Give Praise Records c/o Noise Reduction P.O. Box 494 Barnstable, MA O263O-O494 USA email: paulxbitterend@gmail.com Production/Layout: Paul Sunderland Contributors: Will Toftness Nick Sick Luke Kislak Dave Mahan (collage art) Ryan Neitzel Review Contacts: Will T. One Laura Lane Wallingford CT O6492 - OR Main Contact Address Advertising: For Advertising Rates for next issue, send us a e-mail or a letter and we will include you on the Update list
Every so often, I hear complaints that the internet has ruined so many things in punk, especially things like demos and zines. It needs to be said that I like the internet, a lot. I like the endless possibilities for rapid communication with really cool people all over the world that I might not otherwise talk to. I can find out about bands I might never hear of, or sometimes both. Some examples would be Agus from Bangsat (Indonesia), Oula from Death Toll 80k/ Deep One Records (Finland), and Will To Live a Lie (from NC, USA). With that being said, I do understand the sentiment that the internet is definitly changing punk, I’m not going to say ruining. I can’t really say I was ever really into reading zines, probably because I never found any that suited me well, but a few years back I would read any skateboard magazine I could get a hold of. I’d look at every picture, every ad, every page, and read every word until I hit the back cover. After a while, the blatant commercialization turned me off, and I stopped reading (almost entirely) skateboarding magazines. Occasionally I’ll pick up one of the smaller publications, while steering clear of the Transworld advertising behemoth. It wasn’t until a few years later when I began to turn to the internet for entertainment. Recently, while hanging out at my parents’ house with no computer, I started reading a zine that I had brought with me. As it got later and later, I still continued to devour each page with a ferocity that I had forgotten about until I remembered a time almost ten years ago when I did the same thing, except in a multi-hundred glossy color
publication, and it seemed the same as now in a black and white newsprint zine about fast music. If I had found this particular zine earlier, that catered to my specific (and sometimes picky) tastes, I probably wouldn’t waste as much time as I do cruising the internet looking for shit to occupy my time. Yes, I can go on myspace and listen to a new band, but for some reason I’d rather read about it in print and get a real person’s view on something and know that they put some time into sharing it. One of the best zines I ever read was only a few pages long, written by a kid about 16 years old or so, who clearly didn’t give a crap what was “cool” or whatever, just writing his own opinions on bands, shows, and whatever else he felt like. Now that I have a newfound affinity for reading zines, I realized that wasn’t enough, and the result is this!
GET A JOB AND KILL YOUR MIND DO AS THE TITLE SAYS. IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOUR ORGANIZATION, CULT, OR COVEN DOESN’T APPROVE WITH WHAT THIS COMMANDS, THAT’S JUST THE WAY OF THE WORLD. SEX BOMB BABY, YEAH! I recently started working at a chain pizza buffet, I’m not going to tell you which Pizza Buffet, just so they can’t find me, bind me, and gut me for talking shit and telling people the truth. From when we open until I leave everyday, a giant swarming crowd of the obese, the overweight, cops, nuns, electricians, bankers, soccer moms, thugs, screaming children, and all other walks of
life join together in one massive blob of gluttony and devour the horrible pizzas I make. I’m not bad at pizza making and my skills have improved, its the bags of slosh and grim that they come in. Lets just say the topping barely pass inspection. Bags of soup, BBQ chicken sauce with chunks of dead animals, etc. etc. They command me on what to make them and I make it, they are the master when I put on that stupid fucking hat. Giant downer. I try fighting the system in my own little ways while I am working, one example would be that when a group of hungry pigs in blue come into for lunch, I manage to put less toppings and sauce on the pies. Fight the System, Fight Back. “Nervous Breakdown”,“Big Strong Boss”,“I hate work”, all on constant rotation deep within’ my skull as I’m putting these slime covered motherfuckers together. The bread sticks are alright though. Endless order, hardly any disorder anymore. Everything is pretty clean, well sounding and perfect package. Fuck that. On other topics, I’m digging the hardcore that has is unleashing lately. The new Cult Ritual 7” is fucking killer, its their third 7” inch I believe. Also, Pittsburgh’s Slices is releasing 2 7”s soon, look out for those, brutal and mind altering. Changing that subject, Start a fucking band. If you are reading this and you aren’t in a band, go fucking start one. I need more shit to hear and to keep this whole game rolling, we need more people involved, more sounds, etc. Even if you are in a band already, start more. This column is short, I am now tired, its 4:21am, Goodnight. JOIN A CULT. patientundergod@gmail.com
Hey! Hey! Hey! Nick Sick
Ignore my cheap attempt at humor, that’s from the annoying fact I hear hip hop ALL DAY long on the infamous Power 106 here in the lovely burbs of LA at my current job,, I mean how many of the artists don’t have constant ‘Hey’s’ or ‘What’s’ in their songs? Not many of them thats for sure! My name is Nick I currently reside in the farthes burbs of LA in a town just past the LA county line called Upland in sunny California. I was born in Chicago in a rough part of town and I only liveD IN chitown for 10 months before my folks moved to the southern burbs off the 294 in a town called Glenwood. I have lived in 7 of the 50 states, sounds like little but trust me its a lot of moves, the midwest I still call home. Anyways this is my column, hopefully Paul brings me back if he does an issue 2, funny thing is I did a zine a long time ago and it was distributed, well, poorly. I made 20 issues and burned 10 of them, the town I spent my teen years in lacked a true HC/punk scene for awhile, Charles Bronson had made more of a name for themselves in the Chicago scene despite their upbringing in the town I spent those years in-lovely Dekalb Il. Thus a scene of poseurs and screamo kids had to suffice for sometime as people I could hang out with so to say. Its not that I’m bagging them exactly but kids who haven’t a clue to what you mean and say yes to everything are lame as hell, I still am bothered by punk kids in the DIY scene who do the same crap,, agreeing to something I don’t think they paid attention to what I had just said... as somethings I say would probably get a stir out of people-but have no fear its nothing sketchty I assure you,,,,haha. But back to Dekalb-for a good while there the scene was dead, we had a punk record store called Seven Dead Arson-and a punk store, which was out of the ordinary I assure you in that town but it was legit, craziest of all it was actually owned by former speaker of the House Dennis Hastert’s son Josh,
who now works for the lobbying/public affairs corporate group Podesta,,, its pretty crazy and unless he had it lasered off Josh had a giant barcode tattoo on the back of his head, or maybe he just grew his hair out! Anyways that place and a guy named Dan helped shape what I listened to. Josh always made sure to talk with me and my then girlfriend Hope about punk and things such as that. He always talked more w Hope though as she always had a love for rock n roll punk, British stuff and especially Vespa scooters which Josh had in his store-he had 2 working ones and had purchased 2 that were junkers which he planned on building from parts and up and running again and maybe keep one as a token of his hard labors and sell the other,,, he was a gearhead as well! He didn’t like HC but he carried a good amount of it and I had 1st heard the 1st MEAT PUPPETS album and DOA from him,, and heard of some band called Spazz by looking at the albums for sale on the wallhis new stuff was put in an interesting sliding shelf system,, and he even carried some older band shirts which I’m kicking myself now for buying them I mean original Poison Idea shirts from 91, Naked Raygun tour shirts that were PURPLE? How dumb could I have been, and they were 13.00! Sigh, but in relation to HC as he so delicately put it ‘those idiots will buy anything’,, funny he said that as well it def seems true sometimes the records some of us buy, its like do we really need it? But thats another story in itself to say and talk about. He also carried some imports of stuff I’d not hear until later on like Discharge-seriously I was a douche, Anti Cimex, Icons of Filth, Broken Bones, Toy Dolls, Asta Kask etc, I was a dumb kid what can I say? In the basement of his building he’d set up shows from time to time, he had some cool bands come through nothing mind shattering but to a kid not in the know of a lot of the punk world at the time it was cool to see bands
like Boris the Sprinkler, The Forgotten or Goober Patrol play to like 30 kids or 50 some middle aged people in a basement of a record store. Anti Heroes also played here but I was afraid of kids into that act so I skipped, can’t say I regret it but I hear they sounded like Blitz, I don’t know! Now onto Dan, he was an older brother of one of my to this day best friends’ best friends and he was in my art class all of freshman year,,, and I can say now before I ramble off that if it weren’t for him I’d have been stuck on Q101 for the remainder of high school and prob have listened to Blink 182 and Lit and call that punk like the other kids. Anywho Dan, or ‘Chin’ as he was referred to as was a stoner, so of course when his turn to put something in musically came it wasn’t always good he threw on the Doors, Jimi Hendrix-who I do like, Bob Marley of course or the Grateful Dead most often, but strangely enough he and another punk girl who was a senior when I was a freshman talked with me which confused me, I only knew a few punk bands and was still more into Nine Inch Nails and Manson in that time but knew of punk and acts like Sex Pistols and crap only poseurs knew. He asked me of the Ramones and I said Rancid liked them and they had just done Lollapalooza and where this is true, he said ignore that and do you know their music well? I said no, so he plays me RamonesMania and I was def into it, but not really understanding why he played it for me it was still upbeat (of course I worship the Ramones now and would only rediscover them again about a year after this actually buying an album not some half assed ‘best of’ which only had a few good songs anyways) and he then plays me some other stuff like Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth, which I did like, and then the 1st Ten Foot Pole record which was so so to me, I knew they were on Epitaph which I liked but it didn’t really strike me either. Not too long after this my friend gets the Rollins Band
‘Weight’ album off his older brother and tells me about it and he plays a song or 2 from it and I love it and read up on this Rollins guy. So I find out he sings or sang in a band before them called Black Flag and I ask Dan the following week if he had something of them, so he says ‘oh yeah, I forgot about that’ like it was secondary or something. Looks through his 2 CD books and comes up with ‘Wasted Again’ which to the kid not in the know it was a ‘best of’ for Black Flag, and he put it on. The fact the other people in class made more cringing faces already meant something to me, I always find if normies don’t like it there’s something right about it! So ‘Wasted’ comes rattling through the speakers of the boombox and that Greg Ginn riff catches my attention so fast I will never forget it. I of course wind up doing none of my painting and just listen to this album. For the next month I ask him to play it again and relay all the info I could of Rollins, Ginn and co. to him and he was rather bored of it, I can’t blame him it was pretty unrelentless. So he loaned it to me that summer and that was a mistake I never gave it back which isn’t so bad, he didn’t speak to me anyways the whole summer or remaining school year, oh well. But if it weren’t for his kindness to a stranger in class-the girl gave up after I didn’t like 10FTPole haha-I’d maybe have never heard the greatness that is Flag, but maybe not as my best friend-well one of them at least to the day-did hear of them a different way and I’d maybe have heard of them somehow but I say Dan got me into HC,,,by accident of course but it happened. I think he got arrested a few times for selling of pot but I don’t think he ever served time just busted on possession. That’t the column, it doesn’t say much about me of course but a little rundown of history never hurt anyone! nicksick@gmail.com www.cowabungarecords.com
I’m going to cut this one kind of short because it is the end of zine time and I have to get this thing into print! Just wanted to take a quick moment to talk about the changes I’ve seen in the short time I have pretty much dedicated every free moment I’ve had to some sort of record label work. I’ve been doing this kind of stuff in one way or another since I was 15, when my much older friend, who ran a label called Burnt Hairy Butt records, gave me a whole bunch of distro records, to sell at local shows for him. I’ve seen a lot of good people and labels come and go. I’ve never seen so many good labels and people come and go this close together in such a short amount of time, must be the super economy we find ourselves locked in. We will be saying goodbye to Sound Idea/Burrito Records, Sound Pollution, and Bistro Distro, to name a few. This is a huge bummer, and Sound Idea was one of the first distributors to pick up Give Praise titles, so that is a personal bummer for me, as every title I had could be found on those racks. With that said, I am looking forward to the new era of punkrock and hardcore. Two of my close friends have started record labels and distros on the island of Cape Cod, which hopefully will have a scene brewing soon! Keep putting out records and checking out new music. Watch more dvds and hate on blu-rays also!
Severe is a band of thugs and gangsters from the Ohio area. They play brutal blastcore/ powerviolence and have a 7” that is now out-of-print. This interview was done aaround 4-5 months ago.
Name and role in severe? Silk Nasty- the Don, financial backing, 625 hook up, Philly associate Repoman- pushing weight, repo’n peoples shit, illegitimate children, gun runner Payroll- drug trafficking, snitch killer, severe’s paroll, burglary & larceny Freebird - illegal sex ring, drug running, illegal gambling, putting pressure on the cops I heard that severe has been inactive because once Repo got out of jail and he decided that he wanted to be a born-again Christian can this be true? This rumor is false...if it were true the news would have been reporting of find Repoman’s body in a field and the death to another snitch. How do you guys spend your label
advances? I’ve heard you guys get paid just to have your name on the 625 website? Shit ya we get paid...you gotta be getting something out of this. We had messed around before with these other Rink-E-Dink Records. But they were only offering us like $7,000 up front. You can’t do shit with that. We got offers from Max and he was willing to advance us with some loot. 625 is the label that pays me! Do you guys work regular jobs outside of severe, or is all your income from robbery and other similar activities? Fuck a job I’d rather be getting paid How did that whole illegitimate twins thing with Repo turn out? We had it taken care of.... Since Severe moved to Cincinnati , it seems the crime rate more then doubled. Does your presence make it not safe anymore? We control the whole Wheeler St block click. This city is ours.
How do you feel about the current powerviolence scene? Do you think its a bunch of kids trying to get rich quick on a trend? They shouldn’t even try to cash in...we got this shit on lock. Stop trying Are christians and snitches the same to you? same shit different pile... beat the weak Do the police pose a threat to you? This question should be do we pose a threat to the police.... I heard Gucci is making custom severe ski masks with some exotic material that breathes better on those hot summer nights, any truth to this rumor? We got clothing deals with Gucci, Supreme, BAPE, & ROCA Wear. Also be on the look out for the Jordan 3’s and Jordan 5’s Severe Editions. Perfect shoes for when your running from the cops. Is it true that you have a phone-tap on the police station, and listen for when
someone is narking someone out you find them and remove one more snitch from the population? People now days have turned snitching into a sport. We just fuck there game up. What is severe’s next move? Dropping that new 7inch.... dominating hardcore. Staying out of jail. What can we be on the lookout for? Us driving up next to you, rolling down the window and a gun pointed at your dome piece. Be on the lookout for that. Any thank you’s or no thank you’s? Shout out’s to The Wheeler St click, all of our family in the 513 and 614, Cleveland and Columbus you know what it is, Our associates in Philly and also world-wide. Project Pat for holding it down in jail. Big up’s to Weed Stealer & Killed In Action (our extended family). Contact: http://www.myspace.com/ youshopatsnitchmart
This is an interview with Texas’ Insect Warfare, who need little to no introduction, for the love of grind and nothing else. This interview was originally conducted through email in Fall of 2007. Due to many delays it is now seeing the light of day. The interview content reflects the time in which the interview was conducted. To start off, i want to ask you about the LP because it is most recent. What was it like writing and recording enough material to fill up an LP? I could imagine it being pretty tedious. I actually really enjoyed working in a LP format more than a EP format. At first it was daunting because I kept asking myself, “do people really want to hear 25 minutes of our bullshit”. Once I got over that hurdle though it became a lot more fun and I am actually looking forward to working on our next LP. Working on a LP just felt more complete and satisfying than a split or a EP. Was it the band’s idea or the label’s idea to do a full- length? A little bit of both. Max from 625 asked us to work on a LP shortly after our first EP came out and at first I told him no dice because I really couldn’t imagine anyone wanting that much music from us. After a few months I though about it and realized I wanted to make something like “From Enslavement to Obliteration” or “World Downfall” and decided I wanted
to take on the task. I called up Max and asked him if he was still interested in an IW full length. Fast forward 1 year later and the pile of shit known as “World Extermination” stands before us. What’s the deal with the bass position in insect warfare? On the LP credits it seems that your current bass player is not a permanent fixture. I play all bass, guitar, and noise on the recordings. We have had several people help us on the bass position over the years but when it comes to song writing and recording its just the 3 of us (rahi, dobber, and myself ). When you are as big as assholes as we are its hard to get people to stick around for very long. So you just got back from a west coast tour with Unholy Grave. One of the things that i’ve always loved about live UG records is Takaho’s tour journals. What was it like getting to spend time with those dudes? It was great getting to spend 10 days on the road with those guys. I am a total antisocial recluse and I hate touring but being out with those guys made me more positive about it. We had so many laughs and everybody from both bands got along great. I think they also made us play better because we knew they were going to go out every night and completely slaughter everyone so we had to step it up a notch. It was the funnest tour I have
ever been on. What got you interested in playing music, and what got insect warfare together? For me, Napalm Death’s “From Enslavement” album made me want to play this style of music from a very young age. From that point on I got into things like Assuck, Discordance Axis, Excruciating Terror, and all the other 90s style grind and faster music that was coming out as I was growing up. I wanted to be in a band like those bands. Rahi (vocals) and I had known each other since the late 90s through the houston crust/punk/grind/whatever scene and we eventually started playing together. Its been going for about 4 years now and its been a incredible experience.
or more brutal vocals, but i still think that hardly anything comes close. Is there any record or records that you feel this way about, that are the utmost of influences to what you do? Funny you say that because FETO is the album that made me want to play like this. I bought FETO when I was a kid because it looked awesome and had a lot of songs on it. When I took it home it knocked my head off. I was hooked from that point on. It may not be the fastest grind record out there but it is the fiercest. There are points on that record that still give me chills. Aside from that, I think Assuck’s “Misery Index”, Discordance Axis’ “JouHou”, and
What bands have all of you played in previously? Not even worth mentioning. We all have played in bands but they aren’t really relative to IW. Early on, insect warfare did 2 full EP’s, do you prefer to do split 7”s over solo releases? I prefer splits over full EPs. I just enjoy the experience of sharing a record with other bands. We only do splits with bands that we like and have extreme respect for so its always fun when a new one comes up. I particularly enjoy doing splits with Japanese bands because I believe they have the best grind scene in all of the world. For me personally, F.E.T.O. is the measuring stick to which i compare all grind. there isn’t anything i would want to change about that album, I think it’s perfect. sure, faster blast beats have been played, and heavier or faster riffs,
Phobia’s “Means Of Existance” as close as you can get to being perfect records. I’m a huge judas priest fan, do you have a favorite priest album? British Steel or Painkiller. Actually, I am going to say the Turbo Lover 12” Dance mix just to be a asshole.
Do you think grind will last as a style or burn itself out? It’s so easy especially with the internet, drum machines, and the acceptance of porno or pointless gore lyrics for kids to try and emulate grind. I don’t think grind will burn itself out. I mean, its been going for 20 years and its still going strong. We are on what I
condsider to be the 3rd wave of grind right now and I am stoked to see what the 4th wave will be like. I think there will be shit bands of course but there will always be those bands that capture the more noise and chaotic side of it and do it correctly. How did you hook up with daniel shaw? he does a great job! I have known Daniel for so many years now that I almost forget. I met him through the death metal scene. He is more of a traditional death metal guy, not this new tech bullshit style that is going on now. When IW started he offered to do art for us because he liked the music and we accepted of course because he is the master of black and white art. He is practically the 5th member of IW and I can not imagine a IW record without a Shaw cover.
Lastly, in 2008, insect warfare will be heading out for a tour in japan and australia if I understand correctly. how do you think that will compare to playing here in the US? I am not sure yet but I have heard that Australia is fucking nuts. I mean, fuck, it’s the home of Warsore. I cant wait to get there. When IW started the whole mission was to go to Japan. I cant believe we actually get to go there. There are so many bands that I have been corresponding with over the years and I cant wait to meet them in person and hang out. Is there anything you’d like to say, news to share, hellos, or thank you’s? I would like to thanks to you for doing this interview and international grinders. I would like to say fuckoff to all fake ass shitheads. Trust no one.
Raw Sewage hail(ed) from western Ohio, and play a mix of grind and crossover thrash. Many things have happened in the time since this interview was conducted. Most notably, the band broke up, but have also had a few releases, with some on the way (we hope). The list looks something like: split cd with Indonesia’s Southern Beach Terror, Speedslaughter Volume 1 comp cassette, numerous self-released cd-rs, and a split 7” with Philadelphia’s I Hate This.
Give us a brief history or Raw Sewage, for the uninformed reader. things like when did you start as a band, what recordings have you done, etc. any milestones? Mike: We formulated the idea on the way to see lethal aggression (!!!!!) in Columbus, in Febuary of 06. When we started it was going to just be a straight up grind band, but we gottsa to thrash. Our first show was amazing, being that played in between Disease Called Man and Magrudergrind, who were both rippin’. Since then we’ve played close to 50 shows. This past summer we did a month long tour, which was a blast. Thanks to all our bros that helped with that. Logan: Terrorizer is one of the bands that made us want to start raw sewage. Mike and i used to always chill out when our old dumb bands played together and i think he was really responsible for getting me into grind, and i showed him alotta thrash stuff and some death metal. we both really loved terrorizer (and still do) and we really dorked over them. our goal was to sound like them, but when we started we couldnt really play that well, ha! we’ve met alot of really fuckin rad people and played alot of sweet shows. You’ve been through 4 bass players,
what the fuck? Mike: They’ve all been turds, and had hot sisters. Cody: I think it was just a matter of finding a dude with a good balance of drunken fool and dickhead. Logan: my research isnt complete, but initial findings suggest that playing bass for raw sewage turns you stupid. What bands influence/inspire you to play music. it can be in relation to raw sewage or in general. Mike: OBITUARY, Anthrax, the Acussed, Terrorizer, autopsy. Basically old crossover and early death metal. I think playing shows is also really inspiring. You know, kickin’ it with friends, making new ones, circle pits, being drunk. good times. Cody: Dystopia, neanderthal, Brodys Militia, Coponfire, KEGCHARGE, Lack of Interest, Crossed Out, Feast or Famine, no comment, disclose, atrocious madness.... I love powerviolence / crust / grind.. anything that is hateful. That combined with marathon drinking and as much weed as possible gets my mind right for raging. Logan: SLAYER, demolition hammer, cryptic slaughter, TERRORIZER,
regurgitate, brutal truth, minor threat, autopsy, obituary, death, morbid angel, the accused. of course ‘old’ should be put in front of most of those. nunslaughter and spawn of satan are the bands that made me want to incorporate over the top satanic and blasphemous imagery and art. tough sounding shit.
Tell us a little bit about brOhio. Mike: Cleveland is a fucking wasteland. All the kids care about over there is messenger bikes and 9 Shocks Terror. Tons of rad shows go on over there and they could give a fuck.Pretty much the west side of the state if sweet. We aren’t too far away from Michigain with solid dudes in Detroit and Lansing.
How do you feel about flakes? Especially as they’re involved with whatever underground music scene? Mike: Fuck those dudes. It’s hard enough to organize shows, and put out music, the last thing we need is some fucking idiots to ruin it for everyone else. Case and point ,James Downing.This dude does “How much art can you take”records and has ripped of countless people , fucked up one of the only places to have shows at in Dayton and is just an all around fucking idiot.With dudes like us music is one of the only things I’m passionate about and I’m not going to let some dumdasses ruin it for me. Cody: Widespread Bloodshed summed it up for me.... “SHUT THE FUCK UP!,EMOSLAUGHTER!!!!” Logan: kill them. the underground is a place where you shouldnt have to worry about someone whos supposedly in the same boat as you sticking a knife in your back. violently remove the leeches!! Do any of you skateboard? Mike:hells yeah. I suck, so i stick to parking blocks and curbs. Cody: nah,fuck that...but I would like to make a shout out to my boys Pencil and Kramer ...WEIGHTEDGE LARDCORE!!!!! Gotta weigh in to stay in, baby. Logan: i try therefore i suck.
Cody: Ohio is a ragefest if you find the right crowd, the “scenes” are so spread out and small that a lot of the little towns pretty much combine forces to make rad shows happen. My advice is to stay away from the bigger cities, they are full of lames and “haircut kids”. The real party is in the land of never ending corn. Logan: alot of really awesome bands have been coming through lately and we’ve been fortunate to meet tons of cool people and help show them a good time. that bro-down ‘deathcore’ scenie weenie shit is huge around here. lots of college babes. theres some really cool people trying to make ohio awesome. we’re the home of hemdale...go CAVS!!! How do you feel about exclusive/ limited record releases? Mike: Say if all you can afford put out if a small amount thats fine, but, if you have the intent to make a limited thats dumb, but what do I know?
Cody: I get off on dorking out on records, so I’d say im definitely for them.... Logan: i think some people purposely try to do limited editions in a pretentious attempt to have a prolific record output which is dumb. but if it looks way rad, who gives a fuck. Megadeth or metallica? yes, this will be graded. Mike: Anthrax ,among the living. suck on that. Cody: Well if we are talking about the Metallica that died in the 80’s then its definitely Metallica. Megadeth is boring to me. Logan: metallica: they sounded tough dude. and at least non of them are christ-lovers now! count it... Releases: past, present, and upcoming. Logan: rad as shit 13 song demo cd-r (06), 20 song recording session in late 06 that was ultimately scrapped. the james downing fucked grimsby split 7” that never came out. sorcerers of shred demo cd-r (07). hyperdeath disintegration psuedo-discog tape (07). all diy, fuck yea! soon enough there will be the split 7”s with spring break and dissector and eventually a full-length called microwaved remains. we’re currently working on the first speedslaughter tape and the split cd with southern beach terror. oh yea!! also, nick from dork forest productions owes us our copies of the 4-way split with reeker, meathole infection, and the dead (read: dumb). hassle his ass darkforestproductions@hotmail.com Anything else you’d like to say? any acknowledgments, thanks’s, or hellos? Logan: thanks to everyone thats helped us out and not turned retarded. people that sell us weed. anyone thats gotten us high or drunk or fed us hot sauce. all the genuinely cool people that dont give a fuck about their hair or their tragedy messenger bags. you mean alot to us! FUCK POSERS, LEECHES, RIP-OFFS, WHINERS, WIMPS, AND ANYONE ELSE WHO SUCKS!!! thanks to you for this interview, stay rad.
Hummingbird of Death is a fastcore band from Idaho. Playing ultra fast and utilizing the latest is go fast tehnique. They have multiple releases out on Cowabunga as well as a Split LP on Sound Pollution. This interview was done aaround 4-5 months ago. First off... names and equipment you use, and how fast can you actually play? We’re Brian, Justin and Mike, and we use a bass, a guitar, 4 drums, 6 cymbals, 2 amplifiers, 2 microphones, and a navicomputer-operated hyperdrive propulsion system that renders our speed virtually limitless. Where did the name Hummingbird of Death come from? Justin: Our name is a tribute to one of our friends who was attacked by a hummingbird and subsequently died of an unidentified disease. Mike: Honestly, I just came up with it one day and I thought it was cool. People seem to either love it or hate it, we’ve found! Where do you get the energy to keep playing fast, and why don’t you wearmosh shorts yet? Justin: What do you mean? I wear mesh shorts all the time...what’s that?...ohhhhh, MOSH shorts!? Mike: I usually get energy from energy drinks and proper stretching. The problem is whenever I find an energy drink I like, they usually stop making it not long afterwards. KMX, MDX, what the hell man? Nowadays I enjoy Amp. How did you end up working with Sound Pollution, has the experience been rad?
Mike: Hell yes it has. We sent him our demo and he really liked it. Acouple months later he offered to put us on a split LPwith I Accuse, and the whole experience has been totally pleasant for us! How did you get to split a record with I Accuse...did you know/play with them before that? Mike: No, we didn’t know them before we got thrown on a record with them. We’ve still never met them, although it should go without saying that we hope to remedy that someday! Have you had much touring time/Any good tour stories? Afraid not, we’ve not gone on tour yet, though we hope to this summer. If you could bring one old and wrecked hardcore guy from the past and go out forpizza with them, who would it be? Mike: Carl Snow from Koro! I don’t even eat pizza but I would do so with that dude.
Justin: For me, it doesn’t matter which old, wrecked hardcore dude it is, as long as he tastes good with pepperoni. Name your favorite movie/favorite actor and why you think they deserve this title...? Justin: The Evil Dead movies/ Bruce Campbell or The Life Aquatic/ Bill Murray cause they make me laugh my ass off. Oh, and Raphael is good too, his sarcasm is severely underrated. What do you guys find yourselves doing on a Saturday night? Justin: Grave digging and Roller Skating. What otherprojects are you guys involved in other than hardcore? Mike: Brian and I have a rock/punk band called Manville. Justin and I have a goregrind side project called Pile Of Maggot Infested Viscera. And I am also involved with two melodic fast punk bands: a brand-new project called We Ride North! and a band called Upinatem which has been around since 1995. What upcoming records do you have coming up? There are 4 of them: a 7” which will be released by 3 labels (625, Fatalist and Give Praise); a split EP with Pile Of Maggot Infested Viscera that we are self-releasing; and a 5” and a split 10” with Chainsaw To The Face, both on Cowabunga Records. What are you most proud of (as faras the band goes)? Mike: Knowing that we have any kind of following outside of Boise is amazing to us. That’s definitely a new one for us.
Justin: The large amount of feces we produce. In youropinion what is the best record of the last year? Mike: The new Lifetime record rules with an iron fist. Also the new Slight Slappers 12” melted off my face and I had to get a new one. Oh and if Brian were here he’d probably say Grim Reaper or some shit. Justin: I can’t just name one, but if you really want to know a few, here goes: Haemorrhage - Apology for Pathology, Last Days of Humanity - Putrefaction in Progress, Envy - Insomniac doze, Gut - The Cumback,Intestinal Disgorge - Humiliated, Tom Waits - Orphans, Basket of Death Origami Jigoku (re-release), and so many more. Last thoughts? Anyone wanna talk to us, e-mail hummerofdoom@hotmail.com. Thanks Paul for being a top-notch bro!
REVIEWS -
grey vinyl. (To Live a Lie Records) Will T.
For Reviews send over your records/cds/etc. to
XBrainiax/Su19b - Split 7” Xbrainiax blasts through 12 tracks of their superfast hardcore that they are known for. Definitely enjoyable, with good lyrics condemning sex offenders, pointing out the farce that punk shows so often are, amongst other things. Every few seconds I’m thrown off guard by a slower/ sludgier part, and then it’s back to speed as if nothing changed. For every good thing on this side of the record, the Su19b side ruins it. This shit sucks, straight up. My first impression when I heard it was that it was a waste of vinyl. I first put it on while doing other things, and I kept waiting for the music to start, when I realized that the really fucking long stupid intro was in fact, their entire side of the record. It starts out with a clean guitar picking a single note every few seconds. After at least a full minute, the rest of the band starts crashing into some chords, which sustain for a while before repeating. There are very few vocals. After a few more minutes of monotony, the clean guitar starts again, before ending in 5 seconds of grind. Of course, this is only my opinion, this might just suit your fancy. (Crucificados) Will T.
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one of the contacts on the cotact page
50/50/Endless Demise - Split 7” I waited very patiently to receive this record, and to my good fortune, it arrived in my mailbox just recently. Endless Demise consist of a few ex-members of Excruciating Terror, which is very obvious considering how similar the two bands sound. Manic blasting, and charging pummeling crust riffs propel this entire record. I believe Endless Demise also has an ex-member of Nausea LA as well. If you love Excruciating Terror, you will probably love Endless Demise. 50/50 are probably my favorite skateboard-related band ever. There are seven Super short skate-gore grind masterpieces with clever song titles, although no lyrics are included so I can’t say much on that. There are two songs under ten seconds each, which I thoroughly enjoy. Check this record out for sure, it’s definitely worth it! (Obsessed with Wickedness) Will T. Archagathus/Sakatat - Split 7” This is by far my favorite Archagathus release to date. The recording production is perfect, just raw enough without being too noisy, but also not overpolished. They deliver the same style of blasting mince tunes as you’d come to expect from this Winnipeg, MB band, but with a little bit of a different vocal style this time, and really good overlapping vocal patterns in some parts. Sakatat on the flip side are from Turkey, and are the only grind band from there, to my knowledge. (If there are others, I’d love to hear from you!) They play a similar style to Archagathus, mixing charging punk riffs with mince style grind parts, making this a really well balanced split. Their past releases include an older split with Agathocles, and a more recent one with Slaughter of the Innocents from Germany. This is their best output thus far, and I hope they don’t let up any time soon. This is a great split. All copies on
Haemophagus/Agathocles - Split 7” haemphagus was a band that I hadn’t heard of until this split. From Palermo, Italy, their side of the record starts off with a classic sounding doublebass fueled metal riff. This is a great mix of grind and metal. In their liner notes they give thanks and credit for inspiration from autopsy, repulsion, napalm death, black sabbath, and hellhammer. I’d say they did a pretty good job at taking their inspiration from all of these, so if that sounds good to you, you should definitely check this out, you won’t be disappointed! On the other side, Jan has mixed up the Agathocles lineup once again, this time he’s on guitar. AG bring the same style that we’ve gotten used to, but with one of the best releases they’ve had in a while. This record has Tony on bass, who recently passed away as well. It’s a shame that this release for AG is so good considering
the copy that I have skips on the last few songs, making it annoying to listen to. I usually try to shut it off before the last 2 songs to avoid this. (Jennifer Grind) Will T.
horde, I’d expect to hear Slaughter of the Innocents tearing through my brain before it was mush on the field of battle. Excellent first release from this new label out of Italy too! (Angernoise Records) Will T.
Kursk/Lycanthrophy- Split 7” Kursk from Canada play a chaotic style of grind that I’m not that well acclimated with. With blastbeats galore and not slowing down the pace considerably, Kursk experiment their way through this side of the split in a style all their own, not confined by standard grindcore. Lycanthrophy from the Czech Republic complement them on the other side of this 7” in their usual way, which is totally crushing. The band also celebrated their tenth year of existence this year. The vocals are totally shrieked, and the delivery is matched well by the total assault of the rest of the band. This stuff is so fast that it’s dizzying. This split is just one out of a handful of what Lycanthrophy has in the works for this year. There is even a short list of upcoming projects on their side of the insert, none of which you want to miss out on. (Halo of Flies Records) Will T.
Scarce Rehearsal - Demo CDr I asked Scarce to send me a demo, because I heard a few tracks online and I was really impressed. the band is from sao paolo brazil. this demo is 4 songs long. all 4 of these tunes are awesome. this stuff is definitely well-recorded too, it has a studio sound, which works really well with their style. Scarce consistently keep the pace up, these songs are either blasting, or charging though thrash sections, they never really slow it down past that, and it doesn’t get boring. along with the cd-r they sent an insert (looks proprinted), and seems that it was meant for a tape. i can only hope that this demo is kicking around on a tape also, because that would rule. the cover has a picture of a man holding a rifle pointed at another man holding a child. all the lyrics are in portuguese, so i’m not sure what the songs are about. i look forward to more output from this band. Will T.
Sakatat/Slaughter of the Innocents - Split 7” Sakatat from Turkey start this record off on the A side with some raw, blasting grind with charging punk riffs. Overall this is pretty straight forward without being boring, and excellent high-energy output from the only grind band I’ve ever known of from Turkey. Sakatat’s sound is more updated from their split with Agathocles, I can say I definitely like this record compared to that one. There are even a couple single-digit second blasters on here. Slaugther of the Innocents on the other side of this record bring a different vibe. Hailing from Germany and assumingly taking their name from Repulsion, SOTI play more death metal influenced grind. The riffs are complex, but not technical or trite, this is all-out brutality. It practically never stops blasting. Their side of the split really lives up to the “Storm of War” title on the cover. If my head was being crushed by the mace of an invading
SMG/Iron Butter - Split Cassette This cassette is a total fucking barrage. Both bands are on one side of the tape, about ten minutes long or so. The SMG recordings are a mix from four separate sessions in 2000, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Their tracks are totally noisy and all-out blasts that they are known for. The Iron Butter half of the tape sounds similar to the SMG tracks, but is laced with samples before and after just about every track. There’s even a Wu Tang sample, which in this context is pretty funny. The Iron Butnd ter tracks end off with a rather long and r-cheesy sample about swingers apparape pe ently that left me a little confused. Tape d by labels are pro-printed. (Self Released SMG) Will T. Gack/Torso - Split CD This death provoking cd features two so o great noise artists from Canada. Torso nd brings a creeping outburst of synth and
electronics, leading you to your demise. Gack (Matthew Carrol front man of The Endless Blockade) squeezes every drop of happiness out of your miserable body with the 7-track “Limb Donor”. If harsh noise is what you’re into, try to get your claws on a copy. (Small Doses Records) Luke K. Brain Handle - Smiling/Smiling Again 7” “War has been won and Peace is here, Brian Handle is Saved” On this fine slab of vinyl, Pittsburgh’s Brain Handle dishes out two killer jams. A smiling breeze, tough times, scuffed up shoes, cats drinking coffee, and fancy friends, what more could you ask for? Hardcore punk for hardcore puuunks. Get this while you still can and remember to LET YOUR FREAK FLAG FLY! (Iron Lung Records) Luke K. Red Fox - Year of the Rat LP (Chaos and Distortion Label) Open up the PBR in your hand and pass the bowl, “Year of the Rat” the debut lp from Pittsburgh’s Red Fox destroys. You will start to notice all the yuppies around you falling onto the pavement with blood flowing from their eyes and ears when you play this record. Make sure its on 45rpm to get the full on killer vocals unleashed by Krystina. Punk/Hardcore/ Stoner/Sludge/and Heavy Metal all mixed together to create the fear striking gang that is Red Fox. Get off your knees and buy this fucking record! (Chaos and Distortion Label) Luke K. Socialcide - Unapproachable 12’’ Its debateable to call it an LP or a 12” but maybe more so a 12’’ as the record is over in just a little over 12 minutes on 45RPM. This band is Zach of Wasted Time’s other band and he sings in this rather than play bass. I have talked w Zach for the last few years and I got their demo from him as soon as it was making its rounds, and I’ve been hooked on this band ever since then. The demo was well recorded and it had this interesting combination of modern Boston hardcore ala Cut the Shit, early 7 Seconds and RVA
classics’ White Cross all in 1 band and it was ferocious, just lept out of the speakers and grabbed you its so good. They followed it up in June 07’ with an EP, which was recorded a lot more lo fi and a lot of feedback but still plenty loud but they hit the speedy tunes with deadly precision, their sound was more NY/Boston of lore sounding as well like DYS meets the Mob or something. Then this year they record this monster record. I was skeptical as people heard it via Soulseek prior to its release and I hadn’t known what to expect, since hype can kill it for me. But I should not have doubted my man Zach he came through w flying colors and his loyal bandmates and he created this amazing record. Its as clean if not a hair cleaner then the demo but it is so up front, its loud and clear, as the Abused song says! Musically its more of the same but they also incorporate elements of 2 of my fave bands ever into the mix-COC and Poison Idea, EYE FOR AN EYE and Pick your King era’s to be precise! Its just the same Socialcide with a little more added to the arsenal and best of all there’s not a dud in the lot. And how one can listen to the title track of the record and not feel the need to mosh your house to pieces is probably with poor judgement on a good hardcore record! One of the best records of this year and one of the best I’ve ever heard, no joke. Kudos guys. (Kangaroo Records) Nick Sick ANS - Let them Eat Wood CD A nice little collection CD here for you cheapos who only buy discographies such as this! I kid, but also am semi serious haha. Anyways this CD is a mini discography that compiles the Process of Stoking Out LP (which my label helped out with the 1st pressing of and not meant as a plug either!), the 1 sided 1 song Heinous EP, the Romancing the Phone EP (the record that got me hooked on the band) and the splits w Carpenter Ant,Deadpoint, My Revenge and the tracks from the 4 band split LP that came out w No Comply, Bad Eating Habits and Rat Byte, plus a song each from the recent Seasick and Reproach splits. If
you don’t know the band they started out as a JFA meets early Black Flag sort of skate-core band and in time would incorporate more differences in their sound and would end up with this crazy hybrid of WHN?, mid-era Black Flag, TX HC and Suicidal Tendencies in 1 crazy band with an obsession with skating. Very cool artwork and a nice inside photo collage, a very cool CD! (Gnarly Slaughter Records) Nick Sick Weekend Nachos - Punish and Destroy/Torture CD Again as the title says its not too hard to figure out! This CD took a little while but it compiles the full length the band did on my label in 2007 and the 7” the band’s singer John and I (again, sorry) released in 2005 on the Tooth Decay records imprint. Oddly enough and not sure exactly why, the band omitted the tunes from the CBS split 7’’ they did on Force Fed, I don’t know why! To a person not knowing this band, I can say the band started out w good intentions but had never set out to be a band anyone knew about let alone last this long, most of the time John would have a sideband it was novelty or just something that led to tour issues thus breaking up a band, so we all didn’t expect the band to take off, and thats not being said with any ill intention I assure you. So band does a demo-rough sounding at that-and they play a few shows here and there, play Chicago Fest and John offends Jack Control of World Burns to Death due to some lies on his girlfriends part and band gets instant hype from there but not too much in a posi way. In the spring band records the Torture EP at guitarists Andrew’s house. We put it out in August of 05 and we sell out of the 1st press in a month, we never would have ever expected that! So back to the music, the 1st record-Torture-is a power violence influenced masterpiece, its really a diamond in the rough and has future classic potential. Sheer Infest meets Lack of Interest style hardcore, complete with a sludgey ending song called, what else? Sludge,,,, a perfect way to have ended that record. Then in early
2007 John and then guitarist Aaron record between the 2 of them doing all recording duties the debut LP. Now, some people prefer the LP, some the 7’’ it really depends on what you make of it. I don’t see it in a preference way as I love that band and whatever they do, their more recent moshy material on the Relapse comp is as awesome as anything off this CD, but the LP was showing the band in 2 years had changed very much from what they started as. The LP sounds fresh and pretty different, there’s still plenty of Infest/LOI worship but also a lot of infleunce from bands like Think I Care, CRO Mags, Youth of Today and Black Sabbath,, they also again touch up on the sludge influence of EYEHATEGOD in this like the Torture record. But again, one who loved the 7’’ might not dig some of the almost brutal fast youth crew influenced tunes on the record, I always felt it made the record flow better and variety never hurt anyone. It was 27 songs so its not too long! Plus as a bonus some live footage you can view on your computer of whatever variety can be witnessed here, from the bands earlier stages to the bands’ more semi recent shows from last year-nothing from 2008 is included here as the CD footage was compiled and edited last year. Overall, an essential purchase well worth tracking down EVEN if you have the vinyl! (RSR Records) Nick Sick Vile Nation - No Exit EP This record was released in 2 countries, the good ole USA and in Holland, so that being said, its a monster of a record. Recorded last year and orig for release on Get Revenge records, this had almost seeemed it was destined for no release, but thankfully not! They had done a fair amount of shows typically a local openner for whatever touring acts came through Memphis TN. Seth of Life Trap is the guitar player for Vile Nation as well, but as I’ve said before don’t take that word of info and just buy the record solely based off that, the record is mean and ugly and a bit different from anything LT has done. The music is old sounding but not ripoff
stuff where you can hear it and be like ‘they’re trying to sound like ______ ‘, but they def have elements of bands like Negative FX, 1st EP era D.R.I and GA’s cult faves Neon Christ. Its 6 songs and it is one of the best EP’s of this year, I can’t stress that enough. They might be broken up now but their existence has always been up in the air, I hope they’ll try and stick it out just a bit more! (Cowabunga-USA/Even Worse-Europe) Nick Sick Harpoon Guns - ’4’ EP As usual the Poon Guns know how to deliver the goods. This is the follow up record to last year’s ‘3’ which was also the bands’ 2nd EP. On this record they continue down the path of deranged and yet witty lyrics and their unique brand of hardcore punk. Best thing about the band has been they sound old but you can’t pigeonhole them either, its a lot like Rhythm Syndrom another of my fave bands. I can’t really make a great review out of this since most kids still don’t know these west coasters-they tour only in the west coast and make small 1 time pressings of their records at the same time and the guys in this band are like true punks, recluses! I can totally relate to all the band is and what they’re about and if a old style harcore punk with a good sounding lo fi recording and a huge dose of originiality is what you’re intocheck this record out and then, follow it up with picking up/searching for the others they’ve done! (Going Underground Records) Nick Sick In Disgust/Mass Grave - Split 7” HELL YES, I was so stoked on this seeing the light of day! Its been a year since new material from ID has surfaced and here it is to smash your senses to pulp. If you don’t know these true west coast grind adicts then get to know them, its Rich from Hostile Takeover and Jose and another dude(my bad for forgetting) from Uzi Suicide doing some tuneless, distorted but always awesome grindcore,, it sounds familiar but they do it SO well, its almost PV at times too so they know how
to bridge kids at shows, and of course remain quite punk doing so. Mass Grave from Vancouver up in Canada have been at it for sometime and their brand of crusty grindcore is also worth mentioning. Its not hard to find a release with them on it, they have numerous splits out there and have a few releases of just them under their belt,, but soundwise they seem to have power violence, crusty hardcore and grindcore all blended into 1 band, and lyrically of course its mainly angry and political, but hey its better to say something with a point than to make the same ‘I hate you’ lyrics too, I mean yeah HC was built from that but think a little bit more and get something else to say, you know? Haha I am ranting now. A killer split. (Mangled Ankle Records) Nick Sick
Logic Problem - S/T EP I really dig this record, I liked the demo and all but it’s one of those things when its just a good demo and its not really saying much, you know like what the next recording can offer. But this record delivered the goods. Very old sounding hardcore punk and they its catchy, hard hitting and its perfect. The A side is the more ‘well recorded’ side and at the sametime its weird since it was recorded ‘live in the studio’ as its called but not a live set of songs by any means. Its hard to describe but I’ve come up w Wait EP era AOF played through Joy Division’s equipment, it makes no sense in words but to hear it might strike you and be like ‘ok, I get it’! So yeah the 2 songs on the A side are def more punk and more creative, I love it. Then you have the 2 songs on the B side, which are def more traditional hardcore sounding-rough and in the red, the way it should be and has been for so long its hard to mess it up. Their more intense stuff sounds like Southern hardcore or yesteryear crossed w Conquest for Death LP era Necros in a way, and thats nothing but a good thing. A shockingly good and fresh sounding EP, check it out. (Sorry State Records) Nick Sick
TWIN CITIES SCENE REPORT
When you think of the Twin Cities music scene. What and who do you think of? Do you think back to the 80’s and think of Husker Du or The Replacements or even Misery. Well the bands today aren’t as big yet but mark my words they will be. With a local scene almost bursting at the seams with talent. They’re ready to take the world by storm with relentless touring and recording. Lets take a look at what we have to offer and some of the venues these bands frequent. Lets start off with one of my personal favorites Off With Their Heads. With a new album under their belt on No Idea Records they’re on there way to becoming the next big folk/punk band taking after Dillinger 4 and Against Me! They’re playing The Fest 7 down in Gainesville, FL for the second year in a row and heading over to Europe for the first time after that.
With a slew of 7 inches and 2 fulllength records they’re one of the best bands to see live.
Another relatively new band to check out is Birth of A Hero. Blasting onto the hardcore scene with raw force and emotion. They live the hardcore, straightedge life style but want to be seen as role models for the scene and are leading by example. Proclaiming they are the new breed of hardcore with paying there dues in other hardcore acts like To Pure To Die and Death Sentence. They are going to be a force to reckoned with in the future. Speaking of hardcore/straightedge, youth crew sort of music there is In Defence, helmed by Ben Crew who is a twin cities legend playing in bands such as Damage Deposit, Sweet J.A.P. The Divebomb Honey and 1-2-Go-Crew! They’re a band that a lot of local acts
BIRTH OF A HERO OFF WITH THEIR HEADS
look up to and want to open for on the local stage. Blending hardcore with a youth crew attitude they’re something to see with constant touring around the Midwest and doing a bunch of fests. They’re heading down to Gainesville to play Fest 7 with other local acts Off With Their Heads, Dillinger 4, Banner Pilot and Pretty Boy Thorson. So if and when they come to your town make sure you go and see them or even “Call More Dudes” to go with you.
IN DEFENCE
Enough of the bands lets talk about the places to see shows at when you visit the Twin Cities. First lets start out with Eclipse Records in St Paul. A new location for them but the same people and attitude more then willing to put on all ages show any day of the week plus it’s a record store so you can flip through all the vinyl’s and cd’s they have to offer at really fair prices. Another awesome place to see a show in the Twin Cities is Station 4 another venue in St Paul bigger then Eclipse and with a bar for all the drinkers out there awesome sound and higher up stage for perfect stage dives. Last but not least is The Triple Rock Social Club many of you probably have heard of this place from the NoFx song “Seeing Double at the Triple Rock” with national acts stopping by here to play shows to all age crowds all the time with awesome vegetarian and vegan menu and cheap booze and soda it has something for every music fan plus it’s run by the guys in Dillinger 4 so they know how to please the bands and the crowds of kids and adults. With all that said keep this in mind when you plan your next vacation or road trip to come to the Twin Cities and see the bands and venues I talked about.
scene report/photos by Ryan Neitzel