Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And this is what we have lined up for you…

• Featured New Arrivals from Geld, Unified Action, Poison Ruïn, and Rank
• From Black Flags To Corpse Paint
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon

The first six months of this year have felt like the first time that the hardcore punk touring circuit has fully returned to its groove following the pandemic disruption.  So, what have been my highlights here in London?

I think the stand-out performance for me was Dawn Ray’d at The Lexington in March for the release of the new album, To Know The Light.  I wrote a little more widely on Dawn Ray’d back in May – they are a band I have loved since their earliest incarnation as We Came Out Like Tigers.  While this isn’t always the case in such instances, they are a band whose recorded output and live performances have gone from strength to strength.  And the intensity of their show that night was immense – visceral musicianship (not least a drumming performance of utterly remarkable velocity and subtlety) skilfully entwined with passages of violin-driven melancholy and delivered with an undeniable political conviction.

That same show also saw a great performance from crossover thrash exponents, Pest Control.  As I explored when discussing their thrash metal roots a few weeks back, the pleasure was in seeing how they revelled in the call backs to their inspirations, not as pastiche, but as a vivid reimagination.  But, perhaps, the most notable ‘feel good’ gig was a couple of weeks earlier when Gel headlined a sold-out show at the New Cross Inn.  Now Gel are a band very much on the up and it felt like this was possibly one of the final times we would see them in more DIY circles.  The next phase is always a difficult transition for hardcore bands, but that night there were no such concerns.  They are on the crest of a wave, delighted to be playing packed shows on the other side of the world, and their raw enthusiasm for doing so was infectious.

Aside, from Matthew Broadley’s drumming for Dawn Ray’d, what have been the other musical highlights?  Two stand outs came at the Savageheads’ show last month. The guitarist from the rather brilliant Permission is now working his magic with Subdued – fast, frenetic, and always just about reined in.  But, perhaps, my greatest insight came from watching the Savageheads’ drummer.  On their new release Service To Your Country, his drumming is clearly integral to the band’s searing effectiveness, but  just how integral is much more vividly revealed in the live setting.  The clarity, discipline, and intensity of his work was a pleasure to behold.

The lowest point came at Godflesh’s show at the 229 in January. No, obviously, it wasn’t Godflesh themselves.  They were utterly, bone-shudderingly brilliant as always – as hypnotic as they were pulverising.  However, I must admit that the support act, Zetra, were not for me – corpse paint, monk’s habits, chain enveloped synths, and electronic-metal ballads.  I still shiver involuntarily even now. But no need to dwell, each to their own!

But the best overall gig…I think that would have to go to the Punitive Damage headlined show at the New River Studios in April.  An up-for-it crowd, a diverse bill, and some brilliantly high-energy performances.  You can’t ask for much more than that.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

9^th July One Step Closer, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Imposter, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Bleakness, Finit plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

13^th August DRI plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

28^th August Slutbomb, Frisk, Frantic State plus more (New Cross Inn)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

14^th – 17^th September Static Shock Weekend (tbc)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

3^rd October As Friends Rust, Don’t Sleep plus more (Boston Music Room)

Discreet ‘This Is Mine’ 12-inch (Convulse)

Gel ‘Only Constant’ 12-inch (Convulse)

Parallel Worlds ‘In The Comet’s Path’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

Prey ‘Unsafe’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And there is plenty to enjoy…

• Featured New Arrivals from Isolant, Savageheads, ICD10, and Consolation
• The Lost Art of the Spoken Word
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon

A few weeks back, I touched on the recent Napalm Death / Dropdead show in London, and Barney Greenway’s courageous (and surprisingly successful) attempt to deliver the Napalm Death set while confined to a chair with a broken ankle.  Another aspect of the gig that stayed with me was that, of course, Greenway and Dropdead’s Bob Otis are two of life’s great in-between song speakers.  Very different in style – the former a cheerful raconteur, the latter rather more deadpan – but both committed to articulating their thoughts during a show.  That said, the pleasure I derived from Dropdead thematically grouping their songs is more my problem than yours…

This all served to remind me how this type of interplay has become something of a dying art.  Many shows now flash by often without pause, and while band-crowd interaction remains high, it tends not to take the form of between song dialogue.  Does this matter?  In many respects, no.  Good shows remain vibrant collective experiences.  However, I can’t help but feel that communicating ideas and shared values remains an important part of a hardcore show.  And while the diminishing of this does not necessarily compromise gigs, I can’t help but feel that when it does happen, it enhances the live experience and reinforces why we are all there.

In his highly recommended book The Poetry of Punk: The Meaning Behind Punk Rock and Hardcore Lyrics, Gerfried Ambrosch (guitarist with Carnist and Momentum) explores the centrality of lyrics to the hardcore community.   This stems in part from the explicit function of the lyrics to share political ideas, to challenge social conventions, and to help nourish community identity.  It also reflects what is referred to as the ‘inarticulate articulacy’ of the lyrical delivery, its distortion is a physical representation of dissent.  And as Ambrosch explores: ‘It’s important for the audience to know that there is semantic substance behind the noise, because a big part of the connection they make with the artist and each other, especially at live shows, is lyrical’.

In the often-febrile environment of the live show, I have always felt that between song dialogue serves the same purposes as the lyric sheet at home, strengthening the communal bonds being forged.  So, why has it seemingly fallen out fashion?

For some bands, I suspect it is simply that they don’t feel that the nature of their live delivery affords time for such interactions.  Take the blistering delivery of Permission – I’m not sure their vocalist would have had the physical capacity to speak such was the frenetic nature of their live performances.  Or perhaps it could fracture the efforts of a band who seek to create a more all-encompassing atmosphere.

For others, I sometimes sense that there is a latent tendency to not want to be seen to be preaching, least of all to the converted.  I must admit that this is a view for which I have less sympathy.  While no one enjoys being lectured, the very underpinnings of hardcore are political.  That is not to argue that it is by any means a coherent political ideology. But it can be convincingly argued, as Ambrosch does, that ‘most punks hold “progressive” – culturally liberal, socially egalitarian – views’.  And while this progressivism spans anti-capitalism / DIY ethics, social equality, and animal rights, it would be wrong to assume that even within punk communities that these issues are necessarily understood (and practised) with equal clarity.  In any case, the aim is not to tell people what to think – but rather to ferment debate and encourage people to investigate issues for themselves.

The final contributory factor I suspect is confidence.  I speak as someone who has complete admiration for anyone prepared to throw themselves into the limelight on a stage.  It clearly requires a level of confidence (or at least an ability to conquer fear!) that I would find challenging to muster.  But to speak publicly issues about social and political concern, even to a sympathetic and engaged audience, does demand a particular level of self-confidence.  Thinking of the frontpersons who have perhaps most engaged me over the years – Greg Bennick (Trial), Damien Moyle (As Friends Rust, Culture), Sean Murphy (Verse), and Dan Yemin (Paint It Black) – there was certainly an impressive level of eloquence and empathy in evidence. And when you consider the professions of Bennick (a motivational speaker) and Yemin (an adolescent psychotherapist), there perhaps lie some important clues.  These are, clearly, both individuals who thrive on human interaction and who are not afraid to explore issues publicly, which may in turn speak to their skills as a frontperson for a hardcore band.

It could be that levels and types of on-stage dialogue are cyclical in much the same way as the music being played – emphasis changes, evolves, and reinvents itself.  But I do hope that it’s not lost completely.  As with the lyrics themselves, such interactions build connections and encourage reflections, which is never a bad thing.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Bleakness, Finit plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn / Gag are to be rescheduled for next year)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

13^th August DRI plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

14^th – 17^th September Static Shock Weekend (tbc)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

3^rd October As Friends Rust, Don’t Sleep plus more (Boston Music Room)

Geld ‘Currency // Castration’ 12-inch (Relapse)

I Recover ‘Until I Wake Again’ 12-inch (Crew Cuts)

Poison Ruin ‘Harvest’ 12-inch (Relapse)

Rank ‘Brave New Lows’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

Unified Action ‘Unified Action’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And there is lots to get stuck into…

• Featured New Arrivals from Foresight, Drill Sergeant, Adult / Planet B, and Squid Pisser
• Corrosion of Conformity: The Blind, Deaf, Numb Years
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon

‘If the system had one neck, you know I’d gladly break it, they’ve got us where they want us – stuck in this sick romance, they need no chain – it’s in our brain’.  Dance of the Dead, Corrosion of Conformity

Arguing about whether a particular LP is good or bad can clearly be fun but is largely an exercise in futility. Let’s face it, no one will ever change their mind.  It’s not that I buy into the notion of it being an entirely subjective judgement. Some records are objectively bad.  However, as these notes touched on a few weeks ago, the very way that music is performed can act to both include and exclude simultaneously, through both sonic and social ‘distortion’.  And our aim here is to talk about music that we like rather than that which we don’t.

Having said all of that, I do feel that certain records can be misunderstood.  Or perhaps, more accurately, yield new insights if considered from different perspectives.  What stirred me into this thought process was Corrosion of Conformity’s 1991 full-length Blind.  I was reading a piece by someone whose writing I usually find thoughtful and considered when he referred to Blind (and all COC releases that followed it) as forming part of COC’s ‘redneck music’ phase.  I must admit to a quizzical eyebrow being raised.  Now I’ll be the first to acknowledge that the Southern-tinged stoner-doom metal that the band have explored from Deliverance (1994) onwards hasn’t set my world afire – well-executed but just not my particular cup of tea.  But Blind? Blind is a very different beast indeed.

Cards on the table, I loved Blind at the outset, and I still love it now. But from day one, it is an album that has polarised opinion.  The band’s subsequent longevity has only served to amplify this.  Let’s face it, it is hard to think of many bands who have not only been continually active for over forty years with a relatively consistent line-up (in various permutations), but who have also gone through such a fundamental musical transformation from seminal political hardcore band to purveyors of groove-orientated heavy metal.

So, for the uninitiated, where does Blind sit within this sonic spectrum?  Think powerfully forthright but nuanced lead vocals that interplay with slab-like metallic riffs, which owe a debt in equal parts to thrash and doom metal. And all of it is underpinned by the supple fluidity of the rhythm section.  It’s also delivered with a hardcore ferocity as military adventurism, class dispossession, cartel politics, religious oppression, ecological degradation, and racial segregation are tackled with blistering intensity.

Now my first exposure to COC was following new vocalist Karl Agell’s arrival.  Sets supporting DRI and Sacred Reich at The Astoria in 1990 saw them beginning to try out their new material in a live environment ahead of recording the album. So, I came to it without too many preconceptions about what had gone before – I liked what I had heard, old and new.  COC’s sound had already gone through a degree of metamorphosis from the straight-up hardcore of their earliest releases to the much more crossover thrash leanings of Technocracy (1987).

But how would I have reacted to Blind if I had gown-up release by release with COC?  Now it is clearly more metallic and inherently heavier with cleaner vocals and an emphasis on power as opposed to speed.  But equally, it undeniably still burns with political anger.  And I continue to hear clear call backs to their earlier work.  In other words, the album was a reinvention, but one that clearly evolved from what came before.

So, Blind as stoner metal album doesn’t fly for me.  Nor does the second school of thought that tends to dismiss it as a ‘transition’ album. This has always struck me as a rather reductive interpretation.  Now of course, there is an element of truth to it – Blind was the most metallic COC release to date and began to deploy groove more explicitly than on previous releases.  These were aspects that post-Blind COC were to subsequently elevate to being the cornerstone of their sound.  But politically, musically, and aesthetically, Blind holds much more in common with Technocracy-era COC than with the outright metal releases that followed. I maintain that it is best understood as a singular moment in time, an almost stand-alone release, and the only one to feature Agell and bassist Phil Swisher.

I saw COC twice more as they toured Blind in 1992, firstly supporting Soundgarden at the Town & Country Club (now the Kentish Town Forum) and then an utterly blistering show headlining The Marquee in December of that year.  And as anyone who was present that night knows – whether embroiled in the swirling pit, in the waves of stage divers, or simply taking cover – that was unequivocally a hardcore show.  And an avowedly political one too as an imperious Agell raged eloquently amidst the carnage.

As a quick aside, in researching this piece, I stumbled across an interesting site (metallipromo.com/coc.html) that tracks the gig histories of hardcore / thrash metal bands from the mid-1980s and early 1990s, including COC.  Not only does it seek to catalogue each band’s tour history, it is also an absolute treasure trove of tickets and flyers, a few examples of which I have added below.  What it emphasised to me, as is hinted at by my own COC gig history, was the sheer spread of bands that COC toured with over the Blind period – from Carcass to Megadeth, The Rollins Band to Iron Maiden, Danzig to Prong.  Crossover in every sense of the word.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

24^th June Ribbon Stage, Ex-Void, R.Aggs (The Lexington)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

Consolation ‘Repulsive Reflections’ 7-inch (Crew Cuts)

ICD10 ‘Faith In Institutions’ 12-inch LP (Sorry State)

Isolant ‘Oblivion’ 12-inch (Social Napalm)

Savageheads ‘Service to Your Country’ 12-inch (Social Napalm)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And there is plenty to look forward to…

• Featured New Arrivals from Belgrado, Antagonizm, and Blow Your Brains Out
• Stage Dives and Sticky Carpets
• One You May Have Missed: Covenant of Teeth by Morrow
• Shows and Tours, including Physique at the New Cross Inn this Friday
• Coming Soon

The current Summer 2023 edition of Alternative Strategies fanzine includes a great interview with Chris Tipton of Upset The Rhythm (UTR) records, who has been promoting shows in London and releasing records for 20 years, including cracking recent releases from Es and Terry.  The interview concludes with a map of the 117 different venues that UTR have booked shows at over the past two decades.  Of these, 55 are no longer venues, and one in particular brought memories flooding back – The Grosvenor in Stockwell.

In its days as a venue, The Grosvenor was a pretty traditional south London pub, with a function room out the back that provided an excellent spot for gigs.  Windowless, sticky paisley carpet to the rear, and sound monitors propped up on beer crates in front of a low stage.  The Grosvenor closed its doors in 2014, before re-opening again in early 2019 but without its function room – a living embodiment of the remorseless grip that real estate capital exerts on London, and a very rare example of push back from Lambeth Council.

Anyone who knows the area will know that Lambeth Council rarely cover themselves in glory. They have relentlessly waged war for over a decade on the residents of Cressingham Gardens and Central Hill estates with threats to demolish their homes against their democratic wishes, and even established a now-failed property development vehicle (‘Homes for Lambeth’) to accelerate their attempts to force working-class communities from the borough.

However, the planning department has largely resisted attempts by property developers to redevelop pubs, spurred on by fierce local opposition in the case of The Grosvenor. Nevertheless, an unfortunate consequence is that once a pub is sold to a developer, it can sit vacant for years until it finally dawns on them that for once, the Council means what it says.  So, after five years, the pub re-opened, but – as part of the planning compromise – the function room was lost to redevelopment, bringing The Grosvenor’s illustrious history as a venue to an end.

The most intriguing thing was the range of bands who played there.  Of course, up-and-coming bands, but it also seemed a regular stop for bands on a downward trajectory, who then found themselves on an upsurge of popularity again soon after, most notably DRI in 2011. Now there were many nights of hardcore chaos, such as a truly demonic performance from vocalist Larissa Stupar (now Venom Prison), who raged amidst a swirling mosh-pit, as if protected by her own force-field.  But the two nights that stand-out in my mind were in many respects more self-reflective affairs.

The first was Blacklisted in 2008.  I had caught Blacklisted supporting Terror a couple of years earlier at The Underworld, but for some reason their brilliant second LP Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God had not quite yet grabbed the attention that it deserved.  And so, they were playing to an enthusiastic, but by no means jam packed crowd at The Grosvenor.  Ultimately, Blacklisted enjoyed a longevity that few hardcore bands achieve (four LPs over 13 years before they bowed out in 2018).  Core to this, alongside a continual process of musical evolution and experimentation, was vocalist George Hirsch.

Now emotional catharsis clearly features in many hardcore vocal performances, but there was always seemed a depth to Hirsch’s delivery that went beyond simply anger.  And that night, yes there was rage, but there was also humanity, the inner strength to reveal vulnerability and self-doubt.  Literally nowhere to hide. It was a privilege to witness.

Now around the same time (2007/2008), I was also lucky enough to catch the rarity of a solo performance from Leatherface’s Frankie Stubbs, supported by Snuff’s Duncan Redmonds.   I’ll admit even now that I was unreasonably excited at the prospect.  Leatherface had a huge formative impact on me – uniquely gravel-raw vocals, melancholy drenched melodicism, poetic lyrics that evoke beauty amongst the desolation, and an unerring eye for those details of everyday life that enable communities to survive.

A single chair sat just in front of the stage and as Stubbs took his place, a silence impregnated with intense anticipation descended.  If anything, the already hefty emotional punch of songs, such as Springtime and Heaven Sent, was amplified and heart-swelling in their defiance.  Little was said between songs bar some light-hearted exchanges, the buzz of a busy Saturday night pub filtering through into the function room.  The show reached its crescendo with an utterly compelling rendition of Dead Industrial Atmosphere.  A night that still lives vividly in the memory.

So, the memories live on, even if The Grosvenor as it once was does not.  And while thankfully The Grosvenor is once again thriving under the stewardship of a local landlord, it still serves as a reminder of how the fabric of our cities is too often distorted.  Twisted to meet the demands of the capital that exploits them, rather than the needs of people who call them home.

Alternative Strategies can be found at www.anothersubculture.co.uk priced £7.50.

From the moment the album opens on a haunting chant, you sense you are in for a rather special journey and Morrow do not disappoint.  A brilliant exercise in juxtaposing rage with reflection, beauty with desolation, this debut album explores a post-apocalyptic narrative that it skilfully animates through a blend of crushing d-beat and soaring neo-crust, all infused with a cello-led melancholy.  The band features Alex CF of Fall of Efrafa on vocals plus guest vocal appearances from members of Anopheli, Archivist, and Masakari.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

16^th June Physique, Circle None, Skitter plus more (New Cross Inn)

17^th June Keno, Nation Unrest, Can Kicker plus more (The George Tavern)

24^th June Ribbon Stage, Ex-Void, R.Aggs (The Lexington)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

Drill Sergeant ‘Grim New War’ 7-inch (Refuse Records)

Foresight ‘In Search of Understanding’ 12-inch (Refuse Records)

Isolant ‘Oblivion’ 12-inch (Social Napalm)

Savageheads ‘Service to Your Country’ 12-inch (Social Napalm)

Welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And there is plenty to get stuck into…

• Featured New Arrivals from Faim, Incendiary, and Miss Espana
• Heretical Distortions
• One You May Have Missed: Matador by Burning Flag
• Shows and Tours, including Savageheads and Sial hitting London over the next week
• Coming Soon

In his recently published book Tonight It’s A World We Bury, Bill Peel undertakes an intriguing study of the characteristics that have made black metal susceptible to far-right politics, while asking whether those same characteristics can also nurture radical, left-wing politics?  We, of course, already know the answer to this question from the musical endeavours of left-wing and anarchist black metal bands such as Ancst, Dawn Ray’d, and Ragana.  The interest lies more in how Peel marshals political and anthropological theory to examine exactly what those characteristics are and how they interact with musical expression.

Rather than the review the book, I thought it might be more interesting to unpack some of the central tenets of its arguments to see how relevant they are to hardcore punk.  I must admit most of the bands that the book examines are pretty alien to me (and some for very good reason), but there is a certain universality that emerges in Peel’s thesis that I feel can be applied more widely to understanding the dynamics of hardcore punk.  I will focus on three specific characteristics identified by Peel.

‘Aggressive, oppositional music is the best tool to express compassion and empathy, because it’s not the language of our culture’ (Dan Yemin, Paint It Black)

The first characteristic is that of ‘Distortion’.  Now Peel isn’t just talking about the sound of distortion, but also of the social impact that distortion achieves, the friction that it introduces.  It is here that he calls upon the political theory of Ernest Laclau and Chantal Mouffe who argue for the importance of conflict and antagonism in our lives – how a politics devoid of conflict allows hegemonies to form and to constrain society through enforced consensus.  As such distortion serves both as a barrier to those who will not engage with it, but also as a home for those who will.  The aim should not be to create a defensive community, but rather one that continually regenerates itself by constructing difference through creativity.

‘To show that things can be different, to take things that are familiar and make them unfamiliar’ (Brian D, Catharsis)

The second characteristic of ‘Heresy’ then comes into focus.  Peel examines the concept in terms of both religion and capitalism, and I think it is helpful to think of it in its broadest possible terms – ideas that are at variance with the established orthodoxy.   Distortion creates space for a musical community to engage in exploring its own heresies that challenge the structural social, economic, and political inequalities that define people’s lived experience.  By doing so, common understanding can be established.

‘The struggle is not over, it assumes new forms’ (War by Other Means, Trial)

The third characteristic is the importance of avoiding the grasp of ‘Death Fetishism’.  This represents Peel’s deliberately macabre reworking of the notion of ‘Left Melancholy’, a concept first delineated by the political theorist Wendy Brown.  She explored Stuart Hall’s writings on the failure of the left to understand and challenge Thatcherism in the UK by examining how feelings and sentiments can sustain attachment to specific ideas and analyses in a way that is both conservative and self-destructive, rendering them ineffective to challenging the new reality.  In other words, hardcore punk cannot simply be angry at social injustice, yearn to start over again; it must continually strive to explore new ideas and understand shifting political contours.

‘The greatest power the capitalist class have over our lives, is convincing us that betraying each other is the only way to survive’ (Inferno, Dawn Ray’d)

Here in the UK, we live in a country that has been governed by a socio-economic orthodoxy that has disparaged the collective, atomised communities, and valorised the private sector above all else for four decades.  The results in respect of levels of poverty, inequality, and degraded public infrastructure are evident for all to see.

Hardcore punk songs will not change this, have not changed this.  But they do serve an important role in creating the means for people to recognise that this is happening, to forge common cause, and to articulate that alternative futures are possible.  And that is a very valuable starting point.

Tonight It’s A World We Bury by Bill Peel is published by Repeater.

The quotes from Brian D and Dan Yemin are taken from Gerfried Ambrosch’s books ‘The Poetry of Punk: The Meaning Behind Punk Rock and Hardcore Lyrics’ (Routledge) and ‘Punk Matters: Interviews with Punk Artists and Activists’ (Active Distribution).  Both well worth checking out.

Halifax’s Burning Flag return to crushingly groove-laden effect with a venomous new vocalist for their third-full length ‘Matador’.  Dark crust punk that carries with it a decidedly metallic edge, marrying a hardcore urgency with mid-paced riffs of brutal intensity.  Down-tuned guitars and industrial hues call back to early 1990’s Earache bands and are refashioned into Burning Flag’s more groove-orientated expressions.  Lyrical themes span the UK’s cultivation of overseas oligarchs, societal misogyny, abortion rights, and the Government incompetence that blighted the UK’s Covid response.  They are delivered with a passionate punch.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

9^th June Savageheads, Rat Cage, Subdued (New River Studios)

11^thJune Snuff Acoustic Matinee (The Lexington)

14^th June Sial, Morreadoras, Turbo (New River Studios)

14^th June Terror and Going Off (New Cross Inn)

16^th June Physique, Circle None, Skitter plus more (New Cross Inn)

17^th June Keno, Nation Unrest, Can Kicker plus more (The George Tavern)

24^th June Ribbon Stage, Ex-Void, R.Aggs (The Lexington)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

Belgrado ‘Intra Apogeum’ 12-inch (La Vida Es Un Mus Discos)

Blow Your Brains Out ‘The Big Escape’ 12-inch (Quality Control HQ)

Drill Sergeant ‘Grim New War’ 7-inch (Refuse Records)

Isolant ‘Oblivion’ 12-inch (Social Napalm)

Savageheads ‘Service to Your Country’ 12-inch (Social Napalm)