The waiting game

April 4th Take Offense, Cold Stare, World Eater +1 in Duisburg. Until the very last minute I was contemplating wether I should go to that show or not. It is about an hour drive from where I live and no one wanted to tag along. Besides that I wasn't and still ain't too thrilled about Take Offense's latest full length, World Eater in general and not to mention a support band I had never heard of before. Cold Stare on the other hand is one of the best current hardcore bands and all the earlier Take Offense stuff slays as well.
As you might have guessed I did go and ended up seeing what felt like two different shows because the US people had just arrived in Amsterdam that very same day and were running 'a little' late which caused a break of about two hours between the first two bands that played and the second part of the night consisting of sets by Cold Stare and Take Offense.
During the break I checked out the distros but I only found one record. A good one though:

Done Dying - shelf life 7" - 2013 Reaper Records RR63

I was hoping to come across a copy of this release even before I knew what this band sounds like. All it took for me to take heed of Done Dying was knowing that Dan O'Mahony fronts the outfit and Mike Hartsfield plays guitar. Two people that played in loads of bands of which none is bad. They're not all great but still good enough to be worth having in your collection. Naturally I have to get at least a copy of each record they put out when it presents itself to me.

Unfortunately this is not the best band these dudes ever played band. Still better though than most other current bands everybody seems to be siked about. If I see a copy of the red vinyl pressing I'll buy that too.

Due to the lack of records available at the show that I take an interest in I indulged in nostalgia and grabbed a copy of this

I still have a few OG copies of this fanzine from back in the days when me and my 'friends' went to shows in Belgium all the time. Being able to pick up all of them in the form of a book and reading them again back home made the trip even more worthwhile. A true document of its time and place in the history of european hardcore and my own life. I'm just glad I was young when these originally hit the streets. Today I have to chuckle going through these pages again. Still I don't want to miss any of it and the whole thing is chockfull of memory triggers. Reliving the golden (and not so golden) days of my younger years all over again. Thank you for putting it all together in one place. And thank you for selling it at that show. It's sad that these days current releases are not readily available at shows anymore. For some reason it gets rare for distros to set up at gigs. Why is that? Where is the youth of today and what are they doing besides pretending to be professional promoters / label bosses / online journalists?

Vinyl. Music. Culture.

Oh yeah! That's what it's all about. And here is Eilon Paz using those words as a subheader for his website DUST & GROOVES. So naturally I was curious when I got my nose pointed in his direction. If you're like me and those few choice words attract you as much as they do me I strongly urge you to check out all the awesomeness this guy captures in his interviews with record collectors from all over the world and the according photos. Way interesting and beautiful in every way I tell you.

And on top of all that he has an even bigger project coming up. He wants to make an 8x8" Photography book for which he will embark on a 2 month tour across the US in September. Now that's not going to be cheap and it seems he doesn't have the funds but if you like the idea you can donate to his kickstarter campaign. There are different rewards available that you can choose from according to the amount you put in. I just tried to do that but I don't have a credit card and therefore couldn't complete the 'check-out'. Seems like my wife will have to take care of that for me.

14 days left on the kickstarter campaign. Be quick, support and repost!!

 

Live at the Safari Club

And another book. But no giveaway this time.
Btw. I did enter the competition for the Live... Suburbia book so stay out of that one ;)

Here's a little info I took from the clubs site about what to expect from the book:

"Live at the Safari Club is an uncensored oral history of one of Washington, DC´s most legendary underground music venues. From the late 80s to late 90s, it was home to matinee shows combining the best of NYHC with local and touring straight edge, oi, punk, metal and ska bands."

If you've just heard about The Safari Club and/ or this book for the first time you should check out their website. Or maybe read the interview with Co-Author Shawna Kenney over at xSITPx. Probably both.
Looks like it's going to be a nice book but somehow I don't know if I have to have this. Lately there are so many books being released it's already kind of hilarious. I'm not saying this book is but there are already books about CBGB's, Max's Kansas City, The Anthrax and probably some more that are slipping my mind right now. Seems like there is a book or some kind of documentary about every club that held hardcore shows on a regular basis. I'm not saying it's a bad thing and if you have been a part of the scene at the time the specific book captures or are in that scene now and want to know about its history it's in all possibility a great thing but somehow I am not really feeling these books anymore now that there are so many. It's some kind of an overdose. I hope you catch my drift. Though if anyone is looking for a christmas gift for me this might be a good one. I'm just not into spending a lot of money on all those books. Supplies are limited and I rather buy vinyl with what little I have. But if your pockets are a little deeper or you don't collect records I strongly suggest each and every book there is on hardcore and punk. I haven't read a bad one yet. So if you are into books or the DC Hardcore scene in general or do have a bit of money on the side buy this one. If the storybits in the interview are any indication on what to expect from the whole thing it's going to be as good a read as any book covering our favorite topic.

Live... Suburbia

I am pretty sure a lot of you have already heard about the book Anthony Pappalardo and Max G. Morton are working on and you probably also know about the giveaways on Tee Till Death and Vinyl Noize. If not go check the links now. I didn't enter the competition yet. I'm lazy but I should definitely get on it and so should you. Or wait.... maybe you shouldn't so I get a higher chance if I enter.
Anyway if you don't know at all what this is all about then here is a nice post from Cool Hunting with some more info.

One more pre-order for today

This news just came in:
The 'Making a scene' - Book is available for pre-order. I just ordered my copy along with the Shirt. Now go ahead and do so yourself. NYHC history. #2 today in the must know category.

Henry Rollins - Occupants - book pre-order

I just ordered the newest book by the man, the myth, the legend. Henry Rollins. No way anyone doesn't know him.

Here's a bit of what he has to say about it:

"As I traveled and took more photographs I came to the conclusion that the book had to be more than merely a collection of images. If you are a real photographer, you could perhaps get away with that but not me. I am not a photographer, just someone with a lot of visas in his passport and a camera on his shoulder. The last thing I wanted was for someone to think I was being pretentious. I thought about what I could do to make the book be more time intensive on my part, so there would be more for the person who endeavored to get the book. I came to the conclusion that I would write something for each photo. In fact, I would write two things; an impression of the photograph and a caption that provided more of the practical information about where the image was captured, etc."


Interested? click click

Making A Scene - New York Hardcore - Book

Now this is a book I am definitely going to order. And it will probably be featuring some Graffiti as well ;)
Making A Scene was originally published in 1989 so it will be no news for a lot of you folks that it contains pictures taken by Bri Hurley that cover the years from '85 - '88 when she was hangin' with the boys and girls of the New York Hardcore Scene.
Recently a copy of the original Book went for $150 on ebay. But here comes the good news. Gutter Goose Press is going to release a revised edition with more than 200 of her photographs instead of the mere 79 that were included in the original.
You can read more about Bri in this post on the amazing Double Cross Blog. And on this site you can read up on the book itself. Pre-order starts Sept. 1st. Don't sleep on this. I know I won't. Gotta read that foreword by Freddy Madball. And maybe I will even make the boys over at Tee Till Death happy and order the Shirt as well. After all it was their post that turned me onto the whole matter.

The History of American Graffiti

I've never really been into Graffiti. I do like it but not enough to go out there myself or even learn anything about. I can dig a nice piece when I see it in the streets and I certainly enjoy the influence it has on Hardcore. Gotta love that Breakdown logo to name just one example.
Checking up on the various Blogs I follow I came across some info on a recently released book called "Paint it back: The History of American Graffiti". Unfortunately it was only about a scheduled signing in NYC so I had to browse the web all on my own to find out more. And I did. So to save you the gruelling process of googling yourself just hit the picture below to get more info or click here to order it from a retailer in Germany. Of course you could also just use amazon but as we all know there are reasons not to. I'm sure you'll find another source for the book if you're into that kinda stuff and do not live in Germany.