Seven videos I shot with a pixelvision kids camcorder from a WKDU Band Bash with Kitschchao, Temple of Bon Matin and Underagga.
I only made a few videos with this camera (I’ll put up the Fugazi ones later) but for those who aren’t familiar with it Fisher Price put this out as a camcorder for kids. It recorded the video (and audio) on regular cassette tapes (about 5 minutes on each side of a 90 minute audio tape) The results were a very artsy grainy black n white. These tapes were kind of old when I finally figured out how to get them first on a regular video tape and then digitalize later. More on Pixel Camcorder
As for the bands I could only identify one song which was Kitchchao covering Riverbottom Nightmare Band from Emmet Otter’s Jug-band Christmas. So if anyone can identify any of the other songs let me know and I’ll update them. (Correction- 2nd Kitschao is White Boy and 3rd is Just Like Always / The Message – Thanks Dave) The flyer for the show June 12th so I’m guessing this was probably 1993.
Author: admin (Page 10 of 10)
Homo Picnic headlined the very first hardcore show I went to in Bethlehem PA. I bought their T-shirt but didn’t see them since my friend who drove had a junior license and we had to be home by midnight.
After I moved to Philly I made up for it by seeing them allot.
Besides seeing then at their shows you could usually see members of the band at all the other shows or by the keg at parties. I believe Days of Grey was their only full album.
If you want to check out an earlier demo tapes and videos Click Here
Go to Homo Picnic’s Facebook page
To get Days of Grey (25th Anniversary Remastered Edition) Click Here
I believe this live tape is probably the last time I saw Die Kreuzen on February 08, 1992 (Thanks Marc) Here are a couple of other sites that have some more Die Kreuzen goodies: Counting Cracks & Symphony of Ghosts
UPDATE The song I didn’t know the title which is on the track with Gone Away is Continuous Dogs which was only ever studio recorded for a session they did in Seattle for a radio show. Thanks to Counting Cracks for the info.
Audio
01 Best Goodbye
02 Downtime
03 Gone Away and Continuous Dogs
04 Over And The Edge
05 Stomp
06 Deep Space_Holes
07 Counting Cracks
08 Wish_Big Bad Days
09 Shine
10 Elizabeth
11 Man In The Trees
12 All White
Update – Uranium Rush Records has re-released Scram’s 2 albums both streaming and on vinyl – see the bandcamp links below =>
As I mentioned in my Electric Love Muffin post I don’t see anyway that I could ever see a band now as many times as I went to Scram and ELM shows. It seemed like Scram was on the bill for every all ages show in the mid to late-80’s. However, they didn’t just play all ages show they seemed to play every club in the city. One of the strangest (but amazing) shows was seeing them back up Schooly D at the Chestnut Cabaret. (Which might have been the first hip hop tours with a live backing bands- I’m not sure)
The things I’ve collected below are an early in studio recording from WXPN, their first album Stand Up and then Kingsessing Trials. The first two were Scram as a three piece with a heavy Reggae influence. By Kingsessing Trials they had added horns and additional musicians (I would put their names but I don’t actually have the cd case anymore.) Trails at times reminds me of Paul Weller’s Style Council. Also I put up some flyers at the bottom of the post. So, enjoy.
Also check out the Loud Fast Philly interview with Matt & Greg Mungan
This is a booklet that I believe came with the Scram Demo tape. If I can find a copy of the demo tape I will add the music files to this later.
But in the meantime:
Here’s the PDF of the Booklet
Scram – Live on WXPN
01 – Intro
02 – Forward
03 – Our World
04 – Freedom
05 – Something To Cling To
06 – Here Tonight
07 – Fear
Scram – Stand Up
Scram – Kingsessing Trials
Besides Scram I don’t think there is another band that I have seen as many times (or ever will) as Electric Love Muffin. For the first two years I lived in Philly I saw them (and usually Scram) it seems like at least once a week. I think my memory might be right this time. The very first show I saw in Philly they played with NOTA – the show got broken up by the cops but then Scram was playing at another party in West Philly later so, the trend of seeing both bands started on my first night of shows in Philly. I’m not sure why but the venue that sticks out for me was seeing them at Tops which was the space above McGlinchey’s. Probably because their rules on carding where somewhat lax at the time (although I might have been straight-edge at the time so who knows.). Electric Love Muffin were always fun to see and they would throw in some great covers like Highway Star (often with guest singers), Venus and Norwegian Wood. I always thought their sound seemed influenced by Minneapolis bands like Huskers and Soul Asylum (Pre-MTV days). As far as I can tell from searching the web none of their records are currently available to buy so I’m putting them up here.
More info at Tape Wrecks site
UPDATE: All three albums are remastered and up on bandcamp now so I removed the song links below – for more go to the Electric Love Muffin site.
There are a couple of bands with members of ELM now playing out. An upcoming show has two of them Poppy & Foxy Contin March 13 2020 with DJ Major Luke at Kung Fu Necktie
Brian is in two current bands Poppy with Kate Campbell (Guitar & Vocals) & Craig Heim from Scram (Drums) & Brian Campbell (Bass & some vocals) Check out their new album at bandcamp. & Mt Vengeance which is Rich Fravel (Uptown Bones, Ashtabula, Latimer) – guitars and vocals & Brian Campbell – bass & Nick Santore – drums
Foxy Contin is Rich Kaufmann- Guitar plus Vox & Michael Stifel- Bass plus Vox
& Ravine Vaneer- Guitar plus Vox & Michael Barndt- Drums minus Vox
Playdooh Meathook
Produced and Arranged by The Electric Love Muffin
Recorded at Spectrum Studios, October 1985
Originally released in 1987
Remastered in 2022 by Matthew Barnhart at Chicago Mastering Service
Rassafranna
Produced by Joe “The Butcher” Nicolo & The Electric Love Muffin
Recorded at Studio 4, Philadelphia in 1988
Originally released in 1989
15 – 44 Ways [cd only bonus track]
16 – Hound Dog [cd only bonus track]
17 – Revolution #9 [cd only bonus track]
Second Third time Around
Produced by The Electric Love Muffin & Joe “The Butcher” Nicolo & Originally released in 1990
Remastered in 2022 by Matthew Barnhart at Chicago Mastering Service
Here is the first of my live tapes this one is from a WKDU band bash from May, 14 1988. It was a great show with Scab Cadillac (I plan on putting up their 7″and album sometime later), Bullet LaVolta (from Boston right after their first ep) and Flower (from New York – members of Flower later formed Versus) all opening up for Dinosaur. This show was after You’re Living All Over Me but Pre-Bug and Lou Barlow’s departure. I’m really not sure why I didn’t tape the entire show but at least I have the Dinosaur part. I might have only had one tape with me – I was supposed to interview Dinosaur for KDU but they showed up in a beat up station wagon and barely said a word so I skipped the interview (Plus SST did not tell them about the interview anyway). Here it is:
01 Severed Lips
02 In A Jar
03 Kracked
04 The Lung
05 Lose
06 Does It Float
07 Sludgefeast
Get Off My Back is a record that I always thought about buying when I was at Record Exchange or Third Street. But I always found something new to buy instead, until one day it wasn’t around anymore. Luckly it was up on the Last Days of Man on Earth blog (Tons of good stuff check it out) so I finally at least could download the songs. So here is the post from that blog.
Get Off My Back – Philly Hardcore Comp (82)
So last Saturday they had their “Legends of Hardcore” show in Philly and it looked like a blast. The lineup was pretty killer and included a couple of my favorite old school Philly HC bands; McRad and YDI. If Ruin was on the bill it woulda been perfect.
First thing you’re gonna notice is that YDI played an extra set with special guest vocalist Sab Grey. So yeah…it woulda been an excellent show and I am bummed that Philly was not close enough to drive to (ala Louisville). If I were still living up in Boston…Shit, I woulda been there!
Unlike Boston (or DC or NYC), The Philly scene never got the props it deserved. It had a slew of great bands, a strong scene and was close enough to other big east coast cities to be connected. So why do we not refer to Philly with the same hushed reverence we refer to these other towns?
The answer is maybe that Philly did not have as much of an identifiable sound and look as these other towns. It also had no singular independent label to rally around like a Dischord or a Modern Method. It basically just had a slew of great bands, many of whom were featured on this great 1982 compilation. The quality of the vinyl is a little crackly but hey, whatcanyado? YDI – Enemy For Life, I Killed My Family: YDI were a cool band. They definitely had that mean, gnarly East Coast sound. I Killed My Family is a bit silly but Enemy for Life fuckin’ rips. FLAG OF DEMOCRACY – Murder Castle, Suburban Cowboy: No doubt the best FOD tunes I have ever heard. These tunes blaze! Murder Castle has got a great breakdown. Way better than the FOD track on the flipside comp thats for sure! BLUNDER BOYS – Conspiracy, I’m Afraid of the Night, Middle Class Morals: Average at best hardcore with a rather annoying singer. Originally went by the name “Crib Death”. One of the lesser bands on this comp. LITTLE GENTLEMEN – No Justice – No Law, No Crime – No Flaw: Another mediocre tune. The Little Gentleman were pretty prolific and went on to release a seven inch and two full length LPs. Another one that doesn’t do that much for me. AUTISTIC BEHAVIOR – TV Messiah, Power Head: Brilliant manic hardcore with a slight Cali edge to it. Power Head reminds me a bit of a real intense Saccharine Trust track. Good shit! Did these guys ever do anything else? RUIN – Proof, Love Dog: Quality-wise Ruin were head and shoulders above most other bands. I wrote them up earlier so I wont go to into it. These are some of the earliest recorded Ruin tracks and they had yet to develop their fully realized style. Even in their embryonic form, Ruin were a great band though and these two tracks kick off side two with a great jolt of dharma-tinged HC. INFORMED SOURCES –Right & Wrong, Dense Pack: OK stuff. Kinda west-coastish. The vocals are a little flat but the playing is very tight. SEEDS OF TERROR – Brain Down, Straightedge: When it first kicked in I thought it sounded like The Urinals! Basically, it has the same production value as the first Urinals 7 inch. Quality-wise the tracks are nowhere near the quality of The Urinals. OK stuff….. McRAD – Inflation Dub, Ejected: Super early McRad tracks preceeding the Dominant Force EP. Inflation Dub is a great reggae-tinged hardcore track. Ejected is just a classic old school HC track. McRad is still going strong today! THE HEATHENS – Oohleigh at Great Adventure, My Twin From Hell: Amazing shit. Tight as hell spazz-core. Kinda like a trainwreck between Stark Raving Mad and Deep Wound and the Minutemen. Fuck! Who were these guys? All in all, this is a super-tight set of US Hardcore made at the height of the moment in 1982. Quality wise, I think it is as good as the Master Tape, Flex Your Head or This Is Boston Not LA. I wonder why it does not have the same reputation as those comps? Thanks to George for hooking me up with this comp too. I’m hoping that we have some Electric Love Muffin coming soon!
This post is the second of three Philly compilations posts
A box set of 4 7″‘s put out in 1994 by WKDU. There are 16 bands all from the Philly area with a pretty wide range of styles.
Below the tracks I have put up scans of the cover and the insert that came in the box – each band got a page of the insert.
Tibetan Bowlers – You You
Kitschchao – Magdaline
Red Paint People – Stric Neck
Vick Logic – Girl Crush
Blue – Liver
More Fiends – Message Is The Same
Strapping Field Hands – Row
O’ Mighty Isis – Sparkle
Meth 25 – Psychotic Rhonda
Double Penetration – Scitzophelia
Zonic Shockum – Labor
Via Satellite – Molecule
Temple Of Bon Matin – Orenacht
Mothra – Almost Human.
Underraga – What Is A Number
Catepillar – Sombulistic
This post is the first of three Philly compilations posts I’m going to try to get up today.
That Was Then This Is Now 7″
This 7″ from Plus Records came out in 1986 and songs by Ruin, FOD, Scram and Electric Love Muffin. If I remember right the picture on the front (see below) was of the torn down Love Hall (Hence the that was then). For 86 this was a good representation of probably the most popular bands in the Philly scene but certainly not all of them. The 7 inch came with a insert that I scanned and you can see below plus stickers which probably went on one of my old skateboards, where it stayed in pristine condition since I was not a very good skateboarder.. Here are the 4 Tracks
Ruin-By The By
Electric Love Muffin-Club Car
Scram-Something To Cling To
F.O.D.-Meat Factory
Basically I’m starting this blog to share some bands from the Philly scene and some live recordings I’ve made. I decided to steal a title of a Ruin song as the name of the blog simply because Ruin is Philly’s best band (then, now and perhaps ever).
Ruin was always an amazing band to see live and just stood out from the rest of the bands in the 80’s hardcore scene. I’m not really very good at writing about music (I much rather just listen to it) but I’ll try.
The best way I can think of to explain why Ruin was the best band is Philly was when I saw that Ruin was playing I looked forward to that show as much as any touring band that maybe only came to Philly once a year or maybe even once ever. I’m not sure how many times I saw them but I can’t remember a bad show. At the three reunion shows from 1996 (?) it was hard to believe that it was a reunion except that everyone came out of the woodwork’s to be there and Ruin were great.
I’m not going to try to explain it if you haven’t listened to them check out this live stuff I put up here or go to their site: ruinrocks.com.
I have two live Ruin shows and I did my best to split it up and label the songs (if I’m wrong on any please let me know)
Live on XPN
Dinosaur Love
Baby Doll
China & Rule Worshipper
Alter
Life After Life
Hero
He’s Got A Raygun
Twilight
Playing With Fire
Live @ St Mary’s 11-17-1987
Life After Life
Famous Blue Raincoat
He Ho – Laudiums
Search And Destroy – Master Song – By The By
Turning Over
Make Believe
Taster – Alarm – GreatDivide
China – Rule Whorshipper
One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong
White Rabbit
Added 3 photos from Brett (Noise Addiction II) – The rest are pictures that were taken by Pete Emerick at one of the Troc shows from the mid-80’s.
The flyers are mostly from a CD-ROM compilation of flyers called Artifacts of the Improbable by James Lewes.