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Towards the end of 1983, a Tidewater, Virginia purveyor of hardcore punk by the name of Jeff Clites got the itch that countless others across the globe with blank cassettes, a stereo, access to a copy machine, some degree of organizational skills and enough of a drive to make it all happen - that itch being the desire to document their regional offerings to the ever growing annals of the genre in the form of a compilation tape and a zine, which yielded the magnificently named TARANTULA ON MY COCK and THE TIDEWATER ARSE, respectively, on his WILD MESS imprint. The tape (a semi serious attempt at a regional compilation but also an Old Dominion state centric love letter via mixtape that the Richmond bands didn't know about til they got copies, ha cha cha) and the four known issues of the zine (100% ridiculous, painfully regional, IQ depleting, chock full of inside jokes and dumb clippings galore) have been collected together for all the deep heads and/or morons interested in such things! With the zine coming in just shy of 100 pages, featuring liner notes and a sampling of the inimitable Clites style flyers circa 1982-83 alongside never before seen photos accompanying the four rare issues of the Arse AND a faithful recreation of the original 60 minute tape containing classic hardcore punk ranging from the mostly well known tunes of Richmond's WHITE CROSS, THE PREVARICATORS, HONOR ROLE and GRAVEN IMAGE to the lesser known Hampton Roads groups GOD'S WILL, FRONT LINE (both of which were led by Clites) and the even more obscure VB skaters of HOIT, this total package is bound to tickle a pickle or eight? Time will tell. Just remember.... "WE POSE NO THREAT OF ART OR PRETENTIOUS SERIOUSNESS!" Enjoy!
- Format Type: cassette + zine