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.