Syracuse hardcore shows 1997

Never thought I might still have those gig posters; great line ups.

THE WORLD/ INFERNO FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY - Tattoos Fade (7") Blue Ghost Records #01 1995

From the ashes of the divine Sticks And Stones came this brilliant Vaudeville influenced New York band. If you have never seen them live: poor you!
The title track of this 7" has been rereleased on the split 7" with Dawnbreed/ Monochrome (X-Mist Records) and on the "East Coast Superpunk Of Today!" cd on Gern Blandsten, but they always left off the flip side, because it was to obvious that they stole from "Velvet Goldmine" by David Bowie. Even if they did so: it' s a great song and it deserves to be rereleased (and even to be played live)! Since you can still get the title track, I just included "Nothing You Begin".

And yes: all their other records are brilliant and easily to get, but I have some soundboard recordings which were done on a little tape label back then and might post them (if you want to).

500 were pressed back then, I wish you good luck finding it.

THE WORLD/ INFERNO FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY - Tattoos Fade (7") Blue Ghost Records #01 1995

side a:
1. Tattoos Fade

side b:
1. Nothing You Begin
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: themesongs]

Links:
Homepage
Tattoos Fade 7" at their homepage

INSTIGATORS - nobody listens anymore (LP) Bluurg #11 1985

Okay, I' ll stop posting shitty music for a short moment and switch to my favourite Instigators album (even one of the best Bluurg releases excluding all the CD rereleases of UK classics they are doing nowadays), their other stuff - especially later - is nice, but can' t keep up with those twelve inches. All those more melodic UK hardcore punk bands had something special I loved about them; just think of Sofahead, H.D.Q. (I am a huge fan), Shutdown, Leatherface or later Broccoli and so on.
"Wrong word", "Free" and "Nobody Listens Anymore" are quite hymns and any band with those bass guitar runs can lull me and what sets them apart is really some unspent ideas concerning songwriting combining good old UK punk, even some wave with mid-tempo US hardcore. The production is also great.
And: I was never bothered by those lyrics ranging from vegetarianism to problems of ageing; I wasn' t bothered by the lyrics of Ripcord, Generic or Satanic Malfunctions either. Although they all have a quite preachy undertone, I still think Crass for example were worse, but maybe it' s just personal sympathy.

So if I am going to sell all my punk records for more spiritual jazz: at least I am going to keep this one.

Sorry, but my Scanner cuts off a bit of the 12" covers and I am really to lazy to scan four times for just one cover compiling a panorama.

INSTIGATORS - nobody listens anymore (LP) Bluurg #11 1985

side a:
1. in one ear...
2. dine upon the dead
3. the fix
4. wrong word
5. free

side b:
1. nobody listens anymore
2. the blood is on your hands
3. old is sad
4. it' s got to be stopped
5. ... out the other
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]

Links:
KFTH entry

Flipside, Heartattack & Maximumrocknroll issues and fanzines in general

(from Ich bin der Papst #2, circa 1992, Constance, Germany; done by Schlupp, former guitar player in Cwill)

What about fanzines? They were and are also part of this culture industry like flyers, posters, records and shirts were1. Lately I stumbled across many digital versions of classics; from Slash to Schism or Bloodbook, but like always it’ s nearly impossible to document the endless pile since every village in the world seemed to have a fanzine. If you ever visit Berlin you have to visit the Archiv der Jugendkulturen (= archive of youth cultures) they have a nice collection of fanzines there.

Anyway here is a nice collection of old Flipside, Suburban Voice, Heartattack & Maximumrocknroll issues in the pdf format:

Punk Zine Archive!

So in the future I am contributing some fanzines from all over the world – ranging from bad to brilliant.

1 Great (German) reads are the books “Wir waren Helden für einen Tag - Aus deutschsprachigen Punk-Fanzines 1977-1981” ( Paul Ott und Hollow Skai, Hamburg 1983) and the bonus book from the early Punk, New Wave scene especially in Düsseldorf and Wuppertal photo documentation called "Guter Abzug".

ABLAZE - self titled (7") Dropout Recordings #01 1996

Short lived band from Germany, supposed to be from the area where Upset were from. They did this 7" after their demo tape (also had some tracks on tape compilations ("Animal Peace" for example)) and then disappeared. I never saw them live or have any further informations.
This release doesn' t help either since there is no lyric sheet, contact informations etc. included. The 7" has a dire existence in every second hand record box all over the world, mostly for one buck. The dealers who do so have a point: it looks shitty, since the cover and back cover is totally grainy (looks like Paintbrush work with a very, very low resolution) and the 7" is brilliant in an absence of any production. The drums sound like a cassette tape recorder take in a rehearsal room, guitars sound tinny and just the screamed vocals stand out a bit. Really annoying, even the first version of the One Eyed God Prophecy 12" sounds much better. It' s a pity since this does no justice to the music: very much Uranus influenced emotional hardcore and a huge glance at the "Bremer School" especially Carol but also Assay etc.

This is all I found: a review in an old Heartattack. The writer seems to have the same opinion.

ABLAZE - self titled (7") Dropout Recordings #01 1996

side a:
1. living for the evolution
2. finally gone
3. intrusion

side b:
1. now I know, I can stand it
2. weep
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

V/A - Reconstruction (LP) Stonehenge #04 & Ras L' Bol! Fanzine #?? 1994

I used to be a huge fan of French hardcore and especially emo core and this compilation is a little who is who of the 1993 - 1994 period (okay, hundreds of bands are missing...), released by Stonehenge and Ludovic from the Ras L' Bol fanzine (pressing of 1035). About 3 years later French emo core was in the heydays in Europe and I know some people who paid nearly 30 bucks just to get the first Undone 7" to complete their collection (you can get this one today for 2 bucks); crazy and all before the huge Ebay gold digging.

My favourites are Ivich, Thrill Of Confusion, Finger Print, Undone and Vanilla. Some stuff here is really bad produced/ mastered, a reason why I seldom listened to the compilation (okay, I am still the guy who loves pappily rehearsal recordings). There are two essays about diy and giving it a larger scale - meaning within punk, outlook on society etc. - by the two publishers (judge for yourself! I included scans of the booklet).

I do not want to know what Autonomia Indigena' s further sense of mission and political attitude was but I have this foreboding1.

I sold all my Vanilla stuff years ago and I think I am a fucking idiot.

By the way here are two discography pages, the first one covering punk in France from 1977 to 1990 and the second "rock" until 2003 including most of the hardcore bands. Both seem quite complete, with short label informations... even having bands like Cocha Bomba or a label like Squad Records etc.

V/A - Reconstruction (LP) Stonehenge #04 & Ras L' Bol! Fanzine #?? 1994

side a:
Ivich
1. poison pilote
Sea Shepherd
2. burnt alive
Thrill Of Confusion
3. execution
Ultimate Disorder
4. nihilisme
5. errance
Finger Print
6. choix
Escape
7. raz-de-marée

side b:
Autonomia Indigena
1. no a la sumisión
Shatter The Myth
2. position
Cause 'n Effect
3. lonely
Undone
4. fallacy
Co-Exist
5. héros à tort
Vanilla
6. above the sea
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: Baudrillard]

Links:
Stonehenge Records

1 Maybe someone wants to contribute their 7" here?

HARD STANCE -long sleeve

Hard Stance longsleeve which was printed with the reissue of the first 7" (originally on Workshed) and a 7" with previously unreleased songs (I am still looking for the cd version and a xerox copy of the demo cover?!).

There was also nice shirt done by Workshed. This one looks a bit cheezy.

As you might know Alex, Zack and Mark were in Inside Out later.

The only thing I found concerning Hardstance: a post about collecting the different pressing versions.

V/A - God' s Chosen People (LP) Old Glory Records #04 1993

Like I told you the last decade was ten years of compilations overkill and here is a nice example: "God' s Chosen People" by Old Glory Records (run by an Iconoclast member), a label that brought out many stuff by all your heroes: Assfactor 4, In/Humanity, Avail, Policy Of Three, Iconoclast or even Funeral Duner (ex-Portraits Of Past) later. Since the label does not exist anymore, I will post some further stuff.

Here we have some of the early 90ies legends (Born Against, Merel, Native Nod, Avail and Rorschach) together with some bands who never got much attention (Groove, Shadowman (still looking for their demo tape!) or Greyhouse); quite decent and compact 30 minutes with only two songs that bore me.
Rorschach hack themselves through the King Crimson classic, Native Nod (pre-Van Pelt, The Lapse, Ted Leo...) help to strengthen their position as a blueprint for every knee sliding freak and Born Against take the biscuit once more, but my underhand favourite is Greyhouse' s "Ever-Nearing Joy".

The complete booklet is included in the zip file!

V/A - God' s Chosen People (LP) Old Glory Records #04 1993

side a:
Avail
1. Sidewalk
Merel
2. Newfound Snide Remark
Elizabeth Herz
3. Easter Island
Askance
4. The Living
Puzzlehead
5. Degenerated (Reagan Youth)
Native Nod
6. Back to Mimsy

side b:
Rorschach
1. 21st Century Schizoid Man (King Crimson)
Groove
2. Extension
Shawdowman
3. Written Undefined
Iconoclast
4. Eleventh Hour
Greyhouse
5. Ever-Nearing Joy
Born Against
6. Lillian
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

SIDESHOW - rust/ face foot ladder (7") Caulfield #11 1993

Okay, here is Sideshow's 7" right after the 2nd album. A good step away from the punk influenced sound towards good "art-guitar" music (plain and simple: post punk?!1), especially the flip side. Did the bass player listen to Happy Ever After before recording his part for "rust"?

Here is a column on Caulfield' s end in 2005.

This leaves a bitter taste (but is at least great for you): the 3rd album is currently available for 1 cent (!!!) at Amazon.com. What are you waiting for?

SIDESHOW - rust/ face foot ladder (7") Caulfield #11 1993

side a:
1. rust

side b:
1. face foot ladder
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]

Links:
Caulfield Records
Caulfield @ Myspace
Caulfield records poll @ the label' s hometown blog
Article on Sideshow in 1997

1 ""It's post-punk, kind of in the same vein as Fugazi
(who they once opened for) or the Poster Children," he said." (see last link listed above)

SIDESHOW - self titled (LP) Caulfield #02 circa 1989/ 1990

Kinda sad that some people never heard of Sideshow' s first album which was the second release for Caulfield records (founded in 1988 and run by a Sideshow member).
Sideshow anticipated a bit the whole wave that followed about 4 years later and accompanied it with their other albums (above all: Caufield even released things like Giants Chair, Mineral and Christie Front Drive later) but never got that much attention like Jawbreaker, Jawbox or the other Caulfield artists did.
Furthermore they had not this anodyne (and partly boring college rock) sound like many of those bands and tried to forge ahead on their own; keeping Hüsker Dü, Replacements or even Ruts records, the early Chicago sound and the second wave of Dischord stuff in memory. "Veil of darkness" for example... at beginning it reminds me of Squirrel Bait but takes a different direction then. All completed with personal but not annoying and pathetic lyrics.

Enjoy!

Haven' t seen the record for a while, but try your luck at Ebay; shouldn' t be that expensive.

SIDESHOW - self titled (LP) Caulfield #02 circa 1989/ 1990

side a:
1. halspar
2. down
3. veil of happiness
4. groove

side b:
1. kick in the theeth
2. these words
3. right
4. m
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]

ANASARCA/ ANONYMOUS - split (7") Planaria Recordings #01 1995/ 1996

We' re going to have a "emo special" here for many further postings. One of the two vinyl releases (7" on Yuletide was the other one) by Anasarca who were quite overlooked back then but in the end an influence to others (for example Blue Water Boy/ Crush My Calm stated that Anasarca were besides Current etc. a influence to their sound), this also led Second Nature to release a discography cd/ lp. But I have to admit that I like their previous stuff more, their song sounds a bit like the link between old emo core and the succeeding "disco emo metal" wave.
I liked Anonymous - not to be mistaken for the old wave punk band -, being even better than on their first own 7", here more than Anasarca; like a good strumming version of Avail or in the second song like a more screamy version of - if you know them - Clairmel. I think one member of Lifetime used to play in Anonymous too.

The label also did the Elements Of Need/ Jasemine split 7" and the Plunger lp.

I just found an old picture by Anasarca on my computer - live in D.C. I think:



ANASARCA/ ANONYMOUS - split (7") Planaria Recordings #01 1995/ 1996

side a:
Anasarca
1. everything was beautiful and nothing hurt

side b:
Anonymous
1. butterfly cather
2. again
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

Links:
Planaria Records

WILLIAM MARTYR 17 - celebration of love (7") File Thirteen #14 & Bloodlink #14 1995

This is one of my favourites concerning the second wave in the 90ies. There might be many bands who were better musically, but I got stuck with this one due to the time I got it, my circumstances in life, the sadness that is inherent here and the nice packaging (one of the best among all those cut and paste, flier overkill emo core 7"'s). Same goes for my sis (can you rip the Towncraft compilation, please?).
William Martyr 17 ended too soon with their drummer dying at the age of 16 in a car accident. In remembrance of him File Thirteen released a compilation later1. I am quite sure that one or two records later they would have been huge but in this case those two songs just give us a feeling what their later stuff might have sounded. Both songs ended up on nearly all mixtapes I did with comparable bands.

Maybe you like it like I did.

Does anyone know where I can purchase the discography CD?

Here is a quite nice example how an online documentation should be like:

William Martyr 17 @ Towncraft Movie

While many labels, regional scene pages etc. remove their former discography sections, delete informations, just doing an empty myspace page now or former internet documentations just disappear, they do a great job.

Members of William Martyr 17 joined Soophie Nun Squad and Hundred Years War.

WILLIAM MARTYR 17 - celebration of love (7") File Thirteen #14 & Bloodlink #14 1995

side a:
1. professional beggar

side b:
1. kenya
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]


Links:
File Thirteen
File Thirteen discography section
Towncraft Movie
Bloodlink Records (empty)

1 Recently I read some comments about this compilation being pathetic but those gumbos just read way to much Heidegger.

WILLIAM MARTYR 17 & PLUNGER - split (7") Spearfinger #01 & File Thirteen #14.5 1995

This was the second vinyl release by William Martyr 17 after the split 7" with Crown Of Glory (I am very interested in getting my hands on their demo tape, when William Martyr 17 were still called Otherwise) and shows some progression in songwriting but has yet a real rattling sound, but those dudes were young at the time of the recordings.
Plunger on the flip side come off as winner here. Sometimes I like their first song here better than the whole posthumous lp, wishing it would last 3 minutes longer. They really learned a lesson from The Hated and Moss Icon. Much Moss Icon. I am still irritated by the lo-fi guitar distortion when the song gets louder.
Don' t take a look at the cover, that' s a bit too much of diy simplicity. There were other versions with better sleeves later and they looked like this.

WILLIAM MARTYR 17 & PLUNGER - split (7") Spearfinger #01 & File Thirteen #14.5 1995

side a:
Plunger
1. at the ground
2. reticence

side b:
William Martyr 17
1. four years long
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]

Links:
Plunger @ Myspace (who isn't?)

V/A - Bloodless Unreality (7") Forfeit Records #01 1992

There is this unwritten law that says you love or hate compilations and there is nothing in between. While sometimes I suck most of my friends always do: they hate compilations always asking why I own them. Poor bastards if "PEACE/WAR", "Nothing's Quiet On The Eastern Front", "Bullshit Detector", "Flex your head", "Recommended" or "No New York" did not change anything in your life, what was it? Yeah, "sex" and "books", caspar.

Fine thing about compilations: always something new to discover, songs by boring bands end after a few minutes and most of them are diverse and challenging.

So I ended up with my fat arses sitting on hundreds of compilations mainly 7”’s, tapes and lps.
Especially in the 90ies the 7” compilation seemed to be compulsory to found a label and so does “Bloodless Unreality” from Forfeit Records. Combining some of my favourites from the grind and crust genre: Destroy (I love everything by them) who later merge in Code 13, the incredible Hellnation with some early tracks, Confrontation (featuring members of Mindrot and later Dystopia) and of course the mighty Assück (sadly with otherwise released songs). The Raw Power cover done by Hellnation is quite nice since the voice sounds like famous early Raw Power live recordings (just listen to the BCT tape respectively the GTA cd), their own song is still a bit rudimental compared to their later stuff ("Fucked up mess" ist the "let there be rock" of fastcore). What happened to the voice of the Confrontation singer? The song is a different version than on their 2nd 7" and it sounds like he has been on tour for 2 months, smoked a pack cigarettes, screamed two hours and then started recording without any chamomille tea available. Both singles by them are okay, but this sounds horrible!
The compilation is trying to cover the issue of war with focus on the US. In my opinion more or less poorly achieved.

V/A - Bloodless Unreality (7") Forfeit Records #01 1992

Side a:
Destroy
1. War without mercy
2. Vile horrendous aerial bombardment
Hellnation
3. Politicians (Raw Power)
4. Death Squads

Side b:

Confrontation
1. Insurgence
Assück
2. Procession
3. Blindspot
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]

REFLEX FROM PAIN - checkered future (Flexi 7") TPOS #30 1990

And Reflex From Pain again, this time with a demo from 1983 featuring Ray Cappo on the vocals. Not as great as their 7" but quite enjoyable especially when you concentrate on the voice and compare it with what was coming then. Reminds me a bit of Artificial Peace, especially the flipside.
Some songs here have been played by Violent Children and 76% Uncertain later - much better of course.

TPOS was really a great label concerning some stuff from the CT and east coast area, from the Far Cry 7”, the compilation tapes or the Violent Children tape; all worth getting near your ears. They even did some 8-track cartridges lately including Violent Children, Drop Dead, Antiseen, Charles Manson and of course 76% Uncertain - all with additional stuff which has never been released before. Sounds interesting!

Funny side note: the line up features nearly all people who recorded the first Shelter album!

REFLEX FROM PAIN – checkered future (7”) TPOS #30 1990

side a:
1. You’ re The Hate
2. Complacency
3. Bury My Pride
4. lind Faith
5. B.S. Straight Edge

side b:
1. Knife in my back
2. Roller Rink Stud
3. Peer Pressure
4. Someone’ s Waiting
5. The Scream
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

REFLEX FROM PAIN – black and white (7“) Bitzcore #01675 1991/ reissue

Has Reflex From Pain been posted somewhere before? I am sure the C.I.A. 7" was posted several times (why not the lp too? It is not that bad). Please tell me, but I will continue anyway:
This was originally released by Death Threat Records in 1983 but since I am a poor punk rocker (I was once told there aren’ t any1), I just have the rerelease by Bitzcore which is sadly without a lyric sheet (many Bitzcore releases – although being great – look like any Lost And Found stuff) but has additional songs which weren’ t on the original 7” (they are a bit behind the original 7" songs). I never read their lyrics so I am quite interested in someone who might provide them from the original version! Thanks.

What I always loved about the CT hardcore stuff was that they were locally caught between two, no three stools: D.C., New York and Boston. And it seems that this had quite an influence on their sound. The speed from Boston, the harshness from NY without being tough and diversity and melody from D.C.. Reflex From Pain is no exception here: great and powerful Reagan Era hardcore. 1983 was a great vintage to hardcore punk.

Reflex From Pain – black and white (7“) Bitzcore #01675 1991
side a:
1. Media control
2. Chemicals
3. Holy pictures
4. Rednecks
5. Generic life

side b:
1. Hangover
2. The scream
3. Urban decay
4. American express
5. Dino
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]


1 The famous Kult-huren stated once: "I’ d like to be antisocial but I do not have the money to do so."

MASERATI album has just been released & European Tour 2007

Okay I' ll keep it short, but one of the few records of the year 2007 is out now: Maserati - inventions for the new season. Also one nice double vinyl!

Here is my quite emotional review.

Contact:
Golden Antenna Records

European tour dates (poor drummer: has the !!! European tour right afterwards):

Maserati & Ostinato

20.03. D-Leipzig, Conne Island
21.03. D-Wuerzburg,Cafe Cairo
22.03. D-Karlsruhe, Radio Oriente
23.03. LUX-Schifflange, Votre Choix
24.03. F-Saint Etienne, L'Assomoir/Elephant pub
25.03. F-Lyon, Sonic
26.03. D-Freiburg, KTS
27.03. F-Strasbourg, Molodoi
28.03. F-Paris, Batofar
29.03. NL-Utrecht, DB`s
30.03. NL-Den Helder, De Bliksem
31.03. D-Magdeburg, Projekt 7
01.04. D-Berlin, Bastard
02.04. CZ-Prag, 007
03.04. CZ-Babice, KD
04.04. D-Dresden, AZ Conni
05.04. D-Munich, Kafe Kult
06.04. D-Frankfurt, Exzess
07.04. D-Siegen, Vortex
08.04. D-Potsdam, Black Fleck
09.04. D-Braunschweig, Nexus

INTEGRITY – „in contrast of sin“ hooded sweater

Together with Snapcase and Earth Crisis the Victory band that had the most merchandise?!
They used to be an exciting band from their early demos even to “to die for”. My sister and me listened to their first album, “systems overload” and “humanity is the devil” for months when they came out; every day over and over again. The beginning of the whole holy terror hardcore and Cleveland sound was one of the last significant styles of hardcore to us. A last sign of life from this rotten piece of shit.

And Integrity spearheaded it.

Man, I loved this band for polarizing and getting a lot of stick and them constantly evolving. It seemed that every beef just made them stronger and even better in their musicianship. What ever you may think about them they were more thrilling than all those gumbos who were constantly repeating themselves.

Like all early Victory merchandise products - from Insight to Snapcase - the label had the bad habit to print the logo on every remaining bit of cotton. And while we all loved the bands but hated the label and the logo something had to happen. I can remember friends cutting of the sleeves from their hooded sweaters (dudes, looked worse than with the bulldog!). I also did funny things: in this case I was ironing the logo until I had this ugly colour blotch. Why didn’ t they just printed the nice modified Septic Death skull twice?!

Links:
Wikipedia entry
Integrity @ Myspace

Andrew Thomas Company & Medium – „strength and resistance“ shirt

Ever heard of the Andrew Thomas Company and Medium mail order? Most of you might have seen some of their famous stuff like “straight edge means I have no friends”, “vegan” with an Atari or even Sega rip off writing, "drug free stormtrooper" or the famous straight edge windbreakers. It’ s a pity that there was no distribution for their stuff in Europe. We were doing centralized buying back then; no Paypal, no credit cards just the horrible exchange rate at our local bank and then calling them in the middle of the night asking about our money.

This particular shirt was more a mocking than dead serious (it was the heydays of “firestorming”) and just fit perfectly into the roster of their other motives. The back print is oh so “Syracuse” or “Erie”.

No informations on the world wide web. That' s a pity.

YOUTH OF TODAY - bootleg shirt

Very strange bootleg from Germany and about 15 years old; there was another version in black with a white print. This might be one of the many unsightly Youth Of Today shirts, the one that came with the Lost And Found live lp and even some by Revelation, for example the “disengage” cover motive, were in the same league.

The colouring and bad quality – "nice" pose by Ray by the way – of the picture makes this some kind of a pop art accident complete by the highlight: the inclined lyrics from the last 7”.
I can still picture Pat’ s face when he was giving the shirt to me, followed by hortative words: “do you really want this?

The longer I look at it the more I’ d like to suggest this as a cover artwork for a British oi! skin compilation!

My worst shirt?

RORSCHACH - "needlepack" shirt

Another Rorschach shirt with the cover of the „needlepack“ 7“ printed in front and the famous mirroring on the back, but slightly different compared to the first Rorschach shirt post.
Thanks Xian, because this is the first one that really fits my deluxe-body.

Besides Born Against Rorschach were really the ones who dealt with dignity the heritage of Black Flag and brought it forward to a new level in a new decade.

To those who missed the vinyl releases: the “autopsy” disc on Gern Blandsten is worth every penny. By the way: I am still looking for the cover/ inlet of their demo tape!?

UNDERTOW – „european tour“ hooded sweater

Gatorade rip off design by Undertow which was designed for their European tour in 1995. Ignite and Temperance were along with them. This was also available as shirt and as long sleeve in many different colours.

They were one of the few mosh bands who played a quite heavy metal free sound and were great fun to watch live. Their stuff has just been compiled on one compact disc by Indecision Records.

Undertow are perhaps among the five best bands in this category together with a band like Slugfest. I am still thinking about the other three bands. Also make sure you check out Nineironspitfire, they were a great transformation of Undertow’ s sound towards a modern sound at the end of the 90ies.

Links:
Excursion Records (released Undertow vinyl besides Bloodlink, Spoonfed, Overkill etc.)
Indecision Records

SEEIN RED - shirt

The last Seein’ Red shirt I kept from a huge assortment I once owned; some twice due to different colours etc. Honestly I bought them because the band members were really kind – the perfect salespersons: kind and customer-oriented. Okay, they have to work on the last part: they were selling shirts in front of the venues out of plastic bags; you could even go through those bags on your own.

This shirt was done around 1996 I think. When I pull it out I am constantly repeating this “wahwahwah I am seeing red”, that was a chorus from a song by them… and one that mostly got stuck in my head at least musically…. I doat… from the split 10” with Catweazle? Damn sure it was a record with another attempt to cover Minutemen. I’ ll take a look later…

The last record I got was a split 7” with Vuur which is quite nice and I recently saw that they are still around and even released new stuff - you have to be old if you don’ t want to be wise. Besides their great early stuff (we keep silent concerning the "intifada" compilation) I really loved the split lps with Mk Ultra and The Judas Iscariot, yes, also for the Seein’ Red side of those records.

I will trade this for one of the black Lärm bootlegs which were also sold by Havoc in the 90ies (yeah, at least I tried).

Update:

It was "c-red" on the split 10" with Catweazle on Wicked Witch/ Kangaroo later rereleased by Farewell and Anomie. And they covered "party with me punker".
Catweazle also had a quite nice cd... can' t find it anymore... argh.

Links:
Homepage

NAUSEA - "cybergod" shirt

I think those Nausea are way more known than the successor of Majesty. All their stuff has recently been rereleased on two double lp sets.

New York must have been a nice or maybe for me frightening place around that time since all those squatters etc. had many links to the whole Lower East Side hardcore scene; as you might know the singer of Agnostic Front used to be the boyfriend of Nausea' s singer and John John Jesse was designing record sleeves for Agnostic Front or other NY bands and labels. It' s also funny to have one song by them on the "New York Hardcore: the way it is" compilation between Youth Of Today and Y.D.L..

This shirt was done by Napo for their European tour and has the cover of the "cybergod" 7" (nice piece of plastic in my eyes; should I post it? The b-side even has one of the better anti-christianity lyrics - at least literary - within the punk community (where thousands of them were written)) on the front.

Nice remark concerning the blogger: used to wear those with white polo shirts underneath it. I was in a crew and I was the only member: the youth crust. Me you youth crust.

Links:
Official homepage

EXCREMENT OF WAR - shirt

Very worn Excrement Of War shirt done by Profane Existence in the beginning of the 90ies. A real nice crust band from the UK featuring members of Doom, Filthkick and Extreme Noise Terror. Their vocalist is now - together with members of Heresy, Ripcord and Spite (great but blunt singles; blunt? Makes them even greater!) - in Violent Arrest (no, that' s not a coverband of the forerunner of Abolition/Stack). I really loved their splits and the tape but haven' t heard it in a while. Just needed to preserve the piece of textile because with the next stage of the washing programme the print might be gone - just kidding. I think the "making punk a threat again" (I am not going to tell you what I think about it) was also on other PE shirts on the back, or? For example the "fight patriarchy" shirt etc.



(Rehearsal filmed by Oliver from Cluster Bomb Unit)

Links:
Some kind of interview