Feedback Friday: Bad Brains

Something new here at DCXX, it's called Feedback Friday. The plan is to toss something like this up on Fridays from time to time. The idea is to post what we would call an "epic" type photo, comment on it and then leave the door open for you, the readers to comment on it. By posting it on a Friday, we would have the entire weekend for people to check it out and post their comments. Ordinarily with the standard day to day posts, it can get kind of hard to keep up with comments, but to do it on a Friday, it gives people extras days with the same entry.

We're kicking Feedback Friday off with this classic Bad Brains photo from the "I Against I" lyric sheet. Chances are pretty high that you've seen it before and that you've had some sort of thoughts about it. Nows your time... get to it. -Tim DCXX


Bad Brains, "I Against I" lyric sheet, Photo: Steve Hanner

So while I was mowing the lawn today and listening to the new Metallica... yeah, the new Metallica, on my iPod, I started thinking about the Bad Brains. Why the Bad Brains while listening to Metallica? I couldn't tell you. Anyway, thinking of the Bad Brains got me thinking of "I Against I", how awesome that record is and how epic the lyric sheet photo is. I know, "epic" is a big word and one that people tend to throw around rather loosely, but fuck it, that photo really is epic.

Where that photo is taken I'm not sure. My guess would tell me NYC somewhere. You've got Raybeez bare back with braces, squatting on the stage. You've got Russ Underdog up front, wearing a Thrasher Magazine painters cap, looking like he's getting ready to go for the dive. Then of course you have the Bad Brains. Earl is clearly beating the hell out of his set, Dr. Know is jamming away and loving life, Darryl is intently focused on his four strings and then you have H.R.... fuck. The guy is doing a freakin' christ dive, something I've absolutely never seen done in person. Stripped socks pulled nearly up to his knees and over his pants. H.R. doing the christ dive is 2nd only to H.R. doing the full flip at CB's in the Glenn E. Friedman photo. This photo defines an era, this photo is epic and this photo IS HARDCORE. -Tim DCXX

I don't have a whole lot to add to what Tim just wrote, other than the fact that my guess was always that this was the Jane Street Hotel and that I always assumed HR was in the beginning stage of a full on front flip when this sick shot was captured. There are certain photos you look at, and the music and power just leap out of the image, you can literally feel exactly what is going on in. This is one of those photos. I also gotta say that despite everything I might end up doing with my life, I'm pretty sure that what was happening at the very second this was taken is probably cooler than everything I will ever do. Bad Brains, forget about it... -Gordo DCXX

Raybeez Remembered 1961-1997

Warzone, Photo: Ken Salerno

It's been eleven years since the passing of Raybeez and I gotta say, the more years that pass, the more people I meet that really loved this guy. Personally, I only met Ray once. He was working at The Wetlands club in NYC and worked there one of the nights that my old band Mouthpiece played. I remember seeing him standing around when we played. After our set, while I was helping the rest of the band load equipment back into our van, Raybeez came up to me and asked if we needed any help loading out. At that point we only had a few pieces of equipment left to load out, so I told Ray, "Thanks, we should be good", be he insisted. Said something along the lines of, "Trust me, I know what it's like, take the help". We loaded the last couple pieces and I said thanks, Ray said, "No problem, I've heard a lot about you guys (Mouthpiece), it was good to finally see you". At this point I'm thinking to myself, "Wow Raybeez has actually heard of my band and knows who we are!". It was one of those surreal moments where you're mind just gets totally blown for a moment. Actually, I shouldn't say a moment, because truthfully I still think back to him telling me that and it's still hard for me to comprehend. Sorta along the lines of when Roger Miret from AF called my house in the early 90's, looking for Mouthpiece to play a show. Total mind fuck, but that's another story for another time. But yeah, that very brief encounter with Raybeez was pretty cool and the guy really couldn't have been nicer. Although he's passed, there's no question that his memory and music will live on forever. - Tim DCXX


Warzone, Photo: Ken Salerno

Raybeez was always really cool and friendly. He got me into shows at the Ritz when he worked there and always had a shirt for me and my girlfriend when we went to see Warzone play. One time I went to see them play at the Pyramid not too long after Jay joined the band and they had some new songs. After the show they were going nuts, dogpiling on each other, yelling and just reacting to how great they felt after playing. I was the only one there (downstairs) who wasn't in the band and after a few minutes they noticed me standing there and realized I was probably feeling a little uncomfortable. So they broke up the party and we talked for a minute and I said my goodbyes and then they just went right back to going crazy. They looked like a really close family, only a few other bands I've know have been like that with each other. - Jordan Cooper / Revelation Records


Raybeez's boots on display

Jeff Terranova on Pressure Release

Although we ran a cool two-part interview awhile back with Pressure Release guitarist Tom Kuntz, we really just feel like this band is so sparsely documented that it is impossible to have too much info on them. So, expect some fan memories of Pressure Release to be coming your way. To kick it off, Jeff Terranova from Up Front remembers the Pressure Release gang...

-DCXX

Unlike when I met Aware and Wide Awake, for which I can pinpoint where I was and how we met, I honestly cannot remember the first time that I met the Pressure Release guys. More than likely it was at the Anthrax in Norwalk, CT. It seemed that if you were a young SXE band in 1987 and you went to the Anthrax, then you were going to be friends by default because there really weren't too many of you around. Fortunately for me, all of the CT SXE bands and kids were really cool to be around and there really weren't any bad eggs in the bunch (they came later and that's an entirely different story). Anyway, here are some of my fond Pressure Release memories.

On Sunday January 24th, 1988 we spent an entire day at the Anthrax when Up Front, Wide Awake and Pressure Release all recorded tracks for the X Marks The Spot compilation. We set up the gear as if we were playing a live show and Jeff R mic'd everything up and recorded all of the music live. We then went back and recorded the lead vocals and the backups.

It was a long day and some people lost their attention spans throughout, but when it came time to do the backups, everyone was there ready to scream into the mic. When Doug was recording his main vocals at one point he got out of breath and took an inhaler out of his hoodie pocket and took a few shots...up until that point I had no idea that the guy had asthma. All I thought was "how the hell does someone with asthma jump around and sing like that in a band?"... I was honestly impressed. The only shame was that Pressure Release did not like how their session turned out so they recorded the songs somewhere else.



X Marks The Spot reels

On May 6th, 1988 Pressure Release had a show in Albany, NY with Underdog and No Outlet at Club 288 and somehow I ended up driving the station wagon, commonly referred to as "the family truckster," up to the show with half of the band with me. The other half of the band were in a pick-up truck... and I don't mean in the cab, I mean in the bed... including Steve from Up Front. I am pretty sure that Alex (PR) rode with me and maybe Doug, I remember Tye (PR) and Jeff Leach (PR) and Steve (Up Front) in the back of the pick-up cruising up the Taconic State Parkway. Steve is very pale skinned and he looked like a freakin' lobster when we arrived at the show, not good.

The show was great and we all went back to Dave Stein's for the night. Dave's place was the best and I have tons of funny stories like when his pitbull humped Matt Bold doggy style and left a little creamy treat on his sleeping bag... or when Biv from Supertouch was sitting on the arm of the sofa right near the front door and someone rang the doorbell, causing the dog to jump over the couch, knocking him off onto the floor. I was always in complete awe looking at Dave's record collection... it was small, but he had every record that you wished to have!

But back to Pressure Release, some of the PR guys decided to sleep in truck, I have no idea why, but I slept at Dave's and we met up in the morning and drove back home. This time Steve rode in the station wagon while suffering the agony of bad sunburn.

I don't remember why, but Steve and I ended up at Doug's parent's house one night after a show. It may have been Friday, February 5th, 1988 because Up Front, Pressure Release and Target 19 played at The Pit in Rye, NY and Rye, NY is right near Greenwich, CT. It was the biggest house that I had ever been in at that point in my life. It was like something out of a movie where you walk in and there were huge stairwells on your left and your right that led up to a balcony that circled the entire 2nd floor.

I remember going into Doug's room and going through his cassette tapes while some of the other guys were down the hall trying to flirt with his younger sister. I went to the car to find a cassette that I could tape over and I remember copying a Pressure Release Don Fury practice and the Cause For Alarm 7". Up until this point I only had a real crappy 12th generation recording of the 7" and Doug had like a 1st or 2nd generation copy... I was in heaven! I don't remember how long we stayed or what else we did, but I distinctly recall sitting on Doug's bed and talking about hardcore with him and Alex.


Connecticut Crew

From what I can remember, here is a list of the times that Up Front and Pressure Release played together: February 5th, 1988 Up Front, Pressure Release and Target 19 at The Pit, Rye, NY - March 18th, 1988 Up Front, Project X, Pressure Release and Judge at The Anthrax, Norwalk, CT - April 24th, 1988 Up Front, Skeletal Ambitions, Forced Reality, Freedom Of Choice and Pressure Release at The Brick 'N Wood, New Haven, CT - May 15th, 1988 Up Front, Pressure Release, Bustin' Out, Our Gang and Bad Trip at The Right Track Inn, Long Island -September 10th, 1988 Up Front, No Outlet, Pressure Release and Our Gang at The Anthrax, Norwalk, CT.

I have toyed around with the idea of putting together a Pressure Release Discography on Smorgasbord Records. I have emailed Tom (Kuntz, guitar) a few times about it, but I have yet to call him to discuss the details and the reality of such a thing. I do know that all of the master tapes are gone, except for maybe the New Age 7" because Mike Hartsfield may still have the DAT(s) packed away somewhere. I have a copy of everything, including the January 24th, 1988 recording that never saw the light of day... which one of the songs has slightly different lyrics than the version that was on the X Marks The Spot comp.

Wide Awake, Aware and Pressure Release were all such a huge part of my youth and I am damn proud to have released the Wide Awake Discography and I am still working on the Aware Discography, so a Pressure Release Discography just may have to be done!


Jeff airs it out with Up Front

On a Thought Crusade with Gavin Oglesby

A couple weeks back, NFAA axeman Gavin Oglesby talked about doing the classic cover artwork for the legendary Screaming For Change album. We went back and asked him some NFAA questions. Get comfortable for this one, there will be much more coming your way soon on all things NFAA.

-Gordo DCXX

My best friend in high school was a guy named John Bruce. Together, we'd venture into the worst areas of Los Angeles, the valley, Orange County, and sometimes even San Diego to see just about any punk band that was able to talk their way onto a nine band bill. Sometimes there were girlfriends or peripheral people who drove, but John was always there. If we were lucky, we'd have a short drive into Santa Ana, but for the most part, we lived in too nice an area to see punk close up. On these drives and the fast food fiestas that followed the shows, John would often talk about bands and the other punks at his school. A disproportionate amount of guys named Pat (Dubar and Longrie), John Mastropaulo, Dave Therieot, and one in particular, that had the most aggressively Irish name I had ever heard, Dan O'Mahony. Danny? Mahony? Anything else and O'Mahony, sure, but Dan O'Mahony? It was kind of obnoxious. He also sounded like the most punk guy at his school. I remember hearing a story of Dan throwing the school principal out of his office. It seems like he would have been expelled for that, but I don't remember, it was before we knew each other.

Anyway, John always thought it strange we had never met. He also used to say, upon meeting we would either kill each other or take over the world. Inevitably, we found ourselves in the same car going to see some show. I was driving and he sat in the middle of my back seat with John and maybe Casey Jones. Again, I don't remember. As you can imagine, Dan in such a small space dominates it. He was intimidating, but funny and engaging at the same time. I remember comparing his personality to heavy grit sand paper. He was pretty much my exact opposite in how he carried himself. Some years later, a mutual friend commented that by combining the two of us, you might actually be able to make a normal person. It might still be true.

It was the summer Dag Nasty's "Can I Say" was finally released. Dan had also been in a real band at that time while John and I had only pretended. Eventually John and I bought instruments and pretended a little bit more convincingly. He was always suggesting Dan should be our singer, but I was reluctant. I had only been around Dan once at the time and while I liked him, it was exhausting. Eventually I relented and we practiced in John's garage with some guy from my high school (playing drums) who had absolutely no idea why we were into what we were into. Dan had bought what we considered the legendary PA and tall speaker cabinets Pat Dubar had used in early Uniform Choice, and we were off. Unfortunately, the PA cut in and out while we practiced but you could still hear Dan. That still impresses me.

Since the fire in my amplifier didn't burn down the garage, our first practice was a success. We opened the garage door and found the neighborhood kids had egged the garage while we played. We were obviously onto something. Within about two or three weeks Dan and I decided John wasn't right for what we were doing and started practicing without him. I might not have been John's best friend. This line up was referred to as the original "Carry Nation" even though the only constants were Dan and I. During that time we played with Big Frank Harrison, Dave Mello, Steve Insted, and a variety of infinitely more talented musicians than us. I like to think we weren't interested in playing with them, but in reality if just about any one of those guys stayed, we would have been better off. No For an Answer was born soon after this.



Having already burned some bridges, we were happy to have Jeff and Vadim from Half-Off offer(?) to play with us. Half-Off was a real band and those guys had played together for some time by then. Jeff taught me how to play fast which was good because Vadim could play really fast. Vadim left relatively soon after our first few songs and was replaced by Casey. Casey was another mutual friend of Dan and I before we knew each other. I don't remember if he played drums before joining, but he was a good friend, fun to be around and we were happy to have him (sorry again, John). We had committed to the name and began writing songs. Dan being Dan meant we would be playing shows and soon. Playing shows wasn't even on my radar. I had probably been playing less than six months and I was suddenly in a band band. I'm not the type of guy who wanted to play shows. Practices were always fun with Dan and Casey.

Jeff was a bit of a character we didn't quite understand. Maybe it was just a Long Beach thing being different than Orange County, maybe it was us. Jeff was very enthusiastic and responsible for a lot, if not most of our early development. Jeff, being a better guitar player than me, always wanted to play guitar too and get another bass player. I'm hoping this was to thicken our sound and not because I was that bad, but who knows? I'm hoping the former. For whatever reason, we were resistant and Jeff eventually quit. Curiously, when Jeff was replaced by John Mastropaulo, (another one of John Bruce's friends from high school), Jeff had sold all of his bass equipment, bought a Les Paul and Marshall half stack and was still willing to come back. Dan and I thought that was kind of funny. "No" was our answer.

Jeff briefly reemerged in a band called "Straight Arm" with John and Walt Coyle that, I thought was pretty good. I think this was probably the origin of Outspoken, though I'm not sure. Jeff pretty much disappeared after that. We tried to lure John by citing Government Issue and Stalag 13 as influences to our "mid-tempo hardcore" sound. We didn't realize we were that fast. John's reaction was "okay then..." John's era was my favorite era for the band. He used to make fun of the songs as we were writing them. He just didn't care and I don't think he even liked the band. When we went in the studio to record our demo, we soon realized he was playing different songs. Again, I don't think he cared or thought the songs were worth learning and, for whatever reason, I respected that. He never faked it. John did his time with us and later joined Uniform Choice. I think Uniform Choice is what we all would have liked to be our sound, but it was as good as we could be at the time. The only consolation for me was, he joined the later, sort of discredited UC.

The demo I referred to earlier was initially designed to get us shows. I just wanted proof that I was in a band, but for the band, it was to get us shows. Somehow that demo became our first 7"...

Wasted Days TV - "Kevin's Collection: Outtake"

WASTED DAYS TV - "Kevin's Collection: Outtake" from Larry Ransom on Vimeo.
Here is an outtake from Wasted Days TV episode #5 (http://vimeo.com/1260824)... too good to let this footage just go to waste. Once again, here is Kevin Finn kicking down some knowledge and pressing info. This time it's on the Chain Of Strength "What Holds Us Apart" 7". Record nerds rejoice! -Larry Ransom

Sammy Siegler - The beat goes on

A very young Sammy Siegler doing the "Billy Idol"

When you think of which singular person has been the most involved with great straight edge hardcore records and bands, The Youth is obviously at the very top of the list. Side By Side, Youth Of Today, Judge, Project X, Gorilla Biscuits...simply seeing one of those bands is a story in and of itself, but to have toured all over the country and Europe with them BEFORE you were even 18? Forget about it.

Sammy has done a ton of interviews over the years, and it's tough to overturn many new stones with him, but hopefully this on-going interview will shed some new light on one of the ultimate beatmasters from hardcore - and music in general for that matter. Here's the first part.

-Gordo DCXX

What are you up to as of late? Sounds like Rival School is back in full swing, was this a welcomed thing for you? What do you like most about playing in Rival Schools? What's the chemistry like in the band right now?

As of real late? Currently sitting on the couch. In the world of Rock? Mainly Rival Schools and Head Autamatica, been working on the new Head Autamatica record and doing a few shows, it's been fun, should be a cool record. I've been producing a bit and doing some funny jingles here and there to generate some funds. But yea, school is back in session, we've been discussing it for a bit, I guess everyone needed some time to do other things over the past few years, and the timing was just right to start ripping again. We were in Europe for about a month in June, the shows were fun and mainly we just laughed a lot, a lot of inside jokes and what not. I think we sounded good too, which obviously is very important, we played some new songs, good times indeed.

I was playing in a band called Nightmare Of You for the past three years, that was a lot of fun, but those guys are a bit younger than me and sometimes had different expectations and desires, it's nice hanging with the RS guys again because I think we're all on the same page in regards to what we want from this, how much we can give, etc. When we started the band, I was in Glassjaw and ultimately left to do RS, again because we were long time friends, similar ages, pulled from similar references, etc. It's important when you basically end up living with someone for a few years.

We're writing a new album, that's the focus right now, playing a few shows, playing a festival in Austin, and a tour in Australia in February. I think towards the end of our last touring cycle before the "hiatus", and towards the end of CIV as well, we were all burnt, too many interviews about the same shit, too much time together, and no real room to evolve musically, so I think maybe the goal now is to really try and have fun, make good music, focus on the important things, and try and play in Iceland, ha!


Sammy, Cache, Wally and Ian of Rival Schools

Let's jump back to the beginning...you come from a long line of drummers. When do you remember realizing this is what you wanted to do with your life? Were drums an instant love affair, or was it something that grew more as you grew up? Would you have ever guessed at 8 years old that you would still be doing this almost 30 years later?

I think drums at first for me were an instant way to bond with my Dad and Grandpa, they could teach me, I loved the challenge, it was a deeper level of communication. After I was hooked at about 8 years old it was on, my friend Chip and I were big into KISS so we would have little concerts where we of course were KISS. I met Matt Pincus who I later played in Judge with when I was 11, he had a mohawk and was totally punk, he and I would try and cover Clash tunes, it all really progressed naturally.

My first band was Noize Police, me and two older dudes who would get me stoned (Toby and Alex who later played in the Skadanks), we covered Power by AF. I met Lukie Luke around that time, shortly after I met the dudes in Gorilla Biscuits and started playing with them, then Side by Side, and it was on. Back then it was easy, do you want to play a show? YES! Go on tour? YES! Make records? YES! I think where it got tricky was later, as some of my friends started going to college, and getting "real" jobs, but I was really lucky, I kept getting new challenges and opportunities which kept it fun.

Things have to keep evolving and changing, if they didn't I probably would have gotten into something else. I had a chance to play drums for Patti Smith, that was fun, I played with Limp Biscuit, recorded their last record, that was really trippy, CIV opened for KISS at MSG, that was certainly a high point, all those things definitely keep it interesting.

As you began to gravitate towards punk and hardcore, which drummers from those spectrums inspired you most? Who early on blew your mind and became someone you wanted to emulate on a stylistic level? Which punk and hardcore drummers do you still thing are the cream of the crop?

Luke and myself always had a healthy competitive thing going on, Drew from Bold as well, I think every time either of us saw each other we would pick something up. It's interesting how certain records from that era are somewhat unlistenable and others are still great. I think "Don't Forget The Struggle", the Warzone record that Luke played on, still sounds great, supposedly that whole record was recorded live in one day, thats amazing.

When we would go out west it was always nice to see Chris Bratton play, he was solid. YOT opened for 7 Seconds in '87, Troy Mowat was a monster, he had a cowbell and a timbale, that was interesting. Macky was always in a different league, he had a lot of style, Stewart Copeland is one of my favorite drummers, I love the way he mixes rock, reggae, and jazz and still plays with a lot of power, Macky has that thing as well.

Luke and I would always crack up at sound checks at the Anthrax in CT because Bill the soundman would always come up and be like, "hey what are these? Mind if I try them?" He would sit down on our kits and shred, I think he played on that first Shelter record, he was awesome. There were certain dudes as well, that I didn't know, but I looked up to them and tried to pick things up from them, the drummer on the first Leeway record was sick, as well the drummer on the Underdog EP, and holy shit, almost forgot, the drummer on the Beyond demo was bizerk, Alan was also a great drummer.

Anyway, there were some not so great drummers as well, but let's focus on the positives.


Sammy with Side By Side at Club Pizazz, Philadelphia

The "No More" Shirt

Porcell rocking the "No More" shirt while playing with Judge at the Unisound in Reading, PA, Photo: Jeremy Dean

Now that the frenzy has subsided over Lukey Luke's eBay auctions, I thought I'd try and shed a little light on one of his items that he had up for bid. The all over "crazy shirt" with various shirt prints (GB, Beyond, etc.) screened all over the shirt, had an image of three cows and "Go Vegetarian" on it. Over the past two days I've gotten a few emails with people questioning me as to what that image was. I figured since I had one of the original shirts, I might as well explain what I know about it and show some clearer photos of what the shirt actually looks like.


"No More" shirt front

Back in 1989, my friend and DCXX contributer, Tony Rettman was given the "No More" shirt by either Jon Hiltz or one of the Boiling Point guys, off hand I don't recall. Either way, the shirt was originally printed by the Boiling Point guys and Tony ended up giving it to me. The front image of the cows was from some pretty standard P.E.T.A. pamphlets at the time. The back art of Youth Of Today and the lyrics to "No More" was simply lifted from the layouts of Boiling Point issue two. I don't believe this was a shirt that was actually sold at any point, but I can't confirm that. My guess is that it was just something the BP guys designed and printed for themselves and their friends.


"No More" shirt back

At some point, I'm pretty sure some kids from Maryland got their hands on the back screens and created their own fronts that said, Youth Of Today. I recall being at a Journeyman, Burn, Turning Point show in NJ where someone was selling the Youth Of Today version. I never picked up the re-printed Youth Of Today version, mostly because I thought the fronts looked weak. I also figured since I had the real deal original, I was good with that. -Tim DCXX