Groundwork - Today We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent (1994)

To go along with this post on Corgeasm, I present Tuscon, Arizona’s Groundwork. Typical of many bands of that time, they lasted a few short years but had a large impact on hardcore in the mid-1990s. Their brutally heavy yet emotional style set them apart from many bands.

This record, along with Unbroken’s life.love.regret, came along at just the right time for me. I was looking for something a little heavier than bands like Indian Summer, yet not the tough-guy, straight edge, moshcore of Earth Crisis and 25 ta Life. When A Prayer for the Dead finally kicks in, it still sends shivers down my spine. The bass is so heavy. Bands like this make we want to start bands of my own, just so I can make music that might touch others the way this touched me. Cheesy, I know…

As usual, I don’t know much about this band. I heard that some of the members went on to another band called Absinthe. This CD is an incomplete discography release, combining the Today We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent LP, their side of the Unbroken Split, the Living in Fear and Lay Down 7 inches, and their track from the Lacking Mindset compilation. Missing is their tracks from Land of Greed… World of Need, a split with Undertow, and possibly more…

Groundwork - Today We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent (1994)

Kilara - Southern Fried Metal (1999)

Virginia’s Kilara was one of my favorites during the late 1990s. My band did a short tour with them and we all made quick friends. They were similar in sound to bands like Down, yet more heavy, more punk, more down to earth, and more approachable. Kilara took equal parts blues, punk, metal and bluegrass to cook up a fierce, chaotic, cacophony of, err… southern-fried metal. As far as I know, they were one of the first, and certainly my initiation to the sludge-metal/southern-metal genre.

Formed as a side project of then-Avail-drummer Erik Larson, members went on to be in Alabama Thunderpussy, Page 99, and others. Southern Fried Metal compiles their 7–inches, splits, and demo.

Kilara - Southern Fried Metal

Stuff...

Mediafire not only deleted all my files, but deleted my account too. If you want me to re-upload something, just comment in this post. That said, can anyone recommend a good file sharing site?

Also, I changed the look. What do you think?

The Sky is Falling...

Two nights ago, our ceiling fell due to water damage and broke my laptop. I was using that laptop to rip vinyl for posting on this blog... So my choices are severely limited, until I can get another computer to rip vinyl. I still have my desktop, so I can post CDs.
Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident.
If you're interested in pictures, they are here.

Face to Face - Over It (1994)

I think I was the only one of my friends to like Face to Face for some reason. Neil from Tribal War Records turned me on to them after I inquired about their first LP reissue on Fat Wreck Chords. I always thought they were southern California’s answer to Chicago’s Pegboy, simple, melodic punk songs that were energetic and easy to sing along to.

While I liked their music, I always had mixed feelings about Face to Face. There were rumors (and demos) floating around of their hair-metal band background and doubts of their intentions in a scene that was rapidly becoming more and more dogmatic about it’s D.I.Y. ethic, and becoming more of a commodity to be capitalized on. Along with Green Day, Jawbreaker, and Samiam, Face to Face signed to a major label subsidiary, the poorly named Victory Music (Victory Records was a well-known hardcore label from Chicago), on which Over It was released.

Over It compiles some tracks from previous singles and EPs, but also adds a second guitarist, Chad Yaro, to “fill out the sound.” The added guitar tracks and re-mixing made this record of familiar songs sound unfamiliar to me. The sounds is more full, that’s for sure. But gone was that familiar Westbeach Studio sound, and in it’s place was a grittier, fuzzier sound. It took me a while to get used to, and left me wondering if this was the future sound of Face to Face and melodic punk. This was not to be the case, as their next album, Big Choice, had the cleaner sound I liked. 

Face to Face - Over it (1994)