Anyone that has followed this blog over the decade that its existed knows of my odd love of German 80's hardcore. I was turned onto a lot of it by two Germans who spent time in SF hanging with my buddy Zoran and I in around 86-87. After they left back to Germany I'd get random mixed tapes of obscure German hc in the mail.
This is one of those bands I was turned onto by these guys. I had to work pretty hard to find the actual vinyl of it back then.
Pretty raging thrashy hardcore that at times remind me of the almighty Black Flag (check out the song Last Mistake).
Listening to this one brings back many happy memories. Enjoy!
1.Right Now
2.Last Mistake
3.Differant
4.Happiness
5.Your Scene
6.Don't Get Mad
7.Joy Boy
8.Names
9.Traped
10.Dreams Of Pain
11.No Allegiance
A gig that happened around 20 years ago. I found this flyer and tape of both Spazz and Monster X while
picking through some of my basement crap. The tape is a recording from the board. This CBGBs show was insanely packed,
with a very "diverse" crowd due to the strange line up. One emo band would play and a bunch of kids from outside would run in while they played. A more brutal band would play and the emo kids would go outside while the other kids came in. Tyler King put this one on. I recall him talking to me as we were loading in
about him getting a cease and desist letter from a lawyer from another
Monster X band. I laughed and told him we got those every month.
Tyler ripped it up and obviously let us play. Some highlights for me
were having Danny Lilker (Anthrax, SOD and Brutal Truth) come up to me
after our set and tell me how much he dug us and loved the cover of
straight ahead that we did. Also meeting Timojhen Mark face to face and him telling me that he flew out to see us from Cali. Listening to Chris Kellys between song banter ragging on all the emo bands playing. Hilarious... It sure was a strange line up. I would love to see the MX set come out as a live LP. Get at me if you have interest i n putting it out. Someday I'll post the Spazz set. Set is separated into 2 sides, both sides are larger wav files
Hands down the greatest Cleveland punk/hardcore band of all time in my opinion. I was introduced to their sound by my buddy Wedge in the 90s. Wedge lives in the Cleveland area and was a founding member of 9 Shocks Terror (and numerous other bands). Dude would always bring me surprise tapes of bands I'd never heard on our mini tours or weekend gigs we'd play together.
The band started off as a two piece, then later joined up with others to make them a legit force to be reckoned with. This features everything... 43 songs. "Outta Glue", "Kill Preps" etc. Don't sleep on this one.
I rarely post newer stuff on this blog, but this 7" is godly and deserves attention. You love Infest? Well then you need this 7". It features members of Infest basically sounding just like Infest. Haven't ever heard Infest? Do you live under a rock? One of my top 20 hardcore bands of all times. I have never been stoked on them doing reunion shows... but this I can get behind. Fierce Hardcore powerviolence destroys side A, while Side B is a longer instrumental tune that sorta reminds me of Sick-O. Enjoy! http://www.mediafire.com/file/qchda61dj4ef4l5/Exit_Unit_ep.zip
The Comes are by far one of my top 5 favorite Japanese hardcore bands ever. They were involved in the early wave of Japanese hardcore (Lipcream, Gauze, Gism, etc). I am in love with the "No Side LP". These guys were fronted by a punk as fuck female (a rarity in those days). Chitose who sang went on to sing in a few metal bands after the Comes broke up (Virgin Rocks, The Wretched). Pretty sure the drummer went on to play in Gastunk. There are a shit tons of songs on this disc. Its live... but I still love it. The band only had two proper releases, so this is like a dream come true.
This CD has a whopping 47 songs on it, way to many for me to list. It consists of theRaleigh,
North Carolina bands 1982 Jane Doe demo, a bunch of compilation tracks, and a
live set. Total nerdum for hardcore freaks. For those unfamiliar No Labels were pre C.O.C.
(Woody on Bass, and Reed on Drums). I had only ever heard a few of the
bands comp tracks, and then later on the No Core stuff. This was a
beautiful time for hardcore. I was still a metal head when this band
existed, and didn't start gravitating towards stuff like this until maybe
1984. The band was infamous for their war on Ian Mackaye and the D.C. Straight edge scene. Enjoy the rage!
1.Massada/Will To Die
2.We'll Make More
3.The Machine
4.The Gift
5.Your Mistake
6.Battle Fatigue
7.Poisinous Solution
8.Take A Walk
9.Frustrated Existence
10.No Need/Leap Of Faith
11.It's Time/Shorty
Back in the 90's my buddy and band mate (from Devoid Of Faith) Jim MacNaughton did a radio show on WRPI in Troy NY. He also helped to book punk hardcore bands to play live on the air to a room full of friends and supporters. It was a cool little thing the folks at the station would let Jim do. It was mainly Jim, this guy Bob Curry who did sound, and a Japanese girl who went to school there named Akimia. I saw so many cool shows there by the likes of Oi Polloi, the Gaia, 9 Shocks Terror, Los Crudos and endless other bands. Both the bands I was playing in at the time were lucky enough to get to play some of these gigs.
This is a recording of a set that my old band Monster X did at the station. There were probably ten people there to watch us. I think the recording came out great (although the bass guitar is way to low). We actually released the recording on cassette limited to somewhere between 25-50 copies. Enjoy!
Killer obscure thrash metal from Montreal Canada. They were a three piece on this demo, pretty sure these guys only put out an LP after this demo as a four piece. I recently heard that one of the members was recently murdered. Enjoy.
1.Surfin Ave, A
2.Horror
3.Disgusting Fools
4.Office Jerk/Rat Cheese
5.Happy Under The Sea
6.Little Minds
7.Poseur
8.Boredom
9.Question The Revolution
10.Fuck Everything
11.Unity
Cool eighties political punk/hardcore from NYC. I got this from the bands Singer Donna Damage many years ago. Its a live show from 1983 at the infamous CBGBs. The live sets by them are never as great as the demo or the 7" ep, but still cool to listen to. Enjoy!
I've been to a lot of really insane shows in my day, but this one was a top ten as far as the craziness factor goes.
Back in 1989 I had just moved back to Albany NY from the Bay Area. A few friends from Albany and myself had decided to fly to the Bay Area for the Last Christ On Parade show which was being held at Gilman St. This was just a few days after that Big Earthquake that erupted and disturbed the World series and life in that area.
The Show was billed to be Christ On Parade, Neurosis, Econochrist, Nuclear Roach, and Steel Pole Bath Tub.
My friends and I had arrived early at the club to hang out, catch up and have fun. The show started to get really packed. It was hard not to notice that much of the crowd were Skinheads. These weren't your regular run of the mill skinheads either. These were San Jose Hispanic Skinheads. These guys had a reputation for being just as racist and fucked up as as your regular run of the mill white power skinheads. The Bay Area punks had been bullied by these kinds of jokers for years, and things soon started to escalate as more of these boneheads arrived to the show. They started picking on people, saying racist shit and getting physical like they always had in the past at other venues. The difference was that at Gilman Street warehouse we usually felt safe, and we outnumbered these clowns. After Steel pole Bathtub and Nuclear Roach played the mighty Econochrist took the stage. Within minutes the skins were sieg heiling the band at the front of the stage. There were at least 50 of these guys acting out like Nazis. Econochrist finally stopped playing and Ben who was the vocalist of the band started yelling at these mongoloids about what they were doing. Suddenly a stocky skinhead girl jumped out of the crowd, and onto the stage where she started hitting Ben who was still mocking the skins over the microphone. One of the friends I was with whose name is Roger Vandusen pulled her off the stage by her leg and as she fell onto the floor he started kicking her (other punks joined in on the kicking). This started the riot! All of the sudden 50 skins were attacking people in the crowd, assaulting my friend Roger, and just going ballistic on people. By some miracle the punks were some how able to push the skins out of the club and everything spilled out into the streets of Oakland where there were even more skinheads who hadn't paid to get into the show (they were drinking and stuff). Fists were now flying on the streets, boots were kicking, and sneakers were running. Shit really got out of control and very bloody. Most the punks had run back into the club while the skins were trying to get back in or beating up on random people. These random people were either in the wrong place at the wrong time, or had gotten locked out of the club along with the skins. After a long time some ambulances and police finally arrived. A few people were arrested, and some others were taken to the hospital.
Christ On Parade who I'd flown out to see didn't get to play their last show. Pretty positive Neurosis didn't get to play either (I think they were slated to play after Econochrist, but I could be wrong). To this day I'm still not sure C.O.P. ever got to play a last show.
When things eventually settled down we somehow ended up back at a punk house where Ben Econochrist was either hanging out at or living. I started talking to him about the incident, and eventually played him audio I had recorded from the show on a walkman (or whatever I used back then). We sat there in aw, laughing in disbelief. Unfortunately I can't find that live tape anywhere. I probably ended up recording a really bad hardcore demo over the top of it, or its just laying in a box un labeled.
At any rate Econochrist were a punk/HC band that were from Arkansas and after touring ended up moving to the Bay area.
This band was from the Bay Area and was originally called Apocalyptic Judgement (I liked that name better, so brutal). The band featured a buddy and ex band mate of mine named Zoran Theodorovic. Zoran Played guitar with me in the Romper Room Rejects, and then did this band (singing) after we broke up. Turmoil also featured Ken Sovari who was the second Autopsy bass player. Ken played on the 1988 "critical mass" demo. Turmoil existed from between 1988-91 and played loads of local metal shows. Zoran is still active today in underground/extreme music. Dudes been a bay area staple since 1985. Enjoy!
Love this stuff. Its so dark & heavy, and is the perfect mixture of metal and hardcore.
I've been friends with some members from the Original lineup for years (thanks to Chris Pellow for this demo). I also have a live set on tape that I got from Chris as well that I'll hopefully upload someday. Great Clevo hardcore with tons of Mosh, and some Slayer influence as well. Albany mosh metal kids went crazy for this band back in the 90's. They'd react by doing those windmills, and stupid karate kicks in the pit. I could only stand there and wonder who the idiot was that invented that "dance move"... At any rate enjoy the tunes.
1.Beyond Hope Beyond Life 2.When Enough Is Too Much 3.Xenophobia 4.God Offal 5.Choice? 6.Clones 7.Childhood's End 8.Face Facts 9.To Yourself 10.No Better 11.A God Of Substance
Brutal Canadian thrashcore that has scores of UK 1980's thrash and Japanese core written all over it. Harsh stuff indeed. You know its gonna be good when there are 11 songs on the demo.
My old bands Monster X and Devoid Of Faith Shared the stage with Blowhard in Toronto. Straight ahead-non stop simple thrash with no frills. Great dudes, great band. Old friends Simon Harvey and Naomi turned me onto these gents, and they helped to set up the shows we played with them as well. Re-listening to this brings back some keen memories of doing weekend gigs in Canada back in the early 90s... having to sneak our equipment and merch across the border was always a hassle, as we always ended up paying some fines or being detained or something. I can't imagine how hard it is these days. Enjoy the tunes!
This is terrible news. My heart goes out to his twins and his family.
I'm sure those of us that knew Brandon all have awesome thoughts of his past antics...Dude played in a kazillion bands that many folks saw or heard over the years. Municipal Waste, Direct Control, Government Warning, Obsessor, Career Suicide, Wasted Time, etc.
I first met
Brandon in Richmond VA. when he played drums in Municipal Waste and they
opened for us on some stupid Das Oath tour long ago. After that I'd get
instant messages from him all the time telling me to check out this or
that band that he was in. Seeing if I had interest in putting out random records by his bands on my label, Asking to play Gloom Fest, etc.
A really fond memory I have of him is when I sold him a Corrupted Morals
7".. both of us gushing over how amazing and underrated we thought
they were. A year later I went to see one of his bands with Career
Suicide in Albany NY. Him and members of various other bands (Career
Suicide, Direct Control etc) decided to play a covers gig on the spot
(never practicing). Brandon asked me to pick my favorite CM song. I
obviously picked "Peer pressure". He said ok, but you are singing it. I
did. That was rad. He helped an old man relive his youth for a second.
thanks buddy. Rest easy and free.
More fierce sounding Japanese hardcore from this band that formed in
the 1990's. This is the bands first full length. I'm pretty sure they
are still active, and have put out several other releases since then.
Pounding break neck thrash with wailing solos is what this bands sound
is all about. I never tire of bands like this, and Bastard. Sounds
like this will always keep me attracted to this style of HC. Enjoy!
Okay, I was living in the bay area when this Desecration was making waves in Arizona with Hippycore Records. I wasn't really familiar with them until I'd moved back East and was turned onto them by a Albany buddy by the name of Damon Douglas. I was familiar with the Bay Area Desecration that featured Mr. Yost on vox, and members who went on to join/form Corrupted Morals. At any rate the AZ. Desecration kicked some major ass as well, playing non stop thrash with vox that remind me a lot of Pushead in Septic Death. This ep also featured a 4 song live 7" flexi. Great political lyrics backed by raging thrash tunes. This rip features the 7" and flexi, Enjoy.
This has been making the rounds on a few obscure punk/hardcore mssg boards recently. Supposedly the only L.A. gig that S.D. ever played. 19 songs on this tape from one of the greatest American hc bands of all times. Enjoy!
1.insane
2.1941
3.unseen foe
4.drink
5.driving force
6.memories
I first heard the song "Memories" by these guys on a Maximum Rock n Roll radio show back in 1987 when I was living in the Bay Area. I was stoked and fully into the bands sound. That same year my band the Romper Room Rejects was lucky enough to play a gig with them in Davis California at "the Place". After seeing that gig I was even more blown away by the bands brand of low fi thrash. Mix RKL with the FU's and you have Identity Crysis. It took me a very long time to track down this record. Thanks to Daniel Rosen for hooking a brotha up! Six ripping thrash songs on this perfect slab. Enjoy!
1.downflame
2.psychonaut
3.earth children
4.book of shadows
This is a demo tape I played drums on along with fellow Maplewood New Jersey friends Zack, and Jenn. I met Zack at the local jiffy Lube...dude was wearing a Sleep shirt so I had to have a conversation. We realized we'd had many friends, and the love for similar music in common. We both liked the idea of playing instruments that we hadn't normally played in bands, and we both wanted to jam on some heavy or harder pysch influenced riffs. Jenn I'd known for years, and I told Zack that I thought she'd be the perfect bass player for what we were doing. The band is a really slow work in progress, but we love what we are doing and we have a 7" coming out in April. Enjoy these four tunes.
Erik
Meade is a musician who has been a SF staple for decades.
We met as neighbors in the Hayes District
of San Fransisco in the mid 80's. Back then if you looked different, or
wore a certain band t shirt you'd likely make conversation with others
that
also looked the part. Erik sort of became my
mentor turning me onto some cool obscure punk/hardcore, and introduced
me to
other like minded folks in the Bay area. I moved back East in 1989 so
we lost touch for over twenty years. I randomly ran into Erik
while he was working at a record store about 8 years ago. It was crazy, and was weirdly emotional for
me. I felt like I needed to tell him that he had influenced my entire
life in a positive way through his influencing me musically. I ended up sending him everything I played on, and records I'd released over the years. At any rate Erik has a
long history of playing in tons of bands. One of those bands was the
Florida death metal band Death. Death along with Possessed pretty much
invented the death metal genre. I thought it would be cool to pick
Erik's brain about his short time in the band. In my opinion he played on the best demo by this Legendary metal act.
Nate -You were one of the most open minded people I'd met in
the 1980's San Francisco scene. You and your ex girlfriend Janis turned
me onto a lot of different music and art back then. It was the
punk/hardcore stuff that resonated with me. I still to this day have a
tape you made me in 1985 with a bunch of East coast hardcore bands on it (76%
Uncertain, Bad Brains, SSD, Sacred Denial, Beastie Boys ep, etc).
You
played bass in Death in 1985... I am trying to figure out the timeline
because we were next door neighbors from late '85-1987. You were taking
me to early meetings at Gilman Street as it was just being constructed,
you introduced me to Tim Yo (who disliked me because I was metal dude), and
you had me singing in a band you were doing with Short Dogs Grow, and
Rhythm Pigs folks. Was this all taking place during the days you were in
Death, or after it? How the hell did I miss this?
Erik -I would think it was during the period I was in Death,
although it seems strange that I wouldn’t have mentioned it. It was
probably just after I left, and I might not have mentioned it because,
at the time, it didn’t seem important. LOL.
I'm sure I knew, but probably acted unimpressed because I was one of those metal dudes who was transforming into
a hardcore kid, and I was rebelling against my metal roots. I'm WAY more
impressed now...Haha. Did your days playing in Death end your playing in
metal bands all together?
Erik - Yeah, I just played in punk and rock bands after that, as a guitarist, not a bass player. How did you end up meeting Chuck and joining Death? What made him relocate from Florida to the Bay Area in '85?
Erik -Eric Brecht was playing metal with some guys in Oakland,
and somehow, I had joined the group, I think as the singer. That project
quickly fell apart, but a few weeks later Eric got a call from Chuck,
who sent him some demo tapes. Eric was really excited about it, so when
Chuck asked him if he knew any bass players, Eric asked me if I played
bass. I didn’t really play bass much. I was a guitar player, but I said
yes, and ran out and bought a bass. I then created a really ridiculous
bass rig by putting my Roland guitar amp thru a 400 watt Sunn Power amp
into a 4/12 guitar cabinet. It was an odd combo, but it worked. Chuck
flew out a few weeks later and started staying at Eric’s place, and then
with a girl named Amber who hung out in the scene. She drove him around
everywhere while he was out here because he didn’t have car. I assume he
moved here because the bay area had become the home of thrash metal. How long did your time in the band last? Why did it end? Did Chuck
continue with Death in the Bay Area after you guys were out, or did he
move back to Florida?
Erik -We were only in the band for about six months and a few
shows. then we had an argument with Chuck and he left. He just stormed out
of the rehearsal room and that was that. I think he went back to Florida
for a few months and then came back to SF, but I’m not 100% sure. Did Eric Brecht quit DRI to Join Death? I recall seeing DRI at the Rock On
Broadway once in 1985, and Eric approached his brother Kurt after the
gig and started telling him about how he was jamming with
Death. Kurt was totally supportive of everything Eric was telling him. It was a cool conversation that I dropped in on.
Erik - No, as I said, Eric had already left DRI when Chuck had
called him. As for Kurt, as soon as we started rehearsing we got a call
from Kurt, who was in Chicago touring with DRI. He said “You’ll never
believe what some kid just gave me, It’s a tape of you guys rehearsing
last week”. It turned out that Chuck had taped our rehearsals, and then
dubbed copies and sent them to particular die hard fans in various cities,
who then made copies for their friends. It was at that moment that I
realized just how powerful and important the tape trading circuit was
within the metal scene. That was why Chuck already had a fan base in SF
before he even had an album out. How old were you guys at the time?
Erik -I would have been 22, Chuck was 18 and I don't know how old Eric was, but probably 19 or 20. Did you help in any of the song writing at all, or did Chuck
move to the Bay Area with all the songs that you were going to play
already written?
Erik - We worked on creating some of the songs that were on the
first Death LP although over the years I’ve become a bit hazy about
which songs, but overall they were Chucks ideas. We may have had a hand
in some of the arrangements though. I bought the first LP when it came
out just to see whether he gave us any credits, and was kind of amused
to see that he’d gotten around the songwriting issue by simply not
having any songwriting credits at all. I assume that was because he
would also have the original members from Florida and Mantis to contend
with. He may have claimed ownership on later pressings. but I don’t
care. It was clearly his ideas. Did you play on any of the demos or rehearsals that have been released through out the years?
Erik
-Yes. I'm on the Back From the Dead demo which was the tape that Kurt Brecht
heard in Chicago. Scott Carlson gave
me a board recording of one of our Ruthie's Inn shows that is a much
higher quality recording then Back from the Dead (which was recorded on a
boom box). I've thought about trying to have an engineer clean up the
Ruthie's tape and boost up the guitar tones if possible.
How many live gigs did you play with Death? Where were they? Most in Bay Area I assume?
Erik - As far as I can remember we only played three or four gigs
total. All but one of them at Ruthie’s Inn in Berkley. The other one was at
the Farm in SF with Mordred and the Rhythm Pigs.
I think I recall that you guys used to practice at Turk Street Studios in SF?
Erik- I honestly don’t remember where we rehearsed initially. It
might have been Turk. But near the end we were rehearsing at a studio out by Potrero hill owned by Franco from MDC.
What was the reaction to the band by other local metal bands in the Bay Area
at the time? Did they accept Chucks move to the area? Did they welcome the band? I recall much competition
back then within the metal scene. Bands sort of competing to get
signed, play bigger shows etc. Was Death involved in this crap?
Erik -I wasn’t really that familiar with the East bay metal scene
since I was part of the punk scene in SF, and was only occasionally
crossing paths with metal bands. But the first time we played Ruthie’s I
was really surprised by how excited the kids there were to see us. You
see, I had never heard of Death before Eric Brecht asked me if I’d want
to play bass in the band. I thought they were just a band with a few home made
cassette tapes out, which in punk circles meant you were just locally
known. Death were from Florida so I figured nobody in the bay area
had heard of them/us. I didn’t realize that within the metal scene tape
trading homemade cassettes was a big deal, and true fans took it
seriously. So at our first show there were actually people with our band
logo painted on the back of their leather jackets who were all jacked
up to see us. I also remember that the opening act at our first show
was an Oakland band called Black Death who sounded an awful lot like us,
and were really excited to be on the bill. It was an nice surprise for
me. I think we either played with Sacrilege BC, or at least they were at
the shows because I became friends with those guys thru Death, and
later on when Dave Edwardson (of Sacrilege and Violent Coercion) started
Neurosis. He and Scott Kelly asked me to be part of it. I lasted about
two rehearsals before I guess they decided I wasn’t on the same page
with them musically, and stopped calling me about rehearsals. When I
finally called Scott he said “Oh, we decided we just want to be a three
piece”, so I said, "Ok, well then, I’m gonna come over and pick up my
amp”, to which Scott said “Oh, that’s another thing... we accidentally
blew up your amp the other night”. Only last year Scott commented to me
on Facebook, “By the way, I still haven’t forgotten that I owe you an
amp. But you will always be OG Neurosis”. I thought that was nice. but
back to your question. No, I didn’t see any backstabbing or catty
behavior ever, in fact one of the guitarists from Testament loaned
Chuck a Marshall Stack for one of our Ruthie’s shows, because at that
time all Chuck had was a Peavey Transistor amp.
What was it that Chuck and you guys were listening to at the time that
helped influence the extreme sound Death was later known for? This
boggles my mind…
Erik- I have no idea what Chuck was listening to that made him come up
with his sound. Me and Eric were both into mostly punk, so honestly Chucks
music didn’t seem that radically new to me since I’d been listening to
really harsh fast music for quite some time, and well Eric Brecht was
the kid who invented ‘blast beats when he was in DRI. In fact, that was
probably why Chuck called him in the first place. So I suppose it’s safe
to say that Chuck had heard DRI. A few of the albums that come to mind
were the first Die Kreuzen records, Dehumanization by Crucifix, and
Animosity by Corrosion of Conformity, which had just come out around the
time I joined Death. That one was particularly relevant as me and Janis
Tanaka were hanging out with COC when they toured thru SF that year
because they were staying with our friend Ruth Schwartz for the couple
days they were in town.
Chuck, Erik, & Eric Brecht at Ruthies '85
Did you or those other guys realize at the time that you were basically
involved with something that was much different then other metal that was happening at the time?
Erik- Not me, No. In fact, to be quite honest I didn’t get it,
and really didn’t like it. I thought I was gonna be joining a band more
like Exodus or Slayer, and I thought that Chucks, or to be more precise
Eric’s, beats were so fast that nobody could mosh or headbang to them. I
kept coming home and saying “I don’t like what we’re doing,
it’s too chaotic”. and Janis would say “No, it’s great. Keep doing it”.
Even after I left/quit/got kicked out of the band I didn’t get it. and
consequently, gave away or taped over all of my cassettes of our
rehearsals. I didn’t have any tapes of myself with Death for two
decades, until one day I ran into Scott Carlson of Repulsion, who had
been the original bass player for Death back in Florida. First off he
told me that tapes of our rehearsals and Ruthlie’s shows were still
being traded by Death fans, but more importantly he said that Chuck had
mailed him copies of the tapes back in 1985 and he still had them. So he
burned me a tape of all the recordings I was on. To be honest, I still
think it sounds like a couple of kids going crazy in a garage. But my
Girlfriend Sonja loves it. Her current favorite band is GoatWhore. On a
side note some time around 1998 I was walking past a club, and heard a
band inside that was playing blast beats with a cookie monster voiced
singer, and I thought, ‘Fuck, they sound exactly like what we were doing
18
years ago. who would have thought our sound would stick around so long. I
was also kind of astounded when I was in a bookstore and started
browsing thru the pages of that book Lords Of Chaos. I thought, ‘man,
this is some crazy shit. how did this start’. Then was kind of
shocked and surprised to find Death listed as one of the original
inspirations for those bands.
Do you think Chuck was setting out to try to invent a genre that later
turned into "Death Metal", or was it like many things in life that was
just a series of mistakes that happened? Bad recordings that were
looked at as raw because engineers had no idea how to deal with the
production...musicianship, etc? I can't get my head around what bands
like Death and Possessed were thinking, and how they did what they did
back then? Total innovators.
Erik- I think Chuck had it in his head that he was trying to
create something new that had never been done before. At least he always
talked that way. I remember asking him how he had come up with the name
Death, and he said, “ I just wanted to have the heaviest band name ever, then it hit me...what’s heavier then death? The answer was,
nothing... nothings heavier then death. So that had to be the name”. I
thought that was kind of funny because it reminded me of that line from
Spinal Tap, ‘How much blacker can it be? The answer is, None. None
more black”. Did you ever play in a band with Eric again?
Erik -I never played with him again. He was asked to be in Hirax pretty soon after that and moved to LA I think.
Had you been in Touch with Chuck after your time in the band...before his passing?
Erik -No, the last time I saw him or talked to him was at our
last rehearsal at Franco’s place. We got into an argument about the
lyrical content, which I thought was juvenile even though he had said he
wanted to get more serious. Then he came in with another song about
ripping peoples guts out (Regurgitated Guts maybe?), so I complained,
and I guess Eric Brecht sided with me. Chuck said “I don’t need you guys. I’ll
find someone who really wants to play my songs”. He then dragged his amp
out onto the sidewalk and sat out there for the next hour waiting for
his ride to arrive. I think if we had just walked outside and apologized
we might have continued as a band, but we didn’t because of course at that time Death weren’t legendary, so we really didn’t care that
much. Which is fine because I already knew I wasn’t the right bass
player for his ideas. so it all worked out the way it was supposed to. Was chuck someone that was easy to talk to, or was he difficult to get along with? He seemed to be hard headed but also seemed to know exactly what he wanted. Was he a control freak?
Erik
-No, Chuck was a pretty easy going guy. A bit like Sean Penn's
character Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, only not stoned.
Chuck seem a little bit more square then that. He knew what he wanted musically, but
compared to some of the egomaniacs I've dealt with over the years he
wasn't unpleasant at all. Like a stoner surfer attitude? He didn't really party?
Erik -I remember that he was really straight (no drugs) and kind of
innocent when he first arrived in SF, but near the end of our run he changed. Oh come on, there must be some crazy stories from those days? Something Death fans would find interesting? Drinking? Violence? Drugging? Hookers?
Erik -Lot's. but I don't think any of them involved Death. We
went to keg parties and the like but it never got out of hand with
regards to the three of us.
What are your fondest memories of those 1985 Death days?
Erik - Chuck playing with Kittens at Eric Brechts place which was
a storefront at Haight and Fillmore. I think its next door to that
crepe place that’s there now. Tell people about the music climate in the bay area at the time. I recall Janis was in bands (with Courtney Love), and you were always in multiple bands.
Erik -the San Francisco scene in the 1980s and mid 90s was a really
amazing thing. It seemed as though everybody was either in a band or a
bike messenger, or both. it was a pretty large scene of hundreds of
people who were all trying to do something creative. Back then the idea
of playing in a cover band or tribute band was unthinkable. if you were a
musician you wanted to create something new and hopefully unique. Not
like today where most musicians are fine playing in tribute bands, or,
if they do deign to play original songs they go out of there way to
sound like whatever everybody else is doing. Granted, the metal scene
has fought the longest against that mentality. but back then, the
concept of creating original, unique music was everywhere. Take hardcore
for instance. RKL, DRI, NOFX , Rhythm Pigs, Victims Family, COC, MDC,
Dwarves, may have all been super fast thrash bands, and usually friends,
but they all put their own spin on the form. Same with Bay Area Metal, Anvil
Chorus,Exodus, Death Angel, Possessed. Then throw in all the artsier
bands like Tuxedomoon, Flipper, Melvins,Neurosis, Trial, Treason, a State
Of Mind, Clown Alley, etc, etc, and you can kind of understand why I
didn't think what Death were doing was particularly weird or
groundbreaking. I mean it was but so were dozens and dozens of other
bands at that time, just ground breaking, original, and unique in
different ways.
This is a compilation of all the bands recorded material. My relationship came about with members of this band through an old Canadian friend named Simon Harvey. Simon was raving about this Canadian grind outfit that had two singers that were mind blowing, and the perfect mesh of metal and hardcore. Simon put out a split LP with Human Greed and Shitfit in 1993-94. I fell in love with Human Greed prior to the album even coming out (as Simon leaked me a tape). Over the years we (Monster X, and Devoid Of Faith) played many shows with these guys, and Monster X was even lucky enough to do a split 7" with them. HG played in Albany with us I believe twice in the mid 90s, and we played in Canada with them. We loved them as people and as a band. They were hardworking animal rights and environmental people, and it came through in their music. When these grindmasters broke up members went on to form Seized. Freddy (the drummer) went on to play in State Of Fear (ex-Disrupt dudes). I really miss these guys and think about Wag, Steph, Freddy, and Pat a lot. They've been hard to track down over the years. Hard to believe this junk is over 20 years old now. Enjoy these 22 slices of grinding hardcore.
John sang in Reason To Believe and Sensefield. Reason to believe blew my mind when I first heard them on a tape comp that also featured Our Gang, and Infest back in 1987. Johns singing was that of someone who actually was very talented and had an amazing voice that somehow worked with a fast hardcore band. A rarity as most of us who listen to the genre know. I lost track of what he was doing over the years, but I'm saddened by his death at the young age of 45. He was still doing music, and was a talented person. I still get shivers down my spine when I hear his voice on any Reason To Believe recordings. Rest In Power!
More crushing Japanese hardcore that in my opinion was part of the early Burning Spirits movement of Japan. My favorite thing about these guys is the guitarists guitar solos. So cool, they literally never stop. Might annoy some punx, but I think it will excite some metal heads that never heard anything like this. Hardcore for fans of Bastard, and Death Side. Pretty sure one of the members was in Crow. Don't sleep on these 16 songs. This is the bands only full length, and it was never released on vinyl. Enjoy!
1.psychomania
2.quiet
3.circle of death
4.rabid fire
5.apocalypse warrior
More NJ thrash metal that is some how connected to No Refund. These guys were from Bloomfield NJ I believe. The song "Circle Of Death" is the winner on this tape. It totally reminds me of early Exodus. Most the other songs don't have that same feel, but are still above average neck snapping thrash. The stuff is def influenced by the Bay Area thrash metal scene. This is the bands 2nd demo tape.. they released 6 of them. Pretty sure someone released a Dbl LP with all the demo's on it? Enjoy...
This was a rough mix which hadn't yet been mixed or sequenced for the record that came out in 2004 on Dimmak Records. This session was a crazy experience. Mark and I went to Holland, staying for two months to write and record the planned LP with Marcel and Jeroen. We played shows around Europe on the weekends to help fund our stay. We would write riffs in Jeroens living room and bedroom, then go to a squated building in the harbor of Rotterdam that had a bunch of practice spaces set up. We'd spend many hours of the day at the squat practicing and writing these tunes. It was pretty insane. If I recall correctly the recording itself took 2 days, then another day to mix. I feel like this rough is pretty damn close to the actual mix we ended up with. The process took longer than we had anticipated and I wasn't able to switch my flight back home to 'merica. This meant I ended up leaving a day before we were 100% done with the mix. This CD was ripped by Dennis (the Engineer) so that I'd have something to listen to on the air plane ride back home. Dennis recorded a bunch of the Sinister records. This is one of my favorite records that I've ever played on (DOF/Voorhees split, and JBA LP being the others I'd feel equally as proud of).
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