Note - this post has been edited more times than any post I've done so far. First Elliot Fox gave me some new info, then Justin Wasserman and finally Bob English of Edgar provided some very concrete info. Read on...
I am including these two bands in one post as they shared members, played a similar style of screamy hardcore, were both from Oceanside (we're covering a good deal of Oceanside's bands lately with Last Days and Closure) and put out a split 7".
Edgar was formed by John English on guitar, Corey Martin on drums and Justin Wasserman on guitar. They had no bass player. John recruited his cousin Bob to sing once they had started writing songs without vocals.
Concurrently, Bob and John were also in Tetsuo where Bob played guitar, John played bass, Neil Rubenstein and Matt Gordon both shared vocals and Dan Boles played drums. Rebekka Takamitsu played second guitar at a few shows as well. Steve Gache (from Redko, Irony of Lightfoot and Thisyearsmodel) also practiced with Tetsuo on 2nd guitar and played on a few tracks on the live radio WUSB show split tape with Bor. He may have played live at one of the later shows as well. He never officially joined. Additionally, Myles Karr (Motaba Erewhon Conspiracy, The State Secedes, I am the Resurrection, Books Lie) practiced with the band on bass several times, but John played on all of the recordings and at all of the shows.
I used to get Tetsuo confused with the band Tsunami so that when I first heard Tetsuo it definitely was not what I was expecting. There is no confusing Matt Gordon and Neil Rubenstein with Jenny Toomey.
This split 7" was put out on The Mountain Collective by Chris Jensen from Halfman who join Bob in The State Secedes, and would then go on to Countdown to Putsch.
This split 7" was Edgar's only offical release. As Bob English recollects: "Edgar recorded 2 songs after the 7" in Loho studios (NYC) - one was for a compilation being put together by some kid from PA - we were told it never came out but then someone found a copy for sale at a show in 1997, so who knows. The other song was never released. There were plans to put out a full length on Mountain Records. Edgar had the material mostly written but the band called it quits before we could record anything."
In addition to this split, Tetsuo did a split WUSB tape with the band Bor at one point as well.
As we've recently covered, Corey Martin from Edgar would join Irony of Lightfoot and later Last Days of August. Bob English would start The State Secedes, Baby Teeth (later changed to Free Republic of Soul) and later become a lawyer. John English went on to the band The Color Bars and currently works as a steamfitter, and Justin Wasserman became a banker.
Neil Rubenstein from Tetsuo went on to form Irony of Lightfoot, and later Sons of Abraham, This Years Model and These Enzymes. In addition to showing up as an interviewer on Spike TV's Casino Cinema, being a stand-up comedian, in Neil's own words he currently books "hip hop acts and some DJs and help small rock bands find teams (label, manager, agent). I call it consulting, they don't pay me." Matt Gordon went on to form Helen of Troy. Dan Boles became a pro-snowboarder.
Big thanks to Neil Rubenstein, Bob English, Justin Wasserman and Elliot Fox for the information for this post and Elliot Fox for the music.
EDGAR and TETSUO
Split 7" - http://www.mediafire.com/?fk1xc3wl8sgpfyj
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Last Days of August
There was no question of what type of music to expect with Last Days of August. In the late 90's, their name was so imbued with emo-ness that to expect anything else would have been false advertising. There was a website around that time which had a random emo band name generator, and there were definitely a few names that would pop up that would probably cut a bit to close in similarity to Last Days. Regardless of that, if you liked emo - and by that I mean stuff like Mineral, Sunny Day Real Estate, Boy's Life, early Jimmy Eat World kind of stuff - then really Last Days of August was probably the band from LI that did that style most proudly.
Last Days was formed in 1997 by Josh Chaplinsky (formerly of Irony of Lightfoot) on guitar and Phil Capone on guitar after they met at Nassau Community College. They recruited Corey Martin who played drums in Irony of Lightfoot, Mario Leston on bass and Sal Montemaggiore from Small Screen View (SSV) on vocals. They quickly started playing shows (I think that their first one may have been in July of 1997 where an old band of mine, Six of One, literally broke apart during the show). They recorded a 4 song demo the following spring.
I have to say I really liked the demo, and I remember the guys headlining a show in place of Glassjaw in March of 1998 at the Wantagh VFW that Inside, Error Type:11, Movielife and Watership Down also played. It was a really cool vibe with all of these melodic bands coming up. I remember Last Days sounding excellent at that show.
Despite the fact that Last Days eschewed heavier "breakdown" type of parts and as mentioned above their music did have more of the midwestern-emo leanings, they were put in the long island emo-core pile along with Inside, Silent Majority and Movielife. It wasn't a bad place to be, but it often got them mislabeled. I would be remiss in not mentioning some of the flack the guys took for their unflinching dedication for sounding... well, like an emo-band. They had pink band shirts made that said "Bowling for the Pink Team" on them in what may have been one of the better flip-offs to scenesters. Their sound did continue to grow, and after appearing on the "Blood Sweat and Tears" comp, they began putting out music on the Fadeaway Records label in part ran by Josh's former bandmater Neil Rubenstein. They did a split 7" with a band called The Remington, appeared on Fadeaway's "Best Comp in the World" and released a full length in 1999. They replaced Corey Martin around this point with Joe Corbo and did a 22 date tour across the US.
They wound up breaking up in 2000. There was some disagreement on the direction of the band and what level of success that were looking to achieve. Sal went on to form RC Driver with Corey. Josh would join December Grey and later SpeedSpeedSpeed. Joe Corbo would join ThisYears Model, The Krylls and later go on to SpeedSpeedSpeed as well. Phil Capone would move to LA and join a band called Lamour, which definitely is on the opposite end of the spectrum from Last Days of August. I'm not sure what happened to Mario Leston.
The download is for everything that the band did, at least as far as I know. There may have been a track recorded for a 6 band Motherbox Split that was to inlcude Last Days, The Cotton Weary, Silent Majority, Inside, Movielife and Glassjaw which never materialized, but otherwise this is everything. This includes the first demo, the split with The Remington, the full length and " Dead Boys Club" from the "Best Comp in the World and "Words I Wish Were Mine" from the "Blood Sweat and Tears" comp.
LAST DAYS OF AUGUST
Discography - http://www.mediafire.com/?fqgk1gq9tomov18
Other Links for Last Days of August:
The Band's myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/lastdaysofaugust
The original website: http://www.angelfire.com/ny2/lastdays/
Long Island Music Scene Wiki Page: http://longislandmusicscene.wikia.com/wiki/Last_Days_of_August
Villiage Voice Article: http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-09-07/long-island-voice/don-t-hate-me-cause-i-m-emo/
Last Days was formed in 1997 by Josh Chaplinsky (formerly of Irony of Lightfoot) on guitar and Phil Capone on guitar after they met at Nassau Community College. They recruited Corey Martin who played drums in Irony of Lightfoot, Mario Leston on bass and Sal Montemaggiore from Small Screen View (SSV) on vocals. They quickly started playing shows (I think that their first one may have been in July of 1997 where an old band of mine, Six of One, literally broke apart during the show). They recorded a 4 song demo the following spring.
I have to say I really liked the demo, and I remember the guys headlining a show in place of Glassjaw in March of 1998 at the Wantagh VFW that Inside, Error Type:11, Movielife and Watership Down also played. It was a really cool vibe with all of these melodic bands coming up. I remember Last Days sounding excellent at that show.
Despite the fact that Last Days eschewed heavier "breakdown" type of parts and as mentioned above their music did have more of the midwestern-emo leanings, they were put in the long island emo-core pile along with Inside, Silent Majority and Movielife. It wasn't a bad place to be, but it often got them mislabeled. I would be remiss in not mentioning some of the flack the guys took for their unflinching dedication for sounding... well, like an emo-band. They had pink band shirts made that said "Bowling for the Pink Team" on them in what may have been one of the better flip-offs to scenesters. Their sound did continue to grow, and after appearing on the "Blood Sweat and Tears" comp, they began putting out music on the Fadeaway Records label in part ran by Josh's former bandmater Neil Rubenstein. They did a split 7" with a band called The Remington, appeared on Fadeaway's "Best Comp in the World" and released a full length in 1999. They replaced Corey Martin around this point with Joe Corbo and did a 22 date tour across the US.
They wound up breaking up in 2000. There was some disagreement on the direction of the band and what level of success that were looking to achieve. Sal went on to form RC Driver with Corey. Josh would join December Grey and later SpeedSpeedSpeed. Joe Corbo would join ThisYears Model, The Krylls and later go on to SpeedSpeedSpeed as well. Phil Capone would move to LA and join a band called Lamour, which definitely is on the opposite end of the spectrum from Last Days of August. I'm not sure what happened to Mario Leston.
The download is for everything that the band did, at least as far as I know. There may have been a track recorded for a 6 band Motherbox Split that was to inlcude Last Days, The Cotton Weary, Silent Majority, Inside, Movielife and Glassjaw which never materialized, but otherwise this is everything. This includes the first demo, the split with The Remington, the full length and " Dead Boys Club" from the "Best Comp in the World and "Words I Wish Were Mine" from the "Blood Sweat and Tears" comp.
LAST DAYS OF AUGUST
Discography - http://www.mediafire.com/?fqgk1gq9tomov18
Other Links for Last Days of August:
The Band's myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/lastdaysofaugust
The original website: http://www.angelfire.com/ny2/lastdays/
Long Island Music Scene Wiki Page: http://longislandmusicscene.wikia.com/wiki/Last_Days_of_August
Villiage Voice Article: http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-09-07/long-island-voice/don-t-hate-me-cause-i-m-emo/
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
With Every Idle Hour
"All dreams have flaws, maybe this one does..."
To say that With Every Idle Hour was a great band doesn't seem to be sufficient. They had a great sound, were consistently excellent live and always had fun shows, but they never commanded legions of kids coming to see them despite having songs that were pefectly tailored for sing-alongs. They certainly weren't unlikeable, in fact they remain some of the most friendly guys you could meet. I'm sure if you are familiar with the band you may be saying right now "Hey, I liked that band!" I really don't know. Maybe they didn't promote themselves enough, maybe they didn't wear the right t-shirts, maybe they didn't kiss enough ass. The bottom line though is that the band was great and if you didn't appreciate them then, now's the time to change that.
With Every Idle Hour was formed in 1998 by Sergei Ruber on Vocals and guitar, Sean Hanney on guitar, Austin Lawther on drums and Zachary Abresch on bass. They were originally known as Sinc, but eventually decided on changing it to With Every Idle Hour, taken from the name of their community in Oakdale, NY. Sean, Sergei and Austin all grew up in the town and have known each other since childhood.
Despite Hanney having been the drummer of a Ska band (someone help me out with the name here) during this point and time, the music that the band focused on originally was a melodic blend of post-hardcore and emo. Around 1998-1999, there were a good deal of bands who kind of had that sort of thing going on. In Transit, early On the Might of Princes and the cotton weary all kind of had a Sunny Day meets Quicksand vibe. With Every Idle Hour did as well, but the riffs were super catchy and Sergei Ruber had something that most other bands did not - and no offense should be taken by anyone here - a singer that could really sing.
In mid-2000 they released a 4 song tape that previewed tracks from their full-length called "Finally". I believe that the tracks on the tape were "The Sum of Your Problems is This", "Just as Well", "Nameless" and "Version II". I remember seeing the band play at Ground Zero in Bellmore at a Saturday or Sunday Matinee with Knox Overstreet, Lord Humongous and Nakatomi Plaza. I was blown away by the band and shocked that more people didn't know about them. I had also been drinking copious amount of Rolling Rock that Ground Zero offered in those little 7 ounce bottles which may have made me a tad more effusive when I went to pick up the 4 songer from their drummer Austin, but once I listened to it (sans beer) I was no less impressed.
"Finally" was released later that year in October of 2000. Shortly after that in early 2001, they parted ways Zach Abresch. Lou Fontana of On the Might of Princes stepped in on bass as a temporary replacement but wound up becoming their enduring bass player. This was the best move for the band. Zach tended to overplay and distract from the pure melodic aspects of the songs. As Lou was a guitar player, he kept things simple to accentuate Sean and Sergei's guitar playing and Sergei's vocals.
The band did some tours up and down the East Coast as well as out to Michigan, notably with Nakatomi Plaza. Concurrently, Sean set up work as a studio engineer and set to recording the band's next album "The Distance Between." The new material was more melodic than Finally with influences of Hey Mercedes, Jets to Brazil and Jimmy Eat World becoming apparent. "The Distance Between" was released in July of 2003 on Factory 77 records, a label ran by Justin and Lee from Merch Direct. According to some of the band members - they count this as their real first release, more so than "Finally". There was also a video filmed for "Moxie" by Hilo Films, but I'm not sure if it is available anywhere.
The band played numerous shows on Long Island during this period with Come Down, The Cotton Weary, This Years Model/Bravado, Nakatomi Plaza, Knox Overstreet, Uplift, Regarding I, Pretty Polly... and probably just about every band that existed around 2000-2005.
The band's sound continued to evolve and they would begin recording songs for their next album "Blueprints" in 2005. The new songs were extensive, layered and wound up working into a song cycle that Sergei created a concept around. I'd be remiss in not mentioning that Sergei is an excellent lyricist who would craft vocal hooks with lyrics that could be subtle or direct. "Blueprints" was planned to be a concept album, but unfortunately life interfered and both the band and recording came to a halt. The band played at On the Might of Princes reunion show May 19, 2007 and did continue on until the following year. I can't say for certain when the band's final show was with certainty. It was one of those unfortunate situations where the band never officially says that it is over, but there doesn't seem to be a contingency for it to return either. The album is still unfinished, although Sean does intend to see it through to its completion one day.
Following WEIH, Austin Lawther would join Lou Fontana in his flamenco-indie brainchild God's Gift To Women. Lou also played guitar (as Guitarbeard) in Small Arms Dealer and is currently a member of Fellow Project. It also bears mentioning that while Sergei Ruber has not been in another band since WEIH ended (and it hasn't been for my lack of trying to recruit him numerous times), during his tenure in the band he also was in a brief side project named Midget with Justin Beck of Glassjaw and Jon Florencio of Inside.
I admit to having some obvious bias with this post. I count everyone in the band as friends, but that developed from having an appreciation for the band, playing shows with them and then becoming friends with the guys. I also am one of the few (or not so few) to have filled the bass slot while Lou was on tour with OTMOP (Steve Gache of This Years Model and Rachel Rubino of Regarding I/Bridge and Tunnel are the others). The music rocks, and for me brings back a lot of memories as well. Whether it was helping the band record gang vocals for "Collapser" at Sean's House at the "Yeah! Woo! BBQ," playing with them as they opened for Rainer Maria at the Ethical Humanist Society, remembering Sergei describing the movie "Duel" onstage before they played "El Camino," filling in on bass for them on a show at the old Local 7 that fell on my birthday, Serg and Sean playing an acoustic set for the last Satellite Lost show, and just hanging with band at rehearsals. All good times.
On to the music. These downloads are for "The Distance Between", the tragically unfinished "Blueprints", and the tracks "The Truth About Graduation" which appeared on the Rok Lok "The Hope Machine" comp and "When the Sky Was Opened" which was on the Break Even Comp "Definition". "Moxie" from "The Distance Between" also appeared on the No Nucleus comp which I've posted already. I've only included a few tracks from "Finally". As I mentioned above, some of the band members do not look back fondly on "Finally" and would prefer those songs not to be included with this post. I don't want to go against my friend's wishes, so I am not posting the album in its entirety. If there are enough requests for it, I will ask them permission to post the rest. In the meantime, I've included a few songs that I felt were essential to their discography. As far as "Blueprints" goes, what is presented is far from a finished recording. These are rough mixes, with some parts that were intended to be re-recorded and obviously this was not mastered. You will notice that there is a track number missing (there's no track 9) as one song only had drums recorded and thusly was not included . The rest of that album is fleshed out with vocals or has been left instrumental. It is unfortunate that at this point songs like "A Game of Lines Crossed", "Blueprints" and "Fixtures" do not have vocals as the songs are the strongest stuff that the band ever put together. In any case, finished or not this is a great listen and I am psyched to be able to offer it up here to download.
WITH EVERY IDLE HOUR
The Distance Between, Blueprints (In Progress), + More - http://www.mediafire.com/?lh0d7w07ujqv2i2
Buy "The Distance Between" on Merch Direct here:
www.merchdirect.com/WithEveryIdleHour
Go here for more info on the band:
www.myspace.com/witheveryidlehour
http://www.last.fm/music/With+Every+Idle+Hour
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Closure
The following post was submitted by fellow blogger and LI'er Elliot Fox of Sunny Day Entertainment. Over at his site you can find posts on all form of pop-culture including music, mixtapes and more. He may be posting here on occasion provided he has time. I also want to reiterate that the offer for others to post goes out to all. When I started this blog I did it with hopes of a spirit of community, much like the scene we grew up in. If you have music and memories of a band to share, then get in touch.
Now on to Elliot's recollection of Closure:
Closure was a short lived hardcore band hailing from Oceanside, NY. The band took hold in the suburban basement of drummer Dave and bassist Mark Spelbur's parents house. Besides the Spelbur's, other band members included Mike Treff and Adam Gutwein on guitar and the aggressive and driving vocals of Trevor Perry.
These guys were intense live, I remember seeing a show, i believe it was the Oceanside Knights of Columbus, where 2 days prior Trevor had his wisdom teeth removed, he was screaming and bleeding from his mouth, it was epic. Their sound is aggressive, emotional, punch you in the face hardcore/screamo, but still melodic with complex guitar riffs, soft parts into explosive, dramatic harsh screaming parts.
Dave is an extremely talented drummer and went on to become a member of a few other bands including The Fall Drive, Token Embrace and The Color Bars. Mike went on to run Tiger Style Records, now owned and operated by Insound, which was responsible for putting out records from bands like Tristeza, The Mercury Program, Ida and more. Mark went on to get his MBA, Adam to become a Dentist in Miami and I have not been able to find any trace of Trevor.
Closure released a split 7" with the Canadian hardcore band Breakwater in 1996 and In the Summer of 1997, they released their self-titled LP on CD and Vinyl with Mountain Records
Click the following links for those releases:
Closure/Breakwater 7": http://www.mediafire.com/?ub2iybova7k5c67
Closure - S/T : http://www.mediafire.com/?sc7lgagf15ewzfc
Now on to Elliot's recollection of Closure:
Closure was a short lived hardcore band hailing from Oceanside, NY. The band took hold in the suburban basement of drummer Dave and bassist Mark Spelbur's parents house. Besides the Spelbur's, other band members included Mike Treff and Adam Gutwein on guitar and the aggressive and driving vocals of Trevor Perry.
These guys were intense live, I remember seeing a show, i believe it was the Oceanside Knights of Columbus, where 2 days prior Trevor had his wisdom teeth removed, he was screaming and bleeding from his mouth, it was epic. Their sound is aggressive, emotional, punch you in the face hardcore/screamo, but still melodic with complex guitar riffs, soft parts into explosive, dramatic harsh screaming parts.
Dave is an extremely talented drummer and went on to become a member of a few other bands including The Fall Drive, Token Embrace and The Color Bars. Mike went on to run Tiger Style Records, now owned and operated by Insound, which was responsible for putting out records from bands like Tristeza, The Mercury Program, Ida and more. Mark went on to get his MBA, Adam to become a Dentist in Miami and I have not been able to find any trace of Trevor.
Closure released a split 7" with the Canadian hardcore band Breakwater in 1996 and In the Summer of 1997, they released their self-titled LP on CD and Vinyl with Mountain Records
Click the following links for those releases:
Closure/Breakwater 7": http://www.mediafire.com/?ub2iybova7k5c67
Closure - S/T : http://www.mediafire.com/?sc7lgagf15ewzfc
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Welcome to New York, Now Go Home
Alright, normally I don't do this. I have a kinda-sorta system. I usually will not bump something to the front of the line and do a post on it if I literally JUST received it and have not even listened to it yet. But, hey it's Festivus and whatever holiday you may be celebrating this week, YOU deserve a gift. And many thanks to Dan DeLuca who asked me if I knew anything about this comp last week, and sent me a copy of this (as well as the 4172) comp in record time. He is my own personal Santa Claus, and I don't mean that in any weird dirty way either.
This post is for a little-heard comp called Welcome to New York, Now Go Home. While I don't know much about it boasts a ton of great LI bands including some songs that are exclusive to this collection. I remember reading on The Judas Iscariot's facebook page that whoever was putting out the comp booked two days in a studio and had every band come in for 1 single hour and bang out their song, leave and then the next band would come in. So I would imagine everything was done live. I can't say for certain how legit the story is though. Apparently though, Bittersweet Records who put out the CD only did a small print run for this release. This is the only release I know of from that label as well.
I'm pretty sure most of those songs are exclusive to the comp. "Soft Six" from Silent Majority did show up later on the "Based on a True Story" compilation disc they put out and "Mother Jokes" from Milhouse was on a split with 52X and the Wreckage/Exit comp. The Judas Iscariot songs also showed up on a separate comp as well. Indecision re-recorded "Purgatory" for Unorthodox, and SFA probably did the same for "Nothing in the Dark". But really, who cares? There's stuff I never heard before from THE LAST CRIME, IRONY OF LIGHTFOOT, KYI and Pacifier (!!). I swear I'm spazzing out like Ralphie getting his red rider BB gun right now.
Enjoy!
Here's the Track Listing:
1) Irony of Lightfoot - "Five Inches of Consolement"
2) Kill Your Idols - "Lead Song & Ten Cents a Day"
3) Indecision - "Purgatory"
4) Judas Iscariot - "Cessation Talk & Madeleine Murray O'Hare"
5) Pacifier - "These Damn Batteries & Universal Choking Sign"
6) Silent Majority - "Soft Six"
7) Shutdown - "United"
8) Chupacabra - "Sing Nada"
9) Black Army Jacket - "Parliament of Rooks"
10) Milhouse - "Mother Jokes"
11) The Last Crime - "Everyone's a Comedian"
12) Mason - "All Passion Spent"
13) SFA - "Nothing in the Dark"
Dowload it:
WELCOME TO NEW YORK, NOW GO HOME Comp
http://www.mediafire.com/?e4k78221tcpww16
This post is for a little-heard comp called Welcome to New York, Now Go Home. While I don't know much about it boasts a ton of great LI bands including some songs that are exclusive to this collection. I remember reading on The Judas Iscariot's facebook page that whoever was putting out the comp booked two days in a studio and had every band come in for 1 single hour and bang out their song, leave and then the next band would come in. So I would imagine everything was done live. I can't say for certain how legit the story is though. Apparently though, Bittersweet Records who put out the CD only did a small print run for this release. This is the only release I know of from that label as well.
I'm pretty sure most of those songs are exclusive to the comp. "Soft Six" from Silent Majority did show up later on the "Based on a True Story" compilation disc they put out and "Mother Jokes" from Milhouse was on a split with 52X and the Wreckage/Exit comp. The Judas Iscariot songs also showed up on a separate comp as well. Indecision re-recorded "Purgatory" for Unorthodox, and SFA probably did the same for "Nothing in the Dark". But really, who cares? There's stuff I never heard before from THE LAST CRIME, IRONY OF LIGHTFOOT, KYI and Pacifier (!!). I swear I'm spazzing out like Ralphie getting his red rider BB gun right now.
Enjoy!
Here's the Track Listing:
1) Irony of Lightfoot - "Five Inches of Consolement"
2) Kill Your Idols - "Lead Song & Ten Cents a Day"
3) Indecision - "Purgatory"
4) Judas Iscariot - "Cessation Talk & Madeleine Murray O'Hare"
5) Pacifier - "These Damn Batteries & Universal Choking Sign"
6) Silent Majority - "Soft Six"
7) Shutdown - "United"
8) Chupacabra - "Sing Nada"
9) Black Army Jacket - "Parliament of Rooks"
10) Milhouse - "Mother Jokes"
11) The Last Crime - "Everyone's a Comedian"
12) Mason - "All Passion Spent"
13) SFA - "Nothing in the Dark"
Dowload it:
WELCOME TO NEW YORK, NOW GO HOME Comp
http://www.mediafire.com/?e4k78221tcpww16
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Greensleep
I freely admit that I barely know shit about Greensleep. My main exposure to them was a Motherbox split 7" that they did with Scarab back in 1996. The bass player I was in a band with at the time had been in Scarab and played me the 7". I didn't have the heart to tell him I liked the Greensleep side better.
Greensleep was from East Northport and played a noisy punky type of rock like Jawbox and Hellbender, and while I never saw them live, I remember seeing flyers for them sharing bills with Garden Variety and Sleepasaurus quite a bit. This was yet another band that featured Dave Patrikios on drums.
They had previously put out another 7", a split tape of WFMU performances with The Warped Weeble Wobbles and a full length on Alone records. "Society Song" from the full length also appeared on a comp by Allied records called "Invasion of the Indie Snatchers" in 1996, and as far as I can tell they appeared on the "Adventures in Hub Cap Corner" comp on Creation Records as well which may or may not truly exist. Apparently there are some other unreleased recordings as well - which I have not been able to lay my hands on yet.
I had jacked these files from the (currently inactive) Por Vida blog ran by Mike of Dead Broke Records and a brand new blog that I just stumbled on called Uncle Ron's Dusty Discs. Uncle Ron seems to originally be from the Sandbar as well and is posting a TON of goodies with far more velocity than I. Definitely click over to his blog and check it out.
Back to Greensleep, these downloads are for the two 7"s and the s/t full-length on Alone Records.
GREENSLEEP
First 7" - http://www.mediafire.com/?p9wbxr6wa9zi9z1
Split with Scarab and Full Length - http://www.mediafire.com/?uweddl1cs3ms87p
Greensleep was from East Northport and played a noisy punky type of rock like Jawbox and Hellbender, and while I never saw them live, I remember seeing flyers for them sharing bills with Garden Variety and Sleepasaurus quite a bit. This was yet another band that featured Dave Patrikios on drums.
They had previously put out another 7", a split tape of WFMU performances with The Warped Weeble Wobbles and a full length on Alone records. "Society Song" from the full length also appeared on a comp by Allied records called "Invasion of the Indie Snatchers" in 1996, and as far as I can tell they appeared on the "Adventures in Hub Cap Corner" comp on Creation Records as well which may or may not truly exist. Apparently there are some other unreleased recordings as well - which I have not been able to lay my hands on yet.
I had jacked these files from the (currently inactive) Por Vida blog ran by Mike of Dead Broke Records and a brand new blog that I just stumbled on called Uncle Ron's Dusty Discs. Uncle Ron seems to originally be from the Sandbar as well and is posting a TON of goodies with far more velocity than I. Definitely click over to his blog and check it out.
Back to Greensleep, these downloads are for the two 7"s and the s/t full-length on Alone Records.
GREENSLEEP
First 7" - http://www.mediafire.com/?p9wbxr6wa9zi9z1
Split with Scarab and Full Length - http://www.mediafire.com/?uweddl1cs3ms87p
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Sidefires
Sidefires is very much an active band. They were formed in 2009. The band shares many of the same members as a band that was called Circle the Sun. Well, except for one member. That would be your beloved author here.
It's hard to write any sort of history about the band without somehow including myself in the narrative. In the interest of just focusing on the band that Sidefires is, I will simplify it. Circle the Sun ends, Justin Williams (bass and keyboards), Jason Crawford (drums) and Evan Lieberman (vocals) recruit Christopher James (formerly of Deepen the Shade, Bayonet and Spectators) to play guitar. There you have it.
They play a spacey brand of indie rock that has elements of Codeseven, Elliott, Sunny Day Real Estate and Inside at times as well. They recently recorded a 4-song demo which is some great stuff. Check it out!
SIDEFIRES - DEMO
http://www.mediafire.com/?e55l68e55l72ff7
Find out more about the band here:
http://www.myspace.com/sidefires
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sidefires/172513415942?v=app_4619579915
It's hard to write any sort of history about the band without somehow including myself in the narrative. In the interest of just focusing on the band that Sidefires is, I will simplify it. Circle the Sun ends, Justin Williams (bass and keyboards), Jason Crawford (drums) and Evan Lieberman (vocals) recruit Christopher James (formerly of Deepen the Shade, Bayonet and Spectators) to play guitar. There you have it.
They play a spacey brand of indie rock that has elements of Codeseven, Elliott, Sunny Day Real Estate and Inside at times as well. They recently recorded a 4-song demo which is some great stuff. Check it out!
SIDEFIRES - DEMO
http://www.mediafire.com/?e55l68e55l72ff7
Find out more about the band here:
http://www.myspace.com/sidefires
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sidefires/172513415942?v=app_4619579915
The Quick Fix (kills)
The Quick Fix Kills, originally known as just The Quick Fix before some other band threatened them with some legal action, was a band born on LI but eventually relocated to Jersey City. The band was formed in 2000 as a 4-piece with Dave O'Connell (formerly of The Movielife) on guitar, Chris Klein (of Godot on Bass), Rich Thrush on Guitar and Luke Boyle on drums. I remember their first few shows with Rich and Dave doing some shouted vocals before getting Mark Moody as vocalist. My memory may be crumbling bit by bit, but I remember their first show being Taking Back Sunday's release show for their first CD... not the Victory one, but that other one.
The band played a style which was not typical for Long Island. It was discordant and angular and definitely drew influences from the seminal Drive Like Jehu, as well as Lungfish, Fugazi and Jesus Lizard. I really dug these guys. I have to admit, I did prefer the shouted vocals of Rich and Dave prior to Moody joining the band as it reminded me of The Last Crime. I can't deny though that Mark definitely brought a bit more actual singing and an overall stage presence to the group.
They released a 4 song EP called "Novel Weapons" on the Ernest Jennings Recording label in 2002 and then a full length a year later on My Pal God records called "Saint Something."
Aubrey Arago eventually replaced Luke Boyle on drums at some point in 2004 and they broke up shortly afterward. They had posted some talk of a reunion show, but I'm unsure if that ever came to pass. Dave O'Connell and Chris Klein formed The Special Moves, I'm not sure what became of the other members. The last show I remember seeing them play was in the basement of some NYC club in Hell's Kitchen at some point in the summer of 2003 with Heston Rifle and Bravado, in what turned out to be the latter's last show.
This download is for both of their releases. Many thanks to Mike Satzinger and Chris Klein for providing some of the music here.
THE QUICK FIX KILLS - "Novel Weapons" & "Saint Something"
http://www.mediafire.com/?9xdbbrq23mlxnv2
Their old website (which hasn't been updated since 2004) can be found here: http://www.angelfire.com/indie/tqfk/index.html
Their myspace is here: www.myspace.com/thequickfixkills
The band played a style which was not typical for Long Island. It was discordant and angular and definitely drew influences from the seminal Drive Like Jehu, as well as Lungfish, Fugazi and Jesus Lizard. I really dug these guys. I have to admit, I did prefer the shouted vocals of Rich and Dave prior to Moody joining the band as it reminded me of The Last Crime. I can't deny though that Mark definitely brought a bit more actual singing and an overall stage presence to the group.
They released a 4 song EP called "Novel Weapons" on the Ernest Jennings Recording label in 2002 and then a full length a year later on My Pal God records called "Saint Something."
Aubrey Arago eventually replaced Luke Boyle on drums at some point in 2004 and they broke up shortly afterward. They had posted some talk of a reunion show, but I'm unsure if that ever came to pass. Dave O'Connell and Chris Klein formed The Special Moves, I'm not sure what became of the other members. The last show I remember seeing them play was in the basement of some NYC club in Hell's Kitchen at some point in the summer of 2003 with Heston Rifle and Bravado, in what turned out to be the latter's last show.
This download is for both of their releases. Many thanks to Mike Satzinger and Chris Klein for providing some of the music here.
THE QUICK FIX KILLS - "Novel Weapons" & "Saint Something"
http://www.mediafire.com/?9xdbbrq23mlxnv2
Their old website (which hasn't been updated since 2004) can be found here: http://www.angelfire.com/indie/tqfk/index.html
Their myspace is here: www.myspace.com/thequickfixkills
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Three Years Older
Normally I wouldn't put up such a half-assed write-up of a band. But despite Three Years Older's fair amount of longevity, their extensive member changes (most of which I probably couldn't give an accurate frame of reference for) make if difficult to provide an overall picture of the band.
With that said, Three Years Older was formed by former No Thought and Clockwise frontman General George Fullan somewhere around 2001. I remember this because Clockwise had dissolved in 1997 and being that George was a pretty good singer with great stage presence I had always wondered why he didn't form another band straight-away. When the cotton weary (my band at the time) were recording with George at Pie Studios I had asked him and he said nonchalantly "Well, I've got a new band now. I was just waiting for the right time." He went on to give me a run down of the band and how each guy in the band was 3 years Older than the next, ranging from 18 to 27. I think that the youngest guy was previously a guitar player in the band Neck, and George was the eldest at 27. Rick Haas, who previously was in the punk band S.A.D. was the next to oldest at 24. And really... that's all I can tell you about the lineup. I remember them playing their first show on George's 28th birthday and I think it was On the Might of Princes had their record release for "Where You Are and Where You Want to Be" that night too. I could be totally wrong about that, but I do remember buying the CD at that show. I think The Quick Fix and Taking Back Sunday played that night as well. That may have been the only time they had that original lineup, it kept changing and eventually the whole 3 years older concept got tossed right out the window with those constant member shifts.
The main guys in the band were always General George and Rick Haas. I know that Joe Canetti played drums for awhile and he may have been preceded or come after Ryan Mahon of Satellite Lost/Gracer filling in for a bit, a dude named Todd played Bass at some point, and Rick Michaels previously of End of World Smile eventually joined on guitar.
But that's not really why we're here. We're here for the music. Three Years Older played melodic hardcore in the LI style, but with touches of The Refused and Avail. It's definitely a bit more caustic than Clockwise was. George would always really get into it and I remember several shows where he would bust his forehead open with the microphone. It was visceral and and even a little disturbing, which was the intention. George is a handsome lad, but there he was re-enacting the office scene of Fight Club at every other show.
George was a full-time studio producer while doing Three Years Older, and his continual workflow may have contributed to a lack of output of their music. I think that there were two demos that they produced and I had heard that they had recorded a full length, but I have not been able to track it down.
Their Myspace has not been updated since 2006, but I do recall them playing shows here and there until at least 2007.
This download is for the band's first demo which features guest vocals from Mike Mallamo of Inside on the last track.
THREE YEARS OLDER - First Demo
http://www.mediafire.com/?vpv95nqs10fd31w
Three Years Older Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/threeyearsolder
With that said, Three Years Older was formed by former No Thought and Clockwise frontman General George Fullan somewhere around 2001. I remember this because Clockwise had dissolved in 1997 and being that George was a pretty good singer with great stage presence I had always wondered why he didn't form another band straight-away. When the cotton weary (my band at the time) were recording with George at Pie Studios I had asked him and he said nonchalantly "Well, I've got a new band now. I was just waiting for the right time." He went on to give me a run down of the band and how each guy in the band was 3 years Older than the next, ranging from 18 to 27. I think that the youngest guy was previously a guitar player in the band Neck, and George was the eldest at 27. Rick Haas, who previously was in the punk band S.A.D. was the next to oldest at 24. And really... that's all I can tell you about the lineup. I remember them playing their first show on George's 28th birthday and I think it was On the Might of Princes had their record release for "Where You Are and Where You Want to Be" that night too. I could be totally wrong about that, but I do remember buying the CD at that show. I think The Quick Fix and Taking Back Sunday played that night as well. That may have been the only time they had that original lineup, it kept changing and eventually the whole 3 years older concept got tossed right out the window with those constant member shifts.
The main guys in the band were always General George and Rick Haas. I know that Joe Canetti played drums for awhile and he may have been preceded or come after Ryan Mahon of Satellite Lost/Gracer filling in for a bit, a dude named Todd played Bass at some point, and Rick Michaels previously of End of World Smile eventually joined on guitar.
But that's not really why we're here. We're here for the music. Three Years Older played melodic hardcore in the LI style, but with touches of The Refused and Avail. It's definitely a bit more caustic than Clockwise was. George would always really get into it and I remember several shows where he would bust his forehead open with the microphone. It was visceral and and even a little disturbing, which was the intention. George is a handsome lad, but there he was re-enacting the office scene of Fight Club at every other show.
George was a full-time studio producer while doing Three Years Older, and his continual workflow may have contributed to a lack of output of their music. I think that there were two demos that they produced and I had heard that they had recorded a full length, but I have not been able to track it down.
Their Myspace has not been updated since 2006, but I do recall them playing shows here and there until at least 2007.
This download is for the band's first demo which features guest vocals from Mike Mallamo of Inside on the last track.
THREE YEARS OLDER - First Demo
http://www.mediafire.com/?vpv95nqs10fd31w
Three Years Older Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/threeyearsolder
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Charles Demar
This is a band that I saw one singular time and they completely blew me away, and then I never saw them play again.
I have nearly no information on the band. I know that drummer Dave Patrikios was in Milhouse and Greensleep. I think that the singer may have been in Greensleep, but that's not a fact I'm sure of. I saw them play with Inside, Promise Ring, and Code Red at the Lindenhurst VFW in September 1997. I kept trying to track them down afterwards but next I had heard Dave Patrikios went on to World/Inferno Friendship Society.
I didn't even know that they had recorded this 7" call "La Corrida Del Toro" until doing some digging recently. It's awesome. It's still blow-your-face off, hard rock stuff that I can hear bits of Chavez, Hot Water Music, Kerosene 454 or Supertouch, although the band described itself as a mix of "Garden Variety, Drive Like Jehu and Van Halen." There is some incredible playing on these tracks.
John Stendrini went on to Federale and Rope, Dave Patrikios played in World/Inferno Friendship Society, The Realistics and a host of other bands and is currently a member of The Checkout Girls, Marlon Sporer played in The Occasion, and Nick Chacona has went on to DJing.
The download is for the "La Corrida Del Toro" 7" plus two more songs that were recorded during that session and were not released. All of these songs were ripped from the band's myspace. There is evidently an earlier demo as well... but good luck finding that.
Charles Demar - La Corrida Del Toro + More
http://www.mediafire.com/?7ubcprppmct73s5%20
Go to the myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/charlesdemartheband
I have nearly no information on the band. I know that drummer Dave Patrikios was in Milhouse and Greensleep. I think that the singer may have been in Greensleep, but that's not a fact I'm sure of. I saw them play with Inside, Promise Ring, and Code Red at the Lindenhurst VFW in September 1997. I kept trying to track them down afterwards but next I had heard Dave Patrikios went on to World/Inferno Friendship Society.
I didn't even know that they had recorded this 7" call "La Corrida Del Toro" until doing some digging recently. It's awesome. It's still blow-your-face off, hard rock stuff that I can hear bits of Chavez, Hot Water Music, Kerosene 454 or Supertouch, although the band described itself as a mix of "Garden Variety, Drive Like Jehu and Van Halen." There is some incredible playing on these tracks.
John Stendrini went on to Federale and Rope, Dave Patrikios played in World/Inferno Friendship Society, The Realistics and a host of other bands and is currently a member of The Checkout Girls, Marlon Sporer played in The Occasion, and Nick Chacona has went on to DJing.
The download is for the "La Corrida Del Toro" 7" plus two more songs that were recorded during that session and were not released. All of these songs were ripped from the band's myspace. There is evidently an earlier demo as well... but good luck finding that.
Charles Demar - La Corrida Del Toro + More
http://www.mediafire.com/?7ubcprppmct73s5%20
Go to the myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/charlesdemartheband
1.6 Band
Here's another band I've been planning on posting for quite some time. The 1.6 Band was a noisy hardcore band that had incredibly bizarre song lyrics and titles accompanied by intricate noisy guitar parts.
The band was formed in 1989 by Kevin Egan and Lance Yeager (both of Beyond), Vin Novara and Mike Yanicelli in Holbrook. They recorded the EP "Tongue Family Style" with Wharton Tiers (infamous for recording early Helmet), then released another EP called "Pimpin' Aint Easy" in 1993. They recorded a self-titled full length in 1993 before dissolving when Vin Novara moved to DC for college.
All of these tracks were later compiled on the album "Broke-Up" in 1996.
In 2009 the band reunited and later put out the free EP "The Checkered Past of All Kings Present" on Metastasis records. The new EP rocks just as hard as the old stuff, just with a bit more finesse to the vocals and today's production value applied.
In between the break-up and reunion Egan was in Last Crime and $24,000, Yanicelli was in Die 116 and Moses and Novara joined The Crownhate Ruin, Gena Rowlands Band and Canyon.
Below are links for the original discography Broke-Up and the new EP. As stated above, the new EP can also be downloaded (with the cover art and liner notes) at Metastasis records.
The 1.6 Band - Broke-Up
http://www.mediafire.com/?v02nv7v8btadqdx
The 1.6 Band - The Checkered Past of All Kings Present
http://www.mediafire.com/?wjjdxy8sh5n1ij6
Here are some additional links to find out more about the band:
www.myspace.com/16band
www.facebook.com/One.SixBand
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1.6_Band
The band was formed in 1989 by Kevin Egan and Lance Yeager (both of Beyond), Vin Novara and Mike Yanicelli in Holbrook. They recorded the EP "Tongue Family Style" with Wharton Tiers (infamous for recording early Helmet), then released another EP called "Pimpin' Aint Easy" in 1993. They recorded a self-titled full length in 1993 before dissolving when Vin Novara moved to DC for college.
All of these tracks were later compiled on the album "Broke-Up" in 1996.
In 2009 the band reunited and later put out the free EP "The Checkered Past of All Kings Present" on Metastasis records. The new EP rocks just as hard as the old stuff, just with a bit more finesse to the vocals and today's production value applied.
In between the break-up and reunion Egan was in Last Crime and $24,000, Yanicelli was in Die 116 and Moses and Novara joined The Crownhate Ruin, Gena Rowlands Band and Canyon.
Below are links for the original discography Broke-Up and the new EP. As stated above, the new EP can also be downloaded (with the cover art and liner notes) at Metastasis records.
The 1.6 Band - Broke-Up
http://www.mediafire.com/?v02nv7v8btadqdx
The 1.6 Band - The Checkered Past of All Kings Present
http://www.mediafire.com/?wjjdxy8sh5n1ij6
Here are some additional links to find out more about the band:
www.myspace.com/16band
www.facebook.com/One.SixBand
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1.6_Band
Dawn in Bathos
Through doing this blog, I've been able to urge some of my friends to unearth music from their old bands which they may not have otherwise been as likely to dig up. Dawn in Bathos is a case in point.
Dawn in Bathos was active during 1996-2000, and made up of Chris Donohue (ex Science Diet/Cathode Ray) on guitar, Steve DePalo on keyboard and guitar (Ex Farckus Affair/The Last Crime), Jerry Carbone (Ex Farckus Affair/Ethnic) on drums, Ed Schneider (no relation here) on keyboards, as well as Eric Svrida on Guitar and Ezra Martin and Davis Marcholi at different times on bass.
Dawn in Bathos was something of the "sister-band" to Antarctica. I say sister-band since they were both fronted by Chris Donohue, existed concurrently and both had a sound that definitely would count The Cure and The Church as huge influences. I've never asked Chris, but at the time I could never quite understand why someone would want to front two bands that sounded so similar. I'm still not sure either. At this point, I don't care since I love the music and if you've never heard Dawn in Bathos but loved the Antarctica stuff then this will be a treat. Think of this as Antarctica without the dancey-synths and Eric Richter's voice occasionally popping up. Since I hadn't heard this stuff since seeing the band play at Under Acme in 1998, I'm pretty thrilled to be able to share it. That Under Acme show also included Inside, Miracle of '86 and Rutherford if memory serves me correctly. I think that they played 2 or 3 songs. Most of the songs were about 10 minutes long, it wasn't for those with short attention spans. It was so reminiscent of The Cure that it boggled my mind that this band (as well as Antarctica) were lumped in with the emo-thing.
We've covered the whereabouts of most of the members in previous posts, (EDIT) Ezra Martin played guitar in Sadie and The Alps as well as a Smiths cover band known as The Salford Lads, I'm not sure what else Ed Schneider was involved in.
For reasons beyond me, Chris did not really want to let this out. I've been asking him about these tracks for six years. He mainly cited the poor sound quality as the majority of it was recorded on a 4-track but I think that most people could look past that since the tunes are so cool. I've pulled this "demo" together from two tracks that were dug up as well as ripping the song "The Ocean" from the Dawn In Bathos myspace for something of an ad-hoc 3-Song sampler. Enjoy.
Thanks to Chris and drummer Jerry Carbone for sending over the tracks.
Dawn in Bathos - 3 Lost Songs
http://www.mediafire.com/?60ygs3bea3bwq14
Go to the myspace page here: http://www.myspace.com/dawninbathos
Dawn in Bathos was active during 1996-2000, and made up of Chris Donohue (ex Science Diet/Cathode Ray) on guitar, Steve DePalo on keyboard and guitar (Ex Farckus Affair/The Last Crime), Jerry Carbone (Ex Farckus Affair/Ethnic) on drums, Ed Schneider (no relation here) on keyboards, as well as Eric Svrida on Guitar and Ezra Martin and Davis Marcholi at different times on bass.
Dawn in Bathos was something of the "sister-band" to Antarctica. I say sister-band since they were both fronted by Chris Donohue, existed concurrently and both had a sound that definitely would count The Cure and The Church as huge influences. I've never asked Chris, but at the time I could never quite understand why someone would want to front two bands that sounded so similar. I'm still not sure either. At this point, I don't care since I love the music and if you've never heard Dawn in Bathos but loved the Antarctica stuff then this will be a treat. Think of this as Antarctica without the dancey-synths and Eric Richter's voice occasionally popping up. Since I hadn't heard this stuff since seeing the band play at Under Acme in 1998, I'm pretty thrilled to be able to share it. That Under Acme show also included Inside, Miracle of '86 and Rutherford if memory serves me correctly. I think that they played 2 or 3 songs. Most of the songs were about 10 minutes long, it wasn't for those with short attention spans. It was so reminiscent of The Cure that it boggled my mind that this band (as well as Antarctica) were lumped in with the emo-thing.
We've covered the whereabouts of most of the members in previous posts, (EDIT) Ezra Martin played guitar in Sadie and The Alps as well as a Smiths cover band known as The Salford Lads, I'm not sure what else Ed Schneider was involved in.
For reasons beyond me, Chris did not really want to let this out. I've been asking him about these tracks for six years. He mainly cited the poor sound quality as the majority of it was recorded on a 4-track but I think that most people could look past that since the tunes are so cool. I've pulled this "demo" together from two tracks that were dug up as well as ripping the song "The Ocean" from the Dawn In Bathos myspace for something of an ad-hoc 3-Song sampler. Enjoy.
Thanks to Chris and drummer Jerry Carbone for sending over the tracks.
Dawn in Bathos - 3 Lost Songs
http://www.mediafire.com/?60ygs3bea3bwq14
Go to the myspace page here: http://www.myspace.com/dawninbathos
Watership Down
Watership Down is really a story of band that was a starting point. I do not mean that to be slighting, but it's true. Mike and Nick went on to form Knox Overstreet, the other guitar player and drummer I believe went on to Knives and Greenwater, both bands which were very different and complex than Watership Down.
Watership Down started life as Second Effort. They were a very emo sounding band that were getting some attention in the scene around 1997 through their bass player Ed. I had the demo which I think I bought either at a show or at Merrick Ave Music, which was a store that was open for what would probably be termed a "hot minute" now. At some point they changed their name to Watership Down and added a bit more screaming to their mix. They recorded this 7" that was released on Immigrant Sun records, as well as the song Time Bandit which was released on the Blood, Sweat and Tears comp.
I can't remember much more than that. I dig the songs on this 7". It definitely sounds like a long island emo band from the 1990's. That's really the best way I can put it. I will admit that as a live band, I remember seeing them a bunch of times... and always thinking they were a bit of a mess. But they were all pretty young at the time, so let's cut them a bit of slack now.
What's certainly an interesting portion to this recording is how Mike Catanese went on to Knox Overstreet and his vocal style changed completely. If you liked Knox Overstreet, this may interest you just to hear such a difference.
Watership Down - 7"
http://www.mediafire.com/?d95il5zhfls7hv7
Watership Down started life as Second Effort. They were a very emo sounding band that were getting some attention in the scene around 1997 through their bass player Ed. I had the demo which I think I bought either at a show or at Merrick Ave Music, which was a store that was open for what would probably be termed a "hot minute" now. At some point they changed their name to Watership Down and added a bit more screaming to their mix. They recorded this 7" that was released on Immigrant Sun records, as well as the song Time Bandit which was released on the Blood, Sweat and Tears comp.
I can't remember much more than that. I dig the songs on this 7". It definitely sounds like a long island emo band from the 1990's. That's really the best way I can put it. I will admit that as a live band, I remember seeing them a bunch of times... and always thinking they were a bit of a mess. But they were all pretty young at the time, so let's cut them a bit of slack now.
What's certainly an interesting portion to this recording is how Mike Catanese went on to Knox Overstreet and his vocal style changed completely. If you liked Knox Overstreet, this may interest you just to hear such a difference.
Watership Down - 7"
http://www.mediafire.com/?d95il5zhfls7hv7
Godot
I have been waiting to do this entry for awhile since this band wrote some great songs, and there's a lot of unreleased material to check out.
Labels are a funny thing. We always feel the need to compartmentalize things into neat boxes, most of which don't even exist. It's definitely that way with music. Allegedly, the band Mineral didn't even know that they were an emo band until someone told them that they were and that they should check out Sunny Day Real Estate. I'm not sure how true that is, but that's the so-called story. Over on the Long Island Music Scene wiki my old band The Cotton Weary is listed as a post-emo indie band. Post-Emo Indie? I didn't even know that there was a post-emo genre. I appreciate what the people over there are doing, but you guys made that up, right? In any case, I'd be as guilty of categorizing bands as well, because when I listen to Godot now all I hear is an emo band, but at the time they were active I don't know if they fit that categorization, knew or even cared what emo was.
Godot was started around 1997 by Chris Klein on guitar and vocals, Michael Conklin on bass and Don Eschenauer (Edit - Thanks to Chris Klein) on drums. They put out a demo, a 4 song CD and that was it. Chris's voice is definitely comparable to emo bands of the time like Mineral, and there are shades of Texas is the Reason, Lazycain and Left at Yale that I hear in their stuff. But the songwriting is really strong and it's a shame that they just didn't gel with what was happening in 1998 since they preferred melody over mosh parts, beats instead of breakdowns. The guitars alternate from strummed to chiming, the basslines are simple yet effective. When you listen to them now, you'll probably wonder why you never heard of them and question if they really were from LI. They were.
I'm not even sure how I met Mike Conklin. One of us responded to the phone (or BEEPER) number on one of our respective flyers to try and set up some shows. I went to check them out at a place by Hofstra (my old alma matter) called Screwy Louie's. Yes, Screwy Louie's. Only drunk college kids, or people who want to make money off of drunk college kids would name their establishment Screwy Louie's. They were playing with another little-known and also equally awesome band called Varistor. The guys played a great set, I grabbed their CD and we were on the way to becoming friends. I know that with the exception of Mike Satzinger, the rest of my band at the time (The Cotton Weary) did not get what Godot were doing. They definitely didn't see it as 'emo', which comes back around to trying to squeeze everyone into the same box.
Godot played a show with The Cotton Weary, Knox Overstreet and a metal band called Elevation at the Roadhouse in Ronkonkoma. After that, Conklin and I had a falling out and I lost track of them. Looking back, I'm not entirely sure what the argument was about but having a few years of seasoning since that time I can honestly say whatever it was probably shouldn't have ended our friendship or our bands playing together. They broke up a year or so later and Conklin went on to work for several different magazines, while Chris Klein joined the much noisier The Quick Fix (later The Quick Fix Kills) and later The Special Moves.
In these links you'll find Godot's 4 Song CD and several demos that were to comprise a full length that never materialized. I'd like to thank Chris Klein for sending me this stuff because as he said himself of the demos, no one outside of themselves and their girlfriends has heard this music. And this is really great stuff. "Sketchy History" and "E-mail Song" are some of the strongest tunes that they put together. The first demo is not included in the links because no one in the band even has a copy of it - but if there is anyone out there that does have a copy, be sure to let me know. I urge you guys to check this out.
Godot - Self-Titled CD:
http://www.mediafire.com/?66e3vld3mkwp7i0
Godot - Unreleased Demos:
http://www.mediafire.com/?117969nms8hwel1
Labels are a funny thing. We always feel the need to compartmentalize things into neat boxes, most of which don't even exist. It's definitely that way with music. Allegedly, the band Mineral didn't even know that they were an emo band until someone told them that they were and that they should check out Sunny Day Real Estate. I'm not sure how true that is, but that's the so-called story. Over on the Long Island Music Scene wiki my old band The Cotton Weary is listed as a post-emo indie band. Post-Emo Indie? I didn't even know that there was a post-emo genre. I appreciate what the people over there are doing, but you guys made that up, right? In any case, I'd be as guilty of categorizing bands as well, because when I listen to Godot now all I hear is an emo band, but at the time they were active I don't know if they fit that categorization, knew or even cared what emo was.
Godot was started around 1997 by Chris Klein on guitar and vocals, Michael Conklin on bass and Don Eschenauer (Edit - Thanks to Chris Klein) on drums. They put out a demo, a 4 song CD and that was it. Chris's voice is definitely comparable to emo bands of the time like Mineral, and there are shades of Texas is the Reason, Lazycain and Left at Yale that I hear in their stuff. But the songwriting is really strong and it's a shame that they just didn't gel with what was happening in 1998 since they preferred melody over mosh parts, beats instead of breakdowns. The guitars alternate from strummed to chiming, the basslines are simple yet effective. When you listen to them now, you'll probably wonder why you never heard of them and question if they really were from LI. They were.
I'm not even sure how I met Mike Conklin. One of us responded to the phone (or BEEPER) number on one of our respective flyers to try and set up some shows. I went to check them out at a place by Hofstra (my old alma matter) called Screwy Louie's. Yes, Screwy Louie's. Only drunk college kids, or people who want to make money off of drunk college kids would name their establishment Screwy Louie's. They were playing with another little-known and also equally awesome band called Varistor. The guys played a great set, I grabbed their CD and we were on the way to becoming friends. I know that with the exception of Mike Satzinger, the rest of my band at the time (The Cotton Weary) did not get what Godot were doing. They definitely didn't see it as 'emo', which comes back around to trying to squeeze everyone into the same box.
Godot played a show with The Cotton Weary, Knox Overstreet and a metal band called Elevation at the Roadhouse in Ronkonkoma. After that, Conklin and I had a falling out and I lost track of them. Looking back, I'm not entirely sure what the argument was about but having a few years of seasoning since that time I can honestly say whatever it was probably shouldn't have ended our friendship or our bands playing together. They broke up a year or so later and Conklin went on to work for several different magazines, while Chris Klein joined the much noisier The Quick Fix (later The Quick Fix Kills) and later The Special Moves.
In these links you'll find Godot's 4 Song CD and several demos that were to comprise a full length that never materialized. I'd like to thank Chris Klein for sending me this stuff because as he said himself of the demos, no one outside of themselves and their girlfriends has heard this music. And this is really great stuff. "Sketchy History" and "E-mail Song" are some of the strongest tunes that they put together. The first demo is not included in the links because no one in the band even has a copy of it - but if there is anyone out there that does have a copy, be sure to let me know. I urge you guys to check this out.
Godot - Self-Titled CD:
http://www.mediafire.com/?66e3vld3mkwp7i0
Godot - Unreleased Demos:
http://www.mediafire.com/?117969nms8hwel1
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
More of The Farckus Affair
Thanks to Jerry Carbone (drummer for Science Diet, Farckus Affair, Dawn in Bathos and currently Vise Massacre) for these tracks. He posted them in a comment section on the original Farckus Affair post as individual tracks, but I've put them all together for a quick easy download.
The Farckus Affair - Live on WFMU
http://www.mediafire.com/?47p49wp9anvymhe
The Farckus Affair - Live on WFMU
http://www.mediafire.com/?47p49wp9anvymhe
Garden Variety
So, in between bites of my vegetarian chili I am wondering exactly how to do write-up on a band that casts a pretty large shadow on Long Island. There are plenty of write-ups elsewhere, a wikipedia entry and I'm sure plenty of other blogs have posted the classic and unfortunately out of print Knocking the Skill Level throughout the web. What else can I add to that?Garden Variety was THE band in the 90's from our sandbar. They had a very unique sound which for the most part was not reflected by many of their contemporaries (save for Science Diet and The Farckus Affair), especially when looked at from the perspective of the hardcore scene. They were an excellent band and I have continually regretted not knowing enough about them while they were active.
I'm being lazy and I grabbed this fairy concise write-up from http://lims.tumblr.com/ which went inactive after a few posts:
Garden Variety began in Valley Stream, New York in 1991 when Anthony Roman and Anthony Rizzo posted an ad in a Long Island punk zine asking for a drummer who was interested in playing music with them. Joe Gorelick, the drummer of the Atlantic Records signed band King Missile saw the ad, and the trio began writing together. The same year, the band recorded their first demo at Boulevard Studios on Northern Blvd in Queens, NY. The band played their first show together at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, and from there played countless basement and bar shows.
In 1992, the band signed a small contract with Queens based, “MintTone Records”. The “Hedge 7”” single was released to critical acclaim, and many punk zines compared them to the likes of Jawbreaker and 1.6 Band. Garden Variety toured in support of the seven inch, and began generating buzz both across the country and even abroad.
A year later, the band joined the Gern Blandsten Records family along with Native Nod, 1.6 Band, and many others. Through this label they released the Self Titled album, which was well received by critics, punk zines, and fans due to Garden Variety’s constant touring and through the help of their label. In the same year, they were a part of the “Hathead 7”” which also featured the bands Wheel and Glue. The record was released by the UK label, Mayking.
In 1994, with Garden Variety still touring in support of their self titled album, they recorded a split 7” (entitled “Parker”) with the band, Dahlia Seed. MintTone put it out.
Garden Variety released Knocking the Skill Level on Cargo/Headhunter in 1995, to fantastic reviews and features in Spin, CMJ, Alternative Press, and many other periodicals. They released a music video for the song, Harbored. The band’s tracks off of this record were used in SoundViews magazine compilation. They were also featured on a Descendants tribute CD. Shortly after this, they released the “Tennille 7”” with Hell No through Reservoir Records, as well as the “Stickler 7”” with Chune through Cargo Records.
In May of 1995, Gern Blandsten and CMJ New Music Monthly teamed up to put out Garden Variety’s “Binder”. An interview by actress Janeane Garofalo on the “7-Up Listen Up” series soon followed, as well as appearances on VHS video compilations, as well as features on the Lookout Records “Punk Rock USA” compilation (w/ Jawbreaker) and the Anti Matter Compilation (w/ Texas is the Reason, Jawbreaker).
In 1996, Garden Variety released the “New Guitar Parts 7”” with Jejune through Montalban Hotel Records/BWR Records. The band split up soon after. The members went on to form bands like Radio 4, Bluetip, Hell No, Vic Thrill, Retisonic, and Marah.
Ok, so thanks to some dude for that. Really, I'm not sure that it is possible to not have some knowledge of the band if you live on LI. As I had mentioned in previous blogs, when GV started I was into grunge, alternative and more grunge. The bassist of my band in high school actually lived down the block from Anthony Roman, and two of the other guys worked with Anthony Rizzo for the town of Valley Stream. I had asked them if they knew Garden Variety and that maybe we should play some shows with them to which everyone said "nah, they're just some punk band." I took them at face value at the time...well, because I was young and stupid. AGH. They couldn't have been more wrong and I couldn't have more remorse for not finding out about the band until a few years later. They were dissonant, they were angular and they were damn catchy. They were anything besides what their name suggested.
Anyway, these links are for nearly everything Garden Variety did. The first link has their self-titled first album on Gern Blandsten Records and Knocking the Skill Level that was released on Headhunter/Cargo. The second link collects... well, almost everything else. It has the 3 songs from the Hedge EP, Stickler from the Split with Chune, and then a batch of stuff that I downloaded from somewhere that includes "Clean Sheets" from the Descendents Tribute, their performance live with Janeane Garafalo, the 7" versions of Pretty Mouth and New Guitar Parts, the version of New Guitar Parts from the Ant-Matter Comp and a ton of live and unreleased stuff. The only things that are missing are the first demo, Parker from the Dahlia Seed split and Tennille from the Hell No split.
GARDEN VARIETY - Self-titled and Knocking the Skill Level:
http://www.mediafire.com/?bla4l68g9ezob2r
GARDEN VARIETY - Comps, 7" material, Unreleased, Live and more:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mbaxffjp0lt7q64
Other Links:
The band's myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/gardenvarietypunk
Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Variety_(band)
I'm being lazy and I grabbed this fairy concise write-up from http://lims.tumblr.com/ which went inactive after a few posts:
Garden Variety began in Valley Stream, New York in 1991 when Anthony Roman and Anthony Rizzo posted an ad in a Long Island punk zine asking for a drummer who was interested in playing music with them. Joe Gorelick, the drummer of the Atlantic Records signed band King Missile saw the ad, and the trio began writing together. The same year, the band recorded their first demo at Boulevard Studios on Northern Blvd in Queens, NY. The band played their first show together at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, and from there played countless basement and bar shows.
In 1992, the band signed a small contract with Queens based, “MintTone Records”. The “Hedge 7”” single was released to critical acclaim, and many punk zines compared them to the likes of Jawbreaker and 1.6 Band. Garden Variety toured in support of the seven inch, and began generating buzz both across the country and even abroad.
A year later, the band joined the Gern Blandsten Records family along with Native Nod, 1.6 Band, and many others. Through this label they released the Self Titled album, which was well received by critics, punk zines, and fans due to Garden Variety’s constant touring and through the help of their label. In the same year, they were a part of the “Hathead 7”” which also featured the bands Wheel and Glue. The record was released by the UK label, Mayking.
In 1994, with Garden Variety still touring in support of their self titled album, they recorded a split 7” (entitled “Parker”) with the band, Dahlia Seed. MintTone put it out.
Garden Variety released Knocking the Skill Level on Cargo/Headhunter in 1995, to fantastic reviews and features in Spin, CMJ, Alternative Press, and many other periodicals. They released a music video for the song, Harbored. The band’s tracks off of this record were used in SoundViews magazine compilation. They were also featured on a Descendants tribute CD. Shortly after this, they released the “Tennille 7”” with Hell No through Reservoir Records, as well as the “Stickler 7”” with Chune through Cargo Records.
In May of 1995, Gern Blandsten and CMJ New Music Monthly teamed up to put out Garden Variety’s “Binder”. An interview by actress Janeane Garofalo on the “7-Up Listen Up” series soon followed, as well as appearances on VHS video compilations, as well as features on the Lookout Records “Punk Rock USA” compilation (w/ Jawbreaker) and the Anti Matter Compilation (w/ Texas is the Reason, Jawbreaker).
In 1996, Garden Variety released the “New Guitar Parts 7”” with Jejune through Montalban Hotel Records/BWR Records. The band split up soon after. The members went on to form bands like Radio 4, Bluetip, Hell No, Vic Thrill, Retisonic, and Marah.
Ok, so thanks to some dude for that. Really, I'm not sure that it is possible to not have some knowledge of the band if you live on LI. As I had mentioned in previous blogs, when GV started I was into grunge, alternative and more grunge. The bassist of my band in high school actually lived down the block from Anthony Roman, and two of the other guys worked with Anthony Rizzo for the town of Valley Stream. I had asked them if they knew Garden Variety and that maybe we should play some shows with them to which everyone said "nah, they're just some punk band." I took them at face value at the time...well, because I was young and stupid. AGH. They couldn't have been more wrong and I couldn't have more remorse for not finding out about the band until a few years later. They were dissonant, they were angular and they were damn catchy. They were anything besides what their name suggested.
Anyway, these links are for nearly everything Garden Variety did. The first link has their self-titled first album on Gern Blandsten Records and Knocking the Skill Level that was released on Headhunter/Cargo. The second link collects... well, almost everything else. It has the 3 songs from the Hedge EP, Stickler from the Split with Chune, and then a batch of stuff that I downloaded from somewhere that includes "Clean Sheets" from the Descendents Tribute, their performance live with Janeane Garafalo, the 7" versions of Pretty Mouth and New Guitar Parts, the version of New Guitar Parts from the Ant-Matter Comp and a ton of live and unreleased stuff. The only things that are missing are the first demo, Parker from the Dahlia Seed split and Tennille from the Hell No split.
GARDEN VARIETY - Self-titled and Knocking the Skill Level:
http://www.mediafire.com/?bla4l68g9ezob2r
GARDEN VARIETY - Comps, 7" material, Unreleased, Live and more:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mbaxffjp0lt7q64
Other Links:
The band's myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/gardenvarietypunk
Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Variety_(band)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The Solidarity Pact
The Solidarity Pact was a punk band somewhat akin to Latterman and Contra in their sound. Strong melodic punk. Part of that was probably because they shared members with those bands.
Thanks to Mike Andirani for the edit here, as my facts were a bit off on the lineup:
The original line up was:
Jon Berg -vocals
Jeff Cunningham -guitar/vocals
Pat Schramm - drums
Ryan aka Baby Rye Rye- bass (Ryan plays in Kith & Kin)
Which then changed to:
Jon Berg-vocals
Jeff Cunningham-guitar/vocals
Pat Schramm- drums
Matt Canino-bass
Brian Crozier- guitar (Brian previously played in High School Football Heroes but has also played Bottle Rocket, Latterman, and most recently Little Lungs)
then the last incarnation of the band was:
Jon Berg-vocals
Jeff Cunningham-guitar/vocals
Pat Schramm- drums
Brian Crozier- guitar
Phil Douglas-bass
Jon Berg is probably better known as Jon Contra. Pat Schramm was in Latterman and started Slingshot Dakota with Jeff, and both are now in Bridge & Tunnel. Phil Douglas and Matt Canino were in Latterman as well.
The band released the album "Concrete Don't Give a Fuck" on Burn it Down Rebuild Records in 2004. The label is no longer active. The song titles also show that the band had a really bizarre obsession with Robin Williams movies. Surprisingly there is no song called "The Birdcage."
Here's the album as well as a quick video from youtube as well.
THE SOLIDARITY PACT - Concrete Don't Give a Fuck
http://www.mediafire.com/?p5co40p77gw4pju
The band's myspace can be found here: http://www.myspace.com/thesolidaritypact
Thanks to Mike Andirani for the edit here, as my facts were a bit off on the lineup:
The original line up was:
Jon Berg -vocals
Jeff Cunningham -guitar/vocals
Pat Schramm - drums
Ryan aka Baby Rye Rye- bass (Ryan plays in Kith & Kin)
Which then changed to:
Jon Berg-vocals
Jeff Cunningham-guitar/vocals
Pat Schramm- drums
Matt Canino-bass
Brian Crozier- guitar (Brian previously played in High School Football Heroes but has also played Bottle Rocket, Latterman, and most recently Little Lungs)
then the last incarnation of the band was:
Jon Berg-vocals
Jeff Cunningham-guitar/vocals
Pat Schramm- drums
Brian Crozier- guitar
Phil Douglas-bass
Jon Berg is probably better known as Jon Contra. Pat Schramm was in Latterman and started Slingshot Dakota with Jeff, and both are now in Bridge & Tunnel. Phil Douglas and Matt Canino were in Latterman as well.
The band released the album "Concrete Don't Give a Fuck" on Burn it Down Rebuild Records in 2004. The label is no longer active. The song titles also show that the band had a really bizarre obsession with Robin Williams movies. Surprisingly there is no song called "The Birdcage."
Here's the album as well as a quick video from youtube as well.
THE SOLIDARITY PACT - Concrete Don't Give a Fuck
http://www.mediafire.com/?p5co40p77gw4pju
The band's myspace can be found here: http://www.myspace.com/thesolidaritypact
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was a short-lived, but incredibly powerful and dynamic hardcore band. They existed from late 2002 to 2004.
They were originally called Aeschylus (Hearts Manifesto) but eventually shortened it to simply Aeschylus. I remember seeing them at whatever name "The Angle" was going by at the time, as well as a show at The Ethical Humanist Society while they had that name. I'm not sure what the significance of the original name was. The band was made up of Dancin' Dave Castillo on vocals and is currently a member of Primitive Weapons, Ryan Hebert on Guitar, Cory on Guitar, John on Bass and Lawrence on drums. Lawrence is a graphic designer now, I'm not sure what happened to the other guys.
They were super talented and they always sounded tight. The music was spazzy yet structured. I can't really provide a reference point for what they sounded like. You need to hear it.
There was supposedly a full-length in the works which never materialized. I think they had a few new songs on their myspace which seems to be inactive at this point.
The band was supposed to play a reunion show alongside Satellite Lost and Dearly Departed in 2005 but unfortunately couldn't do it. They did reunite in 2007 opening at one of the On The Might of Princes reunion shows.
This is their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/aeschylusrules
Download their 6 Song Demo:
AESCHYLUS - 6 Song Demo
http://www.mediafire.com/?98qo8y8bz65xtq5
They were originally called Aeschylus (Hearts Manifesto) but eventually shortened it to simply Aeschylus. I remember seeing them at whatever name "The Angle" was going by at the time, as well as a show at The Ethical Humanist Society while they had that name. I'm not sure what the significance of the original name was. The band was made up of Dancin' Dave Castillo on vocals and is currently a member of Primitive Weapons, Ryan Hebert on Guitar, Cory on Guitar, John on Bass and Lawrence on drums. Lawrence is a graphic designer now, I'm not sure what happened to the other guys.
They were super talented and they always sounded tight. The music was spazzy yet structured. I can't really provide a reference point for what they sounded like. You need to hear it.
There was supposedly a full-length in the works which never materialized. I think they had a few new songs on their myspace which seems to be inactive at this point.
The band was supposed to play a reunion show alongside Satellite Lost and Dearly Departed in 2005 but unfortunately couldn't do it. They did reunite in 2007 opening at one of the On The Might of Princes reunion shows.
This is their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/aeschylusrules
Download their 6 Song Demo:
AESCHYLUS - 6 Song Demo
http://www.mediafire.com/?98qo8y8bz65xtq5
Science Diet
This is a band that in all honesty, I never had an opportunity to see live. They were active mainly while I was in high school and I was well into the alternative-grunge thing. I didn't seek out Science Diet until I started getting into indie stuff, specifically Antarctica one of singer Chris Donohue's bands after this.
Science Diet existed from 1991 to 1995 (or 1996). They played an abrasive style that had hints of Jawbreaker and Rites of Spring, but unlike their contemporaries like Garden Variety, they were certain traits that could be traced back to The Cure and Joy Division. It made for a really interesting mix.
They released a demo in 1993, followed by the 7" "Afterlife on Motherbox Records in 1995. Later that year they released the full-length "Thru The Igloo" on Behemoth Sound Records which was recorded by Geoff Turner of Grey Matter. The album features a pretty cool take on The Cure song "A Forest."
Chris Donohue provided vocals and guitar and Jerry Carbone on Drums. They had a rotating lineup of other people involved as Craig Guerin played Bass on the Demo and 7", but Steve O'Brien from Crown of Thorns played on Thru The Igloo. Mike Kennedy of the Warped Weeble Wobbles took over afterwards. They also added Eric Svirida who would go on to The Last Crime on Guitar for live shows, and he also played bass on the song Coo Gan from a Behemoth compilation. Steven Depalo (Of Farckus Affair and later of Last Crime) also played guitar at live shows.
I eventually became friends with Chris Donohue and my thanks to him for providing me not only with this post's downloads, but with the comprehensive review of their changing lineup.
This download is for the "Thru The Igloo" CD and the song "Coo Gan" from the Behemoth Records Comp.
SCIENCE DIET - "Thru The Igloo" and "Coo Gan"
http://www.mediafire.com/?n1x5fs0cns4ms3x
You can find an unreleased rehearsal recording as well as "Phase Two" from the 7" on their Myspace here, hopefully I can get copies of this up here eventually:
http://www.myspace.com/sciencedietlongisland
You can purchase a copy of the 7" from Motherbox here: http://www.merchdirect.com/MotherboxRecords/Science_Diet?artist=1135
Science Diet existed from 1991 to 1995 (or 1996). They played an abrasive style that had hints of Jawbreaker and Rites of Spring, but unlike their contemporaries like Garden Variety, they were certain traits that could be traced back to The Cure and Joy Division. It made for a really interesting mix.
They released a demo in 1993, followed by the 7" "Afterlife on Motherbox Records in 1995. Later that year they released the full-length "Thru The Igloo" on Behemoth Sound Records which was recorded by Geoff Turner of Grey Matter. The album features a pretty cool take on The Cure song "A Forest."
Chris Donohue provided vocals and guitar and Jerry Carbone on Drums. They had a rotating lineup of other people involved as Craig Guerin played Bass on the Demo and 7", but Steve O'Brien from Crown of Thorns played on Thru The Igloo. Mike Kennedy of the Warped Weeble Wobbles took over afterwards. They also added Eric Svirida who would go on to The Last Crime on Guitar for live shows, and he also played bass on the song Coo Gan from a Behemoth compilation. Steven Depalo (Of Farckus Affair and later of Last Crime) also played guitar at live shows.
I eventually became friends with Chris Donohue and my thanks to him for providing me not only with this post's downloads, but with the comprehensive review of their changing lineup.
This download is for the "Thru The Igloo" CD and the song "Coo Gan" from the Behemoth Records Comp.
SCIENCE DIET - "Thru The Igloo" and "Coo Gan"
http://www.mediafire.com/?n1x5fs0cns4ms3x
You can find an unreleased rehearsal recording as well as "Phase Two" from the 7" on their Myspace here, hopefully I can get copies of this up here eventually:
http://www.myspace.com/sciencedietlongisland
You can purchase a copy of the 7" from Motherbox here: http://www.merchdirect.com/MotherboxRecords/Science_Diet?artist=1135
Monday, October 18, 2010
Tin River Junction
Similar to the last post, I have virtually no information about Tin River Junction. They were a band from Smithtown that existed in the early 90's and played clanging, melodic songs that I could best describe as sharing a similarity to Sebadoh. I have even less music available by them, despite the fact that they had a fair amount of releases... many on TAPE. Half of the people reading are trying to recollect what a tape actually is, the other half are feeling really old.
After Tin River Junction, two of the members for the project devL.
This is just a taste of what Tin River Junction were doing. This is from a 7" on Behemoth records and it is just the A-Side
TIN RIVER JUNCTION - Drunk in San Fran
http://www.mediafire.com/?6eoacjye154s2ch
Here is Tin River Junction's Discography which I pulled from the very much dead website of Behemoth Records. Provided any of this stuff comes my way, I'll certainly post it up.
"Peyote"cassette (self-released)
"Racer 6" cassette (self-released)
"Build" b/w "Loon" seven inch single on FIFTH DIMENSION RECORDS (#001)
"Drunk in San Fran" B/W "Lackluster" seven inch single on BEHEMOTH SOUND RECORDINGS (BS011)
"Zephyr" cassette (self-released)
"Did U Know I'm Blind" Innovations in Music Volume 1 double seven inch Compilation on BEHEMOTH SOUND RECORDINGS (BS012) - First 100 on white vinyl
"Sleep, not start" Comp Shmomp two CD Compilation on RED ROOM RECORDS (ROOC 2)
There was also an unfinished CD that was supposed to be released on Behemoth records as well.
After Tin River Junction, two of the members for the project devL.
This is just a taste of what Tin River Junction were doing. This is from a 7" on Behemoth records and it is just the A-Side
TIN RIVER JUNCTION - Drunk in San Fran
http://www.mediafire.com/?6eoacjye154s2ch
Here is Tin River Junction's Discography which I pulled from the very much dead website of Behemoth Records. Provided any of this stuff comes my way, I'll certainly post it up.
"Peyote"cassette (self-released)
"Racer 6" cassette (self-released)
"Build" b/w "Loon" seven inch single on FIFTH DIMENSION RECORDS (#001)
"Drunk in San Fran" B/W "Lackluster" seven inch single on BEHEMOTH SOUND RECORDINGS (BS011)
"Zephyr" cassette (self-released)
"Did U Know I'm Blind" Innovations in Music Volume 1 double seven inch Compilation on BEHEMOTH SOUND RECORDINGS (BS012) - First 100 on white vinyl
"Sleep, not start" Comp Shmomp two CD Compilation on RED ROOM RECORDS (ROOC 2)
There was also an unfinished CD that was supposed to be released on Behemoth records as well.
The Last Crime
If I had to document my top 5 Long Island band releases, this one would come in at #2 behind the previously discussed Automanipulation. While The Last Crime may not have been as widely recognized as other LI bands, they definitely have created a cult following that still has the band talked about quite reverentially despite their protracted lifespan and fairly minimal recorded output.
The Last Crime were made up of Kevin Egan on guitar and vocals (formerly of 1.6 Band and Beyond and later of $24,000), Steven DePalo also on guitar and vocals (who was in The Farckus Affair, as well as Science Diet), Rich Muller on drums and Eric Svirida on bass who also served time in Farckus Affair and briefly in Science Diet). I don’t know when Svirida left the band, but Mike Delorenzo of The Fifty-Two X and Dynasty filled in on bass as well as Chris Donohue of Science Diet and later of Antarctica and Ova Looven for many of their later shows (Credit to Chris Donohue for pointing out the correction). They are a band that I don’t have a terrible amount of information on, despite my love of their music. They formed at some point in 1994 and I’m pretty sure they dissolved in 1997.
The first time I heard about them was in 1996. I was trying to book a show with this guy Mark who was in the band Pacifier and he had the matinees at Dr. Shay’s on lockdown at the time. I told him that my band at the time, Six of One was a “noise-rock band”, as there was no defining term like “indie” is now. We had to make up these terms like “noise-rock” or “melodic dischord” without saying that we really liked Fugazi, but aren’t a hardcore band. It was an odd time since there were hardcore bands and punk bands… but not many bands were playing what we would now term indie stuff. Anyway, Mark said he loved noise and that we should play with The Last Crime as there was no band noisier.
The Last Crime were made up of Kevin Egan on guitar and vocals (formerly of 1.6 Band and Beyond and later of $24,000), Steven DePalo also on guitar and vocals (who was in The Farckus Affair, as well as Science Diet), Rich Muller on drums and Eric Svirida on bass who also served time in Farckus Affair and briefly in Science Diet). I don’t know when Svirida left the band, but Mike Delorenzo of The Fifty-Two X and Dynasty filled in on bass as well as Chris Donohue of Science Diet and later of Antarctica and Ova Looven for many of their later shows (Credit to Chris Donohue for pointing out the correction). They are a band that I don’t have a terrible amount of information on, despite my love of their music. They formed at some point in 1994 and I’m pretty sure they dissolved in 1997.
The first time I heard about them was in 1996. I was trying to book a show with this guy Mark who was in the band Pacifier and he had the matinees at Dr. Shay’s on lockdown at the time. I told him that my band at the time, Six of One was a “noise-rock band”, as there was no defining term like “indie” is now. We had to make up these terms like “noise-rock” or “melodic dischord” without saying that we really liked Fugazi, but aren’t a hardcore band. It was an odd time since there were hardcore bands and punk bands… but not many bands were playing what we would now term indie stuff. Anyway, Mark said he loved noise and that we should play with The Last Crime as there was no band noisier.
While we never had the opportunity to share a bill with them, the guy was right. They were a bit of an anomaly in the scene. They played with a lot of the hardcore bands, but their music was decidedly not close to that vein. They had a sound akin to early Unwound, Drive Like Jehu, Shellac and June of ’44. There were screaming vocals and heaps of dissonant driving guitars. I always felt that their song title “An Explosion in New Mexico” summed up what I felt the band sounded like – an explosion after an explosion.
I got to see the band a bunch of times at Deja 1,Dr. Shay’s and I do remember them playing an oddball show at The Rock Lobster in Glen Head where I remember the guys in Dynasty came up, appropriated their instruments and played a few songs.
As I mentioned, Egan went on to $24,000 and eventually reunited the 1.6 Band. Steven DePalo joined Chris Donohue in Dawn in Bathos and later Ova Looven and mostly does sound engineering now. Eric Svirda played guitar in Dawn in Bathos and I believe he moved to Seattle and wound up playing with some jazz bands. Rich Muller plays guitar and sings in Vice Massacre with Jerry Carbone who was in Science Diet/Dawn in Bathos/Farckus Affair (Credit to Jerry for the information.)
The album was released on the short-lived OMEGA label. There are also two additional songs (Credit to Mike Andriani for sending these to me) that the band recorded with J. Robbins of Jawbox that were planned for a second EP that never materialized and thusly never released.
Here’s the myspace page of the band, I’m not sure who the proprietor is: www.myspace.com/thelastcrime
THE LAST CRIME – s/t EP + 2 Unreleased Songs
I got to see the band a bunch of times at Deja 1,Dr. Shay’s and I do remember them playing an oddball show at The Rock Lobster in Glen Head where I remember the guys in Dynasty came up, appropriated their instruments and played a few songs.
As I mentioned, Egan went on to $24,000 and eventually reunited the 1.6 Band. Steven DePalo joined Chris Donohue in Dawn in Bathos and later Ova Looven and mostly does sound engineering now. Eric Svirda played guitar in Dawn in Bathos and I believe he moved to Seattle and wound up playing with some jazz bands. Rich Muller plays guitar and sings in Vice Massacre with Jerry Carbone who was in Science Diet/Dawn in Bathos/Farckus Affair (Credit to Jerry for the information.)
The album was released on the short-lived OMEGA label. There are also two additional songs (Credit to Mike Andriani for sending these to me) that the band recorded with J. Robbins of Jawbox that were planned for a second EP that never materialized and thusly never released.
Here’s the myspace page of the band, I’m not sure who the proprietor is: www.myspace.com/thelastcrime
THE LAST CRIME – s/t EP + 2 Unreleased Songs
Friday, October 15, 2010
Blog Buddies
Mike Andriani, also known as Mike Rok Lok and Mike from Yes Sensei, Dude Japan and Stars are Insane has also set up a blog with entries on some really great LI bands as well. He's already posted some super rare stuff from On the Might of Princes, Knox Overstreet, Bookstore, Latterman and Scent of Human History. Andriani has already helped me out by funnelling me a few choice tracks for upcoming posts. While I may be liberally ripping off his posts in the future, be sure to check out his blog here: http://hereonthisisland.blogspot.com/ right now.
Friday, October 8, 2010
No Nucleus Comp - The Tone Library
Ok, this should do it for tonight. I'm going comp crazy.
This was a cool comp done as a giveaway at the time by The Tone Library. It's got 18 LI bands, and it was basically put together so bands could give it away whenever they played. Pretty cool. It came out in 2004, and I think Satellite Lost got our copies just in time for us to break up.
I'm pretty sure that most of these tunes are all on other releases from these bands, and nothing is exclusive to this comp. But it's a great sampler to hear some bands circa 2003-2004.
Here's the track listing:
1. Yes Sensei - Russian or Retarded
2. Rachel Jacobs - Productive Vampires
3. On the Might of Princes - You Whistle, I'll Shoot
4. Aeschylus - Nights of the Green Table
5. The Devil Spades - (Cruise on down that) country mile
6. Nakatomi Plaza - It's Really Not This Hopeless
7. Cipher - Protoculture
8. With Every Idle Hour - Moxie
9. Slingshot Dakota - Best Friend
10. Encrypt Manuscript - How do you syllabicate your name?
11. Jon K - Off yr. radar
12. Regarding I - Between Dreams
13. Fellow Project - Shoot the ladder, but I'll save your face
14. Alove for Enemies - Broken Pledge
15. Grid Iron - The Colors
16. Desirae! - Expectation Vs. Reality
17. The Backup Plan - I Broke Your Heart And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
18. Satellite Lost - Lost at Sea
I don't think that label is operating any longer, but you can check http://www.myspace.com/thetonelibrary for some info.
NO NUCLEUS - TONE LIBRARY COMPILATION
http://www.mediafire.com/?aont2zi6u7mn6jm
This was a cool comp done as a giveaway at the time by The Tone Library. It's got 18 LI bands, and it was basically put together so bands could give it away whenever they played. Pretty cool. It came out in 2004, and I think Satellite Lost got our copies just in time for us to break up.
I'm pretty sure that most of these tunes are all on other releases from these bands, and nothing is exclusive to this comp. But it's a great sampler to hear some bands circa 2003-2004.
Here's the track listing:
1. Yes Sensei - Russian or Retarded
2. Rachel Jacobs - Productive Vampires
3. On the Might of Princes - You Whistle, I'll Shoot
4. Aeschylus - Nights of the Green Table
5. The Devil Spades - (Cruise on down that) country mile
6. Nakatomi Plaza - It's Really Not This Hopeless
7. Cipher - Protoculture
8. With Every Idle Hour - Moxie
9. Slingshot Dakota - Best Friend
10. Encrypt Manuscript - How do you syllabicate your name?
11. Jon K - Off yr. radar
12. Regarding I - Between Dreams
13. Fellow Project - Shoot the ladder, but I'll save your face
14. Alove for Enemies - Broken Pledge
15. Grid Iron - The Colors
16. Desirae! - Expectation Vs. Reality
17. The Backup Plan - I Broke Your Heart And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
18. Satellite Lost - Lost at Sea
I don't think that label is operating any longer, but you can check http://www.myspace.com/thetonelibrary for some info.
NO NUCLEUS - TONE LIBRARY COMPILATION
http://www.mediafire.com/?aont2zi6u7mn6jm
Traffic Violation Records 6 Band Split 7"
We need to get some more punk on the blog and no one was doing it better than the Striped Basstards in the 90's. They had releases on Motherbox records, but Wells Tipley formed his own label Traffic Violation Records which in turn churned out a bunch of great releases from bands like Splurge, Explosivo and Latterman. This 6-band split was release #3 I believe.
I'm pretty sure I nicked this rip from a blog called chairshot records at some point.
TRACK LISTING:
1. The Howards - No Place Left To Go
2. Splurge - 49 Cent Refill
3. Kempleton - I Like Pink
4. The Disenchanted - Just Another Love Song
5. Checkerboard Charlie - Fired Again
6. Striped Basstards - Inside My Head
Download it below, but you can still find physical copies of it in the Rok Lok Distro: http://www.roklokrecords.com/go.php.
TRAFFIC VIOLATION RECORDS 6 Band Split 7"
http://www.mediafire.com/?nc6cj8tdecj3nf3
I'm pretty sure I nicked this rip from a blog called chairshot records at some point.
TRACK LISTING:
1. The Howards - No Place Left To Go
2. Splurge - 49 Cent Refill
3. Kempleton - I Like Pink
4. The Disenchanted - Just Another Love Song
5. Checkerboard Charlie - Fired Again
6. Striped Basstards - Inside My Head
Download it below, but you can still find physical copies of it in the Rok Lok Distro: http://www.roklokrecords.com/go.php.
TRAFFIC VIOLATION RECORDS 6 Band Split 7"
http://www.mediafire.com/?nc6cj8tdecj3nf3
All Grown Up
From a totally different angle, this post brings a band that is still very-much active.
All Grown Up has been around in some incarnation since 2000. But for some reason their recorded output doesn't quite equate to the length that the band has been around. It's unfortunate that there isn't more to post, but gigantic 7 foot tall frontman Sean Corrigan has told me that the band "just likes to take their time."
Circle the Sun played our last show with AGU opening. I had only half-listened to some tracks on myspace and I was prepared for them to play some pretty average pop-punk. All Grown Up set up and then blew my face off with a set of awesome melodic hardcore very much in the vein of Long Islanders Silent Majority and Latterman but added in some spacey, rippin' guitar parts and vocal harmonies too. I was really surprised and impressed. Sean Corrigan's (no relation to Tommy) voice definitely has a similar vibe to stuff like Silent Majority and Grey Area, but there's a lot of other interesting elements so if you don't quite dig hardcore you can still get into the music.
I would up talking to Sean for awhile that night about all sorts of bands and wound up with a crick in my neck from having to look up that high. Next time I see that guy, I'm bringing a ladder.
The band also features Tommy Fasano on drums, Taylor Brown on Bass and Chris Gey on guitars. The band's got a great DIY philosophy too. They record their stuff and then post it on myspace or mediafire and if you dig it, you can download it. No CDs to buy, no profiteering. Using the internet to be punk. Go figure.
As I said they don't have too much recorded, but I've uploaded everything that I have. (Credit to Sean Corrigan for hooking it up). Included are the two demos "Kinda Sorta Not Really" from 2007 and the 2008 "Demotapes and Demographics" as well as a few new tracks that they are working on for their next release.
Find out more about these guys here: http://www.myspace.com/allgrownup
And then download the rock.
ALL GROWN UP: "Kinda Sorta Not Really", "Demotapes & Demographics" + More
http://www.mediafire.com/?jpabte4ralk9y3d
All Grown Up has been around in some incarnation since 2000. But for some reason their recorded output doesn't quite equate to the length that the band has been around. It's unfortunate that there isn't more to post, but gigantic 7 foot tall frontman Sean Corrigan has told me that the band "just likes to take their time."
Circle the Sun played our last show with AGU opening. I had only half-listened to some tracks on myspace and I was prepared for them to play some pretty average pop-punk. All Grown Up set up and then blew my face off with a set of awesome melodic hardcore very much in the vein of Long Islanders Silent Majority and Latterman but added in some spacey, rippin' guitar parts and vocal harmonies too. I was really surprised and impressed. Sean Corrigan's (no relation to Tommy) voice definitely has a similar vibe to stuff like Silent Majority and Grey Area, but there's a lot of other interesting elements so if you don't quite dig hardcore you can still get into the music.
I would up talking to Sean for awhile that night about all sorts of bands and wound up with a crick in my neck from having to look up that high. Next time I see that guy, I'm bringing a ladder.
The band also features Tommy Fasano on drums, Taylor Brown on Bass and Chris Gey on guitars. The band's got a great DIY philosophy too. They record their stuff and then post it on myspace or mediafire and if you dig it, you can download it. No CDs to buy, no profiteering. Using the internet to be punk. Go figure.
As I said they don't have too much recorded, but I've uploaded everything that I have. (Credit to Sean Corrigan for hooking it up). Included are the two demos "Kinda Sorta Not Really" from 2007 and the 2008 "Demotapes and Demographics" as well as a few new tracks that they are working on for their next release.
Find out more about these guys here: http://www.myspace.com/allgrownup
And then download the rock.
ALL GROWN UP: "Kinda Sorta Not Really", "Demotapes & Demographics" + More
http://www.mediafire.com/?jpabte4ralk9y3d
Sons of Abraham
A straight-edge, all-jewish hardcore band. Only in New York, my friends.
This post is not about some lame-ass Australian band that jacked the original Sons of Abraham's name. This is about the LI band obviously. This band has garnered a bit of a posthumous following and the band's CD can probably can be found with some ease online. But I really like this disc, and this blog is about being complete so I'm putting it up. Sons of Abraham featured Justin Beck of Glassjaw and Todd Weinstock also a member of Glassjaw at the time and later of Men, Women and Children and Cubic Zirconia. While it's pretty well-known now that Beck wrote a good deal of Glassjaw's riffs while he was still the drummer and later bassist, this was his first band where he was featured as guitarist. There's a lot of sites out there that provide misinformation that Sons broke up so that Todd and Justin could join Glassjaw, but both bands were going on concurrently and Glassjaw did precede the Sons foundation.
In addition to Beck and Todd, the band also featured Neil Rubenstein (of Irony of Lightfoot and later This Year's Model) on vocals, Stephan Linde on drums and Mitch Skalska. I think Ariel Telford of Glassjaw may have played bass as well at some point. I'm sure that Linde went on to play in Sound of Speed and Classic Case.
I saw the band play a few times. I remember thinking they were just brutally heavy the first time I saw them at a Dr. Shay's Matinee. I was standing in the back with someone else while Neil was making jokes from the stage about our, and consequently his, long hair. He was remarking that he was looking to be a stand-up comedian since "Jews make the best comedians." It was such a dichotomy to the music. Totally bizarre.
Hearing the disc now, it's still heavy but not quite as face-ripping as I originally thought back in 1997. It might be because there's plenty of bands that have aped this style, but the lyrical content is still a pretty weighty call-to-arms manifesto if you are believer, or a lapsed-jew. The one-two knockout punch of "Termites in His Smile" (originally Song #2 on a split they did with Indecision) and "Dos Equis" provide a strong message of where the band was coming from. "Dos Equis", playing on both the brand of beer and the 3 symbolic straight edge xXx's, picked apart those who didn't hold fast to the beliefs. "Termites in His Smile, a clever pull from Dr. Seuss's "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" showcased Rubenstein howling "Who took the Christ out of Christmas" to substantiate the hallmark-ification of the holiday.
As an athiest and drinker, I never could give a shit. But I respect what they were doing and the music is awesome. This is definitely for fans of Steps-era Snapcase and Indecision.
They released a demo, the aforementioned split with Indecision and finally the full length "Termites in His Smile" on Exit records in 1997. I do not have the demo, but I did have one track from a comp that they were on called "Definitely Not The Majors - A Bush League Records Compilation" which I am including below.
Here's the myspace page as well, which has no info and is probably a fan posting: http://www.myspace.com/thesonsofabraham
SONS OF ABRAHAM - "Termites in His Smile" + "What Brings May Flowers" Demo
http://www.mediafire.com/?8i2cbdzlheino69
This post is not about some lame-ass Australian band that jacked the original Sons of Abraham's name. This is about the LI band obviously. This band has garnered a bit of a posthumous following and the band's CD can probably can be found with some ease online. But I really like this disc, and this blog is about being complete so I'm putting it up. Sons of Abraham featured Justin Beck of Glassjaw and Todd Weinstock also a member of Glassjaw at the time and later of Men, Women and Children and Cubic Zirconia. While it's pretty well-known now that Beck wrote a good deal of Glassjaw's riffs while he was still the drummer and later bassist, this was his first band where he was featured as guitarist. There's a lot of sites out there that provide misinformation that Sons broke up so that Todd and Justin could join Glassjaw, but both bands were going on concurrently and Glassjaw did precede the Sons foundation.
In addition to Beck and Todd, the band also featured Neil Rubenstein (of Irony of Lightfoot and later This Year's Model) on vocals, Stephan Linde on drums and Mitch Skalska. I think Ariel Telford of Glassjaw may have played bass as well at some point. I'm sure that Linde went on to play in Sound of Speed and Classic Case.
I saw the band play a few times. I remember thinking they were just brutally heavy the first time I saw them at a Dr. Shay's Matinee. I was standing in the back with someone else while Neil was making jokes from the stage about our, and consequently his, long hair. He was remarking that he was looking to be a stand-up comedian since "Jews make the best comedians." It was such a dichotomy to the music. Totally bizarre.
Hearing the disc now, it's still heavy but not quite as face-ripping as I originally thought back in 1997. It might be because there's plenty of bands that have aped this style, but the lyrical content is still a pretty weighty call-to-arms manifesto if you are believer, or a lapsed-jew. The one-two knockout punch of "Termites in His Smile" (originally Song #2 on a split they did with Indecision) and "Dos Equis" provide a strong message of where the band was coming from. "Dos Equis", playing on both the brand of beer and the 3 symbolic straight edge xXx's, picked apart those who didn't hold fast to the beliefs. "Termites in His Smile, a clever pull from Dr. Seuss's "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" showcased Rubenstein howling "Who took the Christ out of Christmas" to substantiate the hallmark-ification of the holiday.
As an athiest and drinker, I never could give a shit. But I respect what they were doing and the music is awesome. This is definitely for fans of Steps-era Snapcase and Indecision.
They released a demo, the aforementioned split with Indecision and finally the full length "Termites in His Smile" on Exit records in 1997. I do not have the demo, but I did have one track from a comp that they were on called "Definitely Not The Majors - A Bush League Records Compilation" which I am including below.
Here's the myspace page as well, which has no info and is probably a fan posting: http://www.myspace.com/thesonsofabraham
SONS OF ABRAHAM - "Termites in His Smile" + "What Brings May Flowers" Demo
http://www.mediafire.com/?8i2cbdzlheino69
The Future Engine
Continuing along with the last post's theme, this was also a pretty short lived band. I don't know much about them. I saw them play one time at The Courthouse East in Massapequa in 2003. I really dug what they were doing. It's spacey and shoe-gazey. There's even a cover of My Bloody Valentine's "Come in Alone" on the demo.
For some reason I thought Jon Cox was in the band, but I was recently corrected that it was actually Greg Kubacki on guitar who had previously been in Earth.ling Massive and replaced Jon. I remember asking Greg if Future Engine wanted to play a show and he had told me that the band was on an indefinite hiatus since he had thrown out his back. You know you are beginning to get old when your back interferes with your rocking. I would know. Months later, I was at a Cave-In show at the Downtown and someone handed me this CD but I'm pretty sure the band had ceased to be at that time.
I can't remember much more and their myspace doesn't provide much more info either: http://www.myspace.com/10982058
In any case, if you like My Bloody Valentine and Radiohead, this is a swell 5-song trip.
The Future Engine - Self-Titled Demo
http://www.mediafire.com/?gil9gox9gfq38vp
For some reason I thought Jon Cox was in the band, but I was recently corrected that it was actually Greg Kubacki on guitar who had previously been in Earth.ling Massive and replaced Jon. I remember asking Greg if Future Engine wanted to play a show and he had told me that the band was on an indefinite hiatus since he had thrown out his back. You know you are beginning to get old when your back interferes with your rocking. I would know. Months later, I was at a Cave-In show at the Downtown and someone handed me this CD but I'm pretty sure the band had ceased to be at that time.
I can't remember much more and their myspace doesn't provide much more info either: http://www.myspace.com/10982058
In any case, if you like My Bloody Valentine and Radiohead, this is a swell 5-song trip.
The Future Engine - Self-Titled Demo
http://www.mediafire.com/?gil9gox9gfq38vp
The Fall Drive
So, I have a soft spot for obscurity. Hell, that's probably why this blog exists. The more unknown the band, the more I want to have it cataloged, because someone... somewhere... may recall that band and wants to hear them again.
That may be the case with The Fall Drive. The seemed to exist for an extremely short period during 2000. They were based out of West Hempstead and made up of Scott Rondinelli on Guitar, Dave Sperber on drums and I have no idea who played bass. Dave was in the NY screamo band Closure while he attended NYU and last I heard, he was playing with some band in L.A. Scott went onto to do various projects such as Missing Movement and Displaced Persons. They played two shows with The Cotton Weary (one was at Ground Zero with WCF and The Salingers, and one at a beach in Smithtown with This Years Model, Taking Back Sunday and Breaking Pangaea.) They must have played at least one other show, but they disappeared pretty quickly.
It's kind of a shame as well, as they had some potential. The vocals are a little off here and there, but with a lot of 90's era emo, it kind of went with the style. If you are into Sunny Day, Mineral, Boy's Life and pretty much everything that Crank! Records was doing... you'll dig it.
The Fall Drive - Demo
http://www.mediafire.com/?g7ddddlt5t24q7i
That may be the case with The Fall Drive. The seemed to exist for an extremely short period during 2000. They were based out of West Hempstead and made up of Scott Rondinelli on Guitar, Dave Sperber on drums and I have no idea who played bass. Dave was in the NY screamo band Closure while he attended NYU and last I heard, he was playing with some band in L.A. Scott went onto to do various projects such as Missing Movement and Displaced Persons. They played two shows with The Cotton Weary (one was at Ground Zero with WCF and The Salingers, and one at a beach in Smithtown with This Years Model, Taking Back Sunday and Breaking Pangaea.) They must have played at least one other show, but they disappeared pretty quickly.
It's kind of a shame as well, as they had some potential. The vocals are a little off here and there, but with a lot of 90's era emo, it kind of went with the style. If you are into Sunny Day, Mineral, Boy's Life and pretty much everything that Crank! Records was doing... you'll dig it.
The Fall Drive - Demo
http://www.mediafire.com/?g7ddddlt5t24q7i
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Wreck-Age and Exit Present: MINDSET OVERHAUL
Mindset Overhaul was a comp that was put out by the Wreck-Age/Exit label. I'm still not sure what made certain bands part of the Wreck-Age family or part of the Exit family. Maybe Artie Phillie can provide some edification.
I remember that this comp was put together to celebrate 8 years since Wreck-Age's debut and this CD was given away at a show at Coney Island High. I sort of remember it being in 2000, but I honestly can't remember the year or who played it. The title was borrowed from a Mind Over Matter song.
This disc is chock full of LI bands and served as a great primer for Wreck-Age and Exit bands during that time and is a cool time capsule now.
Here's the lineup:
1. Hallowed Be Thy Name - Indecision
2. Too Much - Mind Over Matter
3. Popular Opinion - Silent Majority
4. Something More - Bad Trip
5. Last Days Of The Titanic, The - Judas Factor
6. Versus Excalibur - Milhouse
7. Meat Packer - Yuppicide
8. Step To You - Madball
9. L.S.S. - Neglect
10. Greatest Of Speakers, The - Sons Of Abraham
11. 1 In 6 - Die 116
12. Gyroscope - S.F.A.
13. Lucky 13 - Yuppicide
14. Open Mind - Stillsuit
15. Dormancy Pill, The - Motive
16. 3LT - Gin Mill
17. Overlayer - Tripface
18. Dehumanization - Bad Trip
19. Recognize - Silent Majority
20. True Love - Yuppicide
21. Playstation - Irony Of Lightfoot
22. Automanipulation - Mind Over Matter
23. Fifty-Two Minutes - Lamagna
24. Last Laugh - Die 116
25. Most Precious Blood - Indecision
26. Mother Jokes - Milhouse
27. Rockabilly - F.T.E.
28. All For Nothing - Yuppicide
29. Inspiration - Bad Trip
30. New York, New York - Mind Over Matter
Download MINDSET OVERHAUL:
http://www.mediafire.com/?wehat3wy34aic2b
I remember that this comp was put together to celebrate 8 years since Wreck-Age's debut and this CD was given away at a show at Coney Island High. I sort of remember it being in 2000, but I honestly can't remember the year or who played it. The title was borrowed from a Mind Over Matter song.
This disc is chock full of LI bands and served as a great primer for Wreck-Age and Exit bands during that time and is a cool time capsule now.
Here's the lineup:
1. Hallowed Be Thy Name - Indecision
2. Too Much - Mind Over Matter
3. Popular Opinion - Silent Majority
4. Something More - Bad Trip
5. Last Days Of The Titanic, The - Judas Factor
6. Versus Excalibur - Milhouse
7. Meat Packer - Yuppicide
8. Step To You - Madball
9. L.S.S. - Neglect
10. Greatest Of Speakers, The - Sons Of Abraham
11. 1 In 6 - Die 116
12. Gyroscope - S.F.A.
13. Lucky 13 - Yuppicide
14. Open Mind - Stillsuit
15. Dormancy Pill, The - Motive
16. 3LT - Gin Mill
17. Overlayer - Tripface
18. Dehumanization - Bad Trip
19. Recognize - Silent Majority
20. True Love - Yuppicide
21. Playstation - Irony Of Lightfoot
22. Automanipulation - Mind Over Matter
23. Fifty-Two Minutes - Lamagna
24. Last Laugh - Die 116
25. Most Precious Blood - Indecision
26. Mother Jokes - Milhouse
27. Rockabilly - F.T.E.
28. All For Nothing - Yuppicide
29. Inspiration - Bad Trip
30. New York, New York - Mind Over Matter
Download MINDSET OVERHAUL:
http://www.mediafire.com/?wehat3wy34aic2b
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Advent
I'm going to keep this one short and simple.
Advent was the guys from Tripface with a new singer in Tommy Corrigan from Silent Majority. They only recorded this one demo, which is awesome melodic hardcore. They weren't together long, I think they only played a handful of shows in 1998.
Listen to it and love it.
Advent Demo:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zjar33pbrk6harb
Advent was the guys from Tripface with a new singer in Tommy Corrigan from Silent Majority. They only recorded this one demo, which is awesome melodic hardcore. They weren't together long, I think they only played a handful of shows in 1998.
Listen to it and love it.
Advent Demo:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zjar33pbrk6harb
This Years Model and Bravado
Oh, I am going to take a beating for posting this.
This Years Model formed out of the ashes of the band In Transit in late 1999. Steve Gache and Karen Ciaffone formed This Years Model while Scott Altmann and Mark Pernice formed Come Down. Steve brought in singer Neil Rubenstein from Sons of Abraham, both of whom had played together in Irony of Lightfoot. They added Joe Corbo from Last Days of August on drums and Joe Hess on second guitar.
Joe Hess left after they released "A Very Special Demo" on Fadeaway Records in 1999 and the track "One Million Volumes" on the Fadeaway "Best Comp in the World." They continued on with a really amazing EP, a 6 Song CD entitled "Wanted: New Best Friends" as well as a split with Hot Rod Circuit, both of which released on Law of Inertia records the following year. While I've often heard the band referred to as a hardcore band, their music was really closer to dischord bands like Blue Tip and Nation of Ulysses. Heavy, scream-y indie rock.
In 2001 they parted ways with Neil and acquired Darrin Tarruli who was previously the drummer in The Paste Junkies. It was also the quickest turnaround I ever saw from a band losing one singer and playing shows with an entirely new singer and completely new songs. It may have taken a month and they had shows booked and 5 or 6 new songs. Darrin brought a completely different type of singing style and stage presence to the band. His voice was more melodic and recalled Chino from the Deftones. They released a self-titled 3-Song CD and filmed a music video for "Burning Sensation." They eventually changed their name to Bravado to firmly separate the first version of the band from the Darrin-incarnation, released a second 3 song sampler and then called it a day. Their music had substantially changed at this point as well, as they were far more rock than hardcore with absolutely no apprehension in showing an appreciation for Rye Coalition and AC/DC.
No matter the case, the songs were all great.
So, I may take some heat from the members of the band because I do count them all as friends, even going so far as to say that 2 of them are really good friends (even if I'm a fairly shitty friend in return who doesn't call.) They probably don't want this kind of praise heaped on them, but they were a great band. Unfortunately they were criminally ignored. A perfect example of this was when I saw them play with At the Drive-In at one of Long Island's biggest storied shows at the Garden City Bowling alley. After they played an amazing set, which blew away the two preceding bands (one of which was Taking Back Sunday, btw) I remember Steve saying to me "Dude, do you know how many kids are here? There are over 700 kids. Do you know how many CDs we sold? TWO." I think that they sold one more CD that night. I would have bought one but I already had it... and I didn't pay for mine.
They were routinely awesome, I never saw them play a bad show. There were many shows that had some combination of This Years Model, Come Down, With Every Idle Hour and The Cotton Weary or all 4 bands together and those were definitely some of my favorite memories from that time; being in a band and seeing my friends play really good music. Whether it was Neil or Darrin singing, the band was always super-tight, and that can definitely be attributed to the rhythm section of Joe Corbo and Karen Ciaffone who were totally solid. Steve Gache was also a master of getting the most out of his guitar, there were great riffs whether it's in the more complex early stuff or the minimalistic force in the later Bravado recordings.
Steve and Karen formed SpeedSpeedSpeed with Josh Chaplinsky of Irony of Lightfoot, Last Days of August and December Grey on guitar and Dan Komis on drums. Neil joined These Enzymes. Joe Corbo joined Krylls and later SpeedSpeedSpeed. Darrin went on to LushLifeKills.
As for the recordings, the first batch is the Neil era and the second batch is the Darrin era which also includes 4 unreleased songs which are untitled. Untitled #1 was one of my favorite tunes they had, next to "God's Gift to Old Tricks" from the Hot Rod Circuit split. I'm pretty sure everything was recorded by Don Fury except the two tracks from the Hot Rod Circuit split that were recorded by Brian Lane from Brand New.
Also, check out the video for Burning Sensation below. It's got a who's who from the old scene. You'll pick out Antonio from Scarab and Taking Back Sunday as one of the fighters, as well as Mike from Shallows of the Mundane as one of the others, Rich Jacovina from Silent Majority/Heads Vs. Breakers as "the godfather" and Joe Rubino from Tension/Dearly Departed/Jett Black Heart Attack as his right hand man. I'm in there briefly during the fight scenes and bouncing around like a fool in my blindingly bright yellow shirt during the concert shots.
A Very Special Demo, One Million Volumes, Wanted: New Best Friends and Hot Rod Circut split:
http://www.mediafire.com/?lbq2dkece1648ik
The two 3 Song CDs and Unreleased songs:
http://www.mediafire.com/?x39e24gkkle57g7
Go the band's myspace page here: http://www.myspace.com/thisyearsmodel99
This Years Model formed out of the ashes of the band In Transit in late 1999. Steve Gache and Karen Ciaffone formed This Years Model while Scott Altmann and Mark Pernice formed Come Down. Steve brought in singer Neil Rubenstein from Sons of Abraham, both of whom had played together in Irony of Lightfoot. They added Joe Corbo from Last Days of August on drums and Joe Hess on second guitar.
Joe Hess left after they released "A Very Special Demo" on Fadeaway Records in 1999 and the track "One Million Volumes" on the Fadeaway "Best Comp in the World." They continued on with a really amazing EP, a 6 Song CD entitled "Wanted: New Best Friends" as well as a split with Hot Rod Circuit, both of which released on Law of Inertia records the following year. While I've often heard the band referred to as a hardcore band, their music was really closer to dischord bands like Blue Tip and Nation of Ulysses. Heavy, scream-y indie rock.
In 2001 they parted ways with Neil and acquired Darrin Tarruli who was previously the drummer in The Paste Junkies. It was also the quickest turnaround I ever saw from a band losing one singer and playing shows with an entirely new singer and completely new songs. It may have taken a month and they had shows booked and 5 or 6 new songs. Darrin brought a completely different type of singing style and stage presence to the band. His voice was more melodic and recalled Chino from the Deftones. They released a self-titled 3-Song CD and filmed a music video for "Burning Sensation." They eventually changed their name to Bravado to firmly separate the first version of the band from the Darrin-incarnation, released a second 3 song sampler and then called it a day. Their music had substantially changed at this point as well, as they were far more rock than hardcore with absolutely no apprehension in showing an appreciation for Rye Coalition and AC/DC.
No matter the case, the songs were all great.
So, I may take some heat from the members of the band because I do count them all as friends, even going so far as to say that 2 of them are really good friends (even if I'm a fairly shitty friend in return who doesn't call.) They probably don't want this kind of praise heaped on them, but they were a great band. Unfortunately they were criminally ignored. A perfect example of this was when I saw them play with At the Drive-In at one of Long Island's biggest storied shows at the Garden City Bowling alley. After they played an amazing set, which blew away the two preceding bands (one of which was Taking Back Sunday, btw) I remember Steve saying to me "Dude, do you know how many kids are here? There are over 700 kids. Do you know how many CDs we sold? TWO." I think that they sold one more CD that night. I would have bought one but I already had it... and I didn't pay for mine.
They were routinely awesome, I never saw them play a bad show. There were many shows that had some combination of This Years Model, Come Down, With Every Idle Hour and The Cotton Weary or all 4 bands together and those were definitely some of my favorite memories from that time; being in a band and seeing my friends play really good music. Whether it was Neil or Darrin singing, the band was always super-tight, and that can definitely be attributed to the rhythm section of Joe Corbo and Karen Ciaffone who were totally solid. Steve Gache was also a master of getting the most out of his guitar, there were great riffs whether it's in the more complex early stuff or the minimalistic force in the later Bravado recordings.
Steve and Karen formed SpeedSpeedSpeed with Josh Chaplinsky of Irony of Lightfoot, Last Days of August and December Grey on guitar and Dan Komis on drums. Neil joined These Enzymes. Joe Corbo joined Krylls and later SpeedSpeedSpeed. Darrin went on to LushLifeKills.
As for the recordings, the first batch is the Neil era and the second batch is the Darrin era which also includes 4 unreleased songs which are untitled. Untitled #1 was one of my favorite tunes they had, next to "God's Gift to Old Tricks" from the Hot Rod Circuit split. I'm pretty sure everything was recorded by Don Fury except the two tracks from the Hot Rod Circuit split that were recorded by Brian Lane from Brand New.
Also, check out the video for Burning Sensation below. It's got a who's who from the old scene. You'll pick out Antonio from Scarab and Taking Back Sunday as one of the fighters, as well as Mike from Shallows of the Mundane as one of the others, Rich Jacovina from Silent Majority/Heads Vs. Breakers as "the godfather" and Joe Rubino from Tension/Dearly Departed/Jett Black Heart Attack as his right hand man. I'm in there briefly during the fight scenes and bouncing around like a fool in my blindingly bright yellow shirt during the concert shots.
A Very Special Demo, One Million Volumes, Wanted: New Best Friends and Hot Rod Circut split:
http://www.mediafire.com/?lbq2dkece1648ik
The two 3 Song CDs and Unreleased songs:
http://www.mediafire.com/?x39e24gkkle57g7
Go the band's myspace page here: http://www.myspace.com/thisyearsmodel99
The Farckus Affair
The Farckus Affair were kind of short-lived, existing from 1992-1994. But when you think about it, 2 years is sort of a long time in band years. When you're around a bunch of other guys constantly, you pack a good 6 to 8 years of exposure into a much smaller window of time... and that's probably why bands break up. Back to the point, while Farckus Affair were technically not around for that long they released some really quality music during that time. They definitely had a Jawbreaker, Garden Variety, Archers of Loaf style.
They released a split 7" with a Denver, PA band called Sinatra '65 on Motherbox as well as a 4 Song 7" on Reservoir Records.
I never saw the guys play as I was in high school in a lame grunge band missing out on the scene while Farckus was together. I'm not entirely sure who was in the band. I'm fairly certain that (edit - thanks to Chris and Jerry) Steve and Eric went on to The Last Crime after this and the drummer Vinny went on to play in No Redeeming Social Value, Grey Area, Kill Your Idols and Warzone.
This is the 4 song 7", plus the song "Mazurka" from the Motherbox split:
The Farckus Affair Discography: http://www.mediafire.com/?xxaswuqi4eia1om
They released a split 7" with a Denver, PA band called Sinatra '65 on Motherbox as well as a 4 Song 7" on Reservoir Records.
I never saw the guys play as I was in high school in a lame grunge band missing out on the scene while Farckus was together. I'm not entirely sure who was in the band. I'm fairly certain that (edit - thanks to Chris and Jerry) Steve and Eric went on to The Last Crime after this and the drummer Vinny went on to play in No Redeeming Social Value, Grey Area, Kill Your Idols and Warzone.
This is the 4 song 7", plus the song "Mazurka" from the Motherbox split:
The Farckus Affair Discography: http://www.mediafire.com/?xxaswuqi4eia1om
Each Other's Mothers
This is something a bit more recent. This band was short-lived as I believe it took place after Rachel Rubino was in Regarding I and Bayonet, but concurrently while she was doing Bridge and Tunnel. 3 great songs which are mostly instrumental. The playing on it is totally mind-blowing. It's quirky, jazzy math rock which if you will totally dig if you are nto Q and Not U, Fugazi or Encrypt Manuscript. There was some talk of a full length which never materialized. It's too bad since the playing is so deft and the quality of the recording is great I would have loved to hear them do more. And not that it should change your opinion, but the band was also all girls. Yes, you just got owned by these girls.
Check it out:
Each Other's Mothers Demo: http://www.mediafire.com/?dzbs7wtvh93wny0
They had a few live tracks on this comp of all-girl bands called "Gimme Cooties" which you can nab for $3 here: forthebirdscollective.bigcartel.com/product/gimme-cooties
If you want to check out the band's myspace, go here: http://www.myspace.com/eachothersmothers
Check it out:
Each Other's Mothers Demo: http://www.mediafire.com/?dzbs7wtvh93wny0
They had a few live tracks on this comp of all-girl bands called "Gimme Cooties" which you can nab for $3 here: forthebirdscollective.bigcartel.com/product/gimme-cooties
If you want to check out the band's myspace, go here: http://www.myspace.com/eachothersmothers
Clockwise
This is one of my all-time favorite releases. Back in the late 90's, before the word "emo" was co-opted by MTV2 and PacSun and distorted into... well, whatever the hell it is now, if you asked me to define emocore I would have said to listen to Inside, Silent Majority, Movielife and Clockwise. I may have said The Cotton Weary at the time as well for obvious reasons. Perhaps more than that, it had a distinct flavor of Long Island. It was a marriage of hardcore and emo with melodic vocals. Hence emocore. This is probably kind of common place now and you can trip over bands with these kind of traits with ease now. But in some cases there were clear divisions then between emo, hardcore, indie, whatever and ultimately there was an overall sound that all of these bands shared.
Clockwise was formed by Eddie Reyes (previously from Mind Over Matter) and "General" George Fullan. The band started with the name No Thought and later changed it to Clockwise. And then it gets a bit fuzzy from there. They originally had Josh DeMarco on second guitar who later left to join Mind Over Matter (credit to George Reynolds for refreshing my memory on this). They then picked up Phil Hanratty on 2nd guitar and vocals. Gary Bennet from Big Sniff was on Bass at some point. I couldn't tell you who played drums. I think John Lafatta from Mind Over Matter may have been in there, and it changed. Gary left to form Kill Your Idols, and they had a bunch of people including Mike Satzinger later of The Cotton Weary and Phil Navetta who would join Movielife with Eddie once they broke up in 1997. Phil would join Errortype:11 and George would start 3 Years Older a few years after Clockwise's dissolution.
I only know of one reunion show that they did, I think it was in 1999 at Deja 1.
This download is for the CD that they put out on Pie Records, so named after the studio where General George worked and recorded them. I have seen this CD referred to as the "demo" and "She Was", but we used to always call it the Pie CD. I couldn't tell you what the real designation for it truly is, but I'm going with "She Was" since they also had an earlier 4-Song Demo which I can't locate as well as a 3 song 7" on Motherbox Records called "Dead End". I have neither of these! Motherbox still has the 7" in print. I have no idea how many copies Paul still has, but if you are a vinyl enthusiast and own a record player go here to pick up a copy: http://www.merchdirect.com/MotherboxRecords/Clockwise?artist=1133
They also filmed a video for the song "She Was" which someone had uploaded to You Tube. Check it out below.
In the meantime, here's the 6 Song Clockwise CD "She Was": http://www.mediafire.com/?n09udvt8d9bjfg9
Clockwise was formed by Eddie Reyes (previously from Mind Over Matter) and "General" George Fullan. The band started with the name No Thought and later changed it to Clockwise. And then it gets a bit fuzzy from there. They originally had Josh DeMarco on second guitar who later left to join Mind Over Matter (credit to George Reynolds for refreshing my memory on this). They then picked up Phil Hanratty on 2nd guitar and vocals. Gary Bennet from Big Sniff was on Bass at some point. I couldn't tell you who played drums. I think John Lafatta from Mind Over Matter may have been in there, and it changed. Gary left to form Kill Your Idols, and they had a bunch of people including Mike Satzinger later of The Cotton Weary and Phil Navetta who would join Movielife with Eddie once they broke up in 1997. Phil would join Errortype:11 and George would start 3 Years Older a few years after Clockwise's dissolution.
I only know of one reunion show that they did, I think it was in 1999 at Deja 1.
This download is for the CD that they put out on Pie Records, so named after the studio where General George worked and recorded them. I have seen this CD referred to as the "demo" and "She Was", but we used to always call it the Pie CD. I couldn't tell you what the real designation for it truly is, but I'm going with "She Was" since they also had an earlier 4-Song Demo which I can't locate as well as a 3 song 7" on Motherbox Records called "Dead End". I have neither of these! Motherbox still has the 7" in print. I have no idea how many copies Paul still has, but if you are a vinyl enthusiast and own a record player go here to pick up a copy: http://www.merchdirect.com/MotherboxRecords/Clockwise?artist=1133
They also filmed a video for the song "She Was" which someone had uploaded to You Tube. Check it out below.
In the meantime, here's the 6 Song Clockwise CD "She Was": http://www.mediafire.com/?n09udvt8d9bjfg9
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Blood Sweat & Tears Compilation
I decided to put this up next as it was one of my favorite compilations. I freely admit that I was always more into emo and indie bands, so this collection of songs definitely met more with my usual musical diet. This comp was put together by General George Fullan of Clockwise and later 3 Years Older and released on his own General Records label. I believe that this was the label's solitary release and I'm not sure if there was more planned after this disc. In any case, it's a great comp. It was released in 1998 and has several of the more melodic LI bands from that period, as well as a few others from out of state. 7 of the 16 are LI bands. I think that this may be Fall with Grace's only release which is a shame since they were doing some really interesting stuff.
I remember a release show for the comp on a Saturday at Deja 1 since it was the day after the cotton weary's first show. I sort of remember Last Days of August, Yearly, Movielife, Zero in Trust and Saves the Day playing, but I may be wrong on the lineup. I do remember that there was free vegan pizza from Dominoes though. Free food at a show always equals great success.
Here's the tracklist:
I remember a release show for the comp on a Saturday at Deja 1 since it was the day after the cotton weary's first show. I sort of remember Last Days of August, Yearly, Movielife, Zero in Trust and Saves the Day playing, but I may be wrong on the lineup. I do remember that there was free vegan pizza from Dominoes though. Free food at a show always equals great success.
Here's the tracklist:
1. Brody - Triology
2. Cleons Down - Intersection
3. Errortype: 11 - Further
4. Hot Water Music - Position (Demo)
5. The Movielife - Sentimental Comicbook
6. King For A Day - Hit Or Miss You
7. Bridgewater - Lost On Reed Street
8. Saves The Day - 1:19
9. Watership Down - Time Bandit
10. Zero In Trust - Toll Booth Sunrise
11. Last Days Of August - Words I Wish Were Mine
12. Yearly - This One
13. Inside - Landscaping
14. Ignite - Self-Made Man (Live)
15. Fall With Grace - Seeps Between
16. Eleven Eleven - Untitled
2. Cleons Down - Intersection
3. Errortype: 11 - Further
4. Hot Water Music - Position (Demo)
5. The Movielife - Sentimental Comicbook
6. King For A Day - Hit Or Miss You
7. Bridgewater - Lost On Reed Street
8. Saves The Day - 1:19
9. Watership Down - Time Bandit
10. Zero In Trust - Toll Booth Sunrise
11. Last Days Of August - Words I Wish Were Mine
12. Yearly - This One
13. Inside - Landscaping
14. Ignite - Self-Made Man (Live)
15. Fall With Grace - Seeps Between
16. Eleven Eleven - Untitled
Download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?6n6rrnl8zvitafv
Monday, September 27, 2010
Mind Over Matter
"Forever... it's even longer than you think, even longer than you dreamed."
I feel that it is only appropriate that this is where we begin. Mind Over Matter did not receive the notoriety of some of their contemporaries, the interest level of the bands that some of the members of this group went on to, or the longevity of bands that formed during the same period such as Silent Majority. What Mind Over Matter did accomplish is creating, in my opinion, the greatest recorded masterpiece from any Long Island Band.
Mind Over Matter was a hardcore band formed around 1992. They started as a 5 piece with George Reynolds on vocals, Artie Sheppard on Guitar, the prolific Eddie Reyes (whose name will pop up on this blog assuredly several more times), Scott Martin on Bass and John LaFatta on Drums. Even at the outset being a slightly metal tinged hardcore band, Reynold's vocal style and intense lyrics gave the music a different feel. It wasn't the standard hardcore growl of the time and the music hinted at the experimentation that was to come later on. Reyes left after their first 7" was released, and they continued on as a 4-Piece for the "Hectic Thinking" 7" as well as the full length "Security". Security gathered the "Hectic Thinking" 7" as well as a few new songs as well like "Parts" and "Correct Me if I'm Wrong" which provided Fugazi-like basslines and intricate guitar parts.
Their final release was the sprawling "Automanipulation", which as I mentioned above is simply untouchable. I can't really describe it, it truly needs to be heard to be appreciated. If you listen to Security and then Automanipulation it almost doesn't sound like the same band. This was a band that was not content with the status quo and needed to keep evolving. They had added Josh DeMarco from Clockwise (edit - credit to George Reynolds for pointing this out) which added a whole new sonic layer to the music, but that wasn't all. They really changed the sound, shifting away from hardcore to a post-hardcore sound closer to Quicksand and Orange 9MM, but with far greater experimentation which incorporated elements from bands like Drive Like Jehu and Slint . Beyond that George Reynolds seem to completely change his vocal delivery. It's completely unique and I don't feel that anyone has replicated it.
They are a band that has been praised as influences, but few if any bands have been able to replicate their sound.
They broke up after Automanipulation and played a reunion show a few years later at Coney Island High, one at Deja 1 in 1999 which I went to, one in 2006 at a tribute show for James McCauliffe, and again in 2008 for a VOD reunion show.
George Reynolds went on to form Dayinthelife with Josh DeMarco, and later Eathling.Massive, Revenge of the Dragon and he is currently a member of Wiretap Crash. Artie had been a member of Bad Trip, then joined Walter Schriefel's post-Quicksand project World's Fastest Car. He then formed Error Type:11 with Scott Martin, and later Instruction, Gay for Johnny Depp and God Fires Man. DeMarco started the aforementioned Dayinthelife and later Sound of Speed. John Lafatta joined Madball and later Deathcycle.
In addition to the albums below, I've also included a live set (which I'm not sure where I nabbed it from) from an WNYU radio station broadcast that has a batch of unreleased songs as well as their cover of "New York, New York" from the Wreck-Age "Mindset Overhaul" compilation.
Enough talk, here's the music:
Automanipulation
http://www.mediafire.com/?2xsttbjmktbg418
Security:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ahef1brznn5umbg
First 7", Hectic Thinking, Live Set and New York, New York:
http://www.mediafire.com/?3dha37n9774we5o
I feel that it is only appropriate that this is where we begin. Mind Over Matter did not receive the notoriety of some of their contemporaries, the interest level of the bands that some of the members of this group went on to, or the longevity of bands that formed during the same period such as Silent Majority. What Mind Over Matter did accomplish is creating, in my opinion, the greatest recorded masterpiece from any Long Island Band.
Mind Over Matter was a hardcore band formed around 1992. They started as a 5 piece with George Reynolds on vocals, Artie Sheppard on Guitar, the prolific Eddie Reyes (whose name will pop up on this blog assuredly several more times), Scott Martin on Bass and John LaFatta on Drums. Even at the outset being a slightly metal tinged hardcore band, Reynold's vocal style and intense lyrics gave the music a different feel. It wasn't the standard hardcore growl of the time and the music hinted at the experimentation that was to come later on. Reyes left after their first 7" was released, and they continued on as a 4-Piece for the "Hectic Thinking" 7" as well as the full length "Security". Security gathered the "Hectic Thinking" 7" as well as a few new songs as well like "Parts" and "Correct Me if I'm Wrong" which provided Fugazi-like basslines and intricate guitar parts.
Their final release was the sprawling "Automanipulation", which as I mentioned above is simply untouchable. I can't really describe it, it truly needs to be heard to be appreciated. If you listen to Security and then Automanipulation it almost doesn't sound like the same band. This was a band that was not content with the status quo and needed to keep evolving. They had added Josh DeMarco from Clockwise (edit - credit to George Reynolds for pointing this out) which added a whole new sonic layer to the music, but that wasn't all. They really changed the sound, shifting away from hardcore to a post-hardcore sound closer to Quicksand and Orange 9MM, but with far greater experimentation which incorporated elements from bands like Drive Like Jehu and Slint . Beyond that George Reynolds seem to completely change his vocal delivery. It's completely unique and I don't feel that anyone has replicated it.
They are a band that has been praised as influences, but few if any bands have been able to replicate their sound.
They broke up after Automanipulation and played a reunion show a few years later at Coney Island High, one at Deja 1 in 1999 which I went to, one in 2006 at a tribute show for James McCauliffe, and again in 2008 for a VOD reunion show.
George Reynolds went on to form Dayinthelife with Josh DeMarco, and later Eathling.Massive, Revenge of the Dragon and he is currently a member of Wiretap Crash. Artie had been a member of Bad Trip, then joined Walter Schriefel's post-Quicksand project World's Fastest Car. He then formed Error Type:11 with Scott Martin, and later Instruction, Gay for Johnny Depp and God Fires Man. DeMarco started the aforementioned Dayinthelife and later Sound of Speed. John Lafatta joined Madball and later Deathcycle.
In addition to the albums below, I've also included a live set (which I'm not sure where I nabbed it from) from an WNYU radio station broadcast that has a batch of unreleased songs as well as their cover of "New York, New York" from the Wreck-Age "Mindset Overhaul" compilation.
Enough talk, here's the music:
Automanipulation
http://www.mediafire.com/?2xsttbjmktbg418
Security:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ahef1brznn5umbg
First 7", Hectic Thinking, Live Set and New York, New York:
http://www.mediafire.com/?3dha37n9774we5o
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