived in 1997 featuring Ex-Mind over Matter/Neglect drummer John Lafata, and current Kill Your Idols guitarist Gary Bennett. John Lafata then went on to tour and record with Madball, and Tony Scaglione was brought in once again. But eventually, Sheer Terror ended their 13 year career in 1998, immediately following a mildly successful European tour. Most members did not speak to each other for many years following the break-up.

Reunion

In mid-2004 it was announced that the lineup of Bearer, Neuman, Chickie, and Cronin were again rehearsing and planned on playing a show to serve both as a reunion and as the final farewell the band was never able to give. The reaction from fans led to the booking of another show the following night, and on October 9 and 10, the band played two sold out shows at CBGB, alongside opening bands such as Inhuman and Subzero. Footage from both nights, as well as an extensive documentary, was released as the Beaten By The Fists Of God DVD in 2005. Many high-profile members of the punk rock and hardcore community were featured praising the band in the documentary, including members of Dropkick Murphys, Life of Agony, North Side Kings, and Blood For Blood. Many former members were interviewed as well.

Despite offers for more shows, the band insists Sheer Terror is done. Bearer currently sings for the New York band Joe Coffee. Fans can also get a taste of his often brutish sense of humor through a bootleg record entitled No Really, Go Fuck Yourself, credited to "Reverend Paul Bearer". The record is a compilation of numerous bits of bootlegged stage banter from Bearer during his years with Sheer Terror, and features rants about bizarre French culture and his being labeled a "Nazi" for making jokes about the venue's Mexican kitchen staff.

Discography

One Big Crowd Compilation compilation - Big City Records, 1985
No Grounds For Pity - self released demo cassette, 1986
Fall From Grace - self released demo cassette, 1987
Where The Wild Things Are compilation - Blackout! Records, 1989
Live @ CBGB 7" - Blackout! Records, 1989
Just Cant Hate Enough - Blackout! Records, 1990
I Need Lunch (split with Crawlpappy) - Blackout! Records, 1990
Ugly and Proud - Maze Records, 1991
Thanks Fer Nuthin - Blackout! Records, 1992
Old, New Borrowed, and Blue - Blackout! Records, 1994
Love Songs For The Unloved - MCA Records, 1995
No Grounds For Pity - Blackout! Records Europe, 1996 – compilations of demos 1985 – 1988
Bulldog Edition (compilation of all Blackout! tracks) - Blackout! Records, 2001
Beaten By The Fists Of God (reunion/documentary DVD) - Thorp Records, 2005

BACKFIRE!

2007-12-11T22:22:00.000-08:00

In the spring of '94 four friends are talking about their mutual interest: Hardcore Music. They decide it's time to start their own band, playing music they love. One week later Wyb (guitar), Patrick (vocals), Frank (bass) and Richard (drums) get together for their first rehearsal. From then on they are known as Backfire!. In the following weeks they write their first couple of songs, and record them on their first demo titled "The Last Time". The reactions are unanimously positive, and when German label "Lost & Found" get their hands on a copy of the demo they decide to offer Backfire! record deal.

After weeks of delay Backfire!'s first recording "Who Told You Life Is Easy?" is released in October '95. They start playing their first shows all over Holland, and Belgium alongside hardcore legends like Warzone, Madball and 25 Ta Life. Soon their reputation is set.

Less than 6 months later Backfire!'s first full-length CD "Rebel 4 Life" is released. Impressed with the quality of "Rebel 4 Life" New York hardcore legends Warzone ask Backfire! to support them on their 6 week European tour. At the end of their tour Backfire! have a disagreement with "Lost & Found", and the band decides to leave the label and look for a new record deal. Several labels show interest in Backfire!, and they finally sign a deal with "Kingfisher Records", and a couple of months later they are in the studio to record their second full-length album "All Bets Are Off", which is released in September '97.

In the following months Backfire! tours Europe with Deviate, and play tons of shows all over Europe to promote their critically acclaimed album. At this time Backfire!'s popularity reaches its climax, and they become a household name to every hardcore fan in Europe.

The continuous touring and playing takes its toll at the end of October '98, when they are touring Europe with 25 Ta Life, they decide it's time to take some time of before they start writing new songs. Richard uses this time to play the drums on the Commin' Correct tour in Europe and to record an album with his side project Determined.

Unfortunately on March 20th 1999, Richard takes his own life. His friends and family are shocked to hear this sad news, and it takes several months before Backfire! starts thinking about their future as a band. Replacing someone like Richard is hard, but finally they decide to continue with Homethrust drummer Igor.

In June 2000 record their new album "Still Dedicated" at the Hautregard Studio in Herve, Belgium and onca again toured all over Europe with Madball and many more. A year later they recorded a new EP “The War Stars Here”, which was released in September 2001 during they’re European Tour with Breakdown and Maximum Penalty on the First Eastpak Resistance Tour.

After two years of hard work these M-Town Rebels are back with a new record. “Change The Game” was recorded in Brooklyn, NY and was prodcued by Mike Dijan from Breakdown. While recording the record Backfire! also palyed a couple of shows with Madball right after they got together with Freddy Madball and Billy Grazaidei who both appear on this great new record.

Backfire! will play all the major festivals this ummer and will tour Europe after the summer to promote this new studio album. So check these guys out and understand why Backfire! is one of the leading European Hardcore bands.

Backfire! are:

Pat: Vocals
Wyb: Guitar
Frank: Bass
Igor: Drums

Biohazard

2007-12-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

Biohazard was a band originally based out of Brooklyn, New York. They are acknowledged as one of the earliest bands to fuse hardcore punk and heavy metal with elements of hip hop music.

Band history

Early years

The band formed in 1987 in an intense Brooklyn atmosphere, resulting in their writing of equally intense music. The original lineup consisted of bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld, guitarist Bobby Hambel, and drummer Anthony Meo. Guitarist/vocalist Billy Graziadei joined the band soon after. Their first demo tape, released in 1988, caused a stir with journalists who felt that the band's lyrics displayed certain fascist and white supremacist views, despite the fact that Seinfeld himself was Jewish. Accusations of racism in their music were strenuously denied by the band, but in later interviews, Seinfeld and Graziadei explained that it had all been a publicity stunt to win over the band Carnivore and their fans. Eventually, the songs in question were no longer played or even mentioned, and the band began preaching message of tolerance and anti-racism. After the release of their demo, Anthony Meo left the band and drummer Danny Schuler stepped in to replace him. A second demo tape followed in 1989.

While never really considering themselves a hardcore band, Biohazard often found themselves sharing stages with bands associated with the New York hardcore scene, such as the Cro-Mags and Agnostic Front. They also shared stages with New Jersey hardcore band Mucky Pup quite often and a friendship between the two bands developed. Mucky Pup became a strong supporter of Biohazard and often booked them as an opening act, but many of the clubs would refuse to let Biohazard play, thinking the shows would lead to violence. As a result, Mucky Pup would resort to sneaking them on stage to perform a few songs before their own set.

Maze Records

In 1990, Biohazard signed a recording contract with Maze Records. The band's self-titled debut album was poorly promoted by the label yet still managed to sell over 40,000 copies. Subject-matter of the album was Brooklyn, the gang-wars, drugs, and violence. The band went on their first European tour and, when they returned, realized that the problems they sang about on their first record were not limited to their Brooklyn hometown.

One year after the release of their debut album, Seinfeld and Graziadei contributed vocals to the song "Three Dead Gophers" from Mucky Pup's third album, Now. The album was released on Roadrunner Records, who would soon release Biohazard's second album.

Roadrunner Records

In 1992, Biohazard signed with Roadrunner Records and released Urban Discipline, which gave the band national and worldwide attention in both the heavy metal and hardcore communities. The video for the song "Punishment" became the most played video in the history of MTV's Headbanger's Ball, and the album sold over 1,000,000 copies. The band also began opening for larger acts such as House of Pain, Sick Of It All, Fishbone, and Kyuss.

In the meantime, several former members of Mucky Pup had formed the band Dog Eat Dog. Biohazard had continued their friendship with these members and began to share the stage with Dog Eat Dog. While touring Europe, Graziadei gave a Dog Eat Dog demo tape to a Roadracer Records representative. At the time, Roadracer was the European sister label to Roadrunner Records. The tape was sent back to the New York office of Roadrunner Records who then sent representatives to several Dog Eat Dog shows. As a result, Dog Eat Dog signed their first record deal with the label.

In 1993, the hardcore rap group Onyx recorded an alternate "Bionyx" version of their hit single "Slam" with Biohazard as their backup band. This led to a collaboration for the title track of the Judgment Night soundtrack. The soundtrack would go on to sell over 2,000,000 copies in the United States.

Warner Bros.

Months later, the band left Roadrunner Records in order to sign with Warner Brothers Records Inc. and released their third studio LP, State of the World Address. The album was produced by Ed Stasium in Los Angeles and contained the single "How It Is" featuring Sen-Dog from Cypress Hill, for which a video was also shot. During their 1994 tour, the band made an appearance on the second stage at the Monsters of Rock festival held at Castle Donington. State of the World Address went on to sell over 1,000,000 copies, and Rolling Stone magazine selected the Biohazard logo as the best logo of the year. This was the last Biohazard album with Bobby Hambel, who left due to differences with the rest of the band. Hambel spent time in White Devil, also featuring members of the Cro-Mags, before seemingly leaving the music business entirely.

The band recorded their fourth studio album, Mata Leao, as a three piece in 1995. It was produced with the help of Dave Jerden. For the 1996 Mata Leao Tour, the band hired former Helmet guitarist Rob Echeverria. Also in 1996, Biohazard played on the Ozzfest mainstage alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Slayer, Danzig, Fear Factory, and Sepultura.

While touring Europe in support of the Mata Leao album, the band recorded their Hamburg, Germany, show for their first live album, No Holds Barred (Live in Europe), which was released in 1997 through their former label, Roadrunner Records.

In 1998, Seinfeld began an acting career playing Jaz Hoyt on HBO's award winning series Oz. The character was introduced in the second season and appeared throughout the series' sixth and final season.

Mercury Records

The band signed to Mercury Records and released their fifth studio album, New World Disorder, in 1999, once again with Ed Stasium as a producer. The relationship with Mercury Records soured quickly; the band felt betrayed and misunderstood by their label and as a result severed their ties with the label amidst the merger of Mercury Records, Island Records, Def Jam Records, and Polygram into the Universal Music Group.

Independent again

In 2000, the band continued to tour Europe and Japan, without the support of a record label or management. In 2001, the band released a compilation album titled Tales From The B-Side. The album consisted of various B-sides and remixes from various eras in the band's recording history. The album was released by the Phantom Sound & Vision label. After the release of Tales From The B-Side, Rob Echeverria resigned from the band in order to get married. Leo Curley, of Outline and All Means Necessary, was hired as his replacement.

SPV/Sanctuary Records

In the same year, Biohazard signed two new record deals with SPV/Steamhammer in Europe and Sanctuary Records for the remainder of the world. Despite the new record deals, the band took some personal time in order to work on other projects.

Graziadei briefly formed a trip hop project with Jenifer Bair of the Ohio band Hilo. After writing and recording approximately 20 songs for the project, named Blu, Bair relocated to Los Angeles, California to continue an art career and the project dissolved. Graziadei also began work on a book, Tales From The Hardside. Schuler used his downtime to join New York band Among Thieves as a replacement drummer for the departing Will Shepler.

Graziadei and Schuler also collaborated in transforming the band's rehearsal Brooklyn studio into a digital recording studio, known as Rat Piss Studios. Re-investing into the band, Graziadei and Schuler honed their engineering and productions skills while recording and producing local acts and new Biohazard demos. The band then undertook the process of writing, recording, and producing their own music.

Their studio work led to the band's first sixth studio album, Uncivilization, released in September of 2001. The album features many guest appearances by members of bands such as Agnostic Front, Hatebreed, Pantera, Slipknot, Sepultura, Cypress Hill, Skarhead, and Type O Negative. Shortly after the release of Uncivilization, Leo Curley left the band to focus on writing his own music. He was replaced by former Nucleus member Carmine Vincent, who had previously toured with Biohazard as part of their road crew.

In 2002, Seinfeld became engaged to porn star Tera Patrick, who had never heard of Seinfeld until she saw one of his nude scenes on Oz. After making several phone calls, Patrick was able to contact Seinfeld, who had never heard of her either, and the two began dating.

Unfortunately, the band had to cancel scheduled European festival dates when Carmine Vincent underwent major surgery. The band did manage to find a temporary guitarist, Scott Roberts of the Cro-Mags, in time to join the Eastpak Resistance Tour with Agnostic Front, Hatebreed, Discipline, Death Threat, and Born From Pain. Also participating in the tour was All Boro Kings, a band consisting of old friends from both Mucky Pup and Dog Eat Dog.

Biohazard completed their seventh studio album in seventeen days; Kill Or Be Killed was released in 2003. Originally titled Never Forget, Never Forgive, the band made a last-minute decision to change the name and artwork of the album. While touring North America with Kittie, Brand New Sin and Eighteen Visions, Biohazard announced that Roberts would remain as their permanent guitarist. The tour was curtailed when it was announced that Seinfeld had fallen ill.

With more downtime due to Seinfeld's illness, Graziadei and Schuler collaborated to mix Life of Agony's live comeback album, River Runs Again: Live 2003. Once Seinfeld was healthy again, the band toured Japan and North America, headlining over bands such as Hatebreed, Agnostic Front, Throwdown, and Full Blown Chaos.

Once home, Seinfeld began recording and circulating demos for his own trip hop project named Triplesicks. For a brief time, Graziadei and his wife moved to Brazil where their daughter was born. While there, Graziadei struck up a friendship with drummer Fernandao Schafer. After jamming together in the studio, Schafer formed the band Ink which Graziadei would eventually join. It wasn't long before Ink was renamed Endrah and an EP titled DEMONstration was released. Once Graziadei returned to New York, the logistical problems of traveling back and forth caused Graziadei to quit Endrah.

In early 2004, Graziadei, Schuler, and Roberts teamed up with gabber DJ Rob Gee, DJ Starscream (aka Sid Wilson of Slipknot), Jeff Anthony, and Keith Rooney, both of Gutwrench, to form Ampt. The band combined gabber music with hardcore and heavy metal. After writing several songs and putting together a live band, Graziadei and Schuler left the project in order to continue with Biohazard. Ampt has gone through several additional lineup changes since.

Also in 2004, Seinfeld, now residing in Los Angeles, California, married his fiance of two years, Tera Patrick. Using the alias Spyder Jones, Seinfeld has since starred with Patrick in several adult movies, including Desperate and Reign of Tera, which he also directed.

By the end of 2004, the band had begun recording its eighth studio album, Means To An End. Unfortunately, the completed album was lost in a studio disaster, forcing the band to completely re-record the album, which was finally released in August of 2005.

The end of Biohazard

In the meantime, Graziadei had formed another new band with former members of Kittie and The Groovenics. Originally named Rodek, the band eventually changed their name to Suicide City. In October of 2005, Graziadei announced that Means To An End had been the final Biohazard album and that he would continue playing with Suicide City as his main focus. One month later, on the Biohazard website, it was announced that there would in fact be a 2006 Biohazard tour.

On December 15th, Seinfeld and Graziadei participated with the Roadrunner United conglomerate at the Nokia Theater in New York for an all-star event. The show opened with Biohazard's "Punishment," performed by Seinfeld, Graziadei, Sepultura's Andreas Kisser, former Fear Factory member Dino Cazares, and Slipknot's Joey Jordison.

In January of 2006, Danny Schuler announced his resignation from Biohazard and the formation of Bloodclot with singer Jon Joseph of the Cro-Mags and guitarist Scott Roberts and bassist Craig Setari of Sick of it All. As a result of Schuler's resignation, Roberts announced that he would also be leaving the band to focus on Bloodclot with Schuler. That same month, Graziadei announced that Biohazard would not go on a farewell tour after all [1]. A Biohazard DVD was released soon after.

Graziadei and Schuler have since relocated their recording studio to South Amboy, New Jersey and have renamed it Underground Sound Studios. The studio has undergone renovations in order to include a live room with 20 foot ceilings and 4,000 square feet of studio space.

In February of 2006, Seinfeld participated in the filming of SuperGroup, a VH-1 reality television series also starring Ted Nugent, Scott Ian of Anthrax, Sebastian Bach and Jason Bonham of Bonham, UFO, and Foreigner as a band named Damnocracy. The show debuted on May 21, 2006. Seinfeld continues to work with his wife, Tera Patrick, in adult entertainment. In 2005, they launched the Tera Patrick Agency with the goal of representing talent in both the adult and mainstream entertainment business.

In March of 2007, Evan Seinfeld debuted his new band, The Spyderz, as an opening act for a Buckcherry performance. The band was originally named White Line Fever, until it was discovered that a UK band already owned the name. The Spyderz also features guitarist John Monte, formerly of Ministry and M.O.D..

Discography

Demo (1988)
Demo (1989)
Biohazard (1990)
Urban Discipline (1992)
State of the World Address (1994)
Mata Leao (1996)
No Holds Barred (Live in Europe) (1997)
New World Disorder (1999)
Tales From The B-Side (2001)
Uncivilization (2001)
Kill Or Be Killed (2003)
Means To An End (2005)

BRIGHTSIDE

2007-12-11T21:34:00.000-08:00

In 1992 one of europes most famous hardcore bands was born into this world. A few weeks after that, BRIGHTSIDE did a lot of support shows for legendary HC acts like BAD TRIP, SUPERTOUCH or YUPPICIDE, just to name a few, while first recordings were released on the "What's wrong with modern youth?" - 7" compilation, which is not available anymore. After releasing "Face the truth" MCD and a split-7" with straight-edge heroes UNBROKEN on Lost & Found Records, BRIGHTSIDE startet their first european tour supporting Detroits finest PITTBULL. In early 1996 the band entered the Stage-1-Studio the second time, to record their first full-length Album "Punchline" which became one of the best-sold european hardcore releases.

In 1996 did a STATE OF ALERT cover MCD called "No Policy" to pay tribute to the former band of Henry Rollins and the real roots of HC. Besides uncountable shows at the weekends the band did the traditional MAD X-Mas tour with ABHINANDA (Sweden), STORMECORE (France) and 3RD STATEMENT (Germany). In february 1997 BRIGHTSIDE did the support for BIOHAZARD's germany tour. After the tour Jörg, the drummer left the band and Ed joined.

In the middle of 1998 they entered the holy dungeons of Andy Classen's (former HOLY MOSES, RICHTHOFEN) Stage-1-Studios to record their second full length album "Bulletproof" which became a classic soon. In february 2000 BRIGHTSIDE did their first and very succesful headliner tour through Europe featuring first time new drummer Björn, where they played some shows with KILL YOUR IDOLS and the legendary CRO-MAGS. After that they blew away the tent-stage on full-force-open air.

1 year later BRIGHTSIDE conquered the studio to record their last album on Lost & Found Records, which is called "True Force". After that and a bunch of asskickin` shows and 10 years of blood, sweat and tears Kadde left the band and Simon joined. After only a few rehersals he accompanied BRIGHTSIDE to Greece to play two awesome shows in Athens and Thessaloniki.

Right now the guys are writing new songs for their new record. Be prepared for an asskickin punch in all hypocritical faces.

Snapcase

2007-12-08T02:40:00.000-08:00

Snapcase was a hardcore/punk band from Buffalo, New York. Their records were released on the Chicago record label, Victory Records.

Background

Formation

The band was originally conceived in 1989 in a basement in West Seneca, NY and was named Solid State. In 1989, the lineup was embodied by guitarist Scott Dressler, then a mere 15 years of age, 17 year-old drummer Mike Kimaid, Daryl Taberski, age 18 on bass, and Tiger Balduf, the eldest at 19, on vocals. Prior to recording their first demo as Solid State on January 30, 1990, Quest for Reality, Tiger Balduf left the band to get married, and Mike Kimaid left to join the Lockport, NY based band The Watchmen. In their places instead were Chris Galas on vocals and Peter Dawidzak on drums. Soon after recording this, Peter Dawidzak left the band to go to school. On May 22, 1990, Solid State recorded their second demo, Accept Your Fate, with their friend Mike Lampe, who had assisted with the previous demo, as well. During this recording, the band was comprised of Chris Galas on vocals, Scott Dressler playing guitar, Jason Kourkounis on drums, and Daryl Taberski on bass.

During the spring of 1991, Solid State went through a big lineup shift; Kourkounis left the band to pursue other musical interests, and Kimaid rejoined the band along with The Watchmen guitarist Joe Smith, making the band a five-piece. After these changes to their lineup, the band decided to change their name to Snapcase. Between the years of 1991 and 1992, Snapcase recorded two demos with Dennis Fura, Break The Silence and King of the Mountain. In 1992 the band was signed to Chicago hardcore label Victory Records and recorded their first 7 inch, Comatose, with Mike Sac and Robby Takac that year. After this recording Taberski moved over to vocals, replacing Chris Galas, Bob Whiteside from Buffalo, NY band Support took over on bass, and Jon Salemi joined to replace Joe Smith, who left for school. In 1993, Kimaid left the band after partially recording the band's first album and was replaced by former Buffalo, NY based Slugfest drummer, Tim Redmond, who performed on the rest of the tracks. This full length, Lookinglasself, was released in 1993 and was recorded with Don Fury and Fred Betschen. In early 1995, the band released the Steps EP, which they recorded with Fred Betschen. This was the last recording to feature Scott Dressler, who left the band in the fall of 1995 to go to graduate school. He was replaced by Frank Vicario of Buffalo, NY band Fadeaway. In the summer of 1996, The California Takeover was released which featured live recordings from Snapcase, Earth Crisis, and Strife.

Progression

April 1997 saw the release of Progression Through Unlearning, which they recorded with Steve Evetts, an album which is considered to be revolutionary by many fans of hardcore. The band set out on a summer tour, and featured performances on the Vans Warped Tour. In the fall of 1997, the band took some time off so that members could pursue education. In 1998, the band resumed touring, and was the opening band on the fall tour of the Deftones. They also went into the studio with Brian McTernan in the fall of 1998 to record a cover of the Bad Brains "I", released on Century Media's Never Give In tribute record, and a split EP with Boysetsfire that was released in the summer of 1999. These were the last recordings with bassist Bob Whiteside. He was replaced by Dustin Perry, formerly of the Minneapolis, MN band Threadbare. They headlined Hellfest that summer in Syracuse, NY.

Designs For Automation, the band's third full length album, was recorded in the summer of 1999 with Steve Evetts was released in January 2000. They spent most of 2000 on tour, performing on the Deconstruction tour in Europe with NOFX and playing the main stage of the Vans Warped Tour in the summer. Ben Lythberg began playing drums for the band during the fall, winter and spring while Redmond finished his masters degree.

End Transmission

In 2002, the band focused their creative energy on crafting their new album, End Transmission, with Brian McTernan at Salad Days Studios. This album, their fourth full length album was released in September 2002. Redmond officially left the band soon after the release of the album and was permanently replaced by Lythberg. Snapcase toured that fall with Boysetsfire and Atreyu. Their final international tour was in early 2003. They opened for Bad Religion and Finch in the spring of 2003. Bright Flashes was released in November 2003. This featured songs that were recorded for the conceptual End Transmission album, covers of songs by Helmet, Devo, and Jane's Addiction, and 3 remixes of songs from End Transmission. The band announced in the fall of 2004 that they would be disbanding, and would play their final show in January 2005 in Buffalo, NY. The final show featured appearances by nearly every member who had ever played in the band. Redmond, Dressler, and Whiteside joined Salemi and Taberski for a performance of the song "Lookinglasself", and original vocalist Chris Galas joined them for the song "Comatose".

Intention

Snapcase built a reputation for composing music with complex guitar lines, harmonic distortion, and relentless rhythms. Lyrically, their songs explored themes of self-determination, affirmation, and personal challenge. To many, Snapcase was one of the most progressive and influential bands in independent music, and was dedicated to combining intellectual theory with aggressive music (as the band has claimed). Nevertheless, Snapcase always promoted free-thinking and an unrelenting quest for change, as their socially conscious lyrics reveal. The members of the band are all straight edge, as well, but according to Frank Vicario, they're "not really singing about it or promoting it".

Thereafter

After Snapcase dissolved, Vicario, Perry and Lythberg formed the band Attractive, with Josh English from the band Sixgoingonseven. Tim Redmond currently teaches AP Government and Global history at Williamsville East High School and Scott Dressler is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Villanova University

A retrospective DVD is set for release in 2007, and will feature footage filmed at their final performance in January 2005.

Two reunion shows are set to take place on November 24th and 25th at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY. And one also on November 20th at Mohawk Place in Buffalo, NY.

Albums

[edit] Full-Length

EPs

Comatose 7" (1992)
Steps EP (1995)
Snapcase VS. Boy Sets Fire Split EP (1999)

Demos

Quest For Reality (1990)
Accept Your Fate (1990)
Break The Silence (1991)
King of the Mountain (1992)

Compilations

Only The Strong MCMXCII (1993) "Fields of Illusion"
Anti-Matter (1995) "Vent"
Reason For Living (1996) "Caboose"
The California Takeover (1996)
Violent World - A Tribute To The Misfits (1997) "She"
Never Give In - A Tribute To Bad Brains (1998) "I"
No Borders (1999) "Box Seat"
To the Bone (1999) "Typecast Modulator)
Incompatible Vol. 3 (2000) "Ambition Now"
For Those Who Stand (2001) "Break The Static"

Integrity

2007-12-08T02:23:00.000-08:00

Integrity, formed in 1988, is a Cleveland, Ohio-based band. They are credited as one of the first bands to successfully incorporate heavy metal elements into hardcore punk. Lyrical themes include religion, supernatural, individualism, and the occult.

INTEGRITY managed to get their first show at the Phantasy Nightclub on Jan. 6th, 1990 opening for Outface and False Hope. While the band had been incubating on t-shirts and stickers stuck to guitar cases and street signs around Coventry for at least 2 years prior, it was only after the official break-up of Die Hard that gave Dwid’s sticker band a solid line-up. I took these photos in an attempt to be a zine guy photographer, I think with the intention of using the shots for a MRR scene report or press release.

Back before the internet and text messaging cell phones, the best way to spread gossip and stir up a badass reputation for yourself or your scene or your band was to participate in the shit-talking drudgery of the fanzine interview. INTEGRITY, especially Dwid, were masters of the shit-talking fanzine interview. The reasons are complex. But the major factor for Dwid’s success at these turdfests was the fact that he has a vivid imagination which leads to some highly complex scenarios for elaborate putdowns. Looking back on the world of the straight-edge zine, I am not sure what I am more concerned about - the level of failing discourse or the horrible spelling.

Discography

In Contrast of Sin 7" EP - Victory Records - 1989
Grace of the Unholy" cassingle (progression records) 1990
Those Who Fear Tomorrow - Overkill Records - 1991
"Kingdom of Heaven/Rebirth" - Endgame Records - 1992
Den of Iniquity - Dark Empire - 1993
Those Who Still Fear Tomorrow - Holy Terror/Toybox Records - 1994
HookedLungStolenBreathCunt - Lost and Found Records - 1994
Systems Overload - Victory Records - 1995
Humanity Is the Devil 10" EP - Victory Records - 1996
Integrity/Psywarfare Split 7" EP - Victory Records
Taste of Every Sin - Holy Terror - 1997
"split 7" w/ Hatebreed" - Stillborn Records
Seasons in the Size of Days - Victory Records - 1997
Integrity/Lockweld Split 7" EP - Victory Records
Septic Death Karaoke 7" EP - Victory Records
Closure - Victory Records - 2001
To Die For - Deathwish Inc. - 2003
Palm Sunday CD/DVD - Spook City - 2005
Silver In The Hands Of Time (Compilation) - Good Life Recordings - 2005
Always Is Always Forever DVD - Van Hellion International - 2005

Strife

2007-12-08T02:13:00.000-08:00

Strife is an American hardcore/metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1991.

Biography

Their first LP, One Truth, was released in 1994 by Victory Records. At the time, their speed metal style of hardcore was considered revolutionary, and their message of straight edge activism and positive life style was a refreshing contrast to the typical music popular at the time. Strife was considered one of the three "big" bands on the then-new Victory Records label, sharing that title with hardcore legends Earth Crisis and Snapcase.

Strife released their second album, In This Defiance in 1997. This album was also well regarded by the straight edge/hardcore community. It was also notable for the guest appearances, with Chino Moreno of Deftones, Dino Cazares of Fear Factory and Igor Cavalera of Sepultura all taking turns on the album.

Two years later, Strife broke up, citing creative differences and exhaustion. Victory Records released Truth Through Defiance, a compilation of live tracks and previously unreleased material.

In 2000, Strife reunited to play several benefit concerts, and by the following year had officially reformed and released Angermeans. No longer straight edge, this album was considered by the band to be a more mature and focused continuation of In This Defiance. The band received some criticism from former fans for no longer being straight edge.

Since 2001 not much has been heard from Strife, it is unsure if they have officially broken up or not.

Members

Andrew Kline (guitar)
Chad Peterson (bass)
Rick Rodney (vocals)
Aaron Rossi (drums)
Sid Niesen
Mike Hartsfield
Mike Machin
Todd Turnham

Discography

my fire burns on... (1992, NWK)
Strife (1992)
One Truth CD (1994, Caroline Records)
- reissued in 1994 on CD/LP/CS by Victory Records 014
  - reissued in 2006 on CD by Victory Records
Grey 7" single (1995, Victory Records)
In This Defiance CD/LP/CS (1997, Victory Records 054)
- reissued in 2006 on CD by Victory Records
Truth Through Defiance CD/LP/CS (1999, Victory Records 092)
- compilation of rare, demo, live, and alternate recordings
  - reissued in 2006 on CD by Victory Records
Angermeans CD (2001, Victory Records 130)
- reissued in 2006 on CD by Victory Records

All Out War

2007-12-08T01:49:00.000-08:00

All Out War is a Hardcore Metal band currently signed to Victory Records. The band resides in Newburgh, New York.

New York's ALL OUT WAR is a punishing display of the aggression of hardcore, crossed with the brutality of metal, while avoiding the shortcomings of both genres. To get a taste of All Out War's musical style, envision Slayer's "Reign In Blood" colliding head on with "Age of Quarrel" era Cro-Mags. The two styles are as different as they come, but ALL OUT WAR combines them to form a Crossover attack unmatched by today's standards. While so many bands are creating a diluted mixture of Metal and Hardcore, All Out War brings you their brand of Crossover in the tradition of bands like NUCLEAR ASSAULT, AGNOSTIC FRONT, S.O.D. and KREATOR. "Condemned To Suffer" will solidify ALL OUT WAR's position as one of the most brutal bands - period.

All Out War has been around since 1991 and we still exist today. There has been some band member changes and we have broken up. But, we are together now with three of the origanal members and we released our forth record "Assassins in the house of god" with little or no advertisement from our very supportive record label. So if you see it steal it.

Current line-up

Mike Score - Vocals
Jim Antonelli - Guitar
Jim Bremer - Guitar
Eric Carillo - Bass
Lou Medina - Drums

Discography

Death Before Dishonor

2007-12-05T20:04:00.000-08:00

Death Before Dishonor has begun to make their own legacy, making themselves a rising cornerstone of Boston hardcore in five short years as a band. Since the release of their EP Friends Family Forever on Bridge Nine at the beginning of 2005, DBD has taken the world over, playing over 400 shows in two years and touring the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe with legends Agnostic Front, Madball, Terror, Full Blown Chaos, Champion and countless others.

2007 is a new chapter for Death Before Dishonor. With the release of Count Me In, Death Before Dishonor has established themselves as a force in hardcore, not only in Boston, but around the world. They have added more metal and more classic punk influence to their already punishing hardcore sound and if you don't believe us-they'll be on tour all the time, so find out for yourself.

Death Before Dishonor has been garnering rave reviews for their unforgiving anthems and savage live shows over the last five years. It was their unrelenting work ethic that grabbed the attention of Bridge Nine Records, another Boston institution built with the same ideals that have built Death Before Dishonor- persistence, drive and desire. After the two teamed up to release of Friends, Family, Forever in 2004, Death Before Dishonor kept at what they did best- destroying crowds night after night on tour.

Now its 2006, and Death Before Dishonor is a band you cannot ignore. Not unlike the ascent of Hatebreed many years ago, Death Before Dishonor released a seven song EP and they have supported it with non-stop international touring with Agnostic Front, Champion, Full Blown Chaos, and Terror. When their bass player told Bridge Nine, If Im not on tour, Im sitting in my dads basement, he has made sure that Death Before Dishonor is on the road, whether its Canada, Mexico, Europe or soon, South America.

Death Before Dishonor have taken potential to a whole new level and put bands that think they have a work ethic to shame. Death Before Dishonor is not afraid to throw themselves and everything theyve got on the table, which is why they have such an appeal and why theyve managed to become so successful at this point in their lives. The only thing that can and will stop them is entering the studio this October with Jim Siegel at the Outpost (Dropkick Murphys, Blood For Blood) to record their first full-length LP for Bridge Nine, promising to make 2007 Death Before Dishonors year where you cannot ignore them.
And then it begins again.

Sick Of It All

2007-12-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

Sick of It All (SOIA) is a New York Hardcore band formed by brothers Lou Koller (vocals) and Pete Koller (guitar), Armand Majidi (drums) and Rich Capriano (bass) in 1984.

History

Early career (1984-1992)

Hailing from Tarrytown in Westchester County, NY, Sick of It All was formed alongside New York hardcore bands Straight Ahead, and Rest In Pieces which both featured Majidi and current Sick of It All bass player Craig Setari. Majidi joined up with the Koller brothers and Rich Capriano to record the Sick of It All demo in 1986, after original bass player Mark McNielly and drummer David Lamb left. The band began to play Sunday afternoon matinees at renowned venue CBGB's, and soon after released a self-titled 7" on Revelation Records (which was later re-issued on the tenth anniversary of its release, in 1997).

In 1988, Sick of It All signed to Relativity Records and recorded their first full-length, Blood, Sweat and No Tears, which was released in the following year. The album's follow-up, Just Look Around, was released in 1992.

Increasing popularity (1993-1997)

Although accused of selling out, Sick of It All released their heaviest record to date on major label EastWest Records, titled Scratch the Surface. The record was a surprise to those who assumed the band would create a more radio-friendly sound. They also recorded a video for "Step Down" and the titletrack "Scratch The Surface". The record was also the first recorded with long-time friend and former Straight Ahead, Rest In Pieces, Youth of Today and Agnostic Front bass player Craig Setari, who had replaced Rich Capriano in early 1993.

The band received bad publicity in December 1992 when Wayne Lo, a mentally-ill student wearing a Sick of It All t-shirt, shot and killed two people and wounded several others at Simon's Rock College in Massachusetts. After being inundated with claims that they initiated violence at shows and through their music, the band defended themselves in the press (particularly The New York Times).

The fair success of Scratch the Surface allowed the band to tour worldwide, and it was not until 1997 that they released their second record on the EastWest label, Built to Last. More punk-inspired than their previous effort, Built to Last produced a number of live staples for the band, including "Us vs. Them," "Busted" and "Good Lookin' Out." The album also marked the end of Sick of It All's contractual agreement with EastWest.

The Fat Wreck Chords years (1998-2004)

In 1998, Sick of It All signed to independent record label Fat Wreck Chords, owned and run by Fat Mike of NOFX. After releasing the "Potential For A Fall" single - for which another video was filmed, Call To Arms was released in February 1999. The album featured relatively few traditional hardcore tracks, as the intensely personal lyrics of songs like "Let Go," "The Future Is Mine," "Morally Confused" "Hindsight," and "Martin" shone through.

The 2000 follow-up Yours Truly was less critically acclaimed. Despite containing some of the bands favored live tracks, including "Blown Away," "The Bland Within," "District" and "America," some fans felt alienated by the album's progressive nature and in a recent interview, frontman Lou Koller claimed that the album's cover art probably contributed to its poor reception. 1

In 2001, Sick of It All released their home video The Story So Far, and a year later a live record was released as part of Fat Wreck Chords' Live In A Dive series. The album showcased tracks from Sick of It All's entire career up to that point in time.

2003 saw Sick of It All release their seventh studio album: Life on the Ropes. In 2004, the band also released an album of b-sides, covers and rare tracks entitled Outtakes for the Outcast, which contains some Sick of It All recordings.

Recent activity and the future of the band (2005-present)

In early 2005, Sick of It All signed to Abacus Recordings to record the follow-up to Fat Wreck Chords' Life on the Ropes. The new album, titled Death to Tyrants, was released on April 18, 2006. The band has recently toured with AFI and The Dear & Departed in early 2007.

A tribute to the band, titled Our Impact Will Be Felt, was released on April 24, 2007, and includes covers from artists such as Bane, Bleeding Through, The Bouncing Souls, Hatebreed, Himsa, Madball, Most Precious Blood, Napalm Death, Pennywise, Rise Against, Sepultura, Stretch Arm Strong, Unearth, and Walls of Jericho.

Sick of It All has begun writing new material for their next album, which is possibly due for release sometime in 2008.

Scream

2007-11-22T07:51:00.000-08:00

Scream was a hardcore punk rock band from Washington, D.C. active from 1981 to 1990.

Biography

Scream was formed in Northern Virginia in 1981 by singer Peter Stahl, his brother Franz Stahl on guitar, bassist Skeeter Thompson and drummer Kent Stax. They are considered one of the benchmark bands in the history of the Washington, D.C. hardcore music movement. Along with bands such as Minor Threat and Government Issue, Scream ultimately merged the attributes of the movement, which were blinding speed, heavy political and social connotations in the lyrics, unpretentiousness of attitude, and shunning of commercialism. Their music is faithful to the roots of rock, but spun itself into other genres by employing sounds that predate the raunchiness of grunge, while saluting reggae and speed metal. Scream hated the classification of bands into certain types and considered what they played as simply 'music.' Recording their music in the basement of the now legendary Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, VA, Scream became the first band on the Dischord label to release a whole album, Still Screaming, as opposed to singles or 12 inch EPs. Like the world-renowned hardcore band Bad Brains, they could play clearly at breakneck speed, but also played mid-tempo songs like "American Justice" and "Hygiene," which were metal-tinged reggae.

For their second album, Scream added a second guitarist to their line-up, Robert Lee "Harley" Davidson (a veteran of the local heavy metal band Tyrant), to thicken the overtracks and dubs from Franz in their live performances. In turn this led to more complex guitar tracking, a more powerful live sound, and a crunchier recording sound for their third album. For a few compilation efforts and some live shows they added a keyboard player, the local keyboard wizard Bobby Madden, who for years was a colleague of Davidson's from the same metal scene.

After the 3rd album Banging the Drum, Kent Stax left the band for personal reasons and he was replaced by local drummer Dave Grohl, who then played on Scream's 4th album No More Censorship. Scream recorded their 5th and final studio album Fumble (which was released a few years later on Dischord Records) and then called it quits in late 1990. Pete and Franz gave rock a major-label shot with the band Wool, while Grohl joined Nirvana and helped make catchy punk the sound of the '90s. In 1997, Franz Stahl briefly joined Dave Grohl's post-Nirvana group, the commercially successful Foo Fighters. Thompson continued working in bands, as did Stax with such skinhead-tinged bands the Suspects, United 121, and the Spitfires United. Stax also committed himself to a family life. Davidson continued in other bands such as Angelstorm (in Huntsville Alabama) from 1993-1995 and creating new bands, including Orangahead, Festival of Fools with Madden in 1998 and two different versions of God Is Dead (1 in D.C. and 1 in Huntsville Al) from 2002 - 2005.

Uniform Choice

2007-11-13T03:03:00.000-08:00

Uniform Choice is an Orange County, California hardcore punk band fronted by Pat Dubar. Screaming For Change is their most acclaimed album. They also recorded another less well received LP called Staring Into The Sun and their demo has been bootlegged several times. Pat Dubar was a graduate of Pepperdine University and created the label Wishingwell Records, which released albums by Uniform Choice, Blast!, and Youth of Today, among others. Uniform Choice is historically among the first five Straight Edge Hardcore bands to emerge from Southern California.

Members

Discography

Uniform Choice demo (1984)
- reissued in 1990
Screaming For Change (Wishingwell Records, 1986)
Region of Ice (1988)
Staring Into The Sun (1988)

Cro-Mags

2007-11-13T02:48:00.000-08:00

The Cro-Mags were a hardcore band from New York City. The band, which had a strong cult following, released many records, their first two considered the most influential. They were among the first bands to fuse hardcore punk with thrash metal and were associated with the birth of a tougher attitude within the hardcore scene in the late 1980s. They were also one of the first hardcore punk bands associated with the Hare Krishna movement.

They first released a demo with songs that would eventually find themselves on their debut album The Age Of Quarrel (1986). The bass player Harley Flanagan and singer John Joseph were not the best of friends and eventually Joseph would part ways with the band leaving Harley to sing on the following Cro-Mags release. After The Age of Quarrel, the band released the record Best Wishes (1989). The record had a more heavy metal-influenced sound which alienated many of their fans. The band released another record Alpha Omega (1992), that saw the return of Joseph, and the departure of guitarist and songwriter Parris Mitchell Mayhew, a record that was only embraced by the most devoted of their fanbase, and followed by Near Death Experience (1993). After suffering from many lineup changes and frequent breakups, the group finally disbanded, seemingly for the last time, after this record. However, in 2000 they released a record that would almost make up for their past two releases. With Revenge the Cro-Mags came back to their early hardcore roots with songs that were comparable to their first release plus some songs with a more melodic/punk rock feel. After the release of Revenge the band broke up once again, and the internal hostility amongst band members (mainly between Mayhew and Flanagan) has never been resolved.

Discography

Date of Release	Title	Notes
1985	The Age of Quarrel Demo	Self Financed Demo Tape John Joseph on vocals
1986	The Age Of Quarrel	Profile Records. John Joseph on vocals
1989	Best Wishes	Profile Records. Harley on vocals
1992	Alpha-Omega	Century Media Records. John and Harley vocals mixed together
1993	Near Death Experience	Century Media Records. John on vocals 7 songs, Harley on vocals 1 song
1994	Hard Times in An Age of Quarrel	Century Media Records. Double live CD. John vocals on all
2000	Revenge	Cro-Mag Recordings. Harley on vocals
2000	Before The Quarrel	Cro-Mag Recordings. Remaster of their original demo

[edit] Videography

Date of Release	Notes
2004	Live In An Age of Quarrel	A collection of live footage from 1986 - 2001. Put out by Cro-Mags Recordings

Videoclips

We Gotta Know (1986) from The Age Of Quarrel
The Paths of Perfection (1992) from Alpha Omega
The Beat (1988) (film appearance as "Iron Skulls", shot in 1986)

Download :

The Age of Quarrel (1986)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RAO99TJ1

Best Wishes (1989)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3r4e5ftk

Alpha- Omega (1992)
http://rapidshare.com/files/82259598/cromagsalph_by_strigoi.rar

Near Death Expperience (1993)
http://rapidshare.com/files/82490784/1993-_Near_Death_Experience.rar

Hard Times in an Age of Quarrel (1994)

Revenge (2000)
http://rapidshare.com/files/82771929/2000-_Revenge.rar

Before the Quarrel (2000)
http://rapidshare.com/files/82756919/2000-_Before_the_QUARREL.rar

Twenty Years of Quarrel and Greatest Hits (2006)

Warzone

2007-11-13T02:30:00.000-08:00

Warzone was a hardcore punk American Skinhead band from New York City.

Skinhead frontman, Raymond "Raybeez" Barbieri, was the group's only consistent member between its formation on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1982 until Barbieri's untimely death due to pneumonia on September 11, 1997. A U.S. Navy veteran, he was receiving treatment that many fans and friends have claimed was shamefully inadequate in a Veterans Health Administration facility when the illness damaged his liver and took his life at the age of 35.

Raybeez's small but loyal following accompanied the former Agnostic Front drummer from the nascent days before the "Youth Crew" era in hardcore punk, on and off of three record labels, before finally turning out en masse for two sold-out benefit shows following his passing.

He is often cited as one of the seminal influences in the genre, as well as one of its first major losses. Unlike the larger body of punk music, the highly youth-oriented hardcore music had previously felt very few such outpourings of grief. In the days after his passing, a sign hung from the awning in front of CBGBs that simply said "R.I.P. Ray." For more than a year following his death, every release on the Victory Records label was dedicated to his memory, as well as two independent compilations. Like the benefit shows following his death, these albums raised funds for several not-for-profit groups Ray had worked for which helped at-risk youth.

During the band's fifteen years and countless line-up changes, their primarily hardcore sound was flavored by influences ranging from oi! (they toured several times with The Business and played a cover of The Real Enemy), to traditional punk rock, and even an ill-received heavy metal phase (on their self-titled LP, Warzone). Their fan base, though, was equally diverse. Warzone shows were usually populated by skinheads (both racist and anti-racist), straight edge teens, metalheads and punks of all ages. It was a rare, and sometimes volatile, combination.

Though the band featured several members of non-caucasian backgrounds through its history, and Raybeez sang lyrics urging racial unity and spoke out strongly against anything that divided the youth of America against itself, their shows were often marred by violence. For this reason, Raybeez rarely performed from the stage. He sang out in the crowd. Often huddling with a multitude to shout the lyrics, he used it as an opportunity to stop fights before security could respond. This tactic often cooled tempers more quickly than stopping the show might have and prevented fans from being escorted out of the show. His position in the crowds rather than elevated on a stage also endeared him to fans in a way few other performers in the genre have ever achieved.

Warzone fans were not simply encouraged to sing along. They often dictated the band's entire set list and even decided how long the group would play, with some sets lasting until Raybeez could barely speak.

Few of the band's critics were able to claim they were anything but inclusionary with songs like "Under 18," which decried the age-based discriminatory practices at many venues that demanded IDs for entry, "War Between Races," which demanded an end to racial violence and prejudice within the scene, and "Brother and Sisterhood," which encouraged young women and girls to become active in traditionally male-dominated hardcore punk. However, reviews still frequently maligned them simply as "a skinhead band," implying they were racist (they were not racist) or violent.

Discography

Lower East Side Crew (1987) - EP
Don't Forget The Struggle, Don't Forget The Streets (1988) - LP
Open Your Eyes (1989) - LP
Warzone (1990) - LP
Live at CBGBs (1993) - live EP
Old School to New School (1994) - LP
Split with Cause for Alarm (1995) - split 10" EP
Lower East Side (1996) - EP
The Sound of Revolution (1996) - LP
Fight For Justice (1997) - LP
The Victory Years (1998) - partial discography LP

BOLD

2007-11-13T02:19:00.000-08:00

Bold is a late 80's youth crew hardcore punk band from upstate New York, which along with bands like Youth Of Today and Side By Side were a part of the Youth Crew, and a major influence in the late 80's straight edge hardcore scene.

History

Originally called Crippled Youth, the band was formed in Katonah, New York by Matt Warnke (vocals), Tim Brooks (bass) and Drew Thomas (drums). After a couple of shows with Matt singing and playing guitar, they recruited John 'Zulu' Zuluaga on guitar, and Matt switched to just singing. They released a 7" EP entitled 'Join The Fight' on the California label New Beginning in 1986 before switching to the name Bold. It was under this name that they recorded the 11-song LP Speak Out. The record was supposed to be released on California's WishingWell Records, but was eventually released in 1988 on Revelation.

The band later recruited Tom Capone (Beyond/Shelter/Quicksand/etc.) on second guitar, and recorded a self-titled 5-song 7" in 1989, also on Revelation. The 7" is by many considered their best material, adding more melody to their straightforward hardcore sound. The 7" EP was re-issued on a 12" entitled 'Looking Back' in 1993, with 2 bonus tracks.

Bold reunited in 2005 with Warnke on vocals, Capone on guitar, Brooks on bass and Vinny Panza on drums. John Porcelly, who periodically played with the band in the 1980s, later joined on second guitar. They are currently playing shows and working on new material. To conincide with the reunion, Revelation released the retrospective CD The Search: 1985-1989, which contains the band's entire recorded output.

Band-member notes

Matt Warnke sang for a band called One-Sided War in the late 90's, before forming Running Like Thieves (named after a Bold-song) with John Biviano and Andy Guida of Supertouch, which put out two EPs on New Jersey's LiveWire Records. He has since quit the band. He is currently fronting the reunited Bold.

Drew Thomas formed Into Another with ex-Underdog singer Richie Birkenhead in 1990. They put out several records throughout the 90's, but have now broken up. Thomas also played drums for The New Rising Sons (fronted by ex-Texas Is The Reason member Garret Klahn). They released two EPs on the Grape OS label before signing to Virgin records, but broke up before an album could be completed.

Tom Capone played in several bands throughout the 1990s, such as Quicksand, Handsome and Instruction. He is currently playing for the reunited Bold.

John "Zulu" Zuluaga is currently playing his SG in the band The Hoof .

Discography

Speak Out LP (Revelation Records 1988)
S/T 7" (Revelation Records 1989)
Looking Back (Revelation Records 1989)
The Search: 1985-1989 (Complete Discography) (Revelation Records 2005)

Project X

2007-11-13T02:08:00.000-08:00

Project X was a short-lived late 1980s NYC straight edge hardcore band, featuring John Porcelly (Youth Of Today, Judge), Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits, Youth Of Today), Alex Brown (Side By Side, Gorilla Biscuits) and Sammy Siegler (Side By Side, Youth Of Today, Judge). The band started when Porcelly and Brown were releasing the seventh issue of their fanzine Schism, which was the second issue under that name, and wanted to include a 7" of rare unreleased early 1980s hardcore. However, they couldn't get the rights to release it, and since no NYC bands had any unreleased material, they decided instead to form a project band, record a 7" and include that with the fanzine. The band was fittingly named Project X.

After a couple of rehearsals, the band entered Don Fury's legendary Lower East Side studio and recorded their 5-song self-titled 7" EP. The songs were all short, fast bursts of hardcore energy. "Cross Me," the shortest, is only 8 seconds long. The lyrics were, as the name and the cover photo of a hand having an "X" written on it with a marker (a straight edge symbol) would suggest, rather militantly straight edge, but also about lost friendship ("Where It Ends") and being banned from clubs. "Shutdown" was written about a specific October 18, 1987 CBGB show featuring Youth Of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, Side By Side and Pagan Babies. At the show, Youth Of Today were banned for encouraging stage diving, which was against the club policy. The back cover of the Project X EP features the band standing in front of CBGB, appearing to have been shut out. The opening track, "Straight Edge Revenge," which was actually an old Youth Of Today song that Ray Cappo refused to perform due to its militant lyrics, became an instant straight edge classic and is often covered by bands across the world. The song "Cross Me", with its short and to-the-point lyrics, was written as a rebuttal against statements made by the California hardcore band Half Off and their singer Billy Rubin. According to an interview with Porcelly in the Seattle-based fanzine Open Your Eyes, the song was written in a matter of seconds.

The EP was fairly low-budget, with a black and white xeroxed cover and no print on the record's label (instead the band either applied a 'Project X' stamp or wrote funny quotes on the labels). The band also appeared under pseudonyms on the record. Porcelly became Slam, Brown was Kid Hard, Siegler was appropriately nicknamed The Youth (due to his age; he was still in his teens) and Schreifels was dubbed N.D. (which stood for 'No Drugs', although the band would joke in interviews that it actually stood for "Not Dedicated," as Schriefels didn't always show up to rehearsals).

The record quickly sold out, most of the pressing of 500 were sold at one Bold show at the infamous Anthrax club in Connecticut. The band regained a cult status within the hardcore scene, and the record became highly sought-after by record collectors. Despite the high demand, the record was never re-pressed, but several bootleg versions throughout the years have ensured that hardcore fans unable to track down an original have still gotten to hear the record. An official re-pressing of the record, formally titled Straight Edge Revenge, and appending two live tracks from one of the band's rare live performances, was finally released by Bridge 9 Records in August 2005.

Project X only played a handful of shows on the east coast, and also a few during Youth Of Today's European tour in 1989. In total, some estimate the band played less than 5 shows.

The 7" remained Project X's only recorded output (they were, after all, just a project, and the members were busy with their other bands), but when Porcelly as a joke put Project X - The Edge Of Quarrel LP on his Maximum RocknRoll playlist during a San Francisco visit, he got record collectors searching high and low for this fabled record. But alas, it never existed. The band did however write one song that was only performed live, "Can't Keep Me Down." Later the lyrics were changed, and it became the Youth Of Today song "Live Free" on their We're Not In This Alone album.

Download :

1987 Project X 7''EP
http://www.mediafire.com/?ovmro1exgyc

1989 Project X Live Set
http://www.mediafire.com/?klm9zmxcnit

Necros

2007-11-11T02:49:00.000-08:00

The Necros were an early hardcore punk band from Maumee, Ohio that was formed in 1979 by then-teenagers Barry Henssler (vocals), Andy Wendler (guitar), and Todd Swalla (drums). After going though a handful of bassists (including Jeff Allsop, David Cooke, Brian Hyland, Jeff Lake, and Brian Pollack), Corey Rusk joined the band. In 1981, the band's first record, a self-titled 4-song 7" EP (recorded prior to Rusk's entry into the band) most commonly known as "Sex Drive", was released. The first record ever released on Touch And Go Records, it was limited to only 100 copies. Andy Wendler also stopped performing with the band in 1981 (although he continued to write for them) and was replaced by Brian Pollack on guitar. Later that year, the band recorded and released another self-titled 7" EP, this one a 9-song record most commonly known as "IQ32", which was produced by Ian MacKaye and was a joint release between Touch and Go (which Rusk now had a hand in running) and Dischord Records. Andy Wendler reclaimed his spot on guitar in late 1982 and in 1983 the band recorded and released two more records, a 7" and LP both titled Conquest For Death. Following the release of the LP, Corey Rusk quit the group to concentrate on Touch and Go, since, by that time, he'd assumed full control of the label. Although the decision to leave the group was Rusk's, Touch and Go has never reissued the Necros records they put out.

The Necros famously played with the Misfits in their first incarnation, and were commonly seen opening for the horror punk band. They even played the Misfits' last show in which Todd Swalla eventually stepped in to play drums when Brian Damage became too drunk to perform.

Bassist Ron Sawkowski replaced Corey Rusk in 1983, but the group would not release another record for two years. In an interview with a zine called "One Solution", Henssler blamed the delay between releases, at least in part, on Rusk's refusal to give the band a definite answer as to whether or not they were still on Touch and Go.

A new Necros release finally came to fruition in 1985 when they appeared on a split release with White Flag, entitled Jail Jello, on Gasatanka Records. Now featuring a more distinctly hard rock sound, the band followed up the split with the Tangled Up LP on Restless Records in 1986 along with a sigle of the same name on Gasatanka. Following a 1987 tour with Megadeth, the group called it quits. A live album, Live or Else, appeared posthumously in 1989.

Following the break up, Barry Henssler formed Big Chief, who would record for the Sub Pop label. Ron Sakowski and Todd Swalla would reunite in the mid '90's as part of the final line up of Touch And Go artists Laughing Hyenas.

In 2002, a limited (only 450 copies pressed) split 10" with Authority Abuse surfaced on Wise Hoodlum Records. The Necros material consisted of live recordings from 1981 through 1983.

Tangled Up and Live or Else were released together on CD by Rykodisc in 2005 and is currently the only Necros material available on CD.

Discography

Sex Drive EP (Touch and Go) 1981
IQ32 EP(Dischord/Touch and Go) 1981
Conquest for Death single (Touch and Go) 1983
Conquest for Death LP (Touch and Go) 1983
Jail Jello split 12" w/ White Flag (Gasatanka) 1985
Tangled Up single (Gasatanka) 1986
Tangled Up LP (Restless) 1986
Live or Else tape (Medusa/Enigma) 1990
Split 10" w/ AUTHORITY ABUSE (Wise Hoodlum)2002
Tangled Up/Live or Else CD (Rykodisc) 2005

Government Issue

2007-11-11T02:44:00.000-08:00

Government Issue (often just GI) was an American hardcore punk band (although some people consider them straight edge due to singer John Stabb's abstinance from drugs and alcohol during his time with the band) originating from the Washington, D.C. scene, formed in 1980 and were on Dischord Records. Many early songs were straightforward hardcore, clocking in at under the one minute mark, but they later progressed into a more melodic song-focused outfit (citing The Damned as key to gaining this catchy sound) and often with lyrics critical of the short-sighted behavior of the scene they aided in creating.

Given the long running nature of the band, many participants in the DC hardcore scene had gone through G.I.'s membership. Government Issue featured Brian Baker of Minor Threat, as well as Mike Fellows of Rites of Spring and many others.

The G.I.s became one of the longest-running bands in the DC hardcore scene. After numerous line-up changes, the band broke up in 1989. Vocalist John Stabb was the only member to stay the whole time. He later went on to form Betty Blue in the mid 90's. Guitarist Tom Lyle formed an experimental outfit called Glee Club which released two albums. Lyle also recorded two hard rock solo records in 1990 and 1992 respectively.

Tom Lyle, as well as bassist J. Robbins and drummer Peter Moffett, regrouped to record 2 unrecorded GI songs. This was released as the Rollkicker Laydown EP.

Bassist Jay Robbins went on to form Jawbox. Robbins later formed Burning Airlines with GI drummer Peter Moffett.

Stabb formed the DC quintet The Factory Incident in 2000.

Stabb has remarked that "...there is much to be said about watching g.i. when you're not barely legal."

On July 17, 2007 John Stabb was attacked a block from his home, by a group of five teenagers; he was beaten so badly that he will be having surgery. There was a benefit concert for Stabb August 10, 2007 at the Velvet Lounge to help his family deal with the medical bills.

John Stabb Benefit Show #2

Atlanta, GA

Sept. 1, 2007 @ Lenny's Bar 486 Decatur Street Dynamic Properties Atlanta, GA 30312 404-577-7721

Line-up: + The Accidents (Ex-Neon Christ & Moto-Litas) + Reverend God And The Jesus Squad + Exploder + Courtesy Murder + Last Hope Down + C.O.S. (Convix of Society) + The Unacceptables + Trash + Frantic + Beat Beat Beat +

On September 23, 2007, "Government Re-Issue" took the stage again with Stabb at the fore, Tom Lyle on Guitar, Brian Baker on bass, and William Knapp on drums at the Rock n' Roll Hotel in Washington, DC. According to John Stabb, the band practiced together for the first time during the sound check on the afternoon of September 23, and managed to re-learn about fifteen songs.

Youth Brigade (DC)

2007-11-11T02:33:00.000-08:00

Youth Brigade were a hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C., formed and disbanded in 1981. They are not to be mistaken with the other unrelated band by the same name, Youth Brigade, from L.A.

Early years

Nathan Strejcek (ex-Teen Idles) and Danny Ingram formed Youth Brigade. After playing with a couple different bassists and guitarists, they settled on Bert Quieros (Untouchables, Double O) and Tom Clinton on guitar.

Breakup

Even though Youth Brigade were only around for less than a year, they are still considered an important part of the DC hardcore punk scene, influencing countless other bands as well as members (mainly Bert Queiroz) forming other bands such as Double-O and and the highly influential post-hardcore band, Rain.

Discography

Studio Albums

Possible E.P. (Dischord Records, 1981)

Compilations

Flex Your Head (Dischord Records, 1982)

Misc/Info

The title of their only release, the Possible E.P., came from Ian MacKaye stating that "there might be a possible EP by Youth Brigade release" on his Dischord Records.

Marginal Man

2007-11-11T02:23:00.000-08:00

Marginal Man was one of the first of the DC hardcore bands to feature two guitars and was first introduced to the DC crowds at the "555" concert at the 9:30 club on Jan. 2, 1983. The show was billed as "555" because not only was Marginal Man a five-piece, but both Minor Threat and Faith had recently added second guitars to their line-ups, and this was a coming out party of sorts for all three. There was a massive turn-out and tickets sold out almost immediately, so a second show was added to accommodate the crowds. This surprised almost everyone and made it clear for the first time that local bands were beginning to draw a lot more attention than many touring acts coming to Washington. Other than Minor Threat, Government Issue, and Scream, Marginal Man was one of the few early DC punk bands to get out and tour the country. They released their first LP, "Identity" on Dischord in March 1984 and later released albums on Enigma and Giant Records before breaking up in 1988.

Marginal Man was a punk band that emerged in the Washington, D.C. hardcore scene in 1983. Some members of Marginal Man played earlier in Artificial Peace, a band which appears on Dischord Records' important Flex Your Head compilation, an essential document of the 1980's D.C. punk scene. They played for five years before a final performance at the 9:30 Club in 1988. Members of the band included

Steve Polcari - Vocals
Pete Murray - Guitar, Vocals
Kenny Inouye - Guitar
Andre Lee - Bass
Mike Manos - Drums

They released on EP, Identity (Dischord 13), an LP, Double Image (Gasatanka/Enigma) and appeared on the compilations, State of the Union and 20 Years of Dischord (Dischord 125).

Although Marginal Man and many other bands of this era were neither as long-lived nor as memorable as such bands as Minor Threat, such lesser-known bands are considered by some to be more representative of the energy, spontaneity, and communal feeling of the time.

Void

2007-11-11T02:10:00.000-08:00

Void was a Washington D.C.-based hardcore punk/crossover thrash band. They were one of the first hardcore outfits to fuse hardcore and some heavy metal in a way most hardcore and metal fans could accept, paving the way for bands such as The Melvins, who created a more commercially successful hybrid of the two genres. They were one of the first local bands popular in the D.C. scene that was from outside the Beltway, hailing from Columbia, Maryland, a suburb located between D.C. and Baltimore.

Biography

The band formed in 1979 with manic lead singer John Weiffenbach, guitarist Bubba Dupree, bassist Chris Stover, and drummer Sean Finnegan. Many keys to their cult following included Bubba Dupree's Greg Ginn-like guitar style and wild performances, and John Weiffenbach's frenzied behavior. In November of 1980 they cut a demo tape at Inner Ear Studios produced by Alec MacKaye , and were picked up by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson's label Dischord Records. In February of 1982 they made their vinyl debut on Dischord with three songs on the Flex Your Head compilation. That spring they went into the studio to cut twelve songs that were released in September of 1982 as half of the Faith/Void split album released by Dischord Records.

By 1983, Void were incorporating more metal influences into their sound, drawing a crowd that became increasingly violent and their shows became even more chaotic. In the summer of 1983 they recorded an as yet unreleased album for (then) Detroit based Touch and Go Records. According to Touch and Go, they still periodically attempt to get permission to release the album, but to this day that permission is denied by Dupree. Void disbanded in the fall of 1983, with violence at their shows being a factor in the breakup. In 1992, Eye 95 Records released their November 1981 Inner Ear demo tape as the Condensed Flesh EP.

83? no.. void played what seemed like every DC show during 1984; possibly into 1985. saw them with JFA near Catholic University, at the Chesapeake Ramp (Baltimore), and at Wilson Center with GI

Discography

Albums and EPs

Void/Faith split LP/CD (Dischord, 1982)
Potion For Bad Dreams LP (recorded 1983; unreleased)
Condensed Flesh 7" EP (Eye 95, 1992)

Compilations

"Dehumanized", "Authority" and "My Rules" on Flex Your Head LP/CD (Dischord, 1982)
"Get Out Of My Way" on Bouncing Babies LP (Fountain of Youth, 1984)
"Get Out Of My Way" on Lost & Found 7" (Lost & Found, 1990)
"Who Are You" on Punk Anderson's Favourites bootleg 2xCD (Starving Missile, 1994)
"Dehumanized", "Black, Jewish and Poor" and "Authority (take 1 and 2)" on 20 Years of Dischord 3xCD (Dischord, 2002)

The Faith

2007-11-11T01:59:00.001-08:00

The Faith was an early American hardcore punk band, from Washington DC, with strong connections to the scene centered around the Dischord label. Despite of their short lifespan, and limited Discography, they were extremely influential on Emocore.

The band formed as a four piece in the Summer of 1981 and featured Alec MacKaye on vocals, who had formerly sang for the Untouchables as well as Michael Hampton of State Of Alert on guitar. After recording a demo, the band released a split LP with fellow D.C. hardcore band, Void. It was put out on Dischord Records, which was founded by Mackaye's older brother and Minor Threat vocalist, Ian MacKaye. It featured the song, "You're X'd" which addressed the straight edge philosophy popularized by Minor Threat and S.O.A.

In 1983 The Faith released an eight song twelve inch EP called "Subject to Change." It was produced by Ian MacKaye and showed the band progressing into more melodic territory with the addition of a second guitarist. Within a few months of recording the record the Faith broke up and three out of five members went on to join Embrace with Ian MacKaye on vocals. Guitarist Eddie Janney joined Rites of Spring and later was reunited with Michael Hampton for One Last Wish. Alec MacKaye would go on to sing for Ignition and then later the Warmers.

Their split LP with hardcore punk group Void was one of Kurt Cobain's favorite albums

Band members

Alec MacKaye - vocals
Eddie Janney - guitar
Michael Hampton - guitar
Chris Bald - bass
Ivor Hanson - drums

Discography

Void/Faith split LP/CD (Dischord, 1982)
Subject to Change E.P.
Combined C.D. (compiling Subject to Change and the Faith/Void split)
20 Years Of Dischord compilation (featuring the song, "Subject to Change")

Dead Kennedys

2007-11-11T01:10:00.000-08:00

History

Late 1970s: Formation of the band

The Dead Kennedys formed in June 1978, after guitarist East Bay Ray (Raymond Pepperell) advertised for bandmates after seeing a punk show at the Mabuhay Gardens. The original DK lineup consisted of Jello Biafra (Eric Reed Boucher) on vocals, East Bay Ray (Raymond Pepperell) on guitar, Klaus Flouride (Geoffrey Lyall) on bass, and 6025 (Carlos Cadona) on drums. This lineup recorded their first demos. In early July, the band wanted a more experienced drummer, so they recruited Ted (Bruce Slesinger). Drummer 6025 left the band, but he was invited back as second guitarist. Their first show was on July 19, 1978, at the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco, California.

Dead Kennedys played numerous shows at local venues afterwards. Due to the band's provocative name, they sometimes played under pseudonyms, including "The Sharks", "The Creamsicles",and "The Pink Twinkies". The name, despite popular belief, was not meant to insult the assassinated Kennedy brothers, but to quote Biafra, "to bring attention to the end of the American Dream". 6025 left the band in March of 1979. In June of 1979, the band released their first single, "California Über Alles", on the Alternative Tentacles label. They followed with a well received East Coast tour.

1980s

Disruption of music awards show

For more details on this topic, see Pull My Strings

Dead Kennedys at the Bay Area Music Awards

On March 25, 1980, the DKs were invited to perform at the Bay Area Music Awards in front of music industry bigwigs to give the event some "New Wave credibility", in the words of the organizers. The day of the show was spent practicing the song they were asked to play, the underground hit, "California Über Alles." In typically subversive, perverse style, the band became the talking point of the ceremony when after about 15 seconds into the song, Biafra said, "Hold it! We've gotta prove that we're adults now. We're not a punk rock band, we're a new wave band."

The band, who all wore white shirts with a big, black S painted on the front, pulled black ties from around the backs of their necks to form a dollar sign, then started playing a new song "Pull My Strings", a barbed, satirical attack on the ethics of the mainstream music industry. which contained the lyrics, "Is my cock big enough, is my brain small enough, for you to make me a star?". The song also referenced The Knack's biggest New Wave hit, "My Sharona". The song was never recorded in the studio but this performance, the first and only time the song was ever performed, was released on the posthumous compilation album Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death.

Release of Holiday in Cambodia and Fresh Fruit

Holiday In Cambodia Single

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

During the spring of 1980, they recorded and released "Holiday in Cambodia". In the fall, the band released their debut album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. It reached #33 in the UK Albums Chart. In January of 1981, Ted announced that he wanted to leave to pursue a career in architecture and would help look for a replacement. He played his last concert in February. His replacement was D.H. Peligro (Darren Henley).

Around the same time, East Bay Ray had tried to pressure the rest of the band to sign a major label deal with Polydor Records; Biafra claims he was prepared to quit the group if the rest of the band wanted to sign the deal, though Ray asserts that he recommended against signing with Polydor. Polydor balked after they learned that the Kennedys were planning their next single to be "Too Drunk to Fuck".

In May, the band released the single "Too Drunk to Fuck". The song caused much controversy in the UK as BBC feared the single would reach the Top 30; this would require a mention of the song on Top of the Pops. However, this never came to be as the single peaked at #31. It is also likely that had "Too Drunk to Fuck" hit the top 30, it would have been banned from playing, in the fashion of The Exploited.

(According to BBC sources today the song actually reached number one but was deliberately kept out of the final published chart.)

In God We Trust, Inc., Plastic Surgery Disasters and Alternative Tentacles Records

In God We Trust, Inc. EP

With Peligro's propulsive drums behind the band, 1981's In God We Trust, Inc. EP saw them moving toward full on hardcore/thrash. In addition to the EP's controversial artwork depicting a gold Christ figure on a cross of dollar bills, the lyrics contained Biafra's most biting social and political commentary yet, and songs such as Moral Majority, Nazi Punks Fuck Off and We've Got A Bigger Problem Now put the DKs on the map as the leaders of a social movement (which would not see fruition until "alternative" music gained mainstream acceptance a decade later with grunge), while Dog Bite, a cover version of Rawhide and various joke introductions showed a much more whimsical side. The following year (1982) they released a full album, Plastic Surgery Disasters (the album's cover features a whithered starving African child's hand being held and dwarfed by a white man's hand).

Plastic Surgery Disasters

The band's music had evolved much in a short time, moving away from hardcore formulas toward a more innovative jazz-informed style, featuring musicianship and dynamics far beyond other bands in the genre. By now the group had become a de-facto political force, pitting itself against rising elements of American social and political life such as the religious right, Ronald Reagan and the idle rich. The band continued touring all over the United States, as well as Europe and Australia, and gained a large underground following. While they continued to play live shows during 1983 and '84, they took a break from releasing new records to concentrate on the Alternative Tentacles record label, which would become synonymous with DIY alternative culture, independent from and in contrast to the commercialized sterile cultural landscape the world had become since the "cultural revolution" of the '60s faded into the yuppie '80s. The band continued to write and perform new material during this time, which would appear on their next album (some of these early performances can be seen in the Live on Broadway video, originally released by Dirk Dirksen and later reissued on Rhino).

1985-1986: Frankenchrist and criminal obscenity prosecution

Frankenchrist

The release of the album Frankenchrist in 1985 showed the band had grown light years beyond their hardcore roots in terms of musical proficiency and lyrical maturity. While there were still a number of loud/fast songs, much of the music was more "'60s" than "punk" (promo posters advertised the album as "putting the pain back in psychedelic music"), featuring an eclectic mix of instruments including trumpets and synthesizers. (Around this time Klaus Flouride released the similarly experimental solo EP Cha Cha Cha With Mr. Flouride.) Lyrically, the band continued their trademark social commentary, with songs such as MTV Get Off The Air and Jock-o-rama poking fun at mainstream America. But while in some ways an artistic peak, the album would be the beginning of prolonged legal trouble for the band, when its artwork caused a furor with the newly formed Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). In December 1985 a teenage girl purchased the album at the Wherehouse Records store in Los Angeles County. The girl's mother wrote letters of complaint to the Attorney General for the State of California and to Los Angeles prosecutors.

Poster included with Frankenchrist

In 1986 members of the band Dead Kennedys, along with other parties involved in the distribution of Frankenchrist, were charged criminally with distribution of harmful matter to minors. The store where the girl actually purchased the album was never named in the lawsuit. The criminal charges focused on an illustration by H.R. Giger, titled "Work 219: Landscape XX" (also known as Penis Landscape). Included as a poster with the album, Penis Landscape depicts nine copulating penises.

Members of the band and others were each charged with violating the California Penal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of up to a year in county jail and a base fine of up to $2,000. Biafra says that during this time government agents invaded and searched his home. The prosecution tried to present the poster to the jury in isolation for consideration as obscene material, but Judge Susan Isacoff ruled that the poster must be considered along with the music and lyrics. The charges against three of the original defendants, Ruth Schwartz (owner of Mordam Records), Steve Boudreau (a distributor involved in supplying Frankenchrist to the Los Angeles Wherehouse store), and Salvatore Alberti (owner of the factory where the record was pressed), were dismissed for lack of evidence.

In August of 1987 the criminal trial was submitted to the jury with the two remaining defendants: Jello Biafra and Michael Bonanno (former Alternative Tentacles label manager). In August of 1987, the criminal trial ended with a hung jury. The split on the jury was 7 to 5 in favor of acquittal for all of the defendants. District Attorneys Michael Guarino and Ira Riener made a motion for a retrial which was denied by Judge Isacoff, Superior Court Judge for the County of Los Angeles. The album, however, was banned from many record stores nationwide.

The court case would later be brought up again after the breakup of the band, when Jello Biafra met with Tipper Gore on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

1986: Break up of band, Bedtime for Democracy

Bedtime For Democracy

In addition to the obscenity lawsuit and being ignored by the mainstream media (MTV and most radio stations gave such groups scant notice, not to mention airplay), the band became increasingly disillusioned with the "underground" as well. The hardcore scene, which had been a haven for free-thinking intellectuals and downtrodden nonconformists, was increasingly attracting thuglike cretins who came to punk concerts only looking to slam dance and fight to violent music. In earlier years the band had criticized neo-Nazi skinheads for trying to ruin the punk scene, but just as big a problem was the increasing popularity of thrash metal and stereotypical macho "post 1982 hardcore" which brought the group (and their genre) an audience that had little to do with the ideas/ideals they stood for. So in January of 1986, frustrated and alienated from their own scene, the DKs decided to break up to pursue other interests and played their last concert on February 21. The band continued to work on songs, with Biafra penning songs such as Chickenshit Conformist and Anarchy For Sale, which articulated their feelings about the "dumbing down" of punk rock.

During the summer they recorded these songs for their final album, Bedtime for Democracy, which was released in November. The artwork, depicting a defaced Statue of Liberty overrun with Nazis, media, opportunists, Klan members, corrupt government officials, and religious zombies, echoed the idea that the punk scene was no longer a safe haven for "your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free". The album, a double LP, contains a number of fast/short songs interspersed with jazz (DMSO), spoken word (A Commercial) and psychedelia (Cesspools of Eden). The lyrical focus is more introspective and earnest (Where Do Ya Draw The Line?), with an anti-war, anti-violence (Rambozo The Clown) bent, moving away from the violent imagery of their early records, while remaining as subversive as ever (I Spy, DMSO). In December, the band announced their split. Biafra went on to speak about his political beliefs on numerous television shows and he released a number of spoken-word albums. Ray, Fluoride, and Peligro also went on to solo careers.

1990s: Legal conflicts

Lawsuits over royalty payments

In the late 1990s, former band members discovered problems with the amount of payments which each band member had received from their record label Alternative Tentacles. Former band members claimed that Jello Biafra had conspired to pay less royalty rates to the band members. Although both sides agreed that the failure to pay these royalties was an accounting mistake, they were upset that Biafra failed to inform the band of the mistake after he and his co-workers discovered it.

Biafra claims that their lawyers had told him only to correspond through lawyers and not directly with the band, as the conflict over payment had apparently arisen before the accounting mistake was discovered. Both sides claim they attempted to resolve the matter without legal action, but the ultimately complicated legal dispute (involving royalties, publishing rights, and a number of other issues) soon led to the courts, where Biafra was found liable for the royalties and guilty of fraud and malice, and was ordered to pay damages of nearly $200,000, including $20,000 in punitive damages, to the band members.

Malice was defined for the jury as "conduct which is intended to cause injury or despicable conduct which is carried with a willful and conscious disregard for the rights of others.". Biafra's appeal was denied; he had to pay the outstanding royalties and punitive damages, and was forced to hand over the rights to the majority of Dead Kennedys' back catalogue to the Decay Music partnership.

The jury and judges also noted, in their words, that Biafra “lacked credibility” on the songwriting issue and found from evidence presented by both sides that the songwriting credits were due to the entire band, using a clause in the band's written partnership giving a small share of every Dead Kennedys song royalty directly to the band partnership.

Biafra had received sole songwriting credit for most Dead Kennedys songs on all released albums for the last 20 years or so without complaints from the band, though a minority of songs had given credit to certain group members or the entire band as a whole, indicating a system designed to reflect the primary composers rather than a regimented system like the Jagger/Richards partnership; today, most Kennedys reissues list the songwriters as "Biafra, Dead Kennedys," indicating Biafra's lyrical contributions -- which the band doesn't dispute, or else simply as "Dead Kennedys"). Ray, Fluoride and Peligro found new distribution through another label, Manifesto Records.

This dispute was hotly contested by all concerned who felt passionately for their cause, and the case caused minor waves within punk circles. Biafra claims that guitarist East Bay Ray had long expressed displeasure with Alternative Tentacles and with the amount of money he received from them, thus the original incentive for the discovery of the back payments. It was found out that Alternative Tentacles was paying Dead Kennedys less per CD than all the other bands, including Biafra himself, and not informing his other bandmates, which was the fraud. Biafra accused the band of wanting to license the famous Dead Kennedys song "Holiday in Cambodia" for use in a Levi's jeans commercial, which the band denied.

Biafra apparently pushed this issue in court, although there was no hard evidence and the jurors were apparently unconcerned with corporate use of independently produced political music. Biafra would later complain that the jury was not sympathetic toward underground music and punk culture. The song never appeared in a Levi's commercial, although in interviews Biafra described the situation surrounding the commercial in detail and was able to give specifics about the advertisement, including the name of the advertising agency that had created the commercial's script.

Biafra's former bandmates maintain that they sued because of Jello Biafra's deliberate withholding of money, though when pressed they have acknowledged that the payment was an accounting mistake, but insist that Biafra was wrong in failing to inform the band directly. Details about this issue remain scarce. The band also maintains that the Levi's story was completely fictitious and invented by Biafra to discredit them. Ultimately, these issues have led to a souring of relationships with the erstwhile bandmates, who still have not resolved their personal differences as of 2007.

Disputes over new commercial activities

The Early Years Live DVD

Matters were stirred up even further when the three bandmates invited Jello Biafra to "bury the hatchet" in the form of a band reunion. Jello Biafra felt it was unprofessional because no one contacted him directly. In addition, Biafra was disdainful of the reunion, and having long expressed his disdain for nostalgia and rock reunion/oldies tours in particular, argued that the whole affair was motivated by greed.

Several DVDs, re-issues, and live albums have been released since the departure of Biafra. According to Biafra, the live albums are "cash-ins" on the Dead Kennedys' name and his music. Biafra also accused the releases of the new live material of having poor sound quality and claims not to be receiving royalties from their sale or the sale of any Manifesto Records releases. The other band members deny Biafra's accusations, and have defended the mixes of the material as an effort of hard work. Biafra dismissed the new group as "the world's greediest karaoke band." Nevertheless, in 2003, Klaus Flouride, bassist for the band, had this to say of performances without the band's former frontman: "There hasn't been a show yet that people didn't really like."

Biafra further criticized them for advertising shows using his own image taken from the original '80s incarnation of the band, which he labeled as false advertising. He recently attacked the reformed Dead Kennedys in a song called "Those Dumb Punk Kids (Will Buy Anything)", which appears on his second collaboration with experimental metal band The Melvins, Sieg Howdy!.

Biafra told an audience at a speaking gig in Trenton, New Jersey, that the remaining Dead Kennedys have licensed their single "Too Drunk to Fuck" to be used in a rape scene in a Robert Rodriguez movie. The reference is to a lounge cover of the song, recorded by the band Nouvelle Vague, played during a scene in the Planet Terror segment of Grindhouse, although no rape takes place, and in fact the would-be rapist is killed by the would-be victim. The scene in "Planet Terror" has would be rapist, "Rapist #1" (Quentin Tarantino) order one-legged stripper "Cherry Darlin" (Rose McGowan) to get up off the floor and dance. At this point Tarantino hits play on a cassette recorder and Nouvelle Vague's cover of "Too Drunk To Fuck" plays.

Reforming of new band line-up

The reformed Dead Kennedys followed their court victory by announcing a number of tour dates, releasing reissues of all Dead Kennedys albums (except Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, to which they did not have the rights until 2005), releasing several new archival concert DVDs, and licensing several songs to The Manchurian Candidate remake and the Tony Hawk Pro Skater video game. East Bay Ray received a fax from Alternative Tentacles purporting Biafra approved the licensing for the game, which Biafra denies happening.

Mutiny on the Bay

The band claims on their website that they still pay close attention to an anti-corporate ideology, despite performing on September 5, 2003 at a festival in Turkey that was sponsored by Coca-Cola, noting that they have since pulled out of a show in Los Angeles when they found that it was being sponsored by Coors. However, Biafra claims the above mentioned licensing deals prove otherwise. Some have found difficulty reconciling this claim when Biafra also licensed to major corporations, approving with the other band members use of Dead Kennedys’ songs in major studio film releases such as Neighbors, Freddy Got Fingered, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Live At The Deaf Club

In 2001, Ray, Peligro, and Fluoride chose former child star Brandon Cruz to replace Biafra's role as vocalist. The band played under name "DK Kennedys" for a few concerts, but have since gone back to "Dead Kennedys" permanently. They have played across the continental United States, Europe, Asia, South America, and Russia. Brandon Cruz left the band in May of 2003 and was replaced by Jeff Penalty. The band has released two live albums of archival performances on Manifesto Records: Mutiny on the Bay, an edited-together compilation of various live performances of varying quality from the San Francisco area, and Live at the Deaf Club, a recording of a 1979 performance at the Deaf Club in San Francisco which was greeted with more enthusiasm.

On October 9th, 2007, a best-of album entitled Milking the Sacred Cow was released. It includes two previously unreleased live versions of "Soup Is Good Food" and "Jock-O-Rama", originally found on Frankenchrist.

"DK" logo

The original logo was created by Winston Smith, who would later contribute artwork for the covers of In God We Trust, Inc., Plastic Surgery Disasters, Frankenchrist, Bedtime for Democracy, and Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death. He also created the back cover of the Kill the Poor single and the Alternative Tentacles logo. When asked about the "DK" logo in an interview, Jello Biafra explained, "...I wanted to make sure it was something simple and easy to spray-paint so people would graffiti it all over the place, and then I showed it to Winston Smith. He played around with it, came back with a bunch of designs, that had the circle and slightly 3-D looking letters and he had ones with different patterns behind it. I liked the one with bricks, but ultimately I thought simple red behind it was the boldest and the best."

Lyrical stance

The Dead Kennedys are noted for the acerbity of their lyrics, which generally express a staunchly left-wing view of contemporary America. Unlike other leftist punk bands who use more direct sloganeering, the Kennedys' lyrics are often satirical and sarcastic, all the while retaining the deliberately shocking lyrics of punk. "Holiday in Cambodia" is a multi-layered satire targeting both the liberal elite and Cambodia's then-current Khmer Rouge regime (who, together with the US government who at the time of recording, were tacitly supporting Pol Pot in his war against Vietnam). Songs such as "Kill the Poor", "California Über Alles" and "Police Truck" actually take the lyrical viewpoint of the band's hated right-wing (and liberal elitist) targets.

Jello Biafra continues to be a noted critic of the American political establishment, embarking on lecture tours both before and after his time with the band.

State of Alert

2007-11-09T00:46:00.000-08:00

State of Alert (or S.O.A.) was a hardcore punk group from Washington, D.C. fronted by Henry Garfield, who would later rise to fame as Henry Rollins. They formed in October 1980, and disbanded in July 1981 and released No Policy on Dischord Records. They are sometimes regarded as one of the earliest groups playing what would be dubbed hardcore punk. They released a ten song 7" EP titled No Policy and contributed three songs to the compilation Flex Your Head, both on Dischord. The EP was financed by Henry since Dischord wanted to afford releasing the first Minor Threat 7" as well.

S.O.A. played a total of 12 gigs in and around the eastern US, their first on December 6, 1980, in Washington, D.C., and their last on July 10, 1981, in Philadelphia. Henry Rollins later described their performances: "All of them were eleven to fourteen minutes in duration because the songs were all like forty seconds... and the rest of the time we were going, 'Are you ready? Are you ready?' Those gigs were poorly played songs in between 'Are you readys?"

Today, S.O.A. is remembered primarily as Rollins' first band - before he joined Black Flag and then founded Rollins Band - but also as an example of early "DC Hardcore" and an influence to other bands such as Detroit's Negative Approach and New York City's Agnostic Front.

Out of what was left of the band guitarist Michael Hampton went on to form The Faith in 1981 with Alec MacKaye (brother of Ian MacKaye, later in Ignition) who joined on vocals and Ivor Hansen, S.O.A.'s final drummer. Later Hampton went on to Embrace with Ian MacKaye in 1985, and One Last Wish with Guy Picciotto (Fugazi, Rites of Spring) and Brendan Canty (Fugazi, Rites of Spring).

Bass player Wendel Blow went on to play in Iron Cross and Lethal Intent.

State of Alert's recorded material has been re-released by Dischord on the 20 Years of Dischord compilation and the Dischord 1981: The Year in 7"s compilation which includes the entire 'No Policy' EP.

Members

Henry Rollins − vocals (October 1980 — July 1981)
Michael Hampton − guitar (October 1980 — July 1981)
Wendel Blow − bass (October 1980 — July 1981)
Simon Jacobsen − drums (October 1980 — March 1981)
Ivor Hansen − drums (March 1981 — July 1981)

7 Seconds

2007-11-09T00:38:00.000-08:00

7 Seconds is a hardcore punk band from Reno, Nevada. Formed in 1980 by brothers Kevin Seconds and Steve Youth, they played their first show on March 2, 1980. They continue to write, record, and tour to this day. Their most recent album is Take It Back, Take It On, Take It Over!.

Biography

7 Seconds is well known for bringing positive ideals into hardcore punk and are considered "living legends" by many people in the underground punk scene. They helped along the Straight Edge Youth Crew movement in the 80's Hardcore scene.

They have released numerous albums since 1981, including The Crew; Walk Together, Rock Together; New Wind; Good to Go and the recently released Take It Back, Take It On, Take It Over.

They also appeared on the 1985 hardcore compilation Cleanse the Bacteria, in addition to numerous other compilations, such as "Not So Quiet On the Western Front," "Something to Believe In," and "Another Shot from Bracken."

In the late 1980s, the band began to grow musically as they explored other sounds. Critics of this switch to more complex and slower music often compared the band to U2. Albums from this period include the Praise EP, Ourselves, and Soulforce Revolution. However, the band has since returned to their hardcore punk roots, where they can claim more of a following.

Origins of name

In the February, 2005 issue of AMP magazine, in an article titled, "7 Seconds: 25 Years of Our Core," Kevin Seconds explained how the band's name originated:

“We were big fans of The Dils, they had this EP, 198 Seconds of The Dils and I was so in love with punk rock that I would just write album titles on my clothes. This was still when Steve and I lived with my mom. We had this desk in this room we shared and I wrote ‘197 seconds of The Dils’, I miswrote the title. Over time, everything else faded, but the 7 Seconds part was there, and I circled it, I thought it looked cool.”

Minutemen, The

2007-11-09T00:31:00.000-08:00

The Minutemen were an American punk rock band formed in San Pedro, California in 1980. Comprising guitarist D. Boon, bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley, the Minutemen recorded five albums and six extended plays before Boon's unexpected death in 1985. They were noted in the Californian punk community for a philosophy of "jamming econo"; a sense of thriftiness reflected in their touring and presentation.

History

Roots

The band's roots can be traced back to 1971, when Boon and Watt met at age 13. Watt was walking through a park in their hometown of San Pedro, when Boon, playing army with other boys, fell out of a tree right next to him. Both boys shared a passion for music and eventually started playing music together, albeit mostly cover songs. Boon's mother taught D. to play the guitar and suggested that Watt learn to play bass, even though, at the time, Watt did not even know exactly what a bass was. In the summer of 1973, Watt and Boon formed the Bright Orange Band with D's brother Joe on drums. 1976 would be a mixed blessing for the two; that year they discovered punk, however Boon's mother died and the Bright Orange Band disbanded shortly thereafter. The next year, the two joined a band called Starstruck, which had been started by their friend Marc Weiswasser who played drums. Neither of those bands played original songs. After Starstruck broke up, Boon and Watt met George Hurley and formed The Reactionaries with vocalist Martin Tamburovich. According to Watt, the name came from a Mao Tse-Tung quote about how all reactionaries are actually "paper tigers".

Formation

After the Reactionaries disbanded, Boon and Watt formed the Minutemen in January of 1980. Watt has said that, contrary to common belief, their name had nothing at all to do with the brevity of their songs; rather, it was derived partly from the fabled minutemen militia of colonial times and partly to lampoon a right-wing reactionary group of the 1960s that went by that name. In the documentary We Jam Econo, Watt also states that the name was a play on minute (pronounced mahy-nyoot, -noot), meaning trivial, insignificant or unimportant. After a month with no drummer — during which Boon and Watt wrote their first batch of tunes, the band rehearsed and played a couple of early gigs with local welder Frank Tonche on drums. The group had originally wanted George Hurley to join, but he had joined a new wave band called Hey Taxi after the Reactionaries disbanded. Tonche quit the group, citing a dislike of the audience the band initially drew, and Hurley took over the drum seat in June of 1980. (Rehearsal recordings with Tonche on drums later appeared as the posthumous EP Georgeless in 1987.) Their first live gig was as an opening band for Black Flag.

Early Days

Greg Ginn of Black Flag and SST Records produced the Minutemen's first 7" EP, Paranoid Time, which solidified their eclectic style. Like most Punk bands at the time, the band sold the EP at their shows, and at a few local record stores. It became a minor hit with the Hardcore scene. By their first LP—1981’s The Punch Line—they had found their voice and began touring nonstop around the country. They released their second EP and third overall release entitled Bean-Spill. By this time they were becoming one of the more popular bands in the Underground Scene around the country.

Mid Years

At first, they completely avoided guitar solos, choruses, and fade-outs. But by the time of their second LP What Makes a Man Start Fires?, which gained considerable attention from the Alternative and Underground press, they were a part of the band's sound, despite maintaining their Experimental and Punk Roots. They continued their hectic touring schedule, which included their longest tour yet; a double bill with Black Flag in Europe. The long tour strengthened their place as one of most well known acts in the hardcore scene. Later in 1983, they released their third LP, Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat. It was one of the first Hardcore albums to include a Horn (trumpet on "The Product").

Later Years

The Minutemen's eclectic influences were perhaps the best exemplified on 1984's double-album, Double Nickels on the Dime. Though still somewhat obscure to mainstream audiences, Double Nickels has been cited as one of the more innovative and enduring albums of the 1980s American rock underground. On Double Nickels, they co-wrote some songs with other musicians, notably Henry Rollins, Chuck Dukowski and Joe Baiza. In 1985, they released their most commercial-sounding recording, Project:Mersh ("Mersh" being the Minutemen's slang for "commercial"). Though the album sounded more mainstream, it sold poorly compared to "Double Nickels," due largely to the negative reaction to such a commercial album from within the underground community. They continued touring and by the time of their final album, 3-Way Tie (For Last), they decided to take a small break. They played their last tour with another emerging band, REM. Their final concert was in Charlotte, North Carolina on December 13, 1985.

Planned recordings

The coming year (1986) seemed promising, the band had planned to record a half studio/half-live triple album with the working title 3 Dudes 6 Sides 3 Studio 3 Live. The live tracks were to be based on the ballots that they handed out, and as a way to counteract bootlegging especially following an incident with an Arizona DJ. Though, a year later Watt and Hurley compiled various live recordings, based on the ballots, which was released as Ballot Result. In addition, Richard Meltzer had sent Watt lyrics for ten songs for an album on which he was going to collaborate. Due to Boon's death, none of these projects were realized.

Boon's Death

On December 22, 1985, Boon was killed in a van accident, putting an end to the Minutemen. Watt fell into a deep depression, but was convinced to continue performing by Sonic Youth. Every form of media that Watt makes or takes part in is dedicated to Boon.

SS Decontrol

2007-11-03T01:03:00.000-07:00

SSD (Society System Decontrol) were a straight edge hardcore punk and heavy metal band from Boston. They released two records as SS Decontrol and then formally changed their name to SSD. As SSD they released two more records, these with a very heavy metal influenced sound. However the group is often simply referred to, including all its periods, as SSD.

History

Formed by songwriter/guitarist Al Barile (then a machinist at the General Electric plant in Lynn, Massachusetts and a student at Northeastern University), SSD started performing at smaller venues throughout the greater Boston metropolitan area in the summer of 1981. The band quickly gained notoriety within the local music scene for intense, charged performances and the provocative antics of their core group of followers, the Boston Crew.

The original lineup was Al Barile on guitar, Springa (David Spring) on vocals, Jaime Sciarappa on bass and Chris Foley on drums. They released their debut LP The Kids Will Have Their Say on their own X-Claim label in 1982. Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat was a friend and supporter and his Dischord label's logo appeared on the back cover.

In 1983 they added second guitarist Francois Levesque and released the EP Get It Away. It is widely regarded to be their best record. The X-Claim pressings of it and The Kids Will Have Their Say are both highly collectable.

Like many hardcore bands - particularly those in the Boston area - SSD, as they were now officially called, were heading in a heavy metal direction. In 1984 they signed to the Boston label Modern Method and released the How We Rock EP which was rooted in the hardcore sound but exhibited overt heavy metal characteristics, such as a relatively high number of lengthy guitar solos. After signing to Homestead they released the Break It Up LP in 1985. It had both feet planted in the metal genre, leaving behind all trappings of punk and hardcore.

SSD broke up in 1985.

Jaime Sciarappa went on to play bass with the Boston hardcore band Slapshot for a short time.

After the breakup Springa went on to front the short lived band Razorcaine and the comedy rock projects Die Blitzkinder (with The Slaves) and Springa as Tom Jones. His flamboyant persona and lounge lizard lifestyle during this time stood in marked contrast to the straight edge rhetoric of SS Decontrol. In the early 1990s he would move to Chicago to pursue comedy further with The Second City.

In 1991 Al Barile compiled Power for Taang! Records. It spans SSD's entire career and is the only official release in print today. In the early 1990s he took up the bass guitar and he and Levesque formed the hardcore band Gage.

Chris Foley went on to play drums for Bulkhead, Jennifer Trynin and Star Ghost Dog. Today he plays with Heavy Stud.

In the summer of 2004 Springa was seriously injured in a car accident outside of Boston. A gala benefit featuring Evan Dando and reunions of The Outlets and Jerry's Kids raised money for his medical expenses. SSD did not perform.

Springa has since experienced a full recovery and is working on a rock opera.

Negative FX

2007-11-03T00:55:00.000-07:00

Hailing from Boston in the early eighties, Negative FX is remembered primarily as Choke's first band. But besides holding claim to this dubious honor, however, the band has also musically left its mark. They pushed hardcore closer to its logical conclusion, playing as fast as possible while leaving traditional song structure in the dust. Their short bursts of barely contained aggression, complete with furious, indecipherable vocals from Choke, epitomized a style that would later be built upon by those experimenting with other styles of "extreme hardcore" (like grindcore, "power-violence," etc. etc.).

Negative FX was one of the bands associated with the "Boston Crew" - a tight-knit group of young, sometimes violent, straightedge skinheads. They played a total of six times, the most famous being one of the final Mission of Burma shows where the crowd beat up the soundman for trying to pull the plug on Negative FX. The band recorded 18 songs in 1982, and released them on fledgling Boston label Taang! in 1984.

After Negative FX's demise, Choke (aka Jack Kelly) formed the short-lived Last Rights. Musically Last Rights took a more measured approach, as opposed to Negative FX's all-out rush to start and finish a song as quickly as possible. And you could actually understand what Choke was screaming. The band lasted one show, and managed to put out a two song 7". This record featured several different covers, the most controversial being a photo of Adolf Hitler. Taang! eventually rereleased the Last Rights 7", along with four other songs, and the entire Negative FX LP, on one CD.

By the mid-eighties, all of Boston's original hardcore bands had either changed their sound or broken up (usually both). It was with this in mind that Choke assembled his next band, Slapshot. In its first years, Slapshot included former members of DYS, SSD, and Deathwish, and purposely went for an "old-school" hardcore sound (their first record was titled Back On The Map). Despite numerous lineup changes, Slapshot continues on, in one form or another, to this day. Choke has always been a controversial figure in the hardcore scene. Since starting Slapshot, his lyrics have become increasingly conservative (culminating in his ridiculously right-wing Oi side-project, Stars and Stripes). If you've lived in Boston (like I did for many years), you've probably heard any number of rumors (disavowed by at least one member of the band who wrote to me), from his alleged use of a hockey stick to swing at the audience at early shows, to his stint as a hairdresser in a salon on Boston's Newbury Street.

D.Y.S

2007-11-03T00:52:00.000-07:00

DYS was a straight edge, hardcore punk and heavy metal band from Boston, Massachusetts, and part of the notorious "Boston Crew" along with contemporaries such as SSD and Negative FX. They released two LPs: Brotherhood, an album still held in high regard by fans of hardcore music (with original copies selling for in-excess of $150 on ebay), and DYS (i.e., self-titled), an album that is more a hard rock or heavy metal album than a hardcore album. In fact, "DYS" is considered by many to be (for better or worse) one of the first crossover thrash albums released and features what might be punk rock's first Power Ballad.

Both albums have been re-issued together on a CD by Taang! Records (titled Fire and Ice), and Brotherhood has also been reissued on CD in early 2005 by Taang! Records in its original format with the addition of the Wolfpack demo tape with Husker Du singing back-up vocals.

DYS took its name from the Department of Youth Services, a Massachusetts governmental organization where deliquent youth were housed as well as the Alice Cooper song "Department of Youth."

Guitarist Andy Strachan later co-founded the more rock-focused band Slaughter Shack. Slaughter Shack went on to win the Boston musical contest the "Rumble." After leaving the business, Strachan has since converted to Sikhism. His new name is Mahan Atma Singh Khalsa, and he is active as an influential Kundalini Yoga teacher in Amritsar, India. Added lead guitarist Ross Luongo is now playing in the re-formed line-up of Jerry's Kids.

Co-founder and singer Dave Smalley went on to sing for Dag Nasty, ALL and Down By Law before founding the the Jam-influenced band the Sharpshooters. Dave is a noted Newspaper Editor and conservative punk columnist.

Co-founder and bassist Jonathan Anastas became a founding member of Slapshot, writing, recording and touring behind their debut album "Back on the Map." Prior to starting DYS, he had also founded the short-lived band Decadence. Their song "Slam" was documented on the "This Is Boston, Not L.A." compilation, and later adopted for an M.T.V. advertising campaign. Anastas left the music business for a career in advertising and marketing.

Discography

* 1983 - DYS "Brotherhood"
* 1985 - DYS "DYS"* 1993 - Various Artists "Faster and Louder, Volume Two" (Contributed the track "Wolfpack" which was the band's unreleased first demo tape and a live favorite)
* 1993 - DYS "Fire and Ice" (first two albums combined on CD)
* 2005 - DYS "Wolfpack" - "Brotherhood" re-released with the band's original Wolfpack radio demo featuring Husker Du added

The Zero Boys

2007-11-03T00:42:00.000-07:00

The Zero Boys were a hardcore punk quartet from Indianapolis, Indiana fronted by Paul Mahern . Other members included bassist David "Tufty" Clough, drummer Mark Cutsinger and guitarist Terry Hollywood.

Their first release, Livin' in the '80s, was a 7" EP released by the band on their home-brew Z-Disc label. Their debut full length album, Vicious Circle, was released in 1982 with its distinctive bright yellow cover on the local label Nimrod Records. Many punk fans nationwide expressed surprise that a band like the Zero Boys originated in the Midwest; their polished intensity suggested the larger and more established scenes in Los Angeles, Washington DC, New York City and elsewhere.

Vicious Circle's intelligent, ambitious lyrics tackled such themes as social stratification, teen angst, and political corruption. Mahern's clear tenor voice emerged like a rapid-fire war cry, well-suited to the message and material. These themes, set into a blazing, sonic buzzsaw with huge choruses and intricate changeups, set an influential stylistic precedent for hardcore punk which still resonates today.

Vicious Circle was reissued on Toxic Shock later in the 1980s, with added bonus tracks taken from the Affirmation Records compilations LPs The Master Tape and The Master Tapes 2. It was reissued again in 2000 by Lookout! Records, without the Master Tape tracks, but with two additional songs from the original album sessions, "She Said Goodbye" and "Slam and Worm", which had been given limited release on a 7" single.

It has occasionally been reported that the band never recorded further material after this. This is true only in the sense that the lineup of the band that made Vicious Circle never recorded new material. After David Clough left the band to join Toxic Reasons, the Zero Boys did manage to record a handful of tracks intended for a second LP, but broke up before the album could be finished. These tracks were released on the History of the Zero Boys cassette on Affirmation, along with the above mentioned compilation tracks and other demo tracks and outtakes.

Around 1990, Selfless released a 7" single featuring the Zero Boys on one side and Toxic Reasons on the other. The Zero Boys then reformed with guitarist Vess Ruhtenberg and recorded two further albums, Make It Stop (released on Germany's Bitzcore label in 1992) and The Heimlich Maneuver (released on Skyclad in 1993.)

In the last couple of years, the band has reunited for the occasional gig, including a series of shows at CBGB's designed to raise money to help keep the club open, and a series of shows in 2006 where they performed the entire Vicious Circle album. Paul Mahern went on to form the power pop band the Datura Seeds and has since become a producer in Bloomington, Indiana, where he also teaches yoga and owns the Affirmation Records label. Clough owns a punk clothing store in Indianapolis called Future Shock as well as a progressive music bar named Radio Radio.

Circle Jerks

2007-10-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

The Circle Jerks are a hardcore punk band formed circa 1979 in Hermosa Beach, California. It was formed by Black Flag's original singer, Keith Morris, and future Bad Religion guitarist Greg Hetson. They were among the preeminent punk bands of the L.A. scene in the early 1980s.
The band broke up and reformed twice, sometimes with different bass players and/or drummers. They disbanded for the first time after the release of their fifth album, 1987's VI, as Hetson decided to continue touring and releasing a number of albums with Bad Religion. However, they reunited around 1994 and recorded a reunion album, Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities, in the following year, then a tour followed. After that, the Circle Jerks once again parted ways as Hetson was still involved in Bad Religion, but reunited again for good around 2001. The band has continued touring ever since.
To date, the Circle Jerks have released six full-length studio albums, one compilation, live album and live DVD. Their last studio release, Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities, came out in 1995 and is the only reunion album the band has released to date. However, they are reportedly gearing up to release a new studio album, but it is unknown when it will occur.
Many of today's later punk groups cite the Circle Jerks as an influence, including Anti-Flag, Dropkick Murphys, Good Riddance, NOFX, The Offspring and Pennywise.

History

Early days and increasing popularity (1979-1982)

Lead vocalist Keith Morris was an original member of Black Flag, co-founding the band with Greg Ginn and recording the Nervous Breakdown EP with them before suddenly departing the group in 1979. Morris formed Circle Jerks along with guitarist Greg Hetson, bassist Roger Rogerson (a classically trained guitarist), and drummer Lucky Lehrer.
Their debut album, Group Sex was released in 1980 on the Frontier Records label; its 14 songs totaled out at 15 minutes. It featured some songs that Morris had written while in Black Flag (Black Flag claimed the songs were "theirs") and one song Hetson wrote the music to. The song Hetson wrote, was a guitar riff and solo deemed Hetson's "Signature". That same year, the group was one of several California punk bands to be immortalized in the Penelope Spheeris documentary The Decline of Western Civilization; live versions of five songs from Group Sex appear on the movie's soundtrack.
In 1981, the group signed with IRS Records subsidiary Faulty Products and recorded their second release, Wild in the Streets, the title track of which is a cover version of a Garland Jeffries tune. Faulty Products ceased operations several months after the release of the album, forcing Circle Jerks to find their third record deal in as many years. While they regained the copyright to Wild In The Streets, the original stereo master tape was lost, forcing the band to do a remix from the multi-track tapes when they reissued the album, along with Group Sex, on CD in 1988.

The final years (1983-1988)

They signed a management deal with War producer/manager Jerry Goldstein's Far Out Productions, and recorded their third album, Golden Shower of Hits, in 1983; the album was released on Goldstein's LAX label. The title track is actually a medley of six cover versions (of artists as diverse and unexpected as The Association, The Carpenters, and Tammy Wynette) strung together to create a story line of two people who fall in love, have an unplanned pregnancy, rush into marriage, and end up divorced. Another song from the album, "Coup D'Etat", was used in the soundtrack of Alex Cox's early film Repo Man, and the band makes an appearance playing an acoustic/lounge version of "When The Shit Hits The Fan".
Not long after Repo Man had concluded its first-run release schedule, Rogerson and Lehrer left the band. They were replaced by Zander Schloss (who also appeared in Repo Man) and Keith Clark respectively. The band also changed labels for the fourth time, signing a deal with Relativity Records' metal imprint Combat Records, which had started a punk sublabel, Combat Core. The newly revamped group recorded Wonderful, and released it in 1985. Their newfound stability allowed the lineup to record a second album for Relativity, VI, not long afterward. One track from VI, "Love Kills", had been commissioned by Cox for the soundtrack of the movie Sid and Nancy, and can be heard early on in the feature.

Hiatus (1989-1993)

The Circle Jerks dissolved around 1989 as Hetson left the band to continue playing guitar and release a number of albums with Bad Religion. Live recordings made during what would be their final tour at the time were immortalized in the live album Gig in 1992, their third and last release for Relativity.
During the hiatus, Hetson would continue playing in Bad Religion; Schloss played guitar and bass with various acts; Clark initially retired from music; Morris worked menial jobs, battled health problems, and kicked a longtime dependance on drugs and alcohol.

Reunion (1994-1996)

Around 1994, the Circle Jerks, along with the Wonderful-era lineup, reunited for good and signed a major label deal with Mercury Records, a move that had a few business complications: Hetson was still with Bad Religion, who had signed a long-term contract with Atlantic Records, while Schloss had been part of a band contracted to Interscope. Those complications ironed out, the band recorded Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities and released it in the summer of 1995. To date, it is the band's last studio album recorded by any line-up. One track on the album, a cover of The Soft Boys' "I Wanna Destroy You", features backing vocals from pop singer/songwriter Deborah Gibson, who had just wrapped up a solo album with the same producer the Circle Jerks were using. Gibson later made a surprise appearance at the Circle Jerks' performance at punk mecca CBGB's to perform "I Wanna Destroy You" with the band. Despite such media attention, the group suddenly imploded three weeks into a tour behind the album. The breakup would not be totally permanent, but Clark left music for good afterward.

Second hiatus and comeback (1997-present)

Further Circle Jerks activity was suddenly held up when Morris announced that he had been diagnosed with diabetes in 2000. A multitude of punk bands held benefits on his behalf.
The core of Morris, Hetson, and Schloss continues to tour to the present day, in between other commitments -- Hetson is still a full-time member of Bad Religion, Schloss also plays bass for the reformed first-generation LA punk band The Weirdos, and Morris was an A&R director for V2 Records until the label was suddenly shuttered by its owners in 2007. Original bassist Roger Rogerson died in 1996 of a drug overdose. Lucky Lehrer became a lawyer and is still living in Southern California.
In 2004, The Circle Jerks shot a live concert DVD as part of Kung-Fu Records' live DVD series The Show Must Go Off!. The band plays many songs from all six of their studio albums, plus - in nods to Schloss' other current band and Morris' salad days, respectively - covers of The Weirdos' "Solitary Confinement" and Black Flag's "Nervous Breakdown".
For several years, there has been a rumored Circle Jerks album to feature new material, which had been said to be imminent; although no further formal announcement has been made. In late February 2007, the band released their first new song since 1995 on their Myspace page, titled "I'm Gonna Live", adding more anticipation to the possibility of a new album emerging.
More recently, the Circle Jerks have been featured on a television commercial for XM Satellite Radio. They are the first band played in the commercial and the song is "Operation" from the album Group Sex.

Download :

1980 Group Sex Frontier
1982 Wild in the Streets Frontier
1983 Golden Shower of Hits Allegiance
1985 Wonderful
1987 VI
1995 Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities
2004 Live At House Of Blues

http://www.megaupload.com/?f=3T5MIKT7

M.D.C

2007-10-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

MDC is a punk band formed in Austin, Texas in 1979.
Playing fast, anarchist punk has earned the band close association with Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys, as well as numerous other US punk bands of the early eighties. The band were also unique in frequently changing their name to a different initialism of MDC with every new record released. Incarnations include Millions of Dead Cops, More Dead Cops, Millions of Deformed Children, Multi Death Corporations, Millions of Damn Christians, Magnus Dominus Corpus, Male Dominated Culture, Metal Devil Cokes, and Missile Destroyed Civilization.

Biography

Formed in 1979 and playing their first gig in April 1980 they were one of the three bands in Austin, Texas, who pioneered hardcore punk in the early '80s alongside The Dicks and Big Boys. Prior to 1982 they were known as The Stains. These bands frequently played together and established the hardcore scene in their hometown. They self-produced one single under the name of the Stains in 1981, a slower version of future MDC song "John Wayne Was A Nazi" backed with "Born to Die". Both songs were later released on the debut MDC album.
By 1982 the band had relocated to San Francisco, California, a city and state with very vibrant music scenes, and renamed themselves MDC. By this point the band were active participants in the growing hardcore scene, and released their debut LP Millions of Dead Cops on the band's own label, R Radical, and Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles who helped with distribution. The album is now widely considered a punk classic, and features songs such as "John Wayne Was A Nazi", "Dick For Brains", and the harsh criticism of the police, "I Remember". As well as capitalism ("Corporate Death Burger"), homophobia (Americas so straight), and American culture ("Violent Rednecks") were all criticized, without irony, by the band.
During the summer of 1982 they became involved in the Rock Against Reagan Tour, during which time they fell out with the band Bad Brains over accusations of homophobia due to Bad Brains' new-found Rastafarian religion. 1982 ended with a tour of Europe with the Dead Kennedys which brought the band greater exposure in the punk scene outside of the USA, especially in the UK.
Their involvement in the Rock Against Reagan activities continued through 1983 and they returned to recording with the EP "Multi-Death Corporations" which was distributed in the UK by British Anarcho Punk label Crass Records and R Radical in the US. The EP broke new ground by addressing, in the lengthy liner notes and artwork, the growth of corporations and the violent suppression of Communism in Central America. In 1984 they released another EP, Millions of Dead Children (also known as Chicken Squawk), this time dealing with Vegetarian and Vegan issues via a country hick punk tune.
Smoke Signals was released in 1986, their second album featuring a more diverse style than previously, with a foray into '70s rock with the song "South Africa is Free". This album also saw Gordon Fraser's first appearance as main guitarist. Their third album, "This Blood's for You", followed in 1987 and saw them returning to a more orthodox hardcore punk style with themes again including intervention in Central America and criticism of the Reagan Administration. MDC toured Europe in 1988, where the live album "Elvis - In The Rhineland" was recorded. The band released the album "Metal Devil Cokes" in 1989.
The 1990s opened with a number of line-up changes, swiftly followed by the 1991 album "Hey Cop! If I Had A Face Like Yours...", featuring Bill Collins on guitar and Matt Freeman (of Operation Ivy) on bass. The acclaimed "Shades of Brown" album was released in 1993, published by 'New Red Archives' in the US and 'We Bite' in Europe. The album featured the Hip-Hop vegetarian song "Real Food, Real People, Real Bullets". The band, now with guitarist Chris Wilder and bassist Erica Liss, marked the album with a tour of the former Soviet Union, making MDC the first American punk band to tour Russia. This was followed by two more European tours and several U.S. tours until 1995, where began a lull in the band's activity. The lack of new recorded material (other than a 7-inch release on Slap-a-Ham Records) and live performances after 1993, plus personal problems of band members, pointed to an informal break-up of the band.
MDC's singer, Dave Dictor, returned with an entirely new backing line-up in 2000, and MDC released a new album ("Magnus Dominus Corpus") in 2004. Recently they took part in a 25th anniversary world tour in 2005, with an all-original lineup.
Recently, the band has been based in Portland, Oregon.

Original members

Dave Dictor, Vocals
Ron Posner, Guitar
Franco Mares, Bass
Al Schvitz, Drums

Later lineup

Dave Dictor, Vocals
Ron Posner, Guitar
Michael Donaldson, Bass
Dejan Podobnik, Drums
Brady Green, Backup Vocals

Side Projects

In 1997 Dave Dictor, along with Tom "Pig Champion" Roberts of Poison Idea, released "An Anvil Will Wear Out Many A Hammer" with their band The Submissives.

Download :

Millions Of Dead Cops - Anthology 1980 - 2000
Part I
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=28NH6FTQ
Part II
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OQ035ZSE

password: hangover

The Teen Idles

2007-10-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

The Teen Idles were an American hardcore punk band that formed in Washington, D.C. in August 1979. Teenagers Nathan Strejcek, Geordie Grindle, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson were the band's continual members. The Teen Idles recorded two demo sessions and one extended play, Minor Disturbance, before their breakup in November 1980. The first band on Dischord Records, The Teen Idles were an early landmark in the straight edge and the D.C. hardcore movement; MacKaye and Nelson would later form Minor Threat.
Inspired by American punk bands such as Bad Brains and Black Flag, The Teen Idles' music was an early version of hardcore punk, and was an attempt, in the words of MacKaye, "to get away from a really corrupted music". Their appearance, lyrics and musical style aimed to revive a punk movement that they felt had lost its original zeal.

History

Formation

The Teen Idles history began when Washingtonian Ian MacKaye discovered punk rock through a local college radio station, Georgetown University's WGTB. He met Jeff Nelson, a classmate of his, after Nelson set off a pipe bomb outside their school and MacKaye went to investigate. The two became friends and quickly discovered their shared interest in punk. MacKaye and Nelson saw their first punk show in January 1979 — a benefit concert by The Cramps for WGTB. The concert inspired MacKaye and Nelson: MacKaye later commented, "It blew my mind because I saw for the first time this huge, totally invisible community that had gathered together for this tribal event. I thought, 'This appeals to me. This is the world I think I can breathe in. This is what I need.'"
After seeing a Bad Brains concert, MacKaye and Nelson began playing in a high school punk band, The Slinkees, with school friends George Grindle and Mark Sullivan. The Slinkees played a single show before Sullivan went to college. The band then tried to recruit MacKaye's friend, Henry Garfield, who turned down the offer, so Nathan Strejcek was recruited as a vocalist. The Slinkees then renamed themselves The Teen Idles. After touring and practicing for several months, the band performed two demo sessions at a local studio in February and April 1980, despite the engineer and a visting band openly laughing as they recorded. They also began playing at house parties and pizza houses, as well as an art gallery called Madam's Organ, opening for Bad Brains.
To revive the previous fury of punk rock, which the band felt had been compromised by New Wave, The Teen Idles tried to appear as intimidating as possible. They shaved their heads, grew Mohawks and wore various punk accessories; Nelson and MacKaye would even drive nails into the soles of their boots so they would make an "ominous clacking" sound. Their appearance was at odds with their demeanor; according to MacKaye, "in our shows and within our own community, we were totally goofy guys. We were painfully honest — we didn't shoplift, we didn't vandalise, we didn't spray-paint. We don't do anything — everybody just hates us because of the way we look."

California Tour and Recording

After about a dozen concerts, opening for bands such as the Untouchables, The Teen Idles decided to tour the West Coast in August 1980. Along with roadies Garfield (later Rollins) and Sullivan, the band set off for California, but were immediately hassled by police upon their arrival. After challenging the police, Nelson was handcuffed for an hour. The Teen Idles eventually began their tour, however, they were refused entry at Los Angeles' Hong Kong Cafe due to their age. Originally due to open for the Dead Kennedys and the Circle Jerks, they settled for playing the next night, opening for The Mentors and a band called Puke, Spit and Guts in exchange for just $15. The Teen Idles impressed those at the venue; MacKaye later commented: "People were freaked out by how fast we were."
Upon returning to Washington D.C., The Teen Idles were taken by Skip Groff, who owned the Washington record store Yesterday and Today, to Inner Ear, a small recording studio in Arlington, Virginia. They were introduced to engineer and owner Don Zientara; Inner Ear was merely Zientara's house where he owned a four-track recorder. The Teen Idles played in the basement while Zientara engineered and Groff produced. Seven tracks were recorded in total. However, the band had not thought about what they would do with the tapes, and shelved them.

Breakup and Minor Disturbance

By late 1980, The Teen Idles had decided to part, mostly due to Grindle's disillusionment with the band. Their last show, opening for SVT at the 9:30 Club on November 6, 1980, was a key event for all-ages shows. Before playing at the Mabuhay Gardens in California, the band were only allowed entry to the club once big Xs, to show that they were under the legal drinking age, were drawn on their hands. They suggested this idea to the 9:30 club management back in Washington, and vowed that if youths were caught drinking, the club could ban them all forever. The management agreed; The Teen Idles' final show passed without incident.
In their year of touring, The Teen Idles had earned a total of $900. The band had two options: to divide the money between each member or press the recordings they had done with Don Zientara at Inner Ear. Choosing the latter, Nelson, Strejcek and MacKaye formed Dischord Records with Groff's help to release the recordings. Released in January 1981 with an initial pressing of one thousand copies, Minor Disturbance was a local success, receiving radio air-play and reviews from fanzines such as Touch and Go, which meant that Dischord had the money to release records by other bands.
After The Teen Idles disbanded, Grindle chose not to pursue a career in music. By the time of Minor Disturbance's release, Nelson and MacKaye had already formed Minor Threat. The band's first show was on December 17, 1980. Strejcek became involved in the running of Dischord Records, until Nelson and MacKaye, disappointed by his lack of effort, "decided to take it back." The Teen Idles appeared on a number of hardcore compilations throughout the 1980s and 1990s: Dischord, to celebrate their one hundredth release, issued Teen Idles in 1996, comprising the two demo sessions the band had recorded in February and April 1980.

Musical style

According to journalist Michael Azerrad, The Teen Idles "played proto-hardcore tunes that skewed their social milieu". MacKaye later explained in the hardcore documentary Another State of Mind: "When I became a punk, my main fight was against the people who were around me — friends." When MacKaye was thirteen, he moved to Palo Alto, California for nine months. On his return, his friends had begun taking drugs and drinking. MacKaye added: "I said, 'God, I don't want to be like these people, man. I don't fit in at all with them.' So it was an alternative."
Written mostly by MacKaye, the band's lyrics, like their appearance, also railed against New Wave and the complacency of many first wave punk bands, such as The Clash and Damned: in "Fleeting Fury", Strejcek shouts: "The clothes you wear have lost their sting / So's the fury in the songs you sing". The Teen Idles were mainly influenced by punk bands in Washington and California, such as Bad Brains, Black Flag and The Germs, and reflected this in their music; The Teen Idles' songs consisted mostly of Strejcek shouting over a one-two hardcore beat with MacKaye and Grindle provided short and speedy riffs, interspersed with quick guitar solos from Grindle.

Gang Green

2007-10-27T12:10:00.000-07:00

Gang Green was a hardcore punk band originally from Braintree, Massachusetts. The first incarnation of the band consisted of 15 year olds Chris Doherty, Mike Dean, and Bill Manley and contributed seven tracks to the This Is Boston, Not L.A. compilation in 1982.
That same year the group disbanded and lead singer Chris Doherty joined the band Jerry's Kids for their album Is This My World?

New lineups

In 1985 Doherty reemerged with an all new Gang Green lineup consisting of himself (vocals, guitar), Chuck Stilphen (guitar, vocals), Glenn Stilphen (bass, vocals) and Walter Gustafson (drums). This second lineup is the most famous nationally as it was both the first to tour and the one that recorded the classic songs "Alcohol" and "Skate to Hell". This edition of Gang Green released the Another Wasted Night LP on Taang! Records in 1986. It is regarded as one of the definitive hardcore records of its time.
By 1987, when they were signed by Roadrunner Records the band’s musical style had come to lean more toward heavy metal and the personnel of the band, save Doherty, had changed completely. This incarnation of Gang Green consisted of Doherty, Fritz Erickson (guitar), Joe Gittleman (bass) and former Jerry's Kids drummer Brian Betzger. In 1989 Gittleman left to devote more time to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and was replaced by Josh Pappe, formerly of Dirty Rotten Imbeciles.

The nineties

After touring the United States with Social Distortion in 1990 Gang Green experienced a few more lineup shuffles before being dropped by Roadrunner and going on hiatus for several years in which Doherty founded the bands Klover (Mercury Records) and Hamerd.
In 1996 Gang Green surfaced yet again with Walter Gustafson returning on drums, along with newcomers Mike Earls (guitar, vocals) and Matt Sandonato (bass, vocals). They re-signed with Taang! Records and in 1997 released Back & Gacked (EP) and Another Case Of Brewtality. These records saw the band returning their punk roots and even moving in a pop direction. Gang Green toured Europe and the U.S. extensively in 1997 and 1998. Chris Doherty moved from Boston to Cincinnati shortly afterwards and in the early 2000s Gang Green played only once or twice a year in Boston and NYC.
CurrentIn 2005 Chris Doherty and a new Gang Green lineup supported the Dropkick Murphys’ tour of the U.S. west coast tour.
In early 2007, the band is touring through Florida and up the east coast of the US with bands like Lucky Scars and Moral Decline before heading out for a European tour scheduled for spring 2007 that will include UK and Irish dates.

Current members

Chris Doherty – vocals, guitar (Jul 1981 – 1998, 2000 – occasional tours), Walter Gustafson – drums (Feb 1984 – Sep 1985, Feb – Aug 1991, 1996 – 1998, present), Bob Cenci – guitar, Matt Sandonato – bass

Download :

Older...Budweiser
http://rapidshare.com/files/115035233/Gang_Green-Older..._Budweiser.zip

Sold Out
http://www.zshare.net/download/103347374235e4cd/

Back & Gacked
http://rapidshare.com/files/98047527/GG_b_g_.rar

Another Wasted Night
http://sharebee.com/a4244dfe

pass: hangoverhard.blogspot.com

Can't Live Without It
http://sharebee.com/0206099d

pass. hangoverhard.blogspot.com

I81B4U
http://s1.massmirror.com/16056345b6d04569aaa5be8c4a1a1602.html

Jerry's Kid

2007-10-27T12:03:00.001-07:00

Jerry's Kids was one of the earliest Boston hardcore bands. Their first recorded output was on the Modern Method record label's This Is Boston, Not L.A. compilation LP in 1982. They contributed six tracks.
Frontman Bryan Jones and rhythm guitar player Dave Aronson later left the band, bass-player Rick Jones (Bryan's brother) switched to vocals and Chris Doherty of Gang Green took over on rhythm guitar. It was this line-up that recorded the classic 12 song LP Is This My World? on X-Claim in 1983, featuring songs like "Cracks In The Wall", "Tear It Up" and "Vietnam Syndrome". They broke up in 1985, but reformed in 1987 with a more speed metal sound and released an LP on Taang! Records entitled Kill Kill Kill. The band reunited again in 2004 and has been playing several shows per year around Boston since then, though their current recording plans are unknown.

Lineups

1981-1982
Bryan Jones - vocals
Bob Cenci - guitar
Dave Aronson - guitar
Rick Jones - bass
Brian Betzger - drums

1982
Rick Jones - vocals and bass
Bob Cenci - guitar
Dave Aronson - guitar
Brian Betzger - drums

1982-1985
Rick Jones - vocals and bass
Bob Cenci - guitar
Chris Doherty - guitar
Brian Betzger - drums

1987
Rick Jones - vocals and bass
Bob Cenci - guitar
Dave Aronson - guitar
Mike Dean - drums

1987-????
Rick Jones - vocals and bass
Bob Cenci - guitar
Dave Aronson - guitar
Jack Clark - drums

Download :

Is This My World?
http://rapidshare.com/files/115983740/Jerry_s_Kids-Is_This_My_World.zip

This is Boston is not L.A.
http://paylesssofts.net/?x1aca22490

pass: hangoverhard.blogspot.com

Articles Of Faith

2007-10-27T11:48:00.001-07:00

Articles of Faith were a highly influential Chicago based hardcore punk band (1981-1985) notable for song-writing in a class above most of their contemporaries (and successors). The band's later work, the posthumous In This Life LP in particular, either founds or foreshadows the emo amd emocore sound.[citation needed] The typical AoF song featured hummable melodies and conspicuous hooks, showing funk, reggae and jazz influences, accompanied by lyrics bemoaning the difficulty of finding freedom and fulfillment in a cookie-cutter mass-consumption driven society, typically but not always, delivered at a searing pace. While the band's influence was blunted by being based in Chicago, they maintained close musical and thematic ties to the Washington DC / Dischord Records scene. Drummer Virus X briefly left the band in 1984, due to the relative waning of the band's political emphasis, but returned to record In This Life.
Vocalist/guitarist, Vic Bondi, was originally a protest singer with decidedly leftist views. He went on to form Alloy, and Jones Very after AoF's demise. At the time of Aof's original breakup Bondi was working as a History instructor at the University of Massachusetts. Bondi's subsequent day jobs included working on Microsoft's Encarta, he was Managing editor of the Encarta Interactive English Learning edition (Bondi's comments on this fairly ironic form of employment can be found here). Alternative Tentacles Records released the complete discography of the band in 2002. Bondi resurfaced with another politically charged band, Report Suspicious Activity, in 2006, and was featured prominently in the documentary "American Hardcore".

Line-up
Dave Shield (bass, voc), Virus X (drums), Dorian Tajbakhsh (git), Vic Bondi (voc, git), Joe Scuderi (git), Pat Gruber (management), Steve Ross (road).

Download :

Articles of Faith - What We Want Is Free - 1982
http://www.4shared.com/file/92091281/d0dce393/Articles_of_Faith_-_1982_-_What_We_Want_Is_Free.html

Articles of Faith - Give Thanks - 1984
http://www.4shared.com/file/92091282/49d5b229/Articles_of_Faith_-_1984_-_give_thanks.html

Articles of Faith - In This Life - 1985
http://www.4shared.com/file/92091283/3ed282bf/Articles_of_Faith_-_1985_-_In_this_life.html