Hated - 4 Song EP and Pressure/Stereotyped 7" Single Reissues

Label: Meat House Productions; Year: 2021; Format: 45RPM 7" EP

If you are like me and love the early Southern California sound of bands like T.S.O.L, Agent Orange, Adolescents, Shattered Faith et al then you are in for a treat with Hated who hailed from Huntington Beach and released three 7"s in the very early '80s. As it goes with those records they cost in the hundreds and are collector items and unfortunately not to be heard by the vast majority of us punk record nerds. Luckily Meat House Productions has finally made these gems available again for everyone to be able to buy for a few bucks and that's just what the world needed. I sure as hell have come across Hated, but whether it was this Hated or another one, I really don't recall. The band really doesn't get much mentioned in all the books and documentaries on Southern California punk history that are out there now while they really should be up there with the likes I name dropped earlier on. Originally released on the band's own Stress Records in 1982 the four songs are nothing short of superb and had they been produced better and especially louder the record would be even better as it already is. Angst-ridden vocals combined with the typical surf music influenced punk guitar sound of Southern California and an equally aggressive yet melodic bass and drum sound are all the ingredients a perfect record needs and they are to be found in abundance on all four songs. My personal favorite is "Enemy", but in all fairness I could pick any of them. Brilliant EP!

Label: Meat House Productions; Year: 2021; Format: 45RPM Single

I don't know which of these two records came out first in 1982 but just like the 4 Song EP this two song single containing 'Pressure' and 'Stereotyped' is an absolute scorcher. Interestingly across the front cover from left to right the letters read in German "ich kann ihn nicht leiden", meaning I cannot stand him. Who the band was referring to is unknown to me but considering Hated were part of the early '80s hardcore punk contingent from Huntington Beach I imagine they had lots of enemies in the general population by just looking somewhat different from the rest. Hard to think that these days just about anyone walking down the Huntington Beach pier looks somewhat punky, well slightly exaggerated but not that far off from the truth me thinks. In comparison to the 4 song EP the two songs on this single are better produced and while they are stylistically very similar I cannot help to hear a bit more of an Angry Samoans vibe in both songs. Maybe I should mention that bass player Chalmer Lumary went on to join Vandals and I am not one hundred percent sure whether another member, Joe Wood, is the same person that would go on to front the second incarnation of T.S.O.L and married Jack Grisham's sister. Maybe someone out there knows? Hopefully I can find a copy of the reissue of the band's first record from 1981 and from what I saw on the Hated official FB page a new record is to come out on Puke'N'Vomit as well. Unfortunately Hated's singer Steve Reehl aka Steve Real passed away last year, RIP. Get these reissues while they last!

Cuckoos Nest Poster and Live Shot stolen from the band's FB page.

Keith Morris with Jim Ruland - My Damage (The Story Of A Punk Rock Survivor)

Publisher: Da Capo Press; Year: 2016; Format: Hardcover Book

It's not surprising that I remember more about the circumstances as to when and how I bought this book instead of the contents. Back in 2017 when I was still living in Brooklyn I recall taking the R Train on a sunny Sunday afternoon from Bay Ridge where my wife and I lived at that time to lower Manhattan where the big Strand Book Store is located to this day. I spotted Keith Morris' book was priced at $11.95 instead of the $25.00 list price and I sure as hell didn't think twice picking up a copy. Later said afternoon I sat outside in Union Square Park and read several of the short chapters of this great book and a few days later I was done with it. Some time ago I reviewed Jim Ruland's "Corporate Rock Sucks" book, another really fascinating book, but before Jim got to write that he spent quite some time with one of the founding members of the Southern California punk and hardcore sound, Keith Morris. According to a Decibel interview Jim and Keith would drive around in a car and visit places pertinent to the rich punk and hardcore history of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas in order to coax memories out of Keith. The book takes the readers on a wild ride from Keith's childhood days in his hometown of Hermosa Beach in the South Bay to him fronting Black Flag and Circle Jerks all the way to the days of OFF!. One thing's for sure and that is that Keith does not hold back one single bit about his own life and how happy he is to be still alive after having gone sober in 1988. We further learn how Keith's dad was a thug having been kicked out of Inglewood High for kidnapping the principal and how Keith got exposed to music at an early age when seeing Arthur Lee and Love perform at a matinee show in the South Bay. What most of us probably didn't know is that at one point in his life Keith worked as an A&R for Richard Branson's V2 label, an experience Keith has some salty words to tell you about. It truly is everything you would expect from a man that has lived an interesting and fast life. The book was apparently the result of Keith and Brendan Mullen (RIP) having become good friends over the years and Brendan pushing Keith to write about his life. A good thing he did as this is without a doubt one of the better autobiographies and comes highly recommended. 

Keith and a few beers. Photo by Spot (RIP). 

A more recent photo of Keith ;-)

Tony Rettman - Straight x Edge - A Clear-Headed Hardcore Punk History

Publisher: Bazillion Points; Year: 2017; Format: Book

It's time for another book review as I haven't done one in a while and trust me there are many to get through and as it happens to be with a lot of books I have read in the past the one being reviewed tonight I have finished some time ago, well back in 2020 to be exact. Straight Edge in general is not a lifestyle that ever really appealed to me but there were times in my life when I didn't drink booze at all or when for a relatively short time I was a vegetarian, but to be really honest with you I could not give up drinking alcohol nor eating meat for ever. I look at it from a point of view that always do what's best for you and what you enjoy the most while not forgetting to have some fun. In general I am not against Straight Edge per se but have my limitations as to understand why a subcultural scene as the punk and hardcore scene ended up being split into even more fractions and sub-fractions based on whether one drinks or smokes, or not. I fully understand that that's not exactly what Minor Threat set out to achieve and I enjoyed reading the first two to three chapters of the book. I must admit though that it is at a very early stage of Rettman's Straight Edge bible when I started to struggle more and more and with each page turning as most of the quotes of the people being interviewed just become repetitive and boring. In my view books written in the oral history format are just not that good in general, something I have noticed over the years reading many books on punk history written in different formats. So in that sense even for a non Straight Edge guy like myself the experience could have been much different had this book been written and researched in a different way. Tonight I sat down and briefly reread the chapter about Straight Edge in Europe and the UK. While I was able to relate to a lot of it as I lived there in the past, I also realized that for someone else who didn't grow up in Europe and maybe has little knowledge about the scenes there probably a lot reads like gibberish as there is little to no context to the quotes provided. Reading the European chapter again it made me think about those times around '87 when I was living in Zurich, Switzerland. While we had a few Straight Edge people at shows I personally recall very little in terms of friction between the drinking crowd, which was the vast majority, and the Straight Edge crowd. Personally I thought it was a shame that towards the end of the '80s the Straight Edge kids started to splinter off and create their own scene, a scene I never had any interest in as it was exclusive and had a specific agenda, something I could not embrace. Of course it's just human nature to be wanting to be involved with like minded people, and I am not here to judge but in hindsight I think it turned many people off and away from hardcore, including myself. But, back to the book and the early days of Straight Edge where I thought that the chapter on Boston serves as somewhat of an appetizer of what is to come when some people just take their own convictions a bit too far but obviously nowhere near as to what would follow in the '90s with bands like Earth Crisis and militant outliers within the Straight Edge scenes. After some mostly interesting chapters concentrating on scenes in Southern California, Nevada or New York City the book becomes a fest of repetition and umpteenth renditions of Youth Of Today clowns spread around the globe and that's really about it. To wrap this up I recall that about twenty years ago I interviewed Slapshot after a show in Germany and made a joke about it being no surprise that Choke turned Straight Edge with the prospect of having to drink crappy beer like Budweiser. Let me tell you that if looks could kill I certainly wouldn't be typing this here tonight. Time for a beer now. 

Bonecrusher - Followers Of A Brutal Calling LP

Label: Knock Out Records; Year: 2000; Format: Vinyl LP

Southern California's Orange County has always been a hotbed for great punk rock acts and bands like TSOL, Adolescents, Agent Orange or Channel 3 just to name a few are household names to anybody into three chords and then some. In the '90s when Emo and Pop Punk ruled it was refreshing to see bands like Bonecrusher forming and such was the case in 1992 when Bonecrusher's story begins. I reached out to Mike Kanel, bass player and founding member of Bonecrusher to answer a few questions with regards to "Followers..." as it is one of my favorite records to have come out in the '90s or in this case in 2000. To cut a long story short the copy I now own is one of those that I was distributing when the record came out, mainly through a record store in Zurich, Switzerland. Years ago I sold a lot of my '90s and early '00s records and unfortunately "Followers..." was part of it, not sure why but I needed the money. Of course I wanted it back so fast forward a few years back and a friend of mine back in Switzerland was selling his entire collection and I was happy enough to snap this one up only to realize that the sticker I used to put on records I distributed was still on there. This copy has certainly travelled the world. So, in order to prepare for this blog entry I wanted to read up about Bonecrusher but even after a 30-year history Google came up with very little to nothing. Mike thinks that "we have always just been a garage band and still are. Music has always been therapeutic and making records is a hobby. We let the music speak for itself." In the end I was glad that I have a copy of 3rd Generation Nation's No. 19 Fanzine from spring 1999 as Rick Bain's of Hostage Records history of the band up to that point is worth gold. OC's Hostage Records alongside Outsider Records also played a vital role in the band's abilities to release material on vinyl. It was the so called 'Life on the Streets' trilogy with the three EPs on Hostage ("Animal", "No Escape" and "Problems in the Nation") that not just solidified the band's standing but led to some serious attention across the pond in Germany. As for Hostage Records Mike chimes in: "Well we all know that if we didn't give them the recordings to the Animal 45 the label might have never taken off the way it has."

I myself used to contribute with writing to 3rd Generation Nation back in those days and a certain Mosh of Knock Out Records most likely paid good attention as to the mayhem Bonecrusher were causing in Orange County. Soon enough Bonecrusher were able to not just release records in Germany but also tour on the European continent. Mike on Knock Out's vital role in the evolution of the band: 

"Mosh and Knock Out Records are the only reason we ever went over to Europe. He has always been our # 1 supporter through all of our ups and downs over the years, and has always been behind us as to what we do as a band, no matter what. I started getting e-mails from this guy in Germany from a record label in the late '90s talking about going on tour, releasing a record and so forth. I did not trust the e-mails because I was new to the internet at that time. I thought he was full of shit talking about tours and playing festivals in Europe, and it just seemed like a lot of bullshit to me as we were just a garage band from Southern California, and who fuckin' cares, right? So after a year or two of e-mail exchanges I suggested to Mosh that if he was to buy us plane tickets and feed us we would come and play all he wanted for ten days. - And the next thing you know we are in Germany playing live at the best gigs we have ever played in our entire lives at that point. That's how our relationship with Mosh and our European fanbase started. The rest has been hell of a ride."                

Once I heard about Bonecrusher were headed for Germany I asked a friend of mine whether he would drive from Zurich to the Ruhr Valley in Germany, about a six hour ride. My friend loved driving to gigs on  weekends hence he agreed and so three of us headed up to the town of Marl to see Bonecrusher for the first time. It was a blast, but to be beaten by the band a year later when a whole group of us from Zurich caught the band in Freiburg in Southern Germany were they delivered one of the best shows I have ever witnessed. (Thanks for the free shirts in Marl, Mike! Still have them, LOL)

Having lived in Europe for the most part of my life and now Stateside I asked Mike about the experiences the band has made touring over there and how he would compare it to playing locally in Southern California: 

"Well, there is really no comparison. In Europe the promoters, the fans and the hospitality are top notch and better than any situation you will ever experience in Southern California. The only time being in a band really matters is when you are up on stage playing live to people. That is when the magic moments happen feeding off of the energy of the crowd with the amps cranked up loud."

Ok folks, congrats to making it up to here as if you are not familiar with the "Followers..." LP you certainly might wonder what my hype is all about. In my honest opinion this was the album that solidified Bonecrusher's trademark sound that would continue to this day, with quite a few line up changes having taken place over the years. The music will hit you straight in the face like a ton of bricks but at the same time while absorbing all the aggression in the songs you will find yourself tapping your feet to great melodies, hooks and choruses. Take a bit of Cockney Rejects, Chelsea or Angelic Upstarts, a good dose of Motorhead and certainly some '80s US Hardcore and voila you get an idea as to how Bonecrusher sound. The lyrics are on the dark side of life, and there is a reason for that according to Mike: 

"In the early '90s we were recovering from the '80s punk scene, drugs, jail time, prison and running the streets. So what else would you expect us to include in the songs? Lol. The second half of the '90s gave Raybo, George, Gino (RIP) and myself a second chance at life."

As to the most vivid memories recording "Followers..." Mike reminisces: 

"At that time a lot had gone on with the band. George and myself have always been the 'instigators' with writing and recording. We were making demos with Ray, but had no drummer at the time and it was after having put out the "Working For Nothing" album. We had seven songs that ended up being the A-Side on the "Followers..." album. Then, Raybo disappeared and George and myself really liked the songs so we had a friend of ours, Steve H., filling in on drums on those tracks and George and I worked on the finishing of the bass, guitar and back up vocals. As for the direction of the band in those days we really had no plan, and we never have. Things just happen organically and fall into place. We tracked all of the "Followers.." songs at George's house in his home studio. Side B of the album was put together from earlier recordings and stuff we had been working on at the studio."

Bonecrusher have been in existence for 30 years now and for old time fans like myself their original singer Raybo personified the band to a degree. His on stage presence was just immense, if not scary to some people I suppose. Mike remembers: 

"Ray had a natural talent for belting out words and stories and some of my best memories are of me and Ray sitting in the garage of my house and writing new songs right there on the spot. Simply magical times." Update 10-6-22: RIP Raybo

Should you be new to the world of Bonecrusher "Followers..." is a good entry point into their catalogue in my honest opinion. According to Mike a lot of the old material might be repressed in the near future and I sure as hell hope so in order to fill some of my gaps. Cheers to Mike & Bonecrusher!