REMAIN- Die Alone

For my first official post as a member of the team, I wanted to write about a band that was important to me in the 90's, and that was/ is relatively unknown.

Remain IS 90s hardcore. Emotional music, thought provoking lyrics, mid-tempo hardcore that is full of passion and is not pretentious or forced. Musically, it sounds like Ashes, later Outspoken, even later Turning Point. Lots of octaves, melody, no real "break downs" per se. This was the time before modern "dancing" had evolved, and the mosh was very ungraceful and barbaric, and the tempo of the music went along with that. There's even a couple of awesome dive bomb's hidden in there. Lyrically, touching on subjects that were VERY big in the 90s, like indigenous people's struggles, wondering why people abuse substances, and fires burning about something or other. Vocally, kind of a rough singing and very emotional delivery, like the singer could have been literally crying on stage because a tribal land is disappearing.

This CD was recorded in 1994 at For The Record in Orange, CA. Many OC bands recorded there in the 90s and early 2000s, such as Farside, Enewetak and Adamantium to name a few. I saw Remain many times in the 90s and I was initially drawn to them because some of the members weren't white. That may sound weird, but growing up brown in white-as-fuck Newport Beach, and realizing that Hardcore was (and to an extent still is) a white/male dominated genre, I appreciated the diversity.

Orlando Sanchez went on to form Parade's End with Leonardno and ex-Mean Season member Jae Hansel. After that, he resurfaced in the punk bands IM GONNA STAB YOU and FM Bats. Interestingly, many members of the Long Beach punk scene that spawned Le Shok, etc., were originally in and around the Hardcore scene.
Butch Bowen sang for the awesomely under-appreciated The Q-Factor, who had a 7" and appeared on a comp or two. He also sang for a band called New Day which played Outspoken's first last show, and they were amazing as well. He also played in Former Members Of Alfonsin (a great post about them can be found on WHAT WE WANT WE MUST CREATE)
Leonardo was in Parade's End and I'm Gonna Stab You.
John was in Parade's End.

A year or so ago, a few copies apparently "resurfaced" and were available from the Revelation distro, as the record was put out by Igby (who works there). You may still be able to pick on up if you're lucky. if not, enjoy this.

Remain- Die Alone