all things old school: April 2019

Thursday, April 25, 2019

I.O.U. RECORDS "It's On Us"


I was fully aware of this label but kept postponing a feature here and now, instead of just one or two releases, here's what I liked the most during its 2 years or so of existence.

I.O.U. Records, based out of South Florida, dropped its first release in the Summer of 2017, a demo tape by BIG MACK. Their focus since is to put out TAPES of new bands coming from Florida (Broward/Jacksonville) plus friends in Atlanta and NC's Charlotte, all with a good dose of either youth crew or old school flavored hardcore.

Many of the label's (often cartoonish) artwork were done by a plethora of hardcore scenesters like Augie Ruiz (Society Abuse / Day By Day), Robert Cerrito (Rhino) and Gil Sayfan (Intent / Free Spirit), who has also done quite a few works with Advanced Perspective and currently jams in ZEEL.


In less then 2 years IOU managed to put out an impressive number of 16 releases so far and they all sold out! The highlights of the first year are certainly the ones by UP IN BLUE, BIG MACK and BE ALL END ALL. I mean, check these tracks -- like Fantasyland here -- and try to stand still!



Then on the second and most recent batch we have newcomers like TRUE FORM, METHOD OF DOUBT and GIVE & TAKE debuting with sick demos plus new releases by bands from year one.



With all IOU accomplished thus far, if they keep this pace and broaden their horizens, they can be the next Moshers Delight or Canada's equivalent to Climbin' Aboard. Nevertheless, check all their hosted bands and support these hard working kids, in case you happen to catch them on tour or something! Groups like Result Of Choice and Secondsight has already made quite a name for themselves. SFHC!

I.O.U. BIGCARTEL
DOWNLOAD [selected titles]

Friday, April 19, 2019

REJECTION PACT - Threats Of The World [interview]

Location: Idaho, US
Release: Safe Inside Records, 2019
Artwork: Youth Energy Designs

New hardcore unit from Boise with an imminent 10-song EP "Threats Of The World", on pre-order for over a month now!

Here's some questions I sent to REJECTION PACT's singer Devin Boudreaux about the group's background and find why they are one of the main promising bands to carry on the Youth Crew in the USA!


Rejection Pact was formed by members coming from 2 distinct melodic punk bands Stepbrothers and Alone. How that came about?

Rejection Pact formed during the tail end of Stepbrothers. Charlie was the drummer of both Alone & Stepbrothers and I went on the last Stepbrothers tour doing merch. Charlie, myself, and Ralph; Stepbros bassist, started talking about how it'd be fun to start a hc band and see would come of it. I had mentioned it to my friend Nathan who had been wanting to play guitar in a band & we got together and jammed and it worked out and we meshed well and it just kinda went from there. Stepbrothers broke up in October of 2017 and we recorded our demo at our old practice space in November, played our first show/put the demo out in January & that's how we started.

Soundwise you guys are going for a modern 00's youth crew without losing its old school essence, bands from Rivalry Records and early Bridge 9 catalog comes to mind! Does growing up in the Northwest Pacific impacted directly on your creative process? What else can you tell us about the new record?

I think it does to a certain extent. I grew up in Anchorage Alaska but the first bigger hc show I went to was the last Champion weekend in Seattle and a lot of the bands I was exposed to that weekend were nwhc bands and a lot of my formative years have occurred in the NW. I just think the nw had a real lock on putting out awesome hc for a long time. Some of our favorite bands like Go It Alone, Sinking Ships, Shook Ones, Keep It Clear all come from the NW.


The new record is just something we're stoked on. Lyrically the record touches on themes of bigotry, self reflection, violence, narcissism, political division and a tricky path a lot of things are headed. I understand being a straight white dude, does anyone really give a shit my thoughts on the issues? prob not but at the same time, I dont think I'm alone in being pissed and frustrated with different people/groups/what have you thinking we need to take steps back and equality and treating people with respect and understanding. Things have never been fair or equal but it's sad and frustrating when you have old braindead weak people trying to take away the rights of groups/individuals who've never had a fair shake in the first place.

Aside from the political themes, some of the stuff I sing about just goes into how I'm a dumbass sometimes and it's hard to deal with, or I just think I'm kind of a weirdo and coming to grips with that, or maybe I'm not and everyone else? Haha who's to say, either way. Sonically, we're just trying to write the kind of hc we enjoy listening to. I dont think a ton of bands are stealing from our pool of influence since the big thing right now is metallic & taking a time warp to Hellfest. That's cool cuz I love metalcore and all of that but at the same time, that's not what I want to play and not what our band is going for. We just want to write hc that is fast, to the point, and isn't a placeholder until a breakdown or mosh part hits. We try to write the songs in a way that would be easy to sing along to and learning the lyrics isn't a chore. I personally miss the days of huge sing alongs and pile ons at shows, that is still my fav part of seeing hc live. So I guess the record is played/written a way to encourage people to sing along and to step on each other to.

Speaking of labels, how did Rejection Pact ended up on Safe Inside Records, (safely one of the hottest new labels right now)? And how was to work with Dog Years Records for the Underdogs II compilation?


With the Safe Inside deal...I dunno specifically what sparked it exactly. We played with Piece of Mind who's on the label, and we had Greg from Trial/Bystander do a guest spot on our record, and we'd tweet with their account occasionally, and I'd talked with Thomas from Dying for It a bit, but one day we just got an email from the label kinda being like "hey what's up guys, your name keeps coming up" more or less and we got to talking and now they're putting out our new 7" Burt rocks and he's super easy to work with and cares about his bands and really pushes for them. Also, I never expected anyone to give a shit about our band or what we're doing, so him having faith in our band and stoked on what were doing is very cool and putting out records in a streaming age is risky and anyone down to put their own $ into hc has my respect so props to Burt & Safe Inside Records for not losing their love for hc and supporting small/DIY bands.

Working with Dog Years for the comp was great. I've known Chris for a long time; he put out the Alone tape a few years ago, and when he was putting the comp out, we expressed that we'd want to be a part of it, and he was happy to include us. We had been sitting on a song that we'd never put out, so we recorded it at our practice space, sent it to him, bada bing bada boom.

It seems there's a new wave of straight edge bands coming and along with them a new perception of the whole movement is being set, especially around the newer kids. Do you aggre? What message/impression do you want to pass on through Rejection Pact?

I dunno really about the whole straight edge thing. TBH I'm not too involved with the whole younger edge crowd, I've been straight edge for about 15 years and it's not anything I really think about. I think bands who are straight edge aren't as in your face straight edge as some of the bands were when I was coming up. Straight edge youth crew style of hc hasn't and prob won't ever change, and I think that's the big appeal for that scene, but in a more general/broad sense, the only thing that seems diff is people are more open to people doing their own thing and aren't as judgmental, but that is just the vibe I get.

Most of my friends sold out, and when they were edge, weren't jerk offs about straight edge so I dunno. We aren't a straight edge band so we don't have any sort of message like that, but the message we want to send is it to speak your mind, don't be a dickhead, support hc, support smaller hc. Go out of your way to find new bands to listen to, don't be lazy about checking out new shit. Go to shows, tell your friends about cool shit. Hc isn't some secret cool person club, and it only survives & thrives if you nurture and support it. We're not gonna tell people how they should think or feel, but I mean if you can take something from our lyrics, it's that old yourself accountable and try to learn and grow, and question what's around you. Don't be afraid to speak up, but also, we have enough online heroes. No one cares about how you resharing a meme saying punch a nazi if you've never punched someone IRL and no one's impressed about you tweeting "Fuck you" at some politician on twitter like that helps anything? I get the frustration but also, I dunno, seems like a waste of time.

Can you rank your top 5 albums of 2018 and the best of 2019 so far? (anything goes)

My top 5 favorite albums of 2018...hmm not in any order but I loved
  1. True Love "The Pact"
  2. Lurk "Hi-Fi"
  3. Mil-spec " Changes"
  4. Drug Church "Cheer"
  5. Candy "Good to Feel"
Honorable mention to Pain Strikes "As Days Pass"!
The best records of 2019 so far...hmm prob the new Inclination, One Step Closer, Coolside, Minus, Dead Heat, Fury & Wildside; not out yet but Angels over Berlin and Street Action are the two best songs I've heard all year.

Thanks for getting in contact Devin and for doing this, not just the quiz but also your initiative as a band! Please leave your shouts or any message from you or any of the band members!!

Thanks for taking the time to speak with me and the interest in our band, that is cool shit! Be on the look out for the new Time & Pressure and Piece of Mind records when they drop on Safe Inside Rec. If you live on the West Coast, check our tour dates & come out! Shout out to Chris & Youth Energy Designs for doing tight shit. Listen to the aforementioned bands and continue to go to smaller and local hc shows and tell your friends/reshare the hc you're into or when bands put stuff out. The only way bands & scenes grow is with the help of everyone. Thanks!

PRE-ORDER [out 26th april]
DOWNLOAD [Promo + Demo]



Tuesday, April 16, 2019

LOCKED INSIDE - Your Thoughts. Your Own.

Location: New York City
Release: Not Like You Records, 2019

Wow, what happens when you put together HANDS TIED and vegan powerhouse NUEVA ETICA in the same room? You get LOCKED INSIDE!

NYC and Buenos Aires represented in this new supergroup united by the straight edge! Ed Mckirdy kinda picks up where SEARCH left off but with a more intense feel to it, counting with fellow NY musicians in On The Rise and Thirsty! plus Gerardo and Javier Casas from the well know Argentinian group Nueva Etica, they used to tear things up here in South America during shows in the early 00's, recently their records got repressed into vinyl with profits going to the animal cause!

Production and recording were signed by Javier Casas in his studio, the result is of the highest level! 

DOWNLOAD [5-song EP]

Monday, April 15, 2019

DECADENCE WITHIN - Reflections

Location: Ledbury, UK
Release: Boss Tuneage, 2007

Iconic British crossover band with a strong ideological stance, started by Ian Glasper and Mobs (a partnership that would endure to other projects later on, Stampin' Ground and Thirty Six Strategies) in the year of 1985.

Vocal duties were handled by Kevin Brooks with participations by Andrea AM (until '87) and Richard White ('90/'91). They are held responsible for setting DECADENCE WITHIN apart from other UK crossover acts, not for better nor for worse, just a bit diferrent from the likes of Concrete Sox, Intense Degree, etc. Of course you need to put in consideration the "progressive riffs" laid by Mr. Blueman in that too!

Through its 3 LPs, 3 EPs (one unrelesead w/ Andrea), 2 splits and demos their sound shifted from the initially anarcho-thrash-punk to a more consistant crossover style in 1988, when, in the following years, their best stuff came out! Then in 1993 -- after 3 "true" crossover records -- a certain grunge influence came along and before things got too weird they called it a day in 1995.



Lyrically they were quite politicized, especially when it came to matters like Animal Rights and vegetarianism -- a direct influence by Flux Of Pink Indians -- with band members having to face court in a certain point because of their level of engagement on protests.

For download I got hold of virtually everything, the gnarly EPs "Pay-Off Time" (released in '91 by First Strike Records, the same who put out Majority One/Chain Of Strength) comes as bonus tracks on the '93 album Reality Wake-Up Call and "Speed Hippy" (as well as that unreleased EP) is featured on the compilation of demos, comp songs and rarities CD Reflections, out in 2007 and already out of print!

As extras I will leave the split sides from Manfat (2 tracks missing) and Fearless Vampire Killers, the songs from Decadence Within side are already featured on their previous albums.



DOWNLOAD (part 1 - The Crossover Years):
1989 - This Lunacy LP (Peaceville Records)
1990 - Soulwound LP (Peaceville Records)
1993 - Reality Wake Up Call [+Pay-Off Time EP] CD (Decadent Records)

DOWNLOAD (part 2 - The early punk days + splits):
2007 - Reflections (Boss Tuneage Retro)
1994 - Fearless Vampire Killers split 7" (MCR Company)
1995 - Manfat split Tape (Ripping Thrash)



Credits: Listen and Understand blog.

Also check the many books Ian Glasper wrote here and an excellent interview here.

Friday, April 12, 2019

CAPITOL PUNISHMENT - The First Line-Up

Location: California, US
Release: We Bite Records, 1996

The reason that I didn't upload more "OG" hardcore old school bands before is that it was widely available in a couple dozen wicked blogs out there (Church Of Zen, It Follows, Pay No More Than... etc) regrettably most of their old links died and as streaming becomes the new ruling standard, mp3's and blogs has its days numbered, I guess.

Today we have here the top records from Fresno's CAPITOL PUNISHMENT, during its 14 years of activity they had quite a few line-up changes and more than 10 records out!

Their 1985 album When Putsch Comes To Shove LP is the most celebrated one by fans, right next to their 1983 Self-Titled EP. Those records plus the '86 Slum With A View LP were compiled in 1996 by german label We Bite into one single CD, entitled The First Line-Up. Which is actually the second line-up (CP2), the real first one (CP1) with Tsuda on vocals got its recordings retrieved and released more recently by Stage Dive Records.


Their second singer Ralph Lotspeich (active from '82 to '87) might be one of the first ever to introduce the cookie-monster vocal technique that can be heard more frequently later on, including in modern day hardcore acts such as 86 Mentality, Hounds Of Hate and so on.

Then in 1988 Joe Leggett (CP3) came along to record the Super Glutton 12", both the band and the singering toned down a bit from that Poison Idea/M.D.C. styled hardcore and the whole thing became a mix of Cali-melodic-hardcore and DC post-punk, still tons of fun and attitude! To get a hold of the whole Capitol's history pay a visit to this page.

This post coincides with the upcoming release of Capitol Punishment's 5 boxset CD discography compiled by their guitar player Dale Stewart, but they still have some of the old stuff for sale. Today's bonus for download we have the 7" compilation The World In Shred's Volume 3: Fresno, a showcase of local bands from 1989!


PURCHASE CD/7"/MERCH

DOWNLOAD includes:
Capitol Punishment - The First Line-Up CD (We Bite, 1996)
Capitol Punishment - '82 Demo EP (Selfless, 1992)
Capitol Punishment - Super Glutton 12" (We Bite, 1989)
VA - The World In Shred's Vol. 3 (Shredder, 1989)

Monday, April 8, 2019

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE - Demo 1990

Location: Ohio, US
Release: DIY, 1990

On the other corner of Ohio, there were CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, crossover act that lasted from 1987 to 1990!

Started under a different name to then record 2 demos, Civil Disobedience came to a brief halt when the singer quit in '89. One of the guitar players took over the vocals and recorded a demo in '90 with 4 old songs and 2 new before turning into Blood Of Christ as the music progressed into something else.


Personally I prefer this '90 Demo over the previous stuff as the recordings were too ruff and the reason for this to appear here (besides it totally rips) is because its nearly impossible to find online, maybe some people are after it too, unfortunately I didn't come across the first 2 demos. 

DOWNLOAD ['90 Demo]


Not to be confused with the Michigan punk act! For the full story check it on discogs, for more Ohio underground go here.

Saturday, April 6, 2019

MAJORITY OF ONE - Think About Tomorrow

Location: Ohio, US
Release: First Strike Records, 1989

Who remembers, not too long ago, Reaper Records used to send together with mailorders stickers with this artwork (and apparently made t-shirts as well)? Well this actually belongs to the first LP from MAJORITY OF ONE, a SHARP band that started in 1987.

In Think About Tomorrow, throughout its 11 tracks, the musical aspect is pretty diverse, it ranges from straight forward sXe hardcore to melodic post-punk tunes, bringing to mind Dag Nasty and even Angry Samoans.

As they entered the 90's that post influence took over and after a handful EPs they've put out their final record 2000 Years Of Indecision LP in 1993.


Fronted by Dirk Hemsath (owner of Doghouse Records) MAJORITY OF ONE didn't actually left a huge mark in the HC history but hopefully this post will shed light not only on the band but on the "sort of obscure" era of the early 90's US hardcore. Still in 1991, Dirk and a few of the dudes in the band formed TRANSCEND, a side project with more heavy guitars following the same post-hardcore sound demonstrated in late MAJORITY OF ONE stuff, probably influenced by Quicksand, that were one of the biggest trendsetters at that time in the US hardcore community.

For download I've selected the CDs relesead by Doghouse, first one Setting The Pace is a compilation that gathers the following albums by MAJORITY OF ONE: Decisions Made EP (1988), Think Abouth Tomorrow LP (1989), Rage EP (1990), One Man EP (1991). Then we have their second full-lenth from '93 and as a bonus Product Of Our Greed a compilation of early works from TRANSCEND. Both bands also appears in the mighty Voice Of The Voiceless compilation.


DOWNLOAD these albums:
Majority Of One - Setting The Pace (1992, Doghouse Records)
Majority Of One - 2000 Years Of Indecision (1993, Doghouse Records)
Transcend - Product Of Our Greed (1993, Doghouse Records)

Credits: vinyl photos by Lins Cuscani and Jean-Paul (xBirds Of A Featherx).