The Elderly — Old Time Quality Virginia Drunk Ass Punk Rock

I figure it's time to get back to my Charlottesville roots. The Elderly were another first-half-of-the-decade local punk band, sort of the same time period as Riot Act or Barracks Road. For a lot of people, The Elderly were the best band from that era, and with good reason. Their sound is self-described as "Angry Samoans getting butt-fucked by Iggy Pop while shooting dope with Johnny Thunders," and that's actually closer to the truth than you might expect. The Elderly play punk rock, with an emphasis on the rock — these dudes can really jam out. This album is something approaching a discography, although it might be missing a recording or two. Sound's great, music's great, a cover of the Dead Milkmen to boot — this is a cool piece of history.

The Elderly — Old Time Quality Virginia Drunk Ass Punk Rock

Track Listing:

1. Beer
2. Dangerous Erection
3. Get The Fuck Off My Lawn
4. Got Me Good
5. High School Mentality
6. Let's Go
7. Liar
8. National Drinking Day
9. Never Liked You
10. Spitballs
11. The Thing That Only Eats Hippies (Dead Milkmen)
12. We Are The Elderly
13. High School Mentality (live)
14. Liar (live)

Bio: "The Elderly is an old school punk rock (with some roll in there) band from Virginia. We formed in late 1999 after the demise of our band Guilty By Association. Many member changes later, the current line-up is as follows: "Scary" Larry Houchens (drums, b/vox) and Josh "Old Man" Mustin (guitar, lead vox). We are influenced by old punk, 50's rock and country, metal, girl groups, some new punk and garage too, you name it. We are known mostly for our fun attitude and very high-energy shows that leave you wanting more."

http://www.myspace.com/theelderlypunks

Daniel rocking out up in the front — last show at the Tokyo Rose

End Of A Year — with Caroline Corrigan

Maybe I'm too into this band, I don't know. End Of A Year (or Self Defense Family as they are now known) has metastasized beyond being just a semi-typical hardcore fivepiece, spreading into this weird conglomeration of different artists (you can read more about it here). God that sounds pretentious on my part. But in just the last year or two the band has broken new ground for hardcore; I see them sort of like Fugazi for this decade. Anyway, this is four tracks from their new "You Are Beneath Me" LP (a cool album, although venturing farther from blastbeats/breakdowns hardcore than ever, but that's not really an issue. This does sound pretty different from their demo though. Also every track beyond the intro is someone's name, wiki them if you're ever bored.) with Caroline Corrigan, an Albany musician and artist, on vocal duties. So it's the same tunes with melody in the vocals; lyrics are the same too (this is the band that wrote, "people do people things;" truer words were never spoken). Definitely worth checking out if you're into music.

End Of A Year Self Defense Family — with Caroline Corrigan

Track Listing:

1. Marissa Wendolovske
2. Eric Hall (Acoustic)
3. Jeni Leigh
4. Philip Jose Farmer

Band bio: "We wanted to play music we liked so we got together and did it. No one else really liked it and we were pretty comfortable being the band who tours the country but no one really likes. Revelation called one day and it was pretty weird but i like the Kiss It Goodbye record a lot so we decided to go with it. Then that didn't go the way we planned and we started to put out a bunch of 7 inches. Deathwish Inc saw that, and got in touch, it was weird but i really like the Blinding Light album so we decided to go with it. End Bio."

http://selfdefensemusic.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_a_Year
http://www.myspace.com/endofayear

Avail — Reaching Out

Avail's other demo from before they moved to Richmond. More cool upbeat tunes from back when they were all young, and Tim Barry on drums. Apparently there was a thriving little scene in Reston in the late 80s, although Avail is the only one that made it out of there. Anyway, to a lot of people this is where Avail first became known, and is actually a favorite album. I can see why; it isn't exactly the Avail that was touring the country a few years later, but it's still an incredibly innovative band, doing things no one else ever did. Now, this was only released on tape, and the rip is a little grainy, but that's sort of the point of a good demo, isn't it? These are some killer tunes, catchy without being poppy. Also, considering the date, this was right at the forefront of post-hardcore. Not to rave too much, but this is one hell of a band.

Avail — Reaching Out Demo 1989

Track Listing:

1. Blue Smokes
2. Self Inflicted
3. Regulation '89
4. Take The Time
5. Keeping Up
6. No Fixed Address
7. Done Lost
8. Shine
9. Back To The Start
10. Look At Me
11. Observations

Excerpted from Jade Tree Records: "What some may not realize about AVAIL is that, like most bands, they came from humble beginnings in suburban Reston, VA. They were just like any other kids rocking in their parents’ garage, but instead of ripping out covers or aping their heroes, AVAIL were defining their unique sound at a very early age. By the time Joe Banks (guitar), Tim Barry (vocals) and Beau Beau (cheerleader / uber-roadie) moved the band to Richmond in 1990, the group had already almost honed their effortless blend of the classic Southern rock and protest folk that was in their veins with the melodic skate punk that constantly filled their ears. The backdrop of everyday life in Richmond, though, proved to be the key ingredient in solidifying the band’s immediately recognizable sound. Barry’s tales of everyday struggle and triumph became inextricably tied to the life (and death) of his hometown, at once creating blue-collar anthems that are often not just highly personal, but also highly political. It’s this ability to seamlessly streamline both sonic and lyrical content (along with a relentless touring bug) that has truly made the songs of alienation, travel and anti-establishment triumph… legendary."

http://www.myspace.com/availrva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avail

Strike A Match — Demo 2011

An interesting band from Norway, Strike A Match play a refreshingly a-stylistic type of punk. It's kind of disjointed, but in a good way. Not much distortion, no hard breakdowns or real solos, just cool jams. Sort of reminds me of Regulations, what with the whole Scandi thing, but also sort of a rock'n'roll sensibility that hearkens all the way back towards to some early eighties tunes, before punk was a style and not just an attitude. Yeah, refreshing is a good word.

Strike A Match — Demo 2011

Track Listing:

1. Strike A Match
2. 1000 Eyes
3. Dead Time in the Living Room
4. You Don't Have to Fuck People Over to Survive
5. Sleepers Awake
6. Let's Be Human Beings

Strike A Match are a reasonably new band from Oslo, Norway, with members from a bunch of other bands over there that unfortunately I'm not too familiar with. Cool band in what's always been a cool scene, from everything I've heard. Check it out.

http://strikeamatch.bandcamp.com/

Real Talk — Kill Someone You Don't Know

Music is made up of three main elements: melody, harmony, and rhythm. Not all bands are graced with all three, at least not in this punk rock thing. Real Talk, on the other hand, can kick out some serious jams. While essentially a pop-punk band, these dudes play a lot harder and with more energy than a lot of people in that genre. The guitar work isn't jimi but it's damn impressive, and all the tempo changes are sweet. Lyrics are confrontational and intelligent. The thing most people are gonna stumble on is that the vocals are sort of a spoken word thing, sometimes a little bit like rapping (backstory: the singer's parents were home when he was recording and he had to tone it down. They're sort of different live). But these are some of the coolest 90's style pop-punk tunes I've heard since blink-182 jumped the shark.

Real Talk — Kill Someone You Don't Know Demo 2010

Track listing:

1. College
2. Class Trip
3. Lone Wolf
4. High School
5. Punk Things Are Cool
6. Crazy
7. Dance Party

Real Talk are a DC-area band playing an expressive style of melodic, fast pop-punk. Members of Warbound, Coke Bust, and other DC hardcore bands. They've got a show coming up March 19 with No Brainer at AU.

http://killsomeoneyoudontknow.bandcamp.com/
http://www.myspace.com/realtalk6669

Amendment Records Sampler 2011

A cool sampler from a label focusing on Spanish hardcore. The language, not the nationality. Lots of variety between the bands, some sort of remind me of Trial, others of like Cold World; also there's an interesting indie tune in the middle. Of special relevance are two preview tracks from an upcoming split between our friends in Police & Thieves and Remission. The P&T tune has a sick tempo change in the middle, and Remission sounds kind of like Outspoken or Turning Point. Some cool canciones on here. Also reminds me how I need to bone up on my Spanish, I can't quite catch everything being said. But for the xenophobic: several of these are in English, or switch between. There's really no reason not to check this out.

Amendment Records Sampler 2011

Track Listing:

1. Contra Todos Mis Miedos — Colera Mental
2. Contra Todos Mis Miedos — 11-22
3. Entrefuego — Heridas Que Aprenden A Sanar
4. Police & Thieves — We're Not The Only Ones
5. Remission — Seeded
6. Invierno — Escondite
7. Columnas — Proclama
8. Shield — Anima Annihilation
9. En Nuestras Venas — Evasion
10. Waterglass — Valley
11. Remission — Love
12. Contra Todos Mis Miedos — Scusarmi
13. Remains To Be Seen — Spirit
14. Approach — Struggle

http://amendment-records.com/