Tags Matching: boston punk

General Foodz

By cooch | Published 03/09/2011

A few heavy hitters up this week from what77fuk.

General Foodz’s first and only 7″ is one of the rarer Boston area punk singles, as most stuff on Destiny Records was pressed in extremely small quantities. Destiny was actually a studio where you paid one lump sum to record and have your record pressed, and as such their releases range from punk to hippy rock to soul and everything in between. Anyways… this 7″ is a great slice of thugged up biker punk, and members went on to form the criminally underrated PTL Klub. And if you’re a fan of current north-of-Boston hardcore, Hammer Bros singer Jim Death is the son of General Foodz/PTL Klub singer Doctor Death.

Funny side story: I was at PTL Klub’s first reunion show in the late 90s in Boston, and also on the bill were Nunslaughter and Anal Cunt. At some point during PTL’s set, the PTL merch guy (who looked like Lenny from the Simpsons) thought the guitarist from AC was trying to steal a shirt from the table, and jumped over and grabbed him by the hair and started yelling JUST WAIT TILL DOCTOR DEATH GETS OVER HERE, HE’S GONNA FUCKIN KILL YOU!!! over and over at him while he wrenched him around by the hair. I was standing next to the guitar player of Nunslaughter (the dude from the og lineup of One Life Crew that isn’t Blaze) and we were both just losing our shit laughing. I don’t think the good Doctor ever gave AC guy his promised beating though.

Don’t call me The Creeper

By cooch | Published 03/01/2011

Ahh, the pride of Dorchestah, Mass… Unnatural Axe. I’ve posted this gem up here in the past, but I’d like to reiterate that these guys still play harder and more energetic live than 90% of current hardcore bands.

Varulven released the original ep back in ’78 in a scant pressing of 500, but enough people around town seemed to hold on to their copies, so it’s not too tough to track down. Four tracks of tough teen angst surrounded by the best fuzz guitar tone on a punk record ever.

The Axe released this posthumous ep around 1993 with recordings from 1979, with “Tonight We Fight” being my favorite track by them. The b-side of this record was recorded live at MassArt, it’s cool that they’ve been a steady spot for punk shows for the past 30+ years.

Just Head cause I’m in a rush…

By cooch | Published 10/07/2010

Some cool dude out of Boston is selling a bunch of crud on ebay, and this one’s the crown jewel…

IMHO this is the greatest American (and Bostonian) punk 45 ever released, just edging out the 2nd and 3rd Pagans singles. Both sides are killer stuff — driving punk with a real wild edge that they never really replicated on their other releases.

No one knows for sure how many of these sleeves were made, but common assumption is somewhere around 100 or 200, with the rest of the pressing issued sleeveless. I remember passing one of these for $350 about 6-7 years ago, and the price has steadily climbed up to the $700-800 range since then (and since then I ended up with 3 copes :) ).

BOY’S LIFE vs. OUTLETS split 7″ (boston punk v.5)

By cooch | Published 04/16/2010

Early (1980) release on Modern Method before the hardcore onslaught that hit a couple years later. Both sides are poppy, garagey punk, with the Outlets winning out with their classic cut “Knock Me Down Again”, which is said to be the song that inspired slam dancing in Boston. They even have a few songs (not on this record though) that were in the proto-hardcore vein, which they still play live these days. As mentioned in the auction, Outlets drummer Walter Gustafson (any relation to Stand Hard?) went on to join Gang Green (who he still currently plays with) and the Freeze, and the guy is one of the best and fastest hardcore drummers I have ever seen play. Also Springa from SSD was the Outlets roadie, so it’s cool to see where some of these old HC freaks got their start.

UNNATURAL AXE – They Saved Hitler’s Brain 7″ (Boston punk vol.4)

By cooch | Published 03/10/2010

OK here’s the second best Boston punk record ever*, I’ve been patiently waiting for a copy of this to come up so I could post about it.

This was released back in 1978 in a minuscule pressing of just 500 copies, by the infamous Varulven Records. Hailing from Dorchester, MA, the one thing I always liked about a lot this band is they seem like total townie knuckleheads, as opposed to your typical punk weirdos and art-shcool rejects… I mean, what other punk record from 1978 has a the band’s frontman wearing a varsity jacket and aviators on the cover? This always seemed like a Boston phenomenon to me.

As for the tunes… four tracks of STUPID punk (the way I like it) with incredible fuzz guitar tone and song topics ranging from Hitler’s brain to scoping out BU girls to being the high school creep (based on a movie of the same title.) These guys are still around and play out a few times a year, and they still kick ass and blow away most bands that are half their age.

The BIN on this copy is a little high but the sleeve looks crispy mint (very atypical for this release), so someone should take the plunge.

*#1 = Nervous Eaters Just Head 7″

DMZ – Lift Up Your Hood 7″ (Boston punk vol.3)

By cooch | Published 03/05/2010

Another one of the earliest punk records coming out of Boston, circa 1977. This 4-song ep shows the band wearing their influences proudly on their sleeve, from the Stooges-esque riffing to the spot-on cover of the 13th Floor Elevators’ classic “You’re Gonna Miss Me.” After the release of this record, they got signed to Sire records and released an LP the next year, then broke up after the LP received little fanfare. Singer Jeff “Monoman” Conolly and 2 of the other members then formed the Lyres, who went on to longer lasting fame and fanfare playing 60′s style garage rock lead by Conolly’s signature organ playing.

IMO this is one of the best early punk released you can get for the price (typically under $15), as all four songs are catchy, hi-energy rockers. If you’re ever in Boston, stop by Looney Tunes Records on Boylston Street and say hi to the Monoman.

Side note: rumor has it that the weird silver domes on the cover of their Sire LP (google image search it) were originally huge mounds of coke, and Sire airbrushed them out to make the cover look more wholesome.

GROUND ZERO s/t 7″ (Boston punk vol.2)

By cooch | Published 02/28/2010

First of two great self-released 7″s by this Boston band, from 1979. They were mining a harder post punk sound but managed to squeeze in one total proto-hardcore ripper (“Nothing”, which was later comped on Killed By Death Vol. 12) on this 4-song platter. Check out “Nothing” here.

The sleeves for this record are real cool and ahead of their time—an intricate DIY job constructed out of photographic paper with color xerox sheets affixed to the front and back with thin colored tape, and sealed with a biohazard warning sticker. I always assumed someone in the band must have worked in a print shop or photo lab, based on the materials used and the fact that 7×14″ full color xerox copies must have cost a small fortune back in 1979. Unfortunately the photo paper inside the cover has a tendency to discolor the labels, and this copy is no exception. There’s also an alternate sleeve featuring a melted clock, but be prepared to shell out about five times the price in the unlikely event a copy turns up.

Pretty decent BIN price on this copy, and the condition is nice considering the materials used for the cover haven’t really stood the test of time.

REAL KIDS – first two records

By cooch | Published 02/26/2010

I decided to make a little theme for a few posts and put up some early Boston punk stuff—a little history lesson if you will. I have a huge collection of this stuff and some of it’s great and some is not so great, but I keep it all for completion’s sake and because I love this stupid city (even though I live across the river in the People’s Republic.)

So anyways, here are the first two releases by one of Boston’s finest, the Real Kids—their debut 7″ from 1977 and their first LP from 1978. These guys had been kicking around for a few years before releasing these records, with main man John Felice having already done a stint in the Modern Lovers in ’72 at the tender age of 15 and starting the Real Kids the next year (this early era is well-documented on a multitude of reissue LPs.) Their sound is more ’60′s than ’77, with a good dash of ’50′s rock and roll for good measure, but still decidedly “punk”—sort of like if Chuck Berry played on the first Ramones LP. Check out the LP title track here and decide for yourself. Pretty nice prices for both of these auctions, the 7″ would be a good buy under $40.

And for all the HC heads out there, the LP is being sold by a resident of Holliston, MA—home to Down But Not Out and the infamous Stretch Gayhole.