Muerte En America

My last score has been a copy of Mexico's Xenofobia discography lp that came out last year on Bam Bam Records outta Mexico. Limited to 300 copies only, I missed it when it came out. I didn't want to order it directly from the label since the combination of mexican and italian posts scared the shit out of me. I wasn't fast enough with the few euro distros who got copies and then it seemed like I couldn't find a copy anywhere else. Luckily Feral Ward had a stock copy around recently and I've been the lucky fella who scored it.  

Pretty solid band that only self-released a 7" titled "Muerte En America" in 1987 followed by their one and only full lenght "Presionados" (self-released by the band again) two years later before disappearing into obscurity. Here are collected all their 18 tracks: some of the finest central/south american hardcore if you want to know my opinion. Raw, straight to the point, noisy, brutal and aggressive music dressed with political lirycs in the classic latino hardcore style. Within Masacre 68 and Atoxxxico, Xenofobia are one of the best band that ever came out of "america's backyard". Desperation and anger prefectly translated into music.

As you can see, cover has the EP artwork in front and the LP's one on the backcover. Comes with no insert at all which is kinda disappointing since I know nothing about this band. Would love to know a bit of their history and even read the lyrics!! Anyway, essential discography if you don't want to get crazy and loose lots of money for the originals. If you happen to own an extra copy of Sedition "Extintos" lp repress also issued by Bam Bam Records, get in touch!

DISCARGA interview 2003

 10 years ago 625 put out the first full lenght of these incredible Larm fueled band out of Brazil. Needless to say that after the very first listen, I had immediately decided to interview them. Originally featured in PM#2.

Perro: Your band’s name sounds very similar to Discharge. Is it a tribute to them? What does it mean exactly?

Daniel:  Well, I can say that we borrowed the name from them because we like them a lot.

Perro: Can you tell us a brief history of the band?

Daniel: We started in 1998, as a crust band but we were too well-behaving guys to be a real crust band. At first we were 4 (douglas, nino, paulo and me), then some others came and left us so now we're just 3 (junior, nino and me). We played some shows, recorded some tracks for some compilations and then we recorded a demo tape that Max from 625 Recs got. He liked it very much and he decided to release something. Douglas recorded some stuff with us until 2001. Junior replaced him and is with us from then on.

Perro: Your sound is not the tipical brazilian one but it seems more influenced by bands from holland like Larm or Man Lifting Banner. Do you agree? How would you describe it to the uninitiated?

Daniel: Yes, we listen to them very much. They sound really good and have good lyrics. I dont think we're sounding like them nowadays though... we're more brazilian now. It is like a stone breaker, a chainsaw and a tractor in an angry screaming 12 year old kid.

Perro: From what I've read, Brazil should be a place with lots of problems and violence expecially in the big cities. Since you live there, can you give us a dectailed description of how’s the brazilian society?

Daniel: I can say we're approximately 170 millions people, 40 millions unlettered people, high unemployment, endless corruption, drug dealing, etc... 8 years ago, the government promised a whole social reform, but the only result they obtained was to enrich banks and so on. But even with all these problems you can come here and have some fun.

Perro: Brazilian police is very famous for being one of the most brutal around. Have you ever had any problems with the cops?

Daniel: Yes. We are used to saying they beat up first and ask what's going on later. Police, as usual.

Perro: Since portuguese is a bit similar to italian I think I've understood that your lyrics are very political and totally anti globalization. Did you go at the Porto Alegre meetings? Do you see it as a positive thing? Is brazilian hc scene involved with the anti globalization demonstrations and movements like Sem Terra?

Daniel: We think it is very important to have these manifestations around the world. We haven’t been to the meeting in Porto Alegre but many guys from the hardcore scene went there to see what was going on and they reported what they heard there at the shows. Many of these kids are involved with the Landless Workers Movement, the Homeless Movement, Independent Media, groups against ALCA etc etc...

Perro: What’s the arguments of the lyrics of  your track called “America”? Is it against USA foreign politics in all South America?

Daniel: It is about how America has been colonized, I mean, the destruction of indigenous people, environment and it is about USA the "guardian" of America. It is basically against all what has been imposed to us during these 500 years.

Perro: How’s the situation for the indigenous tribes who live in the Amazon forest?

Daniel: The indigenous tribes are totally miserable. Their land is ripped off by prospectors, miners, lumbermen, cattle farmers who cause conflicts and riots. Besides the prejudice the indigenous people suffer in the big cities I can tell you that 2 homeless indigenous guys were burned while they were sleeping in the streets, by rich kids who just wanted to have some fun. What a shame.

Perro: There’s a Discarga song titled “Norman Bates Song”. Are you fans of Psycho? What are some others cool movies you can suggest us, expecially from Brazil?

Daniel: Yeah, sure we like this kind of movie and this song is actually because friends used to call me Norman Bates, bullshit. There are excellent films being done here in Brasil at the moment, like CIDADE DE DEUS, O INVASOR, CARANDIRU, ABRIL DESPEDEÇADO, etc. Films that show our reality.

Perro: Why you did a collections of all your previous material as debut full lenght? Wasn’t it better to do it with all new tracks? How has been the responses since now? Are you satisfied with the way it is?

Daniel: It is because cds are more popular here than vynil and tapes, so we decided to get everything we had and release it on a cd. It didn’t come out the way we expected but we're glad with it anyway. Many people from the 3rd world are always trying to get in touch with us. People from Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, Phillipines, Malasya, etc.. We're proud of that. It doesn’t matter the language you use in your songs or where you're from but what you have to say.

Perro: Brazil is the only state from South America with a big scene that is well known also overseas. Any cool grind/hc bands from other South American states you can suggest us apart Migra Violenta and Dios Hastio?

Daniel: I  think the brasilian scene is well known because of our early 80's punk explosion. Good bands from other countries in South America are Vieja Escuela, Fun People and Nueva Etica from Argentina, Entrefuego and Asunto from Chile, Dar A Cada Uno Lo Que Es Suyo from Bolivia and there are many many more.

Perro: Do we have any chances to see Discarga live in Europe? Your best/worst gigs? How’s Discarga on stage?

Daniel: Yeah, we're planning some shows in Europe this year, stay tuned. We played many good and bad shows so it is kinda hard to say...playing is always good. I can't describe how we are on stage but I can say the drummer is mad, the bass player jumps a lot and I am kinda shy.

Perro: Projects for the future?

Daniel: Record more stuff and play many shows... i don’t know.. future is unpredictable.

Perro: Conclude as you like. 

Daniel: We would like to thank Raffa for the support and the interview. I hope this will make people  more involved with things that happen in the less developed countries. Scenes around the world are growing and very interesting.

Painesville City Hardcore

During the whole 00s', it seemed that worldwide hardcore kids fave hobby was complaining about how much 90s' hardcore sucks. 90s' were my formative years and lots of my actual favourite bands are from that decade. Here in italy Cripple Bastards were at their peak, japan had Bastard, Deathside, Gore Beyond Necropsy, Disclose, Judgement and Gauze released their best full lenghts during the 90s. Australia had awesome bands like Rupture, Warsore and Arms Reach. Colombia unleashed some of the fiercest bands between '88 and '92. Do I have to talk about the whole Slap A Ham scene in california? This is just to drop a few names, a complete list would be endless. My point is that 90s' didn't suck at all. It was just that you were listening to the wrong bands. So please stop blaming the 90s' and start to blame yourselves for wasting your time listening to the worst crappy sxe metalcore band that Victory Records was hyping at the time.

Just think about what was going on in Cleveland in that decade. A bunch of scumbags who didn't care at all about the flavour of the month got together and started to form the core of a scene that would have unleashed quality hardcore for the next 20 years. Of course nobody give a shit in the 90s'. Now all these bands are revered worldwide but that's another story.

One of the very first Clevo band was Gag Reflex. They released a couple of demos before disbanding into obscurity after a couple of years. Their only vinyl output was released posthumous in 1996 by Hibachi Records in the form of a split 7" with Hangnail. If you're familiar with Clevo bands such as Cider, 9 Shocks Terror or Inmates, you know what to expect from this. Raw, fast and extremely pissed off hardcore not too dissimilar from the aforementioned bands. 

While all those records usually pop up frequently, this one seemed to be one of the hardest to get, even if it was pressed on 500 copies instead of 300 like many others Clevo classic gems. Never saw a copy of this on eBay in the last 6 years. Suddenly, some copies appeared nowhere but in Poland a couple of months ago on discogs. I guess it was old distro stocks by some folks from that polish band that did a split with Hangnail many moons ago? Anyhow, I've been lucky enough to score a copy of another rager that proved me again that 90s' didn't suck at all.  

Fairy Tale

Almost a month has passed since the last time I've posted something here. I've been waiting for some parcels for the whole month of April but nothing appeared in my bloody mail box. My worst enemy (poste italiane, of course!) struck again. First I pretended to be patient but since nothing showed up, I started to be respectively worried, anxious, pissed off and finally resigned. Yesterday, after an endless day of work I came back home totally disenchanted to find something. But suddenly, I've spotted this lil' bastard waiting for me. Now that the first one finally showed up, I hope to get all my parcels in the next few days. Let's see what happens next.

People debut full lenght "fairy tale" on limited blue wax. Comes with a 2" button that went straight in the drawer where I keep all my buttons. Nothing wrong with them but I'm too old for that shit. 

I was a bit reluctant about ordering it directly from Damaging Noise Records after all the horrible stories I've been hearing for years about Fabian being totally unreliable. Then the whole Control ep thing happened. But when I saw I picture that proved that this existed, I've immediately placed my order and, almost a month later, I got this lp in my hands. Maybe now he's trying to run his label more seriously? As far as concerned to my direct experience, I have no complains at all. He even dropped me a line to lemme know when this was shipped. 

This is for sure a candidate for the best lps of 2012. Think to a slower, more mid paced version of early Swankys or Chaos CH to get a clue of how People sound. A great sound, a good recording and well written catchy tunes are in my opionion the essential ingredients for a perfect record. People's lp has it all. Songs on side A were originally released in japan on tape and cdr by Feminist Records. Side B has a couple of bonus songs that unfortunately, like 95% of bonus material, are totally useless. Nothing terrible of course but definitely way inferior to what's on the first side of this lp.

My only real complain about this rager is the too blurry cover. This is how it should have been if he was printed neatly like for the tape version: 

I guess they didn't want to have troubles with printers. Anyway, get this brillant record. Definitely worth your money. If you happen to have an extra copy of their ep "fetish", please get in touch. I need it badly.