Sunday, May 31, 2009

Posted by xCHIPxSEM |
Hi everyone,
Im back from Japan and had an incredible trip. To get the ball rolling again, I scanned the essay insert from Unbroken "Life. Love. Regret." You may be saying "Wait a second...my vinyl/CD doesn't have an essay insert." This was included in the early pressings of the record and was basically essays from each band member to be included with the record that touched on personal issues, their love of hardcore, Eric Allen's (at the time) attempted suicide. Cool stuff...also if you missed Burning Fight, Shirts For A Cure was selling an Unbroken shirt which sold out very quickly. Well that design is now available through their site and can be ordered here: Unbroken Tshirt from Shirts For A Cure. Heres what the design looks like:

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Posted by xCHIPxSEM |
Hey everyone,
Im still currently in Tokyo and will be until the 31st but while checking my local board, someone posted links to most of the bands soundboard recordings from Burning Fight. Wanted to pass this on to you guys. Ill have a full report of my trip when I get back as well as pictures of myself hanging out with the dudes from Loyal to the Grave, Crystal Lake, and the man Dobek Ohashi. Until then, enjoy this

http://rapidshare.com/files/232598393/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090502-Phase1-106-Ringworm.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232607685/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090502-Phase1-107-Guilt.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232618778/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090502-Phase1-108-Underdog.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232747722/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090502-Phase1-109-108.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232627219/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090502-Phase1-110-Killing_Time.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232639765/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090502-Phase1-111-Trial.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232789825/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090502-Phase1-112-Disembodied.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232645443/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090503-Phase1-201-Harms_Way.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232651940/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090503-Phase1-202-The_Killer.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232658543/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090503-Phase1-203-Blacklisted.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232663679/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090503-Phase1-204-Have_Heart.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232670994/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090503-Phase1-205-Threadbare.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232677389/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090503-Phase1-206-Split_Lip.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232683018/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090503-Phase1-207-Reach_the_Sky.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232689390/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090503-Phase1-208-Bane.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232698599/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090503-Phase1-209-Converge.mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/232708923/Burning_Fight_Chicago_20090503-Phase1-210-Unbroken.mp3.rar


Sunday, May 17, 2009

Posted by xjustinx |
Let me preface Trial's message by saying that I'm not sure what happened around EVR just after they actually signed Trial, but when "Are These Our Lives?" actually came out, it seemed like the label didn't care about the record at all, and did very little to push it out there to the world. They would run big half page ads in numerous zines for all the other releases that summer, but ATOL would never get more than a tiny blurb in the bottom corner of the ad. After Trial's break up in 2000, EVR seemed content to just let ATOL go out of print. I think this is the reason that both Trial, and that record in particular, didn't get proper recognition until well after they had broken up. The lack of label support made that record take a long time to filter its way into people's hands. Flash forward to 2005, and EVR decided it would be a good idea to cash in on a reuniting Trial, and that leads us to this message from Trial...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Friends,

We're writing this to ask for a little help and support. Trial has released a CD version of our 1999 LP “Are These Our Lives?”. This was originally released in 1999 on another label. Throughout the years that label decided to discontinue the lyrics in the booklet of their version. We protested immediately. They continued to sell this version over the years and we (Trial) have continued to receive emails from people who have bought the record asking why we didn’t include the lyrics in the record.

Originally the lyrics were included. Why would a hardcore band not have the lyrics included in their record? And especially us? Lyrics have always meant so much to us. It’s a huge part of hardcore and a huge part of our band. When we first learned about this, we asked the label why the record no longer included the lyrics and we were told that it was because it was cheaper for them to print the booklet without out the lyrics. Understandable. We then asked if we could pay the difference. We also offered to send them photocopies of the lyrics to send out with the orders so that they were included in some form. We also asked if we could have our contact information (a website) placed into the booklet so that people could go online and find the lyrics. In short they said “no” across the board to these requests, but they said it aggressively.

If you’re in a band you understand how much work and time goes into a record . For your record to be misrepresented is heartbreaking. We don’t care about the money, we never expected to see a dime from the record. It could sell a million copies and we wouldn’t care as long as it was represented in the light that we intended it to be.

This is why we’ve taken it upon ourselves to release a 10 Year Anniversary Edition of “Are These Our Lives?” that includes the full lyrics and expanded explanations, along with additional writing about the origins of the ideas for the songs themselves. We’re not putting this out to make money. In fact, we only care to have the record available in the form that we intended it. We’re selling it for $5.00 in hopes that people are no longer bummed when they buy the record and don’t get the full record.

Since we’ve started playing shows here and there, the other version has picked up in sales…please spread the word that the version that is being sold currently by the other label does not include the lyrics and the band (Trial) have never seen a dime from that record and probably never will. This also includes ITunes and other digital outlets.

Because we’re sick of our record being in the hands of a label that cares nothing about our record or us, we paid for the manufacturing of this record out of our own pockets. We had hoped that we’d have them in time for our two most recent shows. We unfortunately did not receive them in time and now we’re hoping that we’ll be able to sell enough to cover our costs.

If you want to help us break even on the CD and pick up a copy, we’d be grateful. Again, we’re selling it for only $5.00 and that includes a digital download of the songs.

Thanks for your time..

Trial
Seattle WA

Visit Panic Records (Timm from Trial's Label) to get the record. www.panicrecords.net

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Posted by xCHIPxSEM |
As of 6 am Saturday morning, I will be spending the next 2 weeks in Japan. Because of this, my participation for the webzine will be limited but I will be spending the following 2 weeks in Miami where I will have access to all of my CDs so if anyone wants something ripped and posted let me know. Jake is still conducting interviews and Justin will still be posting so the webzine will not stop while Im gone, just maybe slow down a bit. Expect an interview with Mean Season in the near future as well. While Im in Japan, Ill be meeting up with Hiro (Loyal to the Grave/ex-State Craft/Retribution Network) so Im hoping to get my hands on some great music. Ill try and give an update while Im there. So until my next update, wish me luck on my 18 HOUR FLIGHT.
Posted by xCHIPxSEM |

The first full length from NY's All Out War. Long out of print, I finally got a copy in the mail today off of Ebay for .99 cents. I did a high quality 320 kbps rip of the record and a nice high quality scan of the record cover. I had heard rumors of a re-release of this but nothing to show for it. Enjoy.

All Out War - Truth In The Age Of Lies

http://www.mediafire.com/?yzwgzkrmw0k
Posted by xCHIPxSEM |
Hey y'all, Jake/Andrew Jacobs here with an interview that I did this past month with Kevin Murphy of Farside, Headfirst and 411 fame. As 411 still holds the title as my #1 favorite Orange County, California band of all time since their inception in 1990 and Farside & Headfirst are in my top 10 (not to mention the fact that Kevin has always been and continues to be one of the coolest guys I know in the scene), I've decided to write the lead-in to the interview myself. I also wanted to mention that Kevin will be riding in a number of upcoming charity bike rides and all the info can be found on his 2009 LIVESTRONG Challenge donation page. I strongly urge all of you to check it out and make a donation. Thanks to Kevin for his participation in the interview and I hope you enjoy it!


Having played guitar in Farside & 411 and drums in Headfirst (as well as one or the other in a number of other bands), you were literally a jack of all trades in the early '90s Orange County, California hardcore scene. How did you learn how to play all instruments?


I love the way that question is worded because it makes me sound like I can play(literally) all instruments. Zither, Lute, Clavichord, you name it. But the reality is that I wasn’t a jack of all trades by any stretch, it just happened that I could play drums along with guitar. I started with bass, actually, when I was 13. My favorite bands at the time were Iron Maiden, Motorhead and Metallica. And in 1984, those were the best bassists going. I still think Lemmy is very underrated when it comes to his bass playing. But after hearing Black Flag and Husker Du for the first times (and Venom too I suppose), I ditched the Sears brand bass and conned my parents into buying me a Sears brand guitar. Those two bands made me feel more comfortable with the fact that I was never going to be Yngwie Malmsteen. Now, at the same time my younger brother was taking up the drums – both in school (marching band) and at home. He was really into the Dead Kennedys and JFA and had this cheapo Sears brand kit that he pounded on all the time, but since my room was bigger than his, the kit lived in there. So I was always pounding on them as well. This was in 1985 or ‘86 and it was around this time that I started my first band with some fellow hesher dudes from down the road. We were called Cryonics and had “blast beats” galore before “blast beats” existed. We were all under the age of 16 so none of us could drive. This meant we practiced in my room on my brother’s drums. So I was around both instruments all the time.

I only wound up on drums for Headfirst because we couldn’t find a drummer after our original guy (Mike Goodman) went off to college. I casually mentioned that my brother had a set and that I could pull off simple thrash and mosh beats. I went from second guitar to drums that easily. I never felt 100% comfortable on drums and missed playing guitar which is partially why I got 411 going.


Headfirst featured virtuoso guitarist Mike Rosas, who took lessons from guitar legend Joe Satriani among others. What was it like playing drums in a band with such a skilled musician?


Wait, Mike took lessons from Joe Satriani? Is that true? I had no idea. Anyway, like I said before, I was never 100% confident in my drum skills. I felt like I was sufficiently ok, good enough for what we were doing. The only time I ever thought I might be kind of “good” at the instrument was when we completed the song “Intervention” which was the last song Headfirst wrote. There’s a passage in the song that I stole from a Rush song (Subdivisions I think) and I was always pleased with myself for being able to pull it off. It’s funny how Headfirst wound up sounding. When I moved over to drums it was with the belief that since I could play thrash beats that I’d be fine. At the time we sounded very much like Slayer meets Youth of Today, so stealing Rush drum lines was a pretty strange final result.



Discuss some of the many differences between Headfirst's Back In Control EP and The Enemy LP.

Oh that’s easy –The LP was a rock record. When we released it, we didn’t really see or hear any difference since we had been steeped in the progression the whole time. To us, it sounded like Headfirst. But looking back and really having distance from it, they are substantially different. I mean, obviously. Everyone talks about the LP as though it was a metal record, but we were much more metal when we did the 7”. But I get it. When Discharge did Grave New World and The FUs became Straw Dogs, I was there waving the sellout flag and hating those LPs. But I respect those moves now the same way I respect the fact that Metallica hasn’t made a decent record in 23 years. I think their music is shit, but they’re certainly doing what they want and I get that. So I’m still very proud of the Headfirst LP – it’s a document of where we were at the time. Which was listening to Soundgarden, Melvins, Voi Vod, Bl’ast!, Mind Over 4, Infest, Verbal Assault and the Bad Brains. And for a bunch of kid

s whose oldest member was 20 and youngest was like 16, I still think it’s a pretty solid effort. A bit overproduced and slick sounding, but whatever.

As a band, we always wanted to be different from all of the other OCHC bands. We didn’t want to be part of any scene and we were often pretty confrontational about that. So when we’d get tossed onto a bill with Poison Idea, GBH or The Flower Leopards, we looked at it no differently than if we were playing with Excel, Haywire or No For An Answer. Just another show. When other hardcore bands were really pushing the “posi” stuff, we splashed a big fat negative sign across the front of our 7”. When other bands made fun of us for being metal and dressing like slobs, we dubbed them “the enemy” and named our LP after them. We played with Inside Out once and Vic scrawled “I am Soul” across his chest with a big black marker. So, not to be outdone, I came out with “I am DEATH” across mine. Stupid, but slightly funny in an obnoxious teenager kind of way. I guess. Maybe not…I had absolutely no beef with Vic or anyone else for that matter – none of us did

. We just liked being different, stirring things up and doing our own thing. I think the LP reflects that mindset.


While Headfirst was still going strong, you also became a member of 411. Both bands released full lengths and went on tours at around the same time. How were you able to pull off being in two very active bands at the same time?


Well I didn’t really have a whole lot else going on. My job was complete

ly disposable and I was sort of in school, but only part time and only half-assed. That was what I did, it was how I identified myself. I was in bands and that was all I was. If I could have toured more and done more shows I absolutely would have. At least at that time, later on I had that chance and chose to stay at home.


411 became very popular and very quickly in 1991, even opening a sold out Fugazi show that year at the 4000 capacity Palladium in Hollywood, California at a time when it was unheard of for an O.C. band who'd been together less than a year to play at such a big venue. What was that whole experience like?


Well, that’s the result of having O’Mahony as the vocalist. Had we had any other singer we would never have been in that spot. And, had Dan been in any other band, that band would have been where 411 was. It wasn’t because we were fucking amazing or anything, it’s because Dan was very connected in the scene at the time and he was fantastic at marketing himself and whatever project he was involved with. To be fair, Dan is a hard, HARD worker when it comes to his projec

ts. I mean, say what you will about the guy, he followed through on everything he ever set his mind to. I wish, even now, that I was that capable. And he had built a pretty solid “fanbase” for himself through NFAA and Carry Nation. Those were great, great HC records. And though I felt like he suffered from verbal diarrhea a bit too often in between songs, there’s no denying that he could hold the attention of any audience.

But your question was around what it was like and I have to say, I never really felt like we were all that special. Meaning that I considered 411 to be just another band in the scene. I do rem

ember going to Zed Records once with a girl I was sort-of dating and when we got back in the car she said that it was weird to watch everyone in the store stare at me and whisper stuff like “that’s the guy from 411”. I remember laughing at that because I just assumed she was fucking around but who knows? So I don’t know, I never really paid much attention to that. I just wanted us to be good live and put on a good show.

Unless you’re asking about the Fugazi show itself? If so, that was pretty scary. I don’t know if I looked at the audience once. It was way too big. But my sort-of girlfriend was impressed.


Having been a member of Headfirst, 411, Triggerman and Mission Impossible, you have the dubious honor of being in more Workshed Records bands than Dan O'Mahony, the label's founder. Is that just a coincidence or was there something about the Workshed bands that compelled you to pull quadruple duty in them?


Hmmm. I’m going to go with coincidence. I think it was more around the fact that the OC scene was pretty insular so we all knew each other. Mission Impossible were from Irvine which is where I went to high school, so when they needed a fill-in drummer, I thought “fuck it, I’ve g

ot nothing better to do” because, well, I didn’t. I wasn’t a particularly big fan of Mission Impossible, I just didn’t do anything other than play and listen to music at that time. Now Triggerman I just liked a lot so when Popeye asked if I could fill in on drums I was more than happy to, but again, it’s just because we all knew each other. And I kind of missed playing drums actually.


Farside is your most well known and prolific band having released 3 full lengths,

two EPs and songs on scores of compilations as well as touring the U.S. and overseas several times in the '90s. Try to sum up that whole experience as best you can.


I am very proud of Farside, but if I were to sum it up . . . how about “could have done more”? That’s how I feel about it now. We could have done more, we could have really pursued the band harder and made more records, toured more, etc. etc. And let’s be clear - Bob and Chu definitely wanted to. Popeye and I were more interested in “real life” as we called it. We were ding dongs and kind of blew it. I guess. Maybe not, I’m pretty happy where I am at these days and with h

ow my life turned out.


You added a whole other dimension to Farside's overall sound. How would you describe what you brought to the table?


Well, I joined simply to fill in the gap they had when Rob left the band. They had already booked their European tour and there was no going back so they needed someone to fill in. 411 was dead at the time . . . I mean, that’s what I assumed. We came back from our second tour and never really spoke again. It was weird. Kind of like we knew the band was over, but no one actually said it and no one really cared. But I think when you tour twice on the same material – mmmmm that’s

a band that’s not doing much.

Headfirst was over and I was playing with Smile, but knew I wasn’t cutting it with them (they really needed a solid drummer and they found one in Scott) and was sort of drifting with nothing going on when I got the call from Popeye. I liked Farside, but wasn’t head over heels in love with them. I thought they were a little on the “wimpy” side to be 100% honest (I remember

Adam and Sam from Born Against once asking me if I was still playing with “The Bugs Bunny Band”), but I really wanted to be in a band with a strong vocalist. So I said I’d go to Europe with them mainly, because it was a free trip to Europe. And while over there I came to really like the guys and immediately saw the potential the band had and so I asked if I could stay on.

I like to think I brought the “beef” back to the band. Haha. I am a fan of harmony and catchy tunes, but I like them loud and thick sounding. Farside was, when they started, basically a hardcore band along the lines of Bad Religion or Descendents. And as they moved forward they started to get a little college rocky. I think Rochambeau is a good record, but like the Headfirst LP, it was a little ambitious and way too slick sounding. When I came in, I already had like 4 songs that wer

e written for 411, but that I knew Dan could never pull off. Not a knock on Dan, he just wasn’t as strong of a singer as he was a yeller.

Popeye had really wanted to get his songs out there, but nearly everything that people heard from Farside was written by Rob. When Rob left, that meant that all the new songs wer

e going to be coming from a new set of songwriters. I like to think I had something to do with the directional change Farside took, but the reality is more that my coming in coincided with a pretty substantial songwriting change that was the natural result of Rob’s departure.

There was a lot of “anything goes” in Farside. When I first mentioned that I had a couple songs to add and that I was interested in singing them, I was amazed at how open everyone was to the idea. That was new to me. And when we’d practice, we didn’t ever discard anything because it didn’t fit with our sound. To us, a song like “Bled” was just as good as a song like “Page”. That was refreshing too. I really liked being in that band. But like I said, I look back now and realize we had a lot more to offer.


Is there any possibility of you reissuing the Scrap LP (a collection of early Farside demos that Kevin released on his Comida Records label in the mid '90s) on CD and/or iTunes?


Me releasing it? Very doubtful. I have neither the time nor the interest. But if someone else wants to I’m not opposed as long as everyone who played on it is involved in the decision and

is fairly compensated. Which would be tough. I’m not sure how to track down Josh, Rob or even Zack anymore. Maybe Jordan is interested….hardee har har. And to be fair, it was released by myself and Bryan Chu. Bryan did most of the work.



In 1992, you got to fully spread your heavy metal wings when you played lead guitar on ICE's cover of Quiet Riot's "Metal Health" both in the studio and at a few ICE shows. Was this a dream come true for you? Why or why not?


Well, to be fair, my metal wings were in full flight before I even joined Headfirst. By the time I discovered punk rock in 1984 / 1985, I had a pretty sizeable record collection stacked with what was then called “thrash”. I also owned a red 1979 Pontiac Firebird with a personalized license plate that read “VRY MTL”. The proof fo

r that is on the actual CD of the 1996 EP Farside put out. So I was metal before anything else. And like I said, the first band I was ever in was called Cryonics in Memphis, TN, circa 1985/86. We played a few shows, but never recorded anything. And we were absolute garbage (as any band consisting of four 14 year olds would be). But what we lacked in talent we made up for in lyrics about zombies and Satan, and ridiculously fast songs (especially for 1986). We were totally aping Slayer, but shitty, one dimensional and totally centered around the E chord.

It’s cool to look back at that band though since the South really spawned a ton of great sludgy metal bands later on in the 90’s – Buzzoven, Eyehategod, His Hero is Gone etc. In fact, a couple of the Cryonics guys wound up in Adios Gringo who are really good. - http://www.myspace.com/adiosgringo


I'm aware of at least 3 side project bands of yours - God Forgot, Beatless and Chicanochrist. Tell us about those bands and any others as well.


Oh man, Chicanochrist. I love that record. The idea came from sitting around the kitchen table of the house I lived in back in 1990 or 91. Ron Martinez (Final Conflict) was pretty tight with the Econochrist dudes and had joked with Ben about how Econochrist should have been called Chicanochrist. At the same time, Brujeria had just put out their first 7” so Ron and I thought it would be funny to do a Mexican-American themed hardcore band that would be the opposite of Brujeria – songs about being good Catholics, about having clean clothes and lamenting the demise of carnitas. We got Mario from 411 involved and then Little Steve from Freebass to play bass. I was the token white dude which we stole from Walk Proud, hence the name “Casper”. We wrote and recorded the songs within like three days I think. Played one show in someone’s garage in Irvine and that was it. But it was a BLAST. And so cool to have done something with Ron and Little Steve.

Beatless was me killing time with a little money I had saved up. I had a couple songs I had written for 411, but that I didn’t think Dan would be able to sing. Again, no knock on Dan. In fact, I think it was more that I was interested in seeing if I could pull off the vocals. So I recorded two songs where I played everything and then sat on it for a few months. Drew, Headfirst’s do-everything guy, was interested in putting one of the songs on a comp he was putting out and the other song still lived only on my cassette. At one point I thought it might become a new band, but I wound up joining Farside and “Kill Me” became a Farside song. I don’t remember what the other song was called, but it wasn’t all that great anyway.

God Forgot I’d prefer to forget myself to be honest. Dan wanted to do something really “heavy” and hit me up to do it. So, again, I went in and recorded the music and played all of the instruments. A couple of those songs were original 411 songs. Not many people know that 411 was originally me, Dan, Josh and Vadim Rubin from Half Off (and ICE) on drums. The first few songs we wrote were very metal as we were aiming for a Neurosis type sound, but it wasn’t clicking. We shelved that for a while and then tried the more skate-punky, Government Issue approach that became 411. So, a couple of those were old leftover songs that didn’t work to begin with. Not exactly a winning formula.

Plus there was a lot of miscommunication regarding the project. Dan was living in Northern California and I never saw him or really spoke with him. At one point I had figured that the project was dead and thought it would be cool to have Chris Lohman from Blackspot and Collateral Damage go in and do vocals at which point someone told me they saw the record at Zed’s. So not only did I have no idea what the lyrics or vocals were like, I didn’t even know it was released. It was supposed to be put out by Dan, but wound up coming out on John Yates’ label, Allied. I was really, really disappointed in the whole package. The music sounded half-assed (because it was), the vocals were pretty wooden in my opinion, the lyrics felt kind of half-assed as well. And then there was that moaning and groaning on the slow track. Ugh, I was really not happy with that, hahaha. So, there you go. My opinion is that the whole thing feels forced and undeveloped. But that’s me. Dan may feel differently

Now, when recording the music for that, I also tracked a couple undeveloped riffs that became Farside songs – Silver Anniversary was one – as well as a Gary Numan song I was really excited about. I planned on going in a doing vocals for it just to see if it would work with Farside, but never did. Because I am lazy.



What are some of your favorite songs by all of your bands?


HeadfirstWhat I See from the second demo. Super simple, good hardcore song. Might be our least metal moment except for the guitar solo.

411 - Mmmm…I don’t know. I still like “The Naked Face” because it’s so simple.

Chicanochrist – “Fajitas”. For sure. Great song. But “Pethos” still cracks me up to this day. Watching Little Steve record those vocals was one of the highlights of my entire life. I’ve never seen anyone turn so red.

Farside - I really like Knox and I really like Better than Crying. I can’t listen to Turnip from the EP. Musically, I like it, but those guys should have forced Popeye to do the vocals and lyrics. Ugh, what a trainwreck that turned out to be. Hahaha.



As a musician and a songwriter, who are some of your primary influences and why?


Oh way too many to list. Every song I’ve ever heard influenced me in one way or another, even the ones I hated. So I will go with Hirax, Too Short and David Alan Coe.


Feel free to shamelessly plug any of your current musical and/or non-musical endeavors that you feel like plugging here.


I have no musical endeavors anymore. Popeye does, check out his stuff.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Posted by xCHIPxSEM |
So as most people know, Im a huge merch hound so naturally I went to Burning Fight with high hopes of picking up merch to add to my collection. I was genuinely disappointed in the lack of merch that the reuniting bands produced (most had none to speak of) but a few of the bands came through and heres what I scored. Shirts For a Cure was selling an Unbroken design but if no one told you it was Unbroken you wouldnt have been able to tell, so I didnt get that. I heard they are going to sell it on their site though so Im waiting on that.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Posted by xjustinx |

All 13 songs, and it sounds great.
http://www.mediafire.com/?mqvdyhd2wg0

Friday, May 8, 2009

Posted by xjustinx |

To make a long story short, my wife clearly loves me, because I got a surprise email yesterday with a flight itinerary to California for the show! If you see me there, please feel free to say hi.

Posted by xCHIPxSEM |
Once again, Jake Jacobs interviews one of the greats and brings us Jordan Cooper, co-founder of Revelation Records. While many can argue that Rev is much more of an 80's piece of hardcore history, Rev did release some great and important records in the 90s including releases from In My Eyes, Better Than a Thousand, Battery, Damnation AD, and Morning Again. I spoke to Jake and hes got some great stuff lined up so continue to check back...until then, heres Jordan Cooper


Let's first discuss the very successful recent Hardcore Reunion benefit s
how that took place at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, California on 3/22/09 and featured No For An Answer, a surprise performance by Carry Nation, A Chorus of Disapproval, Headfirst, Blackspot and ICE. Did you expect there to be such a big and enthusiastic crowd at this show? Why or why not?

That was a great show. I expected it to be a great show but what I didn't expect was that I wouldn't feel like such an old man the way I normally do at Chain Reaction.


Besides No For An Answer being on your Revelation Records label in the late '80s, how much involvement did you and Revelation have with the show?

None really. I think David "Igby" Sattani and Mike Hartsfield put it together, so that was as close as I got besides posting it on our website and going to the show.


Throughout the '90s, Revelation released a very wide variety of music. Besides liking the bands in question, why did you decide to put out records by so many different kinds of bands?

Aside from really liking the band, usually I knew someone in the band who I could talk to about doing a record or I knew one of their friends. Two exceptions to that were Sense Field and Shades Apart. One of them sent us a demo and the other one, I bought their demo and tracked them down to see if they would do a record with us.

You founded Crisis Records in the early '90s. Why did you find it necessary to create a whole other label?

Walter Schreifels from Gorilla Biscuits/Quicksand wanted to put out a record by Farside and another from Outface, so we started a label for them and then I had some other bands that were pretty far from what Rev was doing at that point and it seemed more fitting to put them out on a different label. Later on, Rob Moran from Unbroken was working at Rev and wanted to take the label over and put out some bands that he really liked, so that's when we started working with Shai Hulud and Will Haven and Chinchilla.

Even though Farside are technically not a hardcore band, they were very enthusiastically accepted by the vast majority of the hardcore scene in the '90s. Why do you think that is?

Actually, when their first 7" came out, I didn't think they were a hardcore band but by the time the album came out, I think my definition of hardcore had broadened a bit and they no longer seemed outside the genre. They were a great band, so a lot of people loved them regardless of what style category someone might put them in. We had part of a note that someone mailed to us posted on the wall for years, it said something like "PS: Farside may not be NYHC but they still kick ass! - The Management." We thought that was pretty funny but it does sum up how at least one person saw them.

During your 23 year career as owner and manager of Revelation, you've worked with major labels quite a bit. What has that experience been like?

We haven't quite made it to 23 years but I appreciate your confidence in the label. We actually haven't worked with major labels very much at all. The only real coordination we did with a major was when Sense Field signed to Warner Bros. Although almost everyone we talked to at Warner was cool and friendly, the result was not positive for Rev or the band in my opinion. The band's manager was pushing very heavily for Building to be sold to Warner but I didn't want that to happen. After that, their next album was never released by Warner and there was a long delay before they could get out of that contract and re-record the record for Nettwork. I wasn't involved in any other Rev band that went to a major that I can remember but most of them didn't have great experiences as far as I can remember. The only other thing we did a few times was press the vinyl version of a record that was coming out on CD through a major. Those usually were pretty simple and didn't have any problems.

In the late '90s, Revelation went back to it's roots somewhat and released albums by '80s style hardcore bands with former members of '80s hardcore bands in them (Better Than A Thousand and Speak Seven One Four to name a couple). Why?

Dan O'Mahony and Joe Foster did a band together which later became Speak Seven One Four. I've always liked what those guys did musically and lyrically, so I was interested in putting out their new band's records. Better Than A Thousand was Ray Cappo (who started Revelation with me) along with Ken Olden and some other guys who were great musicians,so that made sense to put out as well. I actually probably wasn't the person who found out about the band or even came up with the idea of putting it out on Rev but once it was presented to me as an option, I said yes.

What Revelation releases are you most proud of and why?

All of them have different things I like about them and different memories that go with them. I'm proud of all the records we've put out and all the bands we've had the honor of working with but since I never had anything to do with the music, it's hard to use that word for any sub-group of the whole. Personally, I'm proud of some of the things I did for these releases: the layout for the Warzone 7" and figuring out all the stuff to get the printing done etc., the final mix for the Slipknot 7" because the band couldn't get back to Don Fury's to do that, so I worked with Don and actually helped mix the record, the layout for Farside's Rigged, Engine Kid's Angel Wings and a few others.


Revelation has reissued many classic hardcore albums and released discographies by many classic hardcore bands. Why do you think that there is still such a demand for hardcore product in general?

Hardcore means a lot to a lot of people and even years later, sometimes a band's impact is still there for people.


It's my understanding that many record labels are ceasing production of CDs and only releasing records in digital and vinyl formats going forward. Are you planning on doing this with Revelation? Why or why not?

We are putting things out at a pretty slow pace these days, so it's hard to predict what people will want the next time we're releasing something.
What are your thoughts on '90s and 2000s hardcore bands not on Revelation?

That's a pretty broad question, so I don't know how I can answer it. There have always been bands that weren't on Rev that I liked a lot. In the past ten years, I haven't listened to a lot of newer hardcore, so it's hard to say anything about bands that have come out since then.


One final question - how do you feel about the most recent Chung King Can Suck It LP eBay auction's reserve price being $4,000?

It's insane to me but I'm not a big record collector. The entire album is on the Judge discography, so anyone who wants to hear it can get it.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Posted by xjustinx |
Jav has been kind enough to use us as the news breaker on this one. Suffice to say, I'm very excited to get my hands on this release:


My labor of love, pain, and ambition is finally drawing completion. This weekend, Disembodied puts the final touches on THE PSALM OF SHEOL, a collection of 14 songs. Some of these songs have only been available on vinyl, some on comps, and some have never been heard before. I had hoped to have the record out before the shows at Chain Reaction, but that seems improbable now. Expect a release in late June/ early July if all goes well.
The album will be packaged in a digipack cd. 666 copies will be pressed on vinyl, with 100 being in a special boxed set filled with goodies.
New and exclusive merch will be available at the Chain Reaction shows, as well as on www.hellfishfamily.com
Please check the blog for updates regularly. Also still looking for contributions. Thank you for allowing me to make this dream (or nightmare) come to life
Javier
http://ifgodonlyknew.blogspot.com


Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Posted by xCHIPxSEM |
Once again, Andrew "Jake" Jacobs comes through and brings us an interview with Joe Nelson, former member of Ignite, The Killing Flame, and Triggerman. Again, thanks to him for going above and beyond as well as Joe for taking the time to do the interview.

You were the original singer for the Orange County, California hardcore mainstay Ignite. Did you have any idea back in '93 when you joined Ignite that they would still be going strong 16 years later?

Ummmmmmmmm no, because I always looked at that band as a fun little side project for the short time that I was in it. Don’t get me wrong, I am super stoked for those dudes and they definitely have put in the work to get some success over in Germany and whatever they have here. I have also heard that they are either the biggest band or one of the top 6 or 7 biggest bands in Budapest, Hungary, which must be really fucking cool. Seriously though, Brett Rasmussen is still one of my good friends, so I love the fact that he’s still at it as we approach 40 years of age, or at least as I approach that age.


Many people in the hardcore scene consider the Ash Return demo and the Scarred For Life record to be Ignite's best work and in large part because of your vocals on both. What are your thoughts on that?

I would say they’re doing too many whippets, or sniffing too much glue, or maybe a combo of the two. That demo is God awful, it’s painful to listen to. I haven’t listened to it in at least 15 years. So maybe it’s not as bad as I think. However, I remember thinking it really, really blew once it was finished.

In our defense, we recorded it in Brett's apartment on a 4 track. That is an extremely difficult way to get a decent sound, since you are compressing all the drums into one track and then each instrument, including the vocals, gets one separate track. I’m sure we used Radio Shack quality mics as well. So for what it was, maybe it’s not so bad. Maybe in some ways, it’s like the Pet Sounds of hardcore 4 track recordings.

The funniest part of that era of Ignite, or my stint in it, is one night at some party in L.A., guitarist Joe Foster actually gave George Harrison of The Beatles a copy of that thing. I wonder what he thought of it? He must have been in a state of shock if he ever actually put it on and listened to it. He’s like, "wow I wrote songs like 'Eleanor Rigby', 'Blackbird', 'Sgt. Pepper', etc. times infinity and these blokes wrote some sort of noise called 'Ash Return'." Can you imagine?

As for Scarred For Life, it is what it is. Like I said before, I never took that band seriously. I didn’t write any songs except for the few songs you find on the first EP and probably about half of Call On My Brothers. To me, that thing is Zoli Teglas' and Brett’s band 100000%. I don’t consider myself a part of it in any way really. I’m sure Randy Johnson, the vocalist in between Zoli and myself, would have more of an opinion on Scarred For Life since he sings on most of it.


In the late '90s, you formed The Killing Flame with ex-Ignite guitarist Joe Foster. Like Ignite, The Killing Flame was a very '80s O.C. hardcore style band. Why did you decide to front another band similar to Ignite?

Whatever summer we formed that band, I was surfing a lot with Foster. We seriously were in the water 5 or 6 days a week for about 5 months straight. It was a really awesome time. Anyway, he had some songs left over from Speak 714 which were actually recorded. He also had about 10 unrecorded songs from some failed Unity reunion he was trying to “Ignite”, get it?

I thought the songs were pretty good for the most part. Like I said, that Speak stuff had already been recorded with Randy from Pennywise and some other dude, which I believe was Mark McKay (ex-Slapshot). I could be wrong on that one though. Basically, all I had to do was go into the studio and finish the vocals. Once again, it seemed like a fun little project to do. I think we banged out my contribution in two nights.

We called it The Killing Flame because it seemed like the perfect trilogy for Foster's hardcore life - Unity, Ignite and The Killing Flame. For those who don’t know, Ignite is a lyric in a Unity song called “Blood Days” and the end of the line is “The Killing Flame”. "I ignite… I ignite… I ignite… The Killing Flame”.

Neither one of us planned on doing a real band with The Killing Flame but soon enough, we were wasting our money at some $10 an hour rehearsal spot trying to learn those 10 unrecorded Unity songs and rounding out the line up to start playing live.

Getting Gavin Oglesby was a huge part of the equation for me. There’s no way that band would have made it past The Dream Dies EP if Gavin hadn’t taken the reigns and focused us on finishing the songs and adding some of his own songs into the mix. In the end, half of the Another Breath record are those old Unity songs and the other half are Gavin's, except for “Survival”, which was written by Chris Lisk during his 6 month sentence inside the band.


Another Breath, the first Killing Flame album, is literally a who's who of both '80s and '90s hardcore/punk talent. Some of the many people who appeared on it include Pat Dubar (Uniform Choice), Dan O'Mahony (No For An Answer), Alex Barreto (Chain of Strength), Popeye (Farside) and Brian Balchack (Eleven Thirty-Four). Why did you decide to pack the record with so many guest appearances?

I wanted it to be like a rap record in the sense that everyone was a part of it. I was hoping to make a record that had a true hardcore family feel to it. Getting Pat Dubar obviously seemed like a total coup to a lot of people. At the time, Dubar was so missing in action that nobody in hardcoreville had heard from him since Mind Funk. He really was a true friend and stand up dude to come in and sing on that record for Gavin and I. To be honest, I was actually the most stoked to get Tony from the Adolescents to be part of it. I know for both Gavin and I, that was our favorite guest star appearance. The Adolescents' "Blue” record is still one of the top 5 greatest punk records of all time.

Anyway, the point is I wanted to have everyone I could grab be part of that record. I also asked everyone from Mike Ness to Zach De La Rocha to be on it, so just think what it could have been like if I had locked down everyone I asked.


What are some of your favorite Killing Flame songs and why?

That’s hard. I’m sure like most dudes who are in bands, I don’t listen to my stuff or think like that. I think there are some good songs and some bad songs but I haven’t listened to any of the released Killing Flame stuff since before it was even released. I don’t even own a copy of the last two CDs, Another Breath and Nine More Lives.

To try and answer your question though, I will say that some of the unreleased stuff that’s coming out on the Double Cross site soon is pretty decent. There’s a song called “Welcome To Los Angeles” that I like and I feel is strong lyrically and performance-wise. There’s also another song called “Save Yourself" which I think is cool but maybe only because I say “Hail Satan” in the bridge.

I can also add this about The Killing Flame, which is I did feel that I was finally able to match the aggression of hardcore with real honest and heartfelt lyrics. This was coming from a person of 30 at the time too, which isn't easy. Writing lyrics that made sense was really difficult with Ignite as well, which is maybe why I blow it off so much. At the time, I was 23 or whatever and wasn’t pissed about much. I wasn’t’ being backstabbed by friends, the skinheads weren’t ruining the scene, I wasn’t angry that the kids in my high school were drinking or whatever. You know, the traditional hardcore lyrics. Therefore, I just kind of winged it for that band. Well, lyrically anyway.

However, with the Killing Flame and especially Another Breath, I really had some sincere rage to front the music with. I was extremely political at the time and I think it shows on that record. I was also consuming everything Chomsky, Vidal, Naomi Klein, Hermann, Bakunin, Zinn, Karl Marx, Mao, even Nietzsche. Their fingerprints are definitely on my lyrics and thoughts during that time.
Do you have any funny or interesting Killing Flame tour stories that you'd like to share?

The best thing I ever did with any band was a 2004 or 2005 tour of Brazil done with The Killing Flame. We were there for 3 weeks and just had an amazing adventure. We played several shows with this amazing band from Vitoria called Dead Fish. Imagine a faster Quicksand but sang all in Portuguese and you have Dead Fish. At the time, they were huge there, so the shows supporting them were great.

The shows were all crazy, It felt like a tour of the U.S. in the '80s, just total Wild West type stuff. The biggest show was a festival in Belo Horizonte where we played in front of 10,000 people. The two shows in Sao Paulo were at this sick club called Hangar 110. There is, or was, a half pipe next to the stage, so the whole time we’re playing, kids are skating next to you. There’s a video for the song “Nine More Lives” that was on MTV Brazil for a while compiled of those shows. You can probably find it on YouTube. We also played with The Lemonheads and the stories from hanging out with Evan Dando are all time classics but
nothing I can share on a blog.

When that tour was over, I remember the other dudes saying “oh man, we gotta play more shows”, which of course we did. However, for me, I was like “Why? It will never get better than this”.


Prior to both Ignite and The Killing Flame, you were the singer for Triggerman, which also included punk/hardcore album cover artist and former No For An Answer guitarist Gavin Oglesby. What was it like going from being a regular at NFAA shows to fronting a band with one of it's members less than two years later?

I knew Gavin before that band but he was such a quiet dude that we never really talked at shows except for a “what’s up?” nod maybe. I never really liked NFAA though. I thought they were way too serious, too preachy and kind of corny. I also was a Uniform Choice dude, so that song “About Face” bugged me. My crew and I even made sure when we were out fire extinguishing people in Huntington Beach to spray any dude we saw in a NFAA shirt, which probably happened only once but it still emphasizes my point on how little we respected that band.

However, after a while, I got to actually know Gavin and Dan O’Mahony better and became good friends with them. Both of those dudes are razor sharp and have a terrific sense of humor, which are really the only criteria on my friend application. Dan was probably even my best friend in the early '90s with Gavin being a close second.

Everyone knows of Gavin’s incredible art talent but I also feel he’s a pretty fucking talented guitar player. He would be the first to admit that he’s no Joe Satriani or even a Brian Balchack. However, Gavin definitely has a talent, for taking a basic chord progression and making it more dynamic. He’s not going to throw key changes at you BUT he’ll take that old bar chord and get more out of it than seems possible.


Triggerman generally got either a very positive or a very negative response from those people who heard it. Why do you think Triggerman illicited such extreme responses either way?

That was a weird time for music for me. We were all pretty much over hardcore when we started that band, or at least I was. I don’t mean over it in the sense that we thought the newer hardcore bands were lame or hardcore in general was lame, I just mean that we were in our early 20s and going to college or whatever. To me, hardcore was a young man's world. The feelings you experience as an adolescent get so amplified in the arena of hardcore. The music and the words really speak to you during that time in your life. So by the time I was in Triggerman, I never listened to hardcore at all. I was a huge fan of post-hardcore stuff like Jawbox, Girls Against Boys, Fugazi, Pavement, Superchunk, etc., plus I was constantly listening to The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Smiths and Joy Division, etc. It obviously shows in the style of music Triggerman was and also comes across in the lyrics. Triggerman lyrics are gloom and doom, man. They are extremely fucking depressing, which is funny because I didn’t consider myself a depressed person back then. I also think that I wasn’t spiritually aligned with hardcore during those years, nor was the band. That definitely brought on a dichotomy at our live shows.

The flip side of that coin is all of our ties were to hardcore. Whether we still felt connected to it or not as young men, we were still in that arena. We also wouldn’t have been able to play shows in front of more than 10 people at some lame Hollywood bar if it weren’t for our connections to hardcore. Bands like Sensefield just broke from that mold and did it 100% their own way, which is such a credit to those dudes. We were more chicken shit, or maybe prideful, to build up our following from the ground up like that.

However, no matter how anybody felt about that band, Triggerman was a great time in my life. I was either touring with Quicksand, working the door at some Hollywood club or playing in Triggerman with bands like Wool, Farside, early Pennywise, early Offspring, Into Another, Quicksand, Down By Law, Insted, Gorilla Biscuits, CIV, Shelter, Inside Out, early Green Day, Gameface, 411, Chorus, Strife, Headfirst, etc. and it really doesn’t get much better than that for a dude in his early 20s.


Prior to your stints in all 3 bands mentioned above, you roadied for the '80s hardcore band Insted and the '90s post-hardcore band Quicksand. What were those experiences like?

I was touring with Quicksand smack dab in the middle of my Triggerman and Ignite days. Those were amazing times. Thousands of stories. The stories from touring with Anthrax and White Zombie alone would take weeks to re-tell. I was also on the first Warped Tour for a bit, which was like being in a traveling zoo. Every time I run into a dude from the first Warped, we just about die laughing at how insane that tour was.

Touring is touring though. Anyone who’s ever done it in any capacity has thousands of amazing memories and stories. I toured with bands like Rage Against The Machine and No Doubt but the experience and the feeling was the same, more or less, as when I toured with Insted or Gorilla Biscuits.

You and a bunch of other dudes in the O.C. Sloth Crew recorded a rap for Insted's 1990 album What We Believe that was ultimately not used. Discuss that.

I don’t know where you heard that one. I know we all did backups and there were lots of funny outtakes on that record that never saw the light of day, but I don’t remember a rap per say.


How did you become a contributor to the Radio Silence hardcore book that came out last year?

Anthony is a friend. I had been talking to him for a long time about that book, even when it was just an idea inside his bearded little head. I think it was even called something else for a long time. Anyway, when the time came to round up California people to be interviewed for it, he called and I helped him out. That’s a great book, by the way. I recommend picking it up if you’re at all interested in '80s hardcore,

As a writer, who or what are some of your influences?

The answer is Satan for both.


Feel free to shamelessly plug any of your current musical and/or non-musical endeavors that you feel like plugging here.

I got nothing for you. That’s not my style. (bottom photo taken by David “Igby” Sattani)