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

Stay Gold — S/T

Stay Gold were a melodic hardcore band unlike any other. As in, they sound like no one else. It's hard to describe, but the music is some of the most thought-out and rounded this scene has ever produced, taking a lot of influence both from punk bands like Good Riddance and from hardcore like Turning Point. The vocals are really what sets this band apart though, it's almost a spoken-word delivery but with a lot of conviction. The lyrics are different too, they rely on vignettes and analysis, along with the more traditional personal narratives, hitting an emotional level you don't see to often. It's sort of like a collection of short stories, if that makes sense. Anyway, this band might not be for everyone, but it's nevertheless a compelling piece of hardcore history. One of my favorite bands, at least.

Stay Gold — Self-titled 7" (2001)

Track Listing:

1. Once I…
2. Remember Me
3. Black Eyes
4. TGIF
5. Just Say No

From Indecision Records: Eagle Barber (Drums/Vocals) and Chad Repp (Vocals) came up with an idea for a band during the summer of 1998 or 1999, who really knows? Anyways, at that time in Seattle, music was leaning toward the "metal" side of the equation and Chad and Eagle wanted to start a band that was reminiscent of their influences. Bands like Hot Water Music, 88 Fingers Louie, Turning Point and Bane could be considered there "core" influences but they also had much broader musical tastes, from Split Lip to Bad Brains.

After working on a few songs in their cramped Capital Hill apartment they recruited Ross Swanes (Guitar) and Chris Jahn (Guitar) and rounded out the line up with Chris' younger brother Matt Jahn on bass. Taking the name Stay Gold they practiced, played some shows, had some fun, recorded a demo, and had some more fun. Matt decided to go to Europe to play the bag pipes (not kidding), it's a bit more complex than that but he went traveling. Stay Gold liked having two Jahns in the band so they got Cam Jahn, the middle brother of the three to play bass.

From that point Stay Gold was pretty solid: Aram/Anchor records put Stay Gold’s s/t 7"/CDep, a few short west coast tours commenced…good times. Then Indecision signed the boys of gold to do a few records. So out came the 7”/CDep, "Caught up in the Moment", and the full length CD "Pills and Advice" with the vinyl of that record coming out on the European label Years From Now Records.

Now the details get fuzzy…more tours, and more chaos, Chris quit and moved to New York and Paul Betinson joined Stay Gold on guitar to do a U.S. tour. Stay Gold played what was to be their last show on August 18, 2002 at Hell’s Kitchen in Tacoma, Washington with Champion, Terror, and Allegiance.

Go It Alone — Hollywood North Demo

This demo is sweet. The guitar is crunchy and sound quality isn't quite perfect, but the energy and passion Go It Alone was known for is definitely there. They recorded this demo before they ever even played a show — in fact they didn't play together as a band for over a year after recording this. But they knew what they were doing, and as with a lot of Pacific Northwest bands there's a kind of desperation in the sound that makes it really urgent and angsty. Must be the rain. Anyway, despite the rough conditions when it was recorded, this demo is sweet, with well-written songs and classic lyrics. Some of these tunes appeared later on Vancouver Gold and The Only Blood Between Us with the song structure virtually untouched. I guess they got it right the first time.

Go It Alone — Hollywood North Demo

Track Listing:

1. Picking Up The Pieces
2. Close At Hand
3. Reflection
4. Turn It Off
5. Water Finds Its Own Level
6. Go It Alone

Go It Alone was a hardcore band from Vancouver, BC, circa 2002-2007. They released this demo, a  few 7"s and splits, and 2 LPs. There is a photography book commemorating their existence and final show.

http://www.myspace.com/goitalonehc

Sinking Ships — Demo 2004

Sinking Ships may very well hold the title of Most Depressing Melodic Hardcore Band. Lyrically, it's a far cry from Champion — the singers of both bands are brothers, but there seems to be little in common besides the Core. But along with the really sad lyrics are complex music and lots of energy, and something redemptive in the sound. Anyway, this is their first release from way back in 2004, from before they were really doing much. But it's sweet, good enough that they rereleased 6 of the tracks on the Meridian EP and only edited the vocals a little. These are probably my favorite songs by them, mostly for the unique songwriting and powerful delivery.

Sinking Ships — Demo 2004

Track Listing:

1. Int(Chi)Ro
2. Roads Leading Midwest
3. Memorial
4. All Paths Of Glory
5. The Limit
6. Angels Live In My Town
7. Kiss The Sharks

Sinking Ships were a melodic hardcore band from Seattle circa 2004-2008. They released a bunch of demos and splits, the Meridian EP, and the Disconnecting LP on legendary Revelation Records.

http://www.myspace.com/sinkingships

Legit — In Defeat

Legit's other demo. West coast melodic hardcore at its finest, fast and hard and really inventive. Dude has one of the harshest voices I've heard outside of like powerviolence or death metal. The music goes into rare territory for hardcore, hitting 3/4 time and counterposed guitars, and getting a little philosophical with the lyrics. This is really solid stuff.

Legit — In Defeat Demo

Track Listing:

1. Painted Red
2. State Of Mind
3. The Ocho
4. In Defeat

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. Members of Go It Alone and Shook Ones. Backed extra hard.

www.myspace.com/legitimatebros

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.

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

Ordeal — It's Getting Harder To Stay Young And Stupid

Just recently, Sam Uriss mentioned how it must be a big ordeal to move through a crowd if you're really fat and smoke a lot of weed. Well, that reminded me of this little demo from a while back. It's by the band Ordeal, from way over in Washington state. See, over there there's a thing called the Legitimate Brotherhood, where basically a lot of the hardcore bands from the entire Pacific Northwest are friends and have a nice website to show themselves off. This is a demo I got off of there, among many others. This is one of the better ones, at least of you're into more youth crew-y stuff. It's just some interesting jams, kind of along the lines of Floorpunch.

Ordeal — It's Getting Harder To Stay Young And Stupid Demo 2004

Track Listing:

1. Lost Time
2. Cultural Awareness
3. New Age
4. Fear Of Failure
5. One Lie
6. Gave It Away

Band Bio from the Legitimate Bros site:

Ordeal was Bellingham Straight Edge. We played hardcore, straight up and down. This band started just as the Ripped To Shreds era was coming to an close. We had long talked of doing a project in the style of our favorite bands of the "Youth Crew" era. We played our first show in the winter of 2003 and recorded our demo just after the new year. We were a D street staple and played a handful of hype shows from Vancouver, BC to Olympia. Some heads were more interested in pop punk bands, some heads moved, some heads fell off their edge and some even did a combination of those things. The band was pretty much dead sometime in 2005 just after our first and only tour down the west coast, although we would make a rare appearance now and again before playing our last show ever reuniting to open things up for our friends in Blue Monday's last show. Shortly after this another founding member broke making that the absolute final time Ordeal would take the stage. Peace

Legitimate Band Site