Fucking Judge. Here's an excellent sounding rip of the 1988 demo and various live sets from 1988-1990, including the WNYU set from '88 which is my all-time favorite Judge recording. Extremely essential. Thanks to Ben Alvie, Jeff G., Claude and Brett Beach for the help. Enjoy!
Judge: Demos and Live 1988-1990
Judge were a powerhouse NY hardcore band formed in 1987 by Youth of Today guitarist John "Porcell" Porcelly and former Youth of Today drummer Mike "Judge" Ferraro. To be honest, i only recently started getting into Judge. I loved the band's first 7" when i first heard it back in the late '80s, but i never checked out the albums that followed. The NY hardcore scene exploded in the late '80s, and between 1987 and 1988 dozens of great bands seemed to just be coming out of nowhere. But it just kind of faded as quickly as it started, with the New Breed tape kinda being the final chapter of it all, for me anyway. By the time 1990 hit i was too concerned with the ABC No Rio scene and bands like Citizens Arrest and Born Against, and the beginning of the West Coast "powerviolence" scene with bands like Neanderthal and Crossed Out, to care about what Judge and related bands were up to. Needless to say i missed out on some great hardcore. So here i am at 40 years old discovering fucking Judge, and i'm loving it.
The 1988 demo was recorded at Don Fury Studios
1988 lineup:
Mike Ferraro - vocals
John Porcelly - guitar
Jimmy Yu - bass
"Lukey" Luke Abbey - drums
1989 lineup:
Mike Ferraro - vocals
John Porcelly - guitar
Matt Pincus - bass
Sammy Siegler - drums
Mike "Judge" Ferraro played drums for Death Before Dishonor (who later became Supertouch), and Youth of Today. John "Porcell" Porcelly played in Violent Children, Youth of Today, Project X and Shelter. Jimmy Yu played in Death Before Dishonor. "Lukey" Luke Abbey played drums for Warzone and Gorilla Biscuits. Sammy Siegler played in Side By Side, Gorilla Biscuits, Youth of Today and Project X.
I cleaned up all the recording as best as possible. The Live in Minneapolis 7/15/90 set is missing the track "Take Me Away", as i wanted to keep the collection under 80 minutes and that track had the worst sound quality.
Yeeeeeeeeeeees, fucking Judge. Great tunes, and funny, too, though iI'm sure they were not trying to be :-D.
ReplyDeleteJudge = yardstick
ReplyDeleteexcellent download too!
wow!!!!!! i just discovered yr blog and was digging through the archives. there is SO MUCH ESSENTIAL hXc on this blog. it's fucking fantastic. thanks for all yr hard work compiling these comps, making covers and sharing them with all of us. you my friend, are awesome!
ReplyDeletecheers,
kyle
Vin, you're killin it. Making my day here.
ReplyDeleteluke also apparently played in loud & boisterous, whom i have yet to hear. been waiting on a special someone to share that piece.
ReplyDelete40 & judge. 2 cool.
42 over here, and was crankin' Bringin' It Down @ work today.
ReplyDeleteThen I come home, check the blog, and fuckin'A if we ain't on the same page - THANKS
Just chiming in to say thanks again for doing the best blog there is. I related to this post a lot because I kind of wrote Judge off for a long time and have also just recently discovered how much they rip. I like that demo as much as the New York Crew 7"!
ReplyDelete- storm shadow
another great B&Q post.
ReplyDeletebeen listening to Judge for 12 years, and I think they're probably the only 'youth crew' band i've never stopped listening to and still play regularly.
Judge got me into hardcore, always loved them, always will. Many thanx, this is the best blog I've seen so far.
ReplyDelete"the mother" is right. Luke was the drummer for Loud & Boisterous. They were a fun band.
ReplyDeleteThanks! been looking for this like forever...
ReplyDeleteWhat about collected works by No For An Answer!?
Jimmy.
NFAA never put out a discography? I'll add that to the list if not. Thanks for the suggestion. KEEP 'EM COMIN!
ReplyDeleteStorm shadow, thanks for stopping by. Glad you dig the blog, and hell yeah, the demo is every bit as good as the ep.
Everyone else, thanks.
Vin
Well i´ve seen an attempt to some kind of discography by NFAA somewhere on the net, but it´s with bad sound and missing live stuff, demo etc. So i´m sure you would do a better job compiling THEE definitive collection!
ReplyDelete/Jimmy.
Jimmy, it's on my list.
ReplyDeleteMost of Judge's 1990 Tour is a total blur for me now, but I totally remember the Minneapolis show for 2 reasons: First off, it was at the 7th Street Entry, the side room of the 1st Ave Club which is where they shot "Purple Rain." Second, I played second guitar for this tour, but for this show, I played bass because Matt had hurt his foot and was on crutches.....
ReplyDeleteLars, thanks for posting
ReplyDeletevin
Double Cross did a series of interviews with Jimmy Yu, finishing up here: http://doublecrosswebzine.blogspot.com/2008/08/jimmy-yu-part-vi-final-entry.html
ReplyDeleteHe seems like an incredibly down-to-earth guy plus he wore a Tracker sweatshirt and pegged his pants. If that doesn't scream '88 then I don't know what does!
just found this linked thru hrps.dropdead.org
ReplyDeleteSO AWESOME and thank you from another old (and recently non-drinking) punk!
What is hrps.dropdead.org and how can I enter in?.
ReplyDeletehello,can someone reupload this,cant find it anywhere iin good quality,thanks.
ReplyDeleteA re-upload would be very much appreciated, thanks a lot.
ReplyDelete