Sick Grindcore Fucks: SMG

Hisham pass me the new SMG recordings and it is definitely the best thing I've heard from them so far. And I am not making that one up just because I used to be in this band. Check out their myspace page and check it out for yourself (you can stream the mp3s or download it). These guys deserve every fucking respect they can get and to all those who talk shit about them... get a fucking life (and learn to broaden your musical scope).
Here are some "interesting" facts about the new recordings; The songs are recorded live in less than half an hour (they book the studio for an hour but arrive there late) and Hisham was involved in an accident a few hours before the recording took place. Lesser band will surely crumble under those circumstances but this band definitely deliver the goods when needed. Awesome!

Sonic Corpse Glide

Any blog that have Lurker of Chalice, Oxbow and Poison Idea is cool in my book. So don't be an ultra-wimp and check this blog out. Head over to Sonic Corpse Glide and immerse youself in darkness.

R.I.P. Pig Champion

Thanks for the awesome music...

Thomas "Pig Champion" Roberts, guitarist for POISON IDEA, died at his home in Portland, Oregon, Monday night (Jan. 30). A founding member of the seminal punk band, he continued to appear with POISON IDEA throughout the late Nineties and into the new millennium, despite officially quitting the band in 1993. Variously described as "spectacularly fat," and "the single largest man in hardcore history," Roberts crowned himself "Pig Champion" after hitting an impressive 450 lbs. on the scales. The highly regarded guitarist was revered by a devoted following worldwide. No further information is available at this time.

Just in case you have never checked them out, go here and here and download some of the mp3's.

...

Pass the news...

Jack Control, Lead vocalist of hardcore punk bands Severed Head of State and World Burns to Death, Long time force in the Texas Punk Scene and behind Mind Control Records, was stabbed and seriously wounded in an altercation at a show in Austin, Texas on Saturday January 28th.

There was a large show on the North Loop in Austin-An earlier show at a Record Store had featured J-Church, Army of Jesus and Storm The Tower and a later show was with Manikin at the Pizza Parlor a few doors down. At the end of the night some random trainhopper kids got rowdy. One guy went on a rampage and kicked in the glass doors of the venue, and then tried to kick in the windows of the anarchist bookstore next door and windows of cars parked on the street. When confronted by the people running the show, Including members of World Burns to Death and Signal Lost, a big mess of a brawl broke out. Jack Stepped in to stop a guy from Hitting Jasmine from Signal Lost and one of the trainhoppers came from behind and stabbed jack in the gut just below the ribs.

Jack's wounds required over three hours of surgery and he lost 4 pints of blood. Jack has stabilized and will recover, but is still in ICU at Brackenridge hospital. The person who stabbed Jack (who goes by the name of " Bingo") fled, but was arrested nearby. He is currently in police custody and being charged for attempted murder.

Jack has no medical insurance and will face a monolithic amount of medical and legal bills, as well as missed time from work as a result of this. A pay pal account has been established at punkcontrol@hotmail.com for anyone willing to donate funds to help Jack with his expenses.

People wishing to run charity Auctions on Auction sites such as Ebay, Yahoo or DIY auction to raise pay pal funds for Jack please put ñ Jack Controlî in the item title and description. People wanting to buy benefit items can search for them by putting " Jack Control" in the search box. A benefit show will be held in Austin on February 9th at Emo's 603 Red River http://www.emosaustin.com/ with Signal Lost, Camp X-Ray, Army Of Jesus, Iron Age and Modern Needs performing. Further benefits are in the works and anyone wishing to organize an benefit event around the country contact Ashley at smashlost@yahoo.com or Timmy Hefner at timmythetexasturd@gmail.com. Immediate Pay Pal donations should be sent to Timmy's email address until Jack is out of ICU.


I also heard the news of the passing of Pig Champion. No info so far but I will post it if there is any.

Agents Of Abhorrence

An interview with Australia's Agents of Abhorrence. This interview is conducted via e-mail. Thanks to Max for answering it. Check out their Myspace page if you haven't checked them out yet. If you are a fan of Discordance Axis and Iron Lung, there is every possibility that you will love them too.

Hello dudes, how are you doing? So how is life treating you down there in Australia?

Life is good at the moment. 2 out of the 3 members of AOA are currently unemployed and are now waiting to get some touring done. Melbourne is a great city to live and play music in. A healthy dose of grindcore and a lack of work is a great way to live.

So what's up with the band? I heard from the Iron Lung guys that you're going to tour the USA with them this year. True? Are you looking forward for that?

USA will be a blast! Not only are Iron Lung good friends of ours but they are an amazing band to tour with. They are calm, level headed people and have a punishing live show. Next time I bring them to this side of the world I’m gonna make sure they get to play
SE-Asia. But, yeah… Who knows what to expect from a country like America, where people seem spoilt and out of touch with anything beyond their region. Iron Lung are popular enough to attract crowds and Ben (AOA guitarist) has toured USA extensively with My Disco and enjoyed the experience wholeheartedly.

Oh yea, if you don't mind. How was the tour with Iron Lung last year? Awesome?

The Australian Iron Lung tour was a success. They played shows all over Australia, made new friends and covered all their cost’s. Like I said above, I really hope they come out again and get to travel over to SE-Asia. Both Jensen and Jon will play anywhere to anyone and they will most likely blow you away.

Are you happy with the Covert Lobotomy 9" that was released last year? Is there any other plan to release something new this year? A LP maybe?

As a whole AOA is not happy with the way the 9” came out. We pride ourselves on having an abusive and loud sound when we play our live shows. The 9” sound was

way to thin and we felt as though we could have benefited from a harsher/heavier recording. Part of that is our own fault, but we also had trouble inside the recording studio. We learnt our lesson, the next session we recorded (split 6” with Iron Lung – out soon) was much better and more in-sync with our sound (faster and heavier). The 6” is 5 harsh songs recorded when AOA was just Ben and myself. Since then we have added a singer, Grant, who has an amazingly distinct voice and allows Ben and I to strengthen our songs. We will be recording for a full 7” and a split with local Melbourne grindcore outfit, ROSKOPP in February.

By the way, why a 9" and not 7" because I believe the songs would fit into a 7" format? Something to please the collectors out there?

Missing Link Records was offering local bands with an opportunity to release 9” records on their label. They believed it was a strange format that would benefit bands by having their records stands out in stores. There was meant to be a series of 9” records from local artists (AoA being the first) but now I think they realize it can be a hassle, as it is quite expensive to create. Aesthetically the 9” is aimed at record nerds. We love those little creatures and we aim to appease them at all times (hence the upcoming 6” record). Seriously though, it can be nice to stray away from the typical punk format of a 7” and keeps us on our toes to do something different occasionally. That being said, our next release is a 7” haha!

Since I don't have the actual 9" I am wondering what are the things you guys sang on the band songs. Are there any specific messages you are trying to convey to the listeners?

Lyrically the 9” songs were short (mono-syllable) lines that dealt with anger and frustration. We had a few songs on the record about being in love and how distinct that feeling is and how it often does unfamiliar things to our heads. Quite habitually I regard the 9” to be a romantic record. No joke! Just because the music we create is cold, doesn’t often mean our lyrics need to be about killing people or something ridiculous and utterly pointless. All them time anyway!
It can be a difficult task writing lyrics for a band such as AOA. It can be very easy to fall into the trap of writing songs of pure hatred, simply because anger is the easiest way to express yourself. This point becomes even more evident when you have a microphone in front of you and you are screaming your ass off! AOA has a number of songs that relate to our personal life, the stupidity of human interaction or even just plain story-telling. It’s also quite hard to describe feelings accurately when the song is under a minute long and has odd time signatures. Also in the past I have written lyrics about skating, graffiti and things that relate to my life. I think being a little brat is very important to my existence, an abhorrent brat!

Whose idea is it to formed AoA? What influence you guys to get together and terrorize everyone with the unbridled noise? How would you describe the band to someone who has no idea about the music you guys played?

It was Ben’s idea to form a harsh thrash/grind band. I had been playing in various fast styled bands (it’s the music I love) yet wanted a change from that sound. Ben on other hand wanted to steer away from his background and play brutal grind. As usual, I am easily won over if someone wants to thrash with me. If I was explaining AOA to someone whom didn’t relate to punk/HC/metal ect ect at all I would simply tell them it is a faster and harsher version of punk. It’s hard to describe a style not many people know about nor enjoy if they heard it!! As far as our sound goes, our influence was (and still is) bands like Iron Lung, Mass Separation, Nasum, Discordance Axis, SWANS and The Kill. We are fans of anything harsh, fast and innovative. We also add allot of noise and loop work into our sound and sets – this makes things fun and inspires us to find new sounds.

Since both of you are also in other bands, how much importance is AoA? Do you consider AoA to be your main band or just a mere side project? And what's up with the other bands you are in, anything to share with the readers?

AOA is definitely not a mere side project and every member puts in 100% of themselves into this music. At times our projects become busy which causes AOA to take a breather every now and again. Even when our other bands are busy, AOA still is in our minds and we plan tours, shows, recording and general practice during these periods. At the moment I am not doing as much as I used to, I also play drums in a band called Terror Firma. Terror Firma is a fast hardcore band with allot of melody and cheesy breakdowns. Ben keeps very busy with his other band My Disco, who manage to not only tour allot but produce some of the most inventive music coming out of Australia. My Disco are inspired by strange time signatures which leads them to produce off time, intense sounding songs. They are also very loud! Grant used to be in a local classic HC band called Dying Breed. Dying Breed were fast and heavy sounding HC. He now plays drums in a Hardcore band called Sense of Purpose who have been playing around locally for many years. Unfortunately they are calling it quits next month!

Are you guys a duo because you wanted to be a 2-man noise terror project from the start or because you can't find a suitable band member who can tolerate the level of insanity that is required for the band?

AOA became a 2 piece strictly because Ben and I feel that the guitar – drums combination is perfect for the sound we are aiming to produce. We don’t need a bass player as Ben runs through a Bass Cab and a Guitar Cab. This way it’s very loud without the muddy sound of a bass and you can hear the guitar tone easily. We added Grant on vocals because we felt that our newer songs were restricting the amount of time I had to
create something potent, both in sound and lyrically. Drumming to the riffs Ben comes up with can be hard enough as it is, let alone screaming at the same time. We believe that the Guitar-Drums combo is essential in creating the music AOA does. Now we have Grant and his voice is just as potent as the other two instruments so we aren’t as half assed about vocals now. Grant has helped AOA move forward!

Imagine a celebrity death match between Discordance Axis and Anal Cunt, who'd you think will win the match?

Discordance Axis would win. Anyone who can produce music like that is badass.

This is kinda silly, but what is your top 5 album of 2005 and please give a very good justification why those albums are much better than the Rolling Stones album.

I haven’t heard the latest RS album but I hear it’s a real let down. Anyone who couldn’t see that coming needs there head checked. As far as top albums go – it would be a tie between Sage Francis’s “A healthy distrust” or Putresence’s “mangled, hollowed and vomit filled”. Sage Francis is an MC who has an amazing flow with his rhymes. He manages to be witty and clever; two aspects hip-hop needs more of. Putresence’s album floored me with its creative old school goregrind vibe. Brutal production and most importantly their lyrics are not only hilarious but they are smart also. Gore lyrics usually bore the shit out of me.

Since Australia is not sooo far away from South East Asia, when are guys going to come here and show us some head-busting grindcore Aussie style? Warsore was here a few years ago… and My Disco too but since a lot of pretentious indie kids were all over them the grinders and the punks were scared to check them out…Anyway…

Considering Ben came back raving about My Disco’s tour (and that kids were asking about AOA) the prospect of AOA touring in SE-Asia is very valid. I think it’s a pity that the grinders and punks were closed-minded to My Disco. Especially considering they are DIY in the purest sense of the word and manage to play some loud, in your face music. In the future I’d really love to see some Australians getting behind the SE-Asian scene. Our friends in Pisschrist also went over their last year and I’m sure in the future we will see more bands from these countries getting together. I just hope AOA is around to be apart of that! At the moment I know that My Disco are planning to get back over there, maybe Grant and I can tag along for an AOA tour also?!

Anything else you want to add?

Thanks for the Interview and the interest my friend. Anyone out there who is at all interested putting on shows in SE-Asia for AOA anywhere get in touch. That goes for any SE-Asian thrashers who would like to tour Australia. Let’s set this up properly and hopefully more people will be inspired to stay active and to travel. Grind hard and skate fucking fast!

Get On The Fucking Horse

Will sludge be a trendy thing? Who the fuck care as long as every different band can bring something new to the genre and not just copying what is popular. Check out this awesome doom/sludge band from Australia who called themselves Whitehorse. If you dig bands like Corrupted and Khanate, you should also be enjoying this band. Go to the band's website and check out the mp3. It is worth the wait for the download to complete (it is 20 minutes long...).

Corrupted Vinyl Collection

Ok, I have been kinda lazy lately. Well that is what happens when you are hooked on Football Manager. Luckily enough, I still have my jobs, girlfriend and a little bit of sanity. Anyway....

Corrupted is definitely one of my all time favorite band. Any band who dare to claim themselves to be heavy should get their act straight because there is none heavier than this behemoth from Japan. Well maybe with the exception of Neurosis but everyone know that nowadays they are too concern with being arty than being heavy...
Super heavy and super slow, Corrupted, for me, is the ultimate sludge band. I hardly know much information about them apart from that they are from Japan, sing in Spanish and got a very huge discography. Little is known of them since they hardly give any interview. It is kinda frustating when you hardly know much about your favorite band but that kinda add up to the mystique of this awesome band.
Their most recent album, El Mundo Frio, is released last year and it is one of my top ten album of 2005. I urge everyone to check that album out, by hook or by crook.
I am not sure if the links below are still working or not (yes, I am still lazy) but if it is then you will be treated to some of the finest sludge on this face of the earth. It is actually a collection of their vinyl releases. Pretty handy if you don't have any turntable or willing to part with your hard earned money for the real stuff.

Corrupted Collection 1-1
Corrupted Collection 1-2
Corrupted Collection 2-1
Corrupted Collection 2-2

p/s: thanks to whoever that did this and yes, Rapidshare is a pain in the ass.

Damaging Noise

Ok here is something that is supposed to be in the next issue of Goatkore, but since I have no idea when it is going to come out I decided to share it with you. Thanks to Seanocide for contributing this (love ya man!). Go and ask him about the cdrs he is selling. Some of those stuff are fucking awesome.

"Old Japcore", the proverbial stuff of legend...anti-melody that so early on achieved it's nexus that many of today's rabid obscure world-hXc followers breathlessly exalt it's PINNACLE of fucking untouchability. I'm one who tends to agree (some of the time), because even when one of their EIGHTIES bands "lames out" (too much wank, or Japanglish blatantly more horrible than usual), the energy and playing ability is so tight that even THOSE "crap" bands are still elevated to merely "average" instead of blowing light dollops of steamy Tootsie Roll resemblin' dog shit (UGH, grossed myself out on my own hideous metaphor!). Now, my interest in Japcore has predominantly been with their oi-beat/braindrill-guitar "chaos-punk" bands, being an extension of my love for the genre's progenitors CHAOS U.K. and DISORDER. It's a style that's virtually died out (it has SEVERE limitations), with the few newer bands who practiced it WELL all coming from Nippon (of COURSE!)...SO GUESS WHAT! That's ALL we're gonna fuckin' talk about...RIGHT. FUCKING. NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

BUT FIRST (*laughs maniacally...GOTCHA!), before one can understand ye Olde Chaos-Japcore, one has to understand exactly what DISORDER and CHAOS U.K. were all about. Both "typically British working class" bands (literally) drunkenly formed in '79 and 80. The resultant catastrophe of "thrash" (SERIOUSLY! Both referenced the word to their sounds!) was brought about from a combination of the cliche "ultratalent" (noisecore's definition of "lack of talent", it's core tenement), and deliberately trying to put into bouncy notation and 1-2 beat an emulation of the collective angered consciousness of their caste during the violent "Poll Tax" riots of the era. How much either band were influenced by Oi I can't tell (It seems both band's songs are even MORE stripped to the point as is humanly possible of keeping recognizable structure, abusing minimalism to reach a "statement" sooner). Guitars were always shrill and atonal. No reference has ever been made to why they were so distorted other than it was to be more "metallic" (Disorder's proclamation, I'm personally assuming for the grating crunch, not riff-style) or to "piss people off" (Chaos U.K.). Regardless, it's a bare-bones and rather ugly approach to steamrollering peeps into uncontrollable head-nods and fishtail-flappin' pogos. Picture bands that structure songs entirely around a single chord and two-riffs (and mountains of vomitous distortion and reverb), the attempt is for the musical equivalent of bouncy lawlessness as opposed to crust's version in gloomier-themed note choices. Even Jim Whitely/Ripcord/Napalm Death told me once that when both bands dropped on the scene back in the day, the resultant (and instant) polarization of the audience was as shocking and EXPLOSIVE as when fucking GRINDCORE bowed a few years later. To back THAT up, Lee Dorrian very publicly directly considered either noise-circus the U.K.'s first "true" hardcore bands. OKAY! So as intense as I've described how fucking LEGENDARY Chaos U.K. and Disorder are...the Japanese equivalents are EVEN FUCKING BETTER!!! Quicker, tighter, bouncier, and NOISIER. Chaos U.K./Disorder started as grating (I liked it!), but the Jap bands brought the distortion to ATOMIC levels that I GUARANTEE will give you REAL FUCKING HEARING DAMAGE (*holds horn to ear: and I STILL like it!). They even directly call this specific type of chaos-punk NOISECORE.

Secondly, there really aren't "just" two Japanese equivalents, one band in particular (GAI) seemed to take direct influence for a longer period (also throwing in CHAOTIC DISCHORD's retardation), but they all essentially filtered in and died/transformed at the same time ('81-'84). Some were more proto crasher crust (CONFUSE) than others, but essentially even with the flux of mid-90s (STILL Japanese!!!) homage bands (who were EQUALLY as SERIOUS) the fundamentals of the style remained unchanged. That's NOT to say they all "sound alike" as there's subtle nuances or obvious levels of recording quality (even their boombox stuff is sharp) that gives each band it's own character. So FINALLY...LET'S KICK IT WITH THE FRIGHTENING JAPCORE DISAS-TERROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ONE MORE THING (*HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!): Since everybody bitches "the snobs always brag about this stuff, but WHERE do they find this shit!!!", I'll tell you...DON'T BE LAZY. Do a few internet searches (half the time the Japanese shops WILL sell to you and AREN'T necessarily super expensive, and YES some of this "ULTRA CULT" stuff does NOT take that long to hunt...sometimes), check ebay, go on SOULSEEK (you'd be SHOCKED how much of this shit is on there IN PERFECT QUALITY!), network in general with tape traders (believe it or not, Japunks DO want to trade with you regardless of a language barrier! 90% of the shit I'm gonna talk about I either got the actual record/demo/cd or an AWESOME sounding copy straight from a Japunk's courteous and giving hands...but ya GOTTA make it worth their TIME!!!). YOU DON'T HAVE TO LEAD A NOISE-FREE LIFE YO!!!

Bands (I promise now): GAI has become the better known band since a small re-release of their "Extermination" flexi (on CD) and demos (onto LP and CD) in '97, and quite a few bootlegs of varying combinations of their material. They had 2 known full demos (one with a variant cover) on their in-house tape label VIOLENT PARTY, which many tracks didn't make it to the LP/CD presses in '97. Top it off with another in-house compilation LP appearance and (BAM!!!) the band turns into the MUCH less political SWANKYS. This is where it gets confusing, I've had a couple Japanese sources tell me one band or the other (and to further live the chaos, there's a THIRD band incestuously involved called SIEG HEIL) started before the other back in '81, but I dunno if this was like a name crisis or like different members rotated through or WHAT (SWANKYS retained a bit of GAI's sound at first and didn't seem to have a striking change in members...and SIEG HEIL, well christ they sounded EXACTLY like GAI but with longer, almost discore-ish songs!!!!!! They only had 2 demos, both A-W-E-S-O-M-E). But chronologically GAI seems to have been properly documented first. Okay, their sound: Even on the "superior recording" (LOLOLOLOL!!!) of the flexi they were blown out as fuck. Songs seethe with an abnormal hatred of the conventional (even for punk!). Singer Watch/Swanky Boy (ANOTHER THING, these dudes were always changing their stage names, so nailing down exact members is almost impossible) approached his vocals from a charismatic perspective, even doing pre-grind pukes (but a majority of the time keeping them rabid and screechy) or totally tarding out like a person with VIOLENT Down Syndrome high on HELIUM!!! Shit's just fucking insane yo...ESPECIALLY the parts with SWANKYS where he tries to "sing", but fails HORRIBLY...and doesn't give a shit cuz it's ALL punk fuckin' RAWK!!!

By the time they turned into SWANKYS (carrying over a couple of GAI songs, some re-recorded) the band had cleaned up production dramatically (TRUST me, it'll still blow yer head open) and changed lyrical focus to partying all night, getting layed, etc etc. Easily 75% of this older material is anthemic and musically structured amazingly (still chaos-punk, but seemed to have a severely minimalized SEX PISTOLS arrogance creeping in). The band only kept the chaos approach for a 7" ("This Is My Lifestyle" '85) and LP ("Very Best Of Hero" also '85) before changing AGAIN into a much more technically precise garage punk band. They DID hint at that direction with a few poppier songs (still simple) on the early releases, and there was an additional flexi and another 7" that were ENTIRELY those hints (the flexi, called "Rock N Roll History Fuck Off" has gotta be one of the snottiest things I've ever heard). The COMPLETE change of sound though...is shocking, I won't lie...but it doesn't suck, is catchy (hey, I sing along yo) and the shit is a lot more u/g than fucking GREEN DAY. What gets me is Watch didn't really change his vokes much! Yeah there's more "singing"...but it's so fucking glaringly awful-beautiful still! For the chaos years though, everything that could EVER be summed up about the band can be found in just 3 of their songs, "Lifestyle", "Fundamental Human Light", and "Damaging Noise" (*wink)...in a word, EXQUISITE. All GAI/SWANKYS is easy to find on CD (sometimes still new!) in Japan. So far from what I could afford (I caved in to paying horror prices, but what can I say they were my fave ever band just about) the vinyl has been a little tougher, but not impossible to track. There's been tons of reissues of other lost demos (all eras of either band)/live shows/videos with a really recent awesome live show from '85 coming out just last year called "Period The Noise Tour".

Oh, scope out 2 OTHER bands (and who knows if they are member-linked to GAI/SWANKYS too, because as with SIEG HEIL they have a HELL of a lot of GAI's characteristics) that were supported by VIOLENT PARTY TAPES, these were GESS and NO CUT. Essentially GAI's sound/vocals but songs were arranged as a more Pabst-swilling straight punk vibe.

GASMASK/COWARD are the 2nd set of bands to be linked, and a hell of a lot easier for newbies to figure out the discography. CRUST WAR RECORDS released a discography LP of both bands a few years ago that fetches HORROR PRICES on Yankee ebay (I'm a junkie, I shelled out the horror prices again yo, but it WAS mint! Japanese ebay it only goes for like 30), but damn when shit's THIS high quality it won't be money missed (there's a great sounding tape bootleg of the LP out there at WWW.OVERHEADDISTRO.COM so DON'T STRESS!!!). Anyhoo, COWARD started first and are extremely evenly-tempoed CHAOS U.K. style. Shit COULD be mistaken for Oi (it's not as noisy), but it's mega simplistic and the smoky (clear, but ancient sounding) production on their only '85 ep is inviting. Catchy as all hell, vocals are gruff and almost entirely (if not entirely) sung in the native tongue. I DARE you not to bounce to the track "Seironnobougen"! I want a shirt SO fucking bad of the classically cheesy cover art (a skull impaled through the mouth ON A CROSS) you just have no fucking idea. COWARD's '87 3 song flexi follow up (Gasmask's bassist) is another winner in cheesy Japunk art department...and yeah I guess the songs are cool...IF YOU LIKE SIEGE AND OLD S.O.B.!!! Yes dawgs, "way"...has that basic chaos-punk structure but the SHEER FASTCORE THRASH EDGE is overwhelming (I'd also add structurally the riffs are contrived in a kind of cinematic fashion, it's uplifting but DEAD SERIOUS as fuck!)! Guitars are out of control, not only is it pure jet-engine/eardrum-exploding, it's enveloping too.The discography LP is dotted with bonus live, unreleased, and even REFORMED material from either band, but it's all just gravy after the EXPERIENCE of their main output!

OUTO can make you pogo as all fuck (starting in '84...think they lasted till early 90s???) noisenheimers! Their debut 7"s (they had 3 total and an LP) braindrill guitars are seering like COWARD's, but due to the ultra-reverb production very demoralizing and claustrophobic like yer getting napalm rained on ya (this is a GOOD thing). Drums and bass sound extra thick and gnarly in the mix. Band is surgically tight and pretty fast for 1-2-1-2-tumpa-tumpa-tumpa-tumpa. They got MAD ROCK over a fairly long period of time (it was like 2 years between every release)...but it was even more hXc than SWANKYS transformation and still retained the unadulterated chaos of their debut. They had a few comp tracks and videos though that I've ignored so that tells ya how much I think the first ep ("Many Question, Poison Answer") reigns supreme. They had phenomenal cartoony artwork/layouts half the time and in color too! There's a legit truncated discography cd from a few years ago that has the songs either out of order or missing a few tracks, but it's transfer is great and THAT ART is there again yo!

CONFUSE is probably best known to the world now (is there ANYTHING more classic looking than the "3 Punks" cover pic?), and out of all the bands here THE most ferociously alien (or ahead of their time...I don't even think ATROCIOUS MADNESS got very close and that's NOT being mean duders!). Band mistakenly gets compared to DISORDER a little too much (most likely due to Brian/DROPDEAD pushing that in an article in MRR from over 10 years ago), when everything from the vocals to drums are straight up fucking discore-thrash (or what's now called "Crasher Crust" made popular by GLOOM). They had one song in particular ("Hanger") that is pure DISORDER, but outside of upping the noise-factor to NUCLEAR levels (man it's borderline POWER-ELECTRONICS yo!!!) they were their own unique deal. The drums have always stood out the most for me. There's just tons and tons of fucked up fills (sometimes the toms are reversed in order! likes it's rolling "up") or breaks into odd time signatures. Listening to the snare alone on their '84 flexi's version of PEOPLE ARE NUCLEAR POISONING will make your head spin! Oh and the guitarist was like a noisecore virtuoso wringing SCREAMING notes and FUCKED UP psych effects from multiple pedals hooked up at once. So yeah, they had a great raw demo in '83, an equally intense flexi, an ep that sounded like lame outtakes from the demo ("Spending Loud Night"...it really sucks yo regardless of a GREAT uber drugged-out psych/space rock song), a few comp trax, something I'm forgetting (I'm not perfect), and a "metal" (I consider it "experimental") 12" called "Stupid LIfe" (it's a catchy album, the reverb is deep enough to drown in! reaaalll MEGA dark psyche!!!). There's been a really well recorded live show from '85 (where they were strict thrash, but they fuck with the songs slightly and the guitarist has a field day with effects!) floating around on SOULSEEK so SNAP THAT SHIT UP NIGGAZ!

I got the heavy players in this exact style out of the way (except STATE CHILDREN, whose lone flexi is BORING. Noisy and pre-crusty, yes...entertaining, NO. Or SHA LONDON, who I have yet to ever hear)...SO...ya wanna hear about "newer" chaos-punk bands??? LET'S FUCKIN' GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COLLAPSE SOCIETY more than likely kicked this wave off with their '93 demo, though the pre-CHAOS CHANNEL band DONKEYS might have existed at the same time (I know GLOOM started around this time too, but I think they're overrated). But yeah, COLLAPSE SOCIETY kind of started with a HEAVY crusty dirge but copped the old guard's distortion INHUMANLY (even on the bass, which is REPULSIONized yo!). It's the bizarre, almost plodding tempo of the demo that works alongside the noise...The combination grinds along until there's nothing left of your SANITY, let alone hearing! Trax want to be standard-paced crustcore, but seem oddly slowed to a point of nearly falling apart (but the band's NOT sloppy!!!???). Their follow up ep is a lot tighter and faster (many demo songs made the cut), probably becomes standard discore...but it still has tons of apocalyptic energy and smarm (the lyrics REALLY get into it with their "Emperor" caste system!) so it gets my honest vote for a classic of it's/our time. Had a few comp appearances (I've noticed writing this entire article that RARELY do any of these new band's comp trax want to impress me!).

DONKEYS/CHAOS CHANNEL: NOBODY has any decent info on DONKEYS yo except for the CHAOS C.H. connection (and a NOISY demo!). This demo is fuckin' TITS gang! Perfect combo of SWANKYS/DISORDER chaos-thrash (and sometimes "punk"!) meets dis-dis-dis ATTACK! Many memorable songs that SHOULD be anthems of our times ("FUCK'N ALL WORLD!" LOLOLOLOLOL)...if it weren't for the HORRENDOUSLY LAME PRODUCTION. This shit's BEYOND boombox duders...it's fucking MUD. BUT, if you have a properly trained ear (and crank the volume) the trax ARE definable. Long ass demo (lotsa trax)! Total value for money! As CHAOS CHANNEL they were on the scene with an ep (and split demo with ADDICTION) about '95, "cleaned" things up slightly, went more discore (there's the old chaos-punk "rolling" feel on a couple trax), and forged a braindrill distortion that could blow open the very gates of HELL! A comp track or two then BOOM they go ULTRA SWANKYS (garage rock years, in fact the fake "live" audience during this 2nd ep is a direct nod to SWANKYS own fake "live" double CD) and rock the audience the fuck out with mega clean production. It's a good ep though. A decent sounding farewell live tape (playing trax throughout their career) with singer "Chatter" drunkenly fucking up incessantly ended things grandly.

DUST NOISE ('98) I hold way close to my heart...and apparently STAY the only one. I've been trying to break this band for YEARS and have met like 6 people worldwide who know the band...even in Japan (!). They have 3 demos (numbered weirdly, like their only live demo says "4th" on it, but I was assured by the band's friend they only have 3), 2 eps (200-300 pressed each), and supposedly some unreleased songs (I can attest to everything except this last rumor here). PURE fucking GAI/DISORDER (both of whom they cover!)...a little wooden/rough sounding, but DAMN those hate-filled songs and SQUIRTING weird-ass hollow production (it changes NOTICEABLY per release, but keeps that basic feel). I like the bass a lot...isn't distorted to shit or rumbly, but tinnily timples along (it's kinda cute, like a PUG!) with the drums. Vokills are PURE PISSED OFF POPEYE!!! I LOVE the layouts on all their shit...SWANKYS' stylized bullshit made-up fonts, DISORDER's crude drawings, and burnt-out pics of spiky crasher crusties (not too punk to ALSO LOVE LARM) making snide faces.

DISLIKE ('97) BLOW MY GOURD RIGHT OPEN YO!!! I am SO fucking in LOVE with this band! Their '97 ep is PHENOMENALLY chaotic!!! FAST (like OUTO's speed/debut ep's style) hyper oi-beat/DISORDER-tone guitar/spastic vocals. They slow it down like once and get you to 3rd-eye trance from the cosmically-contemplative "spacy" notes and EXCITING drum surprises (there's this little thingy they do that sounds like fucking woodpeckers???). Production's ace, band is surgically tight, every song RULES! They did a just as minimalist longer demo-ep in '99 that got slightly dissier, but kept it mostly chaotic and inventive (it's one of my fave demos by any band). The vocals changed here to a fucking head-exploding shriek that makes my OWN head hurt just listening to it! Production was good even on the demo and could have been released as a 12". Songs seem more gloomy or jaded in tone. Awesome, AWESOME band. EVERYBODY needs to hear this band (ALL these bands!!!).

SCREAMING NOISE is NOT related to DUST NOISE, but are even MORE DISORDERIFFIC. Had a slightly muddy and SUPER BASIC debut ep in '95-'96 (fashioned once again, as most of the bands have to varying degrees of success, as a fusion of GAI/DISORDER's graphics). Very catchy, but the songs will blow you away in how simple the notation/mono-beat is. Very first track "Born To Media" is a memorable as hell pub-punk delight. Things speed up just a hair throughout the rest of the songs. By 1997 a 2nd ep was released on CONFUSE's in-house label ANARCHY CENTRE and features a really sharp (nearly perfect) production. The band sounds even more comfortable/tight/faster within their sound and takes a few extra chances (that work well) to cop as much of DISORDER's snotty persona as possible. Braindrill is sharper, vocals screechier (lots of stolen Disorder-AAAAAAAAHs), it's a brilliant ep! They had 3 equally as intense comp trax but I only have those taped. Band broke up when singer had a kid (you can scope him in the INFERNO PUNX book).

DEFUSE: I don't mean to be a smartass and leave a short description, but as DEFUSE is the all-girl answer to CONFUSE note-for-note, crazy drum beat-for-beat...what more can be said of perfection? They had 2 consistent demos ('98-'99) and weren't afraid to stray into even faster tempos (like as fast as DOOM on "Circles"), or to a plodding AMEBIX swirl...but mostly it was a total CONFUSE fest and amazing as fuck. Many trax from the 2nd demo became a split 7" with P.Y.S.V. from Colombia. Transformed into the much less noisy, more melodic (it's simple CATCHY pub-punk melody, not BLINK yo) BACCHUS (all songs about getting loaded!!!) who so far have done just a demo (it's a good demo).

RABID's single '98 demo should be the stuff of modern legend noisenheimers. Distinctly more "thrash" oriented hardcore than chaotic...but there's a lot of heart and adventure here (and the band is tight as fuck...with NOISE also to take on any other band in this article!).

WOO!!! I had a LOT to say this time out didn't I gang? So yeah, there's obviously billions of other bands from either timeline, but I'm pretty sure I picked the ones that adhered the most precisely to the chaos-punk realm (that didn't suck...REFUSE and DECEIVING SOCIETY suck!!!). If I'm wrong...well it never hurts to be a little wrong. But I TRY to research yo! MAD PROPS to MERCILESS GAME and LEBENDEN TOTEN (both in the states) for being the ONLY bands outside of Japan to get the style done RIGHT! My own (dead) band CTHUWULF, who knows how badly we fucked it all up. Sayonnarra for now noisenheimers (I'm BEAT!)...see ya in the next dimension!!! --Sean (NOIZEPUG73@AOL.COM)

PARTIAL DISCOGRAPHY FOR ALL THE BANDS COVERED HERE:

Chaos Channel -
"Serve You Right!" 7" 1995, "Just Say No!" 7" 1995, Addiction Split demo 1993, "Noise Hero" farewell live (color cover) 1995

Collapse Society –
1993 demo, 7" 1995

Confuse –
“Indignation” cd (official 1983 demo cd) 1997, “Old Master” cd 1989, cd (nightmare bootleg) 1997, Live 12/28/85, Live 2/24/84, Live At Doushisha University 1985

Defuse –
1998 demo Jap, 1999 demo ("What's Right, Don't Conform"), P.Y.S.V. Split 7" 1999

Dislike -
"Shock" 7" 1997 Jap, "Noise" demo '99

Donkeys –
“Serve You Right!” (pre Chaos Channel...same title as C.CH. 7”)

Gai -
"Damaging Noise" 7" bootleg 2002, "Damaging Noise" LP (demos) 1997, "Damnation" cd (demos) 1997, "Total Control" cd (demos) 1997, 1981-1985 demo, "Extermination" flexi 1984

Gasmask/Coward -
split LP 2003

Gess –
“Suffer Damage” 1983 demo

No Cut –
“Tragic Present” 1983 demo

Outo -
"Many Question, Poison Answer" 7" 1984, "Half Wit Life" 7" 1986, "No Way Out" 7" 1989.

Rabid -
"Total Chaos Attack" demo 1998

Refuse -
"Control Noise" demo, "Punk Save The World" EP 2001

Screaming Noise -
"Not Very Nice" 7" 1995, "Noise And Masturbation" 7" 1997, Trax from "Chaos Of Destruction" compilation.

Sieg Heil -
1st demo ("Nazism", maybe '83), untitled 2nd demo ('83?)

Swankys -
"The Very Best of Hero" LP 1985, "Best Of Lifestyle" 12", “Never Can Eat Swank Dinner” CD 1987, "Rock 'N' Roll History Fuck Off" flexi 1984, "We Are The Refined White Cats" "pro" cdr-bootleg 2001, "Tokyo" CD, “More Fuck” (A.K.A.: "Original Swankys") demo 1985, “This Is My Lifestyle” 7” 1985, “Very Best Of 2” 7” 1985, "Period The Noise Tour" Live 1985 CD, "New York Live Fuck U.S.A." 2xCD 1989.

NOIZEPUG73@AOL.COM

Enslaved Chaos

This is long overdue.

Here is Enslaved Chaos out of print self titled EP for your listening pleasure. I am sorry about the quality but the mp3s is ripped from a dub tape (I traded the original copies with some friends waaaaay back in the days). Thanks to my bro for ripping it.

I am hosting it on the hxcmp3 page since savefile are totally useless these days. Let me know if you have any problem with it. To those who wants to share anything about Enslaved Chaos, just drop me a line. I know shit about these guys.

Here is the link. Would someone reissue this?

Volendam Disease

It is always great to come cross new bands that have nothing but one or two demo under their belt. Thanks to Myspace and slsk the chance to find those kinds of bands are much easier. I am not one of those scenesters who are into scene points when they talk about bands that other people have no idea about. I just like to check out bands that I never heard before and shared it with people who might be interested to check them out as well.

Here’s one of those bands, and they are from Japan. “Japan?!” Yeah Japan. Please don’t crap your pants ok. Anyway I was totally blown away when I heard the rough mixes for their upcoming demo. It is not something that is totally new and ground breaking but it is well played and that is some guarantee you are going to get when you checked out any bands from Japan regardless of how long they have been together. These guys played some high energy rocking hardcore. Think of a slower version FASTS or THE JELLYROLL ROCKHEADS. They are still fast mind you but not as fast as the two aforementioned bands. I was thinking about uploading some of those songs from their upcoming demo so you can download it but I got lazy and will only give you the link to their Myspace page (What?!).

Go here.

While you are at it why don’t you check out GORDON IVY AND THE JAYBIRDS as well (these guys invent MOD-CORE man, you are crazy if you don’t check them out)? Awesome pissed-off hardcore that will guarantee you moshing alone in your bedroom. If you hate moshing you can always check out SUNN and slash your throat. There is nothing more grimm than self mutilation while listening to SUNN.

If You Don't Already Know....

Hey check out these two awesome mp3 blog. You will dig it if you are into hardcore punk.

Strange Reaction
7 Inch Punk

Thank me later for ok.

Mass Separation Indonesian Tour

Mass Separation will be heading to Indonesia in a couple weeks time for a short tour. That is awesome. Check out this website for more info on them. Go and download some mp3s as well (there is only one unreleased song instead of two like stated on the website… damn, I feel like the biggest Mass Separation fanboy).

Oh yea, you can also find an interview I did with them when Yeap was still in the band(read it here). It is probably five years old but I am not too sure about that. The thing that I remember very well is that it took Yeap like forever to answer the interview questions and he answered it after I mentioned that it is going to be featured in Toinen Vaihtoehto zine from Finland (the interview came out in TV issue 133).

Good luck to Mass for the upcoming tour and I hope everything will go out as plan. Have fun guys (and you to Niesa!)…

Regulations

Regulations rock! I have been listening to their LP and EPs on a constant basis for quite a while now. It is ok if you’re too cool for this band. Check out Havoc Records website for some live Regulations MP3s. Keep your finger cross, I might post some other Regulations live MP3s that I have.

Attention Blah Blah Blah pt. 2

Welcome to Goatkore!

Nothing new, I just decided to make some changes to my existing blog (the truth is I am too lazy to create another blog). How many changes will it have? Well, not much I must say. I will still write about things that I am interested in and most of the time it will be about the international DIY hardcore punk community. Most people will think that it is kinda lame for a 25 year old to still be interested with that sort of thing but I just can’t help myself. There is something about the DIY community that I don’ think I can easily explain to other peoples around me. I maybe not the most active participant right now (dude I have a job and a girlfriend) but I still give a shit about it regardless of anything.
So what’s up with the name changes? Hmmm… despite being a stupid name it is way easier to remember this new name than the old one beside it is the name of my existing print-zine, and to those who are looking forward for the new issue, check this blog regularly for some updates.

Tapes are fun!

I was cleaning my room the other day when I realized that I have like tons of cool tapes lying around and I am not talking about the tapes that I have for sale from my small tape label. I just realized how much I love tapes more than CDs or mp3s. Yes I have an iPod but the feelings I got from a tape played through my Walkman are way different from the feelings I got from listening to songs from my iPod. Again, it is something unexplainable… maybe I am just someone that love to be stuck in the past and reminiscent how good it was back then… or maybe I am just old and should just find another hobby… anyway, I think I am going to start over my tape collection and get my hands on some cool tapes from all over the world. Oh yea, maybe I should buy a tape player as well so I don’t have to be stuck with that old Walkman. Can anyone help me finding a tape player with tape-to-tape dubbing function? I remember going to some electronic shop but couldn’t find those that are similar to the one that I have back in the days.
If you’re in a band and have a demo-tape out, let me know. I would love to get my hands on those. I don’t hate CDrs but it’s not something that I am used to when I started to get involved with the DIY community. If you can help me getting some tapes of bands like Poison Idea, Black Flag, His Hero Is Gone and Tragedy, let me know about it as well because I love those bands. Tapes rule and yes I am dork for it.

My current playlist:

Poison Idea – Record Collectors Are Pretentious Assholes Tape
His Hero Is Gone – Monuments To Thieves Tape
Tragedy – Vengeance

Revenge Is Sweet

Another cool band that I came across when I last went to Singapore. This band sounded way too similar to Strife, but for me that is a good thing since I kinda like Strife (they even do a Strife cover). Maybe it is just me, but beside from Recover, who is also from Singapore, there is hardly any other local hardcore band that reminds me of Strife. From what I gather Subtle Revenge is one of those up and coming new bands from Singapore and they are shit hot over there. I hope someone will bring them over to play some shows round here because they deserve to be enjoyed by many especially those who are still stuck with those Victory Style (the old ones, not the one where the are a lot of turds in it, on second thought…) records.

Oh yeah, I got the demo like months ago before I got to see them but due to my stupidity (and the fact that the demo cover is a huge turn-off) I never even bother to listen to it. Shit, I should have shoot myself for doing that. Check out their Myspace page and download a couple of songs from their demo. By the way they are heading to Indonesia this weekend for a couple of shows with fellow LCHC band Under Attack. Those dudes should have lots of fun over there. Safe journey fellas! By the way I think Epidemic records will release a split tape for this tour. Check it out now before it is too late (yup there’s ebay but don’t be a dumbass ok.)

Check them out!