SOUNDCHECK
Maybe 1996 will be remembered as the year we real-
ized punk really is dead. If the Sex Pistols reunion wasn't
enough evidence, listen to the "new" Bad Brains
album, which is actually the band's first studio recording.
from 1979. They recorded all of the songs straight
through, using a four-track. And the drummer had to play
in a closet. Some of the songs will be familiar from other
recorded versions. Because of that, I thought this would
just be interesting to collectors, but I was wrong. Black
Dots is the history of punk rock. Bad Brains managed to
shift from Olde English style to the invention of hardcore
in one afternoon! And the drummer was in a closet!
Almost all of these songs erupt with a ferocity that should
make Trent Reznor hide under his bed. I would use the
term "flogging a dead horse" to describe the current
state of punk, but the Sex Pistols already used it-in
1978-DBH Do It Yourself: Bob Mould is once again
setting the standard in DIY ethos with his not-so-recent-
ly released self-titled solo album. Mould, who is the for-
mer frontman of seminal early '80s hardcore/punk band
Hüsker Dü, is certainly no stranger to the notion of get-
ting things done on his own. The legend was able to one-
up the competition on this one as he not only played all
the instruments-guitar, drums,
bass, and vocals-but designed
the artwork as well. And why.
after a successful three-year run
with the power-pop trio Sugar
(which disbanded in early '95),
did Mould opt to lean so heavily
on his own devices? "I really
wanted to work on showing
people the songwriting side of it
instead of the performance side
or the image side. Last year I
highlights the "top" four-
songs of each band's set.
Strife comes out swinging with
"To An End" and covers Even
Score's "The Essence." Sadly,
however, neither the anthem
like "What Will Remain" nor
anything else from One
band that has
LET'S G
BOWLING
only released two albums in the last ten years,
Fresno, CA's Let's Go Bowling has managed to retain a
huge following. Their fans can usually be seen dancing
their way into oblivion far beyond the reaches of the dance
floor area. Paul Miskulin, Darren Fletcher, and Adam Lee
share some further observations about their current audience
plus a few words about their latest release, Mr Twist.
What type of kids do you see at your shows nowadays?
Paul: The mods and the skins still come see us, but they
only make up about 10-20%, Now we have a lot more
skaters and snowboarders
Darren: We've always had an integrated crowd from
day one, and dancing has always been consistent. We
try to write music that would bring people out there and
usually say on stage, "Give everybody space to dance
and no bad vibes.
Why did you choose "Spy Market" for the video?
Adam: That's the one everybody seemed to have the most visual thoughts on out of
all the tunes on the album.
Truth is included.
Snapcase impress with
"Incarnation" and "Filter"
complete with sing-alongs
Meanwhile, Earth Crisis do
their eco-shtick, scoring
points (and hardline con-
verts?) with the scorching
"Firestorm". I can't
decide which I like more, the
new Anti-Matter compilation
or its liner notes. As a
fanzine, Anti-Matter was excep-
tional, easily rising to the top of
the mass cut-and-paste revolution.
And the compilation is just as good.
With previously unreleased or hard-to-
find tracks from Quicksand, Supertouch,
108, Snapcase, Undertow, and
Quicksand Mouthpiece, among others, this is a
really didn't want to go through the ordeal of rounding up
a bunch of players and spending months working out
songs that were completely finished in my head."
Mould is presently in the middle of a solo-acoustic tour
of the US in hopes of shedding some more light on the
Rykodisc release which hit stores last April. He was a bit
apprehensive about playing at all in '96, but has slowly
warmed up to the idea. "Once I did a couple of dates, it
was like, 'Ah, this isn't so bad.' If I can just figure out a
way to keep it from feeling like a tour with a band, I'll be
really happy." Now that's punk-JK... The California
Takeover is more California screaming than California
dreaming, but it certainly does not disappoint. Recorded
live at the Whiskey A Go Go in April, Los Angeles natives
Strife hosted upstate New
York's Earth Crisis and
Snapcase in an edge-
fest for all times. With I
excellent sound qual
ity, Takeover
Developed
originally from the
Jamaican slams in the 1960s to
the
Toasters
address socio-political concerns during
lamaica's independence from Britain, ska music
has since paved the way for a slew of modern day third
wave bands. At the forefront of such an endeavorare New
York's Toasters, who have dedicated the last decade to keeping the ska
What made you decide to make the majority of Mr Twist instrumental and why is this
only the second release after all this time
Adam: It was just easier for us to write those type of songs because we
get frustrated when we write these great instrumentals left and right
and then have to fight on vocal tunes a little bit more. Also, we're
really influenced by The Skatalites, who only had solo artists
do their vocals. As far as the album, we aren't going to
make bad music in our eyes. We take some time and
work on our tunes and would rather put out a
good album every five years than a
crappy one every two.
must-have. Favorites are Lifetime's "Theme
Song For A New Brunswick Basement Show."
Farside's "Moral Straightjacket," and
Outspoken's "Spark." The disc's insert is
packed with snippets of interviews from the
"zine (which ran from the winter of '93
through the summer of '95), pictures, and
some personal writings from publisher, Norm
Arenas-JE... Jeru The Damaja has finally
dropped his second album, Wrath Of The
Math. Although the record is most definitely worth the
purchase, its two previously released tracks and songs
that cover well-worn topics made me feel as if I'd heard
it all before. "Revenge of the Prophet" and "Physical
Stamina are obvious continuations of "Can't Stop the
Prophet" and "Mental Stamina," while "Me and the
Papes is an update/clarification of "The Bitches." Jeru
is no doubt a dope rhymer, but what really is incredible
on this album is the work of DJ Premier. Beat-wise, he
always gives Jeru the pick of the litter. Not to jock him
gratuitously, but Premier does for the
sampler what Hendrix did for the gui-
tar-754... Sublime returns again with
its third and ultimately last full-length
scene alive. Recently returning from a tour of Europe in support of their latest
record, Hard Band For Dead, they have now embarked on a tour of the US. Taking
a moment to school us on the paths the music has taken throughout the years is
Tretman and ska historian, Beck aka Robert Hingley, who also leads into his
reasons for forming The Toasters is the first place
album due to singer/guitarist Brad
Nowell's death.
Produced by Paul
Leary of the
Butthole Surfers,
the self-titled disc
definitely does not
disappoint. The punk-influenced track
"Same in the End" is one
worth repeating more
than a few times, and
while the ska-
influenced single
"What I Got" is a
little played out,
"Ska has always been a working-class music, which explains why the
skinhead element was attached to it and why it was like a working-class
movement in the two-tone era back in the 70s. Reggae sprung out in the
late 60s with acts like Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley, who started out
as ska singers, then the rock-steady rhythm went into reggae.
Two tone bands were more punk rock colliding with reggae, which
was a harder, more aggressive sound to ska created by bands like
The Specials, who were a bunch of angry kids. I moved to New York in
1980 from England and went to see The Engine Beat at Roseland
Ballroom and was flabbergasted because there was nobody there.
In England, I guess two-tone had just peaked, but the fact that
92
hardly anybody over here in the US was even aware of that
was mind-blowing to me. When I realized I was
going to stay here for a while, we
assembled the New York ska
heads and The Toasters have
been kicking ever since."
I couldn't help
but give it the
twice over.
though you
might need to
skip a few
tracks here and
there, this disc
would definitely
be good to
bring on a first
date, for it won't
let you down...
Do you ever find
yourself searching
record store
racks for that one
dise you know you could
put in your CD player and remain there for more than a
few days? Well, the answer's right here with
Hairball8/Cargo Record's latest punk compilation,
Keep The Beat, with new, old, and unreleased tracks
from Snuff, Down By Law, Lagwagon, No Use For A
Name, Big Drill Car, Odd Numbers, plus 16 other
bands. So, what are you waiting for? Get off your ass
and pick this shit up-LD...
Former Butt Trumpet bassplayer Bianca Wilson has
replaced Jason Thirsk, who died last summer by a self-
inflicted gunshot wound, in Humble Gods. The full-
length on Hollywood Records (with Thirsk playing bass)
was released in October, at which time the band, with
Wilson, hit the road for many months of touring. Keep an
eye out for them, they're an incredible classic punk band
... Another band to keep an eye out for is Kiss It
Goodbye, made up of members from Rorschach, Die-116
and Deadguy. The band
Fishbone
recently linked a deal with
Revelation Records and
moved from the New York
City area to Seattle where
they are recording their first
album. Look for it in late
February-early March-MW...
It's bad enough that
Fishbone's Norwood Fisher
and John Hunt were
attacked with pepper-spray
for no apparent reason by a
club bouncer in Dallas, TX, last summer, but Hunt also
had to nearly get assaulted by a mugger that same night.
Then, to add insult to injury, vocalist Angelo Moore
reportedly had to be detained for resisting arrest with-
out violence after his alleged attempts to rescue a fan
from security brutality at a recent show in Orlando, FL...
Backing Joey Ramone
for a studio track.
recently were the
members of 22 Jacks.
The song they were
working on, "I'll Be
With You Tonight." by
Cheap Trick will be
presented on a Cheap
Trick tribute album set 3
Joey Ramone
for release by Castle Rock Records in early '97... Tommy
Guerrero's jazzy break beat instrumental beats of san
francisco black sheep blues was released by New
Breed in late September. TG wrote, produced and
directed the entire EP except for the scratching on the
song "Architect," which was done by none other than
DJ Pause. Check for some material to show up on a
New Breed compilation currently in the works-JKH
T54: True 54 DBH: Darren Brady Harris LD: Lance Dalgart JE: Joseph Epstein
JKH: Jasmine K Huynh JK: Jordan Kurland MW: Morgan Walker
GET READY FOR
A STAR-STUDDED, RETION-PACKED
ROVENTURE IN SOUND!
BUTT-MEAD
BEAVIS
DO AMERICA
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
FEFLERING Isaac Hayes
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Cool J
White Zombie
Rancid with Stubborn All-Stars
Ozzy Osbourne
No Doubt
Madd Head
Butthole Surfers
Southern Culture On The Skids
AC/DO
Engelbert Humperdinck
ENEENLIVE ELLE
MIRE SURVE
MUSIC SUPERVISEKS
MIKE SUCCE MERK KATES LEWIS LARGENT
BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA OPENS IN THEAT THE DECEMBER
MORE KICKING
INDUSTRIAL
MORE KILLER
TECHNO
MORE FLAWLESS
ALTERNATIVE
ALL
NEW
!!!
MORTAL KOMBAT:
MORE KOMBAT
SEPULTURA SISTER MACHINE
GUN • GOD LIVES UNDERWATER
BABYLON ZOO KILLING JOKE
JUNO REACTOR CRAWLSPACE
PSYKOSONIK GUDRUN GUT
CHEMLAB THE CRYSTAL METHOD
ALIEN FACTORY CUBANATE
LOADED G//Z/R
ITIVIT
AVAILABLE AT RECORD STORES EVERYWHERE OR
CONTACT: TVT SOUNDTRAX, 23 EAST 4TH STREET, NY, NY 10003
TEL 212.979.6410 FAX 212.979.6489 www.tvtrecords.com