Madball "The Real American Hardcore" 7" (2010)

Track Listing:

1) R.A.H.C.

2) All or Nothing

I know that the new Madball album "Empire" comes out in a few weeks. My new obsession with vinyl made it too difficult to pass up on ordering one of the limited pressings of "The Real American Hardcore", which is two songs off of "Empire". I'm glad I did.

The first time I listened to it, I thought the hook in "R.A.H.C." was a little cheesy (You want hardcore. Real hardcore. They say fuck hardcore, it's dead. You want hardcore. real deal hardcore. Well I'm sorry they say it's dead). After actually paying attention to the whole song and not just the chorus which sticks out more dramatically then the rest of it, it makes perfect sense. I'm not going to get into a whole philosophical discussion about hardcore not being dead, but if you're reading this blog and going to shows you know it isn't.

Both songs are well written and have that classic Madball style that I've come to love. I'm real glad that I ordered the 7", but I'm not glad that I have to wait two more weeks to hear the rest of the album. If you can still get your hands on it over at RevHQ or Reaper Records, I strongly recommend that you do. If not, get the full length when it comes out. Disappointment shouldn't even be on your radar.

Rambling About My Vinyl......kind of

I've been meaning to sit down for pretty much the last week to write this. I haven't been able to focus on it though, and that's not because I don't want to write, I've just been distracted by other things (shiny objects for instance). I had been talking for a long time about re-arranging my bedroom in order to make room for a record player, and for one reason I never did it. I'm thinking it was pretty much because I'm lazy and there wasn't all that much reason for me to do it. I did have a few records (6 to be exact), but the only reason I even had those was because I bought them to put in frames and hang them on the wall. They were never bought with the intention to actually put them on a turntable and listen to them. Then the benefit show for Walt came along and changed everything.....

When I bought the raffle tickets I had one prize on my mind, and that was the tattoo gift certificate and not the stack of free vinyl, but the free vinyl is what I won. That pretty much forced my hand. My vinyl "collection" rapidly increased from six 6 to 18, and I went on a misison for a record player. I'm digressing from what my original intention for this post was.

Now that I've got my room arranged the way it needs to be with a stereo and turntable, I'm now addicted to vinyl. Everytime I set foot in Double Decker Records, I leave with a stack of records, and that's been frequently the last two weeks. I've gone from my original 6 records up to 36. It's crazy how into vinyl I've gotten. I remember having a record player in my bedroom as a kid, and enjoying listening to records. I didn't have many, but at 6 years old I didn't really give a shit. Now I've got all this vinyl to listen to and I crave more.

Right now, my collection is sort of varied between the hardcore records I found at Double Decker and the old records of my pops' that I found in his collection and snaked (I'm the only one with a record player, so he doesn't need 'em lol). Maybe tonight I'll go through the rest of his record and pull out others to listen to.

For the last couple of years I've been soaking up as much music as I could like a sponge. Vinyl is opening another world for me. I have done my best not to buy records that I already have on cd because I want something new, something that I haven't heard before. Flipping through the 7 inch records at Double Decker is the way I come across things, and I'd definitely be open to listening to suggestions. Whether it's records I should buy or something somebody has and are willing to lend me.

Music, and Hardcore specifically, has become a huge therapeutic exprerience for me. Before if I acted shitty, I'd act like a tool or sit around and mope until someone noticed. Now, I throw on some hardcore and get engulfed in it and let it consume me until I feel better. It gives me something else to focus on instead of whatever is bothering me. Every opporutnity I have now, I'm locked away in the little corner I've notched out for my music. I sit hear for hours and read, or in this instance type a blog entry that is all over the map.

Whut?/Unlearn/Animal Haus/Wisdom In Chains

Since the minute that I heard that this show was happening a couple months ago, I had been looking forward to it more than any other show I've gone to. When Friday night finally ended at I was at home, I was not disappointed at all.

The show started later than anticipated, but I was ok with that. Whut? came all the way from Chicago for this show, and at 7:30 there was virtually no one there. I was ok with waiting an hour so there were actually people there to see them. It was worth the wait. Whut?'s music is fast and thrashy. Their set was awesome, more people should have seen it.

Unlearn gets better every time I see them. Their cover of Blood For Blood's "All Fucked Up" was fucking killer. Chaos tore up it up on guitar as usual.

Animal Haus has gotten tighter since I saw them before. I'm still not really into the length of some of their songs, but they are talented and the crowd loves them.

I have to admit, I didn't catch Lifeless' set. There was a whole lot of time between the time Animal Haus finished and Lifeless went on, and by the time they did I just didn't have the urge to listen. I did hear most of their set from where I was standing outside, and I did enjoy it. My lack of interest had nothing to do with them, and everything to do with the fact that I was chomping at the bit for Wisdom In Chains to play.

What can I really say about Wisdom In Chains' set? They were fucking amazing. I've seen them more times than any other hardcore band, and this without a shadow of a doubt was the best show of theirs I've ever seen. It may not have been as flashy as or sounded as good as the Black 'n Blue Bowl, but I had so much fun. There was a small incident a few songs in to the set, but cooler heads prevailed and at Mad Joe's urging there was no more trouble. Seeing one of my absolute favorite bands that up close and personal was truly fucking amazing.

Overall, the crowd was a little lighter than it should have been, but it was a kick ass show. Walt and Bill Duke$ did a hell of a job with this one. Here's a link to the pictures Walt took during the show, and here's a link to Kate's photography page (the pictures she took aren't up yet, but they should be up shortly).

Bane - Superhero @ Santos, Brazil

This Friday at The Buners...... WISDOM IN CHAINS!!!

Upcoming Shows

Also:

Sunday 10/31- Halloween Madness at the Burners 2 PM to 10 PM,

details and lineup tba

Friday 11/5- Stereokiller.com and Stay on Point Booking present:

A Life Once Lost

Rock Bottom

Her Virgin Womb

Burdens

Willing Swords (featuring members of Gym Class Heroes)

@ The Polish Club Phoenixville, PA

Starts at 6:30 PM $12

Thursday 11/18- Altercation Punk Comedy Tour! w/ F.O.D., Ambergris,

and Hairy Phlegmball

@The Burners

Starts at 7 PM

More bands and details tba

Wednesday 11/24- 5th Annual Thanksgiving Eve at Gravel Pike feat.

Animal Haus

Run For It

Stoked on Being Pumped

Rough Justice

@The Gravel Pike Inn Collegeville, PA

Starts at 7PM $5

Terror "Keepers of the Faith" (2010)

Track Listing:

1. Your Enemies Are Mine

2. Stick Tight

3. Return to Strength

4. The Struggle

5. Shattered

6. You're Caught

7. Dead Wrong

8. Keepers of the Faith

9. Stay Free

10. Hell and Back

11. Only Death

12. New Blood

13. Defiant

When I finally committed fully to getting a record player, I knew the first new record that I wanted to buy was "Keepers of the Faith". To say that I was eager for this to arrive would be the understatement of the year. I've been chomping at the bit for the last week waiting it for it to finally arrive. Every day after I found out it was shipped I was running to the mailbox hoping that it would be the day it came so I could listen to it. Today it finally showed up.

The insert (which is more like a cd booklet than a record insert) has explanations of every song. Friends, loyalty, Hardcore, and following the path that you think is right are the common themes of the songs, and there isn't a single track o nthe album that I can't personally relate to in one form or another. "Your Enemies are Mine", "Stick Tight", "Keepers of the Faith", and "Hell and Back" are definitely the tracks that I think are the best. Lyrically the songs are phenominally written and the music is hard and driving. Start to finish it's an album that is more than worth listening to. It's far and away my favorite album of the year.

Yeah, I was "That" guy

I know it's been a long ass time since anything that wasn't a video has been posted, and even the video posting was sporadic. Walt and Kate have a bunch of things going on, I was sick and then I was lazy, so that's why nothing has been posted. Now it's 4:30 AM on Monday morning, I can't sleep, and I have the sudden urge to write something. I'd write about the show Friday night, but I did what I swore I wouldn't do anymore, and partied to hard at the show. So much to the point that I was one of those people that were doing something other than watching the bands play (ie. throwing back beers in the bar). I feel like such a hypocrite for doing that because it wasn't that long ago that I was bitching about it on here, and then I go and do that.

I ended up only seeing three out of the six acts, and feel like a complete douche bag because of it. I was sitting down in the bar drinking a beer and Weeded Out started playing. I finished my beer and literally as soon as I got off the bar stool to walk upstairs to see them, the music stopped. They only played a few songs, and I obviously didn't drink fast enough.

I did make it upstairs to see Jabberjaw, who I was told was playing their 4th show ever. They were really fucking good. They were aggressive with heavy moshing parts. They'll be playing at the Burner's on 10/1 (with Straphangers) and I'll be there for sure.

I missed out on Contender's set because .... you guessed it, I was in the bar. The upside to this was Dave Phlegmball enlisted my intoxicated help with rhyming words for his song "You Can't Rhyme Nothin' With Orange", at least that's how I remember the song title. This is where I might normally complain that people weren't around for Dave Phlegmball's set, but since I was guilty of doing that, I'm going to keep my mouth shut (you know that saying about people who live in glass houses). His set was hysterical. There's no doubt that his lyrics were goofy as hell, but they didn't hide the fact that he is a very talented musician.

I'd like to say that I saw Get Railed play, but I was outside talking Bill Duke$ ear off about something.

However, I did not miss My Turn To Win's set. Just like last time, they killed it. They were awesome. They played a bunch of songs off the new record ("No Challenge", which I scored a 12" of), and they ended with "Best Goalie Ever", which was absofuckinglutely the highlight of my night. Walt made sure to tell Jess from My Turn to Win that I wanted to interview her for the blog while I was barely managing to stand up straight, so I've got to get my shit together and write down some questions. Look for that in the near future.

Sorry to all the bands that I didn't see play and to all the people I may have said something that was drunkenly slurred together.

Kate took a bunch of pictures of Dave Phlegmball, Get Railed, and My Turn To Win, so I'll post a link to those as soon as she throws them on her photography page

Wisdom In Chains will be at the Burner's on 9/24 so don't miss out on that (New post of upcoming shows will be up in the next couple of days).

Trip Around The World

Why? Just because there's a hell of a lot more out there than what you'll find in the USA, let alone your local scene...

RUSSIA - ENGAGE AT WILL


FRANCE - PROVIDENCE


UNITED KINGDOM - NINEBAR


CHINA - UNREGENERATE BLOOD


ITALY - NONPERDONO


SPAIN - DRAMA


JAPAN - AGGRESSIVE DOGS


MEXICO - xLIBERATEx


POLAND - SCHIZMA


BRAZIL - QUESTIONS

Reagan Youth Degenerated

I really wanted to put a live version of this song up, but there weren't any from back in the day, so I went with this....Enjoy

Fugazi - Waiting Room (live 1988)

If you know any Fugazi song, this is probably the one you're most familiar with. Still, it's an incredible song and should be enjoyed no matter how many times you've heard it.

Rain On The Parade (2004 reunion)

Since nothing has been added in a few days due to everyone's busy schedules, I thought I'd add this just because I was talking about them yesterday. The ending to this live rendition is probably longer than the actual song, haha. Great band.

Hands Tied "Through The Wreckage" (2010)

Track Listing:

1) These Hands

2) Empty Words

It's not often that there is a record coming out that I know about that I get as excited as I got for this one. The only problem was it came out on 7 inch vinyl, and I don't have a record player. Luckily, I needed something to get Mark Rooster for his birthday, and I instantly thought of this. Originally the plan was to go over to his house, listen to it, and then write this review, but Revelation Records came through and sent me a code for a digital download. By the time I got it, I had other things that I needed to write about first. I'm happy to finally be getting to this.

The very first thing that I would like to say about this "EP" is something that Mark and Walt both pointed out. It should be called a single instead of an EP. It's two tracks, an A side and B side. That's the one thing I don't like about it. It's not nearly long enough. Hands Tied is playing a bunch of shows, so I'm assuming that they wanted to put something out so the fans had something in their hands other than the self titled EP. Other than that complaint, I can't say a bad thing about this. It's a bit more aggressive than the earlier EP, but it's tight all the way around. Musically it's fucking amazing. The intro to "Empty Words" is by far one of my favorite song intros ever. It's definitely something that everyone should have. Go to the Revelation page and order it. You won't be sorry, unless you're like me and don't have a record player. I can't wait to hopefully see these guys, and for the release of the full length we all (Walt, Mark, and I) think is coming in the not to distant future.