Spit On Your Grave - unreleased album

A pleasantly nice update to my previous post about Spit On Your Grave. This is a session of unreleased tracks meant for either a 7" or an album, I wasn't quite clear on which. Either way, the quality of these recordings is just great. This could/should have been a great album if released properly. Tracks were sent directly from the singer, Bullseye

enjoy

Download these unreleased gems

Krack - "Funkwagon McGuillicuddy"

It's been a looooong while since I've posted anything, figured I'd get back in the swing of things with a neat little gem I recently uncovered.

Straight from the singer Mike's mouth, this is a brief writeup on Krack:

"Krack got together I guess '87 or so after The Criminally Insane disbanded. I think at that time it was Jeff Shepard on Bass, DeeJay on vocals, Paul Hutler and Joe Robinson on guitars and Corey Brooks on drums. They recorded a demo whose name I've forgotten. Joe and DeeJay left and I joined, we recorded a demo called Superfix. Then Paul left and Darren Hess joined and Joe Robinson rejoined. We recorded Funkwagon McGuillicuddy on Merkin Records then, and we started playing out a lot more, heading up to New York a few times to play the ABC NO RIO and CBJB's and playing random spots between here and there (my wet dream of opening for Poison Idea in Reading PA), plus down in DC (Barbecued Iguana, Safari Club). Then Corey left and was replaced by Rob Seymour. We signed a contract for 5 albums with Merkin then broke up halfway through recording the first because of 'creative differences' and just random stupidity from being young and not knowing how to compromise.
There's probably a good bit more to the story, but being a drunk and a burnout hasn't really made sharp recall my strength.

I think the first demo might have been called "if You Dare"."


Krack's sound is a noisy mix of punk, sludge, and general fun noise. I'd place them somewhere in between late Black Flag, The Stooges, Celtic Frost and Swiz. Take a listen, that comparison makes a lot more sense than you'd think, trust me.

Download "Funkwagon McGuillicuddy"

Spit On Your Grave - 2006 Demo

Spit On Your Grave was a rather overlooked Baltimore band despite coming from a great lineage of bands such as Fighting Chance, Queen Anne's Revenge, Hell To Pay, etc. After the breakup of Fighting Chance, 4 of the remaining members formed Spit On Your Grave (or Suck Off Your Grandpa, or any other possible offensive name they could shoehorn into SOYG...). While much of Fighting Chance's music was skinhead oriented Oi!/streetrock with ever increasing punk/hardcore additions, Spit On Your Grave came out swinging with a full tilt hardcore sound with comparisons ranging everywhere from Warzone and early Madball to Crumbsuckers and Gut Instinct.

Though coming directly from a big name band can be beneficial, this also meant SOYG was forced to start over from the beginning, and in my opinion, never quite reached the attention grabbing status of Fighting Chance by the time they broke up, which is a shame. What's more is the band only managed 2 released demos and a shirt or two, severely limiting the evidence of their existence until some nerd comes along and digs them up 10 years from now ala such painfully overlooked bands as Show Of Force and Our Gang. According to bassist Tim, there is a large handful of unreleased high quality recorded tracks meant for a 7" or album sitting around, hopefully these will see the light of day very soon.

Download the 2006 demo

Harsh Truth - Life Is Perfect

This CD needs more listeners like a bum needs a job. With the current upswing of bands attempting to ape and capitalize off of ironic 90's worship, Harsh Truth walk the walk like no other because they were actually there. A very infrequently on and off project since about 1989, the band directly pulled from the then-current surge of heavier NY bands such as Killing Time and Inside Out, but as always giving the music a brutal Baltimore twist. Vocalist Richie was actually the original singer for Gut Instinct before Sebastian, so that should give you a good idea of how the vocals sound right off the bat. Throaty, grimy, and forceful. Musically, the 2000's era incarnation of the band benefited from guitarist Josh's doom and underground rock influence, 5150/Orange heads and all. Among the band's direct family tree is an endless list of great local names like Next Step Up, Hell To Pay, Initial Reaction, Fighting Chance, and many more. Put all those bands in a blender, and you've pretty much got Harsh Truth's uncompromising sound. A sorely overlooked band due to the usual misfortunes of the underground.

Harsh Truth released 2 songs on the Belly Of The Beast comp, which were rereleased in 2006 on A389 Records as a 7" with a long lost intro track. After a lineup shift the band recorded this CD, which includes live versions of the two 7" tracks, recorded at CBGB during the Gut Instinct reunion weekend tour. They played their last show in 2007 before falling victim to busy schedules and responsibilities beyond hardcore (yes, I know you're shocked, but they do exist).

Download the album
You can hear the 7" tracks on their Myspace

Curse Of Years - 1998 Demo

Curse Of Years was a very brief band in the Baltimore spotlight, but I always felt something better could have come of them. This was the band that my friend Josh was in immediately before (or around the time of) joining Stout. The overall sound is nothing surprising for a 90's Baltimore band, very distinct shades of Gut Instinct, Breakdown, and Outburst ooze through every crack. The real treat of all of this is Josh's RAW, gruesome vocals, which is what drew me to them in the first place before I even knew he was in the band. I first heard of this entire ordeal via a comp called Belly Of The Beast that Josh put out, which had a COY song on it called "Days In Black". I was blown away by the band, and frantically asked around wondering who was responsible for this, not knowing at all he could sing like that!

According to the bio on their Myspace, the band basically self imploded from musical differences and lineup/musical taste changes. Josh went on to Stout, a reformed version of Harsh Truth (who I will post very soon), and even an instrumental prog/doom project known as Chowder (highly worth tracking down here). Guitarist Greg Clark ended up doing a doom project known as King Valley. Before their demise, the band mustered out this demo, the two BOTB comp tracks, a rendition of "Skinhead Youth" for the famous Raybeez tribute comp, and various rare practice and live tracks.

Download the demo

Taken By Force - Trifecta split

Taken By Force was the band that eventually became the foundation of Treason, but had a pretty damn good career of their own in Baltimore beforehand. Started in late 2003, the original lineup included Chris Aleshire (ex Erase The Past and Carved In Stone) on vocals, Ed Lock (of the infamous Backhand) on bass, Chris "Whiskey Shits" on guitar, and Travis (Backhand, Divulsion) on drums. The name was taken from the Merauder song "Take By Force", and they set out to play NYHC inspired hardcore at a time when dumb jun-jun breakdowns were pretty much the prevailing artform. The first release they did was a demo, later released as an EP, called "Balticore", which I will up on here when I can find it.

This release is part of a kind of obscure session they did with two other closely-knit Bmore bands (Nothing Fuckin Special and Scheduled Beating) that got called The Trifecta. As I recall, it was pretty much done in an afternoon. Each band did two originals and a cover (well, NFS did an extra kind of half cover, a rip on the breakdown from "Conceived Through An Act Of Violence" called "Show Us Your Thumb"). There is also a hidden rap track at the end, which is dreadful, but I will probably upload at some point. TBF laid down tracks for "Prayer For My Enemies", featuring JR Glass of Next Step Up, "Time Moves On" and a Madball cover in "Been There Done That". Lineup on this recording was the same as listed above, except with the addition of Tony Hare on guitars.

Download the tracks

Koro - s/t 7"

Koro is one of the hidden gems of 80's hardcore that seems to be constantly growing in popularity, which is good because this record has to be heard to be believed. Released in 1983 and bootlegged endlessly since, this slab of tunes at the time was the only official output from this band. Aside from the fact that it flat out smokes most contemporary hardcore (and most modern hardcore at that), the real story behind this band lies more with their bizarre name, painfully short lifespan, and location. According to my sources, "koro" is a mental disorder common among east Asian men, kinda similar to a midlife crisis. But instead of buying a shitty toupee and reforming your high school punk band, men with "koro" believe their penis is shrinking and disappearing, so they begin to obsessively cling to it and tie it to their legs so it won't go anywhere. I wish I could make shit like this up, but it's apparently real.

The band only existed for about a year or so, in Knoxville, TN of all places. Yet in that time they managed to conceive an air about them that makes them seem like 5 year professionals. The music is unbelievably fast and tight, and equally intense, and really does belie the fact that despite sounding like they were from a major hardcore hub, Koro would have probably been dismissed as redneck outsiders by their better known associates in LA and New York. Such a shame, but slowly and surely people are finding out about this.

My copy of this EP is 99.99% certainly a bootleg. It has a skull on the front instead of the logo you see pictured, and comes on impressively thick vinyl. I could seriously use it as a frisbee with no worries about damage. I also have tracked down the band's only other documented evidence of existence, a vinyl release (unsure if bootleg or officially sanctioned repress) of their 12" "Speed Kills", which was supposed to be an LP but apparently never got released. While solid in it's own right, there's just something special and immediate about the EP, hence me writing about it.

Download the EP

Animal Instinct - Stick Like Glue 7"

This EP is a sorely overlooked gem from Switzerland. Animal Instinct, by all outward appearances, seem to be a handful of jaded Swiss hardcore dudes attempting to pay respect to the music they grew up on, in much the same way Baltimore's own Harsh Truth did. Instant comparisons are pretty much every band off the famous New Breed tape comp, and the band readily admits it on their Myspace, along with dropping other comp references such as Where The Wild Things Are and The Way It Is, two perfect classics in their own right. Vocalist Andre's voice is so grimy and raw, it's quite possibly one of the best voices in all of modern hardcore, and I say that with no hyperbole. The break part at :55 of "Forced" is just pure visceral attitude. Shake your head, you must be dead if it don't make you fly. Someone needs to get these guys over to the States.

In another blog, they note that the band gave permission for them to post the full EP, which is what I am also doing. If anyone in the band or label objects, please drop me a line and let me know.

Download "Stick Like Glue"
Animal Instinct's Myspace page - look for video of a currently unreleased live song

PS - much thanks goes out to my sister in hardcore nerdery, Becky M, for tipping me off to these guys!

Disbelief - Making Progress 7"

I'm not sure I know enough about this band to make a fair entry, but I will put this up for now and edit it as info comes in.

Disbelief was a heavy-ish hardcore band from the Bowie/PG County area of MD in the late 90's. Shades of Snapcase and older bands like Outburst come through, and I find the overall energy and manic feel of the music compares to an overlooked favorite of mine, Inner Dam from Long Island, who were around at the same time, although I don't know at all if either band knew of each other. Oddly enough, singer Mike's voice is a dead ringer for Civ, but just slightly grittier, and it works for sure. Being that I'm too lazy to look right now, I can only talk about recalling that members of this band also spent time in Longshot, including I believe Steve who went on to 86 Mentality and a bunch of other awesome bands. A friend of mine recently gave me a shirt of theirs he found online, and it now resides in my collection, unused because it's too small for this gut.

I ripped this direct off the 7" into my computer, and accidentally let side B in as one file. Sorry. I'll do a better job next time. Enjoy, and if you have any more info about Disbelief, drop me a line.

Download the 7"

Carrying The Fire - 2010 Demo

Carrying The Fire is a new Maryland hardcore band, featuring Justin and Kevin D of xLooking Forwardx on vocals and bass, Matt B formerly of xLFx and Arcacia on guitar, Auggie of Saravain also on guitar, and Dan, who owns a Pop Tarts shirt, on drums. The band was originally known as Let It Ride and intended on playing fast melodic hardcore punk until some lineup and attitude changes led them to allow influences such as Downset, Biohazard, Helmet, Orange 9mm, and a multitude of others creep in. They perfected their sound over the course of a year or so and in 2010 hit the basement studio of Jeff P, who also played with Matt in the thrash metal cover project Manthrax. The resulting demo is vicious and nothing but great in my opinion, wearing their influences on their sleeve while also sounding unique. While nothing much will prevent Justin’s trademark vocals from sounding similar to xLooking Forwardx, CTF thankfully expand away from the basic old school hardcore sound of xLFx to sound like their own beast. The lyrics range from mistrust of politicians of any and all sides and long term self growth, and the music borders on dark and volatile with plenty of creative riffs to keep things interesting. A solid band who is hopefully on the rise in 2010, and good friends all around

Download their 2010 demo

Treason - Baltimore Hate Magic (bio and 2009 demo)

Treason so far has been the best and most memorable band I have been in, and hopefully stays that way long after we're done. Whether we're playing in front of 100+ Sidebar(n) goons, or pretty much being each other's only audience at Sinix with Nassau Chainsaw (sup' guys, hope some of you get to read this blog), I have yet to have a show with Treason where my blood isn't pumping at about 300bpm and I'm high as can be on adrenaline. When all the gears are turning, this band is nothing but fun, and that's what it's "supposed to be about" anyway, right?

Treason came about after the demise of Taken By Force. The last couple years of TBF were somewhat of a slowly revolving door of band members. I filled in on bass when my long time friend Pat couldn't make it up to a show in Cecil(tucky) County, and was eventually asked to join full time as Pat was busy with school and, at the time, the band Warpriest. I played two shows with them, one where I literally 100% improvised basslines to a new song I did not realize we were playing! After playing the End Of Year Bash at the Sidebar (which also included the last Harsh Truth set and one of the absolute best early Trapped Under Ice sets ever), Tony quit the guitar spot and we grabbed up Shaina to continue on. After only about 3 or so weeks with this lineup, Chris quit the vocal spot while we were all already on the way to practice. We took the final new song that our guitarist Dan had written for TBF and claimed it as our own, and instantly started looking for a singer. We tried out at least a dozen people, including Shon from VPR, Jack from Diamonds In The Rough/Plagueland, Tom Truth, our friends Milhouse, Joe, and Chad (sort of haha), Dee from Vemorrah, but settled on Dave Clark, formerly of Worlds Apart/Burning Season. We attempted to push away from the sound of TBF, and wrote songs pulling from influences like All Out War, Strife, Obituary, God Forbid, etc. After months of half-assed joke names like Man Down and Bear Trap (both of which incidentally are current bands who formed around the same time....wtf), we almost went with Silencer, but settled on Treason as we couldn't find any meaningful bands who had that name. We played 2 shows with Dave, one at Jersey Mike Fest 2008, and one with Mickey's Crew and No Redeeming Social Value. We began to record a practice space demo around October (good luck getting us to burn you a copy, it's a POS from hell), but in the midst of it, Dave got married and moved to St. Louis to take a baller job offer.
After a few months hiatus, we brought Doug.Fresh.One from Stout in on vocals to allow him to express some of his more interesting feelings, and developed our overall sound and human extinction/apocalypse theme from his early lyrics, which combined with Travis' infamous set of chimes, we dubbed "Hate Magic".

After a few well received shows, we took a patchy few weeks in mid-summer 2009 to record a 5 song demo with Joe Mitra of Wired Wrists Studio/Developing Nations. Since then we’ve gotten to play insanely memorable shows with a huge number of our favorite bands, and have been booked to open the latest Next Step Up reunion show in Philadelphia, which could not be more awesome. After that, we’ll see where 2010 and beyond takes us….

Download the demo

Greetings and such

Since all the cool kids have one of these blogs, and since I've thrived off them for new music and obscure info coming up on 5 years now, I figured I'd start one and give back a little myself.

I guess to start I'll delve into a little about me and, in my next post, my current band, Treason...


I got into music in earnest about November 1995. Before that my musical leanings pretty much consisted of the endless amounts of tapes my mom had in her car (mostly Queen...if you don't like Freddy Mercury you might as well just never come back to this page), whatever interesting quirky things my brother was into (Dire Straits, the Dead, Les Miserables soundtrack, etc), a year or two of obsessively listening to 92Q circa 5th grade to be "hip" (imagine if my mom knew I was 10 years old listening to Salt And Pepa asking about "that thang" and how "it hang" *facepalm*), and the shockingly limited playlist of WQSR (or maybe it seemed so as I listened to it 24/7 for a lot of that time and know a ridiculous list of oldies like the back of my hand).
Sometime around early 1995 my dedication in life was WWF wrestling, and always preferred it to WCW, even during the dark years when they creamed WWF in quality. Anyway, Pamela Anderson was Shawn Michaels' escort to Wrestlemania, and she had just gotten married to this rocker dude, Tommy Lee of Motley Crue. For months I told myself I'd check them out, and only finally got around to buying Decade Of Decadence at Walmart when I had saved some allowance money. I was HOOKED. I proceeded to buy or get gifted every shred of Motley Crue recordings I could find over the next year, including the self titled album with John Corabi which is paaaaainfully underrated. With all of that I dove straight into listening to WHFS and 98Rock religiously until I had amassed more music and nerd trivia within the next year than I can reasonably explain.

I got into punk and hardcore through any number of routes. I found out about Sex Pistols from Motley Crue covering them. In 8th grade, NOFX was huge in my school for some reason, and I picked them up around there. I had more or less known who the Misfits were since I was 3 and saw their shirt as a prize for that Ocean City boardwalk game where you shoot the water into the clown's mouth (funny story....I HATED them when I first heard them and only came to my senses after grabbing up the Earth AD cassette). I snapped up Punk O Rama 3 the day it hit stores and heard Agnostic Front for the first time (albeit in tame "Gotta Go" form). From there I found out about local bands like Issue Of Ignorance and Subsist, but never really got around to actually seeing most of them because I was still a timid middle schooler. Fast forward to about February 1999, and through meeting up with John Glassman at the WHFC college station to do a report about radio for a class, I met up with the nu metal band Margret Heater, who got me and my dad to come see them the next month with a band called Apathy opening for them. Apathy absolutely 100% blew my 15 year old face off. Hyperfast drumming, maniacal screaming, absurd breakdowns, I didn't even see it coming as at the time I thought punk didn't get any heavier or more intense than Straight Faced and the maybe one or two Poison Idea songs I had heard at the time. Fast forward again 11 years and here I am, probably working on easily a few hundred shows later, and remembering most of them detail by nerdy detail. So in conclusion, if you don't like me and wonder why the hell I come to shows and irritate you, blame Apathy. That's all there is to it.