"THE RISE OF VEGAN STRAIGHT EDGE & EARTH CRISIS" / Excellent Documentary!

EARTH CRISIS "Firestorm" was monumental when it came out! There's no denying that. This dude did a good job with the documentary here. Get into it!

 

FURY "Failed Entertainment"

FURY's second full-length album "Failed Entertainment" was released on May 3, 2019. I've listened to it once & am going through it a second time to absorb it properly. I like it. It's good. It's hasn't grabbed me nearly as strongly as their first album, "Paramount" did. That's why I've got to absorb it & get familiar with it some more. In my mind, FURY can't top "Paramount"! That album was fresh & different. Though I do have a good feeling about this really taking root and growing on me and the hardcorepunk scene at large.

NO YOUTH promo/advance release 2016

This has got some TRAPPED UNDER ICE groove to it.  But it's also got me thinking of good D.R.I. at times.  I like this, it feels solid and I can't wait to hear more from them?  NO YOUTH!!

https://youtu.be/m2k1rb5lln4

HIT LIST "No Chance in Hell" 7" Record--

I guess this is one of those newer South Florida hardcore bands that have been popping up recently.  I'm not super keen on the vocals, but overall this is a great effort!!  xHIT LISTx

https://youtu.be/xPyYqqwlPc0

New Album From DISCREPANCY!!!

https://youngbloodrecords.bandcamp.com/album/discrepancy-thoughts-are-things

EMPATHY "Under The Lost Smile" // CURRENT "Coliseum" // DRIFT AGAIN 7" ~1990's Hardcore At Its Best

Remember those days. Size XXL FALLING FORWARD shirts, Krishna choker beads, fanzines bound with yarn, vegan brownies, and back packs in the pit...Ahhh, the lost days of original hardcore. Cute hardcore chicks with barretts in their hair, bleach blond bowl cuts (on the guys!), and endless ideas screamed with naive wide eyes! Where is everyone?
 

Culture "Oath" [Vegan Straightedge Hardcore from the 1990's]

Probably my favorite CULTURE song ever!!

Warning!: Excellent Midwest Hardcore Here ~ Expire "Abyss"

"I never wanted this. I'm really sorry Ms. I pulled you down with me, into the abyss!"

 

Video: "411" Live in Long Beach, CA 1991 // Dan O. from NO FOR AN ANSWER & CARRY NATION -- Super Rare Footage

Great full show from 411 around the "This Isn't Me" album / tour back in 1991!! Pretty rare stuff actually, considering there's just not a lot of live 411 on YouTube -- or anywhere else on the interwebz for that matter.  In case you didn't know, Dan O'Mahoney, the singer of 411, also sang in NO FOR AN ANSWER, CARRY NATION, SPEAK 714, GOD FORGOT, and more recently another band whose name escapes me at this moment. He also wrote an excellent column for MRR (Maximum Rock-n-Roll) fanzine during, I believe, the late 90's thru early 90's. Or maybe early to mid 90's. I've always loved Dan's vocal delivery, and for the most part, his lyrical content.  Dan O. is no longer straightedge, and he owns a bar/club somewhere in Cali.  Regardless, he's still a solid guy in my book (though admittedly I've never met him & don't know him --I just feel like I do through his music and his well written monthly articles from MRR) and a hardcore punkrock legend of sorts. 
This video (and many, many great others like it) were recently uploaded to YT via a great new channel called "Come Join Friends."  Lots of awesome 80's/90's hardcorepunk like SHELTER, YOUTH OF TODAY, GORILLA BISCUITS, INSIDE OUT, and several other Revelation Records bands and straightedge stuff.  Subscribe to their channel to keep abreast of their new (old) videos on YT and get into it!! -Always Use Love, m//r.
 

"Youth Youth Youth" Three Videos Including the Entire "Sin" 12" LP

One of my favorite Canadian hardcore bands from the mid 1980's!!
 

FRAIL "Make Your Own Noise" // Real Emotional Hardcore aka "Emo"

FRAIL were a fantastic emotion hardcore, aka "emo" band from Pennsylvania, who
were active in the early to mid 90's.  I never got to see them that I recall.
I had three of their 7" records released on: Earthwell Recs, Kidney Room Recs, 
and Bloodlink Recs.  Later on, maybe in '99 or so, Scott Beiben of Bloodlink
Records released all of FRAIL's music onto one convenient CD format.
"Make Your Own Noise" is the name of it.
FRAIL play very loose, chaotic, jangly political hardcore.  If you guessed
that they were on the far left of the political spectrum, you'd guess correctly.
Polar opposite of my political beliefs, but a fantastic band nonetheless.
This music is emotionally drenched hardcore punk.  Not the tough guy kind 
of hardcore, but the introspective political type.  Well done.  I forgot what the
members went on to do afterwards, but I think one of the dudes played in gothic
influenced post-hardcore band, INK & DAGGER.  They released something on 
Initial Records, formerly out of West Bloomfield, MI but relocated to Louisville,
Ky, run by the talented business man Andy Rich.  Initial Recs are the folks who
put on 'Krazy Fest' every summer during the late 90's / early '00's.





 

EARTH CRISIS "To Ashes" (I'd Call it "Firestorm II" --Let Every Meth-lab BURN!)

Great video, great story. Watch it all the way through. Read the headlines. Figure it out. Get into it. Ask yourself, "What would YOU do?!"

 

FIRST BLOOD "Killafornia" 2006 Album!

"They drew first blood, not fuckin' me!!"  Such a great and underrated album.  I bought it as soon as it hit the stores, and jammed it non-stop for a month.  Great, great, great record!!

CHAIN OF STRENGTH "True Till Death" circa 1988 [Full 7" ep] & Live at Destroy LA Fest 2013

Original 7" record. Sounds like it IS ripped straight from the vinyl! Meaning it sounds fkn great! I never got too into this band when they were around. In fact I think the first time I heard them was on the Revelation Records "In Flight" CD sampler they were sending out for free, back in 1995 or so. Watching the COS reunion shows video's over the past year has been great! (That sentence doesn't sound grammatically correct.) Certainly odd to see guys in their mid-40's still tearing things up, straightedge hardcore style. I'm gonna post the live at Destroy LA Fest 2013 video here. I love the drummer & the fully sound he gives the band. A different take on the simple hardcore beat.


     

STRIFE "One Truth" A Classic Hardcore Record!!

Here we have for your listening pleasure, "One Truth" the instantly classic record put out by STRIFE in 1993 or '94. Man, I can totally remember ordering this via snail-mail (c'mon, there was no online shopping, Ebay, Amazon, etc back then. I put about $10 cash in an envelope, sent it to Victory Records in Chicago, and waited patiently for the record to arrive. Back then, mail order was 'hit-or-miss.' Not that there was a good chance of getting ripped off (but that DID happen fat too often, unfortunately), but more like having your records, 'zines, books, sweat shirts, etc, taking weeks or even months or more to arrive on your door step. Victory was a pretty big & busy company by this point. With the releases of STRIFE, SNAPCASE, & EARTH CRISIS records, Tony Victory was on top of the metallic, straightedge, vegan, scene. Anyways, about "One Truth." I came home from work one night around 1:00a.m. and saw a package from Victory, and I knew it the new STRIFE record and maybe the WORLD'S COLLIDE 7" and some other gems. Ran up three flights of stairs post haste, and carefully laid the record on the turntable. The record itself was on an awesome looking swirly colored vinyl, really thick with a great smell. (I always smell my new records and their sleeves! Does this make me a weirdo? Nah, I just wanna use all my senses when buying new shit. The sleeve itself was a gatefold, with sweet looking, hi-quality artwork, and most certainly very glossy & professional looking. But the music: WOW! I was fuckin' blown away & instantly in love with these kids. I think up to this point I owned the "My Fire Burns On" 7" from them, as well as a rare, limited run of the "Mandel Can Suck It" record. Nice. I still love me some STRIFE!! The new record is the tits, plain & simple. Finally, in 1994 I got to see them (twice) at the "A New Hope Hardcore Fest" in Madison Wisconsin. It was a great show and a great fest all around. I have so many comparable stories... 

INTEGRITY "Always Is Always Forever" DVD // Pure Genius--

I have ALWAYS been a huuuge fan of INTEGRITY! I believe it was 1991 or '92 when I first heard their album, "For Those Who Fear Tomorrow" released by Overkill Records, I think, a decidedly heavy metal label. Far from the DIY, small, vegan & straightedge labels that were really just beginning to flourish at this time. Heck, even Victory Records only had a handful--less than a dozen--releases at this point. (more later....stopping mid thought as usual. Have some things to attend to at the moment...)

BUS PASS "Demo 2005" I Love This!! // RISKY BUSINESS, DRUG X TEST

Pulled this demo tape out of my boxes at my mama's house & I have been jamming it regularly in the car's tape deck!! Haha, yes, the car is THAT old! This demo still rocks! And I'm pretty sure these kids were Canadian! (I say "were" because I know they've long since broken up.) Along with DRUG X TEST & RISKY BUSINESS, they've stood the test of time. Get into it f00ls!!

 

SLAPSHOT "Insomnia" Get into it! ~

From the most hated SLAPSHOT album, "Unconsciousness" produced by the almighty Steve Albini.  Albini was, of course, the genius behind BIG BLACK, RAPEMAN, and SHELLAC.  He also played in PEGBOY for a bit. PEGBOY is ex-NAKED RAYGUN, of course.  Well this SLAPSHOT album does have a few gems on it, but "Insomnia" is not one of them.  It is an Ok song though.   Mos def weird for this "straightedge hardcore" powerhouse to write these kind of songs. Enjoy! m//r


 

Hardcore: Love It Or Leave It--

Great quote here.  Stolen from the Radio Silence site--

______________________________________

In the late 1960s, two bands hailing from Michigan laid the groundwork for punk. The Motor City Five and The Stooges aren’t the center ring on punk’s tree, but they stand as the most recognizable starting point. Both bands’ revved-up version of the blues garnered attention, major label deals, and devout fans, but the landscape wasn’t yet ripe for a revolution. Ultimately, a shitload of heroin and the typical cast of clueless suits caused both bands to end prematurely.

And while wearing swastikas for shock value, disrespecting the Royal Family, and displaying a disdain for anything considered “normal” was punk’s calling card, its roots remained firmly in the streets of New York, the art scene of Los Angeles, and London fashion; places totally foreign to kids in suburban America. As romantic as it was to be a starving artist living like shit in New York City most kids just fucking hated their parents and liked to light fires in the woods.

As punk migrated to the suburbs the sound and attitude changed. Something snapped in American culture; kids who loved the speed and fuck you attitude of punk took hold of its spirit, got rid of the “live fast, die young” bullshit and made a revision: hardcore. It wasn’t a direct fuck you to punk’s aesthetic and sound, hardcore was moving too fast to give a shit. With an actor elected as President and a defense initiative named after Star Wars, the decade was as dire as it was absurd. Cocaine was huge, AIDS surfaced as global epidemic, and the suburbs were really fucking boring. Hardcore’s direct and naïve stood out as the most honest commentary put to music at the time.

- Anthony Pappalardo, Instinct and Attitude: The Art of Necessity

EMBASSY self-titled LP (More Excellent 90's Hardcore!)

Like the DOWNCAST records I also posted, this is 90's emotional hardcore (aka "emo") at it's finest! So much was great about that era of music & camaraderie in punk. I can't even adequately explain it most of the time. It's just a feeling that I'll always have with me. Now THAT sounds emo! m//r