Damaged City Fest 2014

Another year and another Damaged City Fest has come and gone. SR. Adult Crash Correspondent couldn't make it because of "family obligations" (he clearly doesn't have his priorities straight). But yours truly was there, front and center, diving and dancing. Ok, I was there, but I was doing no diving or dancing. This old timer watched the show from the safety of the back room.

I could only make it to Saturday's show because of family obligations (mine are more legit). The Flex (UK) might've been the biggest surprise for me that day. I've heard of them, but had yet to hear any of their music. And they sounded pretty fucking good! All I know is that the whole place went ape shit during their set. Bodies flying everywhere and the mosh was in full effect. Their set looked like something I would've watched a thousand times as a kid. So glad that I was no where near the front because there were stage dives a plenty. I actually ventured up front to get a short video of their set and I immediately retreated to the back of the place again. Crazy kids..

Another band that was pretty cool was Waste Management. Again, heard of them, but never heard them. I'm sure it's been said before, but the singer sounds exactly like Springa. Dead ringer. The band was badass. They have a power violence-ish type of sound and I love it. Don't know what they have out, but I'm looking. You can add another killer band from Massachusetts to the ever growing list.

Culo was at the fest again this year and they still don't do it for me. They didn't last year and they still don't this year. Having said that, I will say that the singers stage dives made me laugh. He looked like a torpedo diving into the crowd and I was convinced that he was gonna get back up on stage with a busted nose or something. Much like last year, they got a good response. Good for them. I may not dig their sound, but it seems like a lot of others do.

Give is a band that I've been wanting to check out for some time. I see people raving about them, but I've somehow managed to miss every show they've played in the D.C. area. Well, this year I got to see what all the hubbub was about and they were pretty good. Not what I expected at all. Kinda reminded me of Soulside and other old D.C. bands from the Revolution Summer days. In any case, they have a cool sound that I get into.

The two bands I really wanted to see on Saturday were the big hitters closing out the night. Boston Strangler and Infest. This was my first time seeing Boston Strangler live and they did not disappoint. Holy fucking shit were they awesome. I was loving every minute of their set and if there was a complaint to be made, it was that I wanted them to play a couple more songs. The crowd showed them the love they deserved and I can't wait for them to come back to town. Great band!

Been wanting to see Infest ever since they got back together and I can finally die happy. I've seen videos of their shows over the last year or so and they sound great. At Damaged City, it was no different. They belted out about 20 minutes worth of hits and the crowd ate it up. I was happy to see them get a good response. I can safely say that they are on a short list of bands doing reunion shows that sound good. Like, really fucking good. Much like Boston Strangler, I wish they could have played longer. But then again, I didn't want to be there all night long.

People watching:

One thing that struck me as odd at the show was all the disposable cameras I saw. It wasn't like I saw one or two. I probably saw like 20! First of all, those things are still being made? And since they're obviously still out there, who would want to use such an ancient piece of shit to take photos? You're better off taking a mental photograph, it would look better! I wonder if all those kids were using beepers too?

I also couldn't help but notice the two photographers on stage that could have easily been mistaken for extra members of each band that played that day. Now, I'm sure their fancy cameras were used to take some nice photos of the bands and the crowd, but did they have to set up shop at the front of the stage next to the band? Check out the video's I posted above and you'll see these two guys on the right side of the stage taking pictures. Any closer to the band and they might as well have been putting the mic out to the crowd for sing alongs!

All in all it was a great show in our nation's Capitol. Props to Nicktape, Chris Moore and whoever else helped them put on this fest. They run a tight ship and know how to keep things moving. If only more shows were this organized. Looking forward to next year.

D.C.S.

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine

The D.C. Sniper team loves the Dead Kennedys. They're easily one of the best bands in hardcore punk history. Top ten. Hands down. Their influence both musically and lyrically can still be felt in today's scene. After the demise of the DK's, Jello continued to make music with other bands like Lard, DOA and the Melvins. These days, he's in a band called Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine. And we had no idea...

I stumbled onto a song by them on YouTube and immediately sent a text to the other half of the team to give it a listen. The song was "Mid-East Peace Process" and it is fucking bad ass! That song alone should have anybody that is a Dead Kennedys fan giving his current band a chance. The song is from their second album called "White People and The Damage Done" and this album is fan-fucking-tastic.

It covers topics from Hollywood to Wall Street to road rage. It's one hit after another in my book. The cover, artwork on the insert, album title and lyrics are really creative and cool in my opinion. All things that made me love hardcore punk, and more specifically, the Dead Kennedys when I was a young lad. Now I just need to get my hands on their first album, "The Audacity Of Hype".

 

I have been listening to "White People And The Damage Done" non-stop for the last month or so. The same can't be said for the other half of the team. Or as he now wishes to be called, Senior Adult Crash Correspondent. I gave this slacker a free download code for this album WEEKS AGO. And as of this morning, he has yet to download the album. Conversation went something like this:

Me: You listen to that Jello album yet? Or have you been skipping the gym and getting fat?
Him: I've been playing softball 3x a week. Still haven't been to the gym. I'll try to listen to it this weekend, jagaloon.

Now who is the real jagaloon here? I already have the album on my iTunes and he has been sitting on a download code for the better part of two months! Total slacker if you ask me. By the way, who wants to clue us in on what a "jagaloon" is? We have no idea. But ever since that first This Is Hardcore video with Bad Luck 13, we've been calling each other jagaloons. Clearly, we're out of the loop. And immature...

D.C.S.

This Is Hardcore 2014

A little over a month ago, we posted an entry about a video that was made for the upcoming This Is Hardcore Fest in Philly. The classic WWF wrestling theme of the video made us laugh and worked well with the announcement that Bad Luck 13 was going to be getting back together for the show. (If you haven't seen the video, just scroll down a couple of entries.)

Then, Joe Hardcore and the gang put together another video...

This Is Hardcore 2014 Memegate scandal

Let me first say that we appreciate the creativity that he and everybody else involved put into making these videos. It's a breath of fresh air to see a show promoted in such a way. But this second video didn't do it for me. I understand what he was going for and can totally sympathize with him in regards to all these morons that are giving him a hard time about re-entry. But this went on and on like a bad
Family Guy bit. Maybe I'm losing my sense of humor in my old age? You be the judge.

D.C.S.

Night Birds "Born To Die In Suburbia" Official video

The Night Birds have an official video for "Born To Die In Suburbia". It is pretty bad ass for an already bad ass song. Do yourselves a favor and check it out.

D.C.S.

Parents and punk

Many moons ago, I was introduced to the greatness of the Misfits, Samhain and Danzig. I couldn't get enough of the music and got my hands on all things done by those bands. The artwork for records like Earth A.D. and Initium and was so cool to a young punk like me. Unfortunately, my mother didn't share my enthusiasm for this awesome artwork that went along with the righteous jams...

So one day, I come home from school and I'm ready to rock out to some records instead of doing homework. (Standard procedure for me back then.) I go up to my room and to my horror, I see bits and pieces of paper on my bed and on the floor. Now, I had a dog back then, so it was entirely possible that my pooch got into something and chewed it up. But my door was closed and unless my puppy developed opposable thumbs and turned my knob, there was no way that she got into my room.

After closer inspection, I see that it's not exactly paper. It was a cardboard-like paper that was black and white and had some pieces with words or just a couple of letters on them. Then it hit me. I had recently purchased the first Danzig video tape that had the interviews and music for the first record.

 

Imagine this ripped up in a million pieces on your bedroom floor.

I freak out and begin to question my family as to what happened to the cover and more importantly, what happened to the VHS tape inside of it? My old man just looked at me like "what the fuck are you talking about? Can't you see that I'm watching Three's Company?" I ask my siblings and they give me the standard "like I would go into your messy room!" Then I get to mama dukes...

Me: Mom! Do you know what happened to my VHS tape that is all shredded up in my room?! I can't find the tape either!

Mrs. I hate all cool things related to Danzig: You mean that satanic trash that you brought into my house!

Me: Whatever! What happened to it?!

Mrs. I hate all cool things related to Danzig: I went into your room to put your clothes away and saw that trash in your room and I ripped it up and threw the tape away.

Me: YOU DID WHAT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Mrs. I hate all cool things related to Danzig:  If I find anything else in this house like that, I am going to throw it away too!

Me: YOU OWE ME A NEW ONE! (In my infinite wisdom, I thought for a second, that she would actually feel bad and replace it. Then I remembered that she literally ripped up the box into a million pieces. She took her time with that thing. Kinda like Kevin Spacey's serial killer character in the movie "Seven".)

At the end of the day, I found my VHS tape in the trash with the tape ripped out and looking like a big ball of tumble weed ready to roll out of the garage. She never replaced the tape (obviously) and I made sure to hide my records that could meet the same fate. Could you imagine if she had found my Lucifuge LP with the upside down cross insert or my Dead Kennedy's - In God We Trust LP? Oof...

D.C.S.

TIHC NEWS

This is easily the coolest and most creative way to promote a show that I've ever seen. Or maybe I'm just showing my age because I know who the characters are? Check the video.

 

TIHC 2014

Wanna hear some digital demo's?

Check out this guys YouTube page. He has been uploading some pretty cool demo's that would be hard to find in digital formats. Enjoy.

Core Junkie's Demo Daze

D.C.S.

Breakdown - Running Scared Demo + Live WNYU

Been meaning to talk about this record since it came in the mail, but I got a little side tracked. Here we have, in all of it's glory, the Breakdown - Running Scared Demo on vinyl. This is something that needed to be put out in a proper way for quite some time.

The record comes with the demo, plus an unreleased version of "All I Ask" and "Hold Me Back", plus an awesome WNYU session. The insert has some cool pictures that I've never seen before along with a history of the band told by Jeff Perlin.

If you've already heard the tape before, then you already know the greatness of it. If you haven't? Then you need to find a way to get your hands on one of these records. By now, they're probably sold out everywhere. But it doesn't hurt to look around. The guys at Painkiller deserve props for putting this out, because it looks and sounds great.

My only complaint about this release is that there is no download code for the music. Come on?! Really? Thankfully, I have a decent digital copy of the demo and live tracks. With no download code, I feel like I got this record back in the summer of 1988!   

D.C.S.

Misfits reunion?

We would be psyched if this happened. The other half of the team has this to say about it.

The Misfits are such an iconic band, where everything they did from that lineup is such a classic, that I think it's the rare instance where a bunch of fat, old, balding dudes cashing in on their former glory could do it without embarrassing themselves. Danzig can still sing. The brothers still look like toys. And they could find any of the million drummers they had and plug him in there as an original.

They have a catalog of classics that transcend several genres of music. They have the costumes, the imagery. They're just older. It's like KISS.

They are literally the only band that could do a reunion at their age without looking totally ridiculous - though Jerry Only should consider a devil lock rug. The comb-over needs to go.

Check out the story here - http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/doyle-wolfgang-von-frankenstein-says-he-will-work-on-reuniting-original-misfits-lineup/

Murphy's Law reissues

Murphy's Law is easily one of the greatest bands in NYHC history. And we noticed that they're getting their first two records reissued on some new colors and with some new shirts. They're even releasing a cd for both albums that has an extra track on each one. Pretty sweet!

But what is that thing on the corner of my screen? You see it? The icon that has nothing to do with a band like Murphy's Law or hardcore in general. That fucking Bulldog that represents Victory Records. That worthless label has gotten their shitty hands into another great hardcore band. Bad Brains, Warzone and now Murphy's Law. Ugh.

But we're looking past that. Good for Murphy's Law. They've been around the block and then some. You can't find their stuff on iTunes and Amazon and it's not like Profile is going to put it out. Or maybe they would and then rip off the band. In any case, this is great for Murphy's Law. Of all the reissues that've been coming out over the last few years, these two are long overdue. So head on over to victorymerch.com to get your hands on these new goodies by one of New York's finest. 

D.C.S. 

Hold the phone! The other half of the team has just admitted something to me that he has never shared before. I think he may be coming down with a flu or something because he just said that the only Murphy's Law record that matters is the first one. I think my delusional friend needs some medical attention. 

Listen to this rambling - Back With A Bong, to me sounds like a b-side blooper reel of the S/T LP. And Panty Raid is a cheap imitation of "Fight for your right" by the Beastie Boys. I like Murphy's Law, but to me, that first album is the only one that matters. (If only you could see my stunned face after that.) 

So to recap, I'm the only one that thinks they're great and my senile partner only likes the first record. See if I invite his ass over to my next Crucial BBQ. 

D.C.S.