A forgotten chapter in Charlottesville punk history

Have you ever had a period in your life, be it several years or a single day, when, in retrospect, everything that happened seems to have been of utmost importance? Despite the drama, the craziness and perhaps the very real harm that was done, looking back it all seems so beautiful and golden that you wish you could keep it forever, like a flower frozen in amber.

The Big Fun Glossary captures just such a moment: “state-of-the art youth hedonism” as practiced in Charlottesville in the mid-’90s. It reads like a reality show version of On The Road, a devil’s dictionary filled with gossip, social criticism, and philosophical musings, where people with names like Morgan Anarchy and Diana the Redhead live in a state of enlightened poverty and angry joie de vivre, hoisting jugs of cheap wine like weapons in a war against the straight-laced forces of oppression.

Read about it here, via C-ville Weekly.

Feeble — All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go

Feeble was a pop-punk band from California in the 90s. Travis Barker (from blink-182) played drums; apparently this was his first band out of high school. Given that pedigree, I was  a little unsure of what to expect, and frankly it took me a couple spins to get into this. Mostly the vocals surprised me, they have an uncanny resemblance to 90s rock. Dude hits a far greater range than I was prepared for, even from a pop-punk band. But after I got over my prejudice, I discovered that this is actually tight album, with cool guitar riffs and song structure in general. Pretty good sound quality, and lots of energy. Lyrics are pretty good, not actually as divorced from hardcore themes as the vocals would imply. The music can be a little smarmy (the intro, and this one ska-ish part), but they do play a Dag Nasty cover, and overall I'm impressed. And the drumming is, of course, solid.

Feeble — All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go EP

Track Listing:

1. Song For My Father
2. Planet Me
3. Remember
4. Best Friends For Tonight
5. Trying (Dag Nasty)

Feeble were from California, roughly 1993-1996. They released only this EP as far as I can tell. Travis Barker on drums, that's pretty cool. Band went on to be Sorry Charlie after Travis left to join the Aquabats. Word.

http://www.myspace.com/sorrycharliemusic
http://www.myspace.com/feeblefontana

I Have Dreams — Three Days 'Til Christmas

I'm not gonna lie, this is screamo. Normally I would never put this kind of thing up; I've always had this gut feeling that screamo is inherently a shit genre. But I guess this proves me wrong, I Have Dreams is… good. Really good. I think what usually puts me off is the overproduced bullshit that typically makes the rounds as screamo; the empty lyrics, stupid haircuts, the emphasis on being "brutal" and sexualized over having any meaningful content.

This is different. It still has the genre signatures, switching between dissonant hard parts and lighter distortionless singing. But this is a cheap recording probably done in someone's basement, the guitar work is intelligent, and the lyrics are actually pretty deep. Not in the weird Jesus-y way most other Florida bands try to be either. Plus it sounds like they're having fun (you know, in addition to the sadness…), and getting real into it. These are some emotionally charged jams, but definitely worth checking out. 'In Good Hands' is an absolute killer track too.

I Have Dreams — The Days 'Til Christmas EP

Track Listing:

1. Three Days 'Til Christmas
2. Countless Rooftops
3. In Good Hands
4. I Don't Imagine You And I Anymore
5. Thank You For Having The Courage To Help A Friend Change His Life For The Better

Lyrics:

From Last.fm: I Have Dreams was a screamo/emo band born from the ashes of a band called New Ethic, when their guitar player Daniel died in a car accident. New Ethic played their last show in August, 1998 with Daniel’s best friend Mike Hanson in his place, and it was about a month or two later that I Have Dreams started playing. The band consisted of Allen Compton and Mike Peters on vocals, Mike Hanson on guitar, Ben Seals on bass and Clayton Rychlick on drums. I Have Dreams were more than a band - in the words of Mike Peters: “It was an attempt to cope with the pain everyone was feeling after Daniel’s death.” I Have Dreams were together for roughly six months, and they broke up in the Spring (around April/May) of 1999.

Count Me Out — Few And Far Between

Happy Edge Day!

I figured this was as good a time as any to upload this classic 90's straightedge revival album. This is before their more brooding later albums, and has instead a really solid youth crew vibe. I'm reminded at times of Floorpunch, Ten Yard Fight, Side By Side, Uniform Choice, and it's obvious Champion spun this record on occasion as well. These guys are often also compared to Chain of Strength, and some of that's in here, but this is a little more straightforward (listen to the Permanent LP if you want to here a true reflection). Rather, this album is end to end positivity and gang vocals, and (as scenemates Time Flies would have said) highfives and stagedives. It's time for some crew mosh.

Count Me Out — Few And Far Between EP (1999)

Track Listing:

1. What We Built
2. How Much It Meant
3. Few And Far Between
4. On My Own
5. Past Mistakes
6. Not This Time

Count Me Out were a youth crew band from Richmond in the early 2000s. They released this EP and two full lengths on Indecision. Some really impressive work. Members have gone on to be in Cloak/Dagger, Strike Anywhere, Memorial, and other bands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Me_Out_(band)
http://indecisionrecords.com/bands/countmeout.html

Positive State — Label Me EP

I'm really conflicted on this record. The good part is that when these dudes get down to play some hardcore, it's really really awesome. I almost thought "Fresh Start" was an unreleased Angry Samoans  track, except for the Gorilla Biscuits EP-style breakdown. The downside is that they don't always play hardcore. Actually, sometimes they play weird white-boy ska, like a poorly-executed Op Ivy or something. Ew. Anyway, I found this in the used section at Vinyl Conflict in RVA, and Brandon just looked at it and gave it to me for free. Maybe he was right about it, maybe not.

Positive State — Label Me EP

Track Listing:

1. No Faces
2. Fresh Start
3. My Song
4. In My Face
5. Unsheltered
6. Generation X

Positive State were from NoVa or DC in the 1990s, and recorded this 7", The Bullshit Initiative LP, and a posthumous split with The Twenty-Two's. Word.