New / old music

From time to time you'll be talking to a friend about the greatness of (insert band name here) and realize that your friend has not even heard them before. Conversation usually goes something like this:

Dude #1 - "Man, Walk Together Rock Together is my favorite 7 Seconds record."
Dude #2 - "Yeah, I've never listened to that record."
Dude #1 - "Get out of my car!" (Mind you, the car is still moving.) 
  
That is no different here at D.C. Sniper Headquarters. The newest band that I have not bothered to listen to over the years is Angry Samoans. I was told to check out their album "Back From Samoa" because it is "politically incorrect by today's standards, but funny and really tight musically." Well, that description had me intrigued. A quick Google search supplied me with the track listing for this album and I was floored. Songs like "Gas Chamber", "They Saved Hitler's Cock" and "Homo-sexual" stood out like a sore thumb. If these songs are considered to be funny, then I am in store for some crude ass humor.

Musically tight? Check. Politically incorrect? CHECK! Holy shit, I feel like I just got into my Delorean and traveled to the year 1985. I'm not going to lie and say that the lyrics aren't funny to me, because they are. On more than one song, I was laughing out loud at the sheer absurdity and all around silliness of their lyrics. "If Hitler's cock could start to talk, It would say to kill today." That's just goofy, but it made me laugh. Songs like "Homo-sexual" and "Ballad Of Jerry Curlan" would be considered homophobic nowadays, to say the least, but I was singing along. "You Stupid Jerk" sounds like childish trash talk you would hear at the playground, but put to music. But my favorite song so far is "Lights Out".

This record is catchy as hell and I am now looking to get my hands on a good digital copy of it for my commutes to work. Come to think of it, who's more lame? Me, for not listening to this record all these years? Or him, for raving about this album, only to tell me that he doesn't have it in any format and that I can just listen to it on YouTube? Me thinks it's the latter.

D.C.S.

Second chance listen: New York Hardcore - Where The Wild Things Are

Before I go any further with this, let me just say that I like this record a lot. But...I only like the songs on the first side of this record along with the two songs by Sheer Terror on the second side. I see and hear people rave about this record as being so great, but I remember getting this record when it first came out and hating everything after Sheer Terror. (Except for the Gorilla Biscuits cover). In lieu of this, I have decided to give those songs another chance. Maybe I've been wrong about the greatness of this record. 

Let's start with Maximum Penalty. Not a big fan of the vocals, but I can hang with it for the most part. Musically, "Immaculate Conception" sounds ok. The guitar solo's are a bit much and the breakdown doesn't make me wanna mosh. "Hate" doesn't really do much for me at all. Quite frankly, it blows. This band sounds like so many of the New York bands that I hated in the 90's and even today.

Next up is Uppercut and "Down For The Count" actually doesn't sound bad. Definitely like the vocals on here. This is a lot better than I remember. The song kind of suffers at the end with the breakdown, but oh well. "Am I Clear" is their next tune and I am not digging it at all. Too long and just boring.

Norman Bates And The Showerheads is next on the docket and I like the name a lot. Points for creativity. Stupid name, but I like it. Kinda like Gorilla Biscuits. Their first of two is "Hellminded" and it's not bad. Nice tempo, vocals are good, musically tight. "Desperate" is another catchy tune that I can totally see myself listening to in the future.

Um, excuse me while I go turn off the tv. I think I just heard Jaime Lee Curtis scream in Halloween. Hmmm nope, tv is off. It's in the song! Interesting. I highly doubt it's the singer and I highly doubt that they got Tom Araya to do a guest vocal session for them. Now I wanna know what the song is about. I've now listened to this song three times in a row and I am loving it. Totally wrong about these two songs.

Final verdict, this album is not as overrated as I once thought. In my world, I would've never had Maximum Penalty or Uppercut on this record. That's four songs that could've gone to two far worthier bands. Maybe Agnostic Front? Warzone? Murphy's Law? Sick Of It All? Oh and Gorilla Biscuits being on this comp has always been weird to me. Just didn't seem to fit in and worse yet, they only got one song on it and it's a cover song! I like this album a little more than I did some 20 plus years ago. This is more than what the other half of the D.C. Sniper Team has to say about this record. Check out his take.

I liked the Buzzcocks cover by GB, but to be honest, the late 80's early 90's brand of NYHC didn't really float my boat (other than GB, Token Entry, Underdog, YOT). Never really liked the hard guy bands, and it seemed like a lot of it started with many of those bands. Or at least, that's when I started to take notice of it. I find nothing inspiring about those bands. They were always so negative. Not my thing as far as liking a genre of hardcore.

PS: I think my partner is crazy, because those songs by Outburst, Raw Deal, Life's Blood, Breakdown and Sheer Terror are nothing short of AMAZING. But, he's entitled to his opinion.

D.C.S.

Remembering Raybeez

Back in 1997, the hardcore scene lost a great ambassador. Raymond "Raybeez" Barbieri lost his life due to pneumonia, but his spirit still lives on. There were/are plenty of bands that promote a positive mental attitude, but in my opinion, no one did it like Raybeez. Whenever I think of Warzone, I think of unity, equality and a positive outlook. They did it in a cool way without sounding corny.

In any case, they left a lasting impression on the entire scene. Whether he was on the dance floor singing along with the crowd for the entire set or creating songs with lyrics like "United we stand, divided we fall, we gotta keep the faith." To just hanging out a hardcore show to make sure things didn't get out of hand. Raybeez was a big part of what was good within hardcore and people respected him for that. R.I.P. Raybeez

D.C.S.

Enjoy some Warzone today.

New record reviews

Recently, I went up to a record store in search of the Void LP that Dischord put out a while back and I finally got my hands on it! I'm sure most people have heard the Hit and Run demo's that have been floating around and if you like Void, then you know that those recordings needed to be cleaned up and made official because they fucking shred!

Void was one of those bands that was total chaos and could totally push you over the edge. And this record delivers that and more. I would say that this is their best recording. I love the split they did with The Faith, but this one seems a little more raw to me. A little faster and just all around explosive. I've always been a fan of John's vocals. His delivery sounds like a mental patient trying to escape the loony bin. Spastic, angry, moody and all around insane. But even with their chaotic sound, they could still have some fun in the middle of it all with a "yee haw" thrown into a song like "Go South."

I like the lay out of the record a lot because it has some cool photo's I've never seen before. Ian gives his thoughts and an abbreviated history of the band on the back of the jacket. And there's a couple of live tracks added at the end. According to Ian's notes, the last song is possibly the last song they ever played live. My only complaint about the record is that there are was no lyric sheet for it. I would love to know the lyrics to these songs, but oh well. Won't stop me from enjoying it.  

I decided to buy a couple of records from a couple of bands I knew almost nothing about. Just do it the way we used to before there was Amazon or Itunes or the internet in general, to give us a preview. I purchased the Sectarian Violence s/t 7" and the WarXGames 9 trax / No Nightmare 7"

Let's start with WarXGames. These guys hail from Charm City (that's Baltimore, for those of you that don't know) and they come out swinging! WOW! It starts out with an instrumental that goes into a song called "Into Dust" and I almost shit my pants at the awesomeness that was coming through my speakers. Holy shit, that song by itself had me sold. They've got a sound that reminds me of Infest, but a little faster. They're fucking intense! Music is short and to the point and the lyrics range from thoughts of suicide and depression to all around darkness within.

I'm not familiar with any of the guys in the band, so I'm not sure if they're in any others. Regardless, they sound amazing. Real tight with their instruments and vocals. One can only hope that they're going to be around for a while. REACT! Records put out this masterpiece and I am stoked to hear some more from these guys. 

Next up is the Sectarian Violence s/t 7" and I got it because I saw that Nicktape is singing for them. If you don't know who he is, then you're missing out on the greatness that is Coke Bust. Apparently, he is in this band with a few guys from the U.K. and Sweden. Don't know who they are, but I am glad that they came together for this band. I was hoping for something good, but I didn't want Coke Bust 2.0

I am totally digging this record. 6 songs that kick ass! I dig the lyrics and the music is straight up HARDCORE! "No Regard" and "Self Destruct" are easily my stand out favorites on here, but all the songs will make you want to go off. I like Nick's vocals, but if I didn't already know that he was the singer, I might not have guessed that he sang for this band. He sounds just a little different on here. Can't put my finger on it. Anyway, do yourself a favor and get this if you haven't already. You won't regret it. Grave Mistake records just keeps putting out records from some awesome bands. Props to that label. 

D.C.S.