Wisdom in Chains "Pocono Ghosts" (2011)

Remember a couple of days ago how I said that Wisdom in Chains has a new 7 inch coming out in a month or so on Reaper Records? Well, since then a couple of things have happened. First, Reaper Records finally put up a pre-order. The pre-order is available in a gold or a red vinyl, and the three tracks that are on the record were put up on Stereokiller.com.

While I’m sitting here writing this post, I’m listening to all three songs over and over and over and over. From the second “In Case You Forgot” kicks in, you’ll tell that this isn’t going to be anything but a great fucking listen. The lyrics are amazing. It’s hard to say what exactly the song is about because the lyrics can be interpreted a few ways. That is absolutely NOT a bad thing. Everyone has someone in their lives that they can relate this song to, whether it’s a significant other, a best friend, or children. It’s the type of song that I’ve come to expect from these guys. Meaningful, thought out lyrics with the aggression and intensity that gets the point across without any filler nonsense. “Spit It Back” is just as intense. Again, lyrically it’s a fantastic song, and the driving aggressive guitar riffs mesh well with everything else going on in the song. They finish up the 7 inch with a cover of Motorhead’s song “R.A.M.O.N.E.S.”. While it’s not an original, it was a great choice. I’ve heard the Motorhead version and the version the Ramones actually do of this song, and it’s done justice here. In my opinion it’s a perfect mesh of both versions. Musically it’s got the bouncy punk feeling the Ramones gave it, and Mad Joe’s vocals capture the grit of Lemmy.

To say that I’m excited about this 7 inch would be an understatement. Since the very first time I saw Wisdom in Chains a couple years ago with Sick of It All at “The Church” in Philadelphia, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed listening to them. Add to that the fact that they are all great guys, it was a forgone conclusion that I would be buying this as soon as possible. Getting to listen to it before it’s released is sending me completely into “fan-boy” mode.

Wisdom in Chains "Die Young" Vinyl Re-issue

A week and a half ago I was on RevHQ.com, trying to figure out if I wanted to order the new Social Distortion record, “Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes”. I was looking through the list of records releasing on January 18^th, and when I got to the very bottom of the list, I immediately knew I wasn’t ordering the Social D record. Cupcake Records did a vinyl re-issue of one of my top 3 favorite hardcore albums, Wisdom in Chain’s “Die Young” (the other two are H2O’s “FTTW” and Blood for Blood’s “Outlaw Anthems”). I ordered it immediately without hesitation, and I’ve been waiting less than patiently for it to arrive, and FINALLY today it showed up.

I’ve owned “Die Young” on CD for a while, so getting it on vinyl wasn’t completely necessary, but with my new addiction to vinyl, it had to be done. I’m glad I ordered it. As great as it was on cd, the experience of listening to it on vinyl is worth it. The vinyl is missing the live versions of “Dragging Me Down” and “We’re Not Helping” and the track “Snakes” that are on the CD, but they’re replaced with “Looking Down on a Friend”. While the three tracks on the CD are great and a lot of fun to listen to, they aren’t missed as much as I thought they would be, because “Looking Down on a Friend” is a great song.

Now that it’s here, I have my top 3 albums on vinyl, and I plan on adding more. You can order the vinyl (or the CD) from RevHQ.com. Wisdom in Chains also has a new 7” releasing Feb/March on Reaper Records called “Pocono Ghosts”, keep your eyes out for that.

LP Track Listing:

1. We're Not Helping

2. Liar

3. Nowhere

4. One of These Days

5. Fade

6. Dragging Me Down

7. The Game of War

8. Pass the Cup

9. Friday Night Drama

10. Die Young

11. Fighting in the Streets

12. Too Far Gone

13. Get To Steppin'

14. Out of Season

15. Time to Play

16. Smash Your Face

17. Nothing Like You

18. Looking Down On a Friend

Finally, a new post

It’s been over two months since I’ve written anything. Until recently, I didn’t think anybody noticed that, but I had three different people come up to me and say “Dude, you haven’t posted anything since November 16^th. What’s going on?” or some variation of that statement. Truth is, I haven’t really had much drive to write about anything. I made plans to write things several times, and just never got the motivation to do it. I thought things had gotten a little stagnant, but now I’ve gotten the motivation again, and I have a lot of stuff planned for the near future. Now that all of this is out of the way, on to the actual reason for this post……

This past weekend was filled with kick ass shows. It was also a weekend where I left my comfort zone, and went to places that I’ve never been to for a show. Both venues were great, but very different environments.

Friday night I FINALLY made a trip down to the Polish Club in Phoenixville (PA) for a show. I have gotten to know a few people from down that way from them making the trip up to the Burner’s to either play or see shows that Walt and Dukes were putting on, so it wasn’t a completely foreign environment to me. That being said, the Polish Club is a pretty great spot to see a show. The floor area is large, and the sound is good. Start to finish it was a good show, that had a great lineup. My Turn to Win played a great set, Vision was a helluva lot of fun to watch (as usual), and Death Threat killed it.

Saturday night Dukes and I made the trek to the Moose Lodge in Brick Township (NJ), another great spot to see a show. It was nowhere near as large as the Polish Club, but it was more intimate. The show floor was literally the size of a pretty standard living room, so everyone was piled in with the band. Again, all the bands put on a great show. From the first band, Changes, it was balls to the walls. Sicker Than Most played a great set, and Razorblade Handgrenade was even better in Jersey than they were the few times I’ve seen them in PA. Seeing Wisdom in Chains in such a small setting, was absolutely the highlight. Unfortunately we didn’t stay for Social Decay or Maximum Penalty, but that was only because it was a 2 hour drive back home, and Dukes had places he wanted to be (that’s the sound of the bus running him over by the way).

Both of these places had great crowds, which was awesome, but both of these venues were not in anywhere near as heavily a populated area as the Burners. The scene in the Valley pales in comparison to the thriving scenes in Jersey and the Philly area. It’s a shame because great shows are put on at the Burners, but the turn out is sometimes weak.

I have one more point that I want to make. I’ve heard mention of the Philly/Baltimore dancing mentality being rough and “fists flying everywhere”, but didn’t really pay attention to it. I’ve gone to a lot of shows in Philly, but not in Jersey/New York to compare it to. Saturday I saw the difference. Friday night when Death Threat played, the Polish Club went nuts. It went from basically no dancing for the other bands, to fists and feet flying everywhere. It was pretty much guaranteed that if you were near the front you were getting hit and kicked. I’m not bitching, it’s part of the expectation when I go to a show that I’m going to get knocked around a little. Saturday was a completely different story. It was an extremely confined space, and there was dancing, but it was not nearly as violent. Anytime someone was dancing towards the crowd, they flew into the crowd back first, instead of fist first. It was a noticeable difference.

It was great getting away from the area this weekend to go to some awesome shows. I can’t wait till winter is over and more shows start going on at the Burner’s. If this weekend was any indication, it’s going to be a great fucking year.

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).

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).

Upcoming Area Shows

Here's a list of Upcoming Shows:

9/4- ORDER OF ENNEAD w/ members of Deicide,SINCE THE FIRE,Rivers of Nihil,MACHINA INFERUS,EBENEZER,A.O.A.,HELLISTIC THREAT

@ THE HARDBEAN CAFE BETHLEHEM,PA. ALL AGES 21 TO BYO (Biz R Entertainment)

9/10- Benefit to help Walt BTB with attorneys fees and fines with My Turn to Win, Outlast, Get Railed, Dave Phlegmball, and more TBA. Donation of $7 to $10, and a raffle. Prizes include band merch, an original painting by Little Chico (http://www.littlechicotattoo.com/) and more. 6:00 PM The Burners, South Bethlehem (True Blue Promotions)

9/11- Ambergris at Planet Trog. Tickets $10 in advance, $12 day of the show. Free game of laser tag included with ticket purchase. 3:30 PM Planet Trog Whitehall

9/17- CDC/Lionheart/Donnybrook/Call To Preserve/Stand United/More TBA. $10 6:00 PM The Polish Club Phoenixville (Stay On Point Booking)

9/24- Wisdom in Chains, Whut? (from Chicago), Lifeless, Animal Haus, and Unlearn. $7, 7:00 PM The Burners, South Bethlehem (True Blue Promotions)

10/8- "Flashback Fest" w/ Home 33 (last show ever), Cipher, Solomon, and more.The 90s are coming back to get ya...

Yes, Home 33 have confirmed and are playing this! Get stoked! Lineup tba soon! 6:00 PM The Burners, South Bethlehem (True Blue Promotions)

10/31- "Halloween Madness" Halloween is here! It's gonna be a big ol' blowout to celebrate! Costumes, candy, gorey movies, bands, etc... Stay tuned! 2:00 PM The Burners South Bethlehem (True Blue Promotions)

11/18- Altercation Comedy Tour. The Altercation Comedy Tour returns for another dose of stand up comedy and punk music! 6:00 PM The Burners South Bethlehem (True Blue Promotions)

****If anyone knows of any shows going on to add to this list, please let us know