Inside Out (NY)

Before i start in with the music, i just wanted to share this link here. I've never really posted anything besides music on this blog before, but i promised a friend of mine i would put this up here.  Basically my bud Gary's little boy Eoin was diagnosed with MLD (Metachromatic Leukodystrophy) in October 2016. His condition is deteriorating quickly, and they're trying to raise some funds for medical costs and also to make his remaining time here as special as possible. As a father of 2 small children myself, stuff like this haunts me to no end. I know the number of people who read and download music from this blog is pretty substantial, so i pray that posting this here will help out in some small way.

Inside Out (NY)

I wasn't hip to Inside Out when they were active in the late '80s. They only released one 7" in 1989 that flew under my radar. I actually didn't hear them until 1994 when Lost & Found put out a split CD with the 3-song Inside Out "Above All" 7" and the Alone In A Crowd 7", also originally released on 7" in 1989. I played that CD quite a lot in the '90s. Both bands killed. It had to be a good ten years later that i discovered the Inside Out 1988 demo. I had that on CDR for a while and then lost it (along with tons of other music) when i split NJ. But, as luck would have it, someone on a message board i post on, uploaded all the Inside Out stuff i lost, and a bunch of stuff i didn't even know existed, best of all being an incredible sounding ten song unreleased demo, also from '88 i'm pretty sure. This demo should have been an LP in my opinion. It's so damn good. Songs from the first demo and the 7", plus a bunch of new songs, all with superior production and playing. Every bit as good as anything from NY in the late '80s. Better than most in fact. I've been jamming this stuff in my car non-stop since i split up the tracks and compiled it last week. Pretty sure this is the band's entire discography, aside from 2 more 7" outtakes. One is the song "Inside Out" (which i luckily have a good live version of at the end of the collection), not sure the name of the other track. Basically the audio drops out of both tracks about half way through. If anyone out there has these songs, or anything else by this band, please get in touch.

Inside Out - New York Discography

Comparisons could be made to late '80s NYHC bands like Outburst and Altercation. Inside Out had a great bouncy sound with lots of massive intros, sing-along choruses, guitar solos, dive bombs and changes galore. The musicianship is way above average and they always keep everything interesting. Some catchy as fuck songs here. Two vocalists with heavy NY Italian accents (think NY Hoods), that trade off lines with an early hip-hop vibe on some tracks. The song "Let's Get Movin'" sounds very Beastie Boys influenced in the way they go back and forth with lines like "We're Inside Out and we're here to stay... cause we're the hardest band in the USA". Great stuff. On the three 7" tracks it's almost impossible to tell that there are even 2 vocalists. They sound pretty much identical. On the demo tracks you can really hear the subtle differences in each vocalist's sound and style.

The 7" cover art with the 2 singers busting out of the skinhead's chest is amazing.

The band was:
Tom - vocals
Nick - vocals
Alex - Bass
Chris - guitar
Eric - drums

The Alex in this band is not the same Alex that played in Side To Side and lots of other great NYHC bands, as stated  on discogs. According to an on-line source, Inside Out NY became '90s major label hip-hop group Justice System who had a record called "Rooftop Soundcheck." 4/5 of Inside Out, all but one of the vocalists. They were from Westchester County NY. The bass player was in Killing Time for a little while.

Oh, and i have to mention that one of the vocalists would wear a coon-skin cap at live gigs. Here's a great video of Inside Out playing 3 songs live at the Anthrax in Norwalk, CT in 1989.

Over twenty years later they played a reunion show at the Santos Party House in NYC on August 14, 2010. There's some great footage of that show on youtube as well.

Sorry, no Easter Eggs this post. I'm saving them up for the next "mega-post" which should be up in about one week.