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Another entry in the XClaim saga - DYS “Brotherhood” used to be my favorite, although now I consider it to be a bit of a lesser entry. Still it has a special place in my heart and the first few songs are all stone cold ‘82-core classics.

Open Up starts it out with a classic mid-paced bass part and Dave Smally’s distinct teenaged voice cracking. For those keeping score, this is his best vocal performance ever (by far). The song rails against hardcore and punk dropouts (irony!) in a truly fist pumping manner. Next comes, what in my opinion is the unquestionably best DYS song, More Than A Fashion. This track opens with the classic DYS stompy mosh part which is utilized in a few of their songs, but is best displayed here. It’s an in your face straight edge anthem ripping at the seams from all the youthful energy coursing through the band before they explode into a fast part that repeats the lines “Straight Mind/Razor’s Edge…”. It also contains the straight edge lyrics that I relate to more than any other:

“It’s a way of life that says I don’t need
Hangovers, freak-outs or expensive weed
Rather buy a record any day
My mind is here, not far away”

I mean really - that pretty much breaks down my world view here people.  Next comes Circle Storm, which is a pretty great anti-racism thrash number. Perfect use of gang-vocals on this one. After that you get City To City, another alltime great, with the heaviest riff on the album and a pounding beat that gives the toms a workout. A great mosh track, you can’t go wrong with this. Closing out side A is The Girl’s Got Limits, which is kind of an inept AC/DC style jam. It’s pretty good but kind of kills the vibe a little bit especially right after a song that proclaims “We’re Serious and We Won’t Go Away”.

Side B starts with the title track which has a similar construction to Circle Storm. Great powerful throbbing hardcore thrashing. Of course it’s a song about your brothers/friends, etc. Obviously this combined with the last song makes it sort of obvious these aren’t the most socially progressive young boys, but what do you people want? The next 3 tracks, Yellow,  Stand Proud, and Insurance Risk are all good jams, but are kind of the less notable jams on this album. Even if they’re not all as good as More Than A Fashion though, they’re still pretty good, and better than the filler tracks on The Kids Will Have Their say. Anyway, things close out with Escape, which for some reason (I’ve never quite known why) opens with some King Arther based sample. Anyone know what that’s about? Anyway this is the archetypal Boston dirge. Lots of cheap echo on the vocals, a grinding two-note guitar riff - it’s pretty good but it also ends with the lines “Crawl into the blackness/scream into my mind”. I can’t really do much with that.

Anyway that’s all 15 minutes of Brotherhood, encapsulated. These days it just doesn’t compare to the precision and power of My America or Is This My World, or just the out and out low-brow idiocy of the Negative FX lp (honorary X-Claim release). Not sure what else to say about this one really. I still need a copy actually.

This Is Boston Not LA: 

Not much bad you can say about this - arguably the best compilation from the USA in the early 80’s. It’s funny that such a great summation of the New England (mainly Boston) scene circa ‘82 can have notable absences like SS Decontrol and DYS, and still basically kick your ass top to bottom. Before getting into the nitty gritty let me break it into tiers here:

Tier 1:

• Jerry’s Kids (6 songs)
• Gang Green (7 songs)
• The Freeze (8 songs)

Tier 2:

• Decadence (unfortunately only 1 song)
• The Proletariat (3 songs)
• Groinoids (1 song)

Tier 3:

• The FU’s (4 songs)

From this info there’s a couple pieces of information you can glean. 1) The best bands on this comp have, by far, the most songs. 2) If the FU’s are the worst band on the comp, it must be a pretty good comp, and since I’ve mentioned them, let’s start from the bottom. The FU’s stuff on here is forgettable in light of their 3 lps. Overly simple, a little cute, but ultimately not that great. It’s still classic stuff, but I honestly never reach for it when I want to hear them.

Teir 2 finds one of the best punk novelty songs EVER in Decadence’s “Slam” which is a song about slam dancing, and features the all time classic line “gonna rip your Rock Lobster shirt”. The drumming, guitar riff, and vocals are all caveman style, totally as low as you can go, which to me makes the song better.  I really wish they had more songs on here, and I’ve even heard they have a lost demo tape. I believe Dave Collins of DYS is on drums here. The Proletariat were like a baby Wire/GoF type band. Not really as interesting or nervy as those bands could be, and the song Religion is the Opium of the Masses is interminable, but their other 2 tracks, especially Options are pretty good. The singer definitely throws his voice to sound British which is pretty lame, but it could be worse. The Groinoids are probably the worst band in a conventional sense on the comp. Just totally out of time nonsense, but at this point that tends to be more enjoyable for me.

Now to the heart of this thing. Jerry’s Kids, Gang Green, and The Freeze all deliver enough material here to fill their own 7″s, and sometimes I wish these songs were released like that.  Jerry’s Kids bust it out like a tighter, well oiled version of SOA maybe. It’s not that much like their XClaim lp but still extremely catchy and great. These are some of my favorite hardcore songs ever. Gang Green probably produced their best songs ever in this session. They were still high school aged at this time, and the songs thrash and burn with teenaged hormonal imbalance. Vocalist Chris Doherty’s screeching and cracking delivery is still one of the all time greats to this day. Actually they remind me of a more out of control Urban Waste at this stage. The songs are almost all a blur of speed and fuzz and crazy yelling. Never again would Gang Green come close to this. The Freeze’s offering are the beginning of their Hardcore era, and personally I think their best material ever recorded too. The songs are garagey and tuneful, snotty as hell, and they stick with you forever after. Of course even though they were actually from Cape Cod, they turned in the title track “Boston Not LA”.

There is a boot of this but I believe the labels were changed AND it doesn’t include the original inner sleeve/lyric sheet. 

SLAPSHOT - Back On The Map
The city of Boston is well known in the Hardcore lexicon as having raised a certain Hardcore aesthetic in its early days. The original “Boston Crew”, principally composed of SS Decontrol, DYS (that’s Department Of Youth Services), and Negative FX, took up the Straight Edge mantle originated in DC with the kind of machismo and general townie bravado that helps to make the state of Massachusetts all that it is. Dudes who wore sleeveless black t-shirts, enjoyed red meat, weight lifting, brawling, and their Camaros (that’s pronounced “CAHHH” in Beantown), were at the center of this clique, and while they got along reasonably well with the other upstart bands of the day (Jerry’s Kids, FU’s, Gang Green), there’s always been something that set these three apart in some way. They dismantled the UK82 sounds bands like GBH, Blitz, Discharge, and injected their own ineptitude and unabashed Americaness into the reconfiguration creating the template for the Boston sound. They played the most violent shows. When they went to NY they were known to incite bloodbaths of violence on the dance-floor. But then everything went wrong (as you probably know). The townie in the members of the crew triumphed, and DYS and SSD made terrible rock albums that don’t even come close to the local legacies they sought to join (Aerosmith, etc.). Negative Fx for their part shattered relatively quickly, with only a few shows and demo recordings logged on the books, eventually having one of their demos released as an LP on Taang records.

By ‘84 Boston’s luster had faded somewhat, though there were still plenty of good bands. Jack “Choke” Kelly, of Negative Fx, attempted to start a new band, Last Rights, but all they could manage was one powerhouse single and a notorious show. Undeterred though Kelly put together another band, Slapshot, and for all the shit they did after the 80’s, their first few records are gloriously reactionary, hooligan oriented, muscle-core. If anything it’s more confrontational, more macho, and more violent than SS Decontrol. The songs are heavier, with a mid-paced Oi feel, but still very American too.

Back On The Map was the first Slapshot record, a 7 song mini-lp and features a one time contribution of DYS 4-stringer, John Anastas. Though he may not have realized it at the time, you can kind of view Back On The Map as a better interpretation of what DYS and SSD tried to become, that is, hardcore bands that ‘rock(ed)’. The riffs and songs are simple and repetitive. Drummer Mark Mckaye (no relation to Ian) plays with the kind of efficiency and spareness that AC/DC’s Phil Rudd is known for, and other than the rudimentary solos, guitarist Steve Risteen uses a similar approach in his guitar playing. Only what’s needed, nothing flashy, just lean and HARD. Choke’s barking vocals are probably what make Slapshot most recognizable to the ears of others, moving up and down the scale and mixing the style of British Oi bands with the out of control insanity of SSD’s Springa. This dude was just born to yell over recordings of abrasive guitar and drums arrangements. As for the band’s output after the year 1990 - let’s just pretend it didn’t happen.

Only the first run of this thing actually comes with an inner sleeve and it’s quite hard to find. Looks like the Taang mailorder list of the day is in there too, and on the whole this copy looks quite clean.

The F.U.’s - My America. Truly a milestone in Boston’s hardcore past. Without much doubt in my mind it’s the best set of songs the F.U.’s ever delivered, obnoxiously sarcastic Pro-America lyrics permeate the proceedings and were quite good at pissing off alarmist punks in the 80’s. I really question if these people had just not been introduced to the concept of sarcasm. What You Pay For, the first song on the record pretty much lays it out: “Responsibility, a bunch of shit..We’ll tell you lies if it makes us laugh…”. Poor Poor Pitiful You and This Is Your Life continued the attack on “the scene” characterizing it as whiny and gossip obsessed. The title track, if you moved past the obviously non-serious “love it or leave it” in the chorus was pretty obviously taking the piss, and Boston’s Finest was a rather unpatriotic attack on the BPD (duh). Choir Boy lamented how the children of those with influence are allowed to get away with basically everything, and Rifle pertained in some way to shooting celebrities, but was essentially a return to the anti-hero worship themes of the opening track. The album closed with a cover of Grand Funk Railroad’s “American Band” annoying and sort of funny. I imagine the reactions of rage by Reagan hating punks who thought they were smashing the system from their bedrooms every time they got wrecked on cheap beer.

…and NOW: Tim Yohannan, being classically F’d with by one of my all time favorites, (the FU’s dummy), in MRR #9.

F.U.’S
J=JOHN SOX
W=WAYNE MAESTRI
S=STEVE GRIMES
B=BOB FURAPPLESINTERVIEW BY TIMT: You have this album called “My America” which just came out, and there’s some controversy as to whether you guys are being satirical or are you for real?
J: Glad you asked that Tim. (laughter all around). Kind of figured you might say say that. No, we are basically pretty patriotic.
T: Uh huh. What’s that based on?
B: This country rules!!
J: Love for McDonald’s hamburgers, among other things. Coca-cola.
W: The fact that we’re not in jail and not starving to death.
J: That too. And we can say what we want to.
T: Yeah, you can say what you want to. But why do you say “America Rules”? What does that mean?
B: It’s the greatest country on earth. I mean, where else whould you want to be?
T: Everybody in every country says that.
B: Well, everybody in every other country doesn’t know anything.
J: How come so many of them come here?
B: Yeah, how come all those immigrants come running to this country?
T: Well, it may be one of the few places for them to actually get some work.
B: Ah, see.
T: But why is there so much unemployment in their countries? Let me throw that back at you.
B: Why? Because they’re too dumb to run their governments. (laughter by band members)
T: That’s how you really feel? That’s a pretty ignorant statement.
B: Well, I only got up to the ninth grade (more band laughter).
T: I’m glad you admit your ignorance.
J: How do you see it Tim?
T: Well, I would say that these people who come here from mostly poor Third World countries are comin’ because there are no opportunities in their countries. Now why the economic structures are like that has to do with the fact that… like people in Latin America… their countries are basically within the capitalist sphere of influence and you have the multi-national corporations which go down there and establish governments that are friendly to U.S. business interests. That means cheap labor, an ability to exploit the resources in those countries. You’re from New England, right? All those companies are leaving New England and setting up in those Third World countries, Korea, or wherever. They prop up these governments, which basically repress people so they can reap profits. So those countries do not get to develop their economies in any kind of balanced way. And that’s how I see it. How do you see it?
J: It’s all my fault. I hate myself! (band laughter).
S: We never said we necessarily liked the government or the people who run the country. We just like America. And what’s wrong with that?
T: Well, he (Bob) said it “ruled”, and he (John) said you’re “patriotic”. So, you’re going beyond saying just “we like America”. What’s the criteria for that?
B: The good far outweighs the bad. When you go over to Canada, what happens? You cross a border, it’s like, phehh, no problem. If you’re in Europe, and you’re trying to cross from one state to another, they strip you and stick a finger up your behind to check what you’ve got there (more band laughter). I mean, you can move around this country free, you can say what you want.
T: As long as no one really pays attention.
B: Oh, if they want to pay attention, fine.
J: That’s another good thing. They don’t pay much attention.
T: The fact is, yes, we do have ‘freedom of speech’ in this country, but in the past, it’s been proven that once people start paying attention to you, if you’re in opposition to what the government’s doing, then you’re in a position to be offed, or be put away, or whatever. Look at all the people who were in rebellion against the government in the sixties. A lot of them got put away, driven nuts, or killed.
B: Or they’re lawyers or head G.E. right now, or something like that.
T: Some of them sold out too, right.
B: They didn’t sell out. They just got wise (more band laughter).
T: Anyway, I think there’s more to it than you’re saying. Yes, there is freedom of speech, but what is that freedom really? Yes, people do come here from other countries, but why is it that they have to leave their countires? It’s not just so superficially easy to say.
J: It’s a good place to come to (band laughter).
T: And I think the whole “Rules” mentality… “San Francisco Rules”, etc., where’s that at?
J: It’s pride.
T: Pride in what? I mean everyplace…
J: You don’t have maintenance without pride (band laughter).
T: Do you think that’s an admirable mentality, saying that this place or that place “Rules”? I don’t think that S.F. “Rules” or Boston “Rules”, or America “Rules”, or Russia “Rules”.
B: Well, I think that Boston Rules, but that doesn’t mean that I hate every band from D.C. or anything like that.
S: Just because you think that something’s the best doesn’t mean something else doesn’t have some good points to it too (band laugher).
T: So that’s the extent of…
B: I would rather be in this country than anywhere else on earth.
T: Sure. You were born here.
B: I don’t know. If I was in Paraguay sitting around…
T: Paraguayans would say they’d rather be there. That’s how it works. If you go overseas, everyone is proud, in a sense, of where they’re from. That’s basic. You grow up somewhere, you have these cultural attachments, and you’re proud of it. What I’m trying to fathom is, are you just proud, or are you arrogant here? I think there’s a difference.
J: Ignoring that question, what I just want to say is what I really hate is seeing these kids who want to be ‘cool punk kids in the scene’… They go out and buy this anti-Reagan t-shirt or something like that and they don’t even know what’s going on 10 feet in front of their face. They just do it to be cool… just jumping on the bandwagon.
T: Yes, I think there’s definitely a trendy ‘be political’ whatever… I know what you’re saying. I think that’s as ignorant as the other side, which is to be trendy anti-political, and not know what you’re talking about either.
J: I had those people in mind when I wrote “My America”.

Here in Boston there’s few records our shared HC heritage cherishes more than Jerry’s Kids - “Is This My World” lp. Such a fine and perfect combination of raging speed, huge hooks, ripping solos, and powerhouse drumming. Where the fuck do I even start? How about the opening guitar wash that burns away into squealing feedback and a bass break in the first (of numerous) anthem “I Don’t Belong”. “I GOT A FEELING THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG/I GOT A FEELING THAT I…/I DON’T BELONG HERE/I KNOW IT’S TRUE/I DON’T BELONG HERE/AND NEITHER DO YOU”. These lines are simple and direct but they frame the record in the perfect teenage angst and punk anger within the first minute.  The vocals seethe with anger and bile and the kind of frustration that jumps through the speakers and hits you in the chest.  The music follows this path as well. Rick Jones aside from delivering these vocals also holds down the bass guitar with ease and style. He’s flanked by two of the best to ever rip a 6-string: Chris Doherty (also of Gang Green), and “Rockin’” Bob Cenci. The way these dudes shred the strings - it’s caustic and percussive. It’s a constant wash, like all 16th notes and none of them muted. I’ve never heard a guitar attack this powerful and sustained, what’s even crazier is the shots of them going insane on the back of the lp. One shot of Doherty has him on top of the crowd with his guitar, the other jumping off the drum riser. The photo of Censi has him on his knees, eyes closed soloing, and when Cenci shreds a solo sit the fuck down, because school is in session. Without a doubt one of the greatest of all time. All of this is backed by the smash and bash finesse of Brian Betzger, one of the best to ever sit behind the old buckets in a hardcore band. I mentioned a second ago how percussive the guitars become as they sustain their constant 16th note picking, and part of what’s  so great about this is it gives Betzger the opportunity to go absolutely wild. I don’t think you’ll find a record with this many wild speedy fills anywhere else. I mean the band just sounds insane right off the bat. 

After tearing through 4 more tuneful shredders comes the side ending epic, “Raise The Curtain”. In the business, we call this a slow burner. This one’s slow and heavy and dangerous. The lyrics are abstract, dark and paranoid referencing blood-shot eyes, and a blood stained mind. The song lurches along for about 3 minutes and then begins to fall apart, ending about 30 seconds later, perfect timing for an intermission. The B-side goes back into the power thrash with tracks like Build Me A Bomb (Build me/Build me a bomb/Then all my problems/Will be gone), and No Time, stopping for another dirge detour in the form of “Lost”, maybe the only song on the record I wouldn’t call a homerun. Hey 11 out of 12 isn’t bad. There’s nothing wrong with the song, but it’s sung by Bob Censi and is quite slow. Switching speeds and singers in the same song just interrupts the album’s flow too much for me.

Anyway things end perfectly with the title track, the conclusion to the initial expression of anger and frustration. “IT FEELS SO COLD ON THE STREET/THERE’S NO MORE FEELING IT’S ALL CONCRETE/IS THIS THE WORLD I MUST LIVE/I’M FORCED TO FORGET HOW TO GIVE/ — IS THIS IT? IS THIS MY WORLD?” After a pair of verses and choruses the song builds up, climaxes and then fades out, leaving you to ponder the question at hand I guess.  Seriously, if you don’t love this one, there’s not much hope for you.  

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 did from 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 2002 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…