Friday, December 30, 2011

Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt covering "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?"

I absolutely love this version of "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" by Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Inside Out - No Spiritual Surrender

Inside Out - No Spiritual Surrender
Release - 1990

Story by Sunny Singh, videographer for Hate 5 Six.

Editor's note:  Since this is an album on a major label, there is no download link available.

When I was in middle school in the late '90s, early 2000s, I listened to a lot of Rage Against the Machine.  No, really, that's all I listened to.  Those records shaped the bedrock which has become my current set of core beliefs.  I was obsessed with this band and soon found myself in a small community of people who collected and traded rare RATM show bootlegs.  This was all before I became a hardcore kid.  I had known Zack was in Inside Out, and I think I managed to find a few tracks from No Spiritual Surrender on the web via Napster, but that was the extent of my knowledge.  I didn't know anything else about hardcore.  I wanted a tangible copy of that album, CD or vinyl so I could actually listen to it, read the lyrics and all that jazz. Though I admittedly didn't search very hard, I was never able to actually track a copy down.

In the summer of my sophomore year of high school in the early 2000s, I found myself in the bowels of New England.  My parents sent me off to some summer camp and at some point, we were carted around to visit college campuses.  Somewhere between Harvard and MIT, we stopped for lunch or some shit and a bunch of us wandered into Newbury Comics. The place seemed pretty cool and it appealed to my sensibilities at the time, but in retrospect, it was just as tacky as Hot Topic... just in a disguise.  I perused the CD section for a while and just as my group was getting ready to leave, there it was: No Spiritual Surrender, $7.  I frantically reached for my wallet and froze as I realized I didn't have enough. I was a couple bucks short.  I pleaded with a few people in my group to spot me.  I forget who it was, but eventually one of them caved in, probably to shut me up.  I remember the bus ride home clutching the CD and counting down the mile markers before I could listen to it.

The opening guitar feedback of "Burning Fight" sets the tone for the entire record: uncertainty slowly boiling over into chaos.  Zack's vocals are so raw (which definitely withered during his time in Rage, especially by the end of the Battle Of Los Angeles tour). And then there's that guttural scream at the beginning of "No Spiritual Surrender."  Every now and then, a friend's band will cover this and I plead with them to let me do vocals.  I try to come out of the gate just like Zack, but it never amounts to even a fraction of what he does on record.  Even when you watch a live Inside Out video and you see Vic and Zack throwing themselves around haphazardly, you can see what this music meant to them.  They weren't standing up there banging on fucking instruments.  This was direct expression of emotion to sound.  When you read the lyrics to NSS from start to finish and hear the musical landscape accompanying it, you can see the purity.  None of it was postured, which stands in stark contrast with so many other records.

And before you know it, the record is finished and you're left wanting more.  The potential to do more is so fucking apparent as you listen to this.

What's especially interesting to me is considering the paths Zack and Vic took post-Inside Out and retracing those steps back to Inside Out.  Inside Out encompassed self-awareness, facing emotional distress and abandonment, and even undertones (pun intended) of social/political commentary--all of which the members explored to greater extents in their later bands.

This record shaped my life.  This is THE record that opened my eyes to hardcore.

Wrong Answer - Cross A Black Cat's Path

Wrong Answer are streaming their new four-song seven inch Cross A Black Cat's Path on their Bandcamp page.  Tomorrow, Wrong Answer leave with Agitator for their 2012 Winter Tour together from Tuesday, December 27th to Monday, January 9th.  Towards the end of January, Wrong Answer will be doing a European tour with the Vegan Straight Edge band Kingdom.

Agitator/Wrong Answer Winter Tour 2012



Tour Dates
December 27 – Barnsville, OH
December 28 – Covington, KY
December 29 – Ozark, MO
December 30 – Kansas city, MO
December 31 – Oklahoma city, OK
January 1 – Conway, AR
January 2 – Baton rouge, LA
January 3 - Jackson, MS
January 4 – Decatur, AL
January 5 – Tallahassee, FL
January 6 – Jacksonville, FL
January 7 – Atlanta, GA
January 8 – Florence, SC (early show, 2 p.m.)
January 8 – Wilmington, NC (evening show)
January 9 – Trenton, NJ

The Hate 5 Six Diaries: Volume One DVD benefiting One Hundred For Haiti

Our friends over at Hate 5 Six are running a sale on all orders for DVDs/shirts placed between now and January 1st.  All orders received during that time will ship FOR FREE.  Pick up a shirt and DVD today.  I personally can not think of a better gift for that special HC kid in your life.  All the proceeds from the Hate 5 Six Diaries DVD go to benefit One Hundred of Haiti.  Help support an awesome website and a great cause.

Purchase your copy here:
http://hate5six.bigcartel.com/

View trailer here!

The Hate 5 Six Diaries: Volume One
Benefiting One Hundred for Haiti.



Featuring nearly 4 hours of live footage of:
108
Black Kites
Converge
Damnation AD
Give
Have Heart
Iron Chic
Kid Dynamite
Mindset
Pulling Teeth
Ruiner (from the last show)
Seraphim
Suicide File
The First Step (from the last show)
The Rival Mob
Touche Amore
Trial
Unbroken

[Running time: ~240 minutes, 16:9 widescreen]

Hardcore has the unique potential to be something other than a distraction on a Friday night, something other than a soundtrack to physical aggression. We readily reference it as a certificate that we are beyond the normative behaviors and thought patterns prescribed to us by society. Whether or not you act upon this conviction is entirely up to you.

The majority of society outside the hardcore scene is unwilling to comprehend why it is we drive hours on end just to see a band, why we jump off stages and crawl across people's heads just so we can hope to reach the mic and maybe--just maybe--get the chance to scream a few fucking words that happen to resonate with us, why we're so willing to virtually obliterate our bodies during a band's set in a self-sacrificial, yet purely cathartic, ritual.

The “hate5six diaries” is about leveraging the stagedives, the singalongs, and the discourse fostered through the music to do something more than what is given to us. 100% of the proceeds from these volumes will be donated to a specified charity.

The contents of this video are already freely available on hate5six.com modulo color correction, audio adjustment, encode quality and packaging. Unauthorized copying of this DVD is therefore an egregious waste of time and is morally and ethically reprehensible. In the event you obtain this DVD outside of the proper channels, please at least consider making a donation to onehundredforhaiti.org.

hate5six.com is a one-man DIY operation that stands for the redistribution of hardcore to a global audience. The project serves to connect people directly with music while bypassing anything that could impede or pollute that sacred connection.

DIY or Die

Bottled Up Records full catalogue available for free download

Bottled Up Records is an one of my favorite independent record labels run by one of my favorite dudes, Jeff Lasich.  Jeff is also the mastermind behind Start Today Fanzine. Below you will find the pre-order information for the new Truth Inside seven-inch, download links for the entire Bottled Up Records catalogue as well as the newest digital issue of Start Today Fanzine.

Truth Inside - Best Times 7” is up for pre-order.
There are Have Heart records for sale now too.
http://bottleduprecords.bigcartel.com/

Free downloads!!!!
Start Today Fanzine #7
http://www.sendspace.com/file/nj13ws

Truth Inside - Best Times
http://www.sendspace.com/file/k4xg3k

Outlast - Take Control
http://www.sendspace.com/file/0b7p98

The First Step - What We Know Sessions
http://www.sendspace.com/file/at4i9q

Learn - Life and…
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qrmm9a

Learn - Better Days Ahead
http://www.sendspace.com/file/e3h9bh

Crumbler - Dirty Weeks
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qf5ryb

In Stride - Place of Decay
http://www.sendspace.com/file/inyg2x

One Up - The Demo
http://www.sendspace.com/file/bocaa4

One Up - The More Things Change
http://www.sendspace.com/file/np2r1j

Efforts Made - Recollect
http://www.sendspace.com/file/k0pm1q

Have Heart - 2003
http://www.sendspace.com/file/he69wx

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Quiet Arcs - Morphine Derivatives

Quiet Arcs is one of two bands I currently play bass in from Philadelphia, PA.  We play hardcore/punk music that leans more towards the mid '90s styles of hardcore and grunge. One of the things we are the most proud of is that we are a 100% DIY band.  Every one of our releases (Electric Throne, Grim Business and Morphine Derivatives) were self funded and self released by the band and given out as a "pay what you want" download through Bandcamp.  In the new year, we will be working on new material for an LP to be released on our own record label.


Happy hollidays from Pizza Friends

This picture is pretty self explanatory. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is out of step with the herd!

The first video below is for the song "Run Run Rudolph" being covered by Lemmy Kilmister, Billy F. Gibbons and Dave Grohl and appears on the the Metal Xmas compilation CD.

The last video is something else all together.  From what I gather, Chris Wrenn of Bridge Nine Records fame is singing about LEGOS.  This video is from the LEGO Club Music Season 1.




Saturday, December 24, 2011

Walter Schreifels - The Storm (Judge)

This is an incredible acoustic cover of Judge's "The Storm" by Walter Schreifels.

Merauder - Demo '98 (with Eddie Sutton of Leeway)

Merauder - Demo '98
Download - www.mediafire.com/?93imur9qwrm
Release - 1998

I was talking to someone the other day and joking around I told them "you'll be out of style when I cut you a new smile" which made me think about this demo. From what I remember, Jorge Rosado briefly quit Merauder to sing for Ill Nino and during that time this demo was recorded with Eddie Sutton of Leeway doing vocals.  Aside from Master Killer, this is probably my favorite Merauder recording.  

Track List:
1. Find My Way
2. Five Deadly Venoms
3. Save My Soul
4. We Are The Ones

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Swarm Of Arrows - Swarm Of Arrows

Location:  Philadelphia, PA
Genre:  Sludge/Metal/Punk/Doom
Contact:  info@swarmofarrows.com
Download:  http://www.swarmofarrows.com
FFO:  Doomriders, Mastodon, Baroness, Coliseum, Neurosis
Year Released:  2011

Heavy hardcore/punk with a strong metal influence from Philadelphia.  The bands listed above in the for fans of section are spot on.


Track List:
1.  Bastard Heart
2.  Lie Down With Wolves
3.  Cauldron Overthrown/Cities of Lead
4.  The Last Time

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Teen Wolves - The Tape

Location:  New Brunswick, NJ
Genre:  Punk/Hardcore
Contact:  teenwolves732@gmail.com
Download:  teenwolves.bandcamp.com
For Fans Of:  not being a fan
Year Released:  2011

Fast punk influenced hardcore from New Brunswick, NJ.  Teen Wolves remind me of Life's Halt with songs like "F The A" and "Shotgun No Blitz". Another band that comes to mind are The Adolescents.  The recording is surprisingly good for a home/basement recording which is a big plus.
Track List:
1.  Cop Blocker
2.  F The A
3.  Never Forget Your Root(s) Beer
4.  Bedtime Stories
5.  The Point C
6.  T.W.P.
7.  What It Is
8.  Shotgun No Blitz
9.  Prey
10.  Epic Failure

Wanna play This Is Hardcore 2012?

The following was posted on the Bridge 9 message board by This Is Hardcore founder Joe Hardcore. I am re-posting all the info to help get people aware that this is submission season for TIHC.

Before you go submitting your band you must know that despite the fact that TIH pays bands well to come and play, if you're from Nepal (as one bad ass band last year was from) or even in the U.S and you just got a demo out and have never travelled before, you should really think of the cost involved in trying to come as a band to play. I often tell bands that I'd love to have them but I'd hate to see them travel out just for one show where the most they would get would be like $200 for 20 minutes.

Think about it and if you still want to submit- be my guest..

So how to submit your band??

send me A LINK to actual music from your band or some songs, though I've lost a few songs especially when they are untitled and named track 1 (I've got 2 gigs of demo links all named demo 09 or something generic)

I love bandcamps the best but don't mind stereokiller either..
If you send me a myspace link, I won't even bother as it will just take too long.

Also include some info about your band as in where you're from etc.
It's helpful to know if you're touring, have stuff recorded and being put out etc.

I'll also check out mediafire links etc.

email joe@thisishardcorefest.com

I got over 210 submissions last year and it was a daunting task to get back to everyone, on top of it I had some email issues that made some shit bounce back a few times.

Things are hammered out and I've got it all set, so don't be shy, send in your stuff and hopefully we can make something happen for you.  If not on TIH then a show in philly...

Monday, December 19, 2011

Wound Up - Feeling Mean Demo

Location:  New Brunswick, NJ
Genre:  Hardcore
Contact:  shelligolld@gmail.com
Download:  woundupnj.bandcamp.com
FFO:  Infest, Kriegshog, Striking Distance
Year Released:  2011

Short, fast and pissed-off blasts of hardcore from New Brunswick, NJ.  Their demo CDR I picked up when I saw them recently came with a stick of Wrigley's gum.  Classy mosh.


Track List:
1.  Self Induced Genocide
2.  How Did We Get Here?
3.  Dreams Coincide With Reality
4.  You Cant Help Me
5.  Hopeless

Members of WarZone on Regis & Kathy Lee 1986

Every Monday, I try to have a new story to post, but this week the well ran dry.  Hopefully next week I will have a great new story for you to post.  For now, here are some awesome videos I found of Raybeez and Todd Youth of WarZone on the Regis And Kathy Lee show from 1986. "It's like Hardcore is a life style man. It's something inside you." - Todd Youth.

Part One: Intro/Bust.


Part Two: Why did you choose this lifestyle?


Part Three: The commercials are epic!


Part Four: Are you a punker?


Part Five: The Wrap Up.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Grey Area premieres "Lucky"

Grey Area premiered the new song "Lucky" at Alternative Press on Thursday, December 15th.  "Lucky" is one of two new songs that appear on a 4-way split LP with The Copyrights, Luther and The Reveling, available through Black Numbers.  Pick up your copy here.

Listen to "Lucky" here:
Grey Area "Lucky"

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Ladder Devils - Forget English

Location:  Philadelphia, PA
Genre:  Post-Punk, Post-Hardcore, Noise
Contact:  ladderdevils@gmail.com
Download:  ladderdevils.bandcamp.com
Website:  www.facebook.com/ladderdevils
For Fans Of:  Nirvana and loud music
Year Released:  2011

Ladder Devils play very loud and noisy music.  You can pick up the 12" three-way split they did with Fight Amp and Kawloon Walled City on Brutal Panda Records.

Track List:
1. Get OK
2. Divorce Drugs
3. Dogs
4. Pyramid
5. Leavers


Monday, December 12, 2011

Into Another - Seemless

Into Another - Seemless
Download - www.mediafire.com/?jm122ylyby2
Release - 1995

Story by Zach Trotta, original Blacklisted drummer.

This record is such a fucking banger.  The production and song structure to the ridiculous lyrics was the best transition of a “post hardcore” band pining out for a big record label. Hollywood Records probably thought, “Let’s squeeze the last drip of grunge out of this band,” which I’m sure was a disaster commercially.  Redcheeks got me into this record.  The conversation was sparked by Into Another’s never released “techno/industrial record” I always heard about but, back then, never heard.  The drumming on Seemless is so in the pocket, behind the beat and sparse on unnecessary, wack fills.  The bass is so punchy and prominent, a departure from Into Another’s previous records which had this slap bass feel.  And the lyrics... oh man, the lyrics.  What the fuck.  I don’t even want to read them.  I just want to assume what he’s fucking talking about.  Just like my dear friend Jude Miller’s story of New Day Rising, Seemless was a change in my usual rotation at the time (Death Threat’s Peace and Security and anything Obituary)

Choice tracks: the song "Seemless" sounds like if Supertouch was mixed by Andy Wallace.  "Regarding Earthlings" could have been a Collective Soul b-side at the time (1995), but has the best tempo and talks about “children being vampires?”

Monday, December 5, 2011

Husker Du - New Day Rising

Husker Du - New Day Rising
Download - www.mediafire.com/?07njfm1yn3n
Release - 1985

Story by Jude Miller, Quiet Arcs guitarist and creator of the Slow Learner blog.

I’ve always felt that I had sufficiently eclectic musical sensibilities and that I listened to a wide variety of stuff.  Yet for some reason I would compartmentalize these various musical interests in my head.

The most serious band ever I played in, however, was quite easily categorizable.  We were a Straight Edge, Youth Crew Hardcore band called One Up, and it formed in the wake of two other fairly straight-forward, Straight Edge bands (Go Time and Straight To the Point).  With One Up, our initial intentions were to deliberately fit neatly into a particular sub-node (Youth Crew) of a sub-node (Straight Edge) of a subculture (Hardcore).  No moodiness, no punches pulled, no sobby lyrics about heartbreak, and no crossing over into other styles or genres.  If you told us that our influences were transparent and quite narrow—ranging from Floorpunch to Youth of Today—we probably would have appreciated what we just perceived to be a complement.  (In fact, I remember playing at least one show at the Pi Lam in West Philadelphia where our set was comprised of about a 50/50 split of our material and a mix of Youth of Today and Floorpunch covers.)  I was 18, loved Straight Edge hardcore, and was thrilled to be playing it with my friends.

When I say One Up was “serious,” of course, I mean, primarily, that we toured, in addition to dealing with (very, very small) independent record labels, having multiple t-shirt designs, and having a fan base of people other than our immediate family and friends.

And tour we did, in a series of horrifyingly unequipped vehicles, from June of 2002 until about New Years of 2005.   In that time period, I spent two weekends a month and every winter and summer break with my best friends, eating peanut butter sandwiches in an un-air-conditioned van with poor ventilation and no stereo, getting out of the van to play straight-forward hardcore shows with straight-forward hardcore bands at straight-forward hardcore venues all around the country, and I loved every minute of it.

I still look back on those days as some of the fondest moments of my youth.  Despite occasional bickering matches, everyone in the van on those often very long trips was so happy to be in that death-trap of a vehicle with everyone else.

Somewhere in the middle of that period of intense touring, however, my faith in hardcore began to secretly waver—or maybe I just needed a break.  I was running out of steam, and my desire to play exclusively simplistic hardcore was waning, love hardcore as I did (and still do; I still listen to Youth of Today and Floorpunch at least once a week, often while doing categorically “adult” things like grading papers or cooking dinner.  Not to digress too much here, but I’ll argue that songs like “Changes,” “Wake Up And Live,” and, especially, “Positive Outlook” have so much more significance for me now that I am a depression-prone adult than they did when I was an excited but very naive teenager.)  I wanted to drastically evolve past power chords, stage dives, and sing-a-longs.  I wanted to draw on some of my other musical interests.  Unfortunately, I didn’t understand what that evolution could even sound like, much less where it would fit in the context of the hardcore scene that I was now an active member in.  (Of course, this yearning to “branch out” after you’ve established yourself within a specific sub-aesthetic is an archetypal portion of virtually every serious hardcore band’s trajectory from Minor Threat to Agnostic Front to Gorilla Biscuits to Count Me Out to Carry On to Blacklisted to Ceremony, and the list goes on.  Sometimes this musical evolution works, and sometimes it doesn’t, but what’s interesting to me is that each time a hardcore kid goes through this natural step, they’re treated like they’re the first 22-year old who grew tired of imitating the Cro-Mags or Madball or Black Flag or Chain of Strength or Poison Idea or whatever they were initially trying to sound like.)

At some indeterminate time after that last summer tour, I was shopping at my local music store, Full Circle Records, and I saw an LP that would later have near-religious significance for me—Husker Du’s New Day Rising.  It was affordably priced at $8.00 US used, so I couldn’t resist.  Of course I was familiar with the label it was on, SST Records, and I had heard plenty of people talk about this band, but I was not familiar with their actual material.

I’ll be perfectly honest here: when I first pulled the vinyl out of the jacket and hit play on my record player, I couldn’t really get it.  I was obviously into Black Flag and Bad Brains (duh!) as any self-respecting hardcore kid should be, and I was into Neil Young and R.E.M. because that’s the stuff my parents played for me when I was growing up.  But this record was not squarely either of those extremes.  It was genre-crossing in a way I acknowledged, but didn’t quite understand.  Even the cover art—what were they going for?  Those dogs playing in the water?  I didn’t wholly feel like I wasted my money, but certainly I didn’t wear down the record the first week I got it.

Nonetheless, I was intrigued by this album, perhaps largely because I didn’t know what to do with it.  Do I play this record for my parents, or do I play this record for my friends?  Is it for Beatles’ fans or is it for T.S.O.L. fans?  There were both melody and aggression in doses I was, frankly, confused by.  That song “Celebrated Summer,” for example, oscillated schizophrenically between a fast-paced punk song and a mid-tempo, twelve-string ballad.   What was up with that?  And that song “Books About UFOs” had a really cool title, but it sounded like Springsteen meets the Beatles with the most overdriven, but still present, guitar sound.

When I found pictures of the band members, my confusion was not transformed into clarity, by any stretch. “The dude has a mustache?”

Something that did immediately stick with me, however, was that guitar tone.  The first time I heard New Day Rising, I was professionally employed as a guitar teacher and playing quite regularly in a band, and I had never heard anyone make a guitar sound like that.  Underneath the pounding drums and melodic semi-chanting of the first song was the hottest, fuzziest (yet still extremely distinguishable) guitar sound I’d ever heard.

My interest was peaked just enough that I kept letting the needle drop, and I think now that I was so weirdly fascinated with this record because I knew subconsciously it was exactly the mix of what I wanted to play, but was incapable of articulating at that time.  It was informed equally by After the Gold Rush and Reckoning as it was by London Calling or Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables and unabashedly so.

These guys clearly loved hardcore to some extent, which was evident not only in their being on SST, but also in the urgency and fast tempo of tracks like “Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill” and “I Apologize.”  Yet they also had obviously studied their rock and roll history and listened to The Beach Boys, evident in the gorgeous vocal harmonies on every song.  It took some time, but I soon came to realize how perfect—how intelligent, witty, catchy, subtle, and even aggressive—The Huskers were.

Around early 2006, as it became clear that the end was in sight for my straight-forward, Youth Crew Hardcore band, I began listening to New Day Rising with increased frequency, and I began to feel that this mustachioed trio was not only brilliant, but that they were capable of loving hardcore in a way that was not as narrow minded as how I had when One Up began.

In a sense, Husker Du’s kept me interested in hardcore at the exact moment when I was getting fed up with it.  And in that regard, I view my finding New Day Rising as a cosmic gift.  When I was convinced that hardcore was too simplistic, too immature, too repetitive, I found Husker Du, and they showed me that it was me (not hardcore) that was too simplistic and immature.  There were still cool bands out there; I just needed to stop being so cynical as to not even bother looking for them.  Not only were Husker Du a legendary group of musicians, but they taught me a new kind of positivity—the mental health exercise of finding yourself in a sea of sameness and searching for the worthwhile elements.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Hazards - The Barrens

Location:  Philadelphia, PA
Genre:  Hardcore/Punk
Contact:  hazards.pa@gmail.com
Download:  hazards.bandcamp.com
Website:  www.facebook.com/pages/Hazards
FFO:  Comeback Kid, Good Riddance, Bane
Year Released:  2011

Fast melodic hardcore filled with both passion and aggression from Philadelphia.



Track List:
1. Old Friends
2. Stubborn Eyes
3. Stay
4. Departure
5. Cliche
6. The Last One
7. PTSD
8. 91906
9. Sink or Swim

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Into Another at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ 1992

The next video from the Shawn Christian Zappo Collection is of Into Another.  This video is from a show they played at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey on June 28th in 1992.  The audio and video quality for this video is exceptional.  Another great aspect of this video is the hardcore fashion of the '90s.  There are a lot of young kids in hardcore today that may have never experienced hemp/shell necklaces, JNCO jeans, bowl cuts and the plethora of other bad HC fashions of the day.
  

Monday, November 28, 2011

Carry On - Roll With The Punches

Carry On - Roll With the Punches
Release - 2000

Story by Aram Arslanian, singer for Betrayed and owner of React! Records.

Editor's note:  The download link for this album has been removed due to label request.

The first time I heard the Roll With the Punches EP, I was staying at my friend Todd Tyler's house in California.  We'd met a few years previous when I was a roadie for Trial and we'd stayed in touch. Todd, Kevin Jaros from Collision (later Internal Affairs and Stand & Fight), Karin Frye and Ryan George all lived together in a little place just off Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.  They would let touring bands crash with them and so the band I was in at the time used their place as homebase for a week as we played shows throughout Southern California.

Carry On had just finished recording their new EP, and Todd had a copy on tape of the final mix.  Todd is an enthusiastic guy and I remember him giving me this crazy, bugged out look with this huge smile and saying something like, "DUDE!  Duuuuuude!  Do you wanna hear the new Carry On?  It's awesome!!!!!  Man it's awesome, but you can't tell ANYONE I played it for you.  Dude, you HAVE to promise!"  My memory might be making that more dramatic than it really was, but if you know Todd Tyler, then you know that I'm not that far off.  Anyway, a bunch of us were chilling in Todd's room and I was sitting right under a framed copy of the Uniform Choice poster insert that came with Screaming for Change.  Todd pressed play on the tape and those four hi-hat hits introduced me to a record that would go on to have a huge impact in my life.

The intensity of the record was undeniable, but what really stood out for me was the creativity of the songwriting and how in your face the lyrics were.  Those songs are bare bones HC, but are also really well written and break the mold of what you'd expect from that genre of core.  The lyrics were so angry and direct that I distinctly remember thinking, "Man, I'd never write anything that arrogant!"  But that's just it, it was that group of people in that time and place and they weren't trying to fit in with what was easy and safe.  Hell no, they were fed up with the landscape of either metallic mosh or ultra PC emo that was prevalent on the West Coast at the time.  They didn't wear makeup and didn't dress fancy, and they would have laughed in your face if you asked them to play a HC prom show.  Conversely, they didn't try and position themselves as ultra-liberal saviors and impress people with how much they cared.  The CxO guys didn't buy into any of that garbage, and weren't afraid to let you know it.  They were the guys that liked actual hardcore, that had X's on their hands and would call you a poser to your face if you didn't like Chain of Strength and Breakdown.  They set their own pace, made their own scene and said, "fuck you" to anyone that didn't like it.

After hearing the EP for the first time, I convinced Todd Tyler (I don't think I had to do too much convincing) to make me a copy.  That record was at the top of my play list for the rest of the summer, and when it eventually come out on vinyl, all legit core fiends knew what was up.  That EP went on to influence a lot of bands, including the bands I went on to do, and set the tone for the next few years on the West Coast.  Today I still list that as one of the most influential records of my life, and enjoy it just as much now as I did the first day I heard it.

During that week in California we grew close with the CxO guys and through them, we met a lot of people that went on to become amazing friends.  We've all changed throughout the years and some people have stayed tight while other have drifted.  Just like any group, there have been schisms that have broken friendships, people who've grown apart and some who are sadly no longer with us.  But no matter how much distance there is, I'll always look back on those days and see us as a family.  That was an amazing time in my life, and for me, Carry On was the band that first brought that together.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Afflictive Nature - 2011 EP

Location: San Antonio TX
Genre: Hardcore
Contact: PK.AN210@gmail.com
Download: www.mediafire.com/?4j31y39u3cplb39
Released:  2011

Tracklist:
Beneath The Streets
Evil Doer II
Nothing Beyond
Let Down
Mindset
Body of Two

Machete - Judgement

Location:  Adelaide, South Australia
Genre:  Hardcore/Punk
Contact:  machete@live.com.au
Download:  www.mediafire.com/?uufz9x95va440n4
Website:  http://listn.to/Machete
For Fans Of:  Death Threat, Terror
Year Released:  2011

Fast and aggressive hardcore from Australia with a lot of opportunity for hard pitting.  The for fans of description is dead on.  I totally hear Peace And Security era Death Threat with a little Lowest Of The Lower era Terror thrown in there.
Track List:
1.  Roses Fucking Suck
2.  Dead World
3.  Heart Attack
4.  Cry Wolf
5.  FTW
6.  Heaven

Friday, November 25, 2011

CIV at the Stone Pony from 1995

The next video is from the Shawn Christian Zappo collection.  CIV at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ from 1995.  The audio and video quality is amazing.  This is a real treat for me since I only got to see CIV at the second Warped Tour.  By that point, the second album just came out and Civ would play a tambourine for a song our two live.  Being young, into hardcore and seeing something like that was a total bum out for me.  I did how ever mosh extra hard for the songs they played off Set Your Goals that day. Another clear memory of that day was walking through the parking lot to get to the Warped Tour with my friend Jordan Clarius.  We were stopped by a Khrisna Devotee and asked if we were going to the concert.  My response was "no, I'm here to fight people" and we walked away.  Anyone that knows me knows the humor in that statement.


Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving: Vegan Reich - Hardline

Vegan Reich - Hardline
Download - www.mediafire.com/?00sn4l44kv82bnz
Release - 1990

This is my first Vegan Thanksgiving, and I wanted to post something special for the blog so here it is... Vegan Reich.  Hardline is the record that created and defined an entire sub-genre of Straight Edge hardcore in the '90s.  It seems fitting to post this record today so here it is.  I also added the lyrics for the song "The Way It Is" for your reading pleasure. From Pizza Friends to you, Happy Thanksgiving.

The Way It Is
Fuck you, shut your fucking mouth
We didn't ask for your opinion
We're telling you the way it is
So sit back and listen

Your position is irrelavant
To this situation
It's black and white
You're wrong, we're right
And you'd better
Come to that realization...

Cos it's murder plain and simple
No justification
For the taking of a life
Without provocation
You'd be guilty of a crime
If the victim was human
You could face execution

Laid down in stone
There can be no other definition
Meat and dairy production
Is torturing, is killing
For no purpose
For your ego
For the taste
Their blood you're spilling
Belsen, Auchwitz, Dachau
The similarity is frightening
A master race mentality
Of liberty for those with superiority
Your moral civilized society
Where normality is insanity
And sane and extreme ideology
Like the resistance to Nazi Germany
We don't obey the laws of barbarity

So expect no fucking mercy
If you're guilty you will pay
No chances to discuss it
You're gonna fucking hang
Terrorists and hooligans?
Just you fucking wait
If that's the image of create of us
You ain't seen nothing yet

What did you think
This was a college debate?
This is WAR
So stay the fuck out of the way
We're coming through that door
And once we free those enslaved
We'll even up the score
Guilty of murder
You'll face the new law!

Equalizer - The Odds

Release:  The Odds
Location:  Ottawa Ontario Canada
Genre:  Hardcore
Contact:  Mkpunt1@gmail.com
Download:  equalizer.bandcamp.com
Facebook:  www.myspace.com/equalizerhc
For Fans Of:  Stick To Your Guns, A Ghost Inside, Lionheart
Release:  2009




Track List:
1. Our burden
2. Conquer
3. History
4. An inch of gain
5. Stand together

Burning Bridges - Burning Bridges

Release:  Burning Bridges
Location:  Keene, NH
Genre:  Pop Punk
Contact:  alexlichtenauer@gmail.com
Download:  burningbridgesnh.bandcamp.com
For Fans Of:  Spraynard, Fifteen, Joyce Manor
Released:  2011






Track List -
1. Butt Cheese America
2. I Am An Earthling
3. Pride Rock
4. You're No More Progressive Than Progresso Soup
5. No War On This Land

Hell Blitz - Little Remains

Release:  Little Remains
Location:  California
Genre:  Noise/Punk
Contact:   die77rot@gmail.com
Download:  www.mediafire.com/?edbvdvsbnzt4j4i
For Fans Of:  Raspberry Bulbs, Ice Age, Bone Awl
Released:  2011

Track List:
1. In Times Of War
2. Little Remains

Axebomber - 2011 Demo

Location: Columbus, Ohio
Genre: Hardcore
Contact: TheFarmDIY@hotmail.com
Download: axebomber.bandcamp.com
Release: 2011 Demo

Tracklist:
1. Back Pressure
2. Haka
3. Convenience
4. Thunderlips

Dead & Gone - Abandonment

Location:  Detroit, Michigan
Genre:  Melodic Hardcore
Contact:  stevenkmason@gmail.com
Download:  deadandgone.bandcamp.com
Release:  2011

Track List:
1.  Growing Pains
2.  Drowning But Not Dying
3.  Inside and Out
4.  Rapid City, South Dakota

Monday, November 21, 2011

Straight Ahead - Breakaway

Straight Ahead - Breakaway
Release - 1987

Story by Tru Pray, creator of Malfunction Records.

Editor's note:  The download link to this album was removed due to label request.

There used to be this chain of record stores in the DC area called Kemp Mill Records. Back then, CDs came in long boxes and anything that was remotely punk or alternative was in the imports section. I had no idea why they did that.  This was the same for LPs and cassettes.  Since vinyl was pretty much dead in the late '80s and '90s, Kemp Mill used to have a cut-out section for records they usually wanted to get rid of.

A friend and I actually found copies of the Straight Ahead LP for seven bucks.  Yes, that right.  Seven bucks!  Because the LP was so short, they called it an EP.  Since no one cared about stuff like that or were into buying vinyl, it was in the cut-out bin.  To this day, I still have that LP and I even own an open first press.  The only times I ever saw Straight Ahead live were at SOIA shows in NYC and when they got back together for the Hardcore for Hunger Benefit.  They're an incredible band to say the least.  PS, I saw a pic of the singer's daughter.  So hot!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

The Patriot Act - Demo 2011

Location- Middleboro, MA
Genre- Doom/Hardcore/Punk
Contact- steveninstasi@yahoo.com
Download - thepatriotact.bandcamp.com
Release - 2011

Track List:
1. None More Black
2. 3 Years
3. Mind Cuntrol
4. Derailed

Dagwood - Paradise

Location - Cheshire, CT
Genre - Punk/Pop punk
Contact - dagwoodct@gmail.com
Download - dagwoodct.bandcamp.com
Release - 2011








Track List:
1.  Paradise
2.  Guilt
3.  Bone Dry
4.  Planning/Projecting
5.  Closing Up
6.  No Brain
7.  Time Alone
8.  Time Apart
9.  Mental Cave
10.  Yesterday's Energy

Mouthpiece at Middlesex County College 1995 or 1996

This is the first of a series of videos filmed by Shawn Christian Zappo of Changes.  To kick things off right, we have Mouthpiece at Middlesex County College from 1995 or 1996.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Merauder - Master Killer

Merauder - Master Killer
Release - 1996

Story by David Hayter, guitarist for Vegan Straight Edge band Kingdom.

Editor's note:  Since this is an album on a major label, there is no download link available.

I was a metal head before I got into hardcore, and to me it was just like meaner punk, which was awesome.  I liked a few punk bands, but I hated shit like The Casualties and Anti-Flag because it was all poppy-sounding to my brutal ears.  Hardcore was finally the kind of punk I needed.  It was still super rough around the edges, but had the punk vibes/aesthetic I really admired.  I definitely had a barrier in my mind between the two genres though.

I'd always check out new bands on people's recommendation, or just hearing a dude at a show say something like, "Oh man, I was listening to X by X the other day.  So good," or, "I saw so-and-so last week.  They were so awesome!"  One of those bands I heard a lot about was Merauder, so I took it upon myself to figure out what this band was about.  I finally got a burned copy of Master Killer and sat down excited to hear it through.

When I started the Master Killer album, something felt different.  Not just the music, but the production made it sound even darker.  I'd heard intros to songs like the one in "Time Ends" before, with inverted power chords and mid-tempo drumming.  I figured it was just that: an intro.  I thought the song would pick up and a punk beat would kick in any second. Yeah, that never happened.  Instead, I was met with double-bass drumming and single-note riffing for 10 solid tracks.  There's not a single punk beat on the record.  I was confused at first.  Was this hardcore?  But how?  Listening to Merauder, I realized that there wasn't a strict division between punk and metal stylistically.  It is more aesthetic. It's more about how you carry your band, who you associate with, the kinds of shows you play and the overall vibe to your musical personality.  It was no surprise to me when I eventually discovered that Cave In, Converge, Botch and Coalesce were all considered to be in the same genre as Bane, Floorpunch and Slapshot.  I was having trouble writing "simple" punk songs for the first hardcore band I was starting, but then I realized, "Oh shit, I can play metal riffs, too!"  Thanks, Merauder!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Black Sabbath 11-11-11 Announcement

Black Sabbath released this video announcement yesterday.  Featuring the classic lineup, they are not only reuniting, but they are also going to record and release their first studio album in 33 years since 1978's Never Say Die!   This as-of-yet-untitled new album is being produced by Rick Rubin.  Black Sabbath will also be headlining Download Festival on June 10, 2012 with a worldwide tour to follow.

Psychic Teens - Teen

Location - Philadelphia
Genre - Post Punk
Contact - psychicteensnetwork@gmail.com
Download - www.mediafire.com/?ffpna8t8q2nq819
Release - 2011

Psychic Teens' music is an interesting mix of alternative, goth, noise, post-punk and shoegaze.





Track List:
1.  Yung
2.  Kira
3.  CbbK
4.  Arm
5.  Dose
6.  Red
7.  Rose

Friday, November 11, 2011

The Vandals - Live Fast, Diarrhea

The Vandals - Live Fast, Diarrhea
Release - 1995

Editor's note:  Since this is an album on a major label, there is no download link available.

Today is Donny Mutt Day.  In observance, I would like everyone to listen to the song "Happy Birthday To Me" from my favorite Vandals album Live Fast, Diarrhea.  As an added bonus, I am posting the lyrics for your reading pleasure.




Happy Birthday To Me
It's my birthday and I'll do what I want to,
Fuck you it's my birthday.
A special holiday only for me, so do what I say,
It's my party, I'll make you cry if I want to...or leave.
Fuck you, it's not your birthday, so do what I say.

For 24 hours your wishing me well
364 days I'm in hell, Oh well.
Happy Birthday to me.

Alone on my Birthday,
I'm going to Denny's 10 times today
No Tip! it's my birthday, so do what I say
How could you forget my birthday?
That's really immature
Fuck you for forgetting my birthday
You didn't do what I say

24 hours no wishing well
Now 365 days I'm in Hell, Oh well.
Happy Birthday to me.

Happy Birthday to me, Spank Me!
Oh well, Happy Birthday to me,
I can't believe you forgot my birthday
It's my birthday and you're wrecking it
Now it's just like any other day
You didn't do what I say
How could you forget my birthday?
That's really immature.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Led Zeppelin IV turns 40 today

Led Zeppelin - IV
Download - www.mediafire.com/?1taas6fbnsdzf0u
Release - 1971

Forty years ago one of the greatest rock albums of all time was released.  I really wish I had a cool story to go with this post.  The only thing I have is my old band One Up use to play Black Dog as a segue between riffs in one of our songs.  We always thought that it was so cool, but I do not think the audience ever agreed with us.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Sham 69 - Borstal Breakout

Sham 69 - Borstal Breakout
Download - www.megaupload.com/?d=XIDX9CLC
Release -  1978

Story by Evan Vellela, writer of Zero Mentality Fanzine.

I guess this story starts when I was nearing the end of my term in middle school (so I was about 11 or 12). I had a vague interest in music, but like most kids that age, I didn’t know much of anything about anything remotely interesting or cool. My knowledge of music stemmed from whatever boring alt rock my classmates were into or the endless barrage of Beatles records being played for me by my older sister (both of which I absolutely hated). It was around this time however that I discovered punk music purely by chance.

I remember the moment perfectly because it was such a weird coincidence. I was running errands with my father, and while we were out, we had stopped at the discount store in the strip mall by my house to pick up something. While we were there, my eyes drifted to the tape rack by the registers. As I was quickly realizing that the shelves were filled with nothing but garbage adult alternative “classics” and religious audio texts, I came across something that didn’t quite fit. It was a tape comp that Rhino Records had released, entitled The Modern World: UK Punk II 1977-78. I couldn’t believe that something so seemingly cool would be here and that nobody had picked it up already. Without hesitation, I paid the $5 and waited in anticipation until I could listen to it.

When I got home, I played it from front to back for hours, absorbing every band and every line of info on the pro-printed insert. This was my introduction to bands like The Jam, Wire, X-Ray Spex, Buzzcocks and all the entry-level British greats. Among all of this, one track stood out to me: Sham 69’s "There’s Gonna Be A Borstal Breakout." I couldn’t stop listening to it, and must have rewound that tape hundreds of times just to hear that track over and over. It was the perfect mix of gruff punk attitude and melodic songwriting. I was hooked as soon as the track kicked in and the singers maniacal laugh rang out through my Walkman's headphones. It wouldn’t be until a little later that I would find the single for that track, which was paired with another of their songs, "Hey Little Rich Boy." This became one of my all-time favorite punk singles (and probably my favorite 7” picture sleeve), and because of that tape comp, I began my quest to learn anything and everything about this completely alien style of music called "punk rock" (and in the pre-Internet age, this was not an easy task).

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Crazy Train tv commercial

Maybe it's not to late to learn how to love and forget how to hate.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Deadguy - Fixation on a Coworker

Deadguy - Fixation on a Coworker
Download - www.mediafire.com/?mntqwmgnngj
Release -  1995

Story by Pat Shannon, guitarist for All Else Failed.

Luke and I started All Else Failed when Hate To Say It, our high school band, broke up a year or so into our college lives.  Hate To Say It was our baby. Although we were mocked pretty heavily for any number of reasons, looking back, it wasn't so bad.  We were this sort of 120 Minutes-take on hardcore, mainly because we really had no idea what we were doing or even trying to do.  There was a sort of genuine innocence about it though, as if we didn't understand that it wouldn't really come off so well if a bunch of 16 year olds tried to mix Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Primus with Minor Threat, Helmet and Biohazard.  Anyway, when it came time to start All Else Failed, we wanted to continue incorporating our diverse tastes, but we knew we needed to establish some sort of identity, almost like a definitive sound from which we could grow and experiment.

It was around 1994. Luke had been telling me about this band Deadguy he had seen and how they were pretty much what he thought a band should sound like.  The last time he said that, he played me Groundwork, which was cool but a bit spastic for my tastes.  At this point, we had teamed up with Steve and Sesso to start All Else Failed.  They were full on into Skinny Puppy, The Legendary Pink Dots, Joy Division and stuff like that, so we were all sort of gravitating toward a darker sound.  Most of the first wave of emo was awesome, but didn't really speak to us as far as being the kind of stuff we would do.  We didn't really relate to most of the tough-guy stuff that was happening at the time, although we could never resist a well-placed breakdown.  We wrote the first batch of All Else Failed songs and they were so-so even by our standards at the time, which were very, very low.  It seemed like the same thing was going to happen to All Else Failed that happened to Hate To Say It: a band trying to be too many things, and in doing so, not really doing anything well.

I guess we really just needed a record to put it in to perspective for us.  Luke called me one day and told me I had to stop by his basement apartment in Lansdowne to check out Deadguy's Fixation on a Coworker.  When I got there, he was furious that his puppy had puked on the jacket (a crime considering the amazing layout).  Nonetheless, Luke just said, "I've never heard anything like this before," and put on "Doom Patrol."  That was it. We listened to the record over and over.  I listened to "Makeshift Atomsmasher" like 100 times.  That was what we needed.  It was as if that single record made everything else that was out at the time make more sense to us, like Bloodlet, Turmoil and Integrity.  We had heard all of that stuff before, but now Fixation... came out and defined it, so to speak.  We now knew where we were going.

A year or so later, we started getting a little bit of notice and got to play Princeton, NJ with Deadguy.  Unfortunately, it was not long after that their original lineup split. Screaming With The Deadguy Quintet, I maintain, is up there just under Fixation..., but that record wasn't out yet, or if it was, we hadn't heard it (remember life before the Internet?).  The new lineup was awesome but it just wasn't really the band we heard on Fixation....  It probably should have just been a different band, but I could probably say the same thing about All Else Failed six times over by this point, so I get it.

For a while, we covered "Apparatus" and we all traded instruments, which was tons of fun.  We did it at a show in Virginia once, and during load out, I overheard this exchange:

Dude #1: "Did you hear the Deadguy cover?"
Dude #2: "I thought they were all Deadguy covers."

I thought that was funny, but was secretly totally stoked that we were at least tight enough to be considered an adequate ripoff.  I think I might be selling myself short by saying "ripoff", but who cares.

Years and years later, after All Else Failed had broken up for good (sike), we ended up in contact with Tim Singer and presented him the idea of a collaboration.  We got the original All Else Failed lineup together, learned all of Fixation... and were going to perform it with Tim on vocals as "Crazy Eddie" at the second installment of This Is Hardcore.  We practiced once and it was the greatest night of music I have ever played. We crushed and Tim hadn't lost a step.  It felt more like watching Deadguy than did watching the second lineup of Deadguy back in the day.  Unfortunately, Tim ended up with cold feet about the project and ultimately backed out, but I cherish the memory of the one night that we were Deadguy.

Magic Pumpkin

Don't forget to wear your mask.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Cool music Videos: Part Three

Primus' music video for the song "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" absolutely terrifies me. In the video, the band is dresses up like that creepy family from those old Duracell battery commercials.   Watching this video helps me to understand how/why people can be terrified of clowns.







Tool's music video for the song "Sober" has always interested me.  The claymation for this video seems oddly perfect and fitting for the dark tone of the song.  When I was younger I thought this was possibly one of the coolest videos ever.  As an adult, I still think this video is cool, but I also have no clue what the hell this video is about.   Levitation, face melting, arm shaking, weird thing in the closet, crazy mad scientist guy... sure.







The Beastie Boys video for the song "Sabotage" is just straight up bad-assery at it's finest. Mustaches, sliding on the hoods of cars, car chases, tackling someone into a pile of trash, kicking in doors and blowing shit up are just a few of the intense scenes in this video.  After watching this video, it makes the stock performance/party videos most bands use for their videos seem boring and tame by comparison.







Green Jello's video for "Little Pig, Little Pig" is close to six minutes of ridiculousness. The progression from pig to pig in this re-telling of the classic Three Little Pigs story is great. My favorite is Little Pig #2 who was just chilling out, smoking some ganja while listening to Bob Marley.  From out of no where comes a big bad wolf ridding on his Harley. After the wolf inevitably blows his house in, he then proceeds to shred face on the guitar and smoke the rest of Little Pig #2's weed.  The culmination of this video is amazing.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Bikini Kill - Reject All American

Bikini Kill - Reject All American
Download - www.mediafire.com/?jzymewcz3iz
Release - 1996

Story by Taryn Hipp, record slinger at Siren Records.

I was a suburban teenage punk in the mid-'90s. I would sit alone in my room and read MRR, Heartattack & Punk Planet in hopes of finding bands that I could relate to (bands that had girls in them). I would read record reviews and send "well-concealed cash" to post office boxes for cassette demos if there was mention of even one girl. One day after school, I took the bus to Siren Records in Doylestown. I asked the dude working behind the counter to recommend some bands to me. I probably said something like, "I really like Hole, Babes in Toyland and L7." I remember he said to me, "Well, you've heard of Bikini Kill, right?" That was 1996 and I was 17. I bought Reject All American on vinyl that day and caught the bus back to the tiny apartment I shared with my Dad. When I got home, I put the record on figuring it would be like the other "girl bands" I was into. It was that day that I realized I would never love a record more than that one. I sat on my bed reading the lyrics included on the inner sleeve, memorizing them as I listened to the record over and over.

"The Slyvia Plath story is told to girls who write. They want us to think that to be a girl poet means you have to die. Who is it that told me all girls who write must suicide? I've got another good one for you. We are turning cursive letters into knives."

This was punk rock, but this was different. This was exactly what I had been searching for and I found it. I found Bikini Kill and riot grrrl that day. Fifteen years later, I'm the girl working behind the counter at Siren Records recommending that same record to young girls searching for something different.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Slayer - Angel of Death (Radio Disney Version)

This version of Angel of Death sounds pretty and uplifting.

The entire Ride The Fury Records catalogue available for free download

I am re-posting the links below to help get the word out on Ride The Fury Records from New Jersey. They have a lot of great bands with some awesome releases available for free download.  If you like what you hear, make sure to pick up a copy and support a solid record label.

RTF-001 // BLACK KITES- ADVANCEMENT TO RUINS 12"
www.mediafire.com/?opm8zyb44j0jhtb

RTF-002 // SUBURBAN SCUM- INTERNAL WAR CD
www.mediafire.com/?omgqnwiznnj

RTF-003 // BLACK KITES - I WON'T ACCEPT WHAT WE'VE BECOME CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?7k888hjxmmko7od

RTF-004 // STRESSED OUT- DUDES DON'T DIE CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?ul22zmizhwz

RTF-005 // FLESHTEMPLE- SEXUAL DEVIANT CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?4qz9s1jbx34hn2n

RTF-006 // NIGHT BIRDS- DEMO CASETTE
www.mediafire.com/?hlgd5fzsr5lawyu

RTF-007 // GDP - MAGIC BULLET CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?xmtbtfgwyni

RTF-008 // BIG EYES- DEMO CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?tbt8u9o8wd8tbwg

RTF- 009 // PRODUCT OF WASTE / POW CAMP CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?sl0of6nssxeabkc

RTF-010 // AGITATOR- DEMO CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?8lak0fb0z9s5p4w

RTF-011 // CLUBBER LANG- VARSITY VIOLENCE CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?uxfcya5k0vil1k9

RTF-012 // TROUBLEMAKER- MORATORIUM 12"
www.mediafire.com/?w81rvemvv0ajz8w

RTF-013 // SUBURBAN SCUM / INCENDIARY SPLIT CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?9hehtrad3ex2qb2

RTF-014 // STARING PROBLEM - PISSED HUMAN DICK CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?0xrsslr32b2ldsr

RTF-015 // FLESHTEMPLE- SECRET CHEIFS PART 1 CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?wl40ref6cea45fb

RTF-016 // DRUG CHURCH- DEMO CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?r5oh33y0ijrcvpj

RTF-017 // DISAPPROVAL- DEMO CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?zen337c33poc3wv

RTF-018 // OLD WOUNDS- TERROR EYES CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?pbee9ao1z5qt9u5

RTF-019 // NOT THE BEES- KNEES CASSETTE
www.mediafire.com/?h9nhuokeervys2b

RTF-020 // MODEL HOME - ALMOST THERE, BROTHER CASSETTE *COMING SOON*
www.mediafire.com/?vfuxbt44685kuaf

RTF-021 // TOO MANY VOICES - DEMO CASSETTE *COMING SOON*
www.mediafire.com/?taaoa5vurxzcqp2


http://www.rtfrecords.com updated discography, bands... check out our messageboard at www.ridethefury.proboards.com

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TV is about to get awesomeerer!

10pm on October 27th will not come soon enough.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Good Times - Shorter, Faster, Radder E.P.

Location:  Erma, NJ
Genre:  Hardcore/Punk
Contact:  goodtimessj@gmail.com
Download:  goodtimes.bandcamp.com
Release:  2011

This is the newest release from South Jersey's Good Times.  The vinyl version of Shorter, Faster, Radder will be released on Snot Rocket Records this winter.  In the mean time, download the record for free.  As the album title suggests, this E.P. is in fact shorter, faster and radder than their previous release.  Locals Only!
Track List:
1.  Exit Zero
2.  STPD
3.  No Shirt, No Shoes, Fuck Yea!
4.  Parkway North (Bolt Kooks)
5.  Don't Get It Twisted
6.  Livin' For Me

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Saves The Day - Through Being Cool

Saves The Day - Through Being Cool
Download -  www.mediafire.com/?2jm2mlcigig
Purchase - Revelation Records
Release -  1999

Story by Dave Garren, singer for the Straight Edge band Outlast.

I can distinctly remember the first time I heard Saves the Day.  It was 2001 and I was a sophomore in high school.  Up until this point, my musical diet consisted mostly of Drive Thru, Kung Fu, and Asian Man Records bands with lots of Blink 182, Alkaline Trio and other assorted pop punk bands.  I was walking down the hallway with a friend of mine who shared similar musical tastes and he said to me, “Hey, you should check out this band, Saves the Day. They have a song about you.”  Confused by this, he clarified that it wasn’t really about me, but they said “Please, Dave, just drive” and that was close enough.  I would later find out that he was referring to “Shoulder to the Wheel”.  He was going on and on about how good this band was and that I needed to listen to them immediately.  For the rest of the school day, I couldn’t wait to hit up the local record store, Tunes, and check this band out.  Being 15 and having no car, this meant that I was relegated to riding my Mongoose Villain the twelve or so miles round trip for these sort of endeavors.

When I finally made it up to Tunes, I headed to the “S” section and started browsing. Their polarizing record, Stay What You Are, hadn’t come out yet so I had three albums to choose from; Can’t Slow Down, Through Being Cool, and I’m Sorry I’m Leaving.  Knowing nothing of the band or even what record the song my friend was referring to, I chose the one with the best cover, Through Being Cool.  Five awkward looking kids sitting on a couch in the middle of a crowded party connected with me since I wasn’t popular, didn’t drink, and didn’t go to parties so I felt a little left out from what all of the “cool” kids where doing.  I took the CD to the guy at the counter who was infinitely cooler than I (lest I forget) and paid for it.  The ride home seemed to take forever because I was so anxious to get home and listen to this record that had come so highly recommended.

When I finally got up to my room, I put the CD in my stereo and sat on my bed with the case. Ten seconds into “All Star Me” and I was already blown away.  I had never heard anything like this before, but I was so drawn to its energy.  I sat on my bed and read the lyric sheet along with the music and was completely floored by how good the lyrics were. As each song played, I felt a connection that I hadn’t experienced before.  It almost seemed like Chris Conley was writing about how I felt and what I wanted.  Once the CD ended, I played it again and again until I went to bed that night, reading the lyrics and memorizing every word.  That record didn’t leave my CD player for two weeks and I was changed forever.

I’ll never forget sitting in my room blasting Through Being Cool, memorizing every single word, and staring at the artwork.  Gone are the days of physical music where every tangible aspect of an album was savored, but I will cherish those days forever.  Saves the Day opened my world up to a new kind of music that was passionate, articulate, driving, and expressive.  They showed me that you could have fast, energetic music, but still have heartfelt and meaningful lyrics.  It would later lead me to bands like Lifetime, The Promise Ring, As Friends Rust and later, hardcore.  I owe everything to Chris Conley’s words and music and probably wouldn’t be who I am today without Saves the Day.  I can honestly say that Through Being Cool changed my life.