skip to main |
skip to sidebar
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.
The late '80s straight edge scene in Orange County, CA had it's share of great bands. Insted and Uniform Choice come to mind as being at the forefront. But No For An Answer, fronted by the always outspoken Dan O'Mahoney, were my personal favorite. They seemed to be on another level. This is a collection of most of the band's released material, aside from the "You Laugh" ep, which is still available through Revelation Records. Great live versions of all the songs from that 7" are scattered throughout this collection, so all the songs the band wrote are in here. Sound quality is excellent. Thanks to Mark Anthony, Claude, Graig and anyone else who helped with the music. Enjoy.
No For An Answer collection
A Though Crusade LP
Dan O'Mahoney - vocals
Gavin Oglesby - guitar
Sterling Wilson - bass
Chris Bratton - drums
NFAA's full-length was a huge step up from the band's debut 7", both musically and lyrically. "A Thought Crusade" was recorded at Spot Recordings 8/88 through 10/88 and originally released on Hawker Records later that year. It was re-released in 1996 on CD with the Carry Nation "Face the Nation" ep as bonus tracks. Carry Nation was a Dan O'Mahoney and Gavin Oglesby side project band, who's only ep was originally released in 1989 on Workshed Records. All versions of "A Thought Crusade" and the CD re-issue with Carry Nation are long out of print.
Free For All comp LP
This classic comp was a 4-way split (Token Entry, Wrecking Crew, Rest in Pieces and NFAA) all recorded live at CBGB on April 9, 1989. Released on Hawker Records in 1989.
The Icemen Cometh comp 7"
This comp featured Pushed Aside, Hard Stance, Slapshot and NFAA, all recorded live at the Whiskey in Hollywood on May 17, 1989. It was released on Nemesis Records in 1990. Great live version of an unreleased song called Man Against Man. The recording here was taken from the CD version.
Open Your Eyes Vol. 1 comp tape
This was the first in a series of cassette compilations released by Open Your Eyes fanzine out of Seattle. Vol. 1 (released in '89) was a collection of various demo and live tracks from lots of great bands, including Unit Pride, Breakaway, Brotherhood, Insted, Our Gang and Trip 6 just to name a few. Vol. 2 (my favorite of the 2) had tracks from Infest and Turning Point (among many others), and a full live Antidote set recorded at CBGB tacked onto the end. The 3 live No For An Answer tracks from this tape are a bit rough sounding compared to the rest of the collection, but i cleaned them up as best as possible. The live version of "Just Say No" kills.
Live in Treviso, Italy
Recorded on Feb. 11, 1994. Easily the best sounding No For An Answer live set i've ever heard. The sound is amazing, and the set-list and performance is just perfect. Some classic Dan O'Mahoney stage banter as usual throughout this set, and at times pretty amusing because of the language barrier.
"Somebody tell him in Italian... it was a stagedive... there are infinitely more important things in this world... and he's making an ass of himself. And he's pissing me off."
Great stuff. Plus the usual (and always intelligent) ranting about child abuse, police brutality etc.
Aside from what's in this collection, the band also released the "You Laugh" ep in 1988 on Revelation Records (Rev 06) and appeared on a few other comps (still in print). There was also a studio bootleg of the band's demo for the "You Laugh" ep called "Last Warning", released in 1993 on We Laugh Records. 500 made, and includes an unreleased a cappella type song labeled "We Are the World".
You Laugh ep (1988) lineup:Dan O'Mahoney - vocals
Gavin Oglesby - guitar
John Mastropaolo - bass
Casey Jones - drums
After NFAA broke up, Dan formed 411, and later Speak 714.
Other members of the band have played in various hardcore bands, including Inside Out, Unity, Justice League and Ignite.
Dan O'Mahoney on No For An Answer:
NFAA was supposed to be mid paced and somewhat melodic like mid-model GI or Stalag 13, Dag Nasty even... whoops!
When Youth off Today came through opening up for 7 Seconds (in '86 I believe) everything changed. They were so aggressive, so bent on networking with everyone they met, knowing those guys made you immediately a part of something. I remember Ray getting my number from Billy and calling me at home even though we'd never met simply because we shared so many friends. We talked for an hour and worked together and sometimes in opposition to each other but always as friends for many years to follow. In those early days the group identity had not yet become quite so codified. By '87/'88 NFAA was making waves of its own and already starting to resist several facets of the youth crew movement. If you look at the lyrics to the "A Thought Crusade" record this resistance is pretty clear.
Check out the full interview (in 7 parts) right here, on Double Cross.
Blog to check out: Dave K's Digital Fanzine Preservation Society (DFPS) blog. An archive of scanned hardcore zines spanning the early '80s into the '00s. The site has been up for a very short amount of time and already Dave Koenig and company has amassed well over 30 zines, including issues of In Effect, Boiling Point, Even the Score, Urban Decay, and of course every issue of Dave K and Brett Beach's classic Hardware zine. Plus much more. As if that wasn't enough, there's a the "History of Hardware Omnibus". Dave K:
This PDF has my history of Hardware Fanzine, Brett's intro, all the flyers were made and handed out to advertise the 'zine and interviews conducted by others with us. This pretty much lays out what Brett and I accomplished with Hardware.
And the icing on the cake. A free download of Dave's unfinished book "New York Hardcore 1986-1993: A Time We Will Remember". Just over 200 pages in PDF format. If you're reading this post right now, chances are this is a book you'll be interested in. I can't wait to sink my teeth into this one myself. NYC d
uring the late '80s and early '90s was an amazing time for hardcore.
So take a trip down memory lane. If you're an old timer like myself, you'll find this blog to be a goldmine. Stop by, download some zines you lost, sold, or traded 15+ years ago, and leave a comment letting Dave know his hard work is appreciated. It literally takes 10 seconds to say "great job, keep up the good work" or whatever. I'd say this is one of the most important hardcore related blogs kicking right now, and hopefully it lives on for a while.
The DFPS blog is always looking for help. If you can contribute in any way by contributing or scanning old zines etc., i'm sure that would help a great deal. Check the blog for more info on how to help out.
And spread the word. If you have a blog, link DFPS. Tell people about it, put it on message boards... whatever.
I posted an Altercation collection back in April, but after recently listening to it, i decided it was about time to revise as much of it as i could. Basically i was able to clean up the bare essentials: the 1987 demo, the 3 unreleased rehearsal tracks, and the CBGB set. Unfortunately the WNYU set and interview were beyond repair, but the band only wrote 10 tracks, and most of them are already here twice. I'd say this is all you really need, but if you want to check out the radio recordings, the old Altercation post is still on the blog. I think the demo came out great. The first track is still a bit rough, but after that all the tracks sound really clean, and each instrument clearly audible. Since this is my favorite NYHC demo, it's great to finally hear it like this, as opposed to the muddy wall of noise i've been listening to for years. Two of the three rehearsal tracks, "Liberty or Death" and "A New Tomorrow", also came out really well. "Getting Away With Murder"... not so much. The CBGB set came out pretty good, considering the source i had to work with was a blown-out mess under a thick blanket of tape hiss. Bottom line... this is as good as it gets. Which is a shame really. If ever a NYHC band needed a legit discography, this would be it.
So here you go. 18 tracks of fucking Altercation. Best quality you'll find. Thanks again to Patrick Lindenhof (great guy) for his help (even though i didn't use his version of the demo). Enjoy!
Altercation: 1987 (the revised collection)
Crazy Jay Skin - vocals
Rude Paul Crude - guitar
Myles Reiff - guitar
Eddie Cohen - bass
Andy Guida - drums
The Altercation demo was recorded at Don Fury Studios in 1987.
Andy Guida on the Altercation demo:
I remember bits and pieces of recording the demo at Don Fury's but nothing worth nothing. Vague memories of listening back to each take and sitting in the tiny shit ass drum booth he had. We tried to record a second demo at some studio in Brooklyn but I think Eddie didn't show up and I don't know what happened to the tapes.
I think the songs are great, the lyrics are pretty stupid but we were kids. Actually Paul's girlfriend at the time wrote the lyrics. I think we played really well for a bunch of kids. I still listen to it for enjoyment once in a while. We were so short lived but we got to leave a mark. We were lucky. I still meet new people who tell me that they really like that demo. There was a time when I was embarrassed by the band but I am grateful now that I was a part of it.
Excerpts taken from Double Cross. You can read the entire interview here.
The three rehearsal tracks were recorded at the Grid Box Studio in Brooklyn on April 3, 1987. There were actually 3 rehearsal sessions recorded, the other two recorded on March 4 and March 21, both rehearsals of demo tracks. The final session (included here) was a 3-song rehearsal of the songs that didn't make it to the demo. "A New Tomorrow" and "Getting Away With Murder" also appear on the CBGB set, but "Liberty or Death" is exclusive to this session. Info by Chris Minicucci. You can read more on the Grid Box sessions here.
Andy Guida on the beginning of Altercation and the Grid Box days:
I went to high school with Myles, who played rhythm guitar in Altercation. He and I were trying to start a band. We had some songs and we practiced in my parents' basement. He knew Eddie, who played bass in the band, from the hardcore scene. Eddie knew Jay (vocals) and Paul (lead guitar) and the three of them were trying to put a band together. We were all kids from Brooklyn so we got together at a studio that was called Gridrock (Grid Box), in Brooklyn. I still remember sitting in McDonald's after one of our rehearsals trying to come up with a name. I was looking through the newspaper and I came across the word "altercation." It seemed a sufficiently angry word which fit our collective mindset. We were a study in varying degrees of teenage anger and frustration. Some of us started or got into a lot of fights and did a lot of drugs. Altercation rehearsals were a cloud of pot smoke. Amazing we remembered our songs because we smoked a shit load of pot. How were we so stoned and still so angry? Amazing.
Excerpts taken from the always great Double Cross.According to Andy, Altercation only played 4 shows, 2 at CBGB and 2 at The Pyramid. The live set in this collection was recorded at CBGB on June 7, 1987, with Sheer Terror and some metal bands. The other CBGB show (4/5/87) was a double record release party for Warzone and Youth of Today, also on the bill was Side by Side. Apparently a great sounding soundboard tape of this exists. If anyone has it, please get in touch. Thanks to Chris for the info.
Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits, Moondog, Rival Schools) on Altercation:
Altercation were so amazing that they scared me. They were so good but so evil and fucked up. There was a second there when I thought the dark side just might win. Altercation were fucking awesome Brooklyn skinhead metal... it was the first time I ever heard metal techniques in hardcore, like a proper guitar squeal. Biohazard probably capitalized on their spirit, but say what you will about them, I think that Altercation was about a million times better.
You can read the entire interview with Rival Schools (Walter and Sammy) here.
Altercation's last show was at the Pyramid with Death Before Dishonor. Shortly after that show, Jay and Paul left Altercation to join Warzone and Altercation broke up. Mark Ryan, vocalist of Death Before Dishonor (now called Supertouch), was so impressed with Andy's drumming at the Pyramid show, that he asked him to join Supertouch.
The break-up of Altercation came too soon, as (according to Sammy Siegler of Side By Side, Youth Of Today, Judge, Project X, Gorilla Biscuits...) there was talk of Schism releasing an Altercation album shortly before they broke up. That ranks up there with the Krakdown/NY Hoods split LP as a record that would have destroyed most anything else at the time. Oh well, i'm just glad we have the demo. It's timeless.
Sammy Siegler on Altercation:
I think Altercation were the best unsung band from back then.
I agree.
Some notes of interest:
Eddie Cohen also played in Sick Of It All and Leeway.
Myles Reiff went on to do some great things in the entertainment business. Including co-writing The Road to Graceland, a trilogy of animated prequels to the Warner Bros. release, 3000 Miles to Graceland, starring Kevin Costner and Christian Slater. From there he went on to do work for Universal , Lions Gate Films, A&E, the History Channel, FX and Bravo. You can read his IMDB bio here.
Clenched Fist were a great, but short-lived hardcore band with members in NYC and North Jersey. Kind of a NY hardcore supergroup with members that were in (and would go on to be in) Mental Abuse, Breakdown, Born Against, Life's Blood, Citizens Arrest, Jersey Fresh and Outgroup. This is a collection of the band's 1987 demo, and 6 songs recorded live at CBGB. Great sound quality. Thanks to Chris Fist for the info, and for letting me put this collection on my blog. Enjoy!
Clenched Fist: 1987
Demo lineup:
Perry Pelonero - vocals
Chris Fist - guitar
Neil Burke - bass
Dave Jones - drums
The band formed in '86, and before Perry joined, the infamous Sid Sludge of Mental Abuse was on vocals. Apparently there are rehearsal recordings that exist with Sid on the mic. Maybe one day they'll surface. After Dave Jones left the band, Daryl Kahan and Todd Waladkewics both filled in on drums for a while.
I discovered Clenched Fist back in '87 on Pat Duncan's radio show on WFMU. The songs "Eagle Eyes" and "At the Beach" were on Pat's playlist most Thursdays (which i taped every week religiously). It was only a couple years ago that i was able to get a copy of the entire demo, and the live set. This stuff sounds just as good as it did over 20 years ago.
The demo was recorded in New Jersey in '87. The song "Inner Strength" would later be the template for the song "Eulogy" by Born Against, which was released on a 2-song 7" (the other song being a cover of X's "Riding With Mary") on Vermiform Records in 1990. It came with issue #37 of Sam McPheeter's zine "Dear Jesus". The last track on the Clenched Fist demo, "Get Away" was originally an Outgroup (pre-Mental Abuse) song. Mental Abuse would also play this song live on occasion, and it's probably been covered by bands countless times. It's a NJHC classic.
The live set was recorded at CBGB on July 5th, 1987, with Tommy Prong working the board. Also on the bill was Dag Nasty and Suburban Uprise. The first track, titled "Mud Party", was the music to another old Outgroup song called "I Hate Japs", with the lyrics altered to be less offensive. The original Outgroup version was barely 30 seconds long. The rest of the set is basically all the songs from the demo.
CF also played shows with Youth of Today, Sheer Terror, Dag Nasty, Token Entry, and many other great NYHC bands.
Perry Pelonero was in Krieg Kopf (for about 2 weeks). Dave Jones was in Mental Abuse, Outgroup, and most notably played drums on Agnostic Front's classic "Victim in Pain" album. Chris Fist was in Breakdown, Mental Abuse and Life's Blood. Neil Burke was in Life's Blood and Born Against. Daryl Kahan was in Citizens Arrest, Born Against, True Colors and many death metal, black metal and powerviolence bands. Todd played in Jersey Fresh. Sid Sludge played in Mental Abuse and Outgroup (and i'm still not sure if he actually passed away).
Members of Clenched Fist have recently reformed, and Chris Fist is in the process of writing material for a new ep. It's going to kick ass so keep your eyes peeled.
You can check out the Clenched Fist Myspace page here.
Up Front were (and still are), a great straight edge hardcore band founded in NY. This is a collection of rare material recorded between 1987 and 1989. Raw and fast hardcore punk in the vein of bands of the time like Pressure Release, Unit Pride, Wide Awake, Our Gang etc. Thanks to David Michaels (once again) for helping with the music, and Jeff Terranova and Jon Field for helping with info, and for letting me post this collection. Enjoy.
Up Front: 1987-1989 Rarities
Demo (1987)
Steve Keeley - vocals
Jon Field - guitar
Jeff Terranova - bass
Dan Pettit - drums
The band's first demo was recorded in April of 1987 (only about 2 months after the band had been together), and was recorded in Jeff's parents basement by Mitch Mitchell on an 8-track recorder. This demo is a personal favorite of mine. It's the band at their most raw and abrasive. Certainly not the tightest of recordings, but for me that only adds to it's charm. Many of these songs were later re-recorded for the band's first LP, "Spirit", released in 1988 on Chris Daily's Smorgasbord Records (now run by Jeff Terranova), and the track "One Step Ahead" was recorded for the 1987 comp ep "X Marks the Spot", also released on Smorgasbord (and also featured tracks by Wide Awake and Pressure Release). The three Up Front tracks on this comp, "Something To Strive For", "One Step Ahead" and "Live and Let Live" were the band's first officially released material.
As to not cause any confusion in thinking some of the demo tracks were labeled wrong (as i did the first time i heard it), the track "Up Front" was later renamed "Our Best", and the track "Growing Stronger" was later renamed "Up Front".
Time Gone By (live 1987)
This unreleased song was taken from an early show at The Anthrax in 1987. It's a much more straight forward punk song (and pretty catchy too) than any other Up Front song that i've heard from that time period. I like this track a lot.
Jeff Terranova on "Time Gone By":
Time Gone By was an Up Front song that we used to play live... When we recorded the OG demo tape, we actually recorded like 11 songs and multiple versions of a few songs, which have never been heard by anyone. There was a time that I was contemplating releasing a "Demos" CD because the band recorded other demos over the years... one in 1991 and 1996.
Hopefully an Up Front "Demos" CD gets released one day, as i'd love to hear the studio version of this song.
Live on WNYU (1988)
Steve Keeley - vocals
Jon Field - guitar
Jeff Terranova - bass
Jim Eaton - drums
In December of 1987, Dan Pettit was replaced on drums by Jim Eaton. The band played on WNYU's Crucial Chaos show 3 times. July of 1988 with Steve on vocals (posted here), June of 1989 with Roger on vocals, and one more set years later with Jeff on vocals. Five of the eleven tracks from the '88 WNYU set were released as the "Doin' It Live on WNYU" ep, released on New Direction Records in 1996.
Rehearsals (1989)
Roger Lambert - vocals
Jon Field - guitar
Jeff Terranova - bass
Jim Eaton - drums
In December of '88 (a few months after the recording of the "Spirit" LP), Steve left the band. He was replaced on vocals by Roger Lambert in January of '89. These 14 rehearsal tracks were pulled from a session that was closer to 20 tracks, but since some of the tracks were different takes of the same song, and other tracks suffered from awful sound, i chose these 14. It's a great session consisting mostly of "Spirit" material. Roger does a perfect job putting his vocals to these classics. Soon after these rehearsals, Jim Eaton left the band and was replaced by former Enuf drummer Ari Katz.
I made it a point not to clean the tracks in this collection as much as the last few collections i've posted. I was able to get rid of the tape hiss and surface noise, but made sure to keep the raw, rough sound of the recordings. I think that's how these songs should be heard.
Up Front released a bunch of great records after "Spirit", went through some more lineup changes, break-ups and reformations, and are currently back together and playing shows.
If you're new to Up Front, i'd recommend checking out "Spirit" first, then "Daybreak" and "Movement" (my personal faves). From there you can make your way though the 7"s, which are all conveniently collected on the "Five By Seven" CD available from Smorgasbord Records.
For an extensive history of this band, plus discography, pics, current info etc, check out the band's official site here, and the band's Myspace here.
You can check out Jon Field's amazing collection of live hardcore footage (that he's digitized from his own personal collection) here. Lots of stuff by Up Front, Unit Pride, Pressure Release, Supertouch, Judge... you get the picture.
And lastly, don't forget to check out Jeff's "Anti-Emo Empire" radio show, which i'll plug even though i like emo. Ha.
American Standard were a great punk rock band from New Jersey. They were kinda grouped into the NYHC scene (the song "Away" even appeared on the "Sunday Matinee: The Best of NY Hardcore" comp LP released on Another Planet Records in 1994), although the band's sound was pretty far removed from the NYHC scene. They took influences from the DC scene, and the emo sound that evolved from Rites of Spring, gave it a bit of a harder rock edge, added some pop hooks, and created some unique and catchy music. This is a collection of material recorded prior to their amazing first album "Wonderland". Thanks to Jon Shiver, Jeremy Dean and Scott Bilbrey for the music. Enjoy.
American Standard: 1987-1988
William "Bill" Dolan - vocals
Matt Dolan - guitar
Scott Bilbrey - bass
Jay "J" Colangelo - drums
The "Thank You" demo (tracks 1-5) was recorded at Inner Ear Studio in Arlington, VA sometime in early 1988. These are my favorite versions of these 5 songs, and the sound quality is excellent. Versions of these tracks appear on other demos posted here, and all 5 were re-recorded for the "Wonderland" LP in 1989.
Tracks 6-9 are rough mixes of the Wonderland sessions recorded at Chung King in 1988. The opening track "Grin" is the only track exclusive to this session, as "It Comes Around" and "Building Blocks" are on the "Thank You" demo, and "Without Asking Why" is on the 1987 demo. Still, these are great renditions of these tracks, and definitely worth hearing. I cleaned up these tracks as best as possible.
Next up (tracks 10-16) is a great set recorded live on Pat Duncan's show on WFMU in East Orange NJ (at the time, the WFMU studio has since moved to Jersey City, NJ). This version of the set is strictly the music. I cut out all the in-between song banter because while de-hissing the set made the music sound much better, it made any talking between tracks sound much worse. You're not missing much though, the band introduces a few of the songs and makes one show announcement. The music sounds much better than any of the other copies you'll find, and that's all that counts. To me anyway.
Tracks 17-21 were the band's very first recordings, known as the "Paul Noser Demos". Some great exclusive tracks on this demo like "Blind Leading Blind", "Shadows" and "Love and Trust".
Scott Bilbrey on the "Paul Noser Demos":
Paul Noser was a friend and musical mentor of the band (and amazing musician) who had a small studio in his basement in suburban NJ, not far from where we lived and formed as a band. This was recorded in early 1987. Just some context, Matt and J were 16 years old -- juniors in high school. We were still finding our way musically and as a band, so go easy! :)
We played all of these songs in our real early shows (1987) but by mid-1988 the only one that survived was Away -- which we played pretty much to the end.
This is actually a rough mix of the demo, so there are a couple glitches (vocals fade in on Shadows; a clown horn that Bill was goofing with can be heard on Away -- was supposed to be edited out).
Blind Leading Blind was the first song we ever wrote.
I know we played Shadows at our first CBGB's gig in January 1988 (with Swiz) but I don't know if we played it much beyond that.
Away made it onto Wonderland -- this is the first recorded version.
This version of Where'd They Go is pretty much how we played it live, unlike the other version from the first Inner Ear Demos, which was a bit experimental. We played it live only a few times.
To read the full story behind the demos, check out the comments section of this post.
Also check the comments section for the original upload of the "Paul Noser Demos" (before i cleaned them).
Last in the collection are 4 demo tracks recorded at Inner Ear Studios in 1987. The quality varies from track to track, but considering these tracks were buried under so much tape hiss, i think they came out really well. The original '87 demo had 5 tracks. I didn't include the song "Thank You" due to horrible sound quality that was beyond repair. But that song is already in this collection twice, so no harm. Thanks to Scott Bilbrey for the info on all these recordings.
Matt Dolan on American Standard:
Washington DC. That was where our biggest influences were- the DC scene. Dag Nasty, Fugazi, bands like that. We were really inspired by that because it wasn't as 'aggro' as the New York scene was. There starting to call bands Emo-core now, and they were calling them Emo-core back in '95.
You can read the entire interview with the band here.
And check out the American Standard page on the Maggadee Records site for lots of great band pics.
