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Great hardcore punk from Queens. This is everything the band recorded between 1988 and 1992. They released 2 more records after 1992, but the band went in a more indie rock direction with those releases, and i wanted to keep this as a document of the band's hardcore material, as well as keep it under 80 minutes. Great sound throughout. Thanks to Mike Fairley, Andy (Mortville Records), Brian Meehan, Dirty Steve and Rick Smith for helping out with music, scans and info. Enjoy.
Bad Trip: 1988-1992 anthology
Fred Muench - vocals
Marcos Siega - guitar
Luke Montgomery - guitar
Brendan White - bass
Erik Matheu - drums
Tracks 1-7: Positively Bad 7". Recorded at Don Fury Studios in January of 1989 and released the same year on Bell Bottom Records. Repressed in 1990 on Wreck-Age Records. Excellent debut. The tracks here were taken from the CD version of the Fear and Loathing LP, where they appeared as bonus tracks.
Track 8: Chop Chop comp 7". Released in July of '89 on Skene Records. Other bands on the comp were Constant Grief, Payback, Vicious Bite (formerly Under Pressure), and the great AbombAnation. 1,000 made, lyric booklet included.
Track 9: New Breed comp tape. Yet another band (that makes 15 for this blog) that was on the legendary cassette put out in 1989 by Urban Style Records aka Freddy Alva and Chaka Malik (Burn). Of the 3 different recordings of this track in this collection, this is by far my favorite.
Tracks 10-11: Look At All The Children Now comp LP. These 2 killer tracks were recorded at Don Fury Studios in November of '89 and released by Evacuate Records in 1990. This was the first release by the short lived Evacuate Records, and a great document of the more "alternative" (for lack of a better term) side of the NYHC scene closing out the '80s. Bad Trip starts off this comp, and are followed by SFA, Moondog, GO!, Yuppicide, Bustin' Out, Citizens Arrest, Bugout Society, World Discrimination, Team Effort, Rorschach, Product 19 and MAS. Besides a few lackluster tracks, this is a great compilation. Citizens Arrest steals the show (of course) with Won't Allow and the monstrous Death Threat. The album came with a 16 page booklet containing lyrics and other info. The other 2 Evacuate releases were the Yuppicide 7", and the Inflatable Children 12", both also released in 1990.
Tracks 12-13: GO!/Bad Trip split 7". Also known as the "Split Tour ep", released in September of 1990 on Skene Records. Two more great tracks, including an extended version of the song Fading Away (from the Positively Bad 7"), with a nice 2-minute Black Sabbath medley finishing off the song.
Tracks 14-23: Fear And Loathing LP. Recorded by Don Fury (who also produced, engineered and mixed the album) during August-November of 1991. Released in 1992 on Wreck-Age Records on both LP and CD. The CD also contained the first ep and the song No Easy Answers from the Look At All The Children Now comp as bonus tracks. LP tracks here taken from CD version. A bit more metallic sounding than the band's previous recordings, but i love this album.
Tracks 24-30: Demo. Recorded at Don Fury Studios in January of 1988. These songs were recorded before Marcos joined the band, so there's only one guitar player on these tracks. Some great exclusive tracks on here like Faces Go By (my personal fave), Trip To Nowhere and Joe Cool. Sound is a bit rough on these recordings, but it sounds great to me. Solid, raw, late '80s NYHC demo. Can't ask for more.
Between 1993 and 1995, the band recorded 2 more records. The Elevator 7" (1993 Wreck-Age), which i like a lot, and the Buzzy LP (1995 Wreck-Age). Both records recorded at Don Fury Studios. During this time, Luke was replaced on guitar by Arty Shepherd.
Buzzy was dedicated to the memory of Herb "Buzzy" Meier and Hank Matheu. It seems to be a "love it or hate it" album. I haven't heard it enough times to form a solid opinion, but i'd say check it out yourself. It should be pretty easy to find online.
Bad Trip have recently reformed and are playing shows again. You can check out the band's Myspace page here.
After Bad Trip, guitarist Marcos Siega went on to direct music videos, and from there went on to direct various Hollywood movies etc. He even directed 9 episodes of Dexter!! Check his IMDB page here.
Jordin Isip, who did much of the band's artwork, went on to become a well-known illustrator who's work regularly appears in the Village Voice, and even Time magazine. You should check out his amazing website right here.
Late '80s straight edge hardcore from NJ. This is a collection of everything the band released between 1988-1991, aside from one song exclusive to a comp known as the Inner Journey Sampler Tape (which seems impossible to find). Great sound throughout. Enjoy.
Release: 1988-1991
Original lineup:
Rob Fish - vocalsJoe Coia - guitar
Chris Zusi - guitar
Greg Shafer - bass
Chris "Cap" Caponegro - drums
The band's demo was recorded during the winter of 1988. Great raw hardcore, with some catchy riffs (Drug Free Youth and Set You Straight come to mind right away), fronted by a young Rob Fish, later of 108, Ressurection, and Judas Factor, who couldn't have been much more than fourteen years old during these demos. As usual, the demo is my favorite Release recordings. I've always been a demo guy. It just seems like a band's initial burst of inspiration put onto tape always feels so "real" for lack of a better term. Once they hit the studio and try and get everything perfect, there's a certain charm that's usually missing. That's not a blanket statement by any means, and Release's records are pretty damn good. The demo here sounds great compared to other versions i've heard. No tape hiss, nice full sound, and the bass is more prominent in the mix. The first track sounds a bit rough, but after that it's a really good rip.
"The Pain Inside" 7" was recorded April 15 and 16, 1989 and released in July of '89 on Axtion Packed Records (the label's 2nd release). It was mixed and mastered at Audio Plus. Layout and art by Kyle Talbott (who's artwork you may recognize from other late '80s East Coast hardcore bands). 1,000 copies of the 7" were pressed onto black vinyl, all hand numbered on the inner white sleeve. Two demo tracks, Drug Free Youth and Greed were re-recorded for the ep, as well as three new songs and an intro. The recordings here (as well as the split ep and No Longer ep) were taken from the "Shelter" CD on Lost & Found Records. Great sound quality.
The split 7" with Courage, also known as the "Bring It Back" 7", was released on Threshold Records in 1990. 1,000 on black vinyl, 50 with dark brown cover, the rest with black and white cover. The 2 tracks on the split are a bit longer and more complex than the earlier material, and you can hear the band going into a more metal direction while not exactly veering off into crossover territory. Think more later Uppercut than Leeway.
The "No Longer 1988-1990" 7" was released in 1991 on Inner Journey Records. The record came with a lyric sheet and flyer, and was pressed on black, gold & red vinyl. All came in multi-fold 2-color semi-gloss covers. The red vinyl had a hand-stamp on the dust sleeve or inside cover that said something about 'European press' even though it was pressed in the USA on Inner Journey. The test presses had generic typeset covers that just said 'Release - No Longer' test press with the Inner Journey logo and song info. The test presses had 'United Record Pressing' white labels, and were on black vinyl. There were also special "Wolverine" editions on black vinyl with different covers and Marvel cards inside. The ep was later repressed with a different cover on Noode Records. Thanks to Dave Brown for the pressing info.
The unreleased live track was pulled from a show in Harrisburg, PA. Not the greatest quality, but i did my best to extract the song from a wall of static. It's a great song. Before the song the band introduces Dale as the new bass player (later to play guitar). I'm pretty sure Dale didn't join until after all the recordings in this collection were recorded.
Rob Fish on Release:
Well, Release started with members including me (Rob), Chris Cap, Greg Shafer and Joe Coia. After being together for about two months, we started playing out and got ourselves a second guitarist (Chris Zusi). We released a demo in the winter of 1988, started playing out a lot in February of 1989. We then got a 7" offer from Axtion Packed, recorded for it and that record was released in July of 1989. We did a short two week tour all over, came back, practiced a lot, recorded a new 7 song tape, 5 songs went to a new 7" on Inner Journey, 2 songs went to a split 7" we did with Courage. Greg got kicked out and we brought this kid named Tony in on bass. After awhile Tony got moved up to guitar and Greg came back on bass. Now that Courage has broken up, Chris has left and we've added Dale on guitar. We're now working on some new songs, trying to get tight and I'm starting to book shows now. Hopefully we'll do a full length record.
You can check out the entire interview on the Double Cross web-zine here, as well as other Release interviews and lots of great photos.
You can also check out the band's Myspace page here. It hasn't been updated in nearly three years, but there's some nice pics and artwork on there worth checking out. Seems there was word back then of a possible Release discography, which i'm guessing has long been dropped.
Rob Fish, as already mentioned, also played in 108, Ressurection and Judas Factor. Chris Zusi also played in Ressurection and Judas Factor, as well as Floorpunch. Chris Cap also played in Up Fr
ont and Courage.
Fit of Anger were a late '80s NYHC band that played heavy, ominous sounding hardcore that, to me, sounded like a darker version of Breakdown. This is a collection of 26 tracks, all restored, taken from five different recording sessions. Enjoy
Fit of Anger: 1988-2000
1988 lineup:
Nick (Grampa) - vocals
Chris Benetos - bass
Al Koos - guitar
Todd Lung - drums
With the original lineup, the band recorded their massive sounding first demo, and the 2 tracks for Freddy Alva's New Breed tape compilation. The New Breed tracks (The Oppressed and Revealing the Truth) were recorded at Monkey Hill Studios in College Point, NY on 8/27/88. Shortly after that they added a second guitar player, Nick Benetos. They played lots of shows with this lineup, with just about every '88 NYHC band you could think of. In 1989 Chris Benetos left the band and was replaced by the band's long time friend, John Boles.
1989-1991 lineup:
Nick (Grampa) - vocals
John Boles - bass
Al Koos - guitar
Nick Benetos - guitar
Todd Lung - drums
The WFMU set was recorded in January of 1989. The set here is unfortunately missing one track (the mp3 i had was cut off mid-song), an unreleased song called Changing Our Time. Also, the set in this collection is strictly the music, no banter. It was nearly impossible to find the actual songs under the wall of static and hiss i had to work with, never mind any dialogue. I'm happy with the way it came out though. It's raw and rough and heavy as shit. Some amazing bass playing on these recordings.
The band recorded another demo in 1991 which i've never heard. From what i've read it's more metallic and less heavy than the '88 demo, and sure as hell hard to find. After the second demo, Todd left and was replaced by drummer after drummer, none of which seemed to fit the band. Then Al split and the band was pretty much over by 1992.
In 1996, bass player John Boles passed away. Nick, Grampa and Chris got back together along with Vinnie (NRSV/Warzone) on drums to play a benefit show for his family. In 1998 another friend from the NY scene passed away and once again Fit of Anger got back together to play a benefit. After the show Greg from New Found Hope records who had been a longtime fan asked the band to record a full-length. Nick, Grampa and Chris hooked up with drummer Dimroc (COT, Skarhead, Stillsuit, Cold Front,Yuppicide). Each member picked their favorite tracks and went into the studio to record an album for New Found Hope Records in the US and on KingFisher in Europe. The CD, released in 2000, contained 8 newly recorded tracks of songs from both demos.
1996 lineup:
Nick (Grampa) - vocals
Chris Benetos - bass
Nick Benetos - guitar
Vinnie Verga - drums
1998 lineup:
Nick (Grampa) - vocals
Chris Benetos - bass
Nick Benetos - guitar
Dimroc - drums
All info taken from the band's official website (which hasen't been revised since early 2001).
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.
Born Without A Face were a great diverse hardcore band from Grand Rapids, Michigan. They covered it all, from fast and chaotic hardcore, to doomy dirges, to more psychotic and darker sounds. They had an element of metal in their sound at times, but never enough to put them into crossover territory. The band took obvious influences from Corrosion of Conformity, Discharge, Black Flag, The Fix, Black Sabbath, and the early '80s hardcore scene in general, and melded it all into their own powerful sound. They had a lot of great demo material, but unfortunately only released two 7"s, keeping the band relatively obscure. I think a full length would have put this band over the top, and they would have been held in the same regard as their more well-known contemporaries.
Punks Before Profits Records was supposed to release a discography LP entitled "This Is The Hate", but the project got scrapped about a year and a half ago. So here you go, the band's discography (as i know it to be), in great sound quality. Thanks to Geeheeb and Cooch for the music. Enjoy!
Born Without A Face: 1984-1986
Here's a quick rundown:
First up is the band's debut 7", Unbecoming, which was recorded in 1985 and self-released in 1986. A lyric sheet was included, which you can check out here. This is a monster of a record, and my personal fave. Next is the band's follow-up 7", Worship, which was also self-released in 1986. They end this ep with a pulverizing and ominous cover of Heartbreak Hotel (originally recorded by Elvis Presley in 1956), which has to be heard to be believed. After that is Hostages, an exclusive track to the excellent compilation LP, There's A Method To Our Madness, originally released on Phantom Records (Alaska) in 1986 and repressed on We Bite Records (Germany) in 1987. Cover art by RK Sloane, who passed away on October 20, 2006. Born Without A Face contributed 2 tracks to this comp, but the other track, Maelstrom, was released on the Unbecoming 7". Ending the collection are the bands demos. Freakshow (1985) and Psych! (1984). Both fantastic from beginning to end, but i'll say Seven Steps To Hell stands out as my favorite song.
Many of the band's demo tracks appeared on various compilations, mostly tape comps. Here's some that i know of:
"Hideous Freaks Search For Happiness" tape (BCT 1984)
tracks: Only Human / Slum Feeder / Not A Love Song / Another American Success Story
"Numb Tongue No Taste" tape (Empty Records 1984)
tracks: Trash Is Truth / Seven Steps To Hell
"Save The Dead" tape (KML Records 1986)
tracks: Feed Your Head / Next Big Thing
"Godsmell" 2 tape comp (Empty Records 1988)
track: Not A Love Song
"War Between the States: South" comp LP (TPOS 1989)
tracks: Sloth / Seven Steps To Hell / Stubborn Beast Flesh
There's not much info to be found on this band online. Mark Dancey (founding member) went on to play guitar for Big Chief with Barry Henssler of The Necros.
The members of Born Without A Face (during the first 7") were: Mark Dancey, Robert Eastway, Dan Ross and Eric. I'm not sure who played what instrument, as it's not mentioned on the ep. According to an interview, the band had 3 constant members but went through a dozen drummers. You can check out the interview here.
In 1991, the majority of Born Without A Face formed a band called 36D (which i have yet to hear). This was the lineup:
Robert Eastway - vocals
Dan Ross - guitar
Mank Dancey - bass
Ed Alterman - drums
additional personel: Barry Henssler and Phil Durr
If anyone has any more info on this great band, please leave a comment.
Disk One revised on Oct. 5, 2012 for better sound quality on the Mankid ep and comp tracks.
Sorry for the delay. So here's what i've been working on for pretty much the past month. 110 tracks of Infest, and by "remastered" i just mean nicely cleaned up. All surface noise and pops removed, and all levels adjusted so every track is the same volume. I think this is going on year 10 that Deep Six Records has had the Infest discography on it's "coming soon" list, so i'm going to take a wild guess and say it's never going to happen. With that in mind, i tried my best to make this collection as close to CD quality as possible. I think it came out great. This is pretty much everything the band has ever recorded, aside from one demo track (Machismo), which i couldn't get a decent version of to work with, and a few samples before certain tracks. I've wanted to put this together for a long time, and it was a labor of love to be sure. I'm glad the fucking thing's finally done. If any band needs to be properly documented, this is it.
I'd say Infest was the band that had the single greatest impact on me as far as hardcore/punk music goes. My first time hearing them was on Pat Duncan's radio show in 1988, during the time the Slave LP was released. The songs were Mindless and Where's the Unity?, and the second i heard those tracks it changed my perception of how powerful music could be. Everything about it just clicked with me immediately. Up to that point i had heard a decent amount of the faster and heavier bands like DRI, Siege, and even Napalm Death. But Infest was a different kind of fast, and a different kind of heavy. It was just monstrous hardcore, like Youth of Today on steroids and speed. This was the band i'd been waiting to hear. I taped Pat's show every Thursday night and would catch an Infest song every now and then, which to me was like hitting the lottery. It was almost a full year later that i finally got a dub of the entire Slave album from a friend in art school. Thanks Marty! I never thought a band would ever have that much of an impact on me again, until the day i heard Neanderthal... but that's a whole other long-winded story.
OK, enough ranting. Here it is. 110 tracks taken from a dozen recordings. Thanks to Dan Hashthrash for the Slave and KXLU rips, Andy (Mortville Records) for the Apocalyptic Convulsions rip, and Gen (Ruido) for the 1987 demo rip. Enjoy!
INFEST Volume One
INFEST Volume Two
Volume One
Slave LP (tracks 1-19)
Originally released on Off the Disk Records (out of Switzerland)/Draw Blank Records (Infest's own label) in 1988. The Slave LP contained the 10 tracks from the band's previous self-released, self-titled 7" (known as the Machismo 7"), plus 8 new tracks. There were 1,000 made of the original press, which came with a lyric sheet, poster, 2 stickers and 1 flyer. It was recorded at Spot Recording by David Kory in June, 1988. Produced by Infest. Mixed by Matt, John O.D. and Joe. Back-ups by Dave, Matt, Joe, John O.D. and Jeff Banks. Awesome cover art by Seelenlos and graphics by Erich. The LP was re-issued in 1991 by Draw Blank/Deep Six Records, and the artwork changed to the more well known black and white image of a slave being led through the grass on a leash. Slave was bootlegged on LP in 1993 on Sand Im Getriebe Records (out of Germany of course) and also included the band's 2nd 7" (1991), 11 unreleased rehearsal tracks, and the sleeve was a 20 page booklet full of political propaganda. The LP was finally officially re-issued again in 2002 by Deep Six/Draw Blank. The tracks in this collection were taken from the 2002 re-release. Sound quality is fantastic, but unfortunately it's missing the sample at the opening of Sick-O.
1988 lineup
vocals - Joe Denunzio
guitar - Matt Domino
bass - Dave Ring
drums - Chris Clift
Matt Domino on the releasing of the Slave LP:
How did you get everything together so fast, like the 7" and 12"? How did you hook up with a Swiss label?
It actually went slow. We were planning to do a 14 song 7", but I ended up trading our demo to Erich and Thomas of Mega-Wimp fanzine in Switzerland. They really liked us and offered to do a 7" for us. So we recorded 18 songs, 10 for our 7" and eight for them to press up. Later on, they offered to do a 12", so we put 10 of the songs on our 7" as a US pressing and all 18 on their 12" as a European press.
What are the pressings of both the 7" and 12"?
The 7" is: 1000 black and 100 clear. Our 12" on Off the Disk is: 100 amber, 100 pink, 800 black. The colored vinyl came with posters. There might be a second press of the 12" of 500 on multi-colored vinyl, but we are not sure yet. The 12" and 7" are both sold out.
You can read the entire interview here.
The Slave LP still stands as my favorite Infest release. As amazing as the 2nd 7" and the No Man's Slave LP are, there's just something missing that made Slave so great to me. Everything from Matt's guitar sounds, to Joe's rabid vocals, to that thick bass sound that just cuts through everything. Add to that the raw production and perfect arrangement of songs from the start of Break the Chains to the end of Fetch the Pliers. It was a formula that comes along once in a lifetime, and then of course imitated endlessly, but never topped, for over 20 years now.
Infest 7" (tracks 20-29)
Commonly known as the Mankind 7". Originally released on Deep Six/Draw Blank in 1991. Recorded January 1991 at the Annex by Dickie Moe, and mixed by Dave, Joe and Matt. It was bootlegged in 1991 on limited edition blue vinyl (no label), and again in 1994 as a 3-sided 2x7" (no label). "Mankind" on one 7", and the live Gilman tracks from the PHC split 8" (1990 Slap A Ham) on the one-sided 7". The flip-side was screen-printed with a red Infest logo. It was legitimately re-released on 10" vinyl in 2006 (Deep Six/Draw Blank) and included the songs from the Apocalyptic Convulsions 10" (1992 Ax/ction Records) and the Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh! - The Record 7" (1991 Slap A Ham) as bonus tracks. It sounds like the "Mankind" 10" is a different mix than the original 1991 7". The tracks in this collection were taken from the 10". Excellent sound.
Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh! - The Record 7" (track 30)
Released on Slap A Ham Records in 1991. 64 tracks! Matt Domino plays guitar in 2 other bands on the comp. Neanderthal and Mouthfart (who only have 1 known recorded track). I assume it's Neanderthal under a different moniker... but it could just as well be Infest actually. Give the track a listen. In 2003, Goatsucker Records out of Mexico put out a CD containing all 3 Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh! 7"s. Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh! - The Record (1991), Son of Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh! (1992), and Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh!: A Music War" (1998). All originally on Slap A Ham, and all with a shitload of songs.
Apocalyptic Convulsions 10" (tracks 31-32)
Released on Ax/ction Records in 1992. Limited to 1500 copies. 10" vinyl with poster insert containing liner notes contributed by each band. First 500 copies came with a bonus 7". Great cover art by Morbid Mark (who also did art for MITB). I'd say this comp was half great. It had some killer songs by some of my favorite bands of the time, like Assuck, Charred Remains AKA Man is the Bastard, A.C., Rovsvett and The Scam, but unfortunately had a bunch of 'not so good' bands on there as well, to put it nicely. The 2 Infest tracks on this comp were labeled as "untitled", but had titles later when they appeared as bonus tracks on the Mankind 10".
No Man's Slave LP (tracks 33-51)
Released on Deep Six/Draw Blank in 2002. The music was recorded in 1995 and the vocals were recorded in 2000. For this amazing comeback album, R.D. Davies from Visual Discrimination replaces Chris Clift on drums, and Matt Domino lays down both the guitar and bass tracks. Easily one of the most anticipated hardcore albums of all time, and it's safe to say if knocked everyone on their ass.
Fear of Smell LP (track 52)
Released on Vermiform Records in 1993. Two pressings, 2,441 made. The first 1,000 LPs has custom, hand-made covers. Most were badly drawn cartoons with a marker over a white background (by Sam McPheeters, band members and friends i'm guessing), and some were actually pretty artistic and creative. There's a website that is trying to catalog all 1,000 variations of the LP. Check it out here. And if you have a copy, send in a picture. Fear of Smell was released on CD in 1998 (Vermiform) as 1 pressing of 1,900. One of my favorite compilations of the '90s, and of all time. The Infest track here was ripped from the CD version.
Reality 2 LP (track 53)
Released on Deep Six Records in 1997 on both LP and CD. Issued with a one-sided 8.5"x11" insert. The Infest track on this comp, Cold Inside, was also the opening track to the No Man's Slave LP. Ripped from CD version.
Reality 3 LP (track 54)
Released on Deep Six in 1999. First 300 LPs of first press were on orange vinyl. Released on CD the same year. This is a kick ass song, but i have no idea when it was recorded. I'm guessing it's an outtake from the No Man's Slave sessions? Also ripped from CD version.
Volume 2
1987 demo (tracks 1-19)
This is missing the song Machismo because the track i had was damaged, but i think there are at least 3 other versions of this song in the collection. Tracks from this 20 song demo were bootlegged a bunch of times. First i know of was a one-sided 7" put out in January, 1993 on Shiny Happy Records. Tracks were Where's the Unity?, If I Were You, and Which Side? Six more tracks were bootlegged in 1994 on the Not Over Yet 7" (no label). Not sure how many of these were pressed, but i remember these being everywhere in the late '90s, on various colors. It was re-issued on black vinyl in 1996. Tracks were Sick of Talk, Life's Halt, The End, Dirty Dope Dealer, Son of the Sun, and Going. Finally (at some point in the past 10 years), the entire 20 track demo was put onto 12" vinyl. It was a Fanclub release, and contained 25 tracks. Kind of an odd release, it contained the demo, plus 3 rehearsal tracks (with samples at the beginnings), and a track titled "Outro", which was actually The Melvins (Echo from the album Gluey Porch Treatments). I'm not sure why that was thrown on there, but if you've never heard that Melvins track, i'd say it would be pretty easy to be tricked into thinking it was Infest. The 1987 Demo LP also came with a lyric sheet and a fold out poster sleeve full of classic flyers.
There was a second guitarist on the demo named Rob Arvizu, who left the band shortly after it was recorded. After the Slave LP, the demo has some of my favorite Infest recordings. Lots of great exclusive songs on here like If I Were You, Snooze-U-Loose, Son of the Sun, Going, The End, and Dirty Dope Dealer (one of my favorite Infest tracks). These songs would have made a hell of a 7". The demo has a great raw sound, and Joe's vocals are more psychotic and manic sounding than on the LP, with a weird echoey effect at times that fits the frantic madness of this demo perfectly. I'm really happy with the sound quality of this one. I was able to bring down the high-end a bit so it doesn't sound so blown out.
Infest/PHC split 8" flexi (tracks 20-27)
Released as an 8" flexi-disk on Slap A Ham Records in 1990 as the label's first release. The original version had 5 Infest tracks recorded live at Gilman on 2/10/89. The Infest track Head First is labeled as "Pissed!". Slap A Ham re-released the record as a 7" in 2000 with 3 extra Infest tracks (from the same show), and 2 extra PHC tracks. The split was bootlegged at some point as the Live and Pissed 7" (no label), with a pretty cool Robert Crumb "Fritz the Cat" cover. These are great live recordings, with a very full and powerful sound.
Live KXLU LP (tracks 28-45)
Recorded live on KXLU on July 1, 1991. This radio set was first put out as a bootleg in 1996 on 10" vinyl entitled How They Poison the Young (Ear Wax Records). Deep Six released it on a 12" in 2001. The majority of the set is from the Mankind 7", with a few comp tracks and a few Slave tracks thrown in. The song entitled Seen It All Before was renamed You're A Star, and Blinded was renamed Freeze Dried, both for the No Man's Slave LP. These are my least favorite Infest recordings, mainly because of Matt Domino's guitar sound which is usually so vicious sounding. To me it's like Infest "unplugged". The energy is still there, but the power is missing. Most people i've talked to have disagreed with me on this, and that's fine. To each his own, i just find it lacking. And with that said it still takes a huge shit on most anything hardcore related in the past 10 years.
Rehearsals (tracks 46-56)
Completely fucking rabid rehearsal session of all Slave tracks. Joe sounds like a complete madman on this, ready to jump out of the speakers and tear your head off. These rehearsal tracks are the one good thing that came out of that completely awful Still Fighting bootleg CD out of Germany. Christ was that thing a mess. They put both the band's first self-released 7" on there as well as the Slave LP, even though they're the exact same recordings. The songs from all of the records (besides Slave) were all lumped into 1 or 2 tracks (28 tracks total for an Infest discography?). And then there's the sound quality. Oof. Anyway, i snagged the rehearsals off that CD and split them up, so like i said, it was good for something. It makes a cool Infest coaster too. Actually i'm being too harsh here. At least they made an effort to get the music out there at a time when the vinyl was hard to find. Cheers!
"INFEST" The dictionary definition: "To overwhelm, swarm, and mar, in a menacing way".
- from Joe Denunzio's Myspace page here.
Unofficial INFEST Myspace pages here and here.
Infest pioneered an entire genre of aggressive hardcore later coined "powerviolence" by Eric Wood of Neanderthal/Man is the Bastard.
File revised on Dec. 12, 2009 for far superior sound quality on all the studio tracks. Trust me, it's worth the download.
I
figured i'd finally put together a collection of all the best sounding
Straight Ahead recordings i could find. First off is the entire 12 song
demo. 9 of these 12 songs were released on the End the Warzone
compilation 7" on One Step Ahead Records in 1986, alongside some other
great bands (Larm, Pillsbury Hardcore and Attitude Adjustment). The
entire demo included here sounds great and has a nice loud, full sound,
and is by far my favorite material by this band. Fast and chaotic, short
but memorable songs. Just perfect, no bullshit hardcore. Also included
is a nice sounding rip of the classic Breakaway 12" ep released in 1987
on I Risk Records (and bootlegged countless times since), and a set
recorded live at CBGB in March of '87. Of all the live sets i've heard
by this band, this is my favorite. Good sound quality, great
performance, and they play just about every song they ever wrote,
including 3 unreleased songs, Knockdown, The More Important and Take
Control. There's also a couple of songs from the NYC Mayhem days
(actually, most Straight Ahead songs are just modified NYC Mayhem
tracks), and Amount to Nothing is a re-working of Nothing Song. To top
it off there's a cover of Agnostic Front's "Friend or Foe" with Vinny
Stigma singing along on stage. Ending the collection is an interview
with the band recorded live on WNYU's Crucial Chaos. Enjoy.
Straight Ahead Collection
Tommy Carroll - vocals
Craig Setari - bassRob Echeverria - guitar
Armand Majidi - drums
According
to various sources, Tommy Carroll played drums on the Straight Ahead
demo (credited as XXX), and Armand played on the Breakaway 12". I've
also seen Gordon Ancis (NYC Mayhem) credited for playing guitar for
Straight Ahead. Maybe the demo?
Besides NYC Mayhem, members of
Straight Ahead also played in Youth of Today, Sick Of It All, Rest In
Pieces and Agnostic Front. Probably many more as well.
Supposedly
there is a session recorded live at Don Fury studios from 5/20/87 with
the unreleased songs. For reasons i'll never understand, it seems nobody
is allowed to hear it, as it's under "lock & key".
There
are many other recordings of live Straight Ahead shows. The ones i know
of are: CBGB 3/16/86 (first show), Albany 6/22/86 (i have 3 songs from
this one, it sounds ok, but the bass is very overpowering), CBGB 7/20/86
(there's video of this show as well), CBGB 3/21/87 (possibly the set i
posted although mine was labeled 3/1/87), CBGB 5/3/87 (last show). If
anyone has any decent quality rips of these shows, please get in touch.
I'd love to make a second collection.
