Monday, June 29, 2009

The Manacled




The Manacled 7" was recorded at Don Fury studios in 1991 and released on Vermiform Records in 1992 (VMFM8), 1,000 copies pressed. I played this record endlessly in the '90s, and thanks to Rich Trash, who was kind enough to send me the mp3s, i'm enjoying it all over again nearly 17 years later. This is as punk as punk gets. The Manacled are the polar opposite of bands who spend countless hours in the studio, doing take after take until everything is perfect. This is the real deal. Raw production and great hardcore songs with all mistakes in tact. Rich Trash's fuck everyone and everything attitude in the vocal department and Janis Cakars (Citizens Arrest) trademark guitar sound was the perfect match. Rounding out the foursome were Charlie Adamec (who started the band with Rich in '89 when they were called Atrocity), and Melissa York who played drums for many bands in the '90s including Team Dresch, and even played with Born Against for a while (who hasn't?). My favorite band she was in was Sugar Shock, who contributed one of my favorite tracks on the infamous Fear of Smell compilation LP, released on Vermiform in 1993.

Listening to this again brings back a lot of memories, but hearing some of these songs also reconfirms my belief that this band called it quits too soon. Present At Interest is especially great, with York's back-up vocals, and ending on a Cakars riff that wouldn't sound out of place on Citizens Arrest's "A Light in the Darkness" ep. And the track Paradox, which shows the band at their tightest and most aggressive until erupting into Deep Wound style madness. Then there's the completely insane Drugs, and the closing track, with Rich ranting about everything he hates over the same riff for 2 minutes, with the chorus "I hate everything!!". Great stuff. If only The Manacled had stayed together, they could made a hell of a full length. Who knows, maybe they could have taken over the world.

Hi, I'm Rich Trash, from The Manacled. I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank you, sincerely, for inviting us into your home.


The Manacled

Rich Oliver aka Rich Trash aka Trashman - vocals
Charlie Adamec - bass
Janis Cakars - guitar
Melissa York - drums

Rich also appeared on the Fear of Smell comp LP (Vermiform), contributing a spoken word piece called "Fuck Everything". He was also in the short-lived Antiem along with Melissa York, Joe Martin (Citizens Arrest, Hell No) and Jon Hiltz (Born Against, Greyhouse). If all goes well, i should be getting some Antiem stuff pretty soon, which i'll of course share here.

Janis Cakars played in Citizens Arrest, Hell No and Animal Crackers, along with Charlie Adamec, and a young Ted Leo.

Melissa York played in Team Dresch, Vitapup, The Butchies, Sugar Shock, Born Against, and also did the album art for Hell No's debut album in 1992.

You can check out The Manacled page on Myspace here.
You can watch some insane live footage of The Manacled here.
And you can check out Rich's blog "The Trash Man's Disposable Reader" right here.

18 comments:

  1. I have the reel to the Manacled song from the ABC No Rio comp that never happened. I wanted to do a split ep of that and Citizen's Arrest doing the Red C song. It never happened, and that reel has been sitting on a shelf for 15 years. Have Rich contact me and I'll get the reel to him.

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  2. HA! Rich Trash Resurrection! What about some tracks from his AmRep-style project: MANHOLE, also w/Melissa York & Joe Martin. Look out for an ANTIEM/CITIZENS ARREST split 7' on (back from the grave) Wardance Records...

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  3. God, i would love it if that Antiem/CxAx split actually saw the light of day. And someone should resurrect that ABC No Rio comp.

    Rich, i'm looking forward to that Antiem stuff.

    Vin

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  4. Great stuff. Haven't listened to the 7" in years. Another great post!

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  5. Uhhh "The dick's name is Jon Reed"? Hateful hateful stuff. All I wanted was love, is that so wrong?

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  6. Sorry Anon, I was anything but a nice person when I was 18 years old. Sorry to Jon, too. At 37, I'm much more well adjusted. lol.

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  7. A vision I will never forget is Rich Trash emerging from the Hiltz pool in a tight ass Minor Threat shirt soaked to the bone. It was just like that Phoebe Cates scene from 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High'...only way more disturbing and unsexy.

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  8. Both the comp and the ep are in the works. Rich get in touch.

    Daryl

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  9. 200lbu- who are you? Just curious, get in touch- ilbb72@hotmail.com

    Mat Gard! Get in touch! I am dying to put out that song! Sam Mcpheeters had the tape and it got lost to the ages! Get in touch! ilbb72@hotmail.com

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  10. See what happens when you bring back the Manacled? Record labels start up again after 18 years, projects that were dropped in 1993 come back to life... It's like magic.

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  11. does anyone know if theres more sugar shock besides the FOsmell comp song and 7"?
    They were always my favorite track on there as well. Thanks for any info!

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  12. I've never even heard the Sugar Shock 7". Anyone know what label that was on, or what it was called? I'd love to hear that myself.

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  13. A lady at the drums.. that's terrific, and the drum sound is very powerful and rare to see that. But what ever this band is really good, and I believe they could have gone further if they wanted.

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  14. I also love to hear a lady on the drums, like the girl who plays for Lenny Kravitz, she is awesome.

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