Skip to content
"Reissue of the underrated first 7" from Modern Warfare. Popular opinion will tell you the "#2" 7" is the better (and more expensive) record, but not me. Three tracks of perfect 1980 Geza X-produced Long Beach punk, "In the Shadows" is a great early LA punk tune, with twin guitar interplay and a nice little hook. "Delivered" has some great stereophonic guitar trickery and always reminded me a bit of The Dils, "Dayglo" is a tight little punk stomper a la Eyes with more cool Geza production tricks. An under-rated record from an under-rated band and under-rated scene/label in general, that whole weird little Bemis thing is a really cool little early Eighties niche that hasn't been plundered by the reissue labels yet - Ut tapped a good vein here, with some more Bemis label surprises coming in 2015. Scum stats: three different silkscreened (inside and out) sleeve color variations."- Terminal Boredom
Our take: Weirdly, I think that Modern Warfare were one of the very first early 80s punk bands I heard. I remember one of my very first experiences with mail-order was ordering the American Youth Report LP from Anti's mail-order (whose catalog I must have gotten from a Bad Religion record or some other Epitaph release). I'm pretty sure I ordered that LP because Bad Religion and the Adolescents were on it, but it introduced me to so much great music. Many of the bands I wouldn't hear more from for many years... it would take me a long time to track down Legal Weapon and Flesh Eaters records (though I eventually would), but to this day I still don't think I've seen an original copy of either of Modern Warfare's 7"s. Anyway, their second EP seems to be more well-known than the first one, perhaps because it's a little more in line with the Southern California hardcore sound of a lot of the bands on American Youth Report, but this first EP is pretty great too. It plays like a long-lost Dangerhouse single... the production definitely sounds of that era (which makes sense given that Geza X is at the board for this session), and even the frantic bass run at the center of "Dayglo" sounds like something you'd expect more from the Weirdos or the Eyes rather than the Adolescents or TSOL. This fan club edition has great sound and includes a pretty spot-on screen printed repro of the original sleeve, so if you like that old Dangerhouse-era California punk sound (and let's be real... who doesn't?) this should be in your collection in some form or another.