Let's talk about Millions Of Dead Cops

Well, Adult Crash is currently driving up to the in-laws with his old lady and his mini-crew, so I'm holding down the fort while he's gone. I'm not going to get into any political discussion on here because I would rather keep it fun. Having said that, the situation over in Ferguson, MO reminded me of a conversation that I had with Adult Crash before he left. Do you like M.D.C.? I remember asking him if he liked them because I had never really given them a real chance. As it turns out, he never really gave them a chance either. Apparently, we're the only two jackasses in the scene to be clueless about them. So I'm going to give them a listen and see what I've been missing out on.

First things first, I love the artwork. It's something that definitely grabs your attention. I remember being a young punk and seeing that for the first time at a record store and having to do a double take. I thought it was cool but at the same time, I had some mixed feelings about it. I was still new to this thing that we call hardcore/punk and didn't know about the friction between punks and cops/society in general. Obviously, I learned all about it over the years.

The song titles on this record are about what you would expect from a band in the 80's. The only thing missing is an anti-Reagan song. I'm sure they took care of that in later records.

Anyway, I'm digging Dave Dictor's vocals. A lot. He has a certain urgency with his delivery that sounds great. Musically, they sound pretty killer. Actually, they sound a lot better than I expected. Songs like "Corporate Deathburger", "Kill The Light" and "Church & State" are immediate favorites after the first listen. But overall, this whole record is pretty awesome.

Lyrically, I'm impressed with their stance on Homophobia with their song "America's So Straight". I can't think of many forward thinking songs in hardcore from back then. I mean sticking up for gays was just not as popular as making jokes based on stereotypes. I'm getting too serious here....Moving on.

"John Wayne Was A Nazi" is amusing and "Greedy & Pathetic" just rocks. Pretty solid record here. I think I just got something new to listen to over the holiday weekend.

D.C.S.

Samhain in D.C. Halloween 2014

Well look who came into town this past Halloween. Samhain! Adult Crash and I have been talking about going to this show since it was announced. But I have to admit that I didn't think there was any chance that he would actually go. I mean, he's got a whole crew of kids at that baby factory that he calls home. No chance his old lady will let him out to see Samhain and leave her to take the kids out trick or treating on her own. But she let him go. I'm pretty sure he promised to take her out to the ballet or something else like that.

Samhain was playing at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C. and it's a place that neither of us have ever been to. We were skeptical about the venue since it's not exactly known for hosting punk shows. But it turned out to be a pretty cool joint. Unfortunately, we arrived late because Adult Crash had to at least help the kids get dressed up before coming out to play with me. No biggie. We arrive in time to see Samhain getting set up. Perfect!

We were shocked (note sarcasm) that there were signs everywhere saying that pictures and videos were prohibited. I tried to sneak a couple of pictures anyway for our little blog here, but I was only able to get one good one. Damn light show was fucking going crazy. We definitely saw a couple of people get escorted out for taking pictures / video. Lame...

Anyway, they sounded GREAT! We were definitely loving every minute of this show. They belted out songs from every album. The only bad thing is that the place was so packed that it was hot as fuck in there. I felt like I was watching them perform in Hell. (Pretty sure that would be Danzig's wet dream.) In any case, they got a good response from the crowd and people were singing along all over the place. Overall, kick ass performance. After they were done they treated us with an encore song. I was hoping for a couple more, but no such luck.

People Watching

I know it was Halloween night, but why in the wide world of sports would anybody wear a costume while in the pit? Again, it was hot as fuck in that place. I practically had Bat Wings and I was standing in the back by the bar. Thankfully, the $8 beers ($8 for 12 ounces? Is this FedEx Field?!) I was ordering helped cool me off. And lighten my wallet...

We saw something else that was interesting. A group of about 3 or 4 guys shouting at the band in between songs. They were basically telling the band (as if they could hear them from that far) that they sucked. That Danzig was a douchebag and that he was a sellout. If you really feel that way about the band, why did you pay $40 plus to go to the show? It reminded me of those dumb ass straight edge kids that turned their backs on Youth Of Today at their reunion show in Florida. Let me get this straight...You PAID $40 to talk shit? What sense does that make? Whatever...

After the show ended we mosey on out to the car and I realized that I needed to take a leak. All those expensive ass beers came pounding on the door to be let out. I proceed to drain it in between a couple of cars. Unfortunately, 3 girls were walking up the street across from me and saw me doing my thing. Adult Crash thought it was a good time to embarass me by asking them "how big is it?" One of them put up her index finger and thumb to imply that it was only an inch. I immediately defend myself by saying...You can't even see it from over there! Bad move...They, along with what seemed like the entire neighborhood, erupted in laughter. I hate you Crash...

D.C.S.

Random thoughts

"Old man Adult Crash" here and I want to talk about a couple of things. First off, it was National Edge Day this past weekend and I spent some quality time with my wife and kids at the local pumpkin patch being clean and sober, while Malvo spent his time at some local bars partying like it's 1999. Last I checked, he and his liver are not on speaking terms...

Anyway, a bunch of bands were playing an Edge Day event up in Massachussets and it looked like a good show. Caught In A Crowd, Clear and World War 4 are popular bands we listen to. Not too familiar with the other bands, but I know of them. The flyer you see above is what I would expect for an Edge Day show. But I have to ask...Are Nike's still a big thing in hardcore fashion these days? The varsity jacket is a bit dated too, but I guess if the Air Jordan's are considered "cool" then the jacket must still be cool too. Kinda corny if you ask me. But it's good to see the kids keeping hardcore alive.

The other day, Malvo asked me what hardcore song touched me lyrically in my youth? In typical Malvo fashion, he made sure to add that Morrissey lyrics don't count. Such a narrow mind... Anyway, for me, it was "No More" by Youth of Today. I didn't become vegetarian from that song, but it reinforced things for me and made me take vegetarianism more seriously.

Malvo says that it was "kickback" by Breakdown. He is your stereotypical, angry hardcore kid. "Sorry, been kicked around for too long. Being fucked over just made me strong." That is his favorite lyric in all of hardcore, amongst so many other angry and depressing lyrics. I'm the total opposite of that. I like the posi-stuff, but it's another example of how different we are.

Speaking of how different we are, I like Morrissey. He doesn't. I told him to check out "You are the quarry" and he, to his credit, gave it a chance and didn't care too much for it. Now, he rags on me for liking Morrissey all the time, meanwhile, he likes Katy Perry! That's right, mister "I love negative hardcore" has a soft spot for Katy Perry! Keep that in mind the next time he creates a meme or just wants to talk shit about yours truly.

D.C.S.

Let's take a look at what came in the mail...

Slimer writes:

"Hey, do you guys rock it to Parquet Courts? They're a band from Brooklyn and they definitely have a punk element. They got a song I fuck with called Stoned and Starved."



First of all, is this a joke? Homeboy's name is "Slimer"... Anyway, we've never heard of this band, but we're going to give this guy the benefit of the doubt and take this seriously.

Hmm I fail to hear the "punk element" in this song. It's a catchy rock song, but it's hardly punk to me. Maybe they have other songs that are punk, but this one ain't it. I've listened to a few more songs and they all sound like something I might hear on 120 Minutes, back in the day. MAYBE...

Adult Crash: It's aight. I'd probably reach for 50 different bands before this one, though. It has a retro vibe to it. I could picture it being late 70's NYC stuff. No offense Slimer, but 99% of this blog is about hardcore punk related stuff. This doesn't fall into that category.

D.C.S.

Public Suicide (DC) review

It's Friday and it's a slow day in the office. I should probably be working on my TPS reports, but that can wait till Monday. In the meantime, I'm killing time on social media. And lo and behold I come across another new band from right here in D.C.

That band is Public Suicide and I have to say that I'm impressed. The name of the band grabbed my attention right away along with the artwork. Musically, the band has a power violence sound and the singer kind of sounds like Jon Westbrook of Knife Fight. Even a little grind core-ish vocally. All are redeeming qualities if you ask me.

They have a 5-song demo along with this 6-song S/T / soon to be 7" coming from Caught Up Records. They have some downloads available on Bandcamp for you to enjoy. But don't get them confused with another band from Cali with the same name. That band is not bad either from what I've heard so far. But that is for another day...

D.C.S.

Stage diving debate

Is it ok to stagedive?

So, Noisey has an interesting article about stage diving that caught my attention. It's in regards to some god awful band from California called Joyce Manor. (I checked out some of their songs on iTunes and I will never get that time back.) Apparently, they stopped their show to address some rowdy guys that were stage diving and possibly causing harm to other fans during their set.

Now, I for one don't see the big deal with this move by the band. If there are guys being total dicks and possibly causing harm to others at a show, someone should say something. Having said that, I love seeing stage diving at shows. I don't participate in it anymore, but I love seeing it. I don't do it because I don't want to be mid-air and see the crowd part like the Red Sea. I also don't want to be on the receiving end of it either. Nothing worse than seeing a fat kid dive off and land on top of you. Reminds me of a song by Richmond's on Wheelbite called "Fat Kid Stage Dive".

Let's see what old man Adult Crash has to say about this topic:

The older I get, the less I understand stage diving. I was definitely a stage diver in my youth. I dove with the best of them to all my favorites. Youth of Today is playing tonight? I had my Air Jordan III's laced up and ready to go. Agnostic Front opens up with "Victim In Pain"? My legs are on autopilot and running up to the stage. Floorpunch just announced "Clear" as their last song of the night? I was doing multiple dives during the whole song.

I did all of this until my mid 20's. Then a couple of years after I graduated from college, I sprained my ankle badly while diving. The $300 trip to the emergency room (I had no insurance from 18-30. This was in 1998) smartened me up really quick.

It's fine for people to dive if you see it coming. However, I never felt much sympathy for the guy who landed on people out of nowhere, and then promptly got his ass handed to him by someone really angry about it.

Not to sound all Fugazi, but stage divers, for the most part, are kind of assholes. It's not like they're the only ones that can get hurt. They're taking liberties with everyone else's health as well.

-Adult Crash

Well now...Who wants to bet that he came up with this from his rocking chair? This is how I picture it.

D.C.S.

Salad Days Trailer

Great horny toads! The Salad Days trailer has been released with the announcement that Soul Side is playing with Moss Icon and a third band that has yet to be announced. Been looking forward to this show for quite some time. (And by quite some time, I mean the last couple of weeks since I finally started to appreciate Soul Side.) Looks like it will be at the Black Cat in December and you can bet the farm that I'm dragging Adult Crash with me to see them play. Peep the trailer.

Salad Days Trailer

D.C.S.

Love getting surprises like this

Malvo has put yours truly on blast recently with talk about my lack of commitment to this blog of ours. First of all, I'm not the one geeking out like a 14 year old over a video game. (That game is Destiny by the way.) I get some righteous jams to listen to and this slacker is playing video games. He is a total man-child. I should get in touch with his boss and let him know what he does when he works from home...

So let me tell you about the gift that just showed up in my email. A compilation that apparently is not available in the States yet, but features a couple of bands that we have talked about on here. The comp is called "Stomp-I-Lation" and has 7 songs from Boston Strangler, 9 songs from Waste Management and 9 songs from Peacebreakers.

First off, I don't know if this download is just a bad quality or if the recording is just not great. But as good as these songs are by Boston Strangler, the sound of it leaves something to be desired. Sounds all muddy. But these songs are fucking sweet! This should be their next 7" if it isn't already.They kick off the comp with "Dead Weight" and it sets an awesome tone for the rest of their songs. Fucking love this band.

Next up is Waste Management and the recording sounds a lot better. Which makes me wonder about the Boston Strangler part of this comp... Anyway, these songs by Waste Management are pretty killer. I personally like the hockey reference in "Hurts Tu(Kka R)Ask / Power Abuse". It starts with the beginning of "Hurts To Ask" by Chain Of Strength, but immediately goes into Power Abuse. I'm a big fan of the power violence style and this band knows how to do it well.

Third and final band on this comp is Peacebreakers and I've never heard of them. I'd ask Malvo if he knows anything about them, but the last time I talked to him, he was going on and on about a Deadpool movie being made. Fucking nerd!

Peacebreakers are rad! I don't know if they're from Boston like the other two bands on this comp, but they sure sound like it. The weird thing about their contribution to this comp is that they only have two studio recordings and the rest of the songs are live. I can tell you this much, they sound good live. If anybody has any info on these guys, please send them our way.

All in all, this comp is pretty crucial. Thanks to my boy for hooking me up with this. Great way to kick start my Friday. According to my friend, it's only available to our European friends at the moment. I assume on vinyl. Hopefully this gets a vinyl release in the States sometime soon.

D.C.S.

Second chance listen: Soul Side

It's been a while since our last entry, but we can assure you that we're not being lazy. Well, maybe Adult Crash is being lazy. I mean, who puts his career, family and responsibilities over doing this blog? He does! Selfish bastard...

Anyway, I saw an ad from Dishord promoting a re-issue of Soul Side's album Trigger and Bass/103. Now, neither one of us was into them during their hay day, but I'm gonna give it another chance. Notice I said, "I" would give it another chance. Adult Crash is blaming his work and family schedule on not participating in this entry. Pssh slacker.

First couple of songs are pretty catchy and I'm really digging Bobby Sullivan's vocals. But the song that grabs me right away is "Name In Mind". This song kicks ass! I've now listened to this song like 10 times in a row. It's a little moody with some attitude in the vocals and the music just rocks. Holy crap, how did I not appreciate this years ago?





I've now turned off "Repeat Song" and continuing with the rest of the album and "Problems Faced When Traveling" is just as good! I'm beginning to see why people are getting excited about a possible reunion show for them this year. If that in fact happens, I can assure you that I will be there.

I've now listened to this entire release and I love it! I have their 7" somewhere and I know I probably listened to it like once or twice and never bothered with it again. Gonna have to find that bad boy and make sure I didn't use it as a coaster or something equally stupid.

D.C.S.

Interview - NickTape

We've decided to try something new here at D.C. Sniper Headquarters. We're going to channel our inner Howard Stern and do some interviews with some people that we'd like to know more about beyond hardcore. First up, from Coke Bust, Sectarian Violence, Red Death and...well, he can tell you the rest. Let's get to know NickTape!

Name, age and bands you're in?

My name is Nick and I'm 27 years old. I live in Brookland and I play in Coke Bust (vocals), Sectarian Violence (vocals), Red Death (bass), Sem Hastro (drums) and Smartsam Utlosning (bass).

I assume Coke Bust is your first band? How did it come about? If not, what was?

Actually I played in a million bands when I was in middle/high school. I was first a drummer and played in a lot of horribly named groups: Poverty Box (named after the cafeteria vending machine), The Meat Eaters, and Ego Trip. When I was 15 I started my first hardcore band called GRIPTAPE.  We were formed two days before our first show at the Rockville Mayor's son's birthday party at a pool house.

When I was a senior in high school, Griptape played our last show and I started Bail Out with some friends. This was the first band I ever toured with. Coke Bust was formed in 2006 from the ashes of Bail Out with two of the members, me and Parsons (bass), looking to do something faster and more aggressive with a straight edge message. Coke Bust was weird because we didn't have any ambitions with the band other than to have something to do in the summer of 2006. We recruited my old buddy Chris on drums (who also briefly drummed for Griptape), and tried out a few guitar players. The rest is history!

What band got you into hardcore? And how were you exposed to it?

My older sister got me into skateboarding, which slowly corrupted me and put me in touch with the kids who generally had more fun and got into more trouble than my previous friends. Skate videos exposed me to DRI, Black Flag, The Misfits, The Ramones, Minor Threat and other cool stuff. Still, I had no way of knowing more about these bands until that same sister explicitly showed me punk. She told me about a local DC band called Crispus Attucks and she described them as "skatecore." They were scheduled to play a free outdoor show at Fort Reno in Tenleytown and I was really pumped to check it out. Once I saw them, it was like the fucking lights went out. I didn't remember any of their riffs. I had no idea what they were playing. I didn't follow the music at all. The guitar player looked like a pirate and I was scared as hell. There were all kinds of freaks and hippies at the show passing out flyers for protests for things I had no idea about. It was wild. It was like someone unlocked a secret level of reality and I felt as one with the community. I knew after that show that I was onto some next-level shit.

I attribute all of this to my sister. I used to sneak into her room when she was out of the house and read all her MRR's, make tapes of her Minor Threat and 7 Seconds CD's, etc. I used to write down the bands names that I thought sounded cool. I figured out what an LP was and found an old turntable in my parents' basement. I would save my money and order records from the labels with the cheapest prices. The Havoc Records $3ppd 7"s led me to checking out a lot of sicker stuff like Civil Disobedience, Destroy, Tampere SS, etc. At this time I was still into the Fat Wreck / Epitaph / Hopeless stuff, too, but I'm not ashamed of that. Eventually I befriended some other punks and skaters at my school and we all fed off each other and checked out new stuff all the time. From that point on, my involvement and hardcore fan-dom exploded exponentially. We went to tons of shows, did our own bands, organized our own shows, and for a hot second Montgomery County Maryland even had a cool little insular punk scene with all the kids from Rockville, Twinbrook, Bethesda, Gaithersburg and Silver Spring. That's when I met Chris (Coke Bust drummer), James (Coke Bust guitar player), Trey from Hounds Of Hate, and the other Magrudergrind dudes. Those were exciting times.

You've toured all around the world, what is your favorite place? And is there a place that you want to go back to.

It's tough to pinpoint just one place and say it's my favorite. Sweden has had a profound effect on me and I've met some incredible people there. If I could legally move and work there, I would. I've been casually studying the language for the past couple of years, and it's a goal to eventually reach fluency. Sweden has also culturally placed a high value on the arts and because of this there seems to be a rich supply of awesome music, past and present.

I would say that touring in Brazil was a dream come true, but to be honest, it wasn't even a place that I ever would have seen on my radar. I'm forever grateful for that opportunity, and I know that I have to go back and see more. It was actually through this tour that introduced me to my current roommate Sao Paulo. Hanging out with him and talking everyday has vicariously taken me closer to the country, too. Hardcore is just cool like that.

Honorable mentions go out to: Iceland, Poland, San Francisco, Vermont and Finland.

Who's got the most groupies?

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Who is the biggest ball buster/prankster in the band? And have any of you gotten into any trouble because of it while on the road?

We are all pretty much on the same page with our senses of humor. We all enjoy playing jokes on each other. James and I probably go the hardest, though. I can't think of any instances where we've gotten ourselves into significant trouble on the road. Sometimes I think people can be off-put by our idiotic inside jokes (that only we think are funny). But this is more a product of us spending loads of time together.

Touring world wide means you've seen a lot. What is the strangest thing you've seen on the road?

We've seen a lot of weird stuff: enormous lawn gnomes for sale in the Polish countryside, a man we stayed with in Bulgaria once convinced me that he was stealing my identity. Some of us made a wrong turn in Brazil and stumbled into a park full of men pleasuring themselves together in the woods. We played a grindcore festival in the remote mountains of Eastern France a couple of years ago. That was an insane experience. European squats are always a trip. Watching a Greek man inject heroin into his balls. I could go on forever...

We saw Coke Bust play out about a year or so ago and you had some family members in the audience. What do they think of it? Are they into it? Do they think it's weird and crazy? In any case, we thought it was a cool sign of support.

Both my sisters are really into it and have been incredibly supportive. I can't count the number of times they've driven us to the airport or dropped me off at Chris' house before tours. My parents don't really enjoy hardcore punk at all. My dad used to like MC5 as a kid, but that's about it. I think my mom wishes I would stay in DC for longer periods of time and be a little more career-oriented. She's Polish, though, and gets very excited about me going back there.

Let's play Fuck, Marry, Kill: Kate Upton, Sofia Vergara and Katie Perry. Gotta fuck one, marry one and kill one. GO!

The only person I know out of that list is Katie Perry and I hate her music. So I'll answer the question like this: Workout to Merauder / Relax to Thin Lizzy / Drive to Project Pat / Wash my dishes to Assuck / Write to Jimmy Ruffin. 

 

Come on Nick, you don't know these two beauties?

When you're not being a madman on stage, what do you do for fun?

When I'm not working/hustling or doing all this band/hardcore shit, I love reading about old heavy metal bands and checking new stuff out. I collect stamps. I'm working on writing a book about all my experiences. I'm not sure / don't care if it'll ever get published. I just want to have it. I enjoy working out, cooking food, hanging out with my roommates and hanging out with my family. I closely follow football and ice hockey. I meditate a lot.  I also love traveling outside of the realm of punk and hardcore. I need to do that more.

Favorite front man and why?

Some of my favorites: Kurt Brecht of DRI (I've always loved how he managed to fit a million syllables on the faster earlier material), HR, Mike Muir (some of the rawest/realest lyrics ever.), John Brannon (absolute madman), Blaine Cook from the Accused (sickest voice).

Hail to the Redskins or change the name?

Hail to the Redskins until they change the name (and they should), and then Hail whatever that team name is.

What band should people be listening to that nobody really knows about yet?

Rats of Reality from Sweden, DisXease from Brazil, Arms Race from England, Modern Problems from Buffalo, Post Teens from Florida, Satan's Satyrs from DC (although a lot of people know about them now....whatever).

Will Coke Bust be putting out any other 9 minute LP's in the future? I say that in jest because of some criticism you all got after the record came out. I actually ranted about it on our little blog here.

I can only hope we will! HAHA

Are you a record collecting nerd? If so, what's your holy grail?

I wouldn't say that I'm a record collector or a nerd about it. I've never gone after colored vinyl and limited versions of records. I would like to own some early Dischord stuff, but I wouldn't drop hundreds of dollars on a record. Most really really really sick or rare records that I've acquired in the past have gotten sold over the years. Quitting jobs and touring extensively are the expensive hobbies that I have adopted over record collecting. No regrets. I can always go back and buy records. I can't travel in time and retroactively go on tour with my friends.

You're stranded on an island and you can jam out to Slayer or Metallica for the rest of your life. Who do you go with?

I am going with Metallica 10 out of 10 times. Slayer is awesome, of course, but I don't think that their best material holds a candle to Metallica's. I think Slayer stayed "good" or "listenable" a lot longer, But Metallica is sicker in my opinion. My favorite kind of metal is also NWOBHM, so it makes sense that I choose this. My favorite Metallica material is, not surprisingly, Kill Em' All.

Any last words or shout outs?

Anyone who discourages your passions in life is your enemy. Shout out to my man Seth F...I hope Montana is good.

Thanks for your time, Nick.

D.C.S.