Recent posts by a couple fellow bloggers (here and here) hipped me to an early 90′s SST Records tribute single by England’s proto-emocore DRIVE. Taking on THE DESCENDENTS and THE MINUTEMEN – not to mention Raymond Pettibon – all on one measly 45! That’s the kind of moxie I can get behind. Sure DRIVE sanded down the more subtile rhythmic kicks & leaps that made the originals so goddamn compelling, but that’s probably by necessity – what, you think you could top the Watt/Hurley or Lombardo/Stevenson rhythm sections? These Liverpudlians sound genuinely excited to be rockin’ these tunes (though it woulda been way cooler to hear em sung with a Scouse accent). Yes it’s mighty reassuring to know there’s at least a few rocker types wandering around here who had their heads spun by the very same Blasted Concepts that hit me so hard upside the head all them years ago.
D. Boon‘s high-end chankin’ & now Frank Navetta‘s chunk-style riffin’ may be gone forever, but I don’t figure the extended families of THE DESCENDENTS or THE MINUTEMEN will be calling it quits anytime soon. There’s just too much caffeinated energy and restless orneriness fueling that collective clan to lay still in the cemetery for long.
DRIVE – “My World“
DRIVE – “This Ain’t No Picnic“
I guess it’s better than aping Youth of Today!
You’re not kidding. I recently met this intense nurse from Manchester who talked my ear off one afternoon all about Boston/NYC hardcore. I mean it was surreal: cruising around West London in a double-decker bus, listening to him go on about Vinnie Stigma, Harley Flanagan, Springa . . .
Hahd Coah!
His sentiments exactly.
Get his address and I’ll send him a copy of the Spherical Objects first recording.
Spherical Objects? This guy was too fascinated by the Boston Beatdown DVD to bother with art-rock types.
Fair enough. Maybe we can arrange for a dream date with bass player from Heresy.
Hardcore? Speaking of which, it looks like I will be playing the following hardcore “reunion” in NYC in 2 weeks!
http://ny.knittingfactory.com/show.php?event_id=118161
Well, we do have Gorilla Biscuits playing here next month, too. Me, I NEVER got all that Boston/NYC HC stuff: total lunkhead two-step twaddle w/ no ideas behind it. And Gorilla Biscuits are playing the same night in Melbourne as TEN EAST, so you know where I’ll be…
Nazz: that A7 thing looks nuts. But no STIMULATORS! Harley’s really missing the boat here.
Dave: I know what you mean. I can certainly handle lunkhead, but it’s gotta be part of something larger, grander. It can’t be, like, The Main Event. And The Main Event out there was definitely STOOPID.
I actually saw The Stimulators play! It was at the old Max’s Kansas City- must have been about 1980 maybe… I was very very young… not as young as Harley was, but young enuff! In fact, I have no idea why they even let us in! Probably thought we were in Harleys class or something!
I am not that big of a hardcore devotee, more into old skool CB’s 70′spunk and the West Coast 80′s SST/Alternative Tentacles/Faulty Products/Posh Boy stuff.
But my buddy was in one of the original HC bands and I certainly spent time at A7 and this was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up to get the band together, I’ll play bass. Of course, we can’t thrash like we did when we were whippersnappers, but we’re gonna do our best!
Nazz: You actually saw THE STIMULATORS, at Max’s no less! I’m really impressed. Good luck with the live thing, and do let us know on your blog how the HC reunion goes.