Monday, January 3, 2011

Fuck With My Life But I'll Pay No Attention



Here's a quick note to say that everyone should snap up a copy of the Young Republicans 7" that came out a month or so ago, especially since More Than a Witness did such a great job with the packaging -- colored vinyl for the first 150 copies, nice thick die-cut pocket sleeve, fold-out poster/lyric sheet with tons of photos taken at the old Stamford Anthrax-- and also because I'm thanked on the lyric sheet (whoopee). If you haven't heard the story behind this 7", the Young Republicans were the first hardcore band for John Porcell, Darren Pesche, and Graham Phillips, while they were still in early high school; all three of them would later (along with Ray Cappo) form the first line-up for Youth of Today. Their 1983 demo has remained missing for decades, but someone finally coughed up a copy, leading to the release of this EP.

More Than a Witness calls this a "hardcore holy grail" and says "this could easily be considered the crucial missing NYHC or CT 7” EP", but that would be the Youth Korps demo, which this definitely isn't. What it is, is a solid hardcore release for the times, made even more impressive by the fact that Young Republicans were just 9th graders; not quite as good as "God, Guts, Guns" (which More Than a Witness also re-issued in 2010), or the Violent Children EP, or "Hit Squad For God", or Reflex From Pain, but this smokes more than a few other 7"-ers from around then that I could name. Plus, if you own a copy of the "Everybody's Scene" book about the Anthrax Club, this record is just about the perfect companion piece to help sum up that scene and that era, especially since any of the other records from back then will end up costing you a lot more than the mere 5 bucks you'll pay for this one.




Young Republicans -

"Respect For Authority"








6 comments:

This Guy said...

Hey, I check into this blog every once and awhile. Leave comments when applicable, then vanish like the anonymous internet user I am.

Anyway, knowing your tastes, I figured I'd hip you to a new band you may or may not have heard of... POP. 1280.. their new 12" called STEP INTO THE GRID came out in October and its one of the best things I heard in the Year of the Golden Tiger. Get on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay2Cb4otJyY

No. I'm not in the band. And yes, if you do have a Von Ryan's Express 7" or two kicking around, it'd be sweet on you to post em.

Man, apologies for telling you what to do twice in one comment. The nerve of this guy!!!

Brushback said...

Sorry, I'm a dud regarding Von Ryan's Express... I think this already came up in the Hydrogen Terrors post.

I think I've been avoiding Pop. 1280 because the guy from White Denim (record label) likes them. Oh, and the synthesizers. Maybe one day I'll get over it.

That Guy said...

Yeah, I believe that was me on the Hydrogen Terrors post... figured I'd try again.

As far as Pop. 1280 goes... The synthesizers are there but in a Chrome or Six Finger Satellite way. To my ears they have more in common with Swans or early Cop Shoot Cop and (dare I say...) Breaking Circus (in a muscle-y way) than those two bands though. The EP is promising. Give it a spin if you get the chance.

I hadn't heard of White Denim Records, so I looked 'em up and they seem like your run-of-the-mill Load-type noise label with nice packaging and crap content. Bitter purchase or something?

Brushback said...

Ha ha, no, that was just another one of my failed attempts at humor. The White Denim guy is pretty OK by me. It's actually the guy at Leather Bar that I can't stand.

Brushback said...

Oh man, I was just listening to "Flex Your Head" and "High School Rednecks" has almost the same riff as Deadline "Stolen Youth".

Brushback said...

The mp3 link is now inactive