This is another band that I loved back in the day and have recently rediscovered, but don’t know squat about. When I clicked around a bit to find some info about the band I didn’t get very far, which is probably due to the fact that “Pittbull” (even with the extra “t” and combinations of other hardcore-specific words) is not a good search term to google. Plus I get bored easily. So you’ll have to do with a link to the grainy images on LastFM and the tidbit that they were from Detroit, which is somewhat fitting because they remind me a lot of a metal-influenced version of Negative Approach. The main reason for that comparison is the unearthly growl that the singer has, which reminds me a lot of N.A.’s John Brannon (who on a completely unrelated side note is currently fronting another great dirty rock band called Easy Action).
While unsuccessfully combing the internets for some more info on this here little band I saw that you can also dl this and all other Pittbull releases on the fantastic Zer blog. Those later records are actually all really good, too, and maybe in some aspects even better than this self-titled debut, but for sentimental reasons I still like this release (1991 on Nemesis) best and I don’t find myself listening to those other records as often.
You can also still buy a “best of” (no, actually it’s called “the very worst of Pittbull”, ha, ha, so clever, what will they think of next?) from surpriseattackrecords.
If you don’t know it already, I am a real sucker for NYHC. Between this compilation here and Blackout’s “Where the wild things are” all the great Non-Revelation bands of the golden age of NYHC are covered. While “Where the wild things are” showcased mostly the harder and/or more metal-sounding bands like Sheer Terror, Maximum Penalty, or Uppercut, “Look at all the children now” leans more towards the “alternative” side of the spectrum. Maybe I am saying this mostly because this record was released by Sam McPheeters of Born Against fame on his Evacuate Records (EVAC #1, 1990), and some of the bands featured here were part of the ABC No Rio scene. But while most of the songs thankfully are not of the “you, me, youth crew” variety (with the exception of Team Effort’s cheesy “t.e.”), most of the songs are actually also not particularly politically charged.
(UPDATE: Looks like you can't trust everything you read on the internet... Apparently, Sam McPheeters did not release this record, but rather another Sam, Sam Fisher (or "Sam Evac" , which you know, makes sense... but who's keeping score, anyway, huh?)
On here you will find several quite well known bands like Rorschach, Citizen's Arrest, GO! and Moondog (Walter Schreifels’ brief project between Gorilla Biscuits and Quicksand), and a bunch of really solid bands like Bad Trip, S.F.A. and Yuppicide that never really got their dues. Finally there are number of lesser known bands like Word Discrimination, Bugout Society, or Team Effort that round out (read “drag down”) this compilation.
Some of these songs weren’t so great to begin with but others really stood the test of time. Anyway, overall it is good non-youth crew NYHC and you should take this opportunity to take a stroll down memory lane.
As a side note: I always liked the less raspy, more hardcore voice of Rorschach’s Charles Maggio better on those alternative versions of songs that made it on compilations like the Forever 7” or this one here. I am certainly in the vast minority on this one, but it needed to be said; so there you have it!
“VOICEBOX - Silence Lies (Workshed): One-off project with Dan O'Mahony (ex-No For An Answer) and Chuck Treece (ex-Underdog) . Bad Brains influenced rock, with surprisingly versatile vocals from Mr. O'Mahony. Powerful and soulful.”
I guess in HC circles this indeed passes as soulful. It’s a little gem of a record that most guys my age probably already know (bring on the reminiscin’…). This is mid-tempo, post-hardcore with a searing guitar and introspective lyrics. And given that it involves Dan O’Mahoney and was released shortly before the 411 LP came out, not surprisingly a lot of the things that I wrote below on the 411 post apply here as well. I have often heard this derided by hard-line apostles of the SxE church and of the Dan O’Mahoney canon in particular, probably because it is a lot slower and not as “hard” as NFAA (well, probably because it is not NFAA, period). As much as I like NFAA, and without taking anything away from them, I always liked O’Mahoney’s later bands and projects better. Most of them were musically and lyrically more varied (you know, not so preachy and a bit more personal – “mature” is probably the word I am looking for). This 7" leapfrogs most of these later bands in that regard, too, because it features the great guitar work of Chuck Treece. Anyway, in my opinion these 2 songs here hold up really well, and it’s too bad that this is all that these guys recorded together. And if you can’t tell by the title of this post, my favorite part is when Dan O' cues Chuck for his guitar solo on "Cold Inside".
The little that I know about SKENE! records (or learned from various sources on the Interwebs) I have already divulged on the Dog Tired and Shades Apart posts below. This comp came out in 1990 and provides an (incomplete) overview of some of the great emo/punk-rock bands from the Midwest that released 7inches on SKENE!, plus a few bands that were probably included for their value of name recognition (e.g. Green Day and GO!). The record suffers a bit from the very uneven production of the individual songs. There are also a few filler tracks (the instrumental "Means" by Sticks and Stones or the Beef Trust song), but overall this is a very solid and diverse comp featuring a couple of bands that went on to (much) bigger things (Green Day; Fuel), and some that did not get much recognition, but which actually contribute some of the better songs on this record (Angry Son; Dog Tired; Walt Mink, Gneissmaker). Good stuff and (at the very least) a nice document of the post-hardcore/emo sound of the late 80s.
A couple of days ago someone (AdamBomb) left me a comment on the Shades Apart - Neon post, mentioning that he had rips of several other SKENE! EPs, which he was willing to share. Today he sent me the links to said records and one of them was for this great 7" by Dog Tired. This came out in 1989 as SKENE! #7 and is one of my all-time favorite emo records. Here are 4 songs that alternate between intense emotion and headbobbing rock, all tied together with a good dose of melody. What I always liked most though was the singer's unique nasal voice and his under the breath delivery - it's very emo, but it fits very well and comes across as sincere (plus you know the standards were different 20 years ago...). Unfortunately, I have absolutely no background information about this band. They had another 7", which as far as I remember wasn't quite as interesting and varied as this one. In any case, I have been rocking this thing out all day and thought I should share my joy with the 3 other people in the world who might remember this. Big props to AdamBomb for hooking me up with this!
UPDATE: AdamBomb just started his own blog. So if you are looking for more old SKENE! stuff (I know I am) I suggest to head over there and ask him nicely, maybe he will upload some more stuff - he already started with "The People's Court" and "Awake". Also, I found the great SKENE! comp "Can you break through" on Soulseek the other day. If I have a few minutes I'll upload that one, too.
The great cover of the “Tamped Concrete” 7inch tells you everything you need to know: This is music from skateboarding (or bouncy-ball hopping, or whatever that thing is on the back cover…) straight-edge kids who love Metal and have fun with it. So it is metal-core from a time (1989) before that genre really took off. Plus, for additional novelty these guys are from Germany and that is probably the only reason why I know about them. And now you can, too. 7 Inch Boots were from Mühlheim, a.d. Ruhr, which isn’t too far from where I used to live. If my memory serves me well (and that’s not something that I would rely on) they were associated with, or at least friends with this small collective of people who published a vegan/political/straight-edge fanzine called “Think Again”. The “Think Again” people were a German version of what I imagine the Ebullition people must have been like: All very nice and righteous, and trying to save the planet by not exploiting honeybees and through various other grassroots movements.In any case, I would frequently bump into some of these guys from 7 Inch Boots at shows and I saw them play once or twice (I’d like to say that I saw them open for GO! on their European tour in ’91, but that is probably wrong).
And while this 7inch is very near and dear to my heart and brings back good memories, I am absolutely not posting this for the sentimental value alone. This is really powerful sludgy hardcore.
The second EP “3 Lieder für Bruce Lee” was recorded in 1991, but only released in 1995. Those 3 songs represent a clear progression towards even more sludge and they are more Melvins than hardcore. Not that that is a bad thing, but the intensity of these songs doesn’t reach that of “Tamped Concrete”. Still good, though.
As an interesting side note, the members of 7 Inch Boots would later go on to form Bohren & der Club of Gore (on LastFM). Bohren & der Club of Gore play an ambient, noir jazz, which I have heard described as “musicfor people for whom the Twin Peaks soundtrack is too hectic”. Yet, the band maintains a distinct dark “metal” aesthetic in their cover art and merchandise. If this kind of “doom jazz” is your thing, too, then you should definitely check them out. Bohren & der Club of Gore (official page). They are still around and apparently doing pretty well.
Anyway, check out these masterpieces of German mosh-core. And if for some strange coincidence you have anything to add about 7 Inch Boots, by all means please do!
I had thought about posting these 2 singles for a while, but for one I have been too busy and -more importantly- I don't really know anything about the band, which taken together would make for a very brief, impersonal post. But then today I saw that Buske over at An Attitude Exhumed was looking for these, so I figured 'what the hell, maybe there are other people who will enjoy these, too'. It's fast, pretty straightforward HC on Nemesis records, which should tell you everything you need to know. These 2 records came out in 1990 and 1991 as Nemesis #19 and #33, respectively; with the self-titled 7" that is pictured here being the earlier release. The music was probably a bit harder (bordering on cross-over in the vain of S.O.D.) than most HC that I was listening to at that time, which made this record stand out. Sadly, they also stood out with respect to the tough-guy image that they wanted to portray and some rather politically incorrect lyrics; particularly on "Intro/We don't owe you shit", which rails on people (Hispanics?) collecting welfare for being drunk and having multiple children and every other cliche that they could imagine. MaximumRockNRoll supposedly had a real beef with these guys for this shit. But since I never read MRR, I don't know whether that is true (i.e. if they ever bothered enough). So while the band's jock attitude might take away a bit of the listening pleasure the music is still quite enjoyable and you will probably want to check it out for the classic "Shit on minitrucks" alone. 'Nuff said. Oh yeah, the second record (for which I have no picture) is called Blacklisted! We won't be silenced. The Zip file contains the 2 singles separated in 2 folders, plus one extra song "Turning back".
Slapshot need no introduction. They put (Boston) HC “Back on the map”. Starting out with a very Oi-influenced sound they provided a blueprint for many bands that followed, both musically and with respect to the tough guy SxE image that they portrayed.
To me Slapshot are one of the very(!) few bands that actually only got better with time (or at least not worse – which says a lot). Sure, the early classics like "Step on it "and "Sudden Death Overtime" will always have a special place in my heart, but their later records like "16 Valve Hate" or "Digital Warfare" are just awesome in-your face HC, that make you want to smash something or someone.
So if you are a true Slapshot fan and/or some sort of HC completionist, who needs to collect everything, chances are that you already have this album. However, there seem to be few people who actually like this record, including the band itself.Slapshot’s official band page dismisses this EP that was released 1993 on the German “We Bite” label with 2 sentences:
“The band's next album, "Blast Furnace", took about 2 weeks to write and about 3 days to record, and the band members were sick of it before it even came out. However, that was album number one of a three-album deal - that's how the band saw it.”
So what’s wrong with this album? Nothing, I say. It’s just not the typical Slapshot sound that one had gotten to expect and which they seamlessly pick up again on their later releases.
Choke (Jack Kelly) is the only original member on this release, and for lack of better words it is an experimental album on which Slapshot ventures into heavy metal and maybe even grunge (it was the time, you know…).
The sound is rather slow and pounding in both drums and guitar riffs. However, it never drags on too much and is mostly quite catchy. “Wired” is a real stomper with a glam-rock beat, but also some Nine-inch Nails-inspired whirring sound effects. The song “Another Mistake” is an updated heavy version of “The same mistake”, which was originally included on “Step on it”. The title song Blast Furnace is one of my favorite Slapshot songs. It’s got all the aggression and intensity that you want in your Slapshot songs, but has a lot of things going on to keep it interesting.
Overall, the sound of this EP reminds me in many parts of Prong’s sound at that time (ca. Beg to Differ). Finally, the abundant sound samples (at least for a HC band) and movie excerpts that lead in and out of most of the songs add to the “experimental” feel of the record.
I like that kind of stuff, but clearly it’s not for everyone, particularly if you have strong preconceptions as to what a classic HC band has to sound like.
The Prediction-Error-Signal is a theoretical learning signal encoded by Dopamine neurons in the midbrain that informs the rest of the brain about a mismatchbetween expectancy and outcome. So there you go - How much you learn in life depends on how big the difference is between what you expected and what actually happened. - We only learn by making mistakes.
