Sheer Terror - Live at 15 Minute Club 9/15/1990

Yet another '20 years ago' posting... this one from September of 1990, from one of my favorite bands ever: SHEER TERROR!

This soundboard tape was actually recorded by accident. The guys in Step Aside (the opening band) asked the soundguy to record their set, and he agreed to do so. Well, he 'thought' he pushed record when they started playing, but he didn't. But he did record the other two bands that played, Sheer Terror & Killing Time. Step Aside got their tape from the soundguy at the end of the show - only to later find out their set was not on it.

I got my copy of the tape from the master back then, and it sounds great, aside from a few level changes that the soundguy did while the bands played.

Some back story on this show... I was already a HUGE Sheer Terror fan prior to this show, but had not seen them in-person until this fateful day. I had my hopes set pretty high, and they didn't disappoint one bit! Some hilarious DC-centric jokes between songs, and even some new(at the time) songs sprinkled in, it was a ton of fun! Heck, they even play a snippet of a Fugazi song as a joke too.

Due to the show starting late(ie on 'hardcore time'), the club only allowed Killing Time to play a really short set after Sheer Terror. I think they played 4-5 songs back to back, and really out of tune... but it was Killing Time, so the crowd still went nuts for such a short set from them. Maybe I will post it in the future, but who knows?!?



Sheer Terror - Live at 15 Minute Club 1990

SubZero - Live on WNYU 1990

It seems weird this WNYU set was recorded 20 years ago, since it seems like just yesterday my good friend Dave Fertal at Inner Journey Records made me this tape of the show. He was in the process of releasing their debut 7" on his record label, and they sent him this tape. That 7", the 1st demo, and this WNYU set have always been my favorite material by them, since it is much more raw than the more polished recordings they released later. The early sound was more like Breakdown meets Outburst, two bands I loved already... and hearing a band blend them together so well was a treat. It kinda made sense, with an ex-member of Breakdown in the SubZero line up. They also had the drummer for Up Front, though it was never evident in their sound at all.

The live set has many songs that ended up getting real studio versions later, but I still prefer the WNYU versions any day.

The setlist: Intro/Boxed In/Once And For All/Waiting/One Too Many Times/Lionhearted/Peering Through The Bars/Bottom Of The Sea/Ice Age

I saw them play DC on their 1st visit at a small venue called 15 Minute Club. They brought some friends down with them that spent the entire time floorpunching while most of the DC kids were not too into it. I still bought the demo that day, since i liked their metallic take on the NYHC style. Later demo's delved into weirder territory with Beatles samples & other stuff I was not into at all. But that 1st demo was great, and will probably appear here eventually - when I find my tape of it.


As most people know, they released a few records as the years went on, and continued to play out quite often up until finally breaking up in 2009... and if I remember correctly, their final show was with the demo-era line-up too. A nice way to bring things full circle, in my opinion.

Without further ado... live from the studio's at WNYU...
it's SubZero!

Release - live in Frederick, Md 1989

I'll be honest ... I never knew there was much of a straight-edge scene going on in Frederick, Maryland in the late-80's. I mean, I grew up in Maryland, and Frederick was often called 'Fredneck' because of the supposed large amount of rednecks that lived there. I can't recall when I first heard it called that, but it's what I think of when I see anything about Frederick, Maryland.

Here we have a live set from New Jersey's Release, recorded at the Outreach Center in Frederick, Maryland in March of 1989. The recording was ripped by G-Man from the original cassette tape, courtesy of BW. The tape is over 21 years old, and had been boxed up since the early-90's. It does have a few dropouts & some level changes... but you won't find this set anywhere else, that's for sure.

I saw Release a few times back then, including the Fall Brawl in DC in 1989, as well as The BBQ Iguana in DC. I even interviewed Rob Fish for a zine I did in 1989 called Take A Stand. Enjoy!

RELEASE - LIVE 1989!

This is a flyer for the show it's from. Release was added to the show at the last minute. Thanks to Josh Hart for the heads up & for booking it back then too!

If you like this live set, you can find a bunch of Release studio goodies here from the great Blogged & Quartered site.

For an in-depth history of Release on the Double Cross Webzine, go here.

Bad Brains at the 9:30 Club 1982

Here is a great Bad Brains 1982 live set from a soundboard recording from their original stomping grounds... Washington DC. Long before the line-up changes and forgettable records on more labels than I can count... the Bad Brains in 1982 were like Godzilla in Tokyo... destroying everything in their path. I can't remember where I got this from, though most likely through Limewire a few years ago.

Here is what Wikipedia says about them:
Bad Brains is an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1977. They are widely regarded as among the pioneers of the genre, though the band's members objected to the term "hardcore" to describe their music. Originally formed as a jazz fusion ensemble under the name Mind Power, Bad Brains developed a very fast and intense punk rock sound known as hardcore punk and was often played faster and more emphatically than the music of many of their peers. The unique factor of the band's music was the fact that they played more complex rhythms than that of other hardcore punk bands, also adapting non-punk style riffs/solos into their songs. They were also an adept reggae band, in a sort of Jekyll-and-Hyde arrangement, while later recordings featured elements of other genres. Bad Brains are also notable as religious followers of the Rastafari movement. Bad Brains broke up and reformed several times over the years, sometimes with different singers and/or drummers. The band's classic and current lineup is singer H.R., guitarist Dr. Know, bassist Darryl Jenifer, and drummer Earl Hudson, H.R.'s younger brother.

BAD BRAINS - 9:30 CLUB LIVE 1982!

Verbal Assault - Live at The Church Of The Pilgrims Jan 15th 1990

Here is a audience-recording(but a pretty good one) from Washington DC in 1990 of Verbal Assault. The Church Of The Pilgrims is still there, though I have no idea how many other shows they hosted back then or even since? This was ripped by G-Man from the original tape that recorded the show that day, courtesy of BW. I only saw Verbal Assault once... it was a different show they played in DC with Jawbox & Chris Bald 96. It was also VA's last time playing DC ever when I saw them. It was a Positive Force show, probably at Sanctuary Theater, but I am not sure. Enjoy!

VERBAL ASSAULT - LIVE!

Red C 15-song demo from 1981

One of many great bands on the Dischord label that only appeared on the flawless 'Flex Your Head' compilation in the early-80s... yet they never released anything else later. This is a shame, because this band is so intense to listen to. This demo is 15 glorious songs, and I think might even be the lost 2nd demo session that Dischord mentions on their site(see below), since the FYH tracks sound quite different than the recordings I present here.
This is what Dischord says about the band: In early 1981, Tomas, who had just moved to the DC area from Switzerland, was walking down M street and smoking a pipe when he ran into a whole crew of DC punk rockers. They were being interviewed by the Washington Post for an article on the punk scene. It was through that meeting that he was introduced to Eric L. from Potomac, a suburb in Maryland. Eric was looking for a drummer, and Tomas was looking for a band, and they ended up forming Red C with Leo and Toni. Leo only played a few shows with the band and was then replaced by Pete, who had been rumored to have been a member of the mysterious band The Stab, along with John from GI. The name Red C may well have come from a favorite Ethiopian restaurant in DC called Red Sea, though there were other theories floating around and the band wasn’t telling. They had a unique approach to music and this resulted in a sound quite different than what most of the other bands were playing at that point in time. They only played six or seven shows before breaking up, but they managed to record a demo tape at Hit & Run studios at some point in the summer of '81 and songs from that session appeared on the ‘Flex Your Head’ sampler. There may have been a second demo recorded in their basement that featured more of their songs, but all of the tapes seem to have disappeared after Toni died of pneumonia in the mid-80's.

RED C 1981 DEMO

I got this recording from my friend JH, along with some other rare DC demo sessions that will appear on this blog as well.

Minor Threat at the Wilson Center in 1982

Do I really need to even say anything about how much I love Minor Threat? No, I don't think so. So I'll leave the band description to the fine folks at Dischord Records: When their former band, The Teen Idles, broke up, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson decided to form a new band with Ian on vocals. In 1980 they started playing with Lyle Preslar, who sang for the Extorts and wanted to switch to guitar. Lyle introduced them to Brian Baker who started playing bass in November and the band played its first show a month later. Minor Threat and SOA were part of a small wave of new kids and bands in DC, many of whom were not into drugs and alcohol. Some of the bands made mention of this in their lyrics, and Minor Threat’s song "Straight Edge" coined the phrase that is now used to describe a drug and alcohol-free lifestyle. The band played regularly but broke up at the end of the summer of 1981 when Lyle left DC to go to college. Six months later, dissatisfaction with school and a sense of unfinished business prompted Lyle to drop out and Minor Threat reformed in April '82. That fall, Steve Hansgen joined to play bass while Brian moved to second guitar and the band recorded and toured as a five piece until June '83. Minor Threat played a few more shows as a four piece that summer, but they were not getting along. They were unable to agree on the direction of the music, and ended up spending more time arguing than playing in the practice space. Faced with this dilemma, the members decided that it would be better for all involved to shut it down. Ian went on to form Embrace, Egg Hunt, Fugazi and the Evens. Jeff later played in Three and the High Back Chairs. Lyle played in Samhain and Brian formed Dag Nasty and currently plays guitar in Bad Religion.

MINOR THREAT LIVE

This version of the recording is better than the other few I have heard over the years, and was acquired in a trade I did with I guy I was trading with online, though I don't know if he did the rip/transfer himself or not?

A triple threat of live material to start things off...

Here we have three live sets from the show that took place at the BBQ Iguana in Washington DC on December 9, 1989. As you can see by the flier, it was a solid show. Supertouch, Shades Apart, Vision, and Far Cry. I don't have the Far Cry set, but all 3 of the other bands were captured on tape that day, and are presented here from the master tapes. This is one of many 'No Scene Zine' shows I went to.

SUPERTOUCH DL
SHADES APART DL
VISION DL
(Though the songs are split up separately, the song titles are not listed - sorry)

Welcome...

After talking about it for far too long... I finally am gonna do this blog. I have been wanting to do a blog to upload a bunch of the live/rare/demo/etc stuff I have been collecting over the years for so long - but never got around it till now.
What can you expect? Well, you can expect the unexpected... as I have a pretty good amount of stuff I plan to share here. I have been tape-trading since the mid-80's when hardcore first became such a crucial part of my life, and with the digital age I am thrilled to be able to share much of what I have acquired along the way so easily.
I have a big batch of live sets I got from my friend BW that G-Man is transferring for me. These are mostly DC-area shows, many great sets from The BBQ Iguana, The Safari Club, the old 9:30 Club, and many others. My friend JH also helped me out with some great old/rare hardcore demos from Dischord(and related) bands. There will also be assorted things I have gotten that you may have seen elsewhere on occasion - though I am not gonna make that a regular habit. I want this blog to stand on it's own as often as possible with the content you find here.
What will you NOT see here? You will not see anything that in still available as a legitimate release, as I don't want this blog to be something that pisses anyone off. There are enough blogs that are just posting every new release out there - this blog will not fall into that category.
And finally... if you are in a band that is really bothered by a live-set or demo session I have posted, please contact me & I will remove it. I am doing this blog because I love hardcore/punk - not to make enemies.
Without further ado... thanks for visiting & check back often! DB