Redemption 87 - Albums, Interview, & More

Redemption 87 were a mid-late 90's "old school" (for lack of a clearer way of saying it) Hardcore band from Northern California. Fast songs in the 1:30-2:30 minute range with snarled vocals, start-stop music, a very noticeable bass guitar, and lyrics that ran from denouncing violence, hate and racism to dealing with getting older/changing, but not having to become a complete contradiction of ones previous self.. The vocals were some where similar to BDTW era Youth of Today while the music reflected a combination of an array of many older/original hardcore bands, a sound greatly lacking at the time they formed.

Comprised of older members, they sought to play a sound reminiscent of what they grew up listening to and/or playing in previous bands. With a before & since pedigree that includes Unit Pride, Token Entry, the Nerve Agents, AFI, Skankin' Pickle, Said Radio, and much more; they definitely had experience to draw on.

Redemption 87's "S/T" LP on New Age Records and comp. track on "Guilty By Association" (Indecision Records) were a large part of the soundtrack to years 17-25 of my life, and still get a consistent amount of love and play. Their second album, "All Guns Poolside" continues on in the same vein as the earlier stuff, but with a bit more stripped down sound (probably in part due to not only moving to one guitarist, but having both of their previous guitarists depart) that had a more aggressive sound to it; they still turned out a very good album that stands the test of time as well.

I feel it needed to mention that their cover of Antidote's "Something Must Be Done" is great and introduced me and surely a lot of other people to a band, that in 1996-97 was nearly lost to many because their record was so rare.

The downloads are in three because they include both lp's, the Spidey Sessions 7inch, the Guilty By Association comp track (which i think is from Spidey, but has better quality), the interview below from Extent Fanzine, and ads for both LP (listed above) and for a 7inch that Extent was supposed to release in 1997 (maybe it became the first few tracks on All Guns Poolside), and scans of the covers/inserts for each album.

ENJOY a great, fun Hardcore band.








DOWNLOAD - "Spidey Sessions" 7inch + Ads & Interview
DOWNLOAD - "Self-Titled" LP + Album/Insert Scans
DOWNLOAD - "All Guns Poolside" LP + Album/Insert Scans

FLIERS: (old) UCR Barn in Riverside & Glasshouse in Pomona, California

Two of the many fliers I have been scanning. Both are going back a bit, but were huge shows out here.

I love the Strife flier... no time, no cost, no address or phone number; just the bands, the date, the venue, and good old 98 Posse booking it. of course, you probably only got this specific flier if you were at a show at the Barn, but still... for a time when the internet was still essentially chatrooms, dial-up connections, and WAV files that were just song clips because they were too big, so little info on a flier seems a bit foolish.

Who is Who? on Facebook

Who is Who? Facebook Page

Who is Who? is on Facebook as a Page.
I had considered it with What We Want, but didn't do it.
Now that Ive dug out a lot of things to scan, it will be more useful.
All posts will likely turn up linked on the Facebook, plus smaller Facebook only posts (fliers, perhaps pictures).

I like the way some other blogs use Facebook as a tool/extension of the blog, here's to doing that as well with content; kinda like the flier below.

Phyte Records related flier from inside the Thenceforward "Winner" 7inch (re-rips and posts of both 7inches coming soon), showcasing the Botch 7inch and both Thenceforward records.

Indecision Records Catalog 1997-98

A few months ago Lindsey & I got serious about moving; which meant I got serious about being nostalgic and digging through some boxes/tubs of things I've accumulated. I told myself that I was looking for things I no longer wanted and could trash prior to the move; and I did. I also unearthed a lot of old fliers, zines, etc.

And then they sat, begging to be recognized again. I hauled some of them 2 doors down a while back to share with some friends at at the GK Lounge; but overall they still sat.

With he new blog and an attempt to try to stay focused in a realistic manner, I seperated the stack in to a more "overall" appeal stack and a "more local" appeal pile, and began tackling the overall pile. Here's one of the first ones.

This catalog has some nice, simple layouts and still looks really good now some 12-13 years later. Note, inside on the first page it mentions a Fastbreak lp to come out on Indecision; which never came to be. Not sure if its referencing what became Fast Cars or the other album they did (which i will not name).

Enjoy, full scans in the download. More to come.

DOWNLOAD: Indecision Records Catalog

Where Eagles Dare - "To Come From Nowhere"

With last weeks posting of the last two Where Eagles Dare songs (link here) I had planned on holding off a little longer on posting the ep & album, but when Chip posted the "In A Thousand Words or Less" ep on xSTUCK IN THE PASTx this week, I decided to get the album up and make as much of the band's body of work readily available at one time as was possible. In the process of doing this today, I have found that the split cd/7inch with Set It Straight is out of print; so maybe at a later date a discography post will occur.

For those still not in the know- fast hardcore, some melody, lots of punk, and the occasional breakdown (for a better description look at the previous WED post).
For me, Where Eagles Dare would eventually transcend any descriptions I could ever give them other than one word, Friends. They certainly helped reaffirm the reasons I listen to, love, and still get excited about punk and hardcore.

I first saw WED in a dirt driveway in Redlands, Ca. (nevermind that it was originally set to go down in the parking lot of a shopping center). Simple enough beginnings, especially when I didn't know what to think at first. We helped them lug their gear from what could best be described as a Winnebago held together with mostly tape, hope, and a desire to play loud music; only to watch the band set up and half of them don bandannas over their faces and begin playing. As soon as the music started though, it was, as a good friend of mine jokingly heckled "Sounds like Shutdown meets Stretch Arm Strong", to which Jaysen quickly replied something along the lines of "I love being compared to two bands i love".




Over the years I got a lot of chances to see them; Showcase Theatre more than a few times, Modified Arts where I witnessed John get chased by a transvestite "lady of the night" as Myc rushed to his defense; the Gazebo in Redlands and the fucking porcelain plate debacle; a Smoke Bar in Riverside, Ca at midnight on a damn weekday; the last show and the drive through the CA and AZ deserts to see the band one last time, and the benefit show; all worth every bit of it. A great hardcore band, and very good people with good things to say.

Enjoy the album, I still do...

DOWNLOAD: Where Eagles Dare - "To Come From Nowhere"

The Shroud - Demo

Southern California strikes again. Anger. Fury. Fast Hardcore. New band from these parts with a bunch of familiar faces from local bands. Download it, drive fast to it, deal with work stress to it, buy the 7inch when it comes out, and go to the shows.

DOWNLOAD HERE

INFO HERE | MORE INFO HERE

Where Eagles Dare - "Rip Out These Tired Chapters"

Where Eagles Dare were an early to mid-2000's Hardcore band from Arizona. Drawing on a wide range of punk & hardcore influences, one can hear the influence bands such as Stretch Arm Strong & Shutdown had on the band as well as classics as varied as Misfits and Gorilla Biscuits. Musically, fast paced and melody laden hardcore; vocally akin to singers such as the aforementioned Stretch Arm Strong. With an energetic live show to go along with it, they released a demo, ep, lp, and split ep before calling it quits.

Upon their break-up they had 2 songs left from a demo recorded in September of 2005 that were never properly mixed or released; but were made available on their myspace page before it was taken down. Here on this Ep are those two songs (one room sanctuary & my song), run through some mastering, leveling, and even a little creative fun with the beginning of My Song all by way of Adobe Audition 3; to give them a more balanced and fuller sound, as if they were getting a proper release. The third track is an alternative version of a song from their full length; which when I had asked a few years ago, no one could seem to remember what it was recorded for.

Members went on to, among other things, Red Son, Royal Monsters, and the infamous George Moshington.

RE-UPLOADED
Download: Where Eagles Dare - "Rip Out These Tired Chapters"

"I Was 21 years when I wrote this song, I'm 22 now..."

I make no bones about loving Billy Bragg; I also make no bones about loving this video. Even though Nash botches some of the lyrics, it works. Nice twist on such a iconic Billy Bragg song.

Expect more Billy Bragg, live stuff to be specific.

Tell Me, Who is Who!

This new year is nearly at the halfway mark and I realize I have not put in anywhere near what I have gotten out of the treasure trove of Out of Print/Rare/Unreleased music this year; and to that end a return to posting seems imminent.

The old blog is dead, long live the old blog- What We Want Music Blog remains up and the downloads should be active as well. The goal is to keep it up and running, and probably with some time, fold in many of the posts into this blog.

What We Want has run it's course for me; it had a much more specific trajectory of 90's Hardcore (of many types) and I always intended for a more diverse foundation. With that in mind, Who Is Who? will be the next venture into music blogs for me. Still the same idea; rare, unreleased, out of print, live music and mostly of the HC/Punk variety. Much of it will still be directly from my own collection, so here we go...


...in homage to the name of the blog, the first post's musical offering is one of the first punk cd's I ever bought; Adolescents "Live in 81 and 86".

The Adolescents first album is not only one of the best punk records & spawning grounds for melodic hardcore punk; but is also a great album of music in any category. To that end, these two live sets that came out on one CD on Triple X Records show the energy and sarcasm so often associated with early 80's punk/HC, but also shows what a tight unit they were live musically and vocally- Bad Religion may have made 'ooohhs and ahhhs' infamous in punk, but the Adolescents did it first and did it great.

These recordings definitely show their age, but they're really good quality all the same. PS- the last 3 songs are not live, but non-album versions of Adolescent songs.

DOWNLOAD: Adolescents - "Live in '81 & '86"