Supertouch - "Anything It Takes" 10/10/1992

I just came across this video of Supertouch today, it's from New Brunswick, NJ, 174 Commercial Ave to be exact, the former house of the Bouncing Souls. Apparently the Bouncing Souls would throw these big backyard BBQ parties with half pipe skating and bands. This one was from October 10, 1992 and it was the only Bouncing Souls party of it's kind that I ever came out for.

One thing I remember about this show was just how great Supertouch were that night. As you can see from the video, it was a tight, intimate, garage setting with kids just looking to have a good time. Supertouch were so on point and so heavy and "Anything It Takes" is a perfect example of that. It was a little strange seeing this Supertouch line up that didn't have Andy or Joe, but although not originals, these guys definitely held their own. I'm pretty sure this was the last time I saw them, until the recent reunions over the past handful of years. Hopefully the rumors come to fruition and we get some more Supertouch shows in 2011. -Tim DCXX

Walter chimes in...

Quicksand at The Anthrax, Norwalk CT, Photo: Jenn Kulawas

Wow! So Quicksand it is...coincidentally, I had a dream last night that we did a reunion show. In the dream we forgot to advertise the show or practice for it and when we hit the stage I realized I wasn't wearing pants either, just tighty whities and what's worse, directly after the set Tom and I got in a fist fight, just like in the old days!

It's nice to know that people still like Quicksand, I really love a lot of the stuff we did together although in this case I believe the deck was a little stacked. I can't help feeling bad for those Walter & The Motorcycle guys, I mean who cast that second vote? Chris Daly? Nelson? Bless your heart whoever it was and thanks to Double Cross for carrying the torch for HC on the interwebs. -Walter


Walter and Sergio with Quicksand at The Anthrax, Norwalk CT, Photo: Jenn Kulawas


Walter with Quicksand at The Anthrax, Norwalk CT, Photo: Jenn Kulawas


Walter fronting Quicksand while someone goes for a dive at The Anthrax, Norwalk CT, Photo: Jenn Kulawas

Young Republicans "Sabotage Your Cookout" 7" pre-orders available now

In case you hadn't heard, Chris over at More Than A Witness, who's brought us a ton of great live tapes, is releasing the Young Republicans demo as a 7". Here's a note from Chris on the release; "Three tracks on this Young Republicans 7" EP would later be reworked and rerecorded for the debut Youth of Today "Can't Close My Eyes" 7” on Positive Force; “Respect For Authority (None)” became “Stabbed In The Back”, “Backyard Bomb” became “Expectations”, and “High School Rednecks” became Project X's “Straightedge Revenge” note for note on their sole EP on Schism."

Enough of a reason to order one? Yeah, I'd say so. Check out More Than A Witness and get your order in while they're still available. -Tim DCXX

More Than A Witness

Walter Schreifels poll wrap up

Walter and Tom with Quicksand at City Gardens, Trenton NJ, Photo: Ken Salerno

As expected, Quicksand ran away with the votes as the vast majority of voters' favorite band fronted by the beloved Walter Schreifels.

Forget for a minute that Walter essentially orchestrated GB on his own and basically wrote everything in the band, that he was a key player and writer in YOT from 1987 on, brainstormed CIV and wrote all that stuff too, and is a versatile bassist and guitarist - the guy has been fronting and singing in bands now for 20 years. Pretty crazy. Obviously some of these projects gained very little attention in the poll results, but if nothing else, it's clear that Walter has a dense catalog of music and lyrics he's been belting out as a frontman for a real long time.

Personally, my vote went to Moondog, but it's no knock on Quicksand. Love Quicksand, the first EP still gives me chills when the Omission bassline rumbles through the speakers - the whole thing is weird and creepy and confusing and awesome and really is in my mind at least, the epitome of that 1990 "which direction now?" Revelation scene. Walter would prove he had a real talent, great lyrics, a unique delivery and his own style in a time where Quicksand spawned a lot of imitators and really paved their own way.


Walter with Quicksand in San Francisco, 1995, Photo: Brian Lillie

But I've always loved Moondog because you can just hear the raw goods in his delivery and style. He's essentially finding his way but his voice just sounds so cool, and some of those Moondog tracks really smoke. Sure it would evolve into Quicksand, but Moondog was a hardcore band dabbling in weird rock stuff, whereas I view Quicksand as a weird rock band that was still dabbling with hardcore stuff.

Rival Schools trailed behind in third place, but I think that had they remained a band longer the first time around, those numbers would be different. They really seemed to be gaining a lot of momentum when they hit the skids - so it's gonna be cool to see what kind of ground they gain now that they are back together. Maybe they aren't a hardcore band, but they've written some great tunes and seeing The Youth and ND in a band together...well shit, that's half of Project X as far as I'm concerned.


Sergio with Quicksand at City Gardens, Photo: Ken Salerno

Oh, and a thing about Wally hardcore: don't let all the rock music fool ya. Walter still knows a thing or two about a thing or two. I'd bet the guy could lay down a classic sounding hardcore EP entirely on his own that would shred if he wanted to.

So...Walter, whatdya say? - Gordo DCXX

Quicksand - 309
Moondog - 73
Rival Schools - 35
World's Fastest Car - 7
Walking Concert - 7
Walter and the Motorcycles - 2


Tom and Wally with Quicksand, Photo courtesy of: Quicksand

Tim Pryce - Powerhouse part III

Dan, Ivan and Tim with Powerhouse, Photo courtesy of: Powerhouse

Here's part three of our interview with Powerhouse guitarist, Tim Pryce. Big thanks to Tim for answering our questions and being one of the good guys all these years. Also, thanks to Ivan for sending me the Powerhouse DVD, which spawned the whole idea to make this interview happen. Check out Tim's new blog, http://timpryce.blogspot.com/ Still friends… Tim DCXX

How did things come together with Powerhouse and New Age Records?

I was writing to everyone I could all the time, making great friends. I think it was Jeff Terranova from Up Front who first got me in touch with Mike from New Age. We used to talk on the phone (back when long distance calls cost TONS of $) all the time. Jeff from CT, Mike in CA and me in Miami. We all hit it off so well, Mike liked the demo a lot, and he was very cool about wanting to do the EP. We were super happy about it.

What memories do you have from the 7" recording session?

I remember that it went pretty smoothly, we recorded on tape then (this was just before Pro Tools and stuff), so there was quite a process to go through, but we had a lot of fun - and a BIG back up vocal session!!


Ivan brings it down with Powerhouse, Photo courtesy of: Powerhouse

Favorite tracks off the 7" and why?

For me, A First Time and Still Friends stick out because they were the songs that had the most personal meaning to Ivan and me. I mean… Ivan is still my closest friend… I wrote Still Friends about him - and he sang it loud right back. A First Time was really about uniting everyone together and controlling the strife that we did have in our scene. It meant a lot to us that it seemed to bring a lot of people together.

Once the 7" was released, what kind of changes did you see within the band and outside of the band as well? Did Powerhouse's popularity peak after the release of the 7"?

Well, we did write & play about 6 more newer songs after the EP came out that we never got to record. Ivan and I were growing into a lot of post-HC stuff, listening to a lot of Quicksand, Rollins Band, Fugazi, Jawbox… even stuff like The Melvins & Helmet. I believe our very last show was with Quicksand in 1990 in Tampa. We wanted to progress a bit – but it was hard to find like-minds at the time – it was frustrating.

When and what brought forth the break up of Powerhouse? If there was anything you could change about how things went or turned out, what would you do differently?

Actually, there was no big blow-out or anything. We all remained close, but were going in different directions. Ivan and I were trying to put something together for a while after that, but then he moved back to Arizona for a bit, so that was put on hold. It’s kinda strange that we never really did a “farewell” show, or a reunion, for that matter, but we did stay involved in the scene and the music that was happening at the time.


Back cover of Powerhouse 7"

What kind of interest do you get from kids these days regarding Powerhouse? What are your thoughts on the band's legacy? How do you look back on those days with the band and the band in general?

I still can’t believe that anyone really remembers the band as well as so many people do – it makes me (and Ivan too) very happy. When I was playing and doing a little touring with Where Fear And Weapons Meet, I was surprised by how many people I met who knew about us… Lately, we’ve been talking & getting back in touch with a lot of great people we used to know. There’s a really cool HC band down in Miami that plays A First Time in every set! We just saw them play in Gainesville and it was really great. They are called Hardware Youth – great people who really have a blast playing cool HC stuff. They do it really well.

We (Ivan and I) look back on those days with a lot of great feelings. I think we did something really cool and fun, made tons of great friends all over the place, and it feels really good to be remembered in a positive way.

What are you up to these days and what kind of connection do you have to the other members of Powerhouse?

Well, Ivan and I are of course still very, very close. We both have teenage kids and we live about an hour or so away from each other in northern FL, but we’re still friends with everyone we played with. Dan (who went on to play in Cavity) & Scott Baldwin – great people… as well as a lot of people who were just a big part of what we did at the time. Sadly, we lost Andy and miss him very much… that is a horrible thing for us to think about. He was a great man, and a great musician as well.

Well, Ivan and I have been working on something that might be really fun with a couple of other great musicians… hopefully before year’s end… stay in touch if you’re interested! You’ll probably hear about it here first!!!

Thanks Tim!!


Tim Pryce and Ivan White of Powerhouse, 2010, Photo courtesy of: Tim Pryce

Straight Ahead - Knockdown

Holy shit! Never seen this video before and had to post it immediately, fuckin' incredible! If this doesn't make you want to do a sofa dive or a flip on your bed, I don't know what will. -Tim DCXX

More flyers from the collection of Pat West