Former records in the distro....

A good amount of new records are coming in to the MATW webstore and going through the stuff had got me thinking. I first had started doing the trading thing back when I was working on Special Forces Records with Aaron Leonovich in the mid 90's. I remember some records that I picked up on trades that I was psyched to get that I had a harder time unloading to the NJHC crowds back then. Below are some recollections of records I managed to pick up that either are some underappreciated gems in the mid to late 90's hardcore work, or that even would fly out of the box now if I had them. Back then, they moved slower...



Fairfuck- s/t 7"
This record first came to me on cassette with a copy of the cover. The accompanying letter made comparisons to Void and asked for a trade. Void comparisons are a tall order, and while this record didn't quite have the same teeth as Void, it did have some crazy guitar noise and a distinctly harDCore influence. It was a winner for sure, so I snagged some copies up of this-- it might have been that the cover looked more like something you'd have envisioned on an emo record, or even the weird name, but it wasn't snagged up en masse by the NJHC crowd at the time who were still enthralled by all things youth crew. Still, I managed to convince some friends of mine it was a damn fine record and worthy purchase. Of course this wound up being the original pressing of the first release on Kicknpunch Records, the great Danish label that gave us many now-classic bands like Young Wasteners, Hjertestop, Gorilla Angreb, Amdi Petersens Arme, and more. This record was also later issued in a US pressing by Underestimated Records.



Amdi Petersens Arme 7"
A great debut record by a great band that made a pretty big splash on these shores, thanks in large part to Havoc Records' support. When that second 7" hit people took some serious notice, but I remember people passing over it many a time in the record box. It was frustrating, too. Imagine picking up a record with 7 or 8 songs on it, on a new-ish label from a foreign country where the kids in the pictures look like they studied the S.O.A. 7" for fashion tips. Mandatory buy!



Crucial Section 7"s....
Maybe on the westcoast when the whole "bandana thrash" revival thing was going on, Crucial Section records were pretty hyped. A California tour and a record on 625 probably helped. On the east coast, not too many people knew who they were.... I had the good fortune to do a handful of trades with Dan Doh Records and snagged up a good amount of Crucial Section records. They were a fun, goofy band more influenced by the likes of American and European thrash than anything Japanese.



Outlast- Throw a Spanner into the Works 7"
For a while, anything vaguely "youth crew" would do pretty well, and folks were willing to take a chance with it. What's rather ironic is that in retrospect, public opinion is such that European youth-crew revivalist hardcore doesn't command the respect of their US counterparts. Outlast was arguably one of the better bands of that era and style. A Swedish band with a definite Youth of Today influence and some additional speed, they kinda remind me of a posi-version of Tear it Up. While the varsity font should be a dead giveaway, I was more likely to sell something with a whole bunch of X's in the title than this one, or the even better 10" they did (which I might still have an extra copy of).



No Side- Depressing Day 7"
No Side might be known now for the great split they did with Out Cold. John from Out Cold was hip to this noisy japanese outfit early on. Again, more US-influenced than japanese-sounding on this 7" on HG Fact, but they tear through a good number of sloppy hardcore tunes.






OAC- Dukowski's T-shirt 7"
I was really psyched to get copies of this one. This was self-released right on the heels of the 7" they did with Pushead. Totally off-kilter hardcore that's all over the place, like an early Meat Puppets record. As you can see, the packaging is a little unorthodox for a hardcore record, and I'm sure it threw a lot of people off.

Dito Montiel's new movie "Fighting"

Dito Montiel of Major Conflict fame has a new movie coming out called "Fighting" with Channing Tatum. The trailer has already been making the rounds. It'll be in theaters on April 24th. Check out the website for the movie at www.fightingmovie.net.

BATTLETORN- some memories upon the release of Reflect the Filth

[Battletorn- the early days]


Like a bunch of people who have been involved with this kind of music, there was a period of time when I didn't go to a lot of hardcore shows. It wasn't that I had "moved on" or liked the music less, or anything as dramatic as getting "fed up" with "the scene" and so stopped going to shows. True, there was a good deal of hardcore music I was just plainly not interested in, but there's always been a good portion of that going on, and I found it easy enough to avoid even when I was going to hardcore shows every weekend. It was more of a practical thing for me. From 2002 on, for a few years, I was living in NYC and teaching. There wasn't much going on in NYC that was close to me; I didn't live too far from ABC No Rio, and while I was there a bunch in the mid to late 90's, I wasn't too interested in most of what was there in the interim. CBGB's didn't really have hardcore shows except for bigger ones, and a bunch of those I'd play with either Trenchcoat Army or the Nihilistics. But the stuff I was most interested in was happening in some spaces and lofts in Brooklyn and I just plain wasn't into trekking out there on a 45 minute to an hour subway ride on weeknights only to get up at 5 in the morning the next morning. I was into plenty of other music and went to shows regularly around NY to see other kinds of bands, so there wasn't a lack of music in my life. Who knows, maybe I'm making up excuses, but at that time, I do remember following what was going on in Denmark pretty closely and I loved me some Amdi Petersens Armee and Young Wasteners, I saw an Observers show that was pretty killer, and I picked up one of the earlier Career Suicide 7"s and thought it was awesome.

On one occasion, I went to see the bands the Witnesses and Bad Wizard at Sin-e at the location on Attorney Street. A pretty decent place to see a show, big stage, not too big/ not too small, good lines of sight to the stage, and it was never packed beyond belief. Bad Wizard had a big AC/DC thing going on and put on a good and loud show. I think they're still around and have some records on Tee Pee Records. I was mainly there to see the Witnesses who were one of those bands that came around in the days when blogs first started popping up, and the NY contingent thereof proclaimed that the NY rock scene (which, for some reason, they had everyone believe was gone) was suddenly "back." Of course the Strokes came out of that, and a bunch of other bands garnished a lot of attention in the wake. The Witnesses were one of those bands, and while the description above might come off sounding a bit derogatory, they were actually pretty awesome, had an un-ironic Stones-y/ Faces thing going on, put on a cool show, and a couple of them were cool people to boot. So I was at this show, the Witnesses were finished and Bad Wizard's stuff was set up. It was a typical NYC "indie" crowd at the time; lots of hipsters, folks who fancied themselves rockers, and just random folks. Everyone was milling about, and these three people just nonchalantly walked out of the crowd, this one dude who looked like he could have been a roadie for Bad Wizard picked up a guitar, some other dude sits behind the drums, and some girl with a metal t-shirt picked up the microphone, said something about playing a few songs before Bad Wizard went on.

[Battletorn w/ Beverly singing]

They then launched into a fucking racket that sounded like full on Victim in Pain-era AF meets Nausea. My jaw hit the floor, I was NOT expecting this at all. Are you kidding me? Is this a hardcore band? How could a band I never heard of before do this shit so damn well? I knew I was a little out of touch, but what the fuck?? Who the hell were these guys and gal? After the short blasts of the first song, I don't think the crowd knew what to make of this. In the awkward silence after the first song "Thanks, we're Battletorn." Battletorn, huh? They blasted a few more tracks, and walked off the stage. Such was their M.O. for the first bunch of shows. I had to see this band again. Somehow they got offered a bunch more hipster-type of shows, and I made it out to the shows when I could, but you could tell these folks just took whatever they would get and went with it. It was quite a cool vibe with very little pretense, whatever the scenario or circumstances were. Their sets barely lasted 10 to 15 minutes and often times shit was smashed in front of the stage. I don't know if it was a crew of hardcore folks bringing the mosh or some indie-schmoes putting going through the motions (probably a little of both), but it was such pandemonium, it almost didn't matter.

I started communicating with Omid and picked up their first single and album on Troubleman Records which were both cool. We found out we had a little conversation once on the subway platform at the East Broadway stop on the F line while I was helping my girlfriend move since he struck up a conversation about the Grief shirt I was wearing I bought at the CroMags/ Grief/ Queers show at Middlesex County College in '94. Dude was from Virginia originally, did some time in Enemy Soil, and knew his music (punk, metal, rock, and hardcore) inside and out. No wonder the Battletorn shit worked so well. We hit it off and decided to start working together putting out some Battletorn stuff on Mad at the World.

[Some more early Battletorn]


In the meantime, the singer Beverly left and Battletorn carried on as a two piece. I don't want to say I was skeptical, but I was a little bit curious how this would pan out, because I normally think of two-piece bands as a little bit gimmicky, but Battletorn continued to deliver. Their stuff got a bit darker, incorporated a bit more of the late 80's British thrashy hardcore style into their sound, and they got a ton more focused. We did the Burn Fast 7" with them, and then even when Omid moved to Nashville, TN, they kept it together and did the Terminal Dawn LP, a couple more tours, including the US, UK, and Japan. Some people didn't get it, some didn't like it, but with some people, it just clicked, and they loved the way this band managed their shit. From the first damn note on I saw of them, I'm one of the latter.

Everything they seemed to do was short, focused, and to the point (from their sets to their songs, from their tours to their recording process). It was never over-thought, but always well executed. Even though they developed this black and white aesthetic with hand-drawn, simple cover art, and minimal bells and whistles in the layout, it always turns out clean and well done. Working with these guys, I can honestly say there's a high quality control in there. I'm always comfortable giving them the reigns and letting them go to town on a project, however they want to get it done.
They recorded what now promises to be the final songs of their output comprising the Reflect the Filth LP (although some additional tracks from the same session might very well wind up on a split 7" with Double Negative), and may continue to play shows here and there after they some more jaunts here and there upon the release of the LP, but it seems like it might otherwise be the end of the road for Battletorn.

The test presses came in for Reflect the Filth, and they just sound awesome. Vinyl just carries this band's sound (and many others, for sure) so much better than any other format, and the LP has a larger number of mid-paced bangers (which I think Battletorn does best) than their previous efforts, I'm very excited to see this thing come out soon. I'm also proud to have had the chance to work with a band that surprised me and had me by the throat from the first note on. Thanks, dudes.




Reflect the Filth is on pre-order now. I imagine it'll be shipping in mid to late April. Pick it up here!!!

Battletorn- Reflect the Filth LP up for pre-order + MATW webstore update

In case you stumble on here every now and then, I just wanted to direct your attention to a new Battletorn record and some webstore updates. More Battletorn news and posts on the horizon!

The last Battletorn LP "Reflect the Filth" is now up for pre-order. Test presses to be approved this week, so we hope to be able to ship these things in early/ mid April. Pre-order now, since MATW is only getting 150, in all likelihood, the only mailorder copies we'll have will be the pre-order copies, everything else will go to the distributors and will be gone in a heartbeat.



MW1205 Batttletorn- Reflect the Filth LP
Pre-order here
Despite becoming a two-city in 2007, the NYC/ Nashville thrash-duo William and Omid soldiered on and continued to lay musical waste to all that crossed their path, managing a tour of Japan in the process. The ingredients to Battletorn's vision are few and simple, but they deliver such a ferocious thrash/ punk/ metal/ hardcore mania that you'd never guess there's only two of them. Perhaps the words of others describe them best: "With nothing to hide behind, be it longwinded, cryptic lyrics, 'majestic' album art or dense and overdone production, Battletorn come quickly, come prejudicially, and it’s all over before one’s able to really process what has transpired." (LeftHandPath) Reflect the Filth will be the band's final full-length offering, and compiles 8 studio tracks recorded at The Thousand Caves with Behold... The Arctopus' Colin Marston at the knobs on the A-side. Side B has a complete live set (clocking in at 15 minutes, it's the band's longest) recorded in Tokyo on the last night of their Japanese tour. In continuing the tradition of their over-before-you-know-it aesthetic, the 12" will be limited to 500 copies which promise to be gone rather quickly. The records is a split release between Mad at the World (New York/ Montreal), Grrman Records (UK), and Challenge the Throne (US/ Cal).

Still hot:
Cheap Tragedies- Volume 1: Souvenirs and Evidence LP
(Clear vinyl still available)

Other new stuff in the MATW webstore:
CLICK TO SEE THE NEW STUFF AT A GLANCE

New stuff from: Prank Records, Don Giovanni, No Idea, Fashionable Idiots, Grave Mistake, Insane Society, No Way, Punks Before Profits, X-Mist, Deadbeat

Coming soon: stuff from Trabuc Records (Spain), Sorry State (US), Hardware (Ger), Youngblood (US), Lifeline (US), Kangaroo (NL), and more.


LPs:
Insomnio- Happy Loneliness LP (No Way Records)
Hjertestop- Vi Ses I Helvede LP (No Way Records)
See You in Hell- Utol LP (Insane Society)
Malignant Tumour- In Full Swing LP (Insane Society)
Vivisick- Respect and Hate LP (Insane Society)
Consume- s/t LP (Insane Society)
Chronic Seizure- Ancient Wound LP (Fashionable Idiots)
Dustheads- Little Pieces LP (Don Giovanni)
His Hero is Gone- 15 Counts of Arson LP (Prank)
Paintbox- Earthball Sports Tournament LP (Prank)
Pantbox- Singing Shouting Crying LP (Prank)
Gauze- Binbou Yusuri No Rizumu Ni Notte LP (Prank)
Planes Mistaken for Stars- Up the in the Guts LP (No Idea)
Planes Mistaken for Stars- Mercy LP (No Idea)
Lifetime- s/t LP (No Idea)
Off With Their Heads- From the Bottom LP (No Idea)
Hot Water Music- til the Wheels Fall Off double LP (No Idea)
World Inferno Friendship Society- Me Vs. Angry Mob 12" (No Idea)
Vaz- Dying to Meet You LP (X-Mist)
Vaz- Demonstrations in Micronesia LP (restock) (X-Mist)
Ex-Models- Chrome Panthers LP (X-Mist)
Hostages of Ayatollah- AntHOAlogy double LP + DVD (X-Mist)
Abductee SD- Won't Stand Down LP (Punks Before Profits)
Short Fuse-s/t LP (Assault Records)
Mac Blackout- s/t LP (Deadbeat)
Le Face- Isolation LP (Deadbeat)
Daily Void- Identification Code.. LP (restock) (Deadbeat)



7"
Artimus Pyle- Tonight is the End of Your Way 7" (Insane Society)
Pink Reason- Borrowed Time 7" (Fashionable Idiots)
Homostupids- Cat Music 7" (Fashionable Idiots)
Born Bad- Moron Music 7" (Fashionable Idiots)
Herds- s/t 7" (Fashionable Idiots)
Cheap Tragedies- s/t 7" (High Anxiety)
Reprobates- Stress 7" (No Way)
Bunny Skulls- one sided 7" (Punks Before Profits)
the State- Santimony 7" (Punks Before Profits)
No Justice- Still Fighting 7" (Underestimated)
Violent Arrest- Criminal Record double 7" (Grave Mistake)
Government Warning- Arrested 7" (Grave Mistake)
Nightstick Justice- Claustrophobic 7" (Grave Mistake)
Direct Control- s/t 7" (Grave Mistake)
Short Fuse- Blight 7" (Assault Records)
Short Fuse- Fruitless Efforts 7" (Assault Records)


CD:
Guided Cradle- You Will Not Survive CD (Insane Society)
Guided Cradle- s/t CD (Insane Society)
Malignant Tumour- In Full Swing CD (Insane Society)

CT's Souvenirs and Evidence, Volume Two

All photos by Kate Munn. Many thanks to her! Check out her flickr page here

As of the last entry where I tell the tale of the Cheap Tragedies LP, we find our friends having just recorded a massive LP whose recording seems to have taken its collective toll on the band, resulted in a near-break-up, and probably left madman Erba wielding a knife more than once in studio shenanigans.

By that point in time though, regardless of where the band stood, Cheap Tragedies had already agreed to come up to Canada to play some shows in Toronto and Montreal with Omegas in May of '08. By the time spring rolled around, I was eagerly anticipating these shows for a number of reasons: killer LP in the bag I was eager to get out, uncertain future (so who knows how many times I'd get to see these dudes play), and a steadily growing live reputation. (As a matter of fact, my friend Wendy Eager of Guillotine fanzine and Sexual Suicide fame, not knowing we were already slated to put out their record, called me after see the band's set at Cake Shop in NYC saying, "I saw a band I think you'd love. The singer stripped half naked, bled all over the place, and attacked the crowd.")



Omegas roadtrips are typical little adventures in and of themselves and getting everything coordinated is always a little dramatic. In any event, we rented a van, piled more people into it than should legally have been there, and headed out to Ontario. The "Toronto" show was actually at a house in Burlington, a suburb about 45 minutes outside of Toronto, and on the way there, someone decided it was a bright idea to buy a bunch of fire crackers. At the end of the 7 hour drive and a trip to the liquor store, we arrive at the house in Burlington, home to the bass player of Eating Glass, Spencer. It was nothing at all what we had expected; Burlington was a pretty nice neighborhood right on Lake Ontario so the houses on the block were all pretty upscale, and moreover real close together. Was this really where we were playing? The neighbors won't care? The owners of the house won't care?? Really!?!?? We got were soon reassured that this was the place; they had shows in the foyer right next to a laundry alcove, and there was to be a BBQ in the back, and moreover, dude's mom generally hangs out. Was a little bit of an unusual scene, but it sounded good to us, and those members of our little group that partake in the drink quickly took to imbibing, and hung out by the lake, and get back to the house for some BBQ. Cheap Tragedies showed up in the meantime; said hi to Tony, and met the other guys for the first time, and chatted about this and that. They seemed a bit tired from the trip and I let them eat and get situated.

Omegas played a set complete with Ryan jumping off the banister, splitting his head open on Spoiler's bass in mid set, and having to get his wound superglued shut to stop the bleeding, but it was all good. Cheap Tragedies went on, and at this point in time they had nothing out by a few songs on a demo that we just distributed over the internet. But when they hit the first note in that foyer between the extra bathroom and washer & dryer, you'd have thought they were a band for ages already. Tony was in top form and the band right behind him didn't miss a beat throughout. Any doubt I'd had as to whether or not these guys would stick around was gone. I'm sure these guys could argue amongst each other about song parts, lyrics, shows, layouts, and recordings like the best of them, but when they hit the stage, they were a unit. This was a fuckin' band. And of course, Tony managed to knock a few folks down during the set, snag a few drinks from folks in the crowd, roll around on the floor in various states of undress, and hit on the mom of the dude's house we were staying at-- all over the course of the set.

As can be imagined, the rest of the night turned into a bit of a blur, but the party went well into the wee hours of night, with fireworks going off in the front yard, Discharge-karaoke over the PA courtesy of Hoagie Skank, Mike the Mosher, and other dudes who joined in the festivities, and acoustic sing-alongs in the back yard. Keep in mind, this is while we tried to convince the gracious hosts of letting us crash in the house. We wound up staying the night, and I passed out underneath a drop cloth. The next morning, after I peeled myself off the floor and got myself standing upright, I caught a ride back to Montreal with CT in the Erba-van, and had to spend all 7 hung-over hours without a head-rest. The Montreal show went off without much of a hitch, even though the late, great Black Dot had just gotten shut down and the show had to moved at the 11th hour, footage of which now appears on youtube courtesy of hardtimes.ca. All said and done, it was such an impressionable time, before it was all over, we already started talking about doing it again next year, and I was more psyched than ever to get this LP out. Now that this one is out, hopefully we'll be seeing another one soon!

Ultra Violence's I Wanna Be Somebody

In my estimation, Ultra Violence's I Want to Be Somebody is one of the hardest, most under-appreciated NYHC anthems this side of Last Warning. While youtube/ live video is going to do it justice, I was psyched to find UV's performance of it at the A7 reunion on youtube. Tony and co are gigging again, so you NYC heads should make sure you catch them.



And for the love of god, Tommy Kennedy, where the hell are you?!?! Get in touch!!

Some random bands: Sista Sekunden, Sexual Suicide, Brazen Hell, Vile Intent

Just a quick post today. Mainly with a few current bands you should check out.

First off, Sista Sekunden from Sweden. For some reason, I really dig this video.

Next up, a new band with some friends and former bandmates. Sexual Suicide playing as one of the "current"/ non-reunion bands (though Wendy was in Anti-christ Newsboys in the mid-80's) at the A7 reunion in NY this past December.

Then, finally, some bands from my current place of residence in the great white north. They're both of the heavier variety, and just released demos which you may want to check out.

Brazen Hell is actually from Sherbrooke, a city about an hour outside of Montreal. They're a fairly new band, but as the members seem to have done the band-thing before for the most part, they took off with a running start. The singer Andrew also runs Vinyl Addict Records. You can buy the cassette version of the demo, or just download it here.


Vile Intent are from Montreal proper, and actually formerly shared a practice space with the Omegas. They just released a little cassette of their own; you can stream some tracks from their website to check it out, and of course there's some info on how to get the piece of plastic with the magnetized tape itself.

CT's Souvenirs and Evidence, Volume One

I have to admit there's an awful lot I rather hate about putting out records. I hate filling out all the forms, coordinating with multiple companies and suppliers, trying to get everything shipped to the appropriate places (which has been made even more complicated when I moved up to Montreal). But getting the records in my hand finally is a treat and probably the most satisfying aspect of the whole endeavor. I wouldn't say it "makes it all worth it" because that other nonsense still is a pain. But being able to put a record you worked on on your record shelf next to other favorites is definitely a trip.

Pressing records has gotten progressively more expensive and we've had to raise some of our prices (both wholesale and retail) recently in order to stay afloat, which I still hate doing, but it's necessary. With this Cheap Tragedies LP, I wanted to spare no expense because I knew the recording would come out awesome. (Well, almost no expense; I had to nix the idea of a million different colored vinyl versions since we couldn't afford that.) All told, the damn thing cost me about a year's worth of rent, and I dare say it was worth it. I just want to share a few stories on how to came about. Below will be part 1 of my musings.

I hadn't known Tony Erba was in a new band when he sent me an email on myspace about it. I guess he was hitting people up he had worked with previously in other bands and MATW put out a 9 Shocks disc after we met when they played the house I was living at in NJ in '01 (Step Sister played there in '02 as well.) Now, I rather hate myspace communications because myspace has a knack for crashing my browser and just taking a long time to get anything done, so I'm often very late in responding to messages there. I guess Tony was eager to get the ball rolling, and he's an impatient mofo, so 2-3 days later I get another message basically saying "Thanks for not listening to my band's demo, asshole!" So I told emailed him told him about my email woes and asked him to take it easy. Funny thing is, I definitely wanted to hear this, if only because it was Tony's new band, he's back on vocals, and also because the last "ex-9 Shocks" band that asked us to do something was the Homostupids, which I wish we would have jumped on (that's another funny story though).

When I did listen to the Cheap Tragedies demo, I was taken aback. I didn't know what I was expecting, but it was nothing like what I was expecting. Much more tuneful than Tony's immediately preceding hardcore efforts, and Erba even carries a tune! On first listen I kind of pegged it a more melodic, late 80's hardcore affair, which was well executed, but not typically something I get terribly excited about. On repeated listens though, there was definitely a lot going on there-- tight musicianship, creative song structures, interesting leads, and a definite rust-belt rock influence beaming through the songs. Yeah, I did want to do something with these dudes....

Tony and I spent some time going back and forth brainstorming-- seems he wanted us to do their LP. OK, but LPs are expensive-- can I afford this? MATW certainly couldn't, but with a little saving on my part, I could probably front the money. "Cool, now we've got this great deal to record at Mars studio, could you front the money for this?" "Uhhh....." So I did. Things were quiet for a while, and recording updates seemed to indicate things were going smooth--- except they needed just a little bit more dough. Fine.

Then one day I'm relaxing at home on a weekend on the eve of Cheap Tragedies finishing up laying down all the tracks in the studio, and I get a soul-bearing email from Tony about how he loves his bands, can't stop playing music, totally wants to do right by us for helping out his band (which is pretty much what I've experienced from the guy, so it was kind of known already, but it was touching to see it in print), BUT-- he's absolutely fed up with those dudes and can't take it anymore. He's leaving! DOH! Needless to say I was quite bummed. I put together a quick response-- "don't sweat it, we'll figure something out," but I can't help but feel super bummed about CT's potential demise. I stewed on it for a little bit, crunched some numbers, and figured I could still break even on the whole thing on the strength of the band's members' reputation and whatnot, and decided not to stress too much.



Then I actually heard the record. Even as a rough mix, it was a monster. To say "epic" didn't even do it justice. The guitars were loud, the drumming fierce, rumbling bass, screeching leads, and Tony laid down an absolutely intense vocal performance. He wasn't lying when he said it was his best. The lyrics (what I could make out of them) were totally on point as well. In spite of the fact that there was some precision musicianship on those tracks, the songs could barely contain the energy. So much going on on this record, and it was still a hardcore record from top to bottom. I was totally floored, and listened to the damn thing 5 times in a row when I finally got it. No wonder dude was so stressed out; from the sound of it, these guys must have fuckin' labored in the studio like nobody's business. I composed a lengthy email to Tony expressing my thoughts about the record: they wrote and recorded one hell of a record. Not only was it a good-- nay, great-- record, but I'd go so far as to say they went above and beyond and recorded an important record. As in, one that would be listened to and sought after years from now. I wrote that a lot of bands who reach that caliber probably couldn't stand each other but that somehow it just works. I thought it would be worthwhile for them to stay together, and listening to the thing, I'm not surprised they didn't come close to murdering each other. (Ian later confided in me, for example, that on one particular day, he was recording drum tracks for 10 hours straight.) But if it really was the end of the road, it would still be a great record and one I'd be proud to put out. The response: he'd try not to stab the other members of the band, so they stayed together.

(Part 2 coming soon. Not to worry, the story has a happy ending, and these dudes obviously don't hate each other.)

Cheap Tragedies LP shipping!

So of course it took a little bit longer than expected/ hoped, but 1) still not so bad in hardcore time, and 2) everything turned out awesome. The Cheap Tragedies LPs are starting to ship now, and the pre-orders will be the first to go out. (If you pre-ordered, you'll get e-mail notification this week as well.) Below you'll find a picture of the clear vinyl (limited to 300), and the gatefold cover with the nice mug of Jane Fonda. And if you needed to still hear them by now, here's how:

http://www.myspace.com/cheaptragedieshc
http://www.matwrecords.com/graphics/11Ain'tDeadYet.mp3

http://www.matwrecords.com/catalog/




The screened covers the band made for their record release show were sold in a heartbeat. The band is getting their copies shortly (in transit now) and will have them for the next show in February for sure. Speaking of their record release show, here it was:

Rapid Deployment Force on the tube, Urban Waste on the radio, Token Entry on a t-shirt

This one's been up on youtube for a few weeks and my attention was directed to it by a message board, so I won't pretend like I unearthed it, but it's certainly cool enough to share. File this in the "never thought something like this existed" category, it's a video of Rapid Deployment at CBGB's. (Someone should throw up an Anti-Warfare video next!!) Apparently, RDF drummer Phil is currently in the band the Blame and runs a recording studio too, so he's still at it. I've also heard, Rapid Deployment Force is playing a few more shows following the success of the A7 reunion show. Catch them if you're in the NYC area.

Check out some of the other youtube videos this fella (Phil from RDF perhaps?) has up, a couple of real gems up there including some New Rose footage and this one here of Victims of Society. Check out this show, with the people sitting down at tables.

Another cool V.O.S. video is here.

A mysterious "NYHC Archive" website has popped up on the interwebs in recent weeks. Eliminators, Hinkley's Fan Club, and the Influence flyers on the "coming soon" page are any indication, this'll be well worth some serious internet-procrastination time. A little legwork has led me to determine some good people are behind it, including folks who reissued the Vile LP and another guy who did that painfully under-appreciated Prowl 7" I'm so damn fond of.

Leading up to the aforementioned A7 show, Johnny and Kenny from Urban Waste went on WFMU accompanied by, amongst other folks, Wendy Eager and Paul Cripple from Reagan Youth. The ensuing show hosted by Diane Kamikaze is a mighty fine mix of NYHC tunes and some great interview/ commentary. Check it out here because it's archived for your listening pleasure.

Finally, for those of you into your NYHC merchandise, check out the Token Entry re-print shirts we did with Ernie and Timmy Chunks for their reunion show. Those sold out immediately at the show in Asbury Park this December, but we're printing up some more this January. Direct yourself to the MATW webstore if you want to snag one up.