Saturday, February 20, 2010

Life's Halt - 1997-2003 Discography (revised)



Here's another collection i've wanted to revise for some time now, especially since some people (including a member of the band) were nice enough to help me compile all this music. Unfortunately it was at a time before i had the capabilities to improve on the sound, and the end result was a mess. This extensive collection of some of the best hardcore songs of the late '90s/early '00s deserves better treatment, so i spent the last week trying to do it justice. I cleaned up all the recordings that were ripped from vinyl or cassette as best as possible, and adjusted the levels so all the songs are at roughly the same volume. It was worth the effort as this CD now sounds cohesive, and all the tracks have a loud, full, and clean sound.

Life's Halt formed in the late '90s in Southern California. Their debut 7", We Sold Our Souls For Hardcore was without a doubt the best thing to happen to hardcore in the late '90s. I consider it to be the last true "classic" hardcore 7" of the era. Fast, raw and powerful stuff with great riffs and tons of energy and passion. It just seemed to come out of nowhere at a time when real hardcore punk was nearly on it's deathbed. I hear a huge late '80s NYHC influence in their early recordings (especially the demo, first ep and split with No Reply), and a heavy dose of Los Crudos in the later stuff. All of it kills. Riffs like the opening of To The Heart and Race For '97 were just instantly memorable. They seemed to revive hardcore in the late '90s the same way bands like Citizens Arrest and Born Against revived it in the early '90s.

This collection is a complete discography of the band's studio recordings between 1997 and 2003, including a dozen unreleased recordings (all alternate versions or instrumentals of released tracks).
They also had live tracks on a 7" called Intense Energy (Camel Clutch Records) and a live version of To The Heart on the Short, Fast + Loud compilation (Slap A Ham), not in this collection. Thanks to Rich, Jon, Dan and anyone else who sent me music and/or info, it's very appreciated. So here you go, 55 tracks of the mighty Life's Halt. Enjoy.

Life's Halt: 1997-2003

Lineup #1 (1997 to mid 1998 - demo only)
Ernie - vocals
Felix - bass
Charlie - guitar
Anthony - drums

Lineup #2 (1998 to June 2000 - 1st 7", NR split, comp session #1, comp session #2)
 
Ernie - vocals
Felix - bass
Charlie - guitar
Yvo - drums


Lineup #3 (Summer 2000 to December 2001 - WHN split, comp session #3)
Ernie - vocals
Felix - bass
Charlie - guitar
Jon - guitar
Noel - drums


We Sold Our Souls For Hardcore 7" was originally released on Youngblood Records in 1998.


This Is Springfield, Not Shelbyville comp CD came with the Sept. '98 issue of Change Fanzine. The entire issue was dedicated to The Simpsons, and the CD included 50 tracks of punk bands doing Simpsons tribute songs. The Life's Halt track was a parody of the song Oxnard by Ill Repute. Change was published from 1991-2002, owned and operated by Pat West out of CT and NY. Thirteen issues were printed along with two 7"s and one CD.


As The Sun Sets: A Southern Hardcore Compilation CD was released by The Association of Welterweights Records in 1999. Other bands on the comp included No Reply, Ignite, Carry On, Death By Stereo, as well as lots more, but lesser-known bands. The label released only one other CD, A Sometimes Promise discography.


Life's Halt/No Reply split 7" was released on Indecision Records in 2000. The tracks were re-released on CD in 2001 as part of the Indecision Records Split Series CD, along with five other split 7"s.


Barbaric Thrash Demolition Vol. 2 7" was released on 625 Records in 2000. Other bands were Discarga, Esperanza, Jellyroll Rockheads and Limp Wrist.


Memories of Tomorrow comp LP was released on Youngblood Records in the Fall of 2000. Other bands were No Justice, H-Street, No Reply, Best of Times, Holding On, Dirty Dirt & The Dirts, Carry On, What Happens Next?, Gazpacho, Handplant, Vitamin X, Varsity, The Gate Crashers, Committed and Rancor. Released on both LP and CD. Great comp!


Sk8 or Die comp 7" was released on Pigpen Inc. in March of 2001. Other bands were Fistfull, No Reply, WHN? and Dirty Dirt & The Dirts.


Life's Halt/What Happens Next? split LP aka Start Something, was a split release with Youngblood and 625. Released in 2001 on both LP and CD.


Four Corners: An International DIY Positive Hardcore Compilation LP was released on 625 Records in November of 2002. Other bands were Highscore (Germany), Dead End (Sweden), Point of Few (Holland) and Razlog Za (Croatia).


Histeria Vol. 1 comp LP was released on Lengua Armada Discos in 2003. Other bands were Limp Wrist, DS13, Deathreat, Seein' Red, E-150, Esperanza, Sin Orden and Melee. Lengua Armada Discos was run by Los Crudos/Limp Wrist front-man, Martin Sorrondeguy.

The Life's Halt
demo tape was self-released in 1997. Lyrics included. Some of the demos were early versions of tracks from the band's first 7" and split with No Reply, others like Kingdom Come, Ranker and Down were exclusive to this tape. The demo was bootlegged onto vinyl as the '97 Demo 7" (no label). It came with a flyer for a show at Head Line Records, and had a fold out sleeve with lyrics on the back.

The
unreleased material is all alternate versions and instrumentals of released songs, taken from a few different recording sessions. Even though i cleaned up these tracks, the sound quality varies from track to track. It all sounds pretty good though. The last track, comprised of instrumental versions of Skate Fer Fun and No Substance is excellent. Icing on the cake.

Check out the Life's Halt Myspace page here.

28 comments:

  1. Stoked to hear this during drive time today and tomorrow. Yet another reason why B&Q remains a daily visit.

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  2. It's great and refreshing when a band gets involved with a fan thing like this...

    In this day and age though...releasing hard copies of music is not needed...

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  3. SWEEEET!

    some extra info ;-) Jon only played a very short period for LH...
    you forgot Charly who played guitar on the demo and also anthony who played drums on the demo
    they deserve to be mentioned too since theyre founding members
    havent listened yet but sure you did a nice job,when i got the live @ KLXU 7'' ripped you can pimp that one up too ;-)

    and yeah we need a discography,VINYL ONLY! this is as good as cd so we dont need that crap viva la vinyl,im dreaming of a LH gatefold ha ha

    Dan

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  4. Dan, thanks for the info. Do you know which recordings Jon played on? I'd like to get all the lineup info straight.

    Dave, i'm still a sucker for hard copies. I'd purchase CDs of everything on this blog if it was available.

    Ape Mummy, thanks. Hope you like the way it came out.

    Vin

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  5. Thanks! Any chance of giving the Septic Death collection the same treatment?
    /Mole.

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  6. Mole, the Septic Death discography should all be in CD quality. I ripped that from the Crossed Out Twice CD and just put the tracks in chronological order. I've been thinking about posting info on all the releases, but that's a huge undertaking right now.

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  7. Thanks for the revamped version of this. Its awesome! Here's some info on band members:

    Charlie and Chuck are the same person, and he played guitar on every recording.

    Jon played on the split with WHN?. I think that he also recorded some of the compilation tracks, but I'm not sure of that.

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  8. Again a great band !!!!!
    how do you find for us as good stuff ???
    i'm a french fan of your blog and 99% of groups that you make me discover are amazing

    thanks again

    Dundy from keponteam.org
    sorry for my english

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  9. Rich, thanks as usual. I'm glad you dig the new version. It didn't come out as good as i had hoped for, but it's a hell of a lot better than the old one.

    Dundy, happy to be of service. Posts like yours are what fuels this blog. And your English is fine.

    Vin

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  10. Just wanted to say thanks. i've enjoyed the blog for a long time. it's genuinely appreciated, A LOT.

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  11. The lineup info could still use a little work.

    Lineup #1 (1997 to mid 1998 - demo only)
    Ernie, Felix, Charlie (Chuck), Anthony

    Lineup #2 (1998 to June 2000 - 1st 7", NR split, comp session #1, comp session #2)
    Ernie, Felix, Charlie, Yvo

    Lineup #3 (Summer 2000 to December 2001 - WHN split, comp session #3)
    Ernie, Felix, Charlie, Noel, Jon

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  12. Thanks a lot for the lineup info, i'm correcting that right now.

    Vin

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  13. Great band and great disco , hope too see one day in a piece of vinyl , a double LP :)
    perhaps ....

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  14. Always enjoyed LH. Great live band. Thanks for this.

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  15. Great job cleaning the sound of all the tracks, That had to be a very tough job, and you are right this bands deserves the best treatment possible.

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  16. You did nice with this, really brought justice back to this band, it really deserves it. Am replacing the old tracks with these I really wanted to see what this band could offer.

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  17. Thanks a lot for another excellent post...!

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  18. Fucking Great band!!!!!

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  19. amaizing,thank so so much for this!!!!

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  20. Muito foda esse som!

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  21. Yeah!! Life's Halt! They saved my life! Thanks to all the band members for being positive awesome dudes a little kid could look up to!
    -Philip

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  22. I don't know how I missed these guys. This is awesome!! Thanks for showing them to me.

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  23. Can't wait to hear c.d. I had a great time and a great friendship with the band at one time I had a blast on no life's tour haven't seen any of them guys since last show in Dec of 03 so I hope them the best ..

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  24. I just found a demo by HAVE NO PART and was wondering if it is connected to LH somehow. The singer sounds like Ernie, which is baffling, Plus the entire demo sounds like it could be some lost LH demo never heard of before. My old roommate told me that this band existed in Los Angeles also. Thanks.

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  25. damn, stumbling across this is a reminder that I miss Lifes Halt

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  26. Can you reupload this, please? There seems to be a problem and i can´t reproduce the files.

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