Just aquick entry before I go off getting tattooed today is this album by Bloodlet. They existed in the late 90's, released a few albums on Victory Records, split up, got back together and released another album before splitting up for the last time. They where the black sheep of the Victory roster. Dubbed by many as "Evilcore", there sound was a mixture of slowed down hardcore, dissonance, technicality and something approaching noise-rock. Add to this the fretless bass, the lo-fi production and the hoarse vocals and you have an album that is still as impressive as it was when I first heard it all those years ago. Certainly a oddity in the hardcore scene but definatly one of the most influenctial bands for me.
Now its not really cool or underground in the slightest. But who cares about gay stuff like that. I bought this from a second hand record store in Blackpool when I was a kid. SOIA really deserve the title of hardcore godfathers in my opinion ( much more than Agnostic Funk ). People understand it, if you don't then you are to young.
I used to love skating when I was a kid. I never tried so hard at something for so long to be so shit at it. Worlds worst skater me.
One of my favourite parts from a Skate vid. Jason Dill and a sweet Radiohead song from the Under-rated Airbag/How Am I Driving? EP. The video is from Alien Workshop's "Photosynthsis" video from way back. Also from way back is this effort from Cherubs. A fine example of retarded, noise-rock if there ever was. I know people who saw them a round this time. And it makes me sick knowing that. Noisy, ugly rock incarnate.
Coalesce tonight. Corperation in Sheffield. So in honour of said event, I am putting the live set back up. Awesome sound quality. This is from 2005 somewhere in Philly, USA.
Track Listing..... 1- Harvest of Maturity 2- One on the Ground 3- cowards.com 4- Blend as Well 5- Burn Everything That Bears Our Name 6- What Happens on the Road 7- A Safe Place 8- Jesus In The Year 2000 / Next On The Shit List 9- A Disgust For Details 10- 73-C 11- You Can't Kill Us All 12- My Love For Extremes
.....the bassist! Yes. As a common point of reference and in-joking between my drummer and myself. We always have a little giggle about 90's funk metal bassists. Or more importantly, the clothing. You see, I started playing bass when I was a impressionable 16 year old. At the time it was all about funk metal. You couldn't open a music magazine without seeing a bassist wearing bermuda shorts, a vest/waistcoat combo and a bowler hat. Hair was either pigtailed or kept short and the bass was worn quite low down the knees and held upright. This was a fearsome sight to my young eyes. "They must be so talented" I thought to myself. And more often than not they where. But have you ever tried playing a bass that low down for any length of time? Hell no. Your arms end up hurting, your back aches, you slowly take on a more simian posture. Why do you think Robert Trujillo walks like a crab onstage? Its not a act, he is actually handicapped. Poor him. You see the rest of the band could look like metal knobs but the with a bassist looking like that present they had that important "we-don't-just-own-metal-albums" aura around them. Plus there was doubtless one of them wearing a silly shirt as well. Case in point. LAPD, Korn's pre-nu-metal incarnation.... What a bunch of tools eh? Now I ain't making out I was cool and only listened to Victory Records stuff or anything. I owned some funk metal. As did nearly everyone. Even as late as 2003 America was producing these bands. By that point most had realised the bottom had dropped out of the funk metal genre and had incorporated other styles like reggae, salsa and dancehall into there mess of a sound. Of course most of these people unbuttoned that plaid shirt, hung up the wallet chains and made a proper living of working for Staples or Home Delivery Network. The bassist generally tend to work in music shops now and impress young kids who want to buy a bass with there sick slap bass skills ( believe me, I have been shown this by many a sales assistant with some ethnic beads visible under his shirt collar and his ear pierced right at the top) until the boss tells them off and sends them out back to finish breaking down all that cardboard for the recycling. This really came up as I was digging round a cupboard that contained all the CD's I hide away so that people who visit don't think I am such a clueless tool. But what a little treasure chest. Infectious Grooves, The Urge, HedPE ( who's first album was the best example of rap-metal at the time), Insolence. of course Infectious Grooves still stands up, at least in my head and have gone onto providing Metallica with some extra income as they don't ahve to pay Trujillo royalties for the music he hasn't played on. Just to readress the balance, and to get rid of the sour taste of the 90's in your head I have this video of some Poison Idea. They enver really had much of an interest in funk metal.
Isn't it funny how "metal" some punk bands actually looked?
Following on from my recent charity shop, VHS buy of the 1989 movie adaptation of The Punisher it got me thinking about how much better this version is. I used to rent this from the video shop all the time when I was a kid nearly every weekend. It was The Punisher and The Goonies in rotation. Now, this is a controversial topic almost. A lot of people would argue the toss over this one with me. But I stand firm in my beliefs that the 1989 version with Dolph Lundgren and Louis Gossett Jr ( my second favourite black man) is far better. The 2004 version starring Thomas Jane and John Travolta(?) lacked the gritty violence of both the comics and the 89 version. Fair enough, his costume was more faithfull to the original and it referenced the comics a lot more, but the addition of the three neighbours spoiled it somewhat for me. The Punisher was far to human or at least showed his emotions far to much. Something that Frank Castle always had under control. Now the 1989 version didn't have the costume, but Dolph Lundgren's face is lit to look like the skull. His stubble and the two black eyes are the skull. Plus he had no reservation about using guns and violence, something that they toned down so much in 2004. Dolph blows people away left, right and center. Point blank range with shotguns, impaling them with harpoon guns. Its all in there. He looks like he lives in the sewer, he lacks all the fancy gadgets they introduced in 2004. 1989 Trailer.....
2004 Trailer....
Thomas Jane does a decent enough job of embodying Frank Castle but the addition of John Travolta ruined it for me. The dropping of the mafia ( despite the Saints being some kind of crime family) and the bright weather took away any atmosphere the film created. Now the Dolph version of Frank is so much better. He hardly talks, he has a very dry wit that is sparringly used and he has tons of guns..exactly what the Punisher is meant to have. The supporting cast are decent enough, the gangsters are nasty enough and Dolph's Castle is a lot more believable than Jane's. I rest my case. Well thats it really, just a little rant after I watched both last night. What a pointless post eh? Fook.
