Still Here Zine Update 01/31/10

Just pointing out that I've gone back through and added track listings to all the uploads, and live pics to a lot of the bands, plus cover art for the Shin Kick demo. So go ahead and read back through everything, download whatever seems interesting. Drop a comment if you like (or don't like) anything you hear, and I'mma keep adding stuff when I get a chance.

PS.

FCP Tanks. Working on that beater burn.

Shin Kick — Nothing More, Nothing Less

This was the second record Shin Kick put out, in early 2008. Since the first demo, we had gotten a new drummer, written a bunch more songs, and gotten somewhat serious about what we were trying to do. This was ostensibly a demo to accompany us on tour and sell to people so they could rock out to us later, but it ended up being our final release — our long-proposed 7" just never materialized. We recorded it on a vocal mic in Sam's basement, but sound quality isn't that bad for a single-tracked live set, at least once you get used to it. At the very least, you get a good idea of how we might sound live.

Unlike on the demo, all of the songs were original. I wrote the lyrics to about half the songs, Sam writing the others when he wrote the guitar riffs. You can hear a definite progression from the music on the demo as well, the newer songs being more varied, and perhaps even a little melodic. Sam was really on point with most of the jams. Anyway, as much as this meant to me, you should listen and come to your own conclusions.

Shin Kick — Nothing More, Nothing Less EP

Track Listing:

1. (Sh)In(Kick)tro/Closed Venue
2. Kicked Out
3. What Is This?
4. I Nailed Tony Hawk
5. Insanity
6. Time Off
7. Got Myself
8. Next Generation
9. Brobleed

Lyrics are available here. Oddly enough we never actually recorded Still Here, the song this zine is named after, but the lyrics for that are up too.

Shin Kick: 2006-2008

Marley — Vox
Sam — Guitar
Straume — Bass
Pat — Drums

Where do I begin? Shin Kick was the band that put Cville back on the map. It was a side project from the then-big M2S and Demagiggle, because Sam wanted to start an 80's hardcore band with me. We recruited Dre and Straume, recorded a demo that had as many covers as originals, played the single MRC show we ever booked, and had the maximum amount of fun possible. At the end of the summer of '07, Dre went to the farm and Pat stepped in to be our drummer. This is when things got serious. With a functioning band as impetus, Sam started booking shows at DUST. I can't begin to say how important Sam, and his connection to Curt at DUST, has been to the scene. At least 90% of the shows any of us played were there; it was literally vital. 

Anyway, months passed, xSKx played assloads of shows and almost as many sweet 80's covers, and Cville began to actually produce music, other bands forming to help out on those same shows. Eventually we recorded a low-quality EP in Sam's basement (while his mom made us lots of delicious food), and went on tour, the first band to do so since Insurgency's misadventure. For more on that, get in touch with me or read Got Myself #1. Unfortunately, we had kind of played ourselves out by the end of that spring; the sets were always basically the same, and it got to be more of a hassle to play than was worth. By the end of the year we had thrown in the towel. Maybe we weren't the best band, but we sure as hell tried. We were Charlottesville hardcore punk, nothing more, nothing less. No regrets.

www.myspace.com/angerattack

Worn Thin — Long Road Ahead

I don't get the opportunity to upload full-lengths too often, so this is pretty exciting. The story behind this LP is that only 500 were originally pressed, the first 75 hand-stenciled and released at their last show. Because it came out as the band was breaking up, it never really got that much recognition, although it certainly deserves it. To me this has a definite ring of late-90's Youth Crew revival, but takes it well beyond that, maybe sort of in the same direction as Carry On or even In My Eyes. There's a marked measure of restraint involved; listen to the groove they hit about 10 seconds in and you'll see what I mean. Shit's tight. Lyrics swing between the personally redemptive and the DC political, which is pretty cool; I wish more bands had this kind of variability. Sound quality is as good as anything I've got on here, plus there's a Teen Idles cover, which you don't see too often. Really solid jams.

Worn Thin — Long Road Ahead LP

Track List:

1. We're All We've Got
2. Strange Liberators
3. Bittersweet Victories
4. ...Like There's Nothing To Lose
5. Broken Lines
6. Mind The Gap
7. Same Mistakes
8. Till The Bitter End
9. 1409 Longfellow
10. Sneakers (Teen Idles)

Worn Thin was a harDCore band from 2000-2005. Members went on to be in Lion of Judah, Trapped Under Ice, Police & Thieves, Set To Explode, Government Warning, Wasted Time, Goddamn Wolves, Killer Filler, and Dirty Money. Yarp.

www.myspace.com/wornthin
www.facebook.com/pages/Worn-Thin/34478246186

Pistol Bitch — Demo 2008

I guess the name is pretty predictive in this case. Pistol Bitch are Richmond hardcore, with an emphasis on the hard. Songs of cop hatred, self-hatred, all the good things in life. I get the feeling I just absorb RVA demos, because I honestly can't remember where I got this, even though it's pretty new. But it's reasonably good, displaying solid songwriting, with a mysterious hint of southern rock. Sound quality isn't all that great; it has almost no production and the vocals have a ridiculous level of reverb. But it's still definitely worth listening to. The demo originally had four songs, but I found a version of "Going Nowhere Fast" from the same session. Plus every demo had a unique 90's hit on it; mine was "Even Flow" by Pearl Jam, and I decided to keep it on just to keep in spirit. Check it out, and I'll add the newer demo soon.

Pistol Bitch — Demo 2008

Track List:

1. Corner Me
2. Circumstance
3. The Big Picture
4. Target Control
5. Going Nowhere Fast
6. Even Flow (Pearl Jam)

Pistol Bitch is a relatively new hardcore band from Richmond, with members of Swamp Thing and Army of Fun. As was related to me, the story behind the name Pistol Bitch was that one of the band members' dads one day inexplicably said, "Pistol Bitch! That would be a good name for a punk rock band!" and as the band was just getting started, they went with it. Anyway, it's good shit, get into it.

www.myspace.com/pistolbitchrva

Police & Thieves — S/T 7"

Police & Thieves are probably my favorite band out of DC since, I don't know, Minor Threat? They almost single-handedly hold the reins on that brilliantly unconventional DC Hardcore sound, a la early Dag Nasty or Rites of Spring, except with a solid dose of straight-up hardcore thrown in over the varied rhythm section and melodic inclinations. Indeed, P&T have been near the forefront of harDCore for years now.

I believe I actually found a copy of this 7" in Plan 9, in Charlottesville. I already had Amor y Guerra, their other 7", so I was obviously very excited to find this one so close to my doorstep. Anyway, this record starts off solid and just keeps it up. It's musically varied, and the braided riffs and rhythms the guitars pull off with seemingly no effort is pretty impressive. Carlos has a pretty signature voice, about as sincere as they come, and the lyrics are generally pretty personal and self-reflective, although being from the nation's capital, there's a definite streak of politicism. Backed like a Jersey Girl on the dance floor.

Police & Thieves — Police & Thieves 7"

Track List:

1. Harbors
2. Transparent Smiles
3. …For Ideals
4. Strangers In The Same Town

Police & Thieves hail from the hallowed grounds of Washington DC, the intellectual inheritors to a musical tradition decades old. Basically, they sound awesome, mixing energy and passion with impressive songwriting and effort. They are, of course, named after the Junior Murvin song, although most people are probably more familiar with the cover the Clash released on their debut album. They've been around for almost 5 years now, and last I saw have been writing new songs, hopefully in an attempt at a new album. Go see them live.

Get merch and find show dates at http://www.myspace.com/policethieves, or http://www.facebook.com/pages/Police-Thieves/22668852750

Retrace — Demo 2006

This Battery-powered band is another Legitimate Bros. group from out North-West. Actually, their Battery influence goes well past the bandname, into the simple, melodic song structure and lyrics about moving away and the unfortunate but necessary termination of friendships. Honestly, this demo could stack up against classics like Pills And Advice or It's Always Darkest Before The Dawn, if it were a little longer. It has really good production, for a demo, and really thought out songwriting and lyrics. I used to spin this on the daily for a couple months, literally. Anyway, see what you think.

Retrace — Demo 2006

Track List:

1. Walk Alone
2. The River
3. On My Own
4. Years Of Our Lives

The Retrace demo was recorded over the course of an afternoon or two in March 2006. Retrace has only played one show, maintaining that a low profile is still the illest shit.

Lazy Eye — Live From The Surf Cave

Lazy Eye was pretty different from everything else that came out of Charlottesville. Sam and I had always had a love of surf, but that's sort of a hard thing to incorporate in hardcore unless you set out to do so from the beginning. After Shin Kick ended and neither of us had much going on, Sam played me a few of his surf lines and we decided to get the ball rolling. This is what came of it.

During the couple of months that Lazy Eye was an actual band, we got a few sweet riffs out. This was actually a practice sesh that we recorded to see how we sounded, with plans to do a more intensive demo later. However, seeing as how this is all we've got, I figure I might as well put it up. It was recorded on Sam's little box, which is roundabouts of the size of a deck of cards, so sound quality isn't perfect... but it is pretty damn good for being recorded on a little box in the center of the room. This is four of our earliest songs, plus a hilariously bad rendition of Wipeout by the Ventures. We weren't too practiced by this point, and everything's at least a little rough — but I think that's part of what makes this music great. Fuck perfection, just feel the currents... man.

Lazy Eye – Live From The Surf Cave Demo 2009

Track Listing:

1. Tide Up
2. On/Off
3. Tumbleweed
4. Splashdown
5. Wipeout (The Ventures)

Lazy Eye - 2009

Sam — Guitar

Marley — Bass

Slagle — Drums

The other follow-up to Shin Kick, along with Total Wreck. Sam and I thought it would be cool to play some surf, and ended up creating an instrumental punk band with Slagle, a friend from back in high school. Simple songs, lots of reverb, a few Ventures covers, and three shows later, it was all over.

www.myspace.com/lazyeyeva
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lazy-eye/74151366989

Full Court Press — Live Set 4/4/08

As far as it goes, this is the only recording of Full Court Press other than our simple demo from half a year earlier. Well, there was the Summer Jamz EP we recorded with Daniel, but no one really knows where that ended up. Maybe it'll resurface in a few years, but I doubt it.

Anyway, I'm reasonably sure this was the Shin Kick tour-kickoff show, and as it was a special occasion, I had asked Mia to film it (she's a film major). It wasn't a wonderfully great show, but rewatching these videos, I'm pretty confident this was how most FCP sets went. Good crowd response, Jake dropping the mic to mosh, us forgetting which song was which, and just generally a lot of fun being had. Sound quality isn't perfect, but is actually surprisingly clear. These are also the only real evidence of our later songs, which were a little more varied and thought out. Plus there's a Vomit Up Blood cover. Pretty cool.

Big thanks to Mia for these.

Track Listing:

1. The Realness
2. Full Court Press
3. What We Had
4. Sick And Tired
5. Argyle Crew
6. "Pop-Punk Song"
7. xFallxDownxStairsx (Vomit Up Blood cover)
8. Broken Promises
9. Consumed
10. Left Behind (aka Mosh Song)
11. Warning

Menace To Society — S/T EP

So, this was the first demo our generation put out in Charlottesville, released just a few days before the Demagogue  demo. It was another MRC recording, and Alex played through an electronic box rather than an amp, so the guitar sounds a little goofy. There was literally no mixing or production involved; it was more punx to record the songs in one take, burn a CD, and go get drunx at Two Bridges. Even so, Corey knew what he was doing, and it sounds pretty good. It's pretty basic streetpunk, some unity songs and a hint of political awareness, but more than that it's just fun. Cheque it out:

Menace To Society — Menace To Society Demo 2007

Track Listing:

1. Unite
   
2. Menace To Society
   
3. Waste Of Life
   
4. Kicked To The Curb
   
5. Police Oppression
   
6. Rebel Youth
   
7. Eat A Bowl Of Fuck (Quincy Punx) 

Menace To Society: 2005-2007

Dre — Vocals
Terp — Guitar
Straume — Bass
Jesse — Drums

There were really several versions of this band, the first happening when Jake and I would hang out with Dre and Alex every weekend for half of freshman year. Pat played drums for a while, but that never really went anywhere. Then, when our little group started hanging out with the kids from Western, the early band combined with Bear Claw Kr3w to form a five or six-member supergroup that practiced at the Sorority House every so often. At this point, we were basically the only band in town. It was a cool feeling, to be on top of the music scene and be involved with everything going on. We felt like we could turn into A Global Threat or Clit 45 in a couple of months, if we just played loud enough and had enough fun.

It didn't really turn out that way. Chris and I left, the band slimmed down and recorded a demo, and other bands got started. M2S only ever played a couple of shows, and we've all come a long way since then, but that was still one of the solidest points in our history. We were all really close friends, we all hung out together all the time, and we all went to all the same shows. I don't regret things moving beyond that small world, but I'm glad I can always look back.

Take the Menace To Society Quiz!

Legit — Get Used To It

Melodic Hardcore is my bread and butter. If there's any genre I can talk about for hours, this is probably it. Just the good stuff though; melodic hardcore isn't pop-punk, or metalcore that happens to feature melodies. It's hardcore that has more emphasis on songwriting and tone than on pure intensity or urgency. But enough pontificating.

This demo rips. It's another Legitimate Bros. production, from Seattle. It's pure melodic hardcore in the best sense, and has a really high degree of variability of style, along with the gratuitous tempo and key changes. Seriously, synchronized solos ala hair metal aren't too common on here, but these dudes pull it off. This is a 2004 demo that never saw much action, but it still sounds great and is really inventive. Kind of like early Go It Alone or something, but a lot more upbeat and snappy. I can't get these songs out of my head. See what you think.

Legit — Get Used To It Demo 2004

Track Listing:

1. Boys Night Out
2. Tight Grippage
3. The Block Is Hot 2004
4. Twice As High
5. Too Young For All This Pottery

Legit were a melodic hardcore band from Seattle, Washington a couple years back. It doesn't seem like they ever did much, but they did put out two most excellent demos. Backed extra hard.

www.myspace.com/legitimatebros