Saturday, November 28, 2009

Posted by xjustinx | File under : , ,
Lately, I've been noticing some confusion and debate on the internet over whether Indecision was a straight edge band or not. I always thought it was common knowledge that weren't a straight edge band, but that they simply contained a couple of members that didn't shy away from being vocal about being straight edge.
The confusion stretches back as far as Indecision's first 7", which contained a straight edge song called "Loyal". Not only that, but the confusion goes a layer deeper with a flyer ad that was floating around for the 7" in which the band was labeled as "vegan moshcore".

Indecision was not a vegan band. Only two of the four tracks from that first 7" made it onto the "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" cd that compiled Indecision's early releases, so I went ahead and ripped the entire 7".

Indecision - s/t
[Released Power Productions - 1994]

http://www.mediafire.com/?3fhndqnyjz1

Later, some confusion also could have arisen from the A side center label, which was a picture of someone in a straight edge letterman's jacket.

The vinyl version of Unorthodox featured two live songs that never got released anywhere else, so I've also ripped and uploaded them. They were recorded at the cd release show for Unorthodox on January 12th, 1997 at The Joint in Staten Island where they played with Silent Majority, Milhouse, and CR.

Indecision - Unorthodox [bonus tracks]
[Exit Records - 1997]
http://www.mediafire.com/?mmmommzezqz

I also went ahead and asked Indecision's singer, Tom Sheehan, a few questions about this whole matter.
SITP: Which members of Indecision were actually straight edge?
Tom: Me and Justin.
SITP: Did the other members ever object to the few songs that were about straight edge?
Tom: Not at all. They didn't really have anything to do with it.
SITP: Since a lot of people will take a band's lyrics to be representative of every member in the band, there was never a concern on their part that they would be considered straight edge even though they weren't?
Tom: Not really. We didn't have many overtly straight edge songs.
SITP: It almost seemed like the A/B side center labels of Unorthodox could be representative of both sides of the band (the straight edge letterman jacket/Sid & Nancy), but it seems like a lot of people simply took the A side label and ran with the idea of you guys as a straight edge band.
Tom: Yeah, I never realized that. I don't think it was done intentionally.
SITP: This just seems like one of those things where it wasn't a big deal to you guys at all, but as usual, hardcore kids have taken it and made it a question/concern.
Tom: Absolutely. We were just a bunch of friends from high school that started a band together. Some were edge, some weren't. It wasn't a big deal to us at all.
SITP: Do you think you guys added to the confusion at all by dedicating the first MPB record to the straight edge?
Tom: At that point we were 4/5ths edge. Just Rachel wasn't. Me, Justin, Matt, and Sean were all edge then.
SITP: Vegan moshcore?
Tom: I have no idea where that came from.

Hopefully this can end the confusion over Indecision being a straight edge band or not. On an endnote, Tom Sheehan - still straight edge. Good dude, backed hard.

11 comments:

mike said...

i love this post.
xxx

Jay said...

That record release show was so good.

Alternate 1995 said...

STILL EDGE!

Handsome Pete said...

I always thought they were a straight edge band. Not that I ever researched the subject.

Anonymous said...

i had no idea that people thought they were an sxe band.

HUANSOAHN said...

great stuff thanks so much

Unknown said...

Great post, great band. The early MPB songs are amazing as well. I love Rob Fusco, but not in MPB.

Molesting said...

Thanks Justin
good 7" good band RIP

jay destro said...

I was at this show as well. Crazy fun. This and the CR record release shows were probably some of the best things that ever happened in SI at that time.

Vincent said...

sweet! thanks for this. now i can listen to tom rapping on my fancy portable media player!

sale obson said...

it's not so confusing if you ask me.I have a band with sxe members but the band is not labeled sxe..
aaand we sometimes write sxe lyrics.it doesn't mean you have to label band sxe if there are sxe signs appearing once in a while