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What’s up Sorry Staters?

Wow, feels crazy to be using that catchphrase again after all this time! I was just checking a moment ago, and it looks like the last Sorry State newsletter we sent out was back in May? Psycho. And of course, I didn’t even appear in the last newsletter because I was already in the middle of my European tour, probably in like Barcelona or something. It also feels strange that even though I’ve already been back home in North Carolina for a while now, this is still my first opportunity to even acknowledge my return from Public Acid’s journey overseas. In some ways, I’ve readjusted to normalcy. But even having been back for a couple weeks, I’m still carrying a bit of the post-tour blues. I had such an amazing time on tour, to the point where I kept jokingly saying that I might just not come back. I would think to myself, “I suppose I could just miss my flight.” Kidding of course… Or am I?

I almost feel weird mentioning stories or details from the tour. Not sure if you readers care to read them anyway ha! We’ll see how this goes now that the feeling of returning home and reminiscing all the many moments isn’t as fresh on my brain. I’ll keep the highlight reel short:

The UK shows with our buddies in Tramadol were great. Our driver Dom is an absolute legend—he’s one cheeky rock’n’roll maniac. Trish, our good friend who plays in many great bands you all know from Philly, filled in bass for the first leg of tour and crushed it. She also kept us laughing constantly. Noise Annoys fest was so killer. So many great bands. Finally got to see Muro, who were just totally amazing live. Rat Cage brought the fuckin’ heat. Gefyr from Sweden ripped so hard it was insane. The Croatian bands Koridor and Indikator B were so rad to see live. Big thanks to Bry for an amazing time and also helping with booking the first half of our European dates. Met many cool and wonderful people this round at our gigs in France. It was also great to visit Basque Country and Barcelona for the first time. Speaking of which, the couple days we got to spend in Athens were absolutely incredible. Takis and Vangelis from Plektani were the most welcoming hosts and so cool to hang out with. The show was killer, we got to eat the most amazing food, and getting to witness the sprawling view of the city from atop the Parthenon was pretty wild.

Then we flew to Sweden for the Scandinavian half of the tour. The platinum chiller Wilhelmina drove us, just like she did on Scarecrow tour the year before. She rules. Funny enough, Usman met up with us in Sweden and just came along with Public Acid in the van. Then Daniel suddenly showed up in Helsinki! My other dudes at Sorry State just couldn’t resist coming along for the ride haha. Had a wonderful reunion with everyone in Vidro upon arriving to Umeå. Then we took the ferry to Finland to begin our run of gigs with the mighty Kriegshög! Feel so lucky I got to watch that band absolutely dominate on stage every night, only to learn they’re also incredibly sweet and awesome people. So rad. Kohti Tuhoa and Ignorance who played all the Finnish shows with us were awesome as well. Our show in Stockholm was totally killer. The show at Blitz in Oslo was a total rager. And of course, K-Town was the perfect finale. All the gratitude to Christina, and all the organizers/volunteers at the BEST punk festival. So many other people, details, debauchery, blah blah I could mention, but I’ll quit blabbing. Like I said, feeling a bit depleted returning home, but when I sit and think about our killer month-long adventure, I feel very grateful.

So anyway, I did manage to buy a bunch of records while I was on tour. Mainly found stuff visiting record stores in Sweden and Finland. I think I came back almost exclusively with Swedish and Finnish punk from the late 70s and early 80s. Since my last visit to Sweden, I made a point to brush up on my Swedish punk classics, and I had a decisive list of records I was looking to find. Lucky for me, Trash Palace in Stockholm had the goods. This store organizes their punk singles by region or country, so you can just go dig through box that’s all Swedish punk 7”s. Looking at the list of stuff I was looking for, they had pretty much EVERYTHING. I honestly wish I could have gotten more records, but some of the more high-ticket collectory priced items I had to pass on. Maybe more next time. But I was stoked! I made it back with a few punk singles that (to me at least) feel like cool Swedish deep cuts I maybe would have only found while I was over there.

I got a ton, but I’ll talk about just a few records. The 1st record is by a band called Kontaktlim, which I was really excited to find. They only released this one single in 1982. The first track, and the big hit “Kontaktlim” opens with this melodic guitar pattern that falls into a category that I always refer to as “New Age Blitz” style riffs. The vocals are a bit eccentric, but super tuneful, almost making me think of Stiff Little Fingers at times. But the sing-songy vocal style I feel like is something I love about punk from this era that is distinctly Swedish. Funny enough, this band is an early punk band from Eskilstuna, which is where No Security is from. The 2nd record I’ll talk about is by this band Usch. Usch is made up of 3 women and 1 dude, which is super cool. This 4-song EP was released in 1979, and for being that early, the guitar sound is super noisy and grimy, and even though the vocals are mostly melodic, to me the drive and unhinged power of the songs is already hinting at hardcore. The first track clocks in at just over 1 minute. Total banger, little sleeper hit rager of late 70s Swedish punk. Then lastly, I was super stoked to find this particular single by a band called Slobobans Undergång. I can’t remember how I discovered this band a while back. I assume they’re from Gothenburg, since this single came out on GBG Records. The band has several singles, but for me this one from 1980 entitled Kommer Du Bli Lönsam Min Vän? is THE one. Something about the cover with Frankenstein’s monster sick in bed caught my attention as well haha. This band has some kinda kooky weird little passages. But thankfully, no ska parts. But in general, it’s super heavy guitar-driven, riffy, catchy punk. All the songs on this single are great, but the total banger, which is the whole reason I wanted the 7”, is this track called “Atomkrasch”. It just kicks in with this raging riff and catchy shout-along chorus. Total bop, it rules.

Anyway, I think that’s all I’ve got for this round? We’ll see if I get back around to talking about new releases that Sorry State has in stock. SOOO much new shit to listen to since I’ve been gone. It’s kinda overwhelming. But as always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week (let’s hope lol),

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Another Monday… (or is it Tuesday?) I can’t keep up anymore. This time next week, all you readers won’t be hearing from me like usual. Come Monday, May 19th, I’ll be on a plane flying over to the UK. Public Acid is about to embark on our month-long European tour. Do I feel prepared for that adventure at this moment? Uuuuuhhh, I’ll get back to ya on that. How I really feel is totally INSANE. Haha, this trip really snuck up on me. Of course, I’m super excited. Honestly, a change of scenery sounds really nice at the moment. Can’t help but feel pumped to get the fuck out of this country for a while. Stoked to play rad gigs, visit a few countries I’ve never been to, and most all, to finally get to visit with friends in person who live far away. I need to buy some fucking socks.

Before I leave though… This Wednesday (May 14th), Scarecrow is playing at Kings in Raleigh with The Adverts! I just love The Adverts. Stoked to have an opportunity to jam out to TV Smith and the gang. It’ll be fun to be behave like a bunch of bored teenagers for one night.

I don’t really have a great staff pick lined up for this week. I do wanna give a little shout out to another local shop in town called the Pour House. Recently, they acquired a pretty killer 80s metal collection, apparently some dude who just casually walked through the door one day. Definitely heavy on thrash metal. Megaforce pressings of Metallica records, Megadeth, Slayer, etc. Rachel (who some of you may remember used to work here at Sorry State) gave me heads up about the collection. I darted over there as soon as the records were available for sale. The main record I wanted and was so stoked to grab was the under the radar THRASHterpiece Power And Pain by the mighty Whiplash! This record has been on my wantlist for YEARS. But I refused to buy it from some punisher on the internet for way overblown price. Rachel hooked me up big time.

Whiplash is a New Jersey band, and Power And Pain came out in 1985. So pretty early on in the thrash game! Unlike the operatic vocal stylings of other East Coast thrash staples like Overkill and Anthrax, I always thought Whiplash had a way more aggressive style. Everything about their sound is just the most extreme, the most shredding, the most ridiculous… in the best way possible. If I remember correctly, I think one of the dudes from Whiplash had a hand in helping Agnostic Front write the Cause For Alarm record. So yeah, the crossover record. And funny enough, even though the collection at Pour House was mostly straight metal, the dude also had Cause For Alarm in his collection. For me, just throw on the beautifully titled track “Power Thrashing Death,” and you’ll get what Whiplash is all about. Highly recommend.

That’s all I’ve got for this week. And yall won’t hear from me for several more weeks. International friends reading this, below is Public Acid’s tour schedule. If there’s a gig nearby you, I hope you come out to the show and say hello!

21/05 - Bristol, UK
22/05 - Newcastle, UK
23-24/05 - NOISE ANNOYS - Sheffield, UK
25/05 - London, UK
26/05 - Antwerp, Belgium
27/05 - Paris, France
28/05 - St. Etienne, France
29/05 - Bordeaux, France
30/05 - Zarautz, Basque Country ES
31/05 - Barcelona, Spain
02/06 - Athens, Greece
04/06 - Uppsala, Sweden
05/06 - Umeå, Sweden
06/06 - Helsinki, Finland
07/06 - Tampere, Finland
08/06 - Turku, Finland
10/06 - Stockholm, Sweden
11/06 - Oslo, Norway
12/06 - Gothernburg, Sweden
13-15/06 - K-TOWN HARDCORE FESTIVAL

As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til June,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Anyone ride Amtrak on a regular basis? Man, it had been a while since I’d taken the train anywhere. All things considered, I really enjoyed the trip. I definitely ran into some colorful characters on the train. Overheard some wild ass conversations while I was posted up in the café car. The 6 hours back from DC were pretty brutal, but at least I didn’t have to drive a car. Not sure if I mentioned my weekend plans in the previous newsletter, but I went up to Washington DC to see The Damned play at the 9:30 Club this past Friday night. I gotta say, it was incredible. The Damned are probably my favorite band, and they did not disappoint. I was like… emotional. So happy I finally got to see them. I guess I can finally cross that off the ol’ bucket list.

The Damned’s set list covered pretty much every era of the band’s catalog. And for being a bunch of dudes in their 60s, they all looked great and healthy, not to mention that they sounded totally amazing. I overheard a few of my lady friends (who are my age, mind you) saying that Dave Vanian still looks hot. Haha. When they played “Eloise”, you could feel an overwhelming sense that all the goth moms (and let’s face it, goth dads too) were totally swooning in the audience. I was just happy to hear some deep cuts like “Limit Club”. I also was blown away that they played “Curtain Call” for the encore, and then smoothly transitioned right into “New Rose”. So killer. Very diverse collection of weirdos in attendance at the show. A bunch of my punk friends from Richmond were there, whom I was very happy to see. But also, random people literally dressed as vampires going to a wedding, like tuxedoes and white dresses covered in blood stains while wearing fake vampire teeth. I was standing pretty close to the front of the stage, and it was pretty cool to gaze over at the balcony right above the side of the stage and see Ian MacKaye lurking. Ian was also about 2 feet away from me outside the club when he walked up to say goodbye to a friend of mine, but was clearly trying to escape this drunk punisher literally running to chase after him haha. Pretty cool. ‘Twas a wonderful night.

Needless to say, when I got back home I was ready to chill. Luckily, on Sunday night I was able to curl up on the couch and pop this Punk Junk VHS into the VCR. Is the concept of the “video fanzine” a lost art in our current era? I dunno. Who cares? Personally, being a fiend for secondhand VHS, I’m stoked this thing exists in our post-modern era. The footage looks totally crisp, and the sound is great too. No static-y black lines running across the screen like on my tapes from the 80s haha. And watching this Punk Junk tape, it really feels like a labor of love, and that’s a beautiful thing. Gives me a little hope and warm feeling in my gut that someone took the time and effort to put something like this together.

Along with the help of several other SoCal punks, this tape is primarily a project compiled and stitched together by my dude Baño, who you may know from Personal Damage, Abuso De Poder, and other great bands. The footage features a song or 2 from a killer compilation of bands. Lots of great SoCal bands like Tozcos, Blazing Eye and, of course, Personal Damage. But then also, bands like Rixe, Delco MF’s and Vaaska. Some of the footage looks like it was shot at venues in Los Angeles, but then some of it looks like the bands are recorded in a rehearsal room, doing a “studio sesh” recorded specifically for this video. The footage of the bands is interspersed with sometimes gnarly and disturbing footage of war, police brutality, old buildings on fire… which adds a layer of intensity. There are also moments of levity, like random goofy footage. The collage of various footage and images really reminds me of the old Flipside videos, which I totally loved and devoured when I was getting deeper into hardcore. The footage of Iconoclast on that one Flipside video fanzine remains one of my favorite punk artifacts, and this Punk Junk video gives me the same feeling.

I feel almost guilty because I don’t wanna spoil anything… But oh well, here we go: Right when you think the video is already over, there’s a section that comes up with a graphic that says “bonus footage”, which mainly features a handful of the bands doing cover tunes. Tozcos does an absolutely killer rendition of “Who Is Who” by the Adolescents. Then there’s footage of Krigshoder absolutely destroying “We’re Only Gonna Die” by Bad Religion. Ugh, be still my beating heart. So rad. Then more spoilers: The very end of the video has a little teaser for Punk Junk video VOLUME 2! I love the idea that you wouldn’t otherwise know the next tape is coming unless you watched this first VHS until the very end. Well, I guess thanks to my blabbermouth, now you do.

If you’ve got a functioning VCR, then this Punk Junk tape is an absolute must. One of the coolest projects I’ve seen in a long time. I truly find it inspiring. I wish someone amongst my direct circle of friends was putting energy and creativity into something like this. Hell yeah.

Welp, that’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Life can be exhausting, don’t ya think? I don’t know how many of you newsletter subscribers out there even read my (more or less) weekly entries very closely. I feel bad sometimes that I’m always complaining about how tired I am. Wah, cry baby. It’s always for good reason. Last week, we didn’t even do our own personal write-ups for the newsletter. So here’s what I’ve been up to the last couple weeks:

A couple of weekends ago, I flew out to Salt Lake City for this punk fest that Meat House and Shaved Ape played. I’d visited SLC before, but I must have not ventured very far or otherwise had totally forgotten what the city actually looked like. I was blown away by how beautiful the landscape of the city was, sat within a valley with amazing mountainous views in every direction. Also, I didn’t realize that the neighborhood where the fest took place was in a big Mexican/Latino community, so there were bangin’ taquerias on just about every corner. Ate killer food, and probably had a few too many margaritas. Conrad and his partner Vaenka, who put the fest together, did a really great job and took good care of us. Hardcore bands should go play SLC.

This past Saturday (the 26th), I spent a collective 10 hours of that day in a car. Drove to Richmond to go practice with Public Acid. Then drove to Norfolk to go play a gig with Scarecrow. Then drove home to Raleigh after the gig that same night in order to work at Sorry State on Sunday morning. Totally psycho. But I do these things to myself. But needless to say, burning that candle at multiple angles has me feelin’ burnt. Then this Friday, I’m taking the train to Washington DC to go see The Damned at the 9:30 Club. Can’t fucking wait.

One of the bands that played the gig in Norfolk was this band Inverted Cross. Inverted Cross has a few of the dudes from Homemade Speed, and the first time I saw them, it was just guitar, drums and vocals—no bass player. But more recently, Felix from Cicada has joined the band on bass. Inverted Cross opened the gig, and I was just smiling ear to ear watching these young dudes tear it the fuck up. A new crop of young (or at least younger than me) bands has been popping up in the NC/VA region. It seems like the dominant mentality of these bands is that raw, fast as fuck hardcore is the coolest shit that there is. This literally brings a tear to my eye. Gives me hope. I’m exaggerating for dramatic effect, of course. But several of these bands are what I’m most excited about in the current landscape of punk and hardcore. Whether we’re talking the scene of bands in Norfolk, like Inverted Cross who I mentioned above, or bands in Charlotte like Corrupt Faith, for example. To me, what’s bridging the gap between these few different cities and helping me keep track of this new group of bands is this label Sex Fiend Abomination, which has been just putting out great stuff.

Speaking of Sex Fiend Abomination, the latest release on the label is this debut tape by Richmond’s No Victim. I saw this band a few times in Richmond before the tape came out. And as much as I thought they totally ripped live, I just think they nailed this recording. It’s one of those things that when I first heard it, I was like, “Holy shit.” The hair on my arms just stood up on end. It sounds oldschool 80s hardcore in a way that I’m sure thousands of bands WISH they could have captured. Pounding fast drums. Immediate and explosive. Baylan, the singer, has this somewhat groaning and detached vocal delivery that reminds me a lot of the vocals on Anti’s I Don’t Wanna Die In Your War. Intense, yet also careless and unhinged. But there’s also these chanted along gang vocals at random moments. I wish I knew the lyrics so I could shout along. I hear earnestly delivered yet also aggressively barked lyrics like, “I don’t wanna live in this fucked up world. Every day just makes me sick.” Probably my favorite song on the tape is called “Short Haired Rednecks”. I don’t know exactly what’s being sung about, but I’m sure it’s a criticism of the southern experience that I’m all too familiar with. “Speed, speed, speed! That’s all I need!” I think that’s what they’re saying? Hell yeah.

I remember first meeting the guitar player Chester before he moved to Richmond, while he was playing in a band from Texas called Stunted Youth. To me, his guitar playing is the star of the show. He plays non-stop, ripping fast with this total furious tenacity that reminds a lot of the chaotic strumming in like the early Gang Green recordings. (They also sneak in a hidden Gang Green cover right at the end.). That said, there’s also so much attitude in Chester’s playing. Like, I just love that the band is ripping so fast, that he just can’t even be bothered to make sure he’s in tune on every song. Who fuckin’ cares? It just makes the recording sound so much more intense and gnarly. Even so, the catchiness of his riff-writing comes through.

So yeah, that’s what I’ve been stoked about lately. Hardcore rules. Hopefully Sorry State will stock a few more tapes by them. Can’t wait to see what they do next. Hope they at least record a 7” before they break up. Also hope they don’t fuck it up by getting too slick and perfect on their next recording. Chances are that won’t happen.

That’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

It’s a gloomy-ass Monday in Raleigh today. But thankfully the rain will wash away the thick layer of pollen that magically coated every inch of North Carolina overnight. My face has felt fucked up for days. I did have a nice weekend, though. Went to go visit my buddy who just moved into a new house out in the countryside. We’re talkin’ rural ass NC, dude. It was beautiful out there. And honestly, it was nice to just get away for a couple days. I also gotta say, the Paprika show at the Pour House was really fun last week! Appreciate all the local freaks for showing up. Those Paprika dudes rule. Don’t miss the Jail show on April 24th at Neptunes if you’re in the NC area!

This coming Friday, Public Acid is playing with Annihilation Time and some other cool bands at the Broadberry for the Municipal Waste 25th anniversary party weekend. Should be a fun time. There’s also a late night aftershow at the warehouse on Saturday night. I’m sure I’ll be hurtin’ working at the store on that following Sunday morning.

Okay, time for records. I almost feel bad talking about this record since it’s already sold out. But I’ve gotta do it. This new Necron 9 LP entitled People Die is so killer. It’s funny, speaking of that Paprika show at Pour House, Homemade Speed also played that gig. The following day, those dudes just happened to time it so that the box of Necron 9 LPs arrived in the mail just as they walked into Sorry State. Dom threw a copy of the LP onto the turntable, and it was rad to see all the Homemade Speed dudes raging to Necron 9 while they were shopping at the store. Of course, they bought copies right then and there.

I remember when Meat House was on tour a couple years ago, I met the singer Kai from Necron 9 at one of our shows. We ended up all hanging out and getting coffee the next day. I hadn’t yet heard Necron 9, though. Then later, I heard the demo and remember thinking it was cool, if not for sounding super raw and lo-fi. Then when Public Acid played Unlawful Assembly, Necron 9’s set at the fest was so raging. The room was so packed that I couldn’t get to the front of the stage. I remember standing in the back watching the mayhem, and then relocating to the bar where a live camera made it so you could watch the room with the stage on TV haha. Now hearing this LP, I just think they totally nailed the recording. It’s thick and punchy without sounding slick. I would guess this is an analog recording, still warm and gritty, but also clear and powerful. Right in that sweet spot.

Not unlike what I might have said about the Cicada 7”, there is something undefinably outsider feeling about Necron 9, not to mention many of the releases curated by Unlawful Assembly. I hate to bring that up honestly, because Necron 9 is a unique beast among the other bands on the label. Unlawful Assembly describes the band as “frantic blasts of sonic lunacy driven by a world gone mad.” This might sound corny: I feel like the expression of aggressive, pissed off energy on People Die feels like an explosion, devoid of posturing, and that also feels particular to this generation. That said, while on one hand the record feels totally fresh, there’s also something that feels familiar and traditionally hardcore about Necron 9’s songwriting. I mean dude, they’ve got an illustration of a psychotic Donald Trump on their record cover. I’m surprised that a young band hasn’t done this already. Inspired by Reagan-era hardcore maybe? But it also seems like frustration directed genuinely and appropriately.

Speaking of which, the packaging on this record rules. Repurposed sleeves, flipped inside-out with fully silkscreened front and back cover art. Also comes with a huge poster! But for me, the booklet that comes with the record is the best part. Flipping through it, I feel like I’m looking at a zine that was xeroxed from an 80s compilation record, like the booklet that came with The Master Tape Vol. II or Charred Remains. The lyrics are blunt and direct, sort of written with this somewhat cynically funny, yet dark tone, evoking an energy of somebody who’s clearly fed up. The record within 2 seconds is talking about “Gut the pigs!” I’m like YES. There’s a song called “Flower Child” that says, “Fuck your Buddhist priest, fuck your wiccan gods.” One song just says, “Not me!” over and over.

Musically, there is something so midwestern to me about Necron 9. I don’t even know what I mean by that, really. In my mind, I hope these dudes are just listening to the Mecht Mensch/Tar Babies split cassette on repeat. The drums for me sound perfect, and the dude playing drums is throwing the fuck down on this record. I guess Kai’s vocals, being super deep and demonic sounding do kinda remind me of United Mutation a little bit. Sounds like maybe Kai might be into a lot of early, evil sounding Japanese punk as well though? The songs are directed with such ferociousness, but with so much intention in the way the parts are stitched together. The band is super tight too, playing super groovy and in the pocket, especially for how ripping fast a lot of these songs are. And for how dark and obtuse I’m making this record sound, every song just has big, meaty, anthemic riffs! I walk away from the record still humming parts. Then on my second listen, I remember feeling like I already knew the songs. I can’t exactly wrap my head around what the guitar player’s style is, but I just love it. At the end of the next-to-last track “Bad Habits”, they do this kinda melodic and high-pitched pull-off descending riff that is so unexpected and cool. And usually I hate samples, but the sound bite that happens right before the last track “Y.P.Y.D” gives me chills. A woman describes the disturbing after-effects of nuclear terror. My buddy Will from Public Acid did a little research and discovered the sample comes from a cartoon post-apocalyptic science fiction movie called Wizards from 1977.

So yeah, if you can’t tell by my long-winded word vomiting ass description, I really like this record. It’s difficult to eloquently deliver in written form how special this record feels. Ya know, beyond just being like “DUDE HARDCORE HELL YEAH.” I’ve already been making claims. I’m calling it now: Record of the year? We’ll see.

That’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

I’m still feeling a bit weary after this past weekend. I drove up to Richmond along with a few friends to go check out the Keith Caves art show! I’m sure most people reading this are familiar with Keith’s art, seeing as he’s been in high demand in the punk world over the last several years, being commissioned for record covers, flyers, and all kinds of imagery that requires Keith’s signature punkified gnarliness. Keith is also a good friend and we’ve done some serious time playing in our band Meat House together. I got a bit choked up walking into the gallery and seeing all the original hand-drawn artwork for all these pieces of art I’ve seen on record covers, t-shirts, etc… But then also to see Keith’s family hanging out and all these familiar faces walking in and out being stoked on seeing the art up on the walls. Seeing the art that Keith did for Scarecrow in person was so rad. I think Daniel bought it, which is awesome that we’ve got it in the family. I felt like a proud uncle or a similarly weird analogy.

We spent some time at the art show, delivered Keith a fruity Island-style canned cocktail, and made our way to the big gig that was part of the same event. The show was like 7 or 8 bands and started later than it was supposed to (of course haha). It was my first time seeing Corrupt Faith since having seen a super early incarnation of the band several years ago. But now, with the current lineup, they totally blew me away. Heresy/Ripcord jumps non-stop. Total Nada totally ripped. And then we had to stick around for the whole thing since Invertebrates played last. They didn’t go on until like 1am or something, but totally brought the house down, as expected. Then we drove all the way back to Raleigh. I got into bed at like 5am and woke up to open the store the next day. Rock’n’roll, baby.

So yeah, here we go again: Jeff is once again talking about Totalitär. If you were unaware, Prank has released a special anniversary edition of Totalitär’s debut LP, Sin Egen Motståndare. It seems crazy to think about this record being 30 years old now. Any Totalitär-obssessed lunatic who has been frothing at the mouth for the latest edition of this record might have already pre-ordered a copy directly from Prank. Those who did not pre-order the record may not be jumping over furniture in a rush to order a copy, especially if said person has a different version of Sin Egen already. I totally get that. I, myself, probably already had 3 different pressings of this record. But me being one of the aforementioned drooling lunatics, of course I had to pre-order a copy.

In the scope of Swedish hardcore, I still weirdly think of Totalitär as an underdog band of sorts. For a long time, I feel like they were not held to the same standard as other Swedish legends like… I dunno, Anti-Cimex or something. But over the years, I feel like the band’s importance and influence has become more explained and recognized. For me, Totalitär’s stylistic approach to songwriting and signature delivery of playing hardcore is absolutely singular and has been hugely important to me. To me, their particular style of hardcore and even the imagery has become like a language. Now if you’ve heard the record, then you’ve heard the record. Some people might associate Totalitär with like dark and heavy crust. Which I understand to some degree? But not really. I always think about riffing in songs that I love like “På Väg Mot Mål” or “Skallra För Döden”, and what stands out to me is how damn catchy it is. But you know what? Sin Egen may not even be my favorite full-length by the band. That said, I think something about the band being inactive for many years preceding this record, then the addition of Jallo from No Security on drums (this being his first appearance on recording with the band), and this record then re-sparking a new era for the band recording fresh material makes this a landmark record.

I think the major selling point for this special edition has gotta be the packaging. First of all, the vinyl looks beautiful. There are 2 variants, and I opted for the greener looking color myself. The record comes in a thick, heavy-duty tip-on gatefold sleeve. And I forget what’s it called, but it’s printed in a way where select sections of the artwork are hyper glossy to stand out from the rest of the artwork, where there’s more of a matte finish. It also includes a reproduction flyer for the record release show for Sin Egen Motståndare. The record originally only came out on CD, so really this is a 30th anniversary for the CD release year. On the inside gatefold, there’s a photo of the band from the release gig, which was in Uppsala on November 19th, 1994. There’s a nice little write-up on the inside gatefold which explains the scenario and events leading up to and surrounding the making of the record. The band humbly says that it’s “remarkable to see interest in this record 30 years later…” Then the liner notes end with, “Don’t be your own worst enemy. Read books instead of tweets. Fight the power! Fuck racism! 94 in 24!” Cool sentiments to read, but also dark to think about how these are just as relevant now if not more than when the band was writing lyrics in 1994. But—if you’ll allow me to be corny—there’s a part of me that feels kinda touched when I’m looking at this photo of the band playing in Uppsala in 1994, thinking about how Totalitär was directly influential on my band, and I’m like, “fuck man, we played in Uppsala.” Scarecrow did not play the same venue space pictured on the inside gatefold. That would be crazy. But when we played Uppsala, Poffen the singer was at the show. Pretty cool for young teenage punk me to think about when I was first hearing this record.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. Not trying to convince anyone to buy a classic Swedish punk record you may or may not already have. For me, it was worth experiencing the extra little touches. Kudos to Prank; I feel like this reissue was done with a lot of love. Punk rules.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

I must say, I’m feeling pretty damn excited as I’m sitting down to write for the newsletter this week. Amongst all the bad news I feel like I’m bombarded with on a day-to-day basis, some good news couldn’t hurt. Just this morning, Public Acid’s string of shows that we’ll be playing in Finland in June got announced. All 3 shows are with the mighty Kriegshög. Incredible. And it turns out that Kohti Tuhoa is playing all 3 dates with us as well. Last year, when Scarecrow played with Kohti Tuhoa in Helsinki they absolutely destroyed. Starting to get that buzz of eagerness and anticipation. Also, the reality that all this crazy traveling I’ll be doing is on the horizon has started to sink in. I had better be ready.

Here on the home front in Raleigh though, I want to reiterate about a couple gigs coming up in April. Just a little over a week away, Paprika from NOLA, along with Homemade Speed from VA and Scarecrow, are playing the Pour House on April 2nd. Then a few weeks later, Jail from Detroit are playing with Paranoid Maniac and Scarecrow (once again) at Neptunes on April 24th. If you’re local to the Raleigh area, don’t miss those!

For my staff pick, I realize that Daniel already made this X2000 LP record of the week in the previous newsletter. But now that I’ve had proper time to digest this new LP entitled Gótico Tropical – Firstly, I don’t know why the hell I waited around to give it a listen; secondly, it absolutely RIPS. Hopefully I won’t be just repeating what Daniel already had to say about this record, and instead, only give you further reason to check it out.

At first glance, one might expect X2000 to come from a Spanish-speaking country. But it turns out the band based out of Gothernburg, Sweden and the singer is a transplant from Colombia. On X2000’s bandcamp, there’s a brief statement about the record that reads: “Between the sultry tropics and the rural darkness of Colombia, there live beings that not even Dracula himself dares to pay a visit.” Quite an ominous synopsis to set the scene for the atmosphere this record conjures. I don’t know, man. X2000 just creates a type of hardcore that I love, where it’s so dark and left of center, that there really is this sense of horror and dread. The band’s delivery has this unhinged feeling of fear and psychosis. The singer makes his entrance on several songs with bouts of maniacal laughter. The vocal performances will often begin with animalistic grunts and powerful screams, but then shift to a feeling more like cries of desperation. It’s intense, dude.

For me, the star of the show is the guitar player. I assume the guitar is drenched in chorus. Either that, or the guitar player recorded several layers of riffs that are severely out of tune with one another. The discomfort and eeriness of the guitar tone makes the band feel even more alien and otherworldly. Lots of ringing open strings, and notes within the chords that are like harmony with brief moments of beauty, but often weaved in along with what sounds as if the guitar is creating dissonant ugliness on purpose. The guitar and bass will often diverge and play notes completely different from one another. Along with that, the deceptively simple pulse of the “1-2-1-2” on the drums will often have unexpected, and rather odd time changes. This unsteadiness and chaos of the music come across less like the band is throwing ideas at the wall, and rather like they have the structures intelligently, yet connivingly under control. Which gives the listener an unsettling sensation like you can’t get a grasp on what’s happening. You’re wrapped around their finger, as if the tendrils of your muscles are hanging like a marionette from Freddy’s claw before leaping to your death… Nightmare On Elm Street 3, anyone?

Perhaps that’s a rather abstract way to describe this record. Personally, I think it’s really cool and feels fresh. I gather the impression that there’s a layer of conception deeper than what lies on the surface with this band. I would love to see this band play—I have a hunch they might be really great live. Check out X2000 if your nap underneath the rock has gone on for too long!

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

My energy feels a little low this week. I’m just gonna jump right into my staff pick and keep it brief:

I had no plan for what to write about for this week’s newsletter. These cassettes just arrived today. 3 volumes of mixtapes compiling French post-punk and new wave, each tape a different span of years. It’s funny with mixtapes like this, because as the listener, if you’re previously unfamiliar with the material, you’re kinda diving in blind. Each of these tapes has fairly minimal packaging, and while there’s a tracklisting with the various artists, there’s no album artwork or liner notes explaining where these recordings came from. I popped in the first tape, which spans 1980-1983. Within 10 seconds of the first song, I already knew I was going to enjoy it. The first song “Unisex” was really good. But then the following track “Electro-Menager” by Edith Nylon was even better. As I continued letting the songs wash over me track by track, there was a lot to take in. My general feeling, at least from this first compilation tape, is that a lot of these bands must have been on major record labels. The production on most of these songs sounds incredibly crisp and hi-fidelity. No lo-fi bedroom avant-garde noise punk, as far as I can tell. Not yet, anyway. Hyper melodic, often quirky, great lush synthesizer sounds, catchy hooky vocals… So yeah, I’m just loving it. Who knew? I love those Mexican Tecno Pop compilations on Dark Entries, and to me, these cassettes are of comparable quality and could use a vinyl treatment as well. Who knows if that will happen. Also, whoever made these tapes did an excellent job with sequencing of songs when compiling these bands. For me, the compilation flowed really well and kept me interested. I’ve only listened to the first cassette so far, but I’m curious what the following volumes spanning from 1984 all the way through to 1989 hold in store.

That’s all I’ve got. Check these out!

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Another week, another newsletter, amirite? I remember feeling like I was being kind of a downer in the opening of my newsletter write-up last week. Sorry about that. I feel very much the opposite today. I feel like I’ve made some healthy choices for myself lately. But, this isn’t my journal, so y’all don’t care! Ha.

Some exciting news: Public Acid announced that we’re playing K-Town Hardcore Fest in Copenhagen in June. I’m so pumped. Last year’s K-Town was one of the best weekends my life, no joke. So yeah, I’m ready to do it all over again. I don’t even think I’ve mentioned, but Public Acid is also playing Noise Annoys in the UK in May, so the beginning of summer is lookin’ to be a good time.

I’m predicting that my line of thinking while writing this staff pick will be kinda all over the place this week. Apologies in advance. I’m kinda not picking one record specifically. Actually, I wanna begin by talking about a couple movies. If you read my staff pick last week, you’ll know I talked about The Outcasts singles collection on Radiation. In that write-up, I talked about Northern Ireland and the whole scene revolving around Good Vibrations Records. After that newsletter came out, Daniel approaches me at work and says, “Man, have you seen the Good Vibrations movie?” Of course, me being the uncultured neanderthal that I am, I had not seen it nor did I have any idea that the movie existed. That night, I watched it on streaming. And I loved it! For my money, Good Vibrations is one of the better music-related biopics I’ve seen in recent memory.

The movie mainly centers around the owner of Good Vibrations, Terri Hooley. I’ve seen so many music biopics not unlike Good Vibrations where the acting is super cringey. As opposed to like the CBGB’s movie, which comes across as so corny. It annoys me that the costuming of how people are dressed and how the actors portraying the band look while performing feels cartoony or like parody. But on the contrary, the club scene where Terri goes and sees Rudi play for the first time actually feels pretty believable! Well, maybe not, but it didn’t make me wince. It captured how uplifting and exciting it was for Hooley to discover something new. Also, the backdrop of social unrest and “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland didn’t feel too heavy-handed, but rather provided a strong sense of atmosphere, giving context for what the feeling on street was like behind the music scene. I just thought it was really well done. I recommend checking it out if you’ve never seen it.

So, I guess this will be kind of a twofer. Watching that Good Vibrations movie has been making me crave super melodic punk that puts me in good spirits. And dare I say… power pop? Oof, that term is just the kiss of death, isn’t it? I’ve used that line before. Don’t care. I always think it’s funny. Unrelated, I was revisiting my Die Kreuzen records a couple weeks ago, and randomly stumbled across this documentary on YouTube called Taking The City By Storm. The subtitle is the “birth of punk in Milwaukee’s punk scene.” I watched the movie on a whim. Funny enough, the movie cold opens with grainy footage of Die Kreuzen on tour in 1985, stranded at a hotel in the middle of nowhere with a tour van that won’t start. Very relatable haha. But this opening was a bit misleading, I’d say. I assumed a good chunk of the movie would be about hardcore. Die Kreuzen does appear in the movie of course, but the emergence of hardcore doesn’t happen until the last third of the movie. If I’m being honest, I think I would probably categorize a grand majority of the bands featured in the movie as “power pop” or more underground music than straight punk.

The documentary takes the viewer way back to the vibe of the music scene in Milwaukee in 1972. The movie starts off talking about a band called Death (not to be confused with the Detroit band). As I might’ve guessed, all the members of Death met because they were fans of The Stooges. The documentary establishes Death as the catalyst for the underground music exploding. The way the narrative evolves is super interesting, stitching together key figures in the community in a manner that feels incredibly in-depth and personal. The movie talks about this guy Jerome Brish, who seems like he was a strong personality and real instigator in the music scene. A lot of the bands discussed in the movie I had never heard of, one of them being Jerome’s band In A Hot Coma. Funny enough, even before the movie mentions this, I recognized the keyboard player from In A Hot Coma. Turns out, this woman Jill Kossoris would end up leaving In A Hot Coma and become the lead singer for The Shivvers! Much like many other cities, the scene in Milwaukee seems like it was incestuous. While watching the movie, I was like “I called it!” I remember loving The Shivvers reissue on Sing Sing Records when I first heard it many years back. So needless to say, watching this documentary got me on a binge of jamming The Shivvers once again. And tying it into the Good Vibrations theme, Sing Sing also did reissues of Rudi, Protex, etc. It’s all connected, my friends.

What point am I trying to make exactly? I dunno. This is where my head’s been at with music, I suppose. So yeah, check out these movies and jam some Rudi, Protex, and The Shivvers. I highly recommend the Shivvers song “Please Stand By”. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

I’m kinda in a weird mood today. But I won’t use this vehicle to shout my thoughts into the void. Not much to report on the personal front this week. I’ll dive right in:

Honestly, sometimes I feel guilty when I do these write-ups for the newsletter and don’t take the time to write more about new releases by current bands. It’s not that I’m disinterested… or am I? I can’t tell anymore. For some reason my brain capacity feels dedicated to digging deeper into classic punk at the moment. Maybe it’s because hearing these records elicits a feeling of time capsule-esque nostalgia I’m craving that I won’t be able to obtain from current punk? No idea.

This week, I’m talking about yet another reissue from the batch of stuff we got from Radiation a couple weeks ago. I don’t know what it is about The Outcasts that has deterred me over the years. Maybe it’s because whenever I would see the black and white band photos on the cover of their records, there’s the one skinhead looking dude and I assumed that The Outcasts sounded like Last Resort or something. The band doesn’t even look like skinheads in every photo. And don’t get me wrong, I can tolerate some Oi!, but I’m extremely picky. First of all, learning that they were from Belfast in Northern Ireland was a surprise to me. I don’t know why. There’s no reason I should be expecting a proud display of the Union Jack anywhere near this band’s artwork. At some point in my early 20s, I heard “Self-Conscious Over You” for the first time and I was totally baffled by it. I was like, “WHAT? This is what The Outcasts sound like??”

While I liked that 7” single just fine, I didn’t dig much deeper into the band’s catalog for a while. Funny enough though, I was watching yet another episode of Analog Attack’s What Are You Listening To? podcast a couple weeks ago. I’ll be honest, currently I can’t remember which episode it was or who the guests were ha. But there was a discussion about the early Belfast punk and power pop scene. And specifically, someone was talking about Good Vibrations Records. Of course, I have familiarity with this label—The Undertones and Protex have always been big favorites of mine. Now, I wish I were smarter. I never think to run down the list of releases on a label’s catalog. Good Vibrations’ handful of 15 or so singles from 1978 to 1979 is just an amazing run of tunes. To some of you reading this, you’re probably like, “Duh, Jeff.” Haha. But here I am in my 30s hearing Xdreamysts for the first time being like “Fuuuuck this rules.”

Anyway, back to The Outcasts: I think I had a total misconception about this band. Not only is a song like “Self-Conscious Over You” poppy, but some of the choruses almost sort of have the feel of a 60s doo-wop hit. Funny enough I’d never heard the band’s single on IT with “Fuh-fuh-fuh-fuh-frustration”, along with the first several tracks on this Radiation comp. They kinda sound like a rougher, more rockin’ 999 to me. But then the band’s other Good Vibrations single “Justa Nother Teenage Rebel” is so great. The production and songwriting on this single feels immediately “sweeter” to me. Proclaimed the “bad boys of Ulster” on Radiation’s hype sticker, it’s kinda funny and interesting to think about this incredibly hooky and earnest teenage anthem being the backdrop for a genuinely rough and gnarly street scene. Aside from the “street anthems”, I think I was just surprised by the sort of shameless love song aesthetic of the band. Still with sort of a “tough guy” approach to love songs though, like “Love Is For Sops” and “Love You For Never”. For NEVER, ha. They have a sentiment in common with the Dead Boys in one of those songs. Come to think of it, I do need lunch pretty soon… But then digging into some of the songs I was less familiar with, one of the more aggressive tracks “Gangland Warfare” has this ending refrain that got me raging, pumping my fist and singing along: “Gang fights! Saturday Night! Whoa-oh!” It rules.

When you flip to the B-side of this singles collection, you get into the band’s singles from the early-to-mid 80s. This side of the record definitely feels like a distinct era from the band’s earlier material. More minor key, more anthemic UK82 style songs. I remember getting to the track “Mania” and I was like, “oh fuck, I know this song.” Wouldn’t haven’t even guessed it was the same band. I start to lose interest slightly, at least compared to the bangers from the early singles. But there are some cool tracks on side B for sure. “Angel Face” is a little rough for me… but hey, to each their own. When I looked up the cover art for “Angel Face”, with its super new wave looking color scheme, and homeboy with his Teen Beat looking photo sporting charged hair and flexing his gun, I was like, “ah, I see.” A little extra cheese sprinkled on top compared to the earlier material.

This record was a super fun listen, and cool for someone rather uninitiated like me to dig into. The LP comes with a big foldout poster. On the back cover, there’s fine print that provides some info about the release dates of each single. My only complaint about this collection is that I would have loved an insert with all the cover art from each single and maybe a little more information. But hey, why complain? I’ll leave it there. Thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Yet another Monday where I’m trying to crank out my write-up for the newsletter last minute. My basic excuse is that I spent most of this past weekend in Richmond. Public Acid got together to practice as a full band for the first time in many months. It felt really good to see everybody. And then the night before, everyone in the band along with a bunch of Richmond punks all met up at this weird redneck bar in the county outside Richmond’s city center. The bar was huge and totally dead. Ghost town vibes. It was fun to roll up with a crew to this bar and alienate the regulars. You could smoke inside. There were several pool tables, where anyone could play for free. There was an abandoned electric motorbike in the middle of the room? Eventually Richmond punks were all drunkenly riding this thing. The bartender did not care one bit. It was a good time ha. Of course, when I was driving on the way back from Richmond, my shitty old truck’s problems persisted yet again. I ended up having to change my tire, which was totally bald. Yikes, I should not have been driving on the highway with this thing. So, I put on my donut spare, and drove the rest of the trip home going 45 mph on I-95. That sucked. But hey, at least I made it home safely. I went and replaced my tire this morning before work, and here I am writing for the Sorry State newsletter. Such is life.

Anyway, who cares, right? I did wanna mention again about a couple punk gigs coming up in Raleigh. Hopefully Daniel will have the flyers attached in the newsletter. Here’s some deets:

-April 2nd: Paprika (NOLA), Homemade Speed (VA), Scarecrow @ The Pour House

-April 24th: Jail (Detroit), Scarecrow, Paranoid Maniac @ Neptunes

Okay, staff pick time. So, we recently got a huge order in from Radiation. Daniel always tries to stock a bunch of fresh reissues of punk classics. And inevitably, you fine Sorry State customers see the gaggle of killer records and snatch ‘em up super quickly! This round, Daniel got a big ol’ stack of copies of Keep Laughing, the debut LP by the amazing Rich Kids on LSD. To my surprise, it looks like we haven’t sold any copies yet. Not 1?? I’m not here to shame anyone for sleeping on what I consider a killer hardcore record… I’m just surprised, that’s all.

I started pondering to myself, what is it about this record that might make it avoided by you punks who are hungry for reissues? Does this record have strikes against it? Sure. On the contrary, however, it feels like the band’s debut EP It’s A Beautiful Feeling is regarded as an all-time classic ripper these days. The band’s spinny-cap mascot and cartoony aesthetic was present on the 7”, but the art was in black and white, so it looks more classic. The art and color scheme for Keep Laughing does look a bit corny, I must admit. Even on Rock ’N’ Roll Nightmare, the full-color, psychedelic trip surrounding the dudes drinking beers in lawn chairs makes for a more appealing album cover. Also, there is that unfortunate rap section in “Ded Ted’s.” Woof. But beneath the cartoony aesthetic, RKL had some monster musicians in the band. I feel like the genre tag of “Nardcore” sometimes gets an unfortunate negative connotation. For me, RKL stands leaps and bounds above all the other bands from that scene/era.

I know for years, when I was a kid, I was totally confused about Keep Laughing being RKL’s first full-length. The first thing I ever purchased by the band was a CD called Keep Laughing - The Best of RKL. It had like 25 songs on it, so for years I just assumed Keep Laughing was just the band’s compilation album. Years later, becoming more wise to the band’s discography, I realized that the 10 or so songs on Keep Laughing are a pretty bullet proof track listing. This reissue we’re currently stocking at Sorry State is on No Futuro Records, so I can only assume this is a “euro import” *winkwink. But the track listing is true to the original LP.

Even for being a record originally released on Mystic, I always thought this album had decent production. This particular pressing sounds great too. Very clear. Great guitar tones. Bommer’s insane drumming really shines on this record. Moreso than the 7”, you can hear a lot of the metallic/rocked out influence working its way into the band’s songwriting. When I was a teenager, I always thought of “Think Positive” as RKL’s signature song. The breakdown part in that song sounds like something Iron Maiden would write or something. The guitar solos are outta control; there’s lead licks I still try to rip off to this day haha. But I think unlike Rock ’N’ Roll Nightmare, the songs aren’t so proggy that it’s difficult for the listener to digest. The songs on Keep Laughing are aggressively played with virtuosity, but still incredibly hooky. I also think this is Jason Sears’ ultimate vocal performance. He sounds absolutely vicious, but hasn’t quite added that element of crooning yet. The snarl he leads in with on “Feelings Of Hate” is peak form hardcore singing in my book. And quick side note before I dip out. Listening to this, I can’t help but think about how much RKL sounds like Government Warning. I remember reading someone describing GW as a mix of Adolescents and FU’s, which I admit I can hear a little bit. But man, everything about RKL, the vocal style, riffing and drumming to me sound directly influential on GW’s style. Whatever, maybe silly to bring up, but it just occurred to me as I was wrapping up.

So yeah, if you’ve been sleeping on Keep Laughing by RKL, I think you might be missing out on a hardcore classic. Just sayin’. Give it a shot. Can’t beat it for $20.

That’s all I’ve got this week. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

I’m feeling a little fried at the moment. Why? Shit, definitely has nothing to do with the Super Bowl. I honestly forgot that was even happening while I was at work on Sunday. I couldn’t even tell you which teams were playing. Seriously. Maybe I’m worn out because I overdid it on the beer and vegan cheese dip while at my friend’s birthday party the other night while homies were doing karaoke renditions of “Freak on a Leash” by Korn? Yeah, that’s gotta be it. I’ve also been working on getting details together for Public Acid’s European tour later this year. More to announce on that front in the weeks to come.

Also, attention NC locals reading this: There are a couple of cool punk gigs coming up in Raleigh, so mark your calendars! I’ll announce the full lineups and get Daniel to include the flyers for these in the next week or two. Here’s what I’ve got cookin’:

-April 2nd- PAPRIKA (NOLA) @ The Pour House
-April 24th- JAIL (DETROIT) @ Neptunes

My staff pick this week is kind of a funny one that caught me by surprise. This past weekend, I happened to quickly pop into a local shop just down the street from where I live called Nice Price Books. Nice Price is a long running store here in Raleigh that sells used books, records, VHS, and other knick knacks. Every now and then, I’ll wander in there and find some cool punk records. I always think to myself, “Huh, I wonder who sold these?” Because I imagine judging by the records, it must be someone I know personally unloading stuff from their personal collection. Who knows?

Anyway, I was lucky enough to grab the Official Bootleg double 7” by Poison Idea. You’re probably thinking, “Geez, Jeff talking about Poison Idea once again! Who woulda thought?” I know, I know. While I do have a sizable chunk of the Poison Idea discography crossed off already in my personal collection, I’ve never stumbled across this double single—or just never bothered to order a copy off of the internet. I always thought the packaging looked cool with what I always refer to as the “Kings of Punk skull” repurposed on a red background. The records also come housed in a cool gatefold 7” sleeve. This super nice copy was mad cheap at Nice Price, so I was stoked to find it. For those unfamiliar, this release came out in 1991 around the Feel The Darkness era. It’s a funny collection, with PI’s take on cover tunes like “We Got The Beat” by The Go-Go’s and “Harder They Come” by Jimmy Cliff. Now, how often will I revisit the saloon blues rendition of “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” on a regular basis? Shit, I dunno, probably never! Kinda funny, but at least these cover tunes are an entertaining listen, if nothing else.

“Plastic Bomb” is also on one of the 4 sides, the only original tune by Poison Idea. To which I was like, yeah cool whatever, I’ve heard this song a million times. I threw the 7” on the turntable, and that all-too familiar piano intro kicks in—but within a few moments, I was like wait a minute… this is different. In all my years loving Poison Idea, I had no idea that this version of “Plastic Bomb” is basically like an alternate mix version. In the intro, the guitar is way more up front and playing a different melody. Even in between the verses, the little lead sections are totally different. Most importantly, the melodic solo that happens after the 2nd “whoa-oh” chorus has this guitar harmony that I’ve NEVER heard before. My mind was blown. I posted a clip of this on my Instagram story, and one of my buddies was like, “Yeah dude, you’ve ain’t never heard Poison Lizzy before?” Haha. Then on the other hand, I had several other people that reacted just like me, like “Wow, I gotta go back and check this out!” It’s funny when you’re so familiar with how a song sounds on a particular recording that when any type of alteration from your expectations makes you do a neck-breaking double take. Now hearing this badass Iron Maiden-esque guitar shred version of “Plastic Bomb”… dare I say, better than the album version?

If you’re interested, I imagine this version of “Plastic Bomb” is available to listen to on the internet. Or perhaps it’s also been included as a bonus track on one of the many Feel The Darkness reissues in recent years? I definitely recommend experiencing this version of the song, especially if you’ve become all too comfortable with the proper album version over the last 30+ years. Anyway, that’s all I have to discuss this week. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff