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The Horrors: Strange House

So I know I generally talk about shitty screamo bands when I talk about my childhood, but I swear there were a few bastions of good taste somewhere in there. Now and then I remember the album Strange House by the Horrors and fall back in love with it. I think I found it shortly after it came out; there was a copy of Alt Press I got my hands on that had a very mall-gothy photo of them so I wanted to check it out. I think I was sold on the flippy hair and eyeliner, to be honest. Their music is anything but the typical mall goth/emo/whatever bullshit from 2007, so even my 12-year-old ears felt refreshed when I put it on for the first time. I guess it’s a very punk album, but I never considered it as such… I also thought My Chemical Romance was the hardest fucking band in the world, so you can’t trust my opinions.

For a while, The Horrors reigned supreme as my favorite band just from this one album. It was so unlike anything I’d heard or could find at the time. I pored over the lyrics but no matter what I never understood them; I think that’s partially what kept me coming back for more. I love how garage-y and frantic each track is. I almost didn’t need to understand the lyrics (I still tried though). Sometime in 2010-ish, the Horrors played at Cat’s Cradle on my birthday and I couldn’t have been more fucking excited. I’d spent years listening to Strange House at that point, and I needed to hear it live. I guess I vaguely knew the tour was for a new album, but I just thought I would hear more weird fuzzy music like their first album. I’ve never seen a band change genres so quickly and drastically, but I found out that night that the Horrors completely changed their sound. Even worse, they didn’t play a single song from Strange House, and I was absolutely devastated. What’s the musical equivalent of blue balls? That’s what happened to me; I went to the venue expecting to dance to songs I’ve loved for years and instead everyone stood around while boring shoegaze music blasted through the PA.

I’ve tried to listen to the Horrors’ albums after Strange House. I really have, but they don’t do it for me. Shoegaze as a genre doesn’t really do it for me, so it makes sense. At least they’ve kept up the strong aesthetics and attention to design throughout their career. The singer is an amazing visual artist and I haven’t let my distaste for shoegaze ruin that, at least! Check out Strange House and lament with me that we only got one album of this sound…

Hello and thanks for reading,

I really can’t remember when I first heard “Stockholm’s Mangel” but I know I checked it out cos of MOB 47. I had no idea who the other bands were previous to my listening, but quickly AGONI, CRUDITY, and DISCARD became some of my favorite Swedish bands. At the time, I did not know all three bands shared members. The DISCARD tracks were later reissued on a 7" in 1990, and a few times again after that. The CRUDITY tracks were bootlegged a few times, once on a 7" and once on a 12" split with DISCARD. I’m not sure when they came out, but I can tell you the 7" sounds like shit haha. I remember when I got my copy I was so bummed on the sound; you can’t crank the volume at all without it distorting. My homie Chris (What up Mofo!!!) said to me he thinks the 7" was around 1997, and the split was around 2000/2001. So the 12" might have good quality sound if they used the “Stockholm’s Mangel” CD reissue from 2000 as a sound source. No idea though, maybe that boot came before the reissue. I got the CD version cos I thought I’d never secure the LP version. They don’t pop up much, especially in the USA. Well, sometime over the pandemic, I was lucky to score the LP pressing within the USA. The entire reason I bought this shit was for CRUDITY pretty much. Don’t get me wrong, I love AGONI and DISCARD, but I wanted to blast the CRUDITY tracks in specific from the vinyl pressing. That band rips so hard, it’s insane to me. Hilariously, there is a fucking error in the track list on the CRUDITY side. In the middle of their tracks, all of a sudden an AGONI song plays that already appeared. And the CRUDITY track that should be in that spot is nowhere to be found. I was so fucking bummed to discover this... hahah. I was surprised no one has noted it on the Discogs page to be honest. Getting back on track, AGONI was never reissued aside from that “Stockholm’s Mangel” LP/CD on the label Swedish Punk Classics in 2000 (which I think is just the dude from Distortion Records). I think this bit of mystery added to my obsession with the band. The tracks from “Stockholm’s Mangel” were on their own demo tape as well back in the ‘80s but I have never seen much info on it, aside from this pixelated photo of a j-card I’ve seen in a few places online. The only other stuff I’ve heard from them was when they changed their name to AGONY and they were playing metal by this time. Unfortunately I didn’t care for it but I loved their first demo so much. It stood out compared to other Swedish bands with their super blatant DISCHARGE worship. I know bands like DISCARD and SKITSLICKERS worshipped DISCHARGE, but they had their own twist. Alongside the DISCHARGE riffs and aesthetic, DISCARD brought a pummeling speed with their D-beat. And SHITLICKERS of course worshipped every element of DISCHARGE but they added an extra element of noise and chaos. To me, AGONI’s first demo is right on the nose DISCHARGE worship. The riffs, the somewhat relaxed tempo, the lyrical content, and the overall aesthetic was pure DISCHARGE. The only thing they didn’t have was a ‘Dis’ name haha. I never even knew about the existence their second demo until this reissue was announced. The record comes in a gatefold sleeve with liner notes and band photos printed inside. I was bummed to fold it out and see there wasn’t a word written in English haha. My nerdy ass was looking to do some learning... Luckily, Daniel used his phone to do this translate thing, which was amazing. However, here now I have one better for you: complete English translations direct from the label! The compilation features three demos and five tracks recorded live in 1985. Aside from the first demo which I talked about already, I had never heard any of this stuff. Well really for the second demo, I think less than twenty people ever heard it in the history of the world. We are so lucky one guy saved a copy after all these years. They explain this stuff in the liner notes I linked above. The second demo is not ‘right on the nose’ like the first one, but man is it good. You can hear some foreshadowing of the metal to come on their following tape (which starts off the B side of the compilation.) There is some more attack on the guitar picking and the riffing is a bit more complex, which pushes the second demo away from the blatant DISCHARGE elements, but man is it damn good. Damn. I am biased though. I told you how much I obsessed over the band so hearing anything unreleased like this is going to make my day. So inside the cover there is no photo for the j-card of the second tape. Maybe there never was one? They also mention there never was song titles, so they just made ‘em up for the reissue. They also used that same pixelated photo I mentioned earlier of the first demo inside the gatefold. Man, AGONI tapes must be rare as fuck if no one can muster up originals in Sweden for scans, etc. All the more reason you should just buy this now! Haha. Alright, I think that’s all? Forgive me if I bounced all over the place in my writing. I felt confident in the topic at first but later found myself second guessing what I am writing. Anyway, as always, thank you for the support and thanks for reading. Peace!

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Sometimes, I’ll somewhat involuntarily step out my front door and take a walk around my neighborhood to clear my head. This usually takes place around midnight or so, the streets are always empty, and I often wonder if my neighbors notice me creeping alone down past their houses. Maybe I’ll get a t-shirt that says “Won’t rob you.” I tend to listen to music on headphones while I’m wandering around. I wish I could say that my listening habits on these walks were more adventurous. Maybe this is why, as the years continue to pass me by, my brain continues to devolve into mush from lack of stimulation. I usually throw on albums that capture a certain mood and that are more than anything… “comfortable” to listen to. Lately, I’ve been listening to It’s A Shame About Ray by The Lemonheads to the point of ad nauseam. Like… a lot. Funny enough, unbeknownst to me and by pure coincidence, It’s A Shame About Ray just got reissued for its 30th anniversary. There’s a “standard” version and a “deluxe” version, both of which are way too expensive.

The Lemonheads are an interesting band. It’s A Shame About Ray is clearly their standout commercial success, but I was surprised to discover that their earlier releases on Taang! Records sounded more like a New England take on Husker Du or something, especially with the alternating lead vocals between Ben Deily and Evan Dando. But for whatever reason, there’s something uniquely special about It’s A Shame About Ray. It’s a decidedly softer and more light-hearted record. There’s sense of ease and breeziness, but with just a hint of melancholy buried underneath the surface. No more Ben Deily on this record, but I also just find Evan Dando to be such a magnetic, enigmatic character. I’m really not sure… was he a sad person? I’m not sure I think he’s like a genius or anything. I almost kind of find him frustrating, but also sort of accessible? As opposed to the posturing of grunge icons of the era, he seems like a pretty cool and genuine guy. He seems like a dude you could know that lives just down the street. His songs to me have more in common with like a Neil Young than say Kurt Cobain. There’s something about the easy, breezy, laid back mood of this record that really captures a true slacker’s spirit. But while maybe the songs on this album are not so bombastically lush and impressive, I think Dando writes songs that are beautifully poignant and understated. But seriously, the dude is so goddamn handsome in the traditional sense that what does he have to be depressed about? Wish I could relate. Sometimes I wish I was more intense and viciously, unrelentingly passionate. Unfortunately, here I am wandering around at night feeling lost and unmotivated, which is maybe why I’m gravitating toward this record. Lately, feeling more and more uncomfortable with my disposition in this existence as I meander around my neighborhood in the dark, I guess I do kinda feel like a ship without a rudder. I know, pretty corny.

In 1992, this record felt unfairly overshadowed by The Lemonheads becoming quite well known for the band’s cover of “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon & Garfunkel, which was featured in the Wayne’s World soundtrack. The other night, the first notes of “Rockin’ Stroll” kicked off right as I stepped out my front door. Then when I returned, almost like the record was timed perfectly for my midnight stroll, the quiet acoustic notes of “Frank Mills” faded out right as I turned the key to unlock the door and I cut off the music just before “Mrs. Robinson” would’ve auto-played as a bonus track. Seemed fitting.

Anyway, hope I didn’t bore you with my musings of 90s-fueled nostalgic melancholia. That’s all I’ve got this week.

As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

The other night we canceled Scarecrow practice last minute so we could drink beers and spin records with a bunch of our hardcore-loving homies. I had a great time, and I was stoked to rifle through other people’s boxes of old hardcore 7”s. Of course, there were some items that made me very jealous, but it also made me come home and see my box of 7”s I’ve bought in the past year or two with fresh eyes. In honor of that, here are thoughts on four 7”s I’ve listened to recently.

Desperate Children flexi (1986, Joy Riders Records)

One-off flexi from this little-known band from the noise-core hotbed of Kyushu, Japan. Like Gai and Swankys, there’s more than a little bouncy, melodic punk in Desperate Children’s sound. While they don’t have the over the top intensity of those two bands, the two a-side tracks are odd enough to hold my attention. The b-side track puts the melody center stage, and even if you prefer the noisier stuff, you gotta agree with the sentiment of the track’s title: “I Love Punk.” I always loved the cover art on this one too… the crispness of the graphic design is eye-catching and makes an interesting contrast with the music.

Śmierć Kliniczna: ASP / Jestem Ziarnkiem Piasku (1984, Tonpress Records)

A handful of old Polish punk bands got EPs out on the state-run Tonpress label, and I always pick them up when I can. They’re usually cheap, and the bands are often super interesting. Like Dezerter, Śmierć Kliniczna had already been a band for several years when they released this single, and their sound is distinctive and complex… they can play their asses off! Of course I don’t know what the lyrics are about, but the dark complexity of the music reminds me of outsider hardcore like the Crucifucks or Power of the Spoken Word. Very cool.

The Expelled: No Life No Future 7” (1982, Riot City Records)

“Dreaming” is the best song in this little batch of 7”s that I’m looking at today, a dark and hooky track with memorable guitar and vocal melodies. The other two tracks are more aggressive, but the playing is looser. That gives these songs an off the rails energy that I like, but the hooks don’t land as hard as they do on “Dreaming.” I think I’m going to spin that again right now.

Riot Squad: Don’t Be Denied 7” (1983, Rot Records)

I’m a sucker for a beater UK82 picture sleeve… something about these records just feels right when they’re all bent and dog-eared like this one. This is the third Riot Squad single I’ve picked up, nabbing their first two records at shops over the years. I think Don’t Be Denied is the best one, though… just classic-sounding UK82 punk with chanting vocals, simple riffs, and a shit-ton of punk attitude. They put the mid-paced song up front and it’s cool, but it’s the three rippers that form the balance of the record that get me going. Exploited fans are particularly encouraged to check out this EP.

David Lynch: The Big Dream

The collection Daniel brought back from Denver is pretty freaking nuts. The amount of ‘grail’ items I’ve found… and we’re only about halfway through. All the Uncle Acid and Electric Wizard you could want? Check. Super special edition black metal? Check. A ton of Harvey Milk records? Yep. Dude even had some weird educational/spoken word/field recording records I’ve been eying on Discogs for a while. A lot of it is special editions way out of my price range, but I’ve already snagged some stuff I’m fucking ECSTATIC to finally have in my collection.

I don’t know if my coworkers heard the awful sounds that came out of my mouth when I found The Big Dream in a stack of records I was pricing the other week, but it was definitely loud and probably embarrassing. I’ve loved David Lynch ever since I watched Eraserhead in high school and binged his short films for weeks afterward. That led me to Twin Peaks and his other movies, but as I switched my major from film to printmaking while in college, I found out Lynch is also quite the accomplished lithographer! I think all of Lynch’s work is very distinctly his style, but it’s hard to put a finger on what makes something Lynchian. One of those things where I know it when I see it.

The same goes for his music. In college, a friend was playing The Big Dream in their car and I remember saying ‘this sounds like the soundtrack to a David Lynch movie’... lo and behold, he’s the singer. The whole album is ethereal and creepy. In my head, Twin Peaks is the perfect backdrop for this music. For being electronic and vocoder-y (I don’t even know if he actually used one), there’s something anachronistic about this entire album and I love the line it straddles. I don’t know any other artist besides David Lynch who could make music like this and have it work so well. When I tell people his singing voice is similar to his talking voice, I see a lot of hesitation, but LET ME TELL YOU, it works so well! If you haven’t listened to any David Lynch music but are a fan of his visual art—you have to listen to this shit.

Hello and thanks for reading. I’ve been moving the past few weeks, very slowly. It’s an hour drive one way, so I only have good opportunities on the weekend. Most of my belongings have moved but only a small portion of my records are at my new spot, which is why I said “very slowly,” haha. I move just a few boxes of LPs at time, so my selection is mad limited at my new crib. I’m pretty much just diving back into shit I haven’t jammed in ages. I just got done with that first WASTED TIME compilation, and now I’m moving onto my favorite (and only) SPITS LP. I didn’t get into THE SPITS until 10+ years after this came out, but I probably would not have liked it until later in life. I remember when my friend from ATX came to visit soon after I moved to Raleigh, and he called me poser for listening to something that was not blazing HC hahah... I first fell for this band when I heard “Let Us Play Your Party” and eventually I tracked this LP down. While that song closes out the A-side of the record, I really love the B-side. It’s actually just ended, and I’ve dropped the needle on B1 again.

Anyway, we have plenty of great records (and tapes) to write about, but I will embrace my inner fanboy and write about this TERVEET KÄDET book. I’ve raved about this label Finnish Hardcore in several Staff Picks, so it’s no surprise I am thoroughly impressed with their latest release. While this book is not loaded up with interviews and liner notes, it is brimming with fucking sick (and HUGE) photos. There is still bits of info surrounding each photo, however. I am grateful again for the English translations, cos there is some cool info/trivia about TERVEET KÄDET during these early years. The book itself is over 100 pages long, and it’s hand-numbered out of 600 copies. I could be wrong, but I think most of these photos have never been released. Some of them I recognized from TK records though, and of course they mention this in the book. I know for certain this book features photos by only one person, Heikki Kemppainen, spanning from 1980 to 1984. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about this person, and there is not much to learn about their history in Tornio, Finland from what the book says in the English translations. Alright I’m jamming SKITKIDS ‘Onna For Pleasure’ now, and it’s time for me to get back to work. If you are a fan of classic Finnish HC or TK in specific, I would grab a copy of this book cos you will not be let down! It’s not like that Sakevi book that has a shit ton of garbage that came later that no one gives a fuck about, haha or that one F.O.A.D. book where the last like 15 pages were just ads from the label... the name of that book escapes me at the moment. Anyway, thanks for reading, peace.

What’s going on everyone? I write to you today as Jeff and I listen to the theme from Rocky and Beetlejuice playing. Some 45s that were brought in yesterday. The Rocky soundtrack with music by Bill Conti is a goodie and not to be slept on. Anyway, I didn’t really have any kind of write up on a favorite album to share this week, but did want to quickly tell you about an interesting 45 that I have been playing.

The record is credited to Made For TV, the song is called So Afraid Of The Russians, and it was released on Conflict Records in 1983. Recorded in New York City and produced by John Cale who also is credited on guitar, synth percussion and transatlantic telephone. Cool.

As someone who grew up in the shadow of the cold war where drills were held in schools to prepare for nuclear attacks and the government was telling us how to protect and survive, I had a weird fascination with Russia. The 80s were the Reagan Gorbachev summits and Frankie Goes To Hollywood singing Two Tribes, CND protestors, the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, Russian spies and poisoned umbrella spikes. James Bond and Rocky all took on the might of Mother Russia. I later visited the country several times in the 1990s.

If you have watched the show The Americans, you’ll know what I mean. They did a great job of recreating that time in history for those too young to have lived through it themselves.

So, on this track, So Afraid Of The Russians, the general theme is the Russians are spying on us and all the paranoia that causes. It’s a good post-punk type of production with added intercepted Russian radio messages for good measure. On the B-side, we are treated to a cover of Unknown Soldier by The Doors. All housed in a sleeve with a painting of the Kremlin or similar Russian architecture on one side and a guy wearing a gas mask on the rear. It’s all good stuff and of course still just as topical. The John Cale connection is cool and yesterday was his 80th birthday. His body of work is full of great recordings, and this is an interesting part of it. Check it out and see what you think.

Cheers- Dom

Gauze: 言いたかねえけど目糞鼻糞 12” (2021, XXX Records)

Recently, copies of Gauze’s 6th album hit US shores. If you follow punks on Instagram, you’ve likely seen people showing off their copies. My sincere apologies to anyone who was hoping to get a copy from Sorry State. I dropped the ball and didn’t look into getting copies until it was too late, but hopefully we can rectify that in the future and carry the next pressing. Luckily for me, I could order a copy for myself from the venerable Velted Regnub distribution.

Much like when Gauze released their 5th album, the reactions I’ve seen online have been mixed. Lots of people are excited about this new chapter in Gauze’s legacy, but there are always haters. I’m not sure what people could be looking for in a Gauze album that they don’t hear here, but I love the record. I’ve seen several people say that the first song on the record is whack but the rest of it is good, but when I listen to the record, I can’t for the life of me figure out what’s so different about the first track. Maybe I’m missing something?

The word I keep coming back to when people ask me my thoughts on this album is “anthemic.” The anthemic qualities of Gauze’s music have always been cut off to me as someone who doesn’t speak Japanese, but I can tell by the way their fans sing along when I watch videos of their shows that their songs have always been anthemic. However, this new album seems to give the vocals more of a spotlight than previous records, with even a sung a capella part. Unexpected, but brilliant as always, if you ask me.

While I’m still formulating my thoughts on the record, I thought it might be interesting to reflect on what makes Gauze so great. Those of us who love Gauze revere them, which probably confuses people who have little context for their music. If I didn’t know better, I’d chalk up my passion for Gauze to the way I encountered them. I mail ordered a copy of their 7” on Prank Records when I was in high school, intrigued by the crisp graphic design and the fact that the band was from Japan. A year or so later at a show in Richmond, I complimented Jay from Hardcore Holocaust on his Gauze t-shirt and he encouraged me to buy a bootleg of GISM’s Detestation that had just come out. That record melted my brain as thoroughly as Gauze did, and a lifelong obsession with Japanese punk was born. I remember when I discovered eBay around 1998, one of the first things I did was search for Gauze records, and I ordered a very expensive import copy of their fourth album. As more information about Japanese punk hit the internet, I devoured everything I could and continued to expand my knowledge of the scene.

Back to Gauze. Even for those of us with a particular interest in Japanese punk, Gauze stands head and shoulders above other bands. Why? Here are four things I think contribute to Gauze’s legendary status:

Longevity

Having released their first recordings on 1982’s City Rockers compilation, Gauze is one of Japan’s longest-running punk bands. Their first album, 1985’s Fuck Heads, came out on the legendary ADK label, which was run by Tam from the Stalin. Their 1986 and 1991 albums came out on the equally legendary Selfish Records, the label that released much of the seminal music that shapes people’s understanding of Japanese hardcore to this day. Thus, Gauze is a throughline connecting almost the entire history of Japanese punk. Gauze’s longevity may mean even more for Japanese hardcore than it does for other scenes, given the deferential and courteous nature of Japanese culture and language. Also, while plenty of bands from the initial explosions of punk and hardcore are still going in some capacity, Gauze is one of the few who have done so with minimal changes in lineup and sound. Gauze has never put out a pop record, never made a video for MTV, and never deviated from hardcore’s narrow path. In other words, Gauze has never sucked.

Style

To put it simply, no band has ever sounded like Gauze. This is particularly true of everything they recorded after their landmark second album, 1986’s Equalizing Distort. When you drop the needle on a Gauze record, you know it is them instantly and without question. Further, while every semi-famous punk band has its imitators and acolytes, I’m not aware of any band that has cracked the code for how to write a song that sounds like Gauze. Plenty of people imitate Death Side or Bastard or Judgement with some success, but it appears Gauze is the only band that can make Gauze songs.

Mystery

Speaking of Death Side, Bastard, and Judgement, while all those bands have played reunion shows and even played in the US, Gauze remains indifferent to whatever the West might offer. Gauze toured the UK in 1989 (a live set performed in Scotland appeared as the b-side of their 3rd album) and played three US shows in 1996 (on this tour they recorded the Prank 7” that introduced me to the band). However, those trips seem to have satisfied Gauze’s international ambitions. While Prank wrangled a US release for their 5th album in 2007, finding physical copies of Gauze’s releases or seeing the band live has entailed meeting them on their turf. Even in Japan they seem to exist as a scene unto themselves, playing the same clubs again and again with seemingly no aim to expand their passionately devoted core audience. Press both in and out of Japan has been minimal, with the few Gauze interviews I’ve seen eliciting only curt and enigmatic responses from the band. In the absence of reliable info, legends about Gauze have proliferated in the rumor mill. My favorite of these is that Gauze practices consist of the band playing every song they have ever written without stopping, a feat of near-superhuman strength. Which brings me to my final point.

Musicality

Perhaps this could fly over your head if you aren’t a musician, but Gauze’s mind-boggling technical skill as players is a huge part of their appeal. Part of the distinctiveness of their sound is that few bands can play with anything close to their power and precision, which is more impressive since, at their gigs, they perform their songs in rapid-fire succession with no stopping in between. I’ve seen very few bands have the gumption to cover Gauze, and nearly all of those make it apparent why they shouldn’t have tried. While Gauze’s songwriting isn’t flashy in an Eddie Van Halen / Yngwie Malmsteen kind of way, they are mazes of sharp and dramatic changes in rhythm. Even remembering these changes must be a struggle, much less performing them with Gauze’s airtight level of precision. Not every hardcore band aspires to tightness, but if you have ever played in a hardcore band with that goal, Gauze is the unequivocal gold standard.

I’m sure other Gauze fanatics have their own relationship with the band, but those are some reasons the band remains so special to me. If you are lucky enough to be discovering Gauze for the first time, jump into their discography at whatever point you find most convenient. As I said, they have never sucked. Whether your jumping-on point is the rhythmic mazes of their fourth or fifth LPs, the classics Fuck Heads and Equalizing Distort, their punkier tracks on the City Rocker compilation, or something else, you’re going to get a taste of what makes this band so legendary.

And I Don’t Want to Live This Life, Deborah Spungen

Growing up, my mom never let me listen to the Sex Pistols. When I first got into punk, she would tell me it was because the band was ‘yucky’ or that the bassist was a murderer. I can’t remember exactly when she finally came clean about her intense Sex Pistols hatred, but it was much later and coincided with her giving me this book.

In my mom’s early teen years, she dated Nancy Spungen’s brother David. They went to the same Jewish summer camp; he even went to her Bat Mitzvah. She never met Nancy and broke up with David well before Nancy was thrown into the limelight and eventually died, but my mom always remained close with the family. Her hatred of Sid Vicious’ band, I found out even later, was much less to do with the tragic death of Nancy but more about the fallout surrounding the tragedy. My mom never hid her distaste for the worship of that couple. She would always bring it back to the Spungen family and how the media attention after Nancy’s death almost ruined them.

I’ll admit, it was years after being handed And I Don’t Want to Live This Life, that I actually read it. Before I read it, I kind of shrugged off my mom’s intense emotions on the subject as yet another way for her to try and get the punk outta me. As my interest in punk faded, I forgot about this book on my bookshelf and picked it up one evening out of boredom. I read it in two days, completely unable to put it down. Deborah Spungen wrote this book just five short years after Nancy was found stabbed in a hotel room. It’s intensely emotional and raw. This book is 20 years of pent up anger, frustration, and sadness.

Nancy’s life was never easy. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, there were only very rudimentary understandings of mental health and she suffered heavily because of it. Reading it from a modern perspective is heartbreaking because you can see, very plainly, that medication and therapy would’ve at least partially prevented Nancy from leading such a short and painful life. Mental health has come a long way since the year she died, 1978, and the year this book came out, 1983, but there are still a ton of people like Nancy unable to get the help they need. We might have a thicker DSM5 than those years, but access to life saving mental health treatments are still hard to come by.

Even if you’re like me and not a fan of Sid Vicious or the Sex Pistols, And I Don’t Want to Live This Life is the heartbreaking background to one of pop culture’s most notorious toxic couples and absolutely well worth the read if you can find it in print somewhere.

Hello, thanks for reading and thanks for the support. I will write briefly about a record that I have been playing a lot. This week we got these hot-ass SYCOPHANT slabs in at Sorry State. I didn’t know anything about this release beforehand; I had zero anticipation for the release because of this. It’s always a great feeling to be completely caught off guard by a release. I love it so much. It’s also kind of whack this was completely off my radar since we carried the cassette version back in June of last year, whoops. I am not really a fan of the single-side 12” but I am glad this release now has a vinyl version, cos it’s way too good to only appear on cassette. The recording itself sounds excellent, especially the drums. Every instrument sounds clear and pronounced but somehow everything is blended well together into a nice wall of sound. I don’t mean the band is noisy by that wall of sound reference, but that each instrument seriously compliments each other. They bring out the best elements, making the band as a whole sound really full. It sounds like almost too pro haha but it is fucking excellent. Anyway, this band’s “style” is right up my alley, so it was no doubt I’d immediately like it. I am relatively easy to please if you are playing DISCHARGE style, but you must have riffs forreal... and SYCOPHANT has riffs indeed. Although they play like DISCHARGE with the constant D-beatage, it sounds like they have more similarities to the Swedish bands who followed suit. While they mostly remind me of DISCHANGE or MEANWHILE, some of the riffage is really reminiscent of TOTALITÄR. If you like any of those bands and I haven’t heard this record yet, I’d check it out now! But wait, that means everyone should listen to this record, cos who the fuck doesn’t like TOTALITÄR, right? Alright thanks for reading and I hope everyone is staying safe, peace!

Greetings to you all and thank you for clicking on our newsletter. We always appreciate it.

So, before I say anything else I need to apologize for a typo in my piece from last week about pioneering country singer Linda Martell. Somehow my brain had me type her album title as Color My Soul when, of course, the correct title is Color Me Country. Oops. Too many titles about people coloring things. Lol. Our website has been corrected but if you read the link via email and noticed that, I apologize. As a follow up to the story on Linda Martell, it seems that a documentary is being made on her by family members and should be ready this year.

Okay, on to this week. Plenty going on in the world, obviously. Things to bemoan and things to celebrate. The bad shit is just going to keep happening, so let’s concentrate on the good things. For me the good things this week that have made me happy have been my team Liverpool winning the EFL cup this past Sunday. We beat Chelsea in a dramatic game that went to a full penalty shoot-out. That’s the first of four possible trophies we are still in the running for this season. On Tuesday, it was Mardi Gras and to celebrate the spirit of New Orleans and carnival my DJ buddy Matt and I had a fun time with our Worldy radio show over on The Face Radio. I didn’t get to eat any pancakes though, unfortunately. Back when my sister and I were kids our mum used to make us dozens each. Delicious. Good times. The number one thing for me to celebrate this week however is the pleasure and pride I have from working here at Sorry State. I can’t tell you enough about how great it is. Daniel is without doubt the best boss ever. Seriously. And my co-workers are equally brilliant. I learn something new from them every week. Thank you guys.

The other week in the newsletter, Daniel talked about the BBC App that allows you access to the wealth of great radio shows etc. that they broadcast. How fantastic is that? Being British, I was particularly pleased. Daniel mentioned he has been listening to Marc Riley’s show and as a fellow Fall fan and ex listener to the show Riley had with Mark Radcliffe in the 90s, I will be checking out his latest broadcasts. I loved that late night show he had with Radcliffe. Always great music, always hilariously funny and somewhat in the vein of John Peel. I remember being sad when they finished their show. I even taped the last week of broadcasts and still have those cassettes as they had some guest bands performing. Tindersticks being one of them, a bad I liked a lot and have had the pleasure of seeing a few times. When living in New York, I even met them one day whilst I was hanging out at Beggars Banquet.

Anyway, back to Marc Riley. Daniel mentioning him made me pull out one of my favorite 45s this week. It’s a single Riley made in 1983 called Jumper Clown. Released on In Tape, which was his own label. He released another single the same year called Favourite Sister, which I have also. The label would release other stuff from his band The Creepers in addition to names such as The June Brides, Gaye Bikers On Acid and the great Frank Sidebottom.

Jumper Clown is a brilliant rubbish record. Cheesy organ sound, drum machine beats and Marc’s deadpan vocal. To most ears it probably sounds crap, but there is something about it that just makes me smile. Most Fall fans will dig it if they haven’t already heard it.

I was gifted my copy by a very good friend of mine, DJ Kevin Wyzzard. He scoured every store in New York City to find me a copy. Kevin is a great friend and a fantastic seventies glam DJ. He turned on some famous people to glam music with his English Disco party. He and I also hosted a night called Freak Out! That party was more focused on sixties psychedelic, though. Kevin, like Daniel, is a huge Fall fan and I am sure the two of them would get on like a house on fire if they met. Thank you Kevo for finding me that record.

I have no idea what a Jumper Clown is, but the single is fun and has a picture sleeve showing some cartoon guy reading a newspaper sticking his tongue out saying blah, blah, blah. The b side is a tune called Violins, and that’s cool too. It’s not expensive but will make a good addition to any Fall fan’s record collection or even a non-Fall fan too.

That’s all I have for you this week. Thank you for reading. Have fun with records. Support your local record stores and we’ll see you next time. Cheers.

-Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

So funny story, my buddy Alex and I went to go see Jackass: Forever the other night. On the way there, Alex was just playing tunes off of his phone in the car. This one song came on that just RIPPED, and I asked Alex, I sez to him: “My dude, what is this badass ripping hardcore with lyrics I don’t understand?” He went on to tell me that it was a track from the Rapsodie En France compilation. Funny coincidence, this 1985 compilation cassette literally just got reissued on LP courtesy of World Gone Mad Records in conjunction with the original label Jungle Hop. And now Sorry State has copies. My lucky day!

I’ll admit, I’m not super well-versed on French hardcore. I’d heard a Heimat Los 7” at some point years ago and really dug that. I’d also heard Rapt before, always associating their gnarly, noisy, speedy hardcore with bands like Lärm from the Netherlands. Then Rapt also has that split 7” with Final Blast, which Chris and Michael Hardy from Velted Regnub introduced me to. Honestly, Final Blast might be my favorite band on this comp. The catchy tuneful riffs kinda remind me of Zmiv or something like that. Maybe there’s a correlation between French and Dutch hardcore that catches my ear? Who knows? Heimat Los even has a song called “Amsterdam” haha. But this compilation is chock full of killer bands that I’d never really heard before. The first band, Les Vandales, has 3 songs that just fuckin’ kill, and I’m pretty sure this is the band that Alex played for me in his car. The fidelity of the recordings from band to band really varies. The songs by Les Bloody Fuckers sound really blown out, but are totally killer. Anyway, I could talk about every band, but I won’t get into all that. To me, the fact that this compilation was previously never properly released on vinyl is almost criminal. This is a snapshot of a (maybe?) relatively under-the-radar, but killer 80s hardcore scene. Every band looks cool and sounds cool. The reissue LP comes with a thick booklet with photos, interviews, and loads more, which looks totally rad. A lot of it is in French, so degenerates like me don’t know how to read it, but the photos are fun to look at.

If you’re unfamiliar with 80s French punk and need a good jumpstart on finding out what it’s all about, then I highly recommend you check out Rapsodie En France.

Oh and also, that Tower 7 gig in Richmond this Saturday is gonna be insane. Hope to see all of you freaxxx there!

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

‘Til next week,

-Jeff