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Beach Impediment is honored to be reissuing a top tier USHC classic that came into being right here in Central Virginia. In the summer of 1982 when Richmond's RED CROSS (see BIR-062) came to an abrupt end, guitarist Mikey Rodriguez didn't seem to miss a beat, recruiting Crispy Cranmer, formerly of GASSE 32, on vocals to continue his vision of creating frantic, fast and ugly hardcore punk... and they did just that late one October night, sneaking into the studios of Union Theological Seminary to belt out 8 urgent and furious tracks clocking in at just over 5 minutes, immortalized on a platter compliments of local punk stalwarts Zero Degree Records later that year. What became known as the "FASCIST EP" (a title unintended by the band that stuck per Jeff Bale's glowing review in Maximum Rock and Roll #5) spread far and wide in the months that followed, not only cementing the band's place in the annals of international hardcore punk history but also triggering a regional explosion with the genre; the fuse of which has been lit by Mikey's previous service in MOD SUBS and the aforementioned RED CROSS. This is just the beginning of our long awaited reissues of the legendary WHITE CROSS - stay tuned!
Remastered by Chris Corry, each record comes in a stunningly accurate reproduction sleeve featuring a never before seen band photo from when the boys opened for THE EXPLOITED, an insert with the long lost lyrics accompanied by a collage of flyers and other imagery related to the release, a duplicate of the original sticker so ya don't have to send a S.A.S.E. as originally requested by the band and hey - even the center labels are the original design that the prudes at United refused to print due to the excessive profanity on them!
Our take: Beach Impediment brings us the first-ever reissue of one of the shining lights of United States hardcore punk: White Cross’s 1982 7” EP, officially self-titled, but often referred to as Fascist, after the record’s first song. I know every Tom, Dick, and Harry’s 80s hardcore band is getting a deluxe reissue these days, but White Cross’s EP really is one of the best USHC records ever. Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, White Cross was just over an hour away from the mythical Washington, DC scene, and this EP sounds a lot like the early Dischord hardcore releases. Without a doubt, if you love those, you’ll love this, but White Cross has their own voice… a little looser, a little punkier, a little more unhinged and dangerous. They’re also uncommonly talented songwriters for a band pounding out tunes almost exclusively in sub-one-minute bursts. Of this EP’s 8 songs (9 if you count the fragment “Outro”), three of them—“Fascist,” “Jump Up My Ass” (memorably covered by Socialcide back in my heyday), and “Having Fun”—qualify as all-time punk classics. It’s one thing to play fast and wild, but quite another to get the kids to sing along while you’re doing it. Of course Beach Impediment’s reissue is class all the way. While the packaging mostly recreates the original issue in striking detail, a few subtle upgrades increase the coolness factor without losing the feeling that you’ve come across a perfectly preserved time capsule from 1982. A totally essential blast of 1980s hardcore punk.
- Label: Beach Impediment Records
- Format Type: 7"
- Genre: hardcore
- Year: 2025