The Knockabouts: On Suffering Remembered (1995 release of tracks from 1983’s Angry Young Men/Aggressive Isolation demo)

Ah, to be punk in Alabama in the early eighties. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying it just might have been hell. Call it a hunch, but this hell must’ve fueled The Knockabouts’ fire like copies of Huck Finn at a book burning. Can you imagine a place where the rednecks are the tolerant ones standing next to the KKK? Maybe I’m just stereotyping but it comes through in the music, which rages and rallies against bullshit. And yes, the Skynrd cover is funny but there is more here than just a shitty song being castrated. This is cool hardcore.

Lyrics are here: Knockabouts Lyrics

(image of the demo from Kill From The Heart)

1. The Beautiful
2. Shit Home Alabama
3. Where's My Vietnam?
4. Sick Society
5. Freedom Fighter
6. Aimless Youth
7. Fire Escape
8. Fast Pulse

Download it now: The Knockabouts

House of Commons: Patriot (1983)

Vancouver’s House of Commons played dark punk rock. I don’t want to say goth or anything ridiculous like that, but if it was released today some reviewer would recklessly slap on the “g” word like it was a ton of black eyeliner going on a pasty face. No, this is gloomy (a better “g” word) punk with downcast vocals. Ironically, a lot of the lyrics are positive. Go figure.

(image from Kill From The Heart)

Lots of information about the band is here: HOC

1. Way Down South

2. Low

3. Gotta B. Alive

4. 1999

5. American Patriot

6. Institution

7. Live For Today

Download it now: House of Commons

Various: It Came From The Pit (1986)

This is a classic comp from Canada. There are definitely many highlights on this one: My Dog Popper’s two tracks kill and feature this classic line from “Equal Time”, “Censor something you don’t even need / You fucking American Americans can’t even read”; “Abstinence” from Entirely Distorted rocks and is one of the few songs they put on vinyl (if anyone has their demo I’d sure love a copy of it); skinhead favorites Gassenhauer rollicking track “Local Youths” sounds like it could’ve come out of London at the time; and SNFU’s cover of “Poor Pitiful Me” is hilarious.

1. Exit death – S.C.U.M.
2. Rock stars are assholes – My Dog Popper
3. Equal time – My Dog Popper
4. Teenage barnacle - Enigmas
5. To our glorious dead – Sudden Impact
6. Drunk driving – Sudden Impact
7. Abstinence – Entirely Distorted
8. Count down zero – Count Down Zero
9. Casual design – Ruggedy Annes
10. Poor pitiful me – SNFU
11. Thrashin with yer parents – Problem Children
12. Mr. Prophylactic man – League of Dead Politicians
13. Local youths - Gassenhauer
14. Everyday – October Crisis
15. Old man understand – Stretch Marks
16. No sex – Nomeansno

Download it here: It Came From The Pit

Image from www.punkhistorycanada.ca

Stretch Marks: What D'ya See (1984)

When I moved to the middle of nowhere I was pretty sure I’d be the only adult with any ties to punk rock. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see punk panhandling kids on the corner begging for change or squeegee kids doing my windows at the four way stop. So when I saw a guy wearing a SNFU shirt at our kids’ daycare, I was excited. An older punk dude here? No way! "Can we be friends?" I almost squeaked excitedly. I was giddy as a kid going to play with my friends at the, well, daycare. And that’s the great thing about punk, especially when I was younger. You’d see a complete scenester stranger on the bus or the street or wherever, and you knew and they knew how cool you both were by virtue of the music you listened to and hopefully, the values you shared.

So after I got my kids settled, I went up to Mr. SNFU and managed to say “Hey man, cool shirt,” and he said “Thanks,” and I’m surprised my voice didn’t break and in honor of that, blast this classic hardcore from the Stretch Marks.

Get it here: Stretchmarks

1. What D'Ya See
2. Time in Black
3. Another Tragedy
4. Family Affair
5. Turnbuckle Stomp
6. Lookin' for Danger
7. Preacher
8. Deaducated
9. No Answers
10. Tomorrow Will Be Better (If There is One)
11. Just a Game
12. No Freedom
13. Bad Moon

King Face: s/t (1987)

King Face was a part of the DC scene that had changed drastically after 1985's “Revolution Summer”. That was when musical vets decided to change their sound, focusing more on melody and structure rather than the blitzkrieg speed of hardcore. This all came about as an attempt to steer the scene away from right wing skins that had started crashing shows.

It’s into this scene that King Face was born. Now, as much as I would love to have a PhD in punk rock, I am not an expert when it comes to Revolution Summer, but from what I know, King Face seemed not to fit in. I say that because they are much more rock oriented than say, Embrace. They made no bones about how much they liked Ted Nugent and others of his musical ilk, but don't hold that against them.

I could never do justice to them in just a few short paragraphs, but here is a decent article if you want to know more: article

1. Crawl into tomorrow
2. I don't want to be anything
3. Lull-a-bye
4. Anyone
5. Lick the moon
6. Like a king

Download it here: KingFace

Target of Demand: Man’s Ruin (1983)

This album is dangerous. Incendiary. Put it beside the deviled eggs at a corporate luncheon and it will explode. Drop it onto suburbia and the effect will be more devastating than napalm. Shoot it at a battalion of riot cops and they’ll cry into their tear gas canisters. Blast it during a stupid lesson at school and watch your classmates hit the deck and lick the gum on the floor.

This is why you got into punk in the first place.

Download it now: Target of Demand

1. The Poor Rich
2. Funny, Huh?

3. Government

4. Man's Ruin

5. Not the One

6. Brain Loss

7. Judgement

8. Deploy the Rich

9. Botchalizm

10. Plastic Bullets

I got the image from http://www.killfromtheheart.com/ where you can also get the lyrics.

All Woman Brothers Band: mid-nineties indie stuff

This band should’ve been huge. All Woman Brothers Band had incredibly well written songs, and amazing vocal harmonies. One singer has a fantastic, very feminine voice which contrasts so well with the gruffer vocals of the other singer. It’s like eating sugar with broken glass. I call it indie rock, but it just doesn’t do them justice. They were above such labels.

I saw them a few times, including once when they opened for Tilt. After AWBB broke up, a friend gave me a tape with everything he had. He knew one of the members and had most everything. I got to know their drummer too. Woldboy's a very cool guy and I told him many a time how good this band, and the one he had with another member after AWBB broke up, were.

I come back to these songs time and time again. They’re so good, so perfect, and so totally essential to my survival in this world. "Enough hyperbole!" you're screaming, and I understand but I still can't recommend this enough.

Here’s a MySpace page, where I got this image:
profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=78417464 - 81k -

All You Can Eat demo:
1. Rubber band
2. Poor favore
3. Straight thru
4. I’m found
5. Favorite jeans
6. Outta sight
7. Suffer
8. Get out of my face
9. Holy cow
10. Shut up
Payback 7:
11. Payback
12. Witchhunt
At 164 BPM 10":
13. Pure pressure
14. Suffer
15. Looking down
16. Just can’t see
More songs:
17. Insane day
18. Newsmonger
19. Shoot the skyline
20. P.R. Baby
21. Cancer schtick
22. Another day
23. Suck it
24. Rubber band
25. Witchhunt
26. Shut up

Download it here: AWBB