Tags Matching: cleveland

INMATES – A-holes Unanimous LP

By cooch | Published 10/01/2010

More from mnl_studios… he ain’t just sellin NYHC.

OK, I gotta admit I’m partial to this LP because I put it out. My friend Mike originally released it around 2002, but he only did 300 so a few years later we (Painkiller) took his stampers and did another 900 LP, with 600 black and 300 pink marble.

This LP is a total scorcher, with 18 tracks of early-US-meets-UK82-hardcore bliss. And for all you Norman Coremans out there, you get 3/5 of the For Those Who Fear Tomorrow era Integrity lineup, and a member of Meanstreak (!). I played a show with them once at a bowling alley in the Clevo burbs, and pretty much anything that wasn’t bolted down was flying during their set — bowling balls, paint, garbage barrels, broomsticks — you name it.

I saw these guys play a couple of weekends ago in NYC, their 3rd and 2nd to last shows ever, and they f’n killed it both times. Coincidentally their last show ever is tonight in New Orleans, kind of a weird place to send it off but whatever!

H100s Dismantle 7″

By cooch | Published 07/28/2010

One of the best hardcore 7″s of the 90s… definitely in my top 5, and maybe even top 3 depending on the weather. They played about half a dozen club-destroying shows, released another couple of eps, and then self destructed and reformed with a different singer as 9 Shocks Terror. More proof that Cleveland churned out a large chunk of the good hardcore in America during the dismal 90′s.

First press here w/ big 45 hole and screened cover, 500 made. DRRRRRRRRUGSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!

Voice Of Thousands comp LP

By cooch | Published 07/05/2010

One more comp for this evening… the Voice Of Thousands on Conversion Records. Again on the Cleveland tip, this has good tracks from Integrity, Face Value and Force Of Habit. The rest is stuff I really don’t care much for these days (so much 90′s stuff has NOT aged well), though the Refuse song is cool youthful hardcore. They were Seattle’s answer to Crippled Youth and went on to form Undertow.

The highlight of this comp for me though is the Force Of Habit track, which features a pre-Ringworm Human Furnace and Frank 3-Gun. This is their only studio recorded track, and according to Frank they only ever played a couple of backyard party type shows (which I believe at least one of exists on video). The dark metal stylings of the ‘Worm hadn’t set in yet, and this one’s a good straightforward hardcore track in the early Integrity vein. If they had recorded a full demo or a record, I think it would probably sound a lot like For Those Who Fear Tomorrow.

Currently at a measly $2! Do yourself a favor and bid, and throw some money my friend Lui B‘s way.

Clevo comp #2 – They Pelted Us With Rocks and Garbage

By cooch | Published 07/05/2010

This fine slab, They Pelted Us With Rocks And Garbage, makes an excellent companion to the New Hope LP posted below, for the Cleveland hardcore completest.

This was released in 1985 by Negative Print fanzine, and isn’t necessarily a straight-up punk comp — the A-side is heavy on the hardcore, featuring the Dark, The Guns, The Offbeats and the ever-fucked up sounding Spike In Vain, but the B-side is mostly college/alt rocky and some gothy stuff (but don’t let that scare you off). The Dark’s “Fire In The Church” is a great track that alternates between tortured plodding and mid-tempo chug, and the Guns do their finest Ruts impersonation with “Your Mistake”, which is a bit more metallic sounding than their tracks on The New Hope, but a great cut none the less. I believe the Guns track is taken from their aborted LP session, which I’ve heard was to be released on Toxic Shock but fell through for some reason. It was bootlegged in the late 90′s on the end of Bowel’s Rotten Fecal Duct CD on Victory.

Again, like The New Hope, this is a cool regional comp of bands that didn’t receive a lot of outside exposure. Between these two LP’s, you can have the complete vinyl output of the Guns and the Dark. Grab it now while it’s cheap.

Clevo comp #1 – The New Hope

By cooch | Published 07/05/2010

When it comes to Cleveland hardcore, everyone seems to know about the 90′s to present bands like Integrity, Ringworm, 9 Shocks Terror, Imates, etc, but there isn’t much talk about the early 80′s hardcore scene. So here we have The New Hope comp LP, from 1983 outta Cleveland. It features a bunch of RAGING bands that rarely get their just due, since this LP doesn’t turn up much and very few of the bands made proper records. The Guns lead the comp off with two absolutely ripping tracks, reminding me of Urban Waste with a slightly smaller cloud of fuzz. The band was only a 2-man unit with guitar and drums, and they were only 12–13 years old, but they completely blew me away on the first listen and still blow me away whenever I throw this platter on. Drummer Dave Araca later played in Integrity (see Palm Sunday live LP) but tragically passed away of a brain aneurysm in 1994. Singer/guitarist Scott Eakin went on to play drums for Stepsister with his brother Tom Dark (who released this LP) and Tony Erba of Face Value/9 Shocks Terror fame, but also tragically passed away young, of a heart attack in 2007. RIP.

After the Guns, you get more killer tracks from The Dark and The Agitated (both fast hc ragers), Spike In Vain and Outerwear (f’d up noisy stuff), The Offbeats (funny HC a-la AOD), Zero Defex (0DFX) and more. As far as I know, only Starvation Army, the Offbeats and Spike In Vain ever had proper records, so this comp is a great document of one of the more off-the-radar “regional” scenes of the early 80′s. The Agitated and 0DFX had their demos pressed to 7″ in recent years, and both are worth tracking down. Both the Dark and the Guns recorded for LPs that were never released for some reason or another, though the Dark sessions are available on CD from Grand Theft Audio and the Guns material should be available soon on CD from Smog Veil Records.

Grab this now while it’s cheap, it doesn’t come up much!

CONFRONT – Payday 7″

By cooch | Published 05/17/2010

Straight edge HARD core… what a great genre of music. Judge, Confront, Brotherhood, etc etc. I could listen to this stuff all day every day and not get tired of it.

Here’s the original Dark Empire pressing of Confront’s first and only record (not counting comp tracks). I think there were just 1000 copies made, with some oddball colors here and there. Maybe 500, I’m not totally sure. Either way this record doesn’t turn up much on any color, so get bidding while the bidding’s cheap ($2.99 cheap at the moment).

Gordon Solie Motherfuckers 7″

By cooch | Published 04/12/2010

This record came out around ’98 at a point where I thought hardcore was really starting to suck. I ordered it on a whim from Vacuum Distro (RIP), who described it something like “Tony Erba from Face Value’s new band, fast lo-fi hardcore with songs about wrestling”, and when I received it I was totally blown away when I dropped the needle. The distro description was pretty on-point, this was some really raw shit. Songs about wrestling, condemnation of shitty moshcore bands, conspiracy theories and other stuff most bands of the day weren’t singing about. At the time it was really refreshing to hear a good blast of no-frills, fast hardcore that didn’t take itself too seriously.

I only saw these guys twice. Some highlights:

Chicago Fest 2001
1. Anything in the building that was not tied down was flying through the air. Chairs, trash barrels, tables, bodies, etc etc. Close Call and Think I Care drove 17 hours each way to Chicago only to have the show shut down by the cops after GSMF played, which was right before we were supposed to play. We still got paid $300. Shark Attack got a police escort out of Chicago.
2. Felix Havoc yelling FUCK OFF PIG! to a cop and then jumping out a window of the hall, directly into another group of cops waiting outside.
3. Erba crowning Jay Scheller over the head with a folding chair. After the show he said to me, “I think I got hit with one of those garbage barrels that were flying around” as he rubbed his head. LOL

Last show – see photo essay below.

MIDNIGHT – Farewell To Hell 10″ + 7″

By cooch | Published 04/08/2010

The absolute BEST current metal band going, proving once again that Cleveland is one of the greatest music-producing cities in the world. If you’re in to Venom, Motorhead, Bathory, or anything remotely along those lines, you NEED to own this record. These guys kill it on record and they put on a tremendous live show that is entertaining on all fronts.

As for the wax – this came out about a year ago, and this die hard* version comes on clear wax with a poster and a 1-song picture disc 7″ that contains an exclusive track not available elsewhere (and it might even be the best song of the release.) Only 200 of these were made and they sold out immediately, so don’t miss it again. The opening bid might look high but it’s only a few dollars more than what this record cost new.

*That’s metal-speak for “limited edition”