Publication:
MaximumRockNRoll

Author:
Felix Von Havoc

MRR #179
Last month we talked about the serves to subvert or at least bypass the traditional mechanics of distribution is trading. Most bands and economic of record distribution, and two months previous the cat from Mutant Pop/ Thousand Flowers wrote a very good letter about record distribution. One area of punk economic activity which small labels trade some of their own releases for those of other bands or labels to sell in their own area. This is especially cool when the two parties involved are from different countries as it allows what would otherwise be expensive import records to be sold much closer to the price of a domestic release. If you are in the record business you will very quickly get to know all the cats who are putting out records in your genre. One of the most enjoyable parts of running a label is writing to all the crazy hepcats like you who run labels and exchanging ten of these for ten of those. To my mind this is the best way to get your records overseas and across town without having a bunch of people owing you money. The trick of course is turning around the records you've traded for. Be realistic in your exchanges and try to stick to things you know you can sell. Otherwise you will quickly learn that a lot of the people who write to you looking to trade are doing so because nobody bought their record in the first place. I travel across the USA and I'm always struck by the striking similarity of used record bins in stores from coast to coast. That is to say that some records will sell quickly and others will languish in your box for eons because nobody wanted it to begin with. Also, keep good records of what you sent to whom. The punk world is rife with Chaos and Disorder. I know I sometimes loose track of my trades and this can lead to a lot of misunderstanding between trade partners, remember when in doubt write to see if you can clear things up before you run into the streets yelling "this guy ripped me off, he owes me 20 7"s" That is not to say you shouldn't do that when traditional lines of communication fail. (Oliver, Sludge Records, France-You owe me 50 7"s get in touch).

I'd like to talk a little bit about plastic sleeves. You know the clear plastic bags that you put on your records to protect them from being scuffed up. These days most DIY bands don't put out records with folded and glued covers. In order to keep costs down they usually a piece of heavy paper about 7x14 inches printed and folded in half. This means that to keep the record in one piece, especially if there is an insert, you will need a plastic sleeve. When I see a record from a reputable label without a plastic sleeve I usually sneer at their lack of concern for the fans. Plastic sleeves vary in thickness from paper thin 2 mil to super stiff 6 mil and are made of polyvinyl something which I'm sure Rick Spencer will write in to point out is super toxic and killing millions of animals and plants. I'm not sure what to do about that aspect, until someone proposes an environmentally sound alternative I'm putting all my records and comic books in plastic sleeves. Most labels and collectors order their sleeves from places like Bags Unlimited in Rochester NY, I did this too for several years. However, if your scene is big enough to support such an endeavor you can have sleeves custom made for you at most polybag plants. Look in your local phone book. If you get enough people (bands, labels, stores, collectors) to go in on them together you can seriously cut costs down to fractions of a cent per bag. Or you can have several thousand made up and assume the glamorous position of plastic sleeve person, reselling them to stores, bands, labels and collectors in your scene. I have a friend who sold plastic sleeves by mail for several years, at very good prices, he was a popular guy. The point I'm trying to make here is that with a little bit of calling around and putting together a little cash you can help cut down the costs of releasing a record. These days the Do It Yourself ethic is often transformed into the "you do it for me so I don't have to" lack of an ethic.

Which brings me to this. Ever notice how most metal bands, no matter how talented have almost none of the get up and go that even the most amateur punk bands do. Metal cats usually think of themselves as "musicians" and concentrate on playing and performing waiting for someone to discover them. Most punk bands can't wait around to be discovered and call each other musicians only as a term of derision. Every time a metal band plays on a punk gig they are always asking "hey can you book us a show" as if booking a show was an arcane science beyond their ability. Further, you don't see very many self released metal albums, as metalheads usually wait around to get signed to a big label. What is going on here?

Lack of a DIY ethic. The punk scene is rarely given a choice of whether or not something will be done by you or done for you. Necessity demands that most punk bands produce and release their own material and book their own tours etc. Now I've heard a lot of people complain that no-one will book their band. Listen, nobody OWES your band a show, if you want to play out quit complaining and set up a show yourself. If no-one shows up then maybe its not the scene that's the problem, your band just sucks. This goes double for all the shitty bands who go on tour with no releases, no fan base and no skills. Its wonderful that an independent touring network exists, but it sucks that crappy bands abuse it and thereby hurt the bands that are really trying. So all you ankle biters quit complaining about how the elitist scene won't give you a break. Don't wait for someone to do everything for you, do it yourself. I applaud MRR's decision to drop "get a fucking life" the so-called resource guide. A great idea which outlived its usefullness. After the first few years everybody I know who knew what time it was quit sending in listings because all it led to was countless annoying phone calls from lame bands. Looking at the Minnesota listings for last year is illustrative. In a major metropolitan area with a large and established punk and hardcore scene there are pretty much no listings for any punk bands, labels etc. Those that are listed are mostly Ska, Grunge and Alternative bands on the very fringes of the punk scene with little or know business getting mixed up with hardcore. Here is the real deal, if your band is good and you know what time it is it shouldn't be very hard to set up a tour, in fact people will be GLAD to help you because your band is so good and they've heard your records. What? Your band is no good and you have no record? Then STAY HOME! The notable exception is of course the punks struggling to build scenes in places like Malaysia, the Philippines and Siberia who desperately need contacts around the world. So all you rich kids whose two year "punk phase" included going on tour with your crappy emo band to get college credits or put out a fanzine to get free CDs YOU FUCKING RUINED IT FOR THE REAL PUNKS IN INDONESIA AND BULGARIA!

While I'm on a roll I'd like to address something which has been at the back of mind, irking me, for many years. No it's not nuclear war, cruelty to animals or the draft its FAKE ENGLISH ACCENTS! How is it that bands from California and New Jersey wind up walking the Cockney walk and talking the Cockney talk. I've got no problem with healthy anglophilism, such as wearing Andy Capp hats, drinking warm Guiness and watching soccer on cable TV at four in the morning. Silly yes, but hardly plumbing the depths of poseurism like adopting a phony British accent. Granted many of the greatest punk bands of all time were from England, this I will not dispute, but adopting a phony English accent does not somehow make you MORE PUNK than the rest of us. Indeed, have you ever considered how stupid you sound to someone actually from the UK?

In the current flood of records that are released every month I've noticed that the lack of originality in today's punk scene has been manifesting itself in recycled band names and record covers. I'm all for recycling in a general sense, but it gets tiring looking a 7" which uses the same photo of a war victim that was already used once in '91 once in '84 and once in '78. Furthermore, it doesn't take much to come up with an original band name (hint: every variation of Chaos, Reject, and Riot have already been used). I know I sent away recently for a live 7" by the Lewd, which turned out to not be the Lewd I was expecting. There is still a lot of original talent and creative impulse in the punk scene so why be satisfied with stale imitation and plagiarism. The last decade has seen amazing advances in desktop publishing, photo editing and computer graphics. These tools can definitely be utilized to create original and visually stimulating record covers. However, if you look around it seems that rather than enhance originality these tools seem to enforce stylistic conformity. With all these advanced tools at our disposal most straight edge records still look the same.

Living in the past: More forgotten punk and hardcore.

Speaking of the original Lewd I'd like to talk about music for a bit. One of my favorite long lost punk bands is the Lewd from San Francisco (nee Seattle). The Lewd were in my opinion one of the very best punk bands from the Bay Area ever, if not the best. They were around from 1978 to 1982, the so-called Heroic Period of Bay Area Punk. They released the "Kill Yourself" 7" in 1978. They were at least as good as the Dead Kennedys or the Avengers but got none of the recognition, probably because their records have remained rare collectors items. The quintessential Lewd record is their sole LP American Wino from 1982. The Lewd also appeared on SF Underground vol. 2, and Eastern Front LPs vol. I and II. All are pretty rare, and even I still don't have the Kill Yourself 7' (anyone with a reasonably priced copy should write me at Havoc Records) Fear not, just recently a Lewd "Complete Discography" LP was released. A bootleg of course, it sounds great and shouldn't be too hard to find. Every song on American Wino is powerful catchy and makes you want to sing along and pogo just like it was 1978. In the pre-hardcore era when a lot of bands lyrics were demented at best the Lewd offered biting and sarcastic commentary on contemporary society. It is worth noting that twenty years later the music is still catchy as hell and the lyrics incredibly valid. Which reminds me, just about everything the Avengers and the Dead Kennedys sang about is still valid, demonstrating that twenty years of punk rock has changed nothing. For the last fifteen years I've been living in a delusional fantasy. I'm going to cut my hair, put on a suit and go to work for THE MAN right away. HA! Just kidding! I'm actually going to talk about some great old punk rock I know even less about.

Holland in the late 70's and early 80's consistently put forth great punk bands. Bands like BGK were lucky enough to get their records distributed in the USA and tour over here. Some other bands continue to remain in the shadows known only to the Dutch and crazy record collectors. Now the truth can be told about some totally overlooked but great Dutch punk bands Jesus and Gospelfuckers and Disgust. Jesus and the Gospelfuckers of course have one of the best punk band names on record. For some insane reason between their demo tape and their first 7" they changed the name to Agent Orange, I'm sure this has caused confusion over the ages, but now I'm here to set the record straight. The Dutch Agent Orange had two 7"s "Your Mother Sucks Cocks in Hell" on Graaf Hendrick Records and the "VD EP" on New Wave Records (the crazy French label). Both from 1982-83. Jesus and the Gospelfuckers also had at least one demo tape,which is still actively traded, and the copy I got has some live stuff as well. Jesus and the Gospelfuckers lyrics are mostly sarcastic and retarded but still catchy as hell. Their music is sloppy obnoxious punk/hardcore which makes you think of a sweaty basement full of drunk mohicans. Their anthem "Kill the Police" is without a doubt one of the best anti-cop punk songs ever. I'm sure when they played this one live all hell broke loose. If any of the members of this band are still alive I'd love to re-release this stuff, just drop a line to Havoc Records.

Disgust was a great political punk/hardcore band from around 1984-85. Disgust put out a great 7" called Last Blast at least two demo tapes and were on some comps. Keep in mind there are probably ten more bands by now called Disgust, so Caveat Emptor. Ironically Disgust called their EP the Last Blast because "Punk is almost dead, the flame is just a flicker" well my flame continues to flicker, does that which burn brightest always burn fastest? Enough of that, Disgust played blazing red hot punk, hardcore, but not quite thrash. Their political lyrics spoke out against the injustices of the day and the apathy of their fellow punks. Recurring themes as I have noticed. Their guitar player did some crazy shit without delving into metal territory. This record is not that rare and totally worth picking up. Everybody remembers Larm and BGK but when was the last time you heard about No Pigs or Neuroot? Two more excellent Dutch hardcore punk bands. No Pigs played totally raw yet catchy hardcore with great lyrics against police, authority and corruption and for shoplifting and anarchy. They put out a 7" about 1984 on Nozem records, plus some comp tracks. Once again, great overlooked punk, so not that rare or expensive. Neuroot was much faster and more thrashy than Disgust, No Pigs, or Jesus and the Gospelfuckers. You might remember Neuroot from the PEACE comp. They were around in 1984-85 and did a killer 7" called Right is Might. Crucial political thrash-core, totally pissed off and raging. The 7" came with a poster explaining all the lyrics. Neuroot have the (mis)fortune to be on one of the crazy rarest records in the world of hardcore. Pushead was going to do a Neuroot/Fratricide split LP but it only got as far as test pressings. There can only be a handful of these on earth but I've seen three and own one, which just goes to show you that if you look long enough you will eventually find even the most crazy rare record. I have just scratched the surface here, but BGK, Larm and Pandemonium will have to wait, because this ain't a scumpit article its my column. I had better sign off now and give the MRR shitworkers time to open the torrent of angry mail from every body I've pissed off this month.

Publication Date:
January 1, 1988

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