By Mike La Vella
Over the last seven years,
Tom Hazelmeyer has churned amazing things
out of his home base in Minneapolis, Minneso
ta. Besides playing in Hala of Flies, the U-Men,
and now Gearjammer, Hazelmeyer is founding
father of Amphetamine Reptile Records.
Though the label has grown into a substantial
and respectable independent. Tom says it was
originally created as an outlet for Halo of Flies.
"I never even considered doing a label to put
out other peoples' records," he says. "I had a
tape and I knew better than to try to send it out
to labels to sign us."
After AmRep released the first three Halo of
Flies singles, Tom met Steve Turner (now of
Mudhoney) through John Bigley of the U-men.
"I started hanging out with Steve after he got
kicked out of Green River." Hazelmeyer says.
"He played me a tape of the Thrown-Ups and I
thought it was hilarious. I was just starting to
get money back from distributors for Halo of
Flies, so I asked Steve if I could put it out. That
is actually the point where it started becoming
a label. It wasn't really a conscious decision,
it was more like I knew no one else would
ever put it out."
Among the bands currently in the AmRep
stable are the bombastic New York noise mak-
ers Helmet, the sometimes scary God Bullies,
Chicago's tightest Tar, the psychedelic punk
rock of Vertigo, brat-rockers Surgery, Minneso-
ta backwoods psychos Cows, the New York
supergroup Boss Hog, Australia's Cosmic Psy
chos and, of course, Halo of Flies. Also notable
is the continuing Dope Guns and Fucking in
the Streets series of 7' Eps, which have fea-
tured Mudhoney, the Dwarves, Tad, the
Melvins and, most recently, Jonestown. Anoth
er recent project is the AmRep Research and
Development Series of 7" picture discs, the
first two being the Crow from Seattle, Wash-
ington, and Hammerhead who hail from Min-
neapolis, Minnesota.
Despite AmRep's burgeoning catalog, get-
ting groups to sign with the label has never
been a problem for Hazelmeyer. "All the bands
either had one single out or nothing," he says.
"So everyone was just as hungry to get stuff
out as I was to put it in." I
By Mike Gitter
"I've seen your repulsion
and it looks real good on you,"
cereenhes Hole cinger Court-
heg Lowe. Hole is three women
and one guy from L.A. who
don't play music so much at
use it to express pain-a dunk
well of rage, hurt and fructra-
tion that aims to sing and can
only enarl. Their debut
album, Pretty on the Incide,
(produced by Sonic Youth
bassist Kim Garden) is loaded
with emotions. "Teenage
Whore" and "Good Sister/Bad
Sister" might have started out
ac pretty pop songe but turned
vicious and ugly under the
weight of Courtney and Eric
Erlandson's guitars along with
bassist Jill Emery and drum-
mar Caroline Rue's primal
grind. Deep inside Hole's
cruch of sound a sincere
frailty remains.
Hole
"We're the kind of band that
sucks you in in a feminine,
lunar way, says Courtney.
"There's insanity and stabill-
ty, ugliness and beauty. Holo
Is about real strength and real
vulnerability, total self-
examination and catharsis. It !
didn't have this, I would proba Grateful Dead. Courtney's a
bly be crazy."
At twenty-four, Courtney
has had a history that justifies
Hole's twisted growl. At fif-
teen, she was the singer for
Faith No More and her father
was a road manager for the
peared in two Alex Cox films,
Sid & Nancy and Straight to
Hell. She's been a stripper and
plaged in an early version of
Babes in Toyland. Courtney
Love now lives in Hollywood,
an empty noon wasteland and
a place of Infinite Inspiration.
"I live in the home of the
corporate ogre, she laughs,
"and I am going to give it in-
curable syphilie."
Hole formad two years ago
and have toured at home and
abroad opening for the likes of
Mudhoney and Nirvana. In
England, they call out wherey-
er they play and look set to
grab the U.S. by the collar and
give it a firm shaking, "So far
there hasn't been a lot of
precedents set by females in
rock, Courtney says. "There
aren't a lot of role models-
most of them just imitate
what man did. The women in
this band are coming from a
different viewpoint. After so
much white male posturing in
rock, what's more Interesting
is getting the female perspec-
the acrocs while being totally
fierce and aggressive.
By Mike Gitter
*Is George Bush's America
any different than Joseph
Goebbels Germany?" asks
C.O.C vocalist Karl Agell."
don't think so. Take on expres-
sion like New World Order,
take out World and what do
you got? The New Order was
Hitler's grand scheme."
Long time hardcore veter-
ans, C.O.C. Iwith guitarist
Woody Weatherman and
drummer Reed Mullin, new-
comers Agell, Phil Swisher on
bass and Pepper Keenan on
guitar) are back after a two-
year hiatus, still railing angrily
against the complacency of
their fellow mon. "Remember
the sixties? Remember all the
great strides towards free-
dom?" questions Agell. "Forget
about all of that. You can't
speak your mind without
being branded a traitor. We're
caught up in a good ol' boy
network, a conservative bull
shit society." CO.C. formed in
1982 in Raleigh, North Carol
na. They established them-
selves as one of
the first and most important
hardcore/metal cross-breeds
with two albums and one Ep to
their credit. Growing up in the
shadows of Jesse Helms and
Klonsmen, political anger and
activism has always been part
of Corrosion's seditious brow
But never so loudly and pow-
erfully enunciated as on Blind
Corrosion of
core's wall-of-noise with walls
of feedback, riffs falling like
steel rain, adrenaline, tension
and political rhetoric laced with
venom worthy of the Corrosion
on album of Conformity monicker
that finds
them reploc-
ing thrash-
+onformity
1 got more out of Black Sab
bath records than a hundred
punk rock bands," says Woody
"Punk was speaking to a very
narrow audience. Sabbath
was speaking to everyone.
That's why you can put on Vol.
4 and it still sounds as fresh as
a did years ago."
C.O.C.'s anti-complacency
screams echo Sabbath classics
like "War Pigs." Ozzy was
singing about during the
height of the Vietnam war
CO.C. are ranting and raving
in for more sinister times.
"Big Brother isn't watching us
these days, we're watching
him, says Karl. "CO.C's main
concem is exorcising that bit of
blindness from all of us." I
U
N
D
S