Collision - Croc. Hunter Demo

Unfortunately my copy of the demo is in a box right now, still packed away from moving a few months ago. But I have the files on the computer, so, no scan of the cover but you still get the songs (I know, if you HAVE to settle for just that, you will- ha ha).

Collision is one of the first local hardcore bands I remember. Fast, fairly simple, and fun live. The 7inch was okay, but the production lacked. The follow up ep was decent, but a mastering problem truly messed up what would have been a really good cd. Finally, looking to generate some interest, the band released this demo themselves. All things were at last overcome- production was good, songs all fell together in a familiar, but fun sound. Unfortunately, the band came apart as this demo was making the rounds to fans and labels alike. Members went on to a lot of bands that dont necessarily reflect what this band sounds like (including: oneXchoice, internal affairs, & impact/stand & fight). This demo captures a small shred of the fun this band was live- full of energy with good songs and always a well placed, fun cover.

Collision - Demo (download)

No Justice - Still Fighting 7inch

Hailing from Virginia/D.C., No Justice existed for an all too short time in the late 90's, recording a demo (if anyone has it, post in the comments) & a 7inch (i believe the memories of tomorrow comp track is the same as the version on the 7inch ???).

The 7inch came out on the Chicago label Underestimated around 1999 & featured the singer of Bladecrasher. Piled full of immense energy and what seemed an unending desire to destroy self & stage alike, the band tore apart everything- bolted down or not. Many No Justice stories have been told- like singer Timmy running about screaming into a megaphone, ripping instruments out of band members hands, and just general mayhem. Their shows are something of legends- taking the self-destructive live show of the early 80's bands into a pissed off youth crew type sound (dont rule it out if you don't like that sound, they break from that mold, a lot).

Here's a live show review I found on-line from 1999:

NO JUSTICE opened up first and their set was probably the craziest one I have seen in a while. Their music was decent youth crew sounding hardcore, but their onstage antics and quite possibly having the best jumping, energetic vocalist is what makes this band what they are. And let me tell ya, this was the first time that I have ever seen the opening band draw the largest crowd. Huge pile ons, stage dives in droves, and by the end, lots of blood too. I found myself laughing more than listening though because their singer was truely intent on either breaking his neck by jumping into spots where there weren't any people, or was more interested in destorying equipment such as the drummer's mic stand and a cymbal and stand which he threw into the crowd causing a wave of people getting the fuck out of the way. All I can say is that I'm glad that I'm a wuss and was standing in the back of the room.


No Justice - Still Fighting 7inch (download)

*this is an older rar file i had stored already, so i don't have scans included. if anyone would like them, i will get them up. while this record is out of print, it's still not impossible to come by with a keen eye from time to time*

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Now playing: No Justice - Failed
via FoxyTunes

Reinforce - 7inches

So far there's been a lot more here of 90's screamo or heavier styled stuff, but during the 90's my biggest thing was- GASP! youth crew. Not that i'm ashamed of that in the least, I'm not. I don't care what people said, the "revival" bands had some great stuff.

I digress.

I first heard Reinforce on a local college radio station, the song "Butterfly". I was tape trading with a few people at the time and I traded with someone from the east coast. I got a tape with the Atari demo, Time Flies demo, In My Eyes demo, The Impact demo, UntilXToday demo, Bladecrasher demo, & the Reinforce demo. Far from mind blowing, miles from new, but it was fucking great. I was really into the revival/youth crew sound and no (then current) band got me running in circles, pointing fingers, and being (realistically) positive than Reinforce during those few summers in the 90's. When this band split as did another N.C. band, Until X Today (post coming soon), the First Step was born from their ashes.

Other than some comp. tracks, all I know that Reinforce did was both of these 7inches, their demo, & an lp called "Happy Kids Don't Paint their Rooms Black". The two 7inches you get here are:

Youth Shall Sing
1.) Butterfly
2.) Won't Accept It
3.) I'll Do My Best
4.) You Said
5.) Countdown
6.) There Speaks A True Friend
7.) Try & Try

One Life Thug Free
1.) One Life Thug Free
2.) It's Alright to Show Emotion
3.) A World Away
4.) Yeah, We Got It!
5.) Excuses, Excuses/There's A Warm Place in Hell For Me & My Friends
6.)This is Not the End

Both 7inches & cover scans included in download:

Reinforce - Two 7inches (download)



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Now playing: Alice in Chains - Them Bones
via FoxyTunes

New Moves for Old Feet

On Tap for the immediate future (Thursday/Friday) is:

Reinforce - One Life Thug Free 7inch & Youth Shall Sing 7inch

No Justice - 7inch

Dirty Dirt & the Dirts - 7inch & 3 comp songs

and some finds I've made the last week in other blogs (and links to those blogs).

I also started another blog(totally unrelated to this one other than it being about another thing i love- my job working with kids), so if you have kids of your own or younger siblings, nieces, nephews, etc. check it out or tell people you know who could use it. Dancing Cookies / Little Bar of Soap Blog. It's designed to have activities, games, riddles and more in a wide range of areas for (mostly) School Age kids.

A Reason For Living 7inch Comp.

I actually piked up this little 90's gem about 6 months ago, again at the great Dr. Strange Records in Alta Loma, California for the used bargain of 2 bucks.

Nothing mind shattering here- you get two of my more favorite 90's bands- Despair & Snapcase along with the US Envy (Larry from Think Fast on vocals I believe?) & one more band that is kinda whatever (not bad, just by comparison its hard to stand out with Despair & Snapcase). A nice bonus is that the Snapcase track - Caboose is from a recording prior to the 'Progression Through Unlearning' album and even though the album version sounds better, I'm a junkie for different track versions of bands I like.

enjoy!


A Reason For Living Comp 7inch (download)

Through the Desert & Back (Geonna Grey, Where Eagles Dare, & 7 Generations)

May 17, 2008 a favorite band of mine, Where Eagles Dare, got back together to play a benefit for a young girl named Geonna Grey who had been injured at her daycare. The band, and many in Ariz. HC were friends with her parents. To help, care, and try to begin to heal many within not just the Ariz. HC/Punk scenes, but from all over came out for the fun of seeing old friends and bands and to help.

Myself & some friends made the trek through the desert from So. Calif. to Tempe, Az. for all the fun and good causes.

A few pics of WED & 7 Generations:

(click on the pictures to see them full size)

7 GEN:




WED:




Unfortunately, about halfway through Where Eagles Dare's set someone stepped on my arm as they tried to walk across the barrier to the stage and they knocked my camera out of my hand. I couldn't find it until after the show was over. So, I didnt get too many WED shots, but that isn't as important as when I found it, scratched and a little beat up, it wouldn't work at first. But, a little pushing, forcefullness, and willing it into being got the thing pushed back in place (the button you push to take the photo wasn't working) and produced the picture below of a sympathetic Nicholas (bassist for 7g) lamenting my broken camera (which is fixed now).

Lined up for the Near Future...

In the next few days/weeks expect a good mix of smaller (though i'm sure known to some extent) bands like Strain, Drift Again, Until X Today, Show of Hands, Stickfigurecarousel, & some local bands (riverside/inland empire, calif.) demos and assorted things.

For now, check out the last few days work below this post as well as this little treat.

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Greg Graffin Live Set 2006

I'm a huge Bad Religion fan. Other than the Adolescents first LP & Suicidal Tendencies first LP there isn't really a band whose classic era of output is still so constantly in rotation and vital to me. I’m also a pretty big folk fan too. Sounds kind of random, doesn’t it? Except that BR singer Greg Graffin has been doing folk (acoustic and stuff closer to folk rock) off and on for a number of years. In the 90’s he did a project called American Lesion. It comprised songs he felt, for one reason or another, just didn’t fit into the Bad Religion song scape. The album drew much more on the rock side of folk songs, with a softer influence. One song even ended up in Bad Religion’s catalog (the song “Cease”).

Years later Greg did a solo folk record backed by the Weakerthans & Jollie Holland that was much more closer to the ideas of old folk songs (including some standards dating back to the 1800’s) when they drew from old hymnals, simpler times, and very different lives than our own. That album, titled “Cold As The Clay” struck a chord with me. I really enjoyed (and still enjoy) it.

In 2006 he was in Germany and played acoustically a number of songs from the Cold As The Clay album as well as a few Bad Religion songs. The quality is amazing and the set overall is interactive (between him and the audience) and fun. Enjoy.

*unending gratitude due to the folks over at www.bad-religion.net for this and many other Bad Religion gems*


(download link)Greg Graffin Live (download)

Greg Graffin Live @ the Silver Wings Club, Germany 2006

1 – Don’t Be Afraid to Run
2 – Omie Wise
3 – Cold As The Clay
4 - God Song (Bad Religion)
5 - Highway
6 – Talk About Suffering
7 – Suffer (Bad Religion)
8 – Willie Moore
9 - Rebel’s Goodbye
10 – Cease (American Lesion/Bad Religion)
11 – The Watchmaker’s Dial
12 – Sorrow (Bad Religion)
13 – One More Hill
14 – Dream of Unity (Bad Religion)



(download link)Greg Graffin Live (download)

Le pré où je suis mort - EP

Le pré où je suis mort (the field where i died)is a French/Swiss Screamo band. Anyone who has been paying attention to the Screamo scene knows that France (and other parts of Europe) & Japan have been the hotbeds for this stuff over the last few years. This band is no exception to that.

Le pré où je suis mort takes from the more current bands with a more refined sound that balances between bass driven softer parts to screaming explosions. The formula might sound a little done when reading about it, but if this is your thing I promise you won't be disappointed.

Band Myspace Page (still ative)

Download/Listen EP

*Their first ep is FREE to download at the download/listen link above. There is also a player embedded in the web page so you can even listen first. Enjoy, their label hooked it up*

Parades End - Discography

In April of 1996 I was just starting to go fully from punk and dive headfirst into hardcore. Making that transition from Dead Kennedys, Adolescents, and Minor Threat to the realm of Minor Threat, Mouthpiece, Gorilla Biscuits, etc. Helping that transition was the local college station 88.7 KSPC (claremont, california) and the radio show "Fall in Love with Nick."

Not only did the show play the afformentioned GB, Mouthpiece, and Minor Threat but it was my first exposure to Swiz, Snapcase, Earth Crisis, Killing Time, and the band this post is about- Parades End. At just barely 17 years old I had not a single clue of what screamo was and I was barely discovering emo-core via Dag Nasty, so Parades End blew my mind.

What I heard that night on May 30th, 1996 was a live in-studio performance of the band. They did five songs- their self titled 7inch and a song that would turn up on a split 7inch. For years I would play the tape I had copied off the radio to anyone who would listen. My punk friends hated it, and the few hardcore kids I knew at the time thought it sounded too weird or weak for their tastes. So, I remained oblivious for years.

Long story short, years later after I had discovered all the great stuff that went on/was going on I stumbled upon the two 7inches this band released a few years apart from each other. The "S/T" 7inch came out on Wordsmith Covenant Records in '96 and I am guessing that the split (w/Sky Falls Down) came out in '97 on Moo Cow Records. I excluded the comp. song from "Guilty by Association" because its still in print on Indecision Records and the song had a different singer and while i love the song, its almost nothing like these songs at all. Yes, an ex-member of Outspoken is in this band, and members went on to do a band later with most of these members.

s/t 7inch:
Sphere
Drought
Love
Dreamer

split 7inch:
Age Old Story
Death of the Fittest

Live Set:
st 7inch + Death of the Fittest


Parades End - (near) Discography (download)


*I didn't have the covers/inserts scanned when I originally made the download file, so you can find them HERE
and just save them to your computer*

Revolution Summer - 6 Song Demo

THIS IS NOT THE EUROPEAN BAND

As best as I can tell, this is a stateside band.
Unfortunately, getting information on this band has been fruitless over the last year or so that I've had this demo because of the D.C. movement associated with the name and the European band of the same name.

This was a random Soulseek score one night while I was up at late at Resident Camp. I downloaded this on the band name alone (not yet aware of the euro band).

Think fast D.C. Hardcore with punk doses and enough (tasteful) melody to drown in. Sung to screamed vocals with plenty of layered/slightly off back up vocals and plenty of bass guitar. This would fit in perfectly around the mid-late 80's in some combination of later era Faith with the energy of early era Faith and some Embrace thrown in (and heavy nods to some of the bands they influenced like earlier Avail & Hot Water Music).

Revolution Summer - Demo (download)

411 - The Thoughts That Feed the Fire 7inch

I first heard 411 my sophmore year of high school (lets just say it was more than 10 years ago) through a friend whose older brother had been into the hardcore scene before us. The friend would always go on and on about 411 and since he had turned me on to classic era Bad Religion and Sick of it All, I had to trust him. Their lp "This Isn't Me" (maybe I'll post it later) is great and remains one of my all time favorite albums I can listen to straight through, but the 7inch isn't exactly chopped liver.

The first song is faster than most of their other stuff and the second track is an earlier version of a song that would later appear on the full length. Melodic, mid-paced hardcore or maybe even post-hardcore; 411 had an all-star cast doing some of their best and most ambitious stuff (at that time at least) and the band still seems to go mostly unoticed and unrecognized.

The Thoughts That Feed the Fire 7inch
1. - Say It
2. - Those Homophobic

Dan O'Mahoney - vocals
Josh Stanton - bass
Kevin Murphy - guitar
Mario Rubalcalba - drums

*download includes scans of front & back covers as well as the insert- enjoy*

DOWNLOAD LINK NOW DIRECTS TO THE DISCOGRAPHY THAT WAS POSTED JAN 2010

Four One One - "Discography?" (DOWNLOAD)

Tension - the Sickness of Our Age 7inch

Tension came from South Florida and existed in the 90's. I had always heard their name, but I never checked them out. But, last week in what would become one of those "why didn't I listen to this band before?" moments, I heard Tension's "The Sickness of Our Age" 7inch courtesy of the Southern Florida Music Scene Blog (which has a full write up of the band with two other releases of theirs). Members went onto be in or were from a lot of prominent Florida bands and when you hear the power of this Florida Straight Edge band, you can see how. Political, Pissed off, and with a slight groove to their fast (but heavy at times) sound, the vocals come at you like a cross between Ray Cappo & "Advent of A Miracle" Strongarm.

Thanks again goes out to Southern Florida Music Scene Blog



Tension - "The Sickness of Our Age" 7inch (download)

Coming Up This Weekend...

So, it's a three day weekend and at the urging of one Chris Musik (yeah, if i fucked up your last name at least i didn't say the other name) I do in fact need to update this.

So, with that said, I have already uploaded and saved drafts for at least 5 different bands (Parades End, 411, Get It Away, and No Justice and I'm copping part of a post from another great blog (link to it will be in the post) for the band Tension) and I tried to keep it diverse, so just know that there's some fast and thrashy, fast & oldschool, screamo, faster heavy stuff, and a bit of what i can only call mid paced post hardcore (which doesn't do it justice).

Check back tonight, some of it will be up for sure.