Killswitch Engage "Cro-Mags Ripoff"

I love the Cro-Mags. I also love the Cro-Mags "Best Wishes" record. Tom got this on a tour last year with Killswitch and told me it had my name written all over it. I wish it was a full color design but nonetheless it still rules

Backside Disaster

I have so many great memories tied to Backside Disaster. These were the guys that I used to hang out with on a near daily basis. Fife-0-3 Crew in full effect! There was a hardcore punk band here in Portland called National Guard (I'm sure I'll be making a post about them in the coming months), and on New Year's Eve of 1996/97, the new lineup of National Guard played their first show as Backside Disaster. They sounded more reminiscent of Strife in the very beginning, but over time, they took on much more of an Earth Crisis (but with more melody) influence. They recorded a demo in early 1997, that featured some great songs they had been playing live, such as Payback and Nutrition, but they never released it. Matt (who now plays in Nora) had the old reel just sitting in the closet of their house, but ever since he moved to NJ, I have no idea what's become of it, and that's a bummer, because I'd still love to hear it. It's with the birth of Backside Disaster in 1997, that Portland finally started getting "new school" hardcore shows. It's a shame that they so rarely ventured outside of the Northwest, because they really had a lot of potential. Only a tiny handful of us from those days are still involved in hardcore, and even fewer are still straight edge, but those were some of the best times of my life.
The Coming Of Iad Urorobos [Demo 1997]
I also have a copy of this that was burned from the master disc, but PC CDR drives were still in their infancy, and so it's plagued with various pop sounds throughout the recording, so I dug out my old demo tape, and even after who knows how many hundreds of listens, it still sounds great. Only about 25 or 30 demos came with the handmade lyrics book pictured above.
http://www.mediafire.com/?octx0b9mfjh

Demo 1998
This demo was primarily sent only to labels, with a handful of cassette tapes given to friends, and roughly 25 CDRs sold at a couple shows.
http://www.mediafire.com/?45m4n0lyqbx

Self Titled EP
This was Backside Disaster's final release. They had a few new songs written, but they never got recorded before a member change happened. They changed their name to Dying Anthem, but never actually played a show. Then Matt moved to NJ, and it's all history now.
http://www.mediafire.com/?5zxpxlujxcvl8dl

This was their final show on April 1st, 2000And as an added bonus, if you're from Portland, or even the Northwest, you can use the picture below to play a cool game of "count the hardcore dropouts" (why I'm wearing a wifebeater [front and center] is anybody's guess. It was the 90s, cut me some damn slack!). If you're like me, you'll lose count rather quickly.

Unrestrained

Demo 2007

Here's the portion of the blog where I blatantly promote my own band. We recorded this demo in August of '07, after only a couple of practices as a full band. We've been writing a bunch of new material lately, and it's definitely taking on a heavy Undertow/Strain feel. Keep your eyes on myspace.com/unrestrainedpdx for any and all updates on shows and future recordings.
http://www.mediafire.com/?avjw1oyzlzo

Destro - SXE Fuck You and Reunion

Destro was my first serious band. It wasnt playing in a band with some kids I had met at a show, it was kids I had known for many years and we carried the flag for South Florida straight edge for many years. We made the first design above for Hellfest 2001 and damn we sold alot of those. The second was for out reunion show in 2005.

AC/DC

Can I Sit On Your Face Girl...You Can Sit On Mine
I picked this bootleg up a couple of years ago, and from what I've been able to dig up, it's limited to 500 copies on green vinyl. Although the back of the cover claims that the recording was done at Apollo Stadium in Adelaide, Australia on 12/04/76, reliable sources say that it's actually from the Haymarket Fest in Sydney, Australia on 1/30/77.
http://www.mediafire.com/?epwn0fd3bbj

Long live Bon!

Let's all take a moment of silence

for a true rock 'n' roller...

Raid

Above The Law

I always thought that hardline was stupid on so many levels, and yet, I always loved so many of the bands. Raid were one of the originals, and this cd has spent a good amount of time in my cd player over the years. The early material (which is towards the end of the cd) have more of a straight up hardcore sound, whereas the songs recorded specifically for Above The Law definitely took on a more metal influenced sound.
http://www.mediafire.com/?2mmly0ztncp

Sleepless Nights cover comp

I've had this comp for quite a few years now, but have never really known much information about it. I've been told that Issa from Good Clean Fun recorded these songs at his studio in Atlanta during the mid 90s, and put out this cd. It seems as though at least a few bands weren't too stoked on him using these songs for this cd.

Here's the tracklist:

And here's the cd:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/449if7

Mail day

Finally got these in the mail today from Mr. Mat Wadsworth from New Zealand. Standup guy who only charged me for shipping. He told me he wants them to go to a good home and someone who would appreciate them. I now have 2 of those All Out War shirts. Lots of wear on this one but hey its 17 years old and their first design. Im not going to be wearing it. Very stoked.

The Swarm aka Knee Deep In The Dead

Seriously, The Swarm fucking ruled so hard! The real bummer here is that they played Portland once in 99 in a basement, but I didn't even know about it until after it happened, because basement punks around here never used to flyer for shows outside of their little cliques. For those that don't know, the laundry list of others bands these guys have been in is a mile long, but just a few of those bands include: Left For Dead, Haymaker, Cursed, Grade, Ruination, Burst Of Silence and many more.

Here's two 7"s from The Swarm. Both of them have been on the internet for a few years now, but the rips out there sound like garbage, and completely blown out. Download these and circle pit in your room!

Old Blue Eyes Is Dead
http://www.sendspace.com/file/8tl4gs

Split w/ Force Fed Glass
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ce7l0r

Amenity

Forward, Into The Past (discography)
There was some great hardcore coming out of Souther California in the early 90s, and Amenity were definitely one of the best. Along with the likes of Downcast, and Struggle, they were really pushing a lot of politics to the forefront. One of the great mysteries of Amenity, for me, is why the bass player was also in the original lineup of Vegan Reich...bummer.

*NEW LINK

Amenity - Forward, Into The Past

Canon - the interview

As a follow up to yesterday's Canon post, here's the interview that I mentioned (just click on the image to see a larger version).

And, here's the the Chapter Records ad that mentions bonus tracks that were supposed to come out on the cd version of the 7"

Canon

The Solution 7"
My pal EMS ripped this about a year ago and put it up on his blog, Coregasm (which you should definitely go check out), but I'm not sure if the download link still works or not, and I got a request for this, so I went ahead and just ripped my 7". If I didn't know any better, I would have sworn that these guys were from Syracuse, just based upon their sound, but instead, they were from Holland, PA. In an interview from Still Standing zine in '93, these guys mention that this record was going to be coming out on Overkill Records, but obviously that never happened. Also, in an ad for Chapter Records (which this eventually came out on) they claim that the cd version would have extra tracks. Yes, that's right, extra tracks plural. The cd version never came out, and that's a real bummer, because I would seriously love to hear those extra tracks. One can only hope that a master tape still exists out there somewhere. Canon also featured another memorable logo created by Guav, who seemed to be all over the place creating great logos for the mid 90s xvx bands.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/6yocya

Disembodied - Do You Like The Pain?

So you say you like heavy music...yeah Im sure whatever band you're thinking of is "heavy" but are they as heavy as Disembodied? I think not. I was lucky enought to play a show with them in 1998 with a side project I was working on. The lineup was Shai Hulud, Overcast, Disembodied, and Dragbody. I remember watching Disembodied set up while everyone else went outside (what the fuck were they thinking???) and just seeing the most incredible guitar/bass set up Id ever seen outside of a metal band. Both guitar players had a full stack, a Mesa head in a rack with 6 additional slots, all on top of a 15 inch subwoofer. It was enormous. The guitar player stood on his toes to turn up his volume. Anyway, they played and they were amazing. This shirt was released by Ferret around the time Diablerie came out. If anyone has the "If God Only Knew The Rest Were Dead" design with angel/demon with no wings shirt, Ill pay ridiculous amounts of cash for it

Focal Point

Neglected 7"
It's no small secret that I don't like anything about "Christian hardcore" whatsoever, and yet, I loved Focal Point. Before they dropped that great record on Solid State/Tooth and Nail, this 7" came out on Life Sentence in 1996. Good ol heavy 90s hardcore is well represented by the music these guys wrote. It's sad that they went onto such awful bands like Training For Utopia and Demonhunter.
http://www.mediafire.com/?z3eli79dceb27sf

EDIT: Link has been re-upped

Unbroken

Live In Dagenham 7"
I really think/hope that these guys don't need any kind of introduction. The word I always heard about this bootleg was that Rob, Unbroken's bass player, was the one that actually put this out. The 3 tracks on here clearly come from a soundboard recording, and I would love to be able to hear the rest of it.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/lt5pbd

Brother's Keeper - Forever Neverending

Im gonna go on record right here and now...I love the Keeper. Brother's Keeper were always some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet and Im happy to say that I everytime I see Mike Ski he gives me a big hug and everytime I speak to EMS he always has nothing but positive things to say. These are the people that I am glad to have met through my time spent in the hardcore scene. This shirt was printed for the release of "Forever Never Ending" which is a compilation of early material, B-sides, and comp tracks. I remember seeing someone wearing this on tour when my old band played the Westcott in Syracuse with Brother's Keeper. I got in touch with EMS and asked if they still had any...they didnt but he sent me this from his personal collection (again why I love the guys in Brother's Keeper). Through the years I was able to tour with them, play their CD release show for Fantasy Killer and release a record through SA Mob. I will always love the Keeper and the people who were associated with it.

Motive

A Doctrine Of Scripted Torture 7"
These guys reunited last year, and played a show, but unfortunately I couldn't make it out to it. Motive hailed from Long Island, and impressed me heavily with this first 7". This came out on Exit Records in 1997, and I'd say that Exit was a great label at the time, releasing the likes of Indecision, Sons Of Abraham, Milhouse, Motive and more. Definitely give these mp3s a good spin, because I damn near wore out this record listening to it so much over the years.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/jguu3f

Absone / Decontaminate

Absone / Decontaminate 7"
I got a request for this one. Absone play the late 90s style of Euro vegan metalcore, and they do it quite well. I never managed to pick up any of their other stuff, so if you happen to have their mcd in mp3 format, please hit me up! Decontaminate were Dan Gump's band after Excessive Force, but don't expect tons of chug and gang vocals here.
http://www.mediafire.com/?1mthu2mmnmi

Strife - Arms Of The Few

This one came int he mail today. Strife...when they were still straight edge. My favorite part of the whole situation was when they said they were "never a straight edge band". Well my shirt says otherwise...either way, still listen to all their material regularly. This is from the One Truth era and its in pretty good shape...why don't more bands print live pictures on the back of their shirts anymore?

Chokehold - the demos

This Whole World Is An Addiction [demo '91]
This really seems to be the holy grail of Chokehold recordings. I've been after this thing for well 12 years, and in that time, I've only seen two copies. Recently though, I was finally able to acquire one with some money and some old Dead Unknown merch that I had sitting in my basement. This is Chokehold at their earliest, and it's a great listen 17 years later. And in case you don't know, you can simply click on any of these cover images on my blog in order to see/save them at the bigger size that I upload them at.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/46cs7o

More Than Ever [demo '92]
Sure, these tracks appear on the Prison Of Hope cd that Conquer The World put out, but here they are straight from the demo tape source. This definitely marked a much heavier and angrier turn for Chokehold.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/44se8d