"BIG AND LITTLE SHANK PRODUCTION: SHIT YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE. VOL 1. 17 BANDS, 53 SONGS" - Tape - Comp - 2001

 

     This tape was put out by Big Shank (Jeremy "Big Shank the Bandit" Johnson) and Little Shank {Josh Mayfield) in 2001 and acted as the third installment of the Region Rock cassette comps (links for the first two comps and a slew of other related demo tapes are linked at the end of this post). Region Rock (a term coined by Cinque from the Spawn Sacs, as the story goes) refers to a loose geographical triangle with points in Little Rock, Chattanooga and Miami and does not dictate a certain sound, but rather is a catch-all term for a group of friends playing punk under their own terms. It has been widely defined by people outside of these loose barriers (I say loose because this line has definitely looped up around Asheville, NC from time to time) as something like "bouncy, jangly pop-punk" but I'm certain that these people have never huffed gold spraypaint out of a paper bag while sweating on a porch at 4am with less than 27 cents to their name. Region Rock bands like BRIS, QUEERWULF, SUCKERPUNCH and SPAWN SACS will have anyone throwing those definitions off of the train bridge over the toxic waters of Chattanooga Creek in less time than it takes Ed to shotgun a beer. Onto the tape. 

     The reason that this tape wasn't previously given it's place among all of these other tapes on the blog is this: Josh gave me a copy of this tape when it was released in 2001. When I got it home, I listened to the first couple of JOE SMITH songs before that abruptly ended and I discovered that the rest of the tape was a dubbed copy of the MOTORHEAD album "Rock 'N' Roll", which is a great album. I'm listening to the tape right now. I never got a replacement tape with the proper songs on it, but Orange-SLS Records out of NY was nice enough to send the mp3's over to me to share with you. Better late than never. 

     The main difference between this comp and the earlier ones is that, with the exception of LES TURDS and JOE SMITH, the scope does not venture more than 100 miles out of the city limits of Chattanooga. The tape starts off with JOE SMITH, BRIS, THE MORONS and CAPITAL SICKNESS, who have all been written about extensively on here and you can find links to them below. THE TEENY FLOPPERS were slightly before my time in Chattanooga and I don't know shit about them, but I would see their singer / drummer Carey playing in other bands in Chattanooga and it always blew my mind that he could sing so well while pounding the shit out of the drums. Within 6 songs on this tape, they go through 3 bass players.  

     You will find more info about ADD/C linked below. 

     THE SOCIAL LIES were from Huntsville and Triana, AL and played sloppy, tuneful, screamy, teen punk. They sounded like a tug-of-war between singer / guitarist Brontez's love of riot grrrrl and east bay punk and drummer / singer Tameka's more straight-ahead hardcore approach, Their shows could be intense or just fun, depending on the mood. I saw both. One where they made it through the set with all of us pogoing along with them and another where the two members started yelling at each other and stormed out in front of a stunned audience. Either way, their song "Fuck The Scene" has always stuck with me and they were an important part of this era. The Chattanooga punks basically adopted the band into their town before Brontez moved there. You can find a video of them playing in Chattanooga at Rear Entry (a punk-ran show space) right here.

     COCAINE SUMMER SPLASH was a real rock n roll nightmare fronted by Big Shank, who sadly passed away in 2013. He has so many unbelievable and maniacal stories about him that I couldn't even begin to scratch the surface here. CCS recorded these songs in Chattanooga and the band never had a proper release until 2020 when Josh Mayfield put out a discography tape on his label WereOpossum  Records. CCS was all about drugs, partying and crime, but like, in a real way. I feel like there's STILL things I can't talk about, but I can tell you that the band had to unofficially change their name on flyers to THE PARTY AIN'T EASY because the cops were looking for them. I know that our house was not the only one visited by the Chattanooga pigs...where we were forced to keep a straight face while they asked us if we knew anything about the 7 foot tall graffiti all over town that stated in big bold letters, "COCAINE SUMMER SPLASH." RIP Shank. He was one of a kind. 

     I don't know shit about THE COMPLAINTS either and that sucks. They were from North Georgia and featured wildman Allen with his truly deranged vocals. Sorry I don't know more. 

     You can and should read more about QUEERWULF and THE SHAFFERS in the links below. I think the tracks on this tape are from each of their first demos. If you've heard the lightning-fast live sets from THE SHAFFERS in the past, this slower version will throw you for a loop. 

     THE SPAWN SACS are also written about in the links below, but I don't think most of these songs appear anywhere else and, like just about every other SPAWN SACS song, they are SO. FUCKING. GOOD. Embrace the tape deterioration. 

     JACK PALANCE BAND offers up two songs from their demo (and a re-recorded demo track) as well as one of their shortest, most vicious songs of all time that doesn't appear anywhere else, "Goddamn the Holocaust". 

     There are two tracks from Dalton's most valuable asset (and I know it's the carpet capital of the world), PETER STUBB. The second track "Evil" literally stopped me in my tracks. If you're not familiar with STUBB's long-running musical career, please follow the link below and seek out the short documentary "I'm Like This Everyday", made by Mitchell Powers and Josh Mayfield. 

     LES TURDS, like COCAINE SUMMER SPLASH, were an unstoppable force of drunken depravity led by a very tall, now deceased wild man known as Brian Turd. I don't feel like I can honestly do them justice and they are one of the few bands on here who have a little more of an internet presence outside of this blog. 

     You can and should find more info and an unreleased LP by Alabama's Suckerpunch in the links below. Their two songs on this comp are from their amazing demo tape. 

     F.D.I.A. is another one of those bands from the north Georgia region that I can't remember much about, but their songs on here are awesome. I can't remember everything! Give me a break! 

  All three region demos come from a place of low standards and even lower budgets, so you will have to learn to enjoy the tape hiss and the shitty recordings. But that's why you're here, right? 

DOWNLOAD COMPILATION

Related links to more info and full demo tapes. 

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES FRM DAY ONE - First Region Rock Comp 

FUCK THE CURSE - Second Region Comp

JOE SMITH Discography 

BRIS Discography 

THE MORONS Discography

CAPITAL SICKNESS "Toolin'..." Tape

ADD/C Demo Tape

QUEERWULF 18 Song CDr

SPAWN SACS / DRILLER KILLERS Split Tape

THE SHAFFERS Live at Collins 

SHAFFERS - Live at WNYU

SHAFFERS Live at 20 Below

JACK PALANCE BAND - "Get This Shit Under Way" LP

JACK PALANCE BAND - First Demo

PETER STUBB - "Blueberry Masturbator" Tape

PETER STUBB - "Powdered Doughnuts"

SUCKERPUNCH Demo

SUCKERPUNCH Unreleased LP 

APPARITION - Demo - Tape - 2017

   There's a floppy haired maniac who lives in Athens, GA and I've known him since our bands crossed paths in 1995. Every time any of his bands puts out a new thing, he gets in touch so he can send it to me and every time, it's exactly what I need in my life at that moment. APPARITION is no different. Full throttle, no fucking around, insane, throw-everything-down-the-stairs-over-and-over-and-watch-it-break style hardcore!! Shit is dark. The perfect soundtrack for consuming the everlasting horror that is our daily lives.

Every breath that I take 

Of this planet's stupid air

Makes me nauseous.

DOWNLOAD IT FROM THEM, TURKEYS.

I don't update this site often now because I think writing about music so much has kept me from actually feeling the music. You know what I mean? 

CAPITAL SICKNESS - "Toolin' For Lucifer's Balloons" - Tape - 2000

    When I moved to Chattanooga in the late 90's, I was already friends with a bunch of punks who grew up in the nearby carpet mecca of Dalton, GA. Some of them had been playing in punk bands since the late 80's and were pretty "well-established" (whatever that means) in the local punk scene. By the time I got to town, most of them had moved to Chattanooga because it was a bigger town and there was more to do (kind of). A younger crop of punk kids had popped up in Dalton and started forming bands in their absence that made these elders (some at the extinct age of 25) look downright ancient. My favorite of these new punk bands was CAPITAL SICKNESS.
   Even though they were all teenagers, their band came up to Chattanooga to play fairly regularly at shows in bars, public parks and houses. Their singer/bass player, Josh has enough boundless energy and charisma that he probably could have screamed into a microphone solo for 20 minutes about the youth detention centers of Dalton and kept a room full of us entertained, but luckily, he didn't have to. Mason played the guitar and Mackey rounded out things on the drums. Even though their live sets and recorded output usually fell to pieces, they still maintained the enthusiasm that kept people dancing and singing the whole time. If you don't believe me, you can watch this video.

   On this tape, they play their hearts out in 8 quick songs (in about 8 minutes) and it includes their crowd favorite, "Burn The Mills", which is about destroying the carpet mills of Dalton (the town's core business). 

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Members went on to be in a tidal wave of other bands like TRICYCLE FARM, QUEERWULF, PRINCESS THUNDERSTORM and HELLSTOMPER.

 

REMOTE OUTPOSTS WEIRDO MIX VOL 1 - Tape - 2013

   So, I've been trying to figure out where to fit in these different recordings ever since I started this thing a few years ago. I decided to just throw out a few things at once and I may continue this trend in the future with the weird shit sitting around on my shelves. So, here's the first installment of the Remote Outposts Weirdo Mix which, honestly, isn't that weird.
   You may remember from a few posts back when I mentioned listening to the North Georgia AM Christian radio broadcasts when I lived on the Georgia state line. I was a little obsessed with it because the quality and presentation was so alien to me that I liked to believe that it came from outer space. I grew up in Alabama going to Baptist churches, so these radio broadcasts aren't too far off the map for me, but my life is so far removed from this reality now that it just sounds other-worldly. In the first 11 minutes of this download, there is some singing, preaching and talk of anointing doors. There is a man who says "Praise God" every 4th word or so. I don't mean to make fun of people because everyone  has to do what they have to do to get through the day...but also I don't believe in God and I'm not trying to steer you in that direction.
  Secondly, I lived on a houseboat on the Tennessee River for close to a year back in the early 00's. It was a really simple time in my life where I mostly just ate a lot of potatoes, wrote a bunch of letters and listened to the radio while waiting for people to visit. Occasionally, I would canoe to land and ride my bike to a friend's house, but most of the time, I read a bunch of books on the boat. Something that was a constant on the boat was the weather radio. There was something soothing about the robotic voice being broadcast (presumably) from a tin shack somewhere in Moorestown, TN. I liked the way he sounded so forlorn when he pronounced that the weather was "partly cloudy." I spent a lot of time huddled up in my sleeping bag listening to this guy and waiting for the temperatures to rise (listen to the temperatures and remember that I was on an unheated, uninsulated houseboat in the middle of a river). I remember the uproar (from myself and at least 3 other friends) when they changed the robot's voice to make it more "human". Is the second track just a robotic weather report? Yeah, you bet it is!

   The last 2 tracks in the download are from this tape (above) I found on the ground in an alley in Bloomington, IN in 2007. I carried it around with me all day while I ran errands and just wondered what the hell "EASTERS" could mean. I still don't know what it means and the music on the tape was not what I expected. Nevertheless, this tape became a staple of many backyard hangouts at my house and started to get requested by folks who came over to drink beers in the yard. Download it for yourself to find out if it'll be your new backyard jam.

DOWNLOAD

AMERICAN CHEESEBURGER - Live - Tape - 2007

   I'm sure I've said it before, but I've known Jason Griffin for 17-18 years and he's played drums in nothing but top quality hardcore bands the whole time. AMERICAN CHEESEBURGER is no exception. This tape finds the band at a live show on 7/27/07 at the Woodser in Brooklyn, NY. Typically, they are blazing and nothing short of awesome. Something I've also said before is that their singer James is one of my top favorite hardcore singers of all time. Once at a show in Gainesville, he was so "in the zone" that he whipped his shoes off and threw them full force over the audience to the back of the room. When they hit the last note of the set, he screamed "Where are my fuckin' shoes?", threw the mic down and flew off the stage. It was a perfect show. This tape sounds like it was just as much fun.

Download

Download is just one 16 minute track. No song titles were included, but you can bet that there are some titles like "Earth Turkey", "Resurrect the Vampire", "If Your Face Was Georgia, My Fist Would Be Home By Now" and "The Kid From the Space Center"

This tape was released by Vinyl Rites

PETER STUBB - "Blueberry Masturbator" - Tape - 1992

 
   Peter Stubb has gone by many names in his life: Gary League, Dewayne King, Cannibalistic Retard, Gary Lee Austin, Gary Spit and many more. Peter Stubb, for whatever reason, is the one that has stuck around the longest. He began home recording his own songs on cassette sometime in the late 80's, just banging on things and making guitar noises with his mouth. The lyrics could be funny, disturbing and demented. Other times, they were crushingly depressing, especially when he delved into the topics of the reality of his everyday landscape, which included the mental wards and psychological education centers of North Georgia.
   I had heard stories of Peter Stubb throughout the south for a while and got a chance to play a show with him in Chattanooga in late 1995. To put it lightly, it was life changing. Throughout the show, the punks had been flying all over the room, singing defiantly and going nuts. As Peter started to set up to play, most of the people in the room politely sat on the floor in front of him and a hush grew through the building as if something important was about to happen. Peter sat in front of the assembled audience, struggling with some papers and a music stand, his face painted in fucked up, dripping corpse paint and his shoulders flanked by football pads. His battered acoustic guitar was covered in fading stickers and his arms were completely covered in scars from self-inflicted knife wounds. He appeared to be nervous and too anxious to be in front of all these people. All I could think as he was about to strike the first chords was "What the fuck is going on?!" He belted out a quick 40 second song devoted to the love of cunnilingus and the crowd howled. Seconds after finishing that one, he completely changed gears and destroyed the audience with one of the most honestly depressing songs I had ever heard. The punk kid next to me who earlier looked so tough and bulletproof was sobbing like a baby.

    Soon after, I was visiting Chattanooga again and I asked my friend Eric Nelson if he could copy any of Stubb's music for me. He obliged with this tape, "Blueberry Masturbator". He joked around about the less serious songs on the tape but he added, almost gravely, that Peter Stubb is the most honest songwriter that he has ever heard in his life. On the drive back to Alabama, I put it on and got a chance to really immerse myself in it. It starts off almost abruptly with "Social Phobia", which feels as if you just stumbled into an internal monologue that had been occurring long before you arrived. Stubb palm-mutes like crazy in a way that recalls the best RAMONES songs and introduces you to his world of anxious paranoia. The next couple of songs are a complete 180, telling stories of pot heads and objectifying women. While stuff like the latter may offend the ears of my more radical thinking readers (like say, me), I think this is part of the Stubb experience. His songs are uncomfortable, untamed and dark. To only listen to the ones that line up with your political outlook is cheating. "Bodies in the Tub" is about stacking up the dead bodies of his oppressors in his bathtub. "I Don't Care If You Go" is about Stubb's mom. "Crashed and Died" is about a motorcycle wreck in which Peter crashes and dies "like a motherfucker". Towards the end, Stubb launches into some odd speech that is part possessed/part childlike that permeates some of his other songs, but this is it's only appearance on this tape. Just when you thought he wasn't gonna get too serious again, he comes back with "Committed", a crushingly sad song that details his early experiences with the north Georgia mental health system, which I can only imagine is less than stellar. In the song, he sings...

    "One teacher asked me, what would I like to be. I said 'A werewolf...a demon inside of me.' She kinda flipped out. She said I needed help. She said 'How long have you felt this way?'. I said 'I don't know. I'm like this everyday.' She said 'We'l get you help..you can count on it.' Next thing I knew, I was committed."

   Later, he says that they won't let him out until the sanity is back in him, In the next song "Bu-Doing-Schwing", you're finally convinced that Stubb has lost it in this song about hyper-sexualized lust....and his dick. He makes weird sounds with his voice, which recall many of his earlier tapes and the whole thing is just kinda bizarre. Abruptly, Stubb launches into the last two songs, which take you into the lowest depression of the whole tape. "Just One More Time" is about feeling bad about the things that have happened in your life and wishing you could change them. The final song, "They Took It Away" is epic, destructive and possibly the single most depressing song I have ever heard in my life because it is 100% real and nothing but honest. I can't even do it justice by talking about it. You just have to listen to it alone and let his words pull you into the darkness. 

   Long before this release, Peter Stubb had been releasing his own self-recorded tapes and he still continues to this day. Many of his early tapes were one of a kind...he would record a couple of songs, make a cover and just give it to a friend. Others were released in a edition of ten or less and you might find a copy of it that Stubb left in the bathroom at a Dalton, GA Wal-Mart. There are countless tapes of his music all over the place. You never knew what you would find on these tapes, but it was/is always interesting. He's still releasing a few tapes a year and if you send him $4-6 cash in the mail, he will send you a new one. You can find Peter here on his FB page and he'll send you his address to order tapes. 

   I'm putting this up on this site to archive it and for all of his old friends and fans, but mostly I am sharing it in the hopes that someone in a small town in the middle of nowhere will find this and have it change their life in the way it changed mine (as well as many of the people I love).

Thanks to Eric Nelson for everything.

Thanks to Josh Mayfield for being such a dutiful archivist of Stubb's music for so many years. 

Thanks to Peter Stubb for making all of this music and for giving me permission to put this tape online. 

Download "Blueberry Masturbator"

...and here is a link to the short film "I'm Like This Everyday", made by Mitchell Powers in 2008.

"Help Me, I'm Trapped in a Ford Festiva" - Compilation - Tape - 1997

    I grew up in a tiny town in the middle of Alabama and discovered punk when I was in 6th grade through a tape of the MINUTEMEN's "Double Nickels on the Dime." Over the years, I tried to start bands with people who either really didn't want to be in a punk band or just had drastically different ideas of what a punk band was. The day after I graduated high school, I moved 108 miles away to a different small town called Huntsville. I lived in my car for those first couple of months and came to discover a whole new world of punk where people were actually playing the loud, fucked up, vibrant music that I wanted to be playing at that time in my life. It was perfect for me. I met people who put out their own records and set up their own shows in houses, parking lots and thrift stores. It was inspiring, to say the least. Within just a few months, I was playing in my own band and going on tour all over the southeast, making friends that I still have to this day. At the time, I wanted to make a compilation tape to show what was going on in my town (and where it had come from) so that other people would know how awesome it was, but honestly, I don't know if this tape ever reached people outside of Alabama.
   The comp starts off with RICE HARVESTER and THE CACA WOMEN FROM URANUS. I've already written about them, so you can click those links above if you're curious. Next up is THE REFILLS, who were a short lived band from the area that consisted of Neil (from JOEY TAMPON AND THE TOXIC SHOCKS and 565 BURNOUTS), Ben (from RICE HARVESTER, SUCKERPUNCH and now in PINE HILL HAINTS) and Bill Conflict (who did and still plays in RANDOM CONFLICT). They played fucking tough, straight ahead punk that was informed by THE FREEZE and D.O.A. I loved them when they were around and their song "Bleed" on this tape still holds up today.

RICE HARVESTER on the 4th of July, 1998. San Pedro, CA.

   Next on the tape is AOA, which was originally a home recording project by my friends Blair and Ramesh. They would get together and record hours of MEN'S RECOVERY PROJECT (and FAT DAY) inspired noise and weirdness at their houses. After a while, they would come over and kind of force me to play anything in their band, like a drum on a bed or some cans. They had tapes and tapes of this stuff (one of which got stuck in my car stereo for months so that it was the only thing I could ever listen to. When I finally removed it, it destroyed the tape and the stereo...a week or so later, the brakes failed at 3 am and I almost totaled a cop car, but that's a different story altogether.) On this recording, we sorta became a kinda normal punk band for a second. I think I played drums, but I also think I played guitar sometimes. Ramesh played bass and sang. Blair sang and played the keyboard maybe. I think a guy named Pube switched up instruments with me. It was a weird time, but I still like "Black Flag is Boring" and the theme song.

AOA in my room. 1996.

   SHITHEAD JONES is a fukkin punk band and you can read all about their saga here. After that is THE GRUMPIES, who weren't technically an Alabama band, but they played there so often that  one might think that they lived there. All of their songs on here (minus one) were later re-recorded for their LP on Recess Records. These early versions are pretty great and it also includes a ripping cover of "Kiss Me Deadly" by Lita Ford.  You can find their demo and other stuff here.

THE GRUMPIES playing in a storefront in Florence, AL.

  GARY COLEMAN BAND were just Blair and Ramesh from AOA playing really minimal stuff. This song was recorded in a porn shop in N Huntsville and is honestly one of my favorite things ever put on tape. The side ends with THE SMEGMAGICIANS, which is my high school punk band that I restarted just to finish out this side of the tape. It sucks. The first song is an AOA cover. I played guitar and sang while my friend Harry played drums. I wouldn't let him hear the song or practice it before recording. The second song is just me playing guitar and drums...and actually it's not too bad.
  Side 2 kicks off with a live set from SHITBOY FROM OUTERSPACE, a band I have already covered here (it's the same set too). They are followed up by the always great 565 BURNOUTS, who have their own entry right here.

A later incarnation of 565 BURNOUTS playing at American Beat Records in Birmingham, AL.

   JOEY TAMPON AND THE TOXIC SHOCKS are up next, playing three songs that I'm pretty sure never appeared on other recordings. Well, two of the songs were definitely on a record, but not these recordings. The first song was never released on anything and it's not that good (but I'm biased...I was in the band). I have no clue where or why we recorded these songs. It could have been recorded in my bedroom or in a "real" studio. No idea. You can find more by the band here.

JOEY TAMPON AND THE TOXIC SHOCKS playing an 8 year old's birthday party in St Mary's, GA. Note that Neil is smoking.

   Joey and Neil from the TOXIC SHOCKS were also in CHEESE ASS CHRIST. They weren't from Alabama. They were from Georgia. You can find possibly everything you ever wanted to know about them here. 

   One of Alabama's first hardcore bands (possibly the very first) was THE KNOCKABOUTS, who come up next on this tape. Their songs on here come from their demo tape-turned -EP from 1982. (well, the demo is from '82. The EP is from '95). You can find more info about them here. The only thing I want to add is that I talked to Ken (owner of Prank Records who released their EP) about them and he said that he might release an LP collection in the future. I guess there's a lot more songs laying around. He's obviously not in a big hurry, but I would be excited if that project ever saw the light of day, Fun fact: The title of this comp ("Help Me, I'm Trapped in a Ford Festiva") comes from THE KNOCKABOUTS. My band (JT and the TOXIC SHOCKS) used to go on tour in my Ford Festiva (with all of our equipment, yes), which is one of the tiniest cars you could possibly own in the 90's. We listened to THE KNOCKABOUTS a lot. When we would listen to their song "Fast Pulse" (included here), we would sing that line instead of the KNOCKABOUTS-penned line of "Help me, I'm trapped in a human body!!"

   MENACE (not really sure if they ever realized there was a classic punk band called MENACE) was a band of teenage punk kids from the burbs who could barely hold it together, but held it together just enough to belt out this rough recording on a boom box. I think I only saw them once and that was only because I drove out to one of their mom's houses in south Huntsville for a band practice. I could be wrong though because I think I have a flyer for them somewhere. One weird thing about this band is that my friend Ramesh sang for them and did not play an instrument, which is ridiculous because he was already becoming a good bass player at that point. Still, you can listen to their song "AUO994" and realize why they got him to sing. 

   THE MACK was somewhat the black sheep of the Huntsville punk family. I believe 50% of that was self-imposed and the other 50 was just punk kids not wanting to admit that they liked pop-punk at some point in their lives. Either way, THE MACK played undeniably tuneful and upbeat pop-punk that was not very popular among the local scene, but I'll bet that they would have been a hit if they had ever managed to go on a tour or two in the mid-90's. Now, you can download this and relive your secret (or not-so-secret) pop-punk past. I will admit now that these songs are good. (Fun facts: THE MACK was the only local band of this era to have an online presence at the time. They are also the only band I've ever "auditioned" for as a drummer...for which I was denied for not being good enough.)

  I'm not talking about the next band. Fuck it. They were from Florida. I was the only one who knew who they were. The first song made me want to learn to play drums. The second song sucks ass.
   15E was an insane sounding punk band that worked as a precursor to THE SLACKERS, SHITBOY FROM OUTERSPACE and most of the crop of 90's punk from Huntsville. The members were Jason (SHITBOY and later XPIA), Joey (JOEY TAMPON, THE SLACKERS, RADIOACTIVES, 3D's, many more and later a born again Baptist preacher), and Mike (SEWER PUNKS and others that flew off my radar). They named the band after the apartment number of the place they shared. This recording comes from a live set at the Tip Top in north Huntsville where the band constantly harangues the audience for being shitty people. Punk. This is all I know about them. They were before my time in that town. If anyone has their demo tape, I will gladly take it.
   The tape ends with local greats THE SLACKERS and THE JAWAS. Everything you might ever want to know about both of those bands can be found here and here. The closing sample is possibly one of the best samples ever committed to tape, in my opinion.

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Re-uploaded 2013

P.S. There's 65 tracks total in this download.
This one's for Ramesh, who was always a fan and supporter of Alabama punk bands.

Now, here's some flyers from that era.

I think this is one of the first punk flyers I ever made, with help from Jason Shitboy. We used to have illegal shows at the Jaycee's Fairgrounds, which was just a gazebo in a parking lot. Sometimes, we paid $100 to use the space. Other times, we just went in and had the show without permission. I think this was one of the illegal times. THE DUMBSHITZ was my old band from Birmingham that I had quit by this point. They didn't show up for this show. Here's a video of them playing in Birmingham after I quit.

This was my birthday show, also at the fairgrounds. PROPERTY was a mainstay of the Huntsville punk scene and I'm confused as to why they're not on the tape. THEE AUTOBOTS was a later band spearheaded by Jack THE MACK that incorporated sax into the pop-punk world.

Great show for $3. Gorin's was an ice cream shop downtown that was dumb enough to let us have punk shows. 

All local bands at Gorin's Flyer by Blair Menace. BLOODY HOLLY was mostly improv-violence. Blair, Jay Kaos and I wore bloody dress shirts and glasses while assaulting people, sonically. I can't even begin to explain the CATATONICS to you. If I can ever dig up their tape (doubtful), it will have its own thing on here.

Another local show at Gorin's. THE SHIZNICS never recorded and I don't remember much about them. THE PANIC BUTTONS should have been on the comp but never got any music to me. They will be featured on the blog one day. Those guys went on to play in THOMAS FUNCTION.

RICE HARVESTER's 1st show. One of the TOXIC SHOCKS' last. PINK COLLAR JOBS were one of the best bands from the southeast in the 90's.

Local times, minus THE GRUMPIES, who might as well have been local. Art by Marsh. Flyer by me.

7-11'S - Demo - Tape - 1997

   I was just reminded of this demo the other day when my friend, Chad put up a Youtube video of it. The story behind this band is a hazy one and one that I don't know too well. I imagine that it was a one day project between 3 friends when there was a four track and some instruments laying around. Carey, who also played in THE DRILLER KILLERS, took care of the guitar duties and complained about how much she hated Jerry Garcia. Eric (also from THE DRILLER KILLERS as well as JACK PALANCE BAND and now in DARK RIDES) sang, played the drums and the trumpet. Michelle, formerly of THE SHAFFERS, played bass and drank hot sauce.
    They were called the 7-11's because they liked 7-11 and sang about it. It's as simple as that. It's sort of dumb, but I've  had these songs stuck in my head since 1997. Sometimes, dumb works in the best way. Love it or hate it, it's only 3 songs and the whole thing lasts less than 4 minutes...about the same amount of time it would take you to lace up some knee-high steel toe boots and kick a skinhead in the face.
   I think this band only played two shows. One of them was at Bandito Burrito in Huntsville, AL where Michelle kicked off their three song set by downing a 4 ounce bottle of El Yucateco Salsa Picante de Chile Habanero in one gulp. The next 4 minutes were very uncomfortable. I don't want to even think about what happened to her bowels in the following 24 hours.

Download THE 7-11's
File updated May 2015

AMERICAN CHEESEBURGER - Demo - CD-R - 2006

   Ever since I met Jason (wild haired drummer guy in this band) back in 1995 (96?), he has been playing his style of no-slow-all-go hardcore relentlessly in bands like TRES KIDS and NINE SHOCKS TERROR. When one of his bands breaks up, he seems to already be working on the first demo for the next one. If we're thinking chronologically, I believe AMERICAN CHEESEBURGER was born not too long after the demise of NO and finds the band fronted by James, one of my favorite hardcore singers of all time...who you may remember from DIVORCE, GOAT SHANTY and HALFULA. Those two teamed up with Jon, formerly of CARRIE NATIONS and Steve from ...uh...I'm sure he played in some good band but I don't know what it was. Anyway, they all got together and churned out this fucking 6 song, raging demo that kicked off their 5 (?) years as a band, pulling influences from C.O.C., Japanese thrash and a bunch of other crazy shit. Go for it, freezer eagle.

Download AMERICAN CHEESEBURGER

Live photos taken in Cincinnati by Jon Douds.

THE SHAFFERS - "Live at 20 Below" - Tape - 1993?

   Jerry, a friend of Remote Outposts and fellow audio (and video) archivist over at Blood Transmission, sent me this (almost) 20 year old tape of one of THE SHAFFERS early shows at 20 Below in East Ridge, TN. I've already written pretty extensively about the band here and here, so I 'm not sure what else I can possibly tell you about this band other than A) I love them dearly, B) it's next to impossible to find anything by this band that contains song titles, C) it's difficult to find anything other than live recordings and D) without them, there would probably not be such a vibrant punk scene in Chattanooga, TN today.
   Here is what Jerry has to say about this tape...
   "THE SHAFFERS were one of the two bands that got me into punk (the other is OPERATION IVY). I was in 8th grade, so it had to be '94. I was friends with a guy named Kelton and his brother was Nathan, the drummer of THE SHAFFERS. Long story short, he let me copy his tape of them playing live at an old East Ridge club called 20 Below. I never went there or even saw THE SHAFFERS (the one time I had the chance, they didn't play for some reason). I actually copied the tape over a live SPIN DOCTORS tape that I got screwed into owning by Colombia House. From what I gather, they had only been a band for a month and a half when this was recorded. Also, since this is a rip of an at least 2nd generation dub that was recorded over an already existing album, the sound isn't the greatest and there are a couple of flubs in quality."

Download THE SHAFFERS
Updated 2013

Thanks!

HALFULA - Demo - Tape - 2001

   I'm back from tour! Oh, the stories I could tell you about wild drunken punks in Vancouver, playing shows at 3 AM, our bass player Bryan getting border patrol cops to laugh about setting bibles on fire, our guitarist Barker almost getting some jerk to drink his piss, how we came close to snapping the wheel off of the van or all the wonderful people that we met in the beautiful northwest. I'm not gonna tell you those stories though, because this is not about NEON PISS...this is about HALFULA.
   I only saw HALFULA play once at a show that was so poorly attended that it was unreal. The event happened way out at a house in Harrison, TN and most of the punks that I knew in Chattanooga at that time didn't own cars. Public transit to Harrison? Forget about it. The band showed up and their drummer, Jason had a cast on his right leg...the same one he uses to play the bass drum. I asked him how the hell he was gonna play the drums with a broken leg. He said it was no problem and he had learned how to play the bass drum with his left foot. I was skeptical, but when they played, they destroyed the minds of the 5 people in attendance. Their guitarist, Clem stood on his tip-toes and played manically and furiously. Their singer, James spent more time in the air than on the ground. When he sang, he looked as if his head was going to explode into 50 pieces. All the while, Jason was blast-beating his set into the ground in a way that made you believe that he had always played with his right foot in a cast. Ten hazy minutes later, the set was over and we were sorely reminded that we were all still in Harrison.
   I didn't pick up their tape that day and I don't remember why. It flowed into my hands just a few days ago via the Portland underground punk scene (no really, I literally bought it underground in a Portland show space). Eleven songs whiz by in less than five fucking minutes. Side two is just a bunch of clips from horror movies. I feel like the only way I can really explain their sound (besides manic fucking hardcore) is by saying that they were masterminded by Jason Griffin and James, who were both in GOAT SHANTY, DIVORCE and AMERICAN CHEESEBURGER. I've said it before, but I still believe that James is one of the best hardcore singers of the past 10 years and if you don't agree with me, I will totally shit in your cheerios. Their guitarist, Clem went missing in action for a while but oddly resurfaced playing in a reggae band. Nowadays, he is back to destroying minds, playing guitar and singing in SAVAGIST. Download this and let it take up five minutes of your time.

Download it

"Live how the fuck you want"

The song titles aren't really attributed to the right songs...I couldn't figure out anything about that aspect of it. That shouldn't detract from your enjoyment of this tape.

CARRIE NATIONS - Demo - 2002(?)

   CARRIE NATIONS was born in the little town of Athens, GA; a town that is known for its vibrant music scene that has produced countless amazing (and horrendously shitty) bands over the years. It's a place where the rent is cheap and the booze flows endlessly til the wee hours. Anyone who has ever given the town of Chattanooga a bunch of shit for its alcohol consumption should try hanging out in Athens for a week or two. You'll be wishing you were back on Cole's porch drinking tea in Tennessee in no time.
   We were talking about this band though, right? CARRIE NATIONS, I believe, didn't actually have a bass player when this demo was recorded (If I'm wrong, sorry Jon) and the other guys in the band recorded the bass parts themselves. They recorded it at Tight Pockets, the now-defunct all-ages show space in Athens, which has many countless stories of its own. Five of these six songs were re-recorded for their 2003 LP, "Be Still", but this demo shows the songs in an earlier, rougher form. I've been on tour with CARRIE NATIONS all over the East Coast, Midwest and the South, but I don't think I've ever heard them play the last song, "Dumpsters As Providers Of". Maybe it was just out of their repertoire by then? I don't know. Actually, I don't know much about this demo at all, except that it is good and you should listen to it. If you want to hear them play all of these songs a million times faster, then click here. Thanks to Chad for sending this recording to me.

Download CARRIE NATIONS Demo

CARRIE NATIONS accepting the Flagpole award for Best Punk Band in Athens. The funny part is that none of these people are in the band.

THIS NEXT PART HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CARRIE NATIONS.

   By now, you may have heard that over the last weekend in my neighboring town of Oakland, there was a huge political march that intended to take over an abandoned building in hopes of establishing a "command center" for the local Occupy movement. Everyone has their issues with tactics and intent (including me), but I want it to be known that I support these actions wholeheartedly. My band was supposed to play either inside the building or outside of it on a bus, but that never happened because the cops exercised their power as brutish thugs by attacking innocent adults and children with gas and rubber bullets. If you only read mainstream media sources, they make it easy to point a finger at the protesters and see where they may be at fault. From their reports, it's easy to imagine a sea of black-clad people heaving boulders with makeshift catapults at innocent little cops just trying to do their job. What is actually happening is that the cops are completely out of control and attacking people for no reason. Here is a picture of the crowd marching on Saturday:

   There were families, young people, old people and little kids. I watched livestream footage of a cop knocking a middle-aged woman (who was doing absolutely nothing) backwards over her bike and then she was swarmed by 10 cops with batons drawn as she was arrested. Cops trapped people in a park, ordered them to disperse, then wouldn't let them disperse, and attacked them with tear gas in a residential area. City officials try to make protesters look bad by stating that they committed property damage by breaking down a fence. The reason they broke down the fence is because the cops trapped them, tear gassed them and then penned them in to make a mass arrest. People broke down the fence to escape (successfully) from the cops. (as a side note, the fence in question here was erected by the city around a city park at a very high cost to keep protesters out. Neighboring schools had previously used this park daily for physical education.)

   One last thing. The SF daily paper had this quote: "Among the most violent incidents that occurred Saturday night was in front of the YMCA at 23rd Street and Broadway. Police corralled protesters in front of the building and several dozen protesters stormed into the Y, apparently to escape from the police, city officials and protesters said. Protesters damaged a door and a few fixtures and frightened those inside the gym working out, said Robert Wilkins, president of the YMCA of the East Bay."

 For one thing, THAT is the "most violent incident"? That is not violence. That is some smart people escaping cops who are trying to pin them in and arrest them for a "crime" of walking around in the streets exercising their right to free speech. I found a quote elsewhere (I wish I could find it now, but I lost it) from a woman who said she was working out when a lot of protesters started running through the building. She said it kinda freaked her out, but she didn't actually feel in danger until she saw cops chasing them with their weapons drawn.

   The Oakland Police Department has really fucked up and history is going to look back on them in the same way that it has looked upon the cops in Alabama during the Civil Rights movements of the 1960's. I urge you to read articles written by independent sources who don't have corporate interests kicking money to them. If you would like some more stories about this, please check these out. Thanks

Aid and Abet

National Lawyer's Guild

Huffington Post

AlterNet - which includes a great picture of the cops teargassing themselves.

Also, keep in mind, that less than two short years ago, OPD said they didn't have enough money or resources to keep responding to certain crimes, including burglary, grand theft and failing to register as a sex offender. Article here.

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES FROM DAY ONE - Tape - 1997

   Iggy Scam put out this tape in 1997 and it brought to life a ton of bands that I had only read about (mostly in SCAM, the zine) or heard about by word of mouth. It was a revelation to hear real, live songs by bands with names like DARVIS BROWN AND THE SMOKE ASSES, VANBUILDERASS, LES TURDZ, and KREAMY LECTRIC SANTA. It was more than that. It was fucking exciting and it changed my life. It helped to open up my life to a whole world of complete and utter badasses who mostly have remained that way through the years. This is where I first heard "Revolution Sound" by THE STUN GUNS, where I first heard THE DRILLER KILLERS (who inspired me to make my own shirt with a Sharpie), where I was introduced to the genius of "Can't Take It Away" by THE MORONS and so, so much more. "Stupid Fresh" by KLS still sends chills down my spine every time I hear it. This is also where I first heard THE FUNYONS, a band powered mostly by one man named Steve who plays his simple-yet-insanely-catchy songs only on the streets, which I've always respected immensely. You may also know Steve as the principal songwriter behind ONION FLAVORED RINGS, who have been also churning out quality pop-punk for 10 years, even though they have slowed down in recent years. The cool thing is that Steve still plays FUNYONS songs unannounced on the streets of San Francisco all the time.
   This tape proclaimed "30 bands! 51 songs from The Region!" and that term (the region) has stuck around for all these years and has evolved into "region rock". But what the fuck is "region rock" and why should you care? I can't answer the latter, but I can tell you that the term "The Region" was coined by Cinque Adams. It  is loosely defined as an area in the southeastern US that is shaped like a triangle with points in Dogtown, AR, Tom Foote;s house in Chattanooga, TN and the ruins of an old hotel called "The Mutiny" in Coconut Grove in Miami. Bands from The Region mostly shared (and continue to share) ideologies, band members and much more. I don't want to define it too much because it's not mine to define. It's ever-shifting and belongs to the punks of the southeast. Don't think about it too much. Just close your mind.
   The songs were compiled by Iggy using (I'm sure) the cheapest of equipment and the barest of essentials. The same could be said for many of the bands recording their songs. The music was dubbed onto tapes stolen from chain stores and distributed through the US by touring bands, traveling kids, punk post, and a couple of small distributors. I remember getting 10 of these in the mail from Iggy and they were all snatched up by the punks in my town within a couple of hours. I don't even have a copy of this anymore.

   I did a sequel to this comp three years later, which you can find right here. This comp was originally posted on Region Rock and More, (so you can ask him why all the songs are weirdly numbered and out of order) but is no longer available there since Megaupload was shut down by the feds. I wanted to keep it around and easy to access, in case people want to hear it. It's an important document in the history of southeastern punk rock. This is for Forrest Haye, Andrew Ross Powell, Chris Cottie, Brian Turd, Victor Wiley, Mike O'Brien and any other winners we've lost along the way.

DOWNLOAD///Updated July 2013

 





SHAFFERS - Live on WNYU - Tape - 1995

SHAFFERS playing in a backyard somewhere in the 90's. Photo by Josie.

   This is part two of yesterday's post.

   If you want to get truly technical about it, this should be part one, since the SHAFFERS actually played first on the radio broadcast that day, back in 1995. Much has been said, ballyhooed, and shouted from the mountaintops about the STUN GUN's performance, which left the SHAFFERS standing a little bit outside of the spotlight. As mentioned previously, the SHAFFERS were on tour with the STUN GUNS for about 3 months, which tightened up their performance to the finest it ever was in their existence. On this live radio broadcast, they are playing lightning fast and this ended up being one of the best recordings they ever had.

   The SHAFFERS were originally from Dalton, GA and moved to Chattanooga, TN in the mid-90's. I remember asking Eric Nelson (their guitarist) once why they moved there. Were there other punk bands in the town? A good record store? Anything? Eric just said it was simply the biggest city that was really close to them that wasn't Atlanta. It was that simple. They wanted to get out of Dalton, and Chattanooga was both close by and cheap. Since then, a ton of punks have passed through that town. Some have stuck around and dug in their heels to make that city a destination for traveling punks and touring bands. Many have made their own mark there with record labels, a record/arts store, a recording studio (run by SHAFFERS bassist, Mike Pack) and a punk-run vegan restaurant/show space. I'm not gonna get into it here, but I can definitively trace the origins of all of these things back to the SHAFFERS moving to Chattanooga. It's impressive and awe-inspiring, to say the least. If you would like to know and hear even more about the SHAFFERS, then you can look right here. For now, enjoy their ruling set on WNYU back in 1995.

Download SHAFFERS
Updated 2013

 If you're ever in Chattanooga...or even if you're not....check out these punk-run, locally owned places.

Leo Handmade Gallery - Records, zines, handmade clothes, crafts and much more.

Sluggo's North Vegetarian Cafe - Completely punk staff, great vegan food, good coffee, and punk shows in the basement...oh yeah, also lots of beer on tap and super cheap drink specials.

Do Ya Hear We - Local record label that has not put out a bad record. They also put on a yearly 4 day music festival that is one of the best events that I have ever been to.

Mauled By Tigers - Another great record label that put out the flawless HIDDEN SPOTS LP as well as the ADD/C LP and newest SHELLSHAG record.

TINY BUZZ - (no internet presence) Mike Pack's studio, which is responsible for records by SHELLSHAG, LANDLORD, BLACK RAINBOW, ADD/C and many, many more....

  There's probably more stuff I could tell you about, but my mind is fuzzy because I'm typing this in the library since the internet is out at my house....over and out.

GOAT SHANTY - "Encroachment" and "Clearly Prespin" - CD's - 1999-2002

   I have been fully on board with the bands of one Mr Jason Griffin since I first met him way back when he drummed in TRES KIDS. He has stayed true to his love of thrash, hardcore and DIY and has been unrelenting in consistently throwing down quality bands for the past 18 (or so) years. GOAT SHANTY was one of those many bands that blew my mind when I first saw them.
     Their first CD "Encroachment" is a noisy hardcore assault on the ears brought to you by Jason and Tosh. It is overflowing with metal-tinged guitar riffs and constant tempo-changing blast beats, all with a constant soundtrack of noisy static just below the surface. On their second CD, "Clearly Prespin", they added James as a vocalist, which made their live show 10,000 times better (James also joined Jason in the later bands, DIVORCE and AMERICAN CHEESEBURGER...and I think he is one of the best hardcore front-persons of the past 15 years). This CD has some of my favorite lyrics of theirs on the song "15" (all of their songs titles are numbers). Just download it. The lyrics are there....anyhow, "Clearly Prespin" is no less damaged, chaotic and noisy.

  I went and saw GOAT SHANTY play in a big room in Bloomington, IN once and absolutely no one else was there besides the other band that played and our mutual friend, Mary. The guy who set up the show did absolutely nothing to promote the show and it sucked. After the first band played, the drummer told Jason that they could set up when he was finished breaking down his drums. Jason took one look at the guy's huge set with triggers and extra hardware and laughed. GOAT SHANTY unloaded their car, set up, played their full set, loaded the car back up and LEFT THE BUILDING before that dude could take apart his drumset. The next day, GOAT SHANTY agreed to let me ride with them to Cincinnati even though they had absolutely no room in their car and I rode on Jason's lap all the way there. That basement show was packed, the kids were appreciative and the band was the best I ever saw them. Completely on fire and on top of their game. That night, we stayed at some racist dumbshit's house and I drunkenly intercepted a bottle that someone tried to break over Jason's head. It was a rough night. In the morning, I got out of my sleeping bag (which was covered in glass after someone had broken bottles on the wall next to me during the night), left the band without saying goodbye (they were still asleep) and hitchhiked in the goddamn rain for two days to get to Tennessee. The band went on their merry way north to play a hardcore fest or something. Soon after, they broke up.

Download GOAT SHANTY
Re-uploaded Oct 2014

THE SHAFFERS - "Live At Collin's" - Tape - 1994

   THE SHAFFERS were one of the first punk bands from the Chattanooga / Dalton,GA area that I ever heard. Their bass player, Mike Pack hitchhiked down to Birmingham (where I lived....or very close to there..at the time) in 1994 to see PROPAGANDHI at Tuxedo Junction and he gave one of my friends a tape of his band. They were great. They were playing a style of fucking fast DIY hardcore that was still tuneful and upbeat. I wanted to play music like this. I wanted to know these people. I wanted them to be my friends. I couldn't believe that they lived only a couple of short hours away from me. Less than a year later, I was living in Huntsville,AL and I went to see a bad horror-punk / ska band called THE INDEPENDENTS (yep, still the same band) play an insanely boring show downtown. There was a little skinny guy wearing a leather jacket at that show that I had never seen around town. He looked to be a few years older than me and  wasn't talking to anyone, but looked wholly approachable and gave off a certain unexplainable charm. I introduced myself to him and he told me his name was Eric Nelson. He had hitchhiked here from Chattanooga for this show. "THIS show?!" I asked incredulously. He explained that THE INDEPENDENTS were old friends that he hadn't seen in a while. I ended up hanging out with him all night and I picked his brain about bands from his town. He let it slip that he played guitar in THE SHAFFERS and learning that was like finding a missing piece of a puzzle that you didn't even realize that you were working on.
    After that, I kept trying to get THE SHAFFERS to come to Huntsville to play a show, since they were only 2 hours away. I learned early on that the Chattanooga punks, while playing brilliant punk rock and being some of the finest people I have ever met in my life, were highly unorganized. If you set up a show for them, there was a 50% chance they wouldn't show up, either because the vehicle broke down or someone got drunk and disappeared or they forgot. When any of their bands did show up, it was highly likely that they would have brought 2 other bands crammed into a minivan and they would insist that the other bands had to play too...which was fine since everyone's set only lasted 15 minutes or less and they all used the same equipment. Long story short: I never got THE SHAFFERS to come to Alabama, so I went to them.
    Going to Chattanooga for the first time really opened my eyes to a whole new world of punk and I really feel like I found what I had been looking for for years. I got to see THE SHAFFERS, Eric and Mike's other band THE JACK PALANCE BAND, THE DRILLER KILLERS, THE ACCIDENTAL HONKIES and many, many more. I liked it so much that I moved there a few years later and THE SHAFFERS are directly responsible for that.

SHAFFERS live...maybe in Georgia. Photo by Josie.

   This tape was recorded live at Collin's (a bar? a house? I don't know!) and shows THE SHAFFERS at their fastest and tightest. It sounds like four people who grew up on a steady diet of early DRI, COC, SCREECHING WEASEL'S "Punk House" 7" and THE MISFITS. Michelle's rapid fire vocals are completely on-point and fierce. Each song blazes by in a fury and they manage to blast out 16 songs in about the same amount of minutes. So fucking good. This is the band that cemented Eric and Mike's musical marriage and they continue to play music together today in HIDDEN SPOTS. They're like my generation's Mike Watt and D Boon. Also, let us not forget their drummer, Nathan (a.k.a. the sensual wizard) who looked like a haze of long hair, weed smoke and big smiles behind the set. His drumming inspires me to this day.

Download SHAFFERS
Updated 2013

The quality, of course, has always been sub-par on this recording, but I tried to fuck with it a little bit and I think it has improved. Just act like you're sitting around a Chattanooga punk house with dog shit on the floor and this is blasting out of the worst quality stereo that you just scored from the dumpster behind the thrift store.

Also, there are no song titles because there is no list with the tape, but just act like some of them are called "Tommy is a Weirdo" and "I Need You Now", because that is true.