Slugfest - Music To Dance To [demo 1992]

Something tells me that this post isn't really going to need much of an introduction. I've always heard that Slugfest put out three demo tapes during their time together. This post contains a 320k rip of one of them, and I'm always still on the hunt for the other two. I battled lots of tape hiss on this one, and it's still present, but reduced from where it was.

Slugfest - Music To Dance To...

[demo 1992]

https://www.mediafire.com/?avsd5d2er6uh54z/

Slugfest - Reunion Show 4/26/97 Buffalo, NY

Here's video of Slugfest's full set from their one and only reunion show on 4/26/97 at the Showplace Theater in Buffalo, NY.

flyer from: 94 Feet To Glory

Against All Hope 1993 Self Titled Cassette

 While waiting in line at a local thrash/ death metal show in the winter on 1990, I bought a 7” by local Buffalo, NY hardcore band Against All Hope. I thought it was pretty cool and listened to it quite a bit over the coming months. The following summer of '91, I finally was able to catch them live and they were WAY better than that 7”. The line up I saw at that show had Jay Galvin on bass and Scott Vogel on drums, both of whom were also in Slugfest. Over the next few years, I saw them many, many more times and once their line up solidified they got even better.

In 1993 Against All Hope released my favorite material by them, their Self Titled cassette; they were on the more speedy, melodic side of hardcore, especially for Buffalo, mixing in some Dag Nasty style to their brand of 'core. Long gone were Jay and Scott, but oddly enough both Flipowitz and Tim Patterson from AAH also went on to be in Slugfest. This is a really great demo and includes a cover of Once I Cry by Uniform Choice. 

Against All Hope 1993 Self Titled Cassette 

Fadeaway- Blindsight Demo 1993

Caught somewhere between early 90's "Buffalo stye" hardcore and Turning Point, Fadeaway's Blindsight is one of the absolute best demos to ever come out of the Buffalo, NY hardcore scene. The song writing and pedigree (3 members went on to Despair and another to Snapcase) on Blindsight is top notch, combining songs from 3 different recording sessions; all of which were recorded at Watchmen studios. Though two of the songs (Perfect Blood and Gone) appear on the band's previous demo, they work better in the context of this release. 21 years later, it still sounds current and vital.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/xi0haa7nkecda4f/Blindsight_Cassette.rar

Slugfest "Self Titled" - Initial Records (1996)

Someone asked me to re-up the Slugfest CD but after going back and searching, I couldn't find the original post. I figured this was just easier so here we are. I did an interview with Scott Vogel, vocalist for the band, and all we talked about was Slugfest. If you'd like to go back and get some info on the band, you can do so by click below:

Interview with Scott Vogel about Slugfest and Fadeaway

The band was only around for a short time, recording a demo and a 7 inch (titled "Buried Alive") before breaking up in 1993 (if I remember correctly). Scott joined Fadeaway and then Despair. During his time in Despair, the band got back together and recorded 4 songs that they had written before they broke up initially.

I can't remember if this was initially advertised as a discography of sorts but it's definitely incomplete. It's missing the demo and the after-the-fact live 7 inch from the reunion show in 1997. I never did quite understand the cover of the record...either way, this was released by Initial Records in 1996 when Despair was releasing material with them. Reaper Records was supposed to release a complete discography but I think that idea has been scrapped unfortunately.

I went back and re-ripped the original CD as a VBR so it's nice and loud and I also scanned the ENTIRE layout (tray card and CD included) and included those in the download. The lyrics are printed across a 3 panel insert so it may be a little difficult to follow along but you get those as well. If this is your first time hearing Slugfest, don't expect Terror but more a (mostly) slowed down, chug heavy record of pissed off hardcore featuring members of Snapcase, Terror, Buried Alive, Despair and a slew of other Buffalo bands.

Slugfest "Self Titled" - Initial Records (1996)

Interview: The Many Bands Of Scott Vogel, Part 2 (Despair)

So I admit that I get easily sidetracked but I finally followed up with Scott Vogel for part 2 looking back on the bands that he's been a part of. Well here we are with part 2 (yes, finally). This time I covered Despair, the first band that Scott was in that really made some waves, not only in the US but also overseas. I'm currently working on questions for the Buried Alive interview so if you want to ask something, hit me up. Without further ado, here's Scott looking back on his time in Buffalo's Despair.

Stuck In The Past: How did Despair form?
Scott: Buffalo hc was at a really cool point just before Despair formed. Bands like Slugfest, Against All Hope and Discontent all played shows together and hung out at shows ect., so when bands were breaking up, new ones would form. I think this is how Despair started. My first memories of the band would be at the Against All Hope practice place writing the first songs together. No one in the band lived close to each other so we would all just show up, load the gear we had on and try to write songs and laugh and not be so serious I guess. This week I did a guest vocal spot on a new band from Montreal. They wrote me a nice email telling me how it would be really cool to have me on their record, ect. so of course I did it. But what I'm getting at is after spending the day with the bands frontman, I learned they don't have a demo out, aren't touring but they already have a manager, are talking to booking agents and labels like Epitaph are offering them record deals. This blew my mind and now typing this out and thinking of how Despair began just shows me how much had changed. We were kids that went to shows together and wanted to maybe put out a 7 inch if things went well. Maybe play in Syracuse and Erie. ha ha ha

SITP: Who was in the original lineup?
Scott: Me , Phil was on drums (really great all around musician, played guitar in Against All Hope and - was in lots of buffalo hc bands - currently a dad to a few children i believe), Joe Garlic (Garlipp) on guitar (total weirdo, I mean weird - currently tour manages ted nugget ha ha ha , for real), matt denty on guitar (pretty normal, down to earth guy - i heard he's like a millionaire from inventing some computer thing or something), Brian Fligger on bass (liked to party, I think he still does. I've seen him at a few Terror shows in Buffalo this year, seems cool).

SITP: How quickly did recording come about? How soon were you approached about releasing a record?
Scott: I think when we had about 8 songs we decided to record a demo. I'm sure we just went to some studio we could afford. We got the songs done and at the same time I was living with this kid Kurt. He pushed carts at a grocery store. One day he found a purse left behind with a band evelope with 1000 bucks in it. So of course he kept that shit. He came home from work and asked if we wanted to do a 7 inch as the first release (on the label) he was going start with the poor old womens money.So we gave him 4 songs, which became the 1000 Cries EP, and put the other 4 out on a demo tape. It was cool living with him as I would see the mail orders coming in and we would ship records off to Europe and all over. We all made zines and went to shows all over . DIY stuff. HC stuff. Kinda like what I'm doing now living at Fort Reaper .

SITP: With Despair, was this the first time you went to Europe?
Scott: Yeah, we went twice. I mean this was a dream come true. The shows were all very small unless we got to jump on with bigger bands but we felt like we were on top of the world. Getting passports and flights to Europe for your band was pretty fucking cool. At shows, there were always a few kids that knew the songs and sang along and we sold some shirts and explored Europe.

SITP: Give us some of your more memorable moments in the band.
Scott: We always had great shows in Buffalo, Toronto, Erie and Syracuse. A lot of energy and good times. Playing with Strife in LA was so cool. The first real tour I ever did was with Despair, Brother's Keeper and Harvest. It'd was a few weeks down to Florida in the winter. Playing the Syracuse new years day shows and the first Hellfest was unreal at the time and then the full USA tour with Hatebreed was so fun.

SITP: How did you hook up with Trustkill?
Scott: Trustkill was a zine at first i believe (ed. It was). Josh (Grabelle) was going to school in Syracuse and the label just started when we where ready to do a record. He had a few records out and seemed like he was doing it pretty serious. I'm not sure how it all started or who approached who but it all came together and i think it was a cool combo at the time.

SITP: A lot of people may think of Initial Records as a label that catered more to the Emo crowd but they actually released quite a few hardcore records. How did you guys end up going with Initial after releasing records with Trustkill?
Scott: well first off I love Falling Forward, Enkindles and all that shit but yes he did This World Rejected, Pitbull, Ricochet and a lot of hard stuff. I believe I really liked the label and sent him a demo which i got a letter back saying thanks but no thanks. But I guess as time went on Andy (Rich) and I stayed in touch and Despair was doing records with Initial. That label was great to us. Much respect.

SITP: Tell me about the Hatebreed tour during the summer off 1997.
Scott: Pure madness. Lawlessness. Me and Jamey booked the tour and we hit the road for a month. Seeing the Hatebreed machine grow every night and bulldoze every city was so cool. We drank a lot, played wiffle ball, caused a lot of trouble - played shitty shows, played great ones. Tony Victory came out to Cali and signed Hatebreed and asked Despair to do an EP. That was pretty unreal man. Tazzors pulled on trannys, stabbings, dirty videos made, ha ha ha ha. Good times man. RIP Boulder.

SITP: What caused the band to break up?
Scott: We went to Europe again right after this tour (the tour with Hatebreed). Like over two months straight of touring. Some dudes couldn't live like that so they said I'm out. The rest of us said fuck it, its over and it was.

SITP: Do you ever miss playing in Despair? Any chance of playing another show to revisit those old songs?
Scott: Cool band but I don't miss it. No Despair reunion needed. Reunions are cheap for the most part. Dudes that turned there backs on HC and ate there words realized they have no other crowd to play to or they want to feel that I'm so cool on stage again. They are going through the motions and don't even believe in the words they are saying... or they need money and use HC. It's all cheap. I mean believe me there are exceptions but this is what I see mostly. I'm at a show almost everyday. Terror is the realest band I've ever know. I'm living for today not 95.

Interview: The Many Bands of Scott Vogel, Part 1 (Slugfest and Fadeaway)

While I was packing my CDs up in preparation for my move to my new house, I picked up my Slugfest CD that Initial Records had released back in 1996. The day before, Scott Vogel had emailed us to say how much he liked what we are doing with the site (thanks Scott) and I got the idea of interviewing him about the different bands he had played in. By now, you all know that Scott has been a part of some of the biggest and best bands of the 90s and 2000s but I feel like everyone forgets that he also played in Fadeaway and played drums instead of singing. I wanted to go back and touch on these bands as well as cover the one's you may already know. This is part 1 of a series of short interviews I'm doing with Scott about the bands he's played in that have helped shape the hardcore scene. In this part, we cover the bands Slugfest and Fadeaway.


Stuck In The Past: How did Slugfest form?
Scott: Me and my brother Jay had been messing around with bands for a bit, more punk stuff I guess although I was never really into punk. We were just kind of finding out about underground stuff and the different directions and scenes etc. I was playing drums and he was playing guitar. When we were first introduced to hardcore, I think both of us were hooked. We went to any show we could find, bought records and kind of spun our lives in that direction as much as possible for 14 year old kids from the suburbs of Buffalo. The club most shows were at in Buffalo then was called the River Rock Cafe. Me and my brother went there a lot. We became friends with the owners son Jon who ran the place and did sound. He played drums so we talked about starting a band. We practiced at the venue and Slugfest was born. We picked up our crazy friend John Gibe and Jon brought in his friend named "Fuck Em". This dude was older, played in a Kiss tribute band and breathed fire so in the early days we would cover God of Thunder and he would do the same at a Slugfest show. I’m pretty sure this is why all the Clevo bands liked Slugfest. Anyways, no one was close to sxe and it was a very interesting mix of characters. We didn’t care if we fit in. We got the name from a Simpsons episode where Bart is playing a game called Super Slugfest. It was just fun times and learning how to write songs and lyrics and getting on stage every time was an insanely new adventure. Our first show was with Judge and we played with Zero Tolerance, Slapshot, Integrity, Upfront and all sorts of cool bands.

SITP: How did you guys hook up with Structure Records to release the “Buried Alive” 7 inch?
Scott: I can’t really remember how it happened but Chris, the singer of Chokehold, booked us up in Hamilton. Ont. Canada. It may have been one of our first road trips. We played a floor show in a hall. The vibe was real cool I remember. Kids knew our words and we were on a natural high. At this point, Tim Redmond was in the band who went on to play in Snapcase. I remember Chris told us he lost money but didn’t care because he loved hardcore and the show so much that it didn’t matter. Me and Tim always talked about how cool this was. So Chokehold and Slugfest became friends and Chris and Jeff started a label releasing the Slugfest EP and a Bloodlet EP. The Slugfest record recording came out great for the time and talent we had. I still remember getting that thing in my hands…so fucking cool.

SITP: Give us some of your more memorable moments in the band.
Scott: Slugfest was just a party band. We would always be in the van drinking 40s with our friends that didn’t even listen to hardcore before our shows. We would practice at Tim’s and it was a long drive. We would smoke weed and stop at Mighty Taco and then go try to write songs or learn covers. We got to play in Detroit with Earth Crisis. A few shows in Erie and Syracuse and stuff like that…care free days. No talk of money or labels and bad mouthing other bands.

SITP: What caused the band to break up initially?
Scott: I didn’t know any of this was going on at the time but Snapcase asked Tim to join their band. Our record had just came out. We were getting mail from Europe and shit, shows were getting better and Tim just left us to play with them. I was bitter at the time. Me and Tim, I kinda felt like we were a team, a team that didn’t really have much in common with Snapcase but I was wrong. When I think about it now, I kinda understand. Tim was sxe and more laid back and had his shit together a bit more than the rest of us. He saw a good opportunity and took it. He left and the band died.

SITP: At what point did you join Fadeaway?
Scott: Fadeaway was a cool band that was coming up in Buffalo towards the end of Slugfest. They had a good style and their front man Rob was on point. Their drummer Phil was a dude that played in a lot of bands but seemed to always be leaving or quitting or whatever. So when he left Fadeaway, they asked me to do it. Again, just a cool time. 5 hardcore kids writing songs and hanging out, simple stuff. Practice, go to Dennys and drink coffee, act weird. make fanzines. Good times.

SITP: Had you played drums in a band before Fadeaway? I don’t think many people know that you played drums for the band.
Scott: Yeah I wasn’t the best either. I could play a good fast beat and do enough of the rest to get by. I played drums in Against All Hope for a bit. That is a really underrated ahead of their time band from buffalo…kinda on a dag nasty tip but with a Buffalo edge to it.

SITP: How did the Slugfest discography that Initial Records released come about? Was that the reason you guys did the reunion show in 1997?
Scott: Despair was doing records with Initial Records at the time. Andy Rich was a really cool kid and was always treating us more than fair. He must have brought up the idea and we went for it. I spent a few years really being against Snapcase but I guess me and Tim must have talked and decided let’s do this. Slugfest had some cool songs that never got recorded and I think we even maybe wrote a new one for this release?? So we put this thing out with a very horrible cover photo. What were we thinking? A weird tree? What the hell did that have to do with anything? ha ha ha. We also did that reunion show. Slugfest just stopped out of nowhere. One day we were playing and the next it was just over. So I think there was a small demand for a last show. We put together a cool line up, played one more time and recorded it and put out the live EP.

SITP: Will Slugfest ever play again?
Scott: I highly doubt it. I think about 60 kids in the world know those songs. Not really something that needs to happen.