Episode 245: November 2024
Killer episode this week on the pod. Check it out here, here, or here and check the playlist here or here.
I was joined this week on the pod by Kevin Hare of False Salvation and we kicked it off by chatting about some shows we’ve been to recently. I saw Negative Approach and Killing Time at different shows in the same week which was truly inspirational. I’ve seen NA a handful of times now, as I’m sure a lot of you reading this have, and they never disappoint. Killing Time had only ever played a single show in California before, at the Country Club in Reseda in 1990 when I was 10. That show was documented on this record (shoutout Big Frank RIP). Sunami was cool enough to bring them out to play a handful of giant California shows to cap off their most recent US tour. They were fucking awesome and that’s all I really have to say.
Seeing two bands from the 80s still crush was highly inspirational.
Getting old in Hardcore is fucking weird. I remember probably like 10 or so years ago, Take Offense was playing a house show in Chula Vista so I rolled out. Apparently at the last minute the spot got switched, so I showed up to this house party as a dude in my early 30s and it was all kids like right outta high school. I made the quickest, shameful U-turn as soon as someone told me there was no band playing.
So I get the new address and roll over there and apparently it’s in some kid’s garage - cool. I go to the front door and someone’s normal ass mom opens it who is pretty close to my age.
“Uhhhh…is there a band playing?”
“Oh yea, just go through to the back.”
So I walk through this lady’s nice townhouse, say hi to her husband, also around my age, and head for the garage. It’s filled with a bunch of HC kids in their teens and 20s (TO dudes’ age at the time). Killer gig. TO and I believe Naysayer killed it, but I swore to myself I’d never go to a house show again.
That felt really strange. A huge part of my HC identity in my late teens and early 20s was to play anywhere, anytime. I loved house shows, backyard shows, and shows in wonky ass locations. It was really weird to come to realize I was legit too old for a piece of Hardcore that I really loved. It’s all part of being a lifer I suppose. Out with house parties, in with bar shows. Fucking hell (Dan Sant accent).
Anyway, my point is that it’s inspirational to see people older than me still slay. But enough about old timers (for now), let’s get into the newerish shit…
The Next Level Demo 2024 Scheme Records
Some killer components here: a great recording, the singer has a natural mean guy voice, and the drumming is absolutely spectacular. The dude from Destruct is the gold standard in modern Hardcore Punk drumming and but this dude from The Next Level does a great job with his tom work and finding a truly igno snare tone.
It’s been a neg to toss at bands the last handful of years to say “they got no riffs.” The thing is, a lot modern HC bands have too many riffs and their songs just sound like they’re just cutting and pasting parts together with no flow. I won’t say this demo has zero riffs, but there are very few and that’s a good thing.
Freeze Out Demo Tribe Dream Records
This is one of the best and most disappointing releases of the year for me. I can’t look past how shit this recording is. I understand the idea to push back on Hardcore being super overproduced in the modern era, but we’ve seen this year that it’s possible to get a bright recording and still maintain a raw edge. I gotta shout out to the recording on the Collateral 7” again which is a perfect Hardcore recording. Or click that Destruct link above. Or scroll down and jam The Massacred 7” that I’m going to talk about below.
This one’s a bummer cuz Freeze Out have done the best job I can think of when it comes to capturing that Breakdown 87 demo/Raw Deal demo sound. An underrated thing about both those demos is how Punk they are. Listen to the verses of “Vengeance” and “Life Of Bullshit” - Punk as fuck. “Wall of Hate?” C’mon!
Freeze Out do an amazing job of harnessing that Punk energy on “N.F.T.F.” and in other moments throughout the demo, in fact it feels like the backbone of this thing. The chorus on “Face-Off” and the “We got to stand together…” part on “Open Your Eyes” could be straight up lifted off Brightside. They’re that good. I’ve jammed this demo enough times that I don’t think I’m exaggerating or on some weird bullshit saying this.
It’s just a bummer that the recording blows so I’m not tossing it on any mixes that I’m going to put on shuffle. I hope these dudes just take these tracks and rerecord them to give them the proper shine that they deserve.
The Massacred Death March EP Active-8 Records
It’s annoying that this record isn’t on Bandcamp or Youtube, so check it out on Spotify or buy the record.
This thing sounds great, especially the crisp hi-hat and snare tones that drive the record. This lands somewhere between Scandi, the meaner end of UK 82 from the old school, and Knife Fight/Bloodkrow Butcher from the semi-modern era. Six tracks that all bring the heat but most importantly have hooks. Jam this record two times and you know half the choruses. Jam it 10 times and it’s in your top 10 7”s of the year. Jam it 100 times and your wrist sprouts a spiked bracelet.
If you like the 2010s aggro Boston shit like Boston Strangler and No Tolerance, you should like this.
Mob 47 Tills Du Dör Rapunk Records
What’s the best comeback record in Punk/HC history?
It seems like the go-to answer is always Everything Sucks by the Descendents. That was like a 9 year gap between records and the guys were probably in their 30s when they did it. I really dug the Visual Discrimination comeback record in 1997. That was a 7 year gap and they were probably late 20s. What else do we have?
I dig that Youth Brigade LP To Sell The Truth. They took an 8 year break between their last 80s 7” and their comeback in the ‘90s. Social D and Bad Religion had breakups in the ‘80s and then came back to put out their most popular material.
All that shit gets bodied by Mob 47 returning 40 years after their classic 1984 7” to put out a BANGER LP in 2024. They poked their head up one other time in that 40 year span with a pretty good EP in 2008 before heading back into the cave for another hibernation, but this is all around better. Like I was talking about with Killing Time and NA before, this shit is straight up inspirational. Åke Henriksson has to be hovering around age 60 but you couldn’t hear it in his voice or throughout any of the 16 (!!) tracks on this record.
The thing smokes all the way though with only a single, and excellent, mid-tempo banger. Everything else is just 74 second heater, followed by 70 second heater, followed by 83 second heater, followed by…you get it. Just a straight up ripper of an album that has no reason to be as good as it is.
Much respect to these true legends.
Kevin wanted to give his top 5 Philadelphia HC albums of all time, so I will concede the floor to him…
YDI A Place In The Sun 7” Blood Bubble Records, 1983
Kevin: This is THE classic Philadelphia early hardcore record. It sounds crazy and fucked, darker than their east coast contemporaries. “Out For Blood” is a hardcore classic. I once saw them with Fucked Up, Cold World, and Government Warning. Jackal brought out the Freddy Kruger gloves and everything. Stone cold classic gig. Did Alone In A Crowd rip off the bass line from “Another Day” in “Is Anybody There?”
Zack: The A-tier Hardcore releases from 1983 are some of the greatest albums in the history of the genre: SSD Get It Away, DYS Brotherhood, AF United Blood, The Abused 7”, The Antidote 7”, Suicidal Tendencies 1st LP, and the Crucifix LP. Holy shit.
Then you had a whole tier under it that was still some of the best shit ever partly due to the fact that Hardcore was so young that the totally generic groups hadn’t flooded the landscape yet (that would come in 1984). Bands like YDI, CIA, Koro, Ill Repute, Chronic Sick, Hated Youth, United Mutation, and Battalion of Saints all put out awesome 7”s that sat somewhere below those A-tier groups but way above a filler band on some Mystic comp. A Place In The Sun had a meaner sound and a grit to it that a lot of first wave USHC bands didn’t. Depending on your ear, that was either something you were stoked on or something that made you want to retreat to the Dischord catalog.
Blacklisted Our Youth Is Wasted 12” Stillborn/Walk All Night Records, 2004
Kevin: The defining Philadelphia band. They set the bar for everyone to follow. Every single Blacklisted show was an event. They evolved constantly, their shows could be scary or they could be celebrations. This is their best in my opinion. Hard, has dark edge, good mosh parts, and George is instantly recognizable. One of my favorite bands ever.
Zack: Blacklisted’s best straight forward record holds up nicely two decades later without sounding dated or stale. While it definitely lives in a post-Background Music/Hold It Down/Lowest Of The Low world, and all of those classics bleed into this, this 12” stands on its own without feeling like it’s chasing a sound.
Let Down Crossed Off 7” Dead By 23, 2005
Kevin: Not a classic to everyone but a classic to me. This band helped shape what hardcore is to me - fast, pissed, snotty, confrontational. I saw them play to hundreds of kids going crazy, and I saw them take the piss out of audiences of 20. Both types of sets were great. They inspired an entire generation of kids in the area to be straight edge.
Zack: Solid ass Hardcore record that walks the line between the late ‘90s Youth Crew revival and ‘82/’83 style USHC. Excellent rapid pace in both the vocal cadence and the drumming.
Ink & Dagger Drive This Seven Inch Wooden Stake Through My Philadelphia Heart 7" Initial Records, 1997
Kevin: A band seeped in mythology and lore. They dressed like vampires, had theatrical shows, and were an absolutely unique 1:1 band. Somewhere between ‘90s hardcore, DC post-hardcore and the early ‘90s San Diego scene, they had their own dark edge. This and the Love Is Dead 7” are absolute classics.
Zack: What would happen if you took DC’s Revolution Summer sound, fed it 10 vodka/Red Bulls and then made it watch all the scenes involving Jenny in Forrest Gump 20 times in a row? You’d probably get something that sounds like this 7” and maybe it would be loved equally by psychos across the country to this day, just like this one is.
Kid Dynamite S/T 12” Jade Tree Records, 1998
Kevin: The most well known Philadelphia hardcore record ever. Super fast but melodic the entire time without ever getting cheesy. Music built for singing along and stagedives.
Zack: It’s as aggressive as it is melodic. This record rode the wave of popularity that Lifetime had gotten coming off of Jersey’s Best Dancers and their sudden breakup. The record transcended the ex-members-of shadow and was pretty much universally loved by everyone.
I was joined by Nancy Barile for the interview. We talked old school Philly HC and how it stacked up against DC, NY, and Boston. She does a great job of painting the picture of the Northeast in the early 80s. Be sure to pick up her book here.
Have a killer week.
- ZN
Next Level demo is great and the Mob 47 album rules!