Amendment Eighteen - Demo

Amendment Eighteen (A.18) were a straight edge hardcore band from Southern California in the late 90
s- mid 2000's. The band played a straight forward brand of hardcore, especially early on; with later releases featuring a fuller, but still fast and pissed off sound.

I will spare the more in-depth explinations as this not the first A18 post on this blog, the "Defining the Color Conviction" 7inch can be found HERE. However, A18's brand of finely blended hardcore, anger, and punk comes through in even these earliest recordings.

A18 @ Showcase Theatre 2006

Recorded in the band practice space, all four of these songs would be re-recorded for the debut full length that was released on guitarist Mike's New Age Records. Enjoy the tracks, you have some good and varied sentiments here- from the straight edge to the aged and returning former hardcore icon, welcoming the new days and not selling them short because they arent the "good old days" as well as a rather deep sentiment in the song "Our Last Beautiful Thing."

Enjoy




DOWNLOAD: Amendment Eighteen - "Demo"

Amendment 18 - Ink Bleeds Through:

No Mercy - Widespread Bloodshed - Love Runs Red

No Mercy were a thrash/crossover band mostly active in the mid-1980's. Hailing from Venice, California they shared members and compilation space with, you guessed it, Suicidal Tendencies.

It should be said that, Suicidal Tendencies is probably the band most responsible for the musical directions my life (and thus this blog) has taken since I began seeking out music on my own.

Originally featuring a different singer (with whom they recorded compilation tracks with), Mike Muir eventually joined when the original singer departed and they recorded this debut (and lone) full length which was released on Muir's Suicidal Records (which had also released the Welcome to Venice comp. which featured older No Mercy tracks).

The songs certainly show their age, in a good way, with heavy riffs that have just the right amount of crunch to give it what I consider that perfect 80's crossover sound of almost metallic punk/hardcore. This is the way Suicidal's "Join the Army" should have sounded - NOTE: I love Join the Army, but the record defanitely has a slower pace that almost frustrates me at times when I think of how those songs would have sounded if they had been more in line with the "Controlled By Hatred/Feel Like Shit" EP's.

Speaking of the 'Controlled/Feel' EP's, the No Mercy album is the bridge in the gap from the stellar "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow..." lp and said ep's. By the time Suicidal Tendencies would release the double ep No Mercy had folded and No Mercy founder/guitarist, Mike Clark had joined ST. Suicidal began playing and recorded No Mercy tracks Waking the Dead, Controlled By Hatred, Master of No Mercy, and My Own Way of Life.

Enjoy a fairly underrated crossover classic. And should it motivate you, feel free to find Suicidal Tendencies' "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today" and "Controlled By Hatred/Feel Like Shit... Deja Vu"; as well as Excel's "Split Image" & "Joke's On You". Nostalgic skater childhood in full effect.

DOWNLOAD: No Mercy - Widespread Bloodshed - Love Runs Red

We Gotta Know Podcast

We Gotta Know Podcast is a fairly new offering from Jason Kollins. Hailing from the frozen north of British Columbia, Jason offers up a nice selection of Punk & Hardcore (and whatever varying sub genre names you want to use) from bands you might expect like Cro-Mags, Black Flag, and Youth of Today to bands like Handsome and Brand New Unit. Add in a Seaweed track and you have all the great makings of a podcast, not to mention Jason's own commentary.

Jason has posted the track listing on the Podcast's blogspot & there's plenty of talk and link sharing on the facebook, so be sure to check out the links to both below.

While I'd always planned to share the Podcast in a post, I've also posted links to the download as Jason is currently working on a place to store the file (as mediafire knocked it down after awhile)- these will likely be temporary as well, but any port in the storm, right? Each link is to the entire podcast, so just pick one- no need to download both.


Download Link #1  |  Download Link #2

We Gotta Know Blogspot
We Gotta Know on Facebook

Three Lanes 3-Way Split / Nothing to Prove Compilation

Three Lanes... is a 3-Way Split CD released by Glory Kid Limited in 2007. It features Time For Change, Lockdown, and Heads Up; all from Southern California and all playing different styles of hardcore.

Time For Changes leads off with two tracks recorded between the "Wasting Away" 7inch and the "Memoirs" full-length.Both songs show the band progressing to songs that show a little more complexity and thought, which would become fully realized on their full-length and final 7inch. Both of their tracks here, "Heatwar", and "Homestead" would appear on the aforementioned lp, though they would be re-recorded and in the case of Heartwar, drastically re-worked.

Heads Up are.... hardcore punk. Not much my thing the time or two I saw them, and not my thing at all on these two tracks. They're most memorable to me for one of their singers busting a window at the old SOS Project at one of our very first shows (they paid for it).

Lockdown round out the split and offer up their brand of angry, pissed off hardcore. Fast, almost to the point of being hardcore punk, but with a heaviness firmly planted in hardcore and an aggression that matched the negativity. Again, not hugely my thing, but they were a lot of fun to see/hear live and the songs on this split are good. They would eventually split up with many of the members moving on to the band Last Days. Members would also do time in Time For Change.

DOWNLOAD: Three Lanes 3-Way Split

Continuing with the theme is a comp that came out a little while before the 3-Way Split. This was released by Good Times Records (2005) and features a lot of smaller/local bands from Southern California inc. Lockdown and Time For Change, who were also on the split.

All told, there are 12 tracks from 8 bands- along with the afforementioned bands, Final Fight, Feeding Frenzy, Looking Up, and 3 more bands round out this solid little comp. that has a little bit for everyone. From the heavier bands like Lockdown and Blood Stands Still to the fast and pissed of Feeding Frenzy and the more "recent" sounds of bands like Final Fight and Looking Up (really, you can only mention melodic as part of hardcore without sounding redundant). How does it feel to be a problem? Cos I Feel Fine!


Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: Nothing to Prove- A Southern California Compilation

the Discipline Engine

The Discipline Engine were a punk band from San Bernardino, Ca. from 2001-2003. Playing a brand of heartfelt music that mixed influences that I've always felt is best summed up as saying- take the punk from Rancid's "And Out Come the Wolves" and mix it with Hot Water Music circa "No Division" and splash in a few doses of Sham 69.

The songs here cover a lot of topics from the funny to dealing with growing up, reflecting on birth, isolation, drug (ab)use by friends, and that gap that exists between the world we see and the world in our minds. The songs come from 3 recording sessions that made up 3 separate EP's. Recorded in Sept. 2002, June 2002, and Sept. 2003; in the short year that they recorded they played out quite often locally before succumbing to what so many bands are done in by- the end of high school (most of the band members graduated just shortly after the June 2002 session).

The Discipline Engine in back of the great Showcase Theatre

DE was a local band and one I was fortunate enough to see live many times and call friends. They played live shows that engaged you emotionally and made you equally have fun and think about things. Take the time, give it a listen... it doesn't sound specifically like any one of the above stated influences, and surely there are a hundred other influences they could all interject (and may well do so haha)- its moderately grown up punk rock- no grand political statements, just good music and songs about people and life in general.

Also included are a live intro and two live songs (live versions of Glory and I'll do it) recorded at the great Showcase Theatre sometime in 2002.

I've also started using DivShare so you can listen to a song (or two) from the downloads. Enjoy!


- the Discipline Engine - "Perfection Too"


DOWNLOAD: The Discipline Engine - "Give It A Name" (Discography)


More Info. after the jump

Gorilla Biscuits - Live in the Netherlands 2007

Here's a fun one from the Gorilla Biscuits re-union tour that happened in 2007. I missed the tour when it stopped off here in Southern California, but I hear a great time was had by all. If the pictures included with the audio (one of which you see to your right) are any indication, the shows were a hit everywhere.

On even the slightest off chance anyone finding themselves here does not know who GB is, they were a late 80's/early 90's hardcore band from New York. With a stellar first EP (it still gets more play than the LP for me) which was followed by a Full Length that laid the framework for many a hardcore band to follow. Fast and fun, it was also funny and intelligent- While the EP had a bit more of the run-of-the-mill topics of being positive in the face of adversity, betrayed friendships, shit talking, and the like, the record was still very fresh sounding and without the feeling of beating a dead horse, while the music definitely pushed the band over the top with that first record (High Hopes and Breaking Free are easily two of my favorite HC songs, period). The "Start Today" lp that followed in 1989 showed the band moving to a sound that incorporated a bit more of melody and the timely use of tempo changes & breakdowns that has been oft imitated and hardly ever matched. The LP also saw the band exploring topics of racism within the scene, vegetarianism/culture, and not wasting all of ones time be it to the TV (stand still), procrastination (Start Today), or changing lives (Time Flies). Not to say that they abandoned their previous topics, as songs like New Direction, Two Sides, and Forgotten all addressed topics similar to the first EP's.

Members went on to (as well as concurrently played in) many bands including CIV, Quicksand, Warzone, Side By Side, Rival Schools, and a nearly endless list of other bands.

I don't remember where I got this, surely it was from another blog a few years ago. All credit to the taper/photographer (there's 5 pictures in the folder) and the original poster. It's a really good quality live set, clear music, clear vocals; by the sounds of it one of the best audience recordings I have ever heard and easily an A recording. The vocals make me think that it isn't a soundboard.

Added bonus of a Judge, Warzone, and two CIV tracks- and of course, Sittin Round at Home which is actually a Buzzcocks song, albeit a bit different as GB has been known for doing it.

DOWNLOAD: Gorilla Biscuits - Live in the Netherlands 2007

Out of Heart - Second Demo

Out of Heart were a hardcore band from the Inland Empire, California around the mid/late 2000's.

They played pretty standard hardcore for the time- fast, angry, touches of heavy and angry. Lyrics that ranged from humility, friendship, and mistakes made; the band turned out two demos in a style not horribly unlike their influences of Another Breath, Staygold, Killing the Dream, & Count Me Out- not to say that they specifically sound like any of those bands.

I've always called this the "Erich" demo, which is how it is tagged. That was to differentiate from the fact that the untitled demo featured new bassist, Erich, rather than their previous untitled demo which had their original bassist.

Out of Heart @ Feeding Fest 2006

When the band ended singer Nate and drummer Jason would move on to form the heavier and formidable Xibalba with friends Bryan and Brian. Some time later, original Out of Heart bassist, Jensen, would join Xibalba as an additional guitarist. Erich went on to do local bands In the Grey (vocals) (demo posted HERE) and the Shroud (bass)  (demo posted on the blog HERE )






A video of the song Through Thick & Thin from the previously mentioned SOS Project. While the video is from the first demo time frame, the song appears on both demos, albeit, a bit more smoothly on the second demo.

DOWNLOAD: Out of Heart - Second Demo