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Pushead had his fingers in the global hardcore scene from the get-go, and so it’s pretty logical that he released one of the earlier compilations that does a pretty good job of covering several different areas of the earth. This comp - Cleanse The Bacteria - in addition to that though, also has pretty much the limits of extremity covered for hardcore in that era. Power hits from the likes of Mob 47, Inferno, Civil Dissident, Corrosion Of Conformity, The Execute, and Pushead’s own band Septic Death. There’s also some 7 Seconds songs that are pretty good, but not extreme in any way.  Oh and there’s a little band I happen to live very much by the name of Siege making their only vinyl appearance ever (excluding numerous reissues of their demo). The Siege songs on here are ragged, blasting proto-grindcore insanity. Probably the best music I know of to come from Boston in 1985 without any doubt. For the inclusion of that material I consider this comp particularly indispensable. The Pusman was one of the few who actually got how earth shaking what Siege was doing was - and the tracks actually sound best on the actual comp as opposed to numerous reissues where they’re EQ’d to sound more seamless with Siege’s demo tracks. Aside from my personal bias, and interests, just take a look at this tracklist:

Side 1.
7 Seconds: Regress No Way, We’re Gonna Fight
Civil Dissident: 20th Century Holocaust Pt. II, Death for a Buzz
Instigators: 53rd State, The Blood is on Your Hands, Free(You’re Not)
Siege: Sad But True, Cold War, Walls
Corrosion of Conformity: Kiss of Death
Crude SS: Nazi Go home, Sprang Alla Komunhus
Akutt Innleggelse: Tenk Na!
The Execute: Slash(Live)

Side 2.
Part 1: Black Mass
Poison Idea: Typical, Die on your Knees
Genocide Express: Genocide Express, Factory
Inferno: Wir Sind Schon Tot, Freited
Mob 47: Fred & Rattuisa, Sjuk Varid, Nedrusta Nu, Snuten Styr
Septic Death: Terrorain, Change
Enola Gay: Grav Et Kul, Enola Gay
Holy Dolls: Beast of the Apocalypse
Zyklome A: People Die, Angry Face
Extrem: Nazi Raus

Anyway this copy is a blue vinyl edition which is relatively hard to come by. There’s also some on orange vinyl that include a poster and a bonus 12″ of out takes - good luck grabbing that. I’m not gonna break this down track by track, but pretty much every band that’s not Part1 (ugh) brings something good to the table.

It was the best of times…it was the blurst of times. It was 2002, or actually it was 2001, which soon became 2002 when I first heard this weird dude Greg from Cape Cod had a new band with Justin from Down But Not Out, and 2 other guys I didn’t know. I could have never guessed the number of times I would end up seeing this band over the next 3 years, but I thought their name, Mental, was really cool.

I got the first tape they didfrom Greg at a show and when I took it home I was pretty sure it was recorded on a boombox. “I think they’d be good if they recorded in a studio, but I can’t hear any of the songs on this“. The titles were stuff like “Fuck Responsibility” and “High School Sucks” which seemed cool considering how over-serious most hardcore bands were at the time. So in the spring of 2003 when I heard they were going to the local Dead Air Studios, I was eager to see how things would turn out.

I rode out with some friends on night in May ‘02 to do the crew backup vocals on Mental’s first studio recorded demo (affectionately known as demo 2).  When we got there, they were finishing up guitar tracks. I recall thinking it would be a late night because they hadn’t even started the vocals yet, one of the many times in my life I’ve been so very wrong. Greg laid the vocals down for 9 songs in probably 40 minutes. Mostly first takes as I remember it, and he sounded great. Brash, angry, youthful and confident. The tunes sounded great too. I was shocked actually, at how awesome it sounded for such a young band. I knew this would be a new favorite. It sounded a lot like old New York hardcore bands, maybe with some other stuff thrown in, or perhaps just the hindsight the 90’s provided. I’ve never quite put my finger on it, but it sort of always reminded me of the first Sick Of It All 7″. Maybe with some Straight Ahead and Token Entry too. It didn’t really sound like one thing or a particular band to me, I just thought it was good, and at the time it pretty much stood alone. Logos for straight edge hardcore bands had got really scratchy and lyrics quite serious and wordy. When Mental came along they had big cartoon letters and seemed like they were having fun on their recordings (even moreso live). It kind of just took an unnecessary chip off the shoulder of Hardcore for a little while, without ever being too jokey or goofy. It’s not really easy to walk that line, and it was sort of how I knew they were something special. A breath of fresh (”fresh”) air.

I went to the recording for their 7″ later that year, again at Dead Air and I remember being at least a little surprised how much more they had their shit together already. They did 11 songs in a day I think. There might have been an extra half day to finish up vocals and do the mix, but I still remember being in awe at how fast the band had moved, even though they were releasing a 7″ they had enough material laid down to make a 12″. All of my bands up to that point had struggled just to get demos together. After demanding that someone yell “bust!” prior to a breakdown in one song, it was put on me to be the one to do it, although I think someone from the band could have done it better.

Once their 7″ came out it seemed like things never stopped for Mental. The record came out in the winter of 2003, but by summer 2003 they’d recorded a demo of the absurd side project Dumptruck, and another E.P. to be out by the year’s end. Tours and endlessly colorful t-shirts followed, as well as a couple more records. The first time I saw the whole USA from the window of a van was with Mental, lifting guitar cabinets and drums on a nightly basis. I guess it’s weird to write about stuff that is so recent, but it was good times, even when it wasn’t good times, and I still play these tapes (and 7″) pretty often.

Hey the Celtics won the finals - so here’s a classic Boston punk record from the days of Larry Bird. Gang Green - Sold Out on clear vinyl with a MEGA RARE acetate cover. I could tell the story of Gang Green’s “Sold Out” 7″ in my own words for the uninitiated, but this excerpt from the reissue cd does it so well, that there’s no need. Read on…

By 1983 GangGreen were a memory. They did not play out anymore or record. But their popularity seemed to grow to epidemic proportions. Meanwhile: Hardcore was at its peak in America and Boston was the breeding ground for such bands as Negative FX, SSD, DYS, The FU’s, Last Rights, Jerry’s Kids, and The Proletariat. But the GangGreen tracks on “This is Boston Not L.A.” led them to legendary status. There was a postumus release called, “Unsafe at Any Speed.” The track by GangGreen was called “Selfish.” Their only other recordings were known as the “Sold Out Sessions.” Three songs were recorded during that session: “Sold Out“, “Terrorize” and a song that was never finished called, “America.” The bill was $275.00, unpaid, overdue and threatened to be taped over.

Enter Taang! Records:It wasn’t until Dave Collins, drummer of DYS, showed up at a Bad Brains show with a copy of the GangGreen tape known as the Legendary Sold Out Sessions. The reason Dave Collins got a copy of the tape was because DYS were recording at Radiobeat studios and he managed to get a copy of the most eagerly awaited unreleased tape in Boston history.Meanwhile at the Bad Brains show:For this particular Bad Brains show there was a seven hour wait because the Bad Brains needed to score weed. The crowd that gathered in The Channel parking lot did not enter the club. They remained outside due to the no remittance once entered rule. That day the lot looked like a HARDCORE WOODSTOCK. Skate ramps were built that day, graffiti was sprayed on naked buildings, children were even conceived… but most importantly, a record label was born.Dave Collins searched the lot for the Motorhead Mobile, an all black ‘67 Camaro which was a listening haven for many. He spotted the car and found members of GangGreen, Negative FX, SSD and most of the Boston hardcore scene huddled around the car blasting Discharge. DC aka Dave Collins held the tape high above his head in victory yelling, “Hey crew look what I’ve got.” The Discharge tape was exited out of the tape deck & GangGreentape slid in. After several repeated blstings of the tape there was nothing but praise. The bands nodded in approval but Curtis, a D.J. at the time, who plagued radio with hardcore (especially Boston hardcore), could not contain himself. “This is fucking great!” he shouted, “It should be on X-CLAIM!“Doherty whispered to Curtis, “We’re not straight edge.” “That’s fine,” Curtis replied, “Springa & Chris Foley never were either. X-CLAIM is Boston & this has to be on a Boston label!” demanded Curtis. X-CLAIM was thee Boston label at the time. Known to most for straight-edge hardcore and releasing albums by great Boston hardcore bands.

The X-CLAIM situation was this:  No one ran it.  Bands used the name and there were four different addresses. DYS got SSD’s mail and The Fu’sthrew out Jerry’s Kids’ mail… get the picture? So it was time to start fresh. Curtis was handed the tape and it was up to him to do something about it. Doherty, Dean, and Curtis are all friends and X-Claim was X-Claim.Curtis got some help from people he had helped; Al from X-Claim/SSD, Ian from Dischord/Minor Threat, Glen from Plan 9/Misfits, Jon Loder from Crass/Spiderleg, Mike Stone from Clay. These five people were a great inspiration and direction for this new label. TAANG! Records was born with the release of “Sold Out” by GangGreen in March ‘84. The record took off, word got out all over the world. The label was on its way.As for GangGreen: They reformed for the release of “Sold Out” (TAANG! #1) but shortly thereafter Bill decided not to play music anymore and the band played their last show with the Minutemen at The Channelin Boston. Doherty passed out face first on the floor due to a long day of drinking with Dicky B. at a nearby bar.

There you have it. History, as it happened before the eyes of those who were there. Gang Green have been consistently one of the worst bands in Boston for about 20 years now, but because of the Sold Out 7″ single they will always have a place in the hearts of punks and hardcore kids in this town. The cover is an all time classic. The 3 members, probably under 18, with a mirror that has the band name spelled out in cocaine. It wasn’t exactly hard to predict it would be all downhill from there. The song sold out is a great one - clean guitar starts the song off sounding like some pre-hardcore Boston bar rock/power pop as Chris Dorhety warbles off key “All we want is money and to be on every station” and so on, before declaring “give the fuckin’ people what they want” in a teenaged scream that has been rarely equaled by anyone since it was first laid to tape. At this point of course Gang Green deliver some full tilt thrashing and lyrics no one will ever decipher. I was in a band that covered this once, and I played the song about a dozen times in a row trying to figure out what I was supposed to say. Finally I resigned myself to just singing nonsense that sounded the same has the nonsense he shouts. Song 2 is Terrorize which is a slightly more refined version of the “Boston Not LA”, basically just full on thrash with screaming backups for the chorus. Gang Green were one of the few who wrote the book on tuneless ear shredding thrash. It’s too bad they really did try to sell out later, making mediocre heavy metal records on Roadrunner but whatever.

Only 100 copies of Sold Out come on clear vinyl with this transparent acetate cover, probably all of them were hoarded by the notoriously unscrupulous Curtis Taang. I assume a lot were traded as his early releases sometimes include copies of his tradelist, but i suppose it’s possible some were sold for coin too.  

Well today is de facto the busiest day of the year at my job and as a result I haven’t had any time to prepare a real post. I went to see Mission Of Burma do their Signals Calls and Marchesshow last night. Here’s the setlist:

• playland
• peking spring
• new disco
• eyes of men (!!!)
• active in the yard (might have misidentified this?)
• academy fight song
• execution
• devotion
• max ernst
• revolver
• outlaw
• fame and fortune
• this is not a photograph
• red
• all world cowboy romance

came back for an encore that was:

• a cover of a song by the Girls (didn’t catch the title - i pose)
• the first 4 songs from Obliterati (2006 lp):
  • 2wice
  • spider’s web
  • let yourself go
  • donna sumeria

Seriously they were wonderful. Mission of Burma is probably my all time favorite Boston band. They’re not a hardcore band, but they were liked by the Boston Crew back in the day — the dvd of their final day show at the Bradford proves this with the whole Boston Crew in stage dive mode for the whole set. Of course that’s also the infamous last Negative FX show from which came the declaration “WE AINT GONNA STOP - FUCK YOU”. I’ve always loved the clash of high and low culture. The way Burma could mix up influences like Wire, Roxy Music, Pere Ubu etc. with skull bashing garage punk like The Stooges, The Dils, and so on. I’m often drawn to groups that are able to clash the high and the low. I find it compelling. I’m going to see them do their VS. lpstart to finish tonight, and I’m really giddy like a little girl. I’ll spare a long entry on the band since they’re technically not a hardcore band, but let me just say there was a moment in the band’s history (near the end of their initial run) when they were surely influenced and flirting with Hardcore sounds. Around 82/83 when the style had taken over the city of Boston they really started incorporating faster tempos into their work. OK/No Way, The Ballad Of Johnny Burma, That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate, Active In The Yard, Dumbells, Go Fun Burn Man, Blackboard, House Flaming — all of these songs were sort of Burma-fied approximations of the Hardcore sound. Much more melodic and angular, but you can’t deny that some of the style had seeped into them. Next week though, back to some more traditional “Hardcore” talk.

Whoa sorry for the hate fest yesterday. See what happens when I don’t get enough sleep folks? In the end, it probably did more good than bad for yesterday’s seller. But that was yesterday. What have I got today? More like, what haven’t I got? The answer to that question, is most of the records this dude is selling. SHAMEFUL on my part.

These listings are not ace, and it makes you wonder about the validity of a few items like the NA 7″, Urban Waste 7″, 7 Seconds “Skins” 7″, especially because the labels are not visible in the photos. On the other hand the seller obviously knows the value of these items, and they seem to be in the company of many obviously legitimate pressings (you can’t fake a Floorpunch on gold people).

How about a top 5 ?

1) I gotta take the Urban Waste 7″here. Presuming that everything is legit about it, this is a hell of a clean copy. Contains an instert, the cover looks nice, unfortunately you have to speculate on the vinyl due to the photo which at the least may keep the price down. It’s kinda strange you know, Urban Waste is at this point just shy of a $500 record. If this one actually had a classy listing I think it could break it, but it’s not hard finding an Urban Waste E.P. It hits ebay seemingly weekly. With only 1000-ish pressed it seems like a large number have survived so it’s kind of surprising the price has been able to climb steadily over the past few years.

2) Even if it’s 2nd press, a clean copy of the Negative Approach 7″is a good investment and I really doubt the price is ever coming down (barring global economic disaster). You’d have a tough time arguing this isn’t the best hardcore E.P. ever, even people outside hardcore can appreciate this one. Best vocals in a punk/hardcore band ever maybe? Contender for greatest lead off track - without a doubt. NA is a band that I would argue outshines their influences (S.O.A., Blitz, 4Skins) on this record. Been listening to it for 9 years of my life now and it hasn’t worn out its welcome in the least. Too bad I’ve been listening on a dumb CD. Gotta change that this year…

3) Either Minor Threat7″ here could, in my book give the NA 7″ a run for its money. They’re both later pressings, but I guess could fetch maybe 2 bills each. There’s been a LOT of Fillers popping up lately, although it shouldn’t surprise anyone. Even blue covers are going for 150-200 now, and there’s plenty to go around. I think pretty much only the red sleeved ones go for more than 250-300 though. Btw, anyone that wants to trade a Red Sleeved copy, I hereby offer my Dogs - Slash Your Face (stock copy) in exchange for one. Maybe we could workout the difference after that, but the thing has been played twice ever so consider that. I love some Detroit Rock n Roll, but I grew up w/ the White House in my backyard, and I’m straight edge, so Ian and the boys will always be my first love.

 4) Antidote without an insert is still an Antidote 7″, so eff it. I give this my number 4. Probably will still go for more than the Minor Threat recs, and the sleeve looks better than some I’ve seen. Why are these things always trashed? At least there’s no handwriting or water stains on this.  Please lord someone put together a better Antidote release than the junk currently available.

 5) Last Rights 7″w/ a mic-stand-throwing cover. A riff like Chunks really only comes once a career, and a record this legendary probably not much more than that. No matter how much embarrassing shit Choke has pulled over the years with Slapshot, it can never diminish this single. HARD HARD HARD skinhead HARDcore. If there were oi bands that actually sounded like this I’d get a pair of boots and a razor shave on my dome.

See you folks on Marathon Metal Monday…

Deathwishshould have been a big name on the Boston Hardcore scene in ‘83. I have no idea why they weren’t really, although presumably it was because they never played a show. Eventually guitarist Jordan Wood (R.I.P.), went on to form Slapshot, but the Deathwish single is legitimately at least as good as Back On The Map. I know a lot of people think “oh a cult record” (i.e. not a big name), “people only like it because it’s rare”. I swear to you, and if you’ve heard it you know: Deathwish could have been considered first tier. This record has 3 tracks on it which are taken from a longer demo session. Until recently it was questionable as to whether there were actually more songs, but a mysterious myspace profile of the band appeared, and it contained clips of other songs from the same session which, frustratingly, were not full songs. There’s also a less regarded demo from a few years later with some different members and a more rockin’ metallic sound. In other words - you’re not interested, because it sucks.

Side A busts out with a good Boston style creepy-crawlin’ riff on a dirty sounding bass. Cue: echo-drenched vocals. I’m talking the same family as City To City and What You Pay for with the riff, and Nightstalker vibe on the vocal. A good thick churn that could open a slam-pit in a retirement home. Chorus comes and kicks up a good thrash part up there with any SSD, Negative FX, etc. Then they repeat everything, sometimes all you need is a good slow part, and a good fast part. Flip it over to side B. Condemned is a good thrasher almost going Deep Wound speed, but with the kind of tuneful chord progressions that Jerry’s Kids were known for. The lyrics, something about being “Condemned for life” get delivered in a typical barking Boston style; hoarse and gruff. The song is about 1 minute flat. No big surprises, just legitimate ripping. Break The Chains (track 3), basically repeats the formula of speedy and tuneful, ending around one minute as well, also it’s my favorite of the 3.

I have no idea why this stuff didn’t get released when it was actually recorded, but in fact it did not. Instead it was released in 1989 (5 or 6 years later) on the Amory Arms label, run by one of the guys who went on to found Matador. There’s some question as to whether the release was legitimate or not, a lot of people refer to this as technically being a bootleg, however most collectors are willing to pay or trade for it as if it was legitimate, partially at least, because it was released in a numbered edition of 300. It was re-bootlegged by the notorious Lost & Found records in the 90’s, however, it has a different sleeve and thus can’t be confused with the original. Also, weirdly it’s included as bonus tracks on the CD version of the Abused “Loud and Clear” demo on Lost and Found. I have no idea why as they don’t really sound alike, and have no connection other than being from roughly the same time period. What sketchy affair that label was.

BTW this seller, who’s responsible for the Flex books and website, has plenty more 1st tier stuff you should check out, and I’m sure much more to come.

This wins the award for
funniest auctions of the week . For Sale:
1 original Vile “Solution” lp, and a bunch of 90’s emo (in case you need a re-up on your Portraits of Past collection).  Vile is mostly infamous for the irreverent lyrical content on the record, although at least on person I know thinks they made the best Boston HC lp. Subtract the obnoxious, lyrics though and you’re left with an over-long, uneven snotty hardcore jam, better than say, PTL Klub, but not half as good as the FU’s. There are a few undeniable hits like 5 to 10, but there are so many great early 80’s Massachusetts HC/Punk releases that it really doesn’t matter much to me. About the only thing it’s good for is pissing off squares. My favorite Vile story is that they beat up their bassist on stage during a show, but that doesn’t really save the album as a whole. I guess this will probably sell for $300. Probably not worth your trouble, but there it is.

 Also funny, but not nearly as funny:
this seller with about a dozen Spazz records, and then the first press of the
Hard Stance “Face Reality” 7″.  Time for this jam to get a reissue, a total hard-edge classic. Btw the
Doom “Police Bastard” they got for sale looks to be either a 3rd or 4th press. Don’t miss that
Gordon Solie Motherfuckers “Chairshot Politcs” either (discography out this year on Painkiller!). Spazz has the best joke band riffs besides Straight Youth, and maybe something else I can’t think of.

Gibby has a couple things up including two Panic test presses. Auctions end Dec 19.

Here’s a link to all the stuff he has up.