Skip to content
Savageheads: Summer Demo MMXXIII cassette (Active-8)
The Massacred: A Look into the Bowels of Hell cassette (Active-8)
I didn’t buy a single record on the Scarecrow / Vidro tour. I used to come back from any tour I did—even a short one—with boxes of records, but not this time. Mainly, this was because we didn’t really go to any record stores. Besides a short trip to a stereotypically grungy Cleveland beach (there was literally a dead rat on the shore), we didn’t do much of anything aside from hang on the tour. Not that I’m complaining! The good thing about two bands touring together is that it’s way more fun… maybe it’s because if the two bands don’t know each other super well everyone is kind of on their best behavior. Maybe it’s that you’re in that exciting period of getting to know one another when you’re digging past surface-level interactions but comparatively blind to things that might, in the long-term, coagulate into annoyances. Who knows, really? One thing I can tell you about large touring parties, is that they’re a fucking logistical nightmare. Getting from one place to another always takes ages. Someone has always wandered away, the driver has gotten lost in conversation with a local, someone is hungover and puking… actually, I don’t think anyone puked on this tour. But yeah, with such a large touring party, it was a struggle just to keep everyone fed and make it to the gigs on time.
While I didn’t buy any records, I did buy a handful of tapes. I don’t particularly love tapes, but there are things I love about them. A lot of them sound really good. A lot of them sound really bad. You can’t really tell until you pop it in the deck, and that’s part of the fun I guess. It’s really fun to see a band live as your first impression, then pick up the tape at the gig and see how the musicians translated their ideas to recordings. I used to experience that all the time, but it rarely happens these days, when most bands try to get some kind of music online before they play any gigs. It’s a shame, because I think for most young bands their live set is going to be way stronger than anything they record.
Enough pontificating about tapes… let’s get to these two releases I want to write about this week. Both of them are on Active 8, and I picked up both directly from Mark of Active 8 at Scarecrow and Vidro’s Boston show. It’s cool that both of these releases are from established bands who have already put out vinyl, but are teasing or working out newer material. I’m not sure if the goal is to get some of the tracks out there and see what people think, or just to have something to sell at gigs while their new releases percolate (Boston bands always seem to take forever!), but I’m happy to hear both of them.
Savageheads’ tape is three new songs and an Insane cover; the insert says “this tape includes demo versions of some new songs for an upcoming record.” To me, the three new tracks sound a little more pulled back than their recent LP, which moves the focus from the charging rhythms to the strength of the songwriting. That relentless, Partisans-esque rhythm is still there, but the drums aren’t quite so pounding (maybe because these are just demo versions). The songs also seem to have a little more to them… it’s hard to put my finger on exactly why, but they sound a little more “musical” to me, particularly the mid-paced track “They Follow,” which might be Savageheads’ slowest song, but is so fucking anthemic and catchy.
The Massacred’s tape is much longer, with eight tracks: four demo tracks for an upcoming LP, two tracks from their upcoming second EP, and two songs recorded live at a gig in Boston. While the Massacred’s 7” was pretty lean and mean, there’s a lot of variation in tempos and riffing styles on these eight tracks. The seething mid-tempo songs, which remind me of Exploited songs like “War,” are an immediate highlight, but there isn’t a dud here in my opinion. It’s clear the Massacred has a lot of gas in the tank, creatively speaking.
It’s really cool how Active 8 has managed to carve out a non-internet space for these tapes. Part of that might be a supply bottleneck… Mark told me he dubs each copy one by one on a home stereo (they sound great to me, by the way). However, the label and bands have done a great job of not leaking digital versions of the recordings online. There are a few bits and bobs on the Active 8 YouTube channel, but if you really want to experience these releases, you’ll probably have to buy them in person at a gig. I think that’s fucking punk. One advantage of the lack of online distribution for these tracks is that it forces you to engage with it on a much deeper level. Rather than my first experience of these tracks getting half my attention (at best) while I was driving or working, I didn’t listen to these tapes until I could sit down with them in my living room, listen to them on my main stereo, and look at the inserts while I played them. First impressions matter! Speaking of which, both tapes also look great. While the packaging is simple, it has that classic feel of Active 8’s vinyl releases, with a lot of attention to detail in making everything look just so. These straight up look like tapes from the 80s, which is very cool.
So yeah, pick these up if you can make it out to a gig in New England.