MORE NOIZE! ISSUE TWO THERE MUST BE MORE THAN FILES That's my slogan&my motto in writing this zine. Lets not allow punk to get completely apathetic & turned into a niche market for hipsters who want to be different for the sake of being cool.I am one to talk I know, what with my full-time 9-5 job, family&house&daily life.But so what?Who cares?This is 2009.Now lets fucking dance! There must be more than files. Arhghg!
MORE NOIZE # 2 SPLIT WITH VAPAUS # 5 EDITORIAL What you are about to read was written in a whirlwind of distortion, confusion, migraine, stress, headache, sore throat, ear damage & failing dental hygiene, written during a period when everyday I was extremely busy & stressed at work. Thank fuck for being able to play the Invasión discography CD, the new Destino Final CD, Frigöra's discography CD, & the new Wankys CD (the most violent recording I have ever heard) at work, or else I probably would have gone under. The same applied to the following which were all played nonstop this summer: Fader War (Norway) & Subversion (Belgium), Gloom's Recomendation of Perdition 12"EP that Tom copied for me, Vorkreigsphase LP & 7", Private Jesus Detector's Complete Workz LP (look out for PJD retrospective in a coming issue), Schizophasia demos & the Warning//Warning demo (W//W are interviewed by yours truly for MRR September 2009 issue), plus everything by Death Dust Extractor & Exithippies (as if my life depended on it). Actually, the musical aspect of my life is permanently dictated by the music of Wretched, Chaotic Dischord, Confuse, Discharge & Black Sabbath. No wonder I am starting to become deaf! Well shit, I've worked quite hard on this issue as it happens. Good news to everyone, I hope, there's now a whooping 50% extra words in this issue (from 10k words to more than 15k!!! The length of a graduate-level thesis!!). As you can see I have yet again had to compromise on the layout but I have thrown in some small photos here and there. My attempts of making Crust War style looking zine went down the drain because the original text for this issue was twice as long as what you get here, at about 30 000 words. There was no way I'd be able to fit all that in. So I had to go for white desktop publishing again. But hey! It's the content that matters right? Eitherway, this means More Noize issue 3 is just around the corner (due September 2009). In fact as I am about to apply these last few touches to this issue I got a bunch of stuff sent to me which will end up as More Noize # 3. It is going to be super good! Anyway I am already wasting words & space writing this piece of shit so I'll just shut up. Sorry no Döden nor Lama in this issue, but "I'm working on it" and for the first mentioned band my friends Peter in Sweden is helping by tracking down various odd people from that littleknown first wave of Swedish noisecore (c. 1987). Lets see where all this takes us. As I say, I have a lot of super-exciting features lined up for coming issues of this zine so please do let me know you are reading and that it is worthwhile. Which reminds me: An incredibly big THANK YOU to all the people that got back to me about More Noize # 1. The response has truly been overwhelmingly positive (which I did not expect at all). It seems people are afterall very keen to read fanzines still, despite all the damn blogs. Talking of which you may have noticed I've killed Only In It For The Music, after almost 5 years. From now on that blog will be a dumping place for More Noize back issues. Blogs are boring. Thank you Jo & Frank for answering my retarded requests for interviews, I hope I made you some justice somehow in the zine. Thanks Andy Shocker for tearing himself out of the glue punk retirement home to act as correspondent at the Amebix Y3K show. Thanks to Jurko for forcing me to pull my finger out of my arse to do this split zine. People who want to receive this fanzine regularly should get in touch, the same goes for those who'd be interested in printing copies for distribution in various places in the world. First line of contact should be: SlobodanBurgher@Gmail.com - So far the response has been non-existent but I'll continue to put this here: Please send music and zines for reviews/trade to: MORE NOIZE! C/o Tony Gunnarsson 31 Woodville Road London E17 7ER United Kingdom Now fuck off. / TONY GUNNARSSON, NOIZECOMMAND, LONDONTOWN, ENGLAND AUG2009. NEWS As you can see by the flyers on this page Terveet Kädet is touring the UK end of August 2009 & this issue is meant to be printed in time. Which is increasingly looking unlikely. Discarded has played live by the time you read this (see flyer on the side). Crust War is releasing a System Fucker EP about now (If someone could get me a copy of the System Fucker CD-R demo let me know). Attack SS just had their debut EP on Detonate Records. There is an Aussie band called Heroin SS. D-Clone just had the split 7" with Mörpheme released -in the end by Mouse Records. D-Clone is touring the West Coast of USA in October with Nerveskade from Portland. The D-Clone/Isterismo split-live tape (Black Konflikt) is being released by Fabian from Damaging Noise Records as a 12" in time for the tour. Like Keith / Black Water in Portland, Fabian is also opening a record shop (in LA). Oh & Damaging Noise has a webshop at www.damagingnoiserecords.com - can I have a free D-Clone 12" for writing that? Ha ha ha. Bytheway check this out: Discharge (with G.B.H & Exploited) is playing in Japan in October with support from no less than D-Clone (and Reality Crisis etc). That is hilarious on so many levels. By the way the Isterismo 7" is said to get reissued. Detonate will released a 7" by anarcho spontaneous/ improvised (harsh) noise core and a sort of modern-day Wretched (if they played noise core) Caravana Anarquista. I am interviewing them for a coming issue, with some luck it'll end up in More Noize # 3. Crust War is also releasing the old War Cry 24-track cult-crust demo called "Keep Drinking Attitude" from 1993 on a 12". Warcry from Portland also just had a demo released on 10" vinyl by Black Water. Reminds me that I saw Raw Noise has a new 4 tracks EP to be co-released by MCR & own label Lowlife Rec in August 2009, & an album due this fall. If the EP's any good I'll let you know in next issue. I will let the fact that I have not reviewed the new E.N.T. speak for itself. State Poison, the great noisy punk band from France, has more songs left over from the recording session for their already classic debut 7" & some of these songs will end up on the next V/a Downtown Noise Punker Vol. 3 compilation. State Poison will also grace our lives with another fucking 7" which is due any time now. (Also see letters, below, seems I blatantly lied about the S/t being sold-out, sorry). I wish I had also added something about Destino Final's in my review of the State Poison 7" in the last issue but I guess I forgot. Speaking about Poison, how does Wank Poison sound to you? Sometime during the summer Mr Wanky went to France & joined two State Poison members in producing some ear-deafening noise at some French punk gala. Samples are on YouTube (where you can still see some songs from the Wank Channel shows from 2007, the lethal mixture produced by Wankys mixed with Chaos Channel). Hey, talking of wank, Chaos Destroy Mike & Mr Wanky recorded some goofery noise as Chaos Wank or Wank Destroy (I forgot) which should also be on the next V/a DTN3 which is fucking promising to be the best shit ever. Chaos Destroy will release a new 7" this autumn & I've already heard some samples, it sounds great, of course. The band will also get a collection CD with new & unreleased recordings & previous 7" recordings released in time for the Chaos Destroy, the Wankys, Lotus Fucker & Merciless Game are US Northeast tour next summer. There will also be a the Wankys/Lotus Fucker split tour EP. Wow. But long before that I hope to own a copy of the Lotus Fucker LP, due this winter. As far as desperation goes, the much awaited V/a Noise Circus from Japan 7" with Exithippies, Tantrum & Stagnation is still on ice. Bad news. I can’t wait to hear something from Stagnation, one of the best bands in the world. Finally, Håkan Florå a.k.a. Onkel Kånkel has passed away from heart attack at the age of 48. R.I.P. LETTERS "Hi Tony, Your newsletter/zine (newsletter size with all the writing for a full zine) arrived today, read it before dinner & watching Eggheads. Good stuff, always nice to read something that covers a lot of bands & records I'm really into myself. Also some bands & zines I've never heard of before, so I'll check those out soon. & yes you can cram a lot of words onto a few small pages, hahaha :-) No ink wasted on bullshit layout or crappy pictures. Not sure what I think about that yet though. Do you know the old one-page Kängnäve sheets Luc Ardilouze used to make? Yours remind me a bit of those, only his ones looked much better & you have a lot more stuff to say. Thanks!! Playlist while reading zine: Walls one-sided LP, Giftgasattack side of split LP; Chaos Destroy 7" (yes it got nosier as I read more), Cheers!! Maarten " | "Hey! just pulled out your newsletter from the letterbox & took a quick look. I'm sorry but I've to tell you that you're wrong in case of STATE POISON. The print was 500 not 300 & it's not sold out. I still got a (few) copies left & Markus / PER KORO also still got copies. Besides that - good job! cheers! Mat" | "Hi Tony, Chaos Destroy is off on a "end of summer" tour with Lotus Fucker between July 31 & August 2, I'm really excited to play live again. We recorded one of our live sets last month [June], which will be released in some form, & almost finished recording a second ep (9 new songs & a rerecorded anarchy chaos love beer). Kenny (drummer of Kamikaze Noise/sometimes of Lotus Fucker) is playing guitar for us now, so it's no longer just a pure wall of noise (in theory). Chaos Destroy finished recording the 2nd ep & I think it turned out better than the first ep. We also recorded a practice with 5 or so new songs (that won't be on the 2nd ep). That recording should be released in the near future (it was not recorded on the 4 track like the 2nd ep, so the songs are noisy again). You're welcome to mention anything you want in the newsletter about the upcoming releases. If you care to mention it, the 2nd ep
will most likely be called Damaging Indignation. Mike" INTERVIEW Schizophasia is a punk band from Canada that plays a mix of noisy spaced out punk & ambient noise. I think they have the potential to be the one of the best bands in the world. They have a bunch of demos recorded already & I reviewed one with a lot of praise in More Noize #1. The latest demo is reviewed in this issue, where I pour flattering shit all over their crappy cassette tape. I honestly think they're as good as I make them out to be. Someone serious should get in touch with these lazy arseholes & by hook or crook get them into a studio, force them to record some new songs as well as re-record the best material from demos, & then release as a 12" EP. I can see how this would be such a great classic record. It would stand as a monument not only to Western punks' fascination for the world of Japanese noise but as a bridge between a new & old generation of punks as well as between the many different underground scenes where sonic noise distortion is a must, be it noise punk, noise rock, space rock or indie pop.
It is a big leap of faith, & the band acknowledge that they could do much more. Now, I don’t believe in external factors being much of a root source for creativity, either it's there or it's not, & if it's not there go & do something else: ultimately, motivation comes from within. But the demos are fucking good enough already & stand there as small monuments of greatness. This is a sub-standard Q&A by email with Jo who I take it is the spokesman for the Canadian freaks. Tony: As I wrote you before, I nearly wrote off Schizophasia as simply a Germattak sideproject which shows how little I know. Then I heard this last batch of recordings with some songs a classic Confuse-style fuzz punk & others are simply, well, "noise". To be short, its fucking great! So, who are you guys & what the hell possessed you to record such dreadful noise? Jo: Our Dark Lord Cthulu has possess us to play this noise! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh C'thulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!! We're influenced by government conspiracies, secret societies, cult ritual massacres, phsychadellia of Hawkwind, wall of sound of Crass & Jesus & Mary Chain, noise of SPK & Whitehouse, hardcore of Confuse & Vorkriegsphase! Tony: Has Schizophasia played any shows yet? Do you intend to? How's your local scene for shows? Are there any other bands are there that play broadly the type of noisy punk that you do? Jo: There's Humans Off Planet Earth who plays crasher crust. Lately they're going towards some sort of black metal style though. Bombed Out, Mental Rescue & early Germ Attak was pretty noisy, but not in the high gain extreme noise violence way. Tony: So, "few people like punk, few punks like noisy punk". How has the response been on the band & the demos/recordings so far? Have you sold many tapes? Jo: Essentially a 2-3 friends will buy the our releases out of pity & then the rest get sold to Japan ahahha!Our power friends dont like tapes & rather buy drugs & beer with their money. All our tapes have 50-100 copies only of each. We try to spread the releases through mp3 downloads mostly. It works better that way. Tony: As a side-point, does Capitalicide sell a lot of tapes? Do you think there is interest for cassette tapes? Jo: Ya like i said, Capitalicide tapes sell mostly to rich Japanese punx! I think if there was more effort put into the releases & making nore copies, it would sell more, but we like to move onto new things. The band started less than a year ago & theres already like 5 recordings. Tony: So you said that Schizophasia might be getting some sort of record release, what's that about? I think the best 6 or 7,8, songs from the demos I've heard so far would make the best 10". What do you reckon? Jo: A record would be ideal, but we're not gonna self release it. We would need someone else to show interest in it. For upcoming recordings we really want to do extreme over the top wierd production & better song writting. With a good studio we could do some really over the top noisy stuff like the first Jesus & Mary Chain LP! Essentially we're just waiting for someone to offer a helping hand! Tony: Tell me about this ambient noise shit you're doing on the last recording/demo? "Instrumental" noise? When are you going to make the "Stupid Life" of the 2000s? Jo: Well we've done more ambient & harsh noise stuff than punk rock stuff ehhe. We certainly do want to make the stupid life of the 2000s! or 2010s! Essentially we'll hope to have the ultimate merger of noise & punk by then! Tony: I've just learned that your band name is not simply made-up from schizophrenia & phantasia -which would make me think of escapism, acid & hippieshit - it actually means "confuse" (or "word salad"). Which means Confuse as in the Japanese godfathers of all noise. So the band name is a homage to Confuse? Jo: Your absolutely right.... Schizophasia does mean nonsense or world salad of confuse! the names got nothing to do phantasia the land in The Neverending Story! Everyone knows Merzbow is the godfather of japanese noise! Tony: What's your interest in the psychedelic? How confused are you? Do you take a lot of drugs? Jo: We dont take any drugs & generally have our heads on straight with a clear vision of what we want in life. We just listen to too much Hawkwind! Tony: I take it "No Messiah" is about the new US president? (but the mp3 is tagged "New Messiah" ha ha). Tell me about your ideas about the world & politics? Where's the anarchy? Jo: Having Obama as president is quite scary if you think about it in Biblical Apocalypse sense. Revelation states that after a harsh repressive regime, a popular new leader will arise & the majority of people will love him then fall in line slowly with the new doctrine. Slowly we'll all become enslaved with the number of the beast, a microchip already devellopped through a Visa/Mastercard/US Millitary partnership that allows you to have your identification & credit in your hand & in your forhead. Tony: Ok what recent punk/HC/noise/whatever records or releases did you particularly enjoy? What's the Top 5 all time? Zines? Books? Jo: Anything by Lebenden Toten is absolutely great! As far as noise goes, Wolf Eyes is great! Also props to Merciless Game, Kamikaze Noise, Wankys.... Tony: Punk today -whatever 'punk' means - seems entrenched with self-conscious pessimism & boring passivism. There is no peace protest, there is no danger & there is certainly no threat left in punk. I want punk to be more than just buying records & downloading mp3s. I love punk music but by limiting this love to accessing music is boring & its nothing different than being into mainstream consumer culture. What do you think? Jo: your talking to very pessimisstic people here! Non the less we live the protest lifestyle, from consummer boycotts to veganism to animal rights direct action. I wish being active wasn't stigmatized so much in the punk scene & theat the punk scene wasn't about partying. We have huge hatred & disgust towards passive party punks as we'd call em! Tony: Finish this interview, add some light at the end of the tunnel. How can people get in touch? Jo: The light at the end of the tunnel is the Thunder Chief, the train on the cover of Motorhead's Orgazmatron LP! Get in touch with Capitalicide Tapes capitalicide@hotmail.com www.capitalicide.tk. ZINE REVIEWS Deprogram Vol. 1 (USA, 2009) - First issue of the Black Water Records fanzine looks amazing with the most lux print job I ever saw. 3 years in the making, the zine's layout & content makes up for any delay. Top 10s lists by Japanese punks you'll recognize from well-known bands is interesting to read, particularly the same compilations they all mention. Interview with artist Sugi who you'll know from having created art on classic hardcore albums, also good reading. Scene reports from Finland & from Japan, I am very happy that while "Finncore" did kind of disappear a few years back, it is now unmistakably back to stay again. That some Japanese bands model themselves on the exact styles of Swedish bands that I did not think people thought of as having had any exact styles, like "mix of Kurt i Kuvös with Disarm", is funny (and eye-opening). Old Pdx punks Final Warning gets a retrospective interview that is great. Best of all is the reproduced letter that the FW guy got from Juha (RIP) from Tampere SS (they were pen pals/traders), Finnish punk historians look here! Seriously amazing. Then an interview with Shin about his "world famous" record shop Punk&Destroy. AGE (Japan) are interviewed, a band I don't really like that much, but after reading interview I gather they're cool people so I might pick up some records one of these days. The Vaurio retrospective is also awesome. BWR is to reissue the LP which is bound to be great, obviously. Then there's a Lebenden Toten tour report from their '06 Japan tour which makes it sound like it is a pest to be on tour, which is news to armchair punks like me. Lobotomia, from Brazil, gets interviewed (why did they never play London in the summer of 2009? They were in Europe for fucks sake! ARGH!). Bombregn from Denmark are also interviewed, seems they quit & I only just found out about them via the Framtid DVD. Fuck. Hellshock Brazil tour report (2005) by Ripper is a very worthwhile travel story as well. Finally "this is a fanzine, i only review what I like" ha. Right on brother. I can’t wait for the next issue. Moose Speaks # 1 (Australia, 2009) - Australian punk rocker "Moose" went on Australian tour with a band called 'Snake Run', this zine is his report from that tour. Moose is the type of eccentric dude that comes across as the only sane person among a bunch of lunatics. I don’t know why. I don’t know these people. Nor their bands. But the story here is written with flair, intelligence & great humour & I was laughing throughout.Totally want to see next issue. This rules. If only pocket book novels you pick up at airports were this good. Seriously! (Moose has given this as a contact -> PO Box 537 Goodwood SA 5034) Ripping Thrash 25 / Hell & Damnation 12 (UK, 2009) - Ripping Thrash has been around for decades and nowadays is something of a institution of DIY! So it is very appropriate that Steve interviews fellow DIY institutions Chris Agitate of the long running zine Agitate and Irena who runs Active Distribution, both who are very sound individuals must be burning with passion for punk. Good interviews that touch upon a lot of issues I think must be going through everyone's minds nowadays, namely the decline of physical music, the decline of zines, the role of the internet in punk, punk as protest movement in 2009, re-union bands etc. Mandatory reading for everyone who is interested in future of DIY punk, should not be difficult to draw some conclusions from what's said there…Hungarian HC band Step On It are also interviewed, never heard about them before. And this is what Steve does so well - focusing on bands & scenes that others don't. Priceless information! As for reviews, there's plenty and it's great because most of it is stuff I never got hold off & I now have a few different things to check out. I don't think I ever read H&D before, but then the last issue came out 6 years ago. Vi Gruer Oss from Norway & NK6 from Japan are interviewed, they're two bands that have been on my mind to check out one day but which I haven't so far. Time to make time to listen to these bands because reading the interviews it's clear that they're bands I'll love! Colin's questions are idiosyncratic and eccentric & it makes for lively reading. The same goes for the rants. I still have not made any political overtures in More Noize so Colin's example puts me at shame. (A coming issue of More Noize! will be all about politics though, for punk must be radical or it's simply stupid!) Anyway there is also a zombieploitation reportage that is ok, I know most of those films already -big part of growing up alongside punk was watching b-films, ha!- but afterwards it felt good to be reminded of those films, I may try to Piratebay some of them one of these days. The review are passionate one-sided rants but in a good way because now I have 10,000 Finnish bands I need to hear! Awesome! Thank you, Colin. Oh, by the way I think at least one page was misplaced in the printing, bad bad Footprint!!! Ha ha ha. Distort # 22 (Australia, 2009) Issue 22 of this great-written & passionate stalwart of the "cult hardcore" world follows quick on the heels of an amazing split issue with Ratcharge (which punk historians will one day identified a revival for the DIY punk zine, including the one your reading now) but that don’t mean it is a throw-away issue. You'll instantly love this because of the Discharge cover but, really, there's very little Discharge inside. Instead you get a band-interview-free issue (which is not bad) dedicated to writing about records & zines. This is broadly what I am trying to do, help bring the focus back on the D.I.Y.. Other stuff includes article on the Top 5 Ohio HC bands, tons of reviews (oh shit reminds me I still have not written to all the zines I got interested in after reading the reviews here, sheat), D.I.Y. punk shirts (send photos of you wearing your hand drawn homemade tributes to punk bands) and some other shit I forgot. Distort-Daniel hooked it up for the scroungers to read online for free via Punks Is Hippies so to read it type the following into your browser: www.tinyurl.com/lae9kj.
TAPES REVIEW Schizophasia - Sadist of the Earth Inferno Tape (Canada, 2009) - Best demo of the year. Some songs are outright Confuse rip-offs recreated with new lyrics. All songs destroy music by disintegrating. That's as much as a world obsessed with clichés deserve. Lazy singing, lazy song writing, probably lazy recording too. But, and this is the point, it is entirely apt. I like this a lot & listen to it all the time. Which is why I have done the interview in this issue. Last minute addition: SMRT Records in Sweden wrote me to say they're releasing a 7" with this band. Good fucking news. Lets make some noise history! Mörpheme- Souon Konton demo (USA, 2008) - I only just got the split 7" with D-Clone, but it will have to wait until next issue to be reviewed because I ran out of time & space. Anyway, Mörpheme is from California, have song titles in Japanese, in fact half the band is Japanese. The demo is loud as hell, distorted to crazy madness. Obviously straight up my street. It is however a bit of a rough diamond. I mean, the songs are very rough, the sound is perhaps imperfect & production lacking. I don’t know about these things so I may be wrong. There's a lot of treble. Echoes & effects are in the top mix. But it don’t matter, get it if you like Gloom, that is all you need to know. By the way, Mörpheme is interviewed in the coming issue of Evil Minded which should be out any day now. Rotozaza -14-track Demo
Cassette + Fuzz Don't Stop Tour-Cassette - I got these two tapes over two years ago. At the time Joe from the band wrote me that "Both were recorded in our living room, & were also duplictated/assembled at home. We decided to put our demos on tape in an effort to keep our recordings/releases strictly analog, though we've been on a few comp. CDs ". Well, both tapes sound the same, a mixture of Atrocious Madness, Aghast & Dead Noise, the Western raw noisy d-beat "crasher" that doesn’t quite equal the greatness of Gloom. I wasn't precisely blown away by Rotozaza when I got the tapes & I have not changed my mind now two years later. Rotozaza also shares a split-seven with Merciless Game, I did not really like that much either. I wonder if the band is around today though, time may have turned them into a really good great band. But I have no idea. (Email: doug528i@aol.com) Kamikaze Noise / Merciless Game Split-Cassette - Holy shit another long overdue review! What can I say: KN blasts through a bunch of Gauze-inspired modern hardcore songs while MG slaughters the good name of Confuse. KN has since morphed into Lotus Fucker who I think are much better & more mature, as for GM the latest new stuff I have heard is on V/a Downtown Noise Punker Vol 2. Both bands comes across as very passionate and it is really refreshing as well as infectious. Dead Noise - McHungrrrry Cassette I nearly gave Dead Noise bad press in my last issue because I didn’t love the 7" but then I checked myself just in last second before going to print. This is I think a collection of demos & it's kind of too much for me. Stand out is the Disorder cover, which is funny. You can't go wrong with an attitude for distortion to deafness. Lebenden Toten - Cataleptic Contimination Tape (Australia Tour) Wow, this is my first LT cassette tape & therefore I am imagining that LT sounds different than on record. In my delirium I can’t even tell if these are songs I already have on other releases or not. Don’t matter much for this is awesome & I don’t really care about writing about this because LT is too well-known to have to be praised further. By the way, thanks to Frank for sending a spare copy to Mr Wanky who passed it on to me. Now how about Lebenden Toten dropped by London to play us a few tunes? Mental Rescue - Straight Jacket Demo (Capitalcide, 2009) Fast-punk-core craziness from Canada featuring Jo (Germattack, Schizophasia etc) & Chany (Inepsy), kind of remind me of very early Poison Idea (vocals) with perhaps Neos (in aim to be faster than hell) with Confuse-style drums. But with clean sounding guitars on top. Making me tempted to throw in gonzoid-HC of the 1980s like Krunch or Raped Teenagers (Sweden), or perhaps Junk Schizo (Japan), or like late-period Black Flag -on acid. Also there's an element of Disorder madness (hence the name). 16 songs in 15 minutes, now that's the way I like it, & all in all pretty damn good in places -I only wish it had more distortion ha ha ha. Teargas - Demo (Australia, 2008) Brisbane brutal hard core. Six tracks in about ten minutes or so. I think they were described as Burning Spirits, which I guess is not entirely misleading but a term that has lost all its meaning. The drums makes it sound towards the Lip Cream style, vocals makes me think of NYHC or SXE HC, like Madball or some shit, ha ha. Or a contemporary Negative Approach type band? With Lip Cream inspiration as well. Fuck I dunno. You get the point. But this demo is not bad, not bad at all. I only wish the songs were shorter. Stick 'em in at one minute, that's more than enough. I think someone close to the band "bootlegged" the demo on a extremely rare 10" or some shit. Buy? RUDÖ - Boiling Blood Demo 2009 This is a metal punk band from the Bay Area, USA, meaning they're geographically friends with Morpheme. This demo is released on tape & cd-r with different covers (of course). Think Zouo & G.i.S.M. worship galore. Growl vocals with lo-fi black metal. There is even a Bathory cover but I wouldn’t know that if I did not read someone else point that out. Someone else described Rudo as "kinda noisecore punk meets black metal skunk". I think the noise punk element reminds me a tiny bit of Rukkus. The more I listen to it, & the more I forget the "Satan schtick" & I like it. But in fact I am put off by the "Satan shtick" forever, I blame Syphilitic Vaginas. But Rudö wins because they're much looser & amateurish. Making them punk, not metal if you know what I mean. (myspace.com/rudorudo666) Isterismo/DClone Live in Holocaust Cassette tape (Black Konflikt, 2009) I can't barely hear a good damn thing! Well, it sounds like a lot of things but not what the bands were playing. This must be recorded on a digital device, like a video camera, I mean I have recorded a bunch of bands & it always sound like this. It is actually not bad, but I was expecting to hear two bands I know well & love. This is something else, it's like a sort of harsh noise shit. Digital harsh noise distortion. Ones & zeros, syntax error speaker syndrome. Sounds sort of like the State Children demo that circulating on the internet, played with a vacuum cleaner buzzing in the background & during a earthquake....etc...ha ha ha...20 minutes of raw noise. Copies are still around at distros… In short, Fabian is absolutely crazy for releasing this as a 12" (unless he's got some sort of better sound source or whatever...)
SEVEN INCH REVIEWS
Stagnation - Destraction EP - 7" (Whisper in Darkness, 2008, USA) Best record of 2008! Why has this been so overlooked? I mean, you can still get this for nothing at distros. The only other band in the world that compares is Zyanose, but Stagnation are also peers with Exithippies and Death Dust Extractor. On this record Gloom's children (grandfathers Zouo & G.i.S.M., & crazy great-uncle Confuse) Stagnation trademarks the Stooges type of wah-wah guitar into the unique brand of noisy distortion punk crust hard core. There is something seriously wrong with a scene to overlook such great record. If you don’t buy it I will personally go and pick up all copies I can find and then sell them to you in a year's time when you've learned of how good this record is. I am going to make so much money on you fools. Hahahaha. Subversion - S/t 7" (GOTA, 2008) Kawakami from Disclose said that Subversion, an obscure Belgium band that were around in 1983, were among his favourite d-beat bands. Stuart Schrader has collected the compilation tracks - the three songs on the A side are from a cassette called Second Time Around & the three on the flip originates from the V/a Bollox To The Gonads - Here's The Testicles LP- & released them on a seven inch vinyl dedicated to Kawakami on Stu's Game of The Arsehole label. This act deserves some applause. The singer in Subversion makes me think of the singer of Negative Approach, but stoned. The music is not unlike another "forgotten" early d-beat band Death Sentence from the UK who had a amazing seven inch in '82 called Death & Pure Destruction. I always thought that Death Sentence sounded like a band musically-inept that by accident played their Discharge covers backwards because they did not know better. Subversion are a bit like that too but instead of backwards the songs are improvised. Like literally written on the go, which the crazy tempo changes confirm. Each song sounds like a lo-fi d-beat potpourri of Discharge songs, 10 songs in one! Also it sounds as if the drummer had nowhere to put his keys & spare coins so he put it on the drum skins while he played, which inadvertedly created an unique plink-plonk drum sound. The overall effect is 100% amazing. Buy. Death Dust Extractor - Slay Your Masters or Slave in Chains 7" (Crust War, 2009) DDE released a bunch of Doom-Sore Throat-Exithippies sounding records but broke up a few years ago. Now they're back & like me I guess many people in the West had no idea they broke up in the first place. No matter. The current line-up -if not the previous- appears to have people from other noisy bands such as Laukaus, Ferocious X & Lastsentence but don’t quote me on that. Similar to Exithippies in many ways but much more well-played, this is a darkish fast updated take on the Doom and E.N.T. school of crust via Gloom noisy crust. While not the best DDE release to date, this is still fucking amazing. Have you not bought this already?Lebenden Toten - Contamination 7" (Tour ed, 2008) This has two killer distorted tunes a la Confuse-and, yes-Disorder with a special (slower) version of 'Near Dark (version 2)' from the latest LP. Some people told me they hated this slower version but I don’t. In fact I love both versions equally. With this 7" LT continues to be a very climaxing band. Now I think it is time Frank took his band on the road down to London town for a few nights of noize. Acute - Ryouki to Gensou 7" (Answer, 2009) I wake up wanting to listen to this 7" & then I end up listening to it days on end. And this is not even close to the type of music I usually decide to listen to! Four infectious modern raging Japanese hardcore tracks with a female vocalist. The first one starts out totally raging (but as if made for radio) turns into a sort of almost Bad Religion or NOFX -esqe type of thing with choruses and melodies, but still raging thank god. The second song is a straight-up raging modern-HC killer; the third has this AMAZING melody that you'll love and the final song is yet another rager. Where as Lastsentence -another Japanese raging hardcore band with a female vocalist, & a band I said in last issue are among my favourite new bands- comes from a noisy raw crust point of view Acute is more of 'clean hardcore' but all the same the effect is no less engaging. They're also on V/a Noise of Mind comp (which I reviewed but in the end moved to the next issue because I ran out of space) but on there they're not nearly as good as on this 7". Buy this. Fy Fan - Åh Nej! 7" (Adult Crash, 2009) Fy Fan in English is spelt the Shitty Limits. But Fy Fan are obsessed with Missbrukarna, not Black Flag or Minor Threat. Fy Fan has this totally amazing Totalitär-No Security thing going on but because it's not done from a kängpunk pointof-view it makes me very defensive because, man, you don’t mess with my heroes. Ha ha. I am only half joking, the nerd I am. ANYWAY, having heard V/a Sverigemangel compilation which is 99% extreme metal I have had to re-consider & actually praise Fy Fan for doing the right thing when so many others are not. I passing on seeing Fy Fan when they came through London, I totally regret that now. Because there is no denying it, Fy Fan are a force to be reckoned with, even if they rather wear Converse sneakers than 18-eye Discharge-boots. Liksom, Fy fan is fy fan vad bra allså but you knew this long before me. If only more Swedish "mangel" bands would actully play "mangel" instead of shitty extreme metal. Nerveskade - Acid Attack EP (Whisper in Darkness, USA, 2009) The EP was just released proper, a "test print" of 100 copies supposedly were sold at shows all through 2009 (and so was the same songs on a cassette tape) & I have a copy sourced from one of the tour editions. Don’t matter which one. It's not like this is MRR. Anyway, this is very high-pitched distorted Disorder mania, singer can’t really be heard well enough but I am thinking it sounds a bit like, well, Disorder. Being from Portland of course there's a few very unmistakeable Lebenden Toten parts here & there. Very good this it, if a tiny bit too high pitched for me but that can be my dodgy copy. Even the cover art looks like off the Z flexi, another good reference point for fucker. CD-R REVIEWS Shit Box- "hey prety girl demo1 June2005 Okinawa japan" CDR "Hey prety grrl I want to fuck you tonite". Good times fuzz. In August 2008 I got a email from a friend: "Hey, did you hear that Shit Box demo? I got sent a cd-r from my mate in Nagoya, he visits Okinawa (? is that how you spell it??) as his girlfriend lives there...the band are from there, south south of japan, where the USA had/have their military base, anyway cool stuff" I immediately scored a copy of the CD-R, turns out to be noizy punk of the Gess type. "Prety" damn good too, he he. Shit Box were also on V/a Downtown Noise Punker # 2 & I think they are to be on that forthcoming Paank Levyt compilation with Chaos Destroy et al. Hey, when's that coming out anyway? Noisecat - C.O.N.T.R.O.L. CD-R (Black Jug Records, Japan) Wow, crunchier guitar sound that on the song that got on the V/a DTN2. A bunch of rehearsal studio drunken improvised Gai & Disorder rip-off songs, a drunken mess of a punk, very charming. I have distro copies so get in touch. VINYL ALBUM REVIEWS Destino Final - Atrapados LP (La Vida Es Un Mus, 2009) Destino Final was previously named Invasión, a line-up change prompted the name change. They state Stooges & Discharge as prime influences. The same as Terveet Kädet. Destino Final (and the last Invasión 12") exploits that exact human emotion which the Stooges discovered decades ago, but which so few bands have managed to recreate. Lets call it "the solitary dark hole" where you don’t want to be. But to be honest, I think this is more Anti-Cimex than Discharge. Late period Anti-Cimex. Dark & depressive (the feeling on Black Flag's Damaged LP if you catch my drift). This is an incredibly good album & I think it's THE album of 2009. Since getting this I have played it e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y. Buy buy buy buy! Expect interview with this amazing Spanish band in a coming More Noize! Issue (#4 maybe?). Invasión - La Caza Mini-LP 12" (La Vida Es Un Mus, 2008) I was agnostic about this band for too long. Kill me. My life could have been so much better if I had discovered them earlier. Absolute Country of Anti-Cimex from Spain with the addition of cheap amphetamines, forced penetration pays the long overdue rent & meanwhile there are wars in the third world. Fuck everything. Incredibly good mini-album which sees the band move away from the Discharge-beat of the S/t LP & into that dark hole of existence that only leads towards junkified solitary confinement. Invasión - S/t LP (La Vida Es Un Mus, 2007?) Discharge meets Stooges in this luxiorious dbeat of the cheap junk versus cheap life mania. D-beat is a pretty much spent force nowadays, & while this is a bit old now, there is definitely something very original about Invasión's d-beat style, totally on top of the genre. A must have. CFDL - Thrasher Punker LP (2009) -I love CFDL. The first 12" is a wonderful document of noize, perhaps unrivalled
by what they later recorded. But anyway, I have been expecting new material since they "came back". Instead we get this: an alternative studio take of unreleased songs from the same time of the Thrash Punk 1991, (which has a great studio side, and a less great live side). The songs are remastered, which is why it sounds absolutely pristine. That's cool. Takeshi's vocals are here the whiny type (CFDL's output always varied/s from record to record) & the music is driven by distorted guitars in a mid-1990s thrash crust style, not very unlike that of another of my favourite bands, namely Health Hazard. You know the style, crust anno 1994 with patches stating Deviated Instinct & Antisect. You also get no less than two Shit Lickers covers to boot (and a Siege cover, ugh). Most of all I continue to long for a new CFDL record. CD REVIEWS Laughin'Nose - Regeneration CD (2009) What do you get when you ask someone to walk into HMV Tokyo to buy "something along the lines of Confuse & Swankys"? Well, you'd be retarded to expect by miracle to get the Kyojinbyo flexi brought back for you. Ha ha ha. Anyway, I guess Laughin'Nose is the most known Japanese punk band in many ways but most people in the West know that Get The Glory 7" from 1983 remains the best (because on that record the band play legit noisy punk hardcore with flair, not unlike Gai). Personally I think most Laughin'Nose records are kind of boring pop-punk albums, but then they're clearly aimed at a more populist audience, they're signed to a label and can afford sound production that comes with that. This being said, I was actually stoked that I got this CD for in fact I had already downloaded it and played it almost every day for a few weeks! Because it's great fun! Terveet Kädet - Ihmisen Poika, Pedon Poika CD (2009) First TK record in seven years! It is the seven years' itch! 10 new TK songs! Equals party!! The cover art explains it all: Läjä is the son of god! Läjä is Jesus! Hehe. The mentioned return of TK to its original hardcore roots is here minimal at best. Well, the songs are all short and fast. But I think it sounds like the same old TK that last gave us metal-core records like Non Ultra Descripta (2000) & Deep Wounds (2002). It seems many people assume that late period TK albums are shitty metal records but that’s wrong. TK is unique among older HC bands because they never made a shit record. It is so good to hear that songs are all in Finnish, again. Terveet ei leiki. TK forever. Lebenden Toten - Near Dark CD (2008) / LP I got this both on CD & LP. Not sure why. I've played LP once but CD perhaps 1000 times. Some people say LPs sound different to CDs. I don’t have a massive sound system at home so I can’t compare. If I did, I am sure I would say the LP sounds so much better. But so what? This is an amazing album & for the past year or so I am as much in love with Chanel & gang as the next guy. What more can I say? How about this: Best LT material to date & perfection in production. Buy. Invasión - Discografia Completa CD (HG Fact, 2009) The first bunch of songs are from the last Invasión 12" with unreleased song from that session. The next ten tracks are from the first LP. The last four are from a demo from 2005 that was unreleased . Everything except the demo are reviewed elsewhere in this issue. But I got this HG Fact CD because it is an absolute must have: For the car? For when you’re making love & have no time to be changing sides on turntable. For a picnic? Well it's up to you. As for the demo songs - I did not think they were as great as the later albums, but if you're anything like me you'll want to hear them no matter what anyone says. Discography compilation of the year. Fuck yes. Get this along with
the Destino Final album. Collapse Society - Collapse Society CD EP 9 tracks of raw lo-fi & high-pitched Gloom noise crust. Released by Overthrow some time ago. Before this they had a demo in 1993 meaning band members should be about 50 years old now. But I just wanted to say that this EP along with the Deceiving Society CD reissue are two of my favourites this 2009 summer. Fuck you. Deceiving Society - Detonation Cruster CD EP (Mcr, 2009) As I was saying. This is a reissue of the 12"EP on Crust War from way back in 2001 but the 8 tracks of raw lo-fi late 1990s Japanese crust are as fresh as ever. Frantic screaming vocalist standing in shadow of atom-bomb, sirens scream of driving distortion, guitar noise with subtle nuance, cries of pain polka-beat or perhaps toy-machinegun-drums, well, it sounds like d-beat drums played on biscuit-tins. All in all this is amazingly good. As if you were under any illusions as to what genre of punk this band would play, even the cover artwork is Gloom. There is something very amateurish about this record that I really love. I don’t know why this was reissued or if the band is around (think not). Who cares? This is one of my favourite records this 2009 summer. Fuck you. Discharge Disensitise CD Cut the shit. Despite all the nay-sayers I have hold on to the hope that something worthwhile would come out of this Discharge Y2K bollocks. This new albums does that & more. It's got Bones' trademark riffery guitar work, Rat handles vocals with surprising fucking confidence & aggression, the rest of band also do their jobs well. But why did they have to insist on playing under the name Discharge? Surely enough people would have gone nuts over a band with Rat on vocals & Bones on guitar with fellow ex-Discharge members playing not as a cover band but original materials. But who cares? It's not my business. Another Discharge record to stick on the slow burner to possibly listen to in more detail by the time I check into the elderly persons home in year circa 2055. A good illustration of this tendency: I only just got a copy of the S/t album from 2002, which is pretty good & on which Cal comes off all good. Weird world. Total Noise Accord / Organism / Akutare 3 WAY SPLIT CD (No Master, 2009) - Is this the same TxNxA as on the 7" I have got? Or the demo? Don’t sound like it. Metal core with breaks & rawk core singer. Second song retains some Disorder drum style, though it's at breakneck speed. I suppose this is not unlike the direction of Japanese noise core bands like Zyanose & Stagnation of late, but where those two bands manage to move into a more hi-fi noise, TxNxA sound more like a metal core band. That is unfair perhaps live they sound like Ferocious X? I don’t know. Organism on the other hand are vintage Japanese hardcore of the Nightmare school, awesome. The second one is ultra fast hammer to your head, samurai style, & you'll instantly know why some people liken Organism to Gauze (though they're worlds apart, speed being perhaps the only common ground). But Organism rules. Akutare is a Motorpünk band. Not as pretentious as G.A.T.E.S. but about as good/bad. I am sure I could knock over beers to this but like I won’t because I already have Motörhead for that. Hah! This CD has 2 songs by each band. Moderat Likvidation– Mammutation CD (D-takt & Råpunk, 2009) - I delayed listening to this for a month. During that time I instead revisited the back catalogue. Awesome. But the new album does not at all sound like (vintage) Moderat Likvidation. It feels a bit like they're trying to do something similar to (the current incarnation of) Avskum. I don’t like it. It's too modern. Modern hardcore that borrows from extreme metal and "screamo" shit. I am no nostalgia freak, I love modern, in fact I long for some forward-looking never-before heard punk shit, but this ain't it. See Discharge review above. The Wankys - Weapons of Musical Destruction cd (+dvd) - I've only played this 30 times or so but Jesus god of hearing-aid almighty the songs soon-to-be-released as Weapons of Musical Destruction 8" are amazing. It's like putting a razor blade to your eardrum. Deafening to say the least. Loudest music ever? I don't think it's healthy to listen to this CD. My favourites so far are definitely H.A.T.E & Ear Damage Noise (with the amazing lyric "listen to confuse in my car" -someone make a music video with Mr Wanky driving around Leicester listening to Confuse in his car stereo ha ha!). CD also includes previously released records (some now rare & sold-out) making this the ideal companion to deafness. The DVD & bonus material is all amazing too. I'll elaborate on this later, but I am running out of space. You know what to do. Contrast Attitude - Apocalyptic Raw Assault CD - I had this CD laying around for over a month before I played it. That says a lot. Finally forced to play it -because I felt it should be reviewed- I quickly turned it off after hearing two standard-sounding & too drawn-out raw d-beat songs. I don’t think Contrast Attitude are bad. Yes, they're unoriginal as hell. Yes, they're virtually an extension to Disclose having played since mid-1990s and seemingly following each direction taken by the previous mentioned. Now in "the post-Disclose world", you'd expect CA to become the new Disclose but that style has already been updated thanks to the much more distorted and in-you-face over-the-top young bands like D-Clone and Attack SS. Contrast Attitude sound more professional than anything Disclose managed to record -and that's perhaps the best thing about them I think. Shame the songs are so long, I just can't be arsed to listen to the whole thing in one sitting. They're a band I would love to see live but I hate to have to listen to on record. But don’t take my word for it, others seem to like them a lot: this CD is to be reissued on vinyl in the US by Whisper in Darkness & in Europe by Agipunk. I am not sure but I think there is also a Black Konflikt discography cassette tape around.
COMPILATION REVIEWS V/a Downtown Noise Punker vol. 1 CD-R (UK, 2007) This compilation is a bit old now, it came out in 2007 but never mind. Most likely you did not get it & now it is sold-out. Too bad for you, here is what you missed: Chaos Destroy "broadcasts" four noisy tracks of type of their early demos. Awesome. The Wankys sounds like they've been mastered down in quality & rolled-in mud, to allow other bands some sunshine: 'Bombs Away' is extra nauseating-as-fuck, 'Demon Drink' is loose & raw. Great stuff. 'Killing Me' sounds like the sound you'll remember from when you were 8 & were playing with your grandmother's old radio set. Basically: "XYZZZYRHGHGWWAQQQQ", but with added Chaos U.K. drums in background & some mongoloid shouting something. It is fantastic & the Wankys yet again proves they're the best band in the Europe. Dead Noise is a band I had problem saying good things about in last issue of More Noize, but on this comp they produce two really tweaked & moronic songs, the first is a the Swankys noise pop distorted tune, the second -'Distort Reality'- a sort of Japanese 1990s crust, both songs are on the S/t 7" but I prefer how they sound on this CD-R, not sure why. It is not unlikely that it's the same recordings but I am too retarded to hear that. Zach's one-man band Merciless Game offers two songs of a sort of Confuse, Swankys, Disorder and Wretched mixture & it sounds cool & fun. M.G. also give a cover of S.C.U.M. which is really cool because while they be the most pointless band in the world of talked-about Japanese bands, for Zach makes it his own & it works. Next up is Geranium who remarkably cites Asta Kask & the Swankys as inspiration. But they sound more like how I imagine the noise of a spaceship sounds. The first song is "Love Me Tender" (sounds like "I love my Nintendo" haha), a romantic lullaby to a girl called Kaela, the second song 'Cosmic Lover' (see, I told you: spaceship engine!) has a guitar sound that is identical to some Sonic Youth song that I've forgotten but which is really fucking great. I did not get the Geranium demo so I can’t comment on that (someone please hook me up!), eitherway the band broke-up a few months after this comp came out. Oops. Well only good news is that one of the dudes is now playing bass in Japans' craziest band ever the No Futures. Holy crap. Anyway back to the comp: Another band that is not longer around is Kamikaze Noise (which basically morphed into Lotus Fucker) that here sound like a mix between US HC & Japanese hardcore informed particularly by Gauze. Fast, energic, distorted & unpredictable. Not unlike Lotus Fucker, to be honest. Next band is Rukkus who are obviously modelled on Confuse & similar Japanese noise bands. First song is "All better now" a slow-tempo noisy punk hit that would fit as sound track to some sort of zombie movie. 'Rabies' is more of the same. In fact, I am sure the singer is a zombie. It's fucking great. The quick cymbal beat on the slow tempo is awesome, monotony without being nauseating, it’s a fuzzy beat! But it is not "up-beat" & not at all pop. 'Broken Noise' is a total slow moving dragger that completes the zombie movie soundtrack. Normally I'd say this is shit but actually I really like this. Noise punk all-stars Wank Channel finish it with a live Chaotic Dischord cover that is awesome -can you imagine any other people to play this cover than Mr Wanky with Chatter / No.6 on vocals?- and 'Indecision' a Chaos Ch song that is arguably made even better with Mr Wankys sonic noisephilia laid on top, bass lines in Chaos Ch songs like these are amazing. If you like noisy punk you MUST own this compilation. V/a Downtown Noise Punker vol. 2 CDR (UK, 2009) Chaos Destroy -the flag bearers of noisy insanity- again start out the compilation but here's a few songs that I think must have been recorded at the same time as their 7". Fuzz nuclear love simple anarchy! Argh. That's all you need to know. These Chaos Destroy songs are among the best I ever heard. Unknown Japanese band Shit-Box gives two demonstrations of simplified speeded-up noisy as fuck noise in vein of Gess & Gai. Punjena Papiga from Croatia sound like early Chaos U.K., which translates as "I really like it". Live
video of them on internet sounds very fuzzy. Noise Cat plays improvised drunken Disorder 77-punk Gai/Disorder shit. All-star noise punk orchestra Wank Channel continues with another song - the Wankys' 'Power At Any Cost'- taken from same live recording as what's on first DPN comp. Lotus Fucker gives three amazing noise & sonic fast beat songs that I take it were recorded special for the comp & which will be on their LP. Really good it is too. A band on the top of the game for sure. Giftgasattack gives the best two songs of their career & the best two songs of the whole damn comp. First one is a straight-up Disclose supernoisy d-beat song with Discharge solos straight of the first LP, and slight Spending Loud Night type of echoing layered guitar attacks in between. AMAZING. The second song, Despair, is THE best song on the whole compilation, it's also a Discharge via Disclose crossed with Spending Loud Night (or if you like Hawkwind) killer, but it works up a climax by mixing tempos & the vocals / voice over makes me want to invent a new label "neo-anarcho" because it sounds so political. Listen to this really loud, you'll hear new shit in there all the time! It sounds like they put 15 guitar tracks on this one song. I wish GGA would take this song & make a 12" with songs like that. It would be the best record of the 2000s. Sadly that won’t happen, I guess, now that there's been line-up changes & the boys are all playing in other bands & the reaction against the spread of good music in Sweden continues. Merciless Game has 'no title' gritty songs that unfortunately are back-to-back to the sonic explosion of energy that is Giftgasattack, but played on its own MG comes through well enough, it sounds Zach's moved away from Confuse and is now more into Italian hardcore and that's awesome. Very Fucking offers a echoed spaced-out fuzzy song, making me very angry with myself for sleeping on band during the month or whatever length of time Nolan had this moniker. Wtf. Lastly, the Wankys finish the noise spectacle with two songs from their first rehearsal with their new bass player. First one is a great vintage Wankys song, awesome of course, but the second is a fucking breathtakingly awesome "Hey Crusty (have a fucking bath)" with amazing bass lines & cool chorus & Mr Wankys trademark backwards melodies drenched in clinical distortion deafness to earache guitar sound! The second Giftgasattack song with the second Wankys song would have made the best split-7" of the century, as it is you get 18 other great noisy punk songs to save you from boredom in a punk world full of professional crust punk & Amebix guarantees of £3k. DIGITAL SHIT REVIEWS Toon Herriemans - " kkkgggrrrrzzzzzzz" 4-track Rehearsal (Preview/leaked mp3s, Holland, 2009) More Noize has spies everywhere. Even if you are in your rehearsal studio & you think no one will ever find out what you are doing, well you are wrong. This is the first rehearsal of a new Dutch band that is probably called Toon Herriemans, I am not sure. Basically it's 4 songs that sound very much like Exithippies, but sang in Dutch. I mean really sound like Exithippies. The very novel approach employed in order to sound as shit & amateurish as Exithippies this band -made up of people who all play in "serious punk groups" (you'll have to find out for yourself)- here play instruments they don’t know how to play. And it works! I wish more "serious punk bands" would do the same thing. Someone should release this proper., in fact I have asked to release this so stay tuned. Atomski Rat - Proba (2009, mp3, rehearsal?) "Atomski Rat started with the noise at the end of year 2008 under the influence of past wars,alcohol & other poisons. Demo will be out soon!" Well my partner-in-crime for this split-zine Jurko put this god-awful noize rehearsal on his blog Kaaos Ja Vapaus. Atomski Rat is a noisy mix of punk which leans towards crust and drunken spontaneous noise core. Band name means Atomic War & they’re from Šid, Serbia. Imagine a mix of rehearsal noise that is perhaps one day may be described as influenced by equal measure of the Shit Lickers & State Children. 6 tracks including one about the bombardier, one about Hiroshima, a Shit Lickers cover that sounds like early CFDL but the best must be "Improvizacija". (myspace.com/atomskirat). Bullet Belt Bastards - 10 tracks demo Thrash straight to hell, distorted & noisy as well. The sound of junkoloids & mongoloids playing loose & fast thrash punk out of tune. This band formed in order to support the Wankys at a show on the Scotland tour in July 2009. BBB's demo will soon be released by the Wankys Int. Fanclub Records & More Noize! Records. Email me for details. Lysol SS - Five noisecore songs on a Myspace from Texas Not bad, as rooted in noisy hardcore punk music as noise core should, but I wonder if it’s a joke, yes I think so, there are claims this will be released as a Ltd Ed 7" shortly, check it out (myspace.com/lysolss) Life During Wartime, KBOO Radio, Portland, USA. This is a Portland, USA, online radio program that sometimes has live bands play in the studio. Nerveskade "Life During Wartime", KBOO Radio Live March 4, 2009- 9 songs, 10 minutes. Well this is not bad, not bad at all. Noisy, chaotic (more chaos like this, please!), & lo-fi sounding to the point of almost sounding like fucking NY Mayhem or something, but only for like a minute or so, for this is noizy Disorder thrash ei leiki! (tinyurl.com/mzlutl). Vivid Sect "Life During Wartime", KBOO Radio Live April 8, 2009 Vivid Sekt are the subject of whispering campaigns on the internet. They play the finest dark-ish anarcho-punk or peace punk of the type that could only be found in Hackney squats during first half of the 1980s. The Mob, Rudi Peni etc. The demo have been getting pretty amazing email reviews by my pen pals. Not sure if they have demo out but rumour has it Punk&Destroy in Japan has sold Vivid Sekt cd-rs. Paige from Lebenden Toten also plays in the band. That's all I know. You should try to get into this band before they get too famous & turn into Chumbawambabawawah or whatever they're called. No less than 25 minutes studio live rehearsal! (tinyurl.com/l2e2hl) Lebenden Toten "Life During Wartime", KBOO Radio Live- this was probably taken down because I could not find it, or else I am simply drunk. Anyway it was later released as the cassette tape "Live Transmission" which is supposedly a collectable already. It's an amazing set of course (I found a download link: tinyurl.com/lwcv49). There is also a Dead Section "Life During Wartime", KBOO Radio Live which is pretty good but I don’t know anything about that band so it's not my place to write about them. Iron Lung also plays live on that radio show, which I only mention to pacify all the UK power violence people.
DVD REVIEWS Framtid "Over the Ashes of Europe 2007" DVD (2009) All Framtid footage on this disc is amazing! Makino is the best punk vocalist since Jonsson & Framtid is the best band since Anti-Cimex! Mixing Gloom with Swedish hardcore! But you all know this already. Too bad I never saw them on this tour but this DVD does make up for it. A few impressions gathered while watching: I am stoked that there are so many nit-punkare in Sweden (weird, because V/a Sverigemangel suggest otherwise), & it's nice to see familiar fyllo faces in the Swedish crowd, I am also super stoked that some of the shows appear to be DIY. Actually all of this applies equally across Europe. Hah. Ok, as for guest bands, here goes: Dislickers from Sweden are good but seem a bit subdued live. Project Hopeless comes across as quite good. Fy Fan kills it. Aghast have a tough time convincing the Danes that they're awesome but not me - because I really dig how they come across here (as opposed to their records). However when Bombregn comes on the kids goes mad! & I can see/hear why, shame they broke up. Instinct of Survival I thought were kind of boring, good sound but too close to metal for my liking. Fiesta Desperato from Czech Rep are however cool as hell, the singer's great. Like a pundare-råpunkare singer in Sweden circa 1992. Well, the band slaughter a Bombanfall song (with Makino joining in) so I guess my impressions aren't entirely off. Guided Cradle were not that exciting, again yes sound great but not anything new to me. I have a Mad Pigs CD that I listened to once so I was at least remotely interested in how they were live, well they're charmy but not great. Then there is about another 45 minutes left to the film and I won’t tell you more about it. Footage & quality is good throughout, a bit jumpy etc but hey this is D.I.Y. & I would not have it any other way. It's awesome that cheap digital cameras can reproduce shows like this for video. The best thing is that this DVD is fucking long, almost 1.5 hour! Film of the year. Amebix - Risen DVD-r Ltd special ed. (Toxic Waste, 2008) There was a lot of talk about the fact that this pre-order only limited special D.I.Y. edition (!!!) ended up being a DVD-R & not a factory made disc, & also it seems the 3 re-recorded Amebix songs are audio-only, not video as most people included me were lead to believe. But regardless of what format this is & the bonus features (some of it really cheesy, like the cartoon, yikes!), you are buying this for the main feature so lets talk about that: This is an hour's long Amebix documentary that loosely follows the bands wellknown chronology through new interviews with band members & other people close to the band (noteworthy ex-Amebix members & ex-Disorder people). These interviews are for the most part very good I think, in fact I was surprised of the high level of interesting information brought out in them. Even though Rob, for example, has been interviewed for 'zines & punk books a million times, to see him talk about the band in person without being restricted to writing down words on paper gives so much more about the band than from what you can gain by simply reading what's in print (and I should know, having read 90% of all there is to read in countless fanzine interviews & books, as part of research for my own Amebix interview few years ago). Why is Neurosis is included I can't understand because there are so many other better and more interesting bands that could have been interviewed. Especially people from bands that were directly influenced byAmebix should have been interviewed - such as from Deviated Instinct, Anti-Sect, Anti-System etc etc. The same goes for Jello Biafra, who does not offer any new insight into why he signed Amebix. To be honest, I am bit tired of Amebix & I don’t like the modern sound of new recordings at all. The band has said that for one year alone it will do shows for the good times' sake & that's totally fine with me. It doesn't compromise the band's legacy. As for the DVD, it is THE official history of Amebix & as such it is a visual narrative of the band that is for sure a must-see for all Amebix fans. Above all, it is a DIY film project and that's worth supporting just based on that alone. The standard DVD release is due this autumn. LIVE MUSIC REVIEWS AMEBIX live at The Underworld, Camden, London, 18th June 2009 – gig review by Andy Shocker [Andy Shocker comes out of retirement to review Amebix (but unlike the band, he doesn't need a £3K guarantee! - Tony]- AMEBIX are one of the most influential punk bands ever, with their unique crushing sound & amazing artwork, they inspired a whole plethora of crust & punk/ metal bands. ‘Arise’ and, the under-rated, ‘Monolith’ albums are all time classics of all time, but I have to admit that I was ambivalent about their reformation & motives for doing so. This was to be the first gig in London by AMEBIX since 1986 & the crusties were out in force, amongst the gathered hordes were plenty of old faces. Unfortunately I missed the first two support bands as I was enjoying a few pints of cider with old friends in a nearby boozer. I did get to see INNER TERRESTRIALS kick out their punky ska/ reggae/ folk thang, which went down a treat. It was worth it just to see Paco in action bashing those drums. Next – arise AMEBIX, who kick off with ‘Winter’ followed by the ‘Power Remains’. The sound is good & powerful, & the ‘No Gods, No Masters’ banner looks great. The band blast out all the classics & ‘the kids’ love it. The encore includes ‘Nobody’s Driving’ and, of course, ‘Arise’; although by this time the malt whisky & cider was kicking in – hic! It is ironic that AMEBIX built a legendary status based on hard living in abject poverty; yet reform & their manager demands big money guarantees - £3, 000 for Scum Fest, which has been well documented on the PROFANE EXISTENCE message board. Who could have thought you could make money out of crusties?! I am not against bands making some money, but I thought the whole idea behind genuine punk rock was to stand outside the realm of capitalism & the rock & roll circus. The same old justifications are that you don’t have to pay £12 to see AMEBIX. Yet this is a Neo Liberal ‘free-market’ argument, which means that many fans can’t afford to see the band; London is an expensive city & The Underworld is a corporate rock venue. I always thought that punk was the music of the people, by the people & for the people. This makes me wonder what the difference is between AMEBIX & all the other reformed old punk bands? Is there any sincerity, depth & integrity? Or is it just another old band pissing away their legacy & credibility? I guess only time will tell…" Supersonic Festival Presents: Corrupted, the Acused, Thor's Hammer, The Scala, London, 26 July 2009. £15. This show was strange & great. The first band was the Acused. We only got there by half past eight but they were already way into their set which was very disappointing. Why London venues would have bands starting before nine is beyond me. The band looked ridiculous, made ridiculous poses, & some if not all the songs sounded ridiculous. Late period Broken Bones mixed with extreme metal core. But I thought they were alright actually. Certainly better than expected, very tight & professional. Next up Thor's Hammer were kind of good too, despite being also kind of silly, but to be honest I was taken in by that ultra-heavy music that you don't so much hear but feel - your whole body is literally vibrating to the beat. Kind of like experiencing an earthquake, which is of course how the Norse myth of the Viking god Thor slamming his hammer in hell came about. At one point I was almost hypnotised & that was an enormous eye-opener. Seeing that blond skinny Norwegian woman growl like Napalm Death was also kind of cool. Shame she had to spoil it for everyone by stage diving in the middle of the Corrupted set.
My friends said Thor's Hammer smiling while they played ruined it for him, a very valid point. But we were only there to see Corrupted so whatever. Well they were absolutely amazing. I will never forget this concert: 45 minutes of a slow ambience, with 5 minutes of the hardest heaviest most intense slow-motion hardcore steel sledgehammer of emotion that you will ever hear which really penetrates into your bones!!! Then came another 45 minutes of the same intense ambience. The contrasts between the hard and soft was amazing. Those 5 minutes made it all worthwhile. What an amazing & unique band. Audience: about 150? D-Control, War/System, The Wankys & others, Italian Squat Benefit show, Grosvenor, Stockwell, London, sometime in July. £4. D-Control are a punk crust band that are chaotic & fun to watch but they're not really any good, ha ha ha. They play standard-issue crust punk, a scream here & a d-beat there. War/System usually play a standard British crustcore -not at all direclty Shit Lickers inspired as the name implies, sadly. But the best thing going for the band is the singer who seems to really want to believe in what he sings, because this is not just music. HOWEVER this night was their 'Grave New World' moment, I noticed it immediately when the drummer walked in looking a bit different -he had a Venom-styled perm hairdo. Like whatever right? But then the music was of a entirely different tempo than before. Mid-tempo but twice the amount of drum beats! It was like they were possessed! By Venom! I loved it. In one brush War/System became this amazing band with all these subtleties & nuances! I really liked the "new direction". The old songs sound so much better now. I imagine the drummer must have showed up at rehearsal one day to say "Ok guys, from now on I am going to play drums like early Black Metal thrash a la Venom / Bathory & if you don't like it I am going to quit and start a new band, it's up to you". The only thing now is to get rid of that dash in the band name (adding an "A" at the end -to make Warsystema- would be super cool and appropriate!!! ha ha ha). Then the Wankys played. Now they're not a crust band. In fact they have an anti-crust song. This was largely a crust show. But the crusties did not even bother to watch the band. They stood outside in the rain when Wankys played. But that's cool, 9 people watch the band nonetheless & saw a Wankys set that only gets better and better. Wow. I left after Wank attack, for I had to catch last train home, there was supposed to be at least two more bands including am Italian jazz band but I am not sure if they played or not, probably
not in light of the poor attendance. Audience: 20? RETROSPECTIVE VORKRIEGSPHASE was West German hardcore band that existed for a brief moment between 1981 & 1984. A monumental LP & a 7" containing immense distorted guitar relives causes the bands name to be remembered on leatherjackets across the world & often cited by bands in interviews. There's also some rough sounding demos & live tapes that somehow outlived the tape trading circuit & which has made it onto the blogosphere. Play the LP & get ready to be stone deaf for ever. Incredibly fucking great noise! Tony: How did Vorkriegsphase start? What was Munich like at the time when the band started? Was there "a punk scene" with other bands & concerts etc? Frank: Vorkriegsphase started as Harnsaeure (Uric Acid) “yikes” ha ha ha… Kurt & Georg were the original members – I believe that was in early 1981. Alex & I joined the band a year later & in fact we had 2 vocalists for the start… Yeah that sounded quite awesome & unique with each other interchanging the lyric lines. In addition this was also very supportive because they drunk a lot & could not always remember the lyrics, so they helped each other out… ha ha ha… After the original singer “Scrolle” & guitarist “Jimmy” left , we renamed to “Kalashnikov” in 1982. Our vocalist Alex’s parents came from Russia to Germany – so the sound we did sounded as fast as a Russian machine gun. We played often locally & in the surroundings of the band members hometown Kaufbeuren – that is 60km south west of Munich- & we had our rehearsal room in a Youth Club. & yes we played locally with other bands. We changed our name to “Vorkriegsphase” when we recorded the album – this name stuck with us to the bitter end ;-) Tony: Was Vorkriegsphase the first band members played in? Was any member more "driving" in ideas & song or text writing than others? Frank: Yes- Kurt & Georg were the brains of the band with writing most of the lyrics & melodies (if you can call it that!?) Alex did some lyrics & I just followed the baseline with my guitarnoise…yeahhhhhh Tony: Did Vorkriegsphase play live a lot? Did Vorkriegsphase ever play outside of Germany? Frank: We played about every 3rd month or so live. Remember – Vorkriegsphase had a very short life span ;-) No, we never played outside Germany Tony: So, tell us about this legendary guitar sound of yours - how did you manage to play your guitar with so much distortion? What effects did you use? What guitar sound did you try to re-create, if any? Frank: I used a tube screamer & distortion combined & had a Marshall amp + Ariana pro II guitar with DiMarzio pickups. & yes I liked to create a powerful distorted guitar sound that sounded mean while playing fast. Tony: I am assuming the biggest influence on the Vorkriegsphase sound was the golden bands of the UK82 (i.e. Discharge, Chaos UK, Disorder & G.B.H.). What bands did you listen to at the time? What were the inspiration for the unique Vorkriegsphase sound? Frank: Discharge, Bad Brains, MDC were some of my favourite bands at that time & they were a big influence. We did want our own unique sound & so our drummer had a big impact in this regard. Tony: In retrospect, it is very tempting to group Vorkriegsphase with other hard core punk bands from the early 1980s with similarly distorted guitar sound such as Confuse & Gai/Swankys from Japan, or the chaotic sound of Italian bands like EU's Arse, Impact & Wretched, or the "Discharge bands from Swedish" like Shit Lickers & Anti-Cimex, or indeed the bands from Finland such as Terveet Kädet, Kaaos, Tampere SS etc. Were you aware of these specific bands at the time? Frank: Ha ha ha – "Shit Lickers" …Yikes…. Hahhhaha … no I did not listen to any of these bands Tony: Ok, how did the Rock-o-Rama thing come about? Did you send demos to Herbert Egoldt or did he "discover" you? Did you sign a formal contract with him? Frank: We did send a demo & he liked it – Yes we had a contract … we sold our souls… hahhahha Tony: As the story goes Herbert Egoldt made a remixed of your studio recording "behind your back" & this ended up on the records. What really happened? Frank: Yes – the master tape we were listen too at the end of the recording session was different from the final album release. He added some kind a overdrive to the guitar sound, too much buzzzzz for my taste – I love crazy distorted guitar sound but there is no point in creating a sound that eliminates the chords we played. An example is “Neue Heimat” – listen to the start of the song, that’s exactly how I liked the way the guitar sounds… One of the strongest aspects of the band was our drummer Kurt. Unfortunately the album was terribly mixed, the drum sounds pale, is kinda lost…. Tony: The LP & the 7" sounds like recorded in same session. Did the LP come out first? It is catalogued as RRR22 vs RRR23, or where they released at same time? Was there much promotion for the records? Frank: Yes both recorded at the same time. Both released at the same time if I remember correctly. Darn, where was the internet at that time?..ha ha ha.. There was some promotion but only from ROR. Tony: Do you remember how the reception was to your records? Did people like Vorkriegsphase? There are some reviews in Maximum Rocknroll Magazine that are pretty positive, how was the reaction in Germany? Frank: The album was pretty liked in the German HC rounds – unfortunately we did not know that RockO-rama had a bad reputation. Tony: I was staring at cover of the LP the other day & looking at the photo with the protesters wearing skull-masks & carrying the missile, because it is from 1983 I was wondering if it is a graphic that is lifted from the German Green Party demonstrations that were at their peak around that time? Frank: The album cover has been taken from a front page of a popular german magazine Tony: On the EP there's a dove with a rifle's target sight set on it, what was the meaning of that? I am thinking it is of the same sentiment from the song "Don’t cry fight" ha ha ha…. Frank: Wow ..now this one is pretty heavy.. a philosophical question..and I need to write a book about it… In short… I would say it is the desperation of the world we were/are living in … people crying out for peace, but living in war with each other. They shoot their own peace (dove) ideology. The song “Don’t cry … fight” should be a reminder not to fall victim of any tyranny ;-) Tony: What about "the end"? How&why did Vorkriegsphase break-up? Frank: I left the band early 1984 – I believe the other bandmembers were pretty mad … ohh yes our vocalists nickname was “Mad” – so no hard feelings ..ha ha ha Tony: I understand that the "rights" to Vorkriegsphase recordings belong with Rockorama. But I know that at least some records such as Vaurio & Terveet Kädet from the Rockorama discographies have got or will soon get some sort of reissue. Do you know if your recording tapes still exits somewhere? Frank: I don’t know “shrug,shrug” – With the tapes I’m sure the other band members still got them Tony: Have there ever been talk about official reissue of Vorkriegsphase? As I am sure you have seen there have been at least 2 or 3 Vorkriegsphase bootlegs in recent years -there was a Japanese CD called "Noise Attack" with cover of two studded leatherjackets with band name written across, & the bootleg LP compiling the album & the single with original artwork from the LP… Frank: Actually I did not come across the reissues… (I did not look for them either…lol) Tony: What are Vorkreigsphase band members doing now today (including yourself)? Did anyone go on to play in other bands? Frank: Georg (Schorsch) is still playing bass guitar locally – check out Pressuck at www.pressuck.de & Powerage at www.pressuck.de/powerage. Not sure about the others. I moved to Australia in 1993 … & live happily ever after…lol. Thank you for digging me up.
MORE NOIZE # 3 HAS INTERVIEWS WITH THE WANKYS & WARNING//WARNING, AN ACTIVE MINDS/THE WANKYS SCOTLAND TOUR REPORT, GAUZE IN THE UK 1989 REPORTAGE AND TONS OF REVIEWS AND THE USUAL NEWS AND GOSSIP. WITH LUCK OUT SEPTEMBER 2009!!! SEND FOR REVIEWS!!!