I'd be pretty fuckin bummed...

seeing YOT in this environment.Oh, you thought I meant the stage? Nah, im talking about the sellouts.

Great CHAIN OF STRENGTH interview....

from the old BAREBONES HC blog. check it

Cool shit I ran across today....

I was a real big ENVY fan back in the mid 90's and I found this pic on a board I read. Everything but the 7" pre-release.....which i just happen to have. Awesome.

BLACK FLAG 1982 DEMOS
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2YMEVJAZ

FLIPSIDE #1 - http://www.mrbalihai.com/goof/Flipside/Navigation.html

Check out SEEKER ... as much as I FUCKING HATE myspace, been finding a shit ton of good hardcore lately.

THE EDGE OF QUARREL movie is finally out on DVD. If youve never seen it, its basically a punk vs straightedge flick in black and white with some sketchy acting. Kinda cool for a laugh though. You can grab it and view some of it at EXCURSION RECORDS.

Heres some random shit..

Im thinking these should be passed out black ss shows. Those albany druggers could really use them.


Buffalo hardcore legend LARRY RANSOM made this little documentary on one of my favorite hardcore bands, THE FIRST STEP. It came out pretty awesome and watching that live footage gets me so stoked on hardcore.

A few syracuse HC tidbits I forgot....

BARBAROSSA RECORDS is putting out a 7" by local hc act CULTURE SHOCK. Their record release show is saturday at the allen street house, so get there and check that shit out. Work is fucking it up for me but Im definetly stoked to get that 7" and support that awesome label.

Another record release will be on FRIDAY also at 560 allen st for ELECTION DAY. This will be the demo on 7" format. Again, I wont be able to attend but I look forward to getting that record ASAP.

I read today that the "315 IN RUINS FEST" was cancelled. Im still really not clear as to why, but I guess a few of the HC bands dropped off for another, but that still left plenty of the bar bands and atreyu loving jokesters to play. Sucks for the organizers. A show like that should of been promoted to the battle of the band type ZumieZ/hot topic folks anyways.

Not really HC related, but the toy store FLYING TURTLE out here in gorgeous north syracuse is closing its doors soon, so c'mon out and buy some shit and give pat a little support, he definetly deserves it. (p.s. the wrestling figure section still has some classics superstars and some of those ill rocky lego looking figs)

A FEW REVIEWS:
LIKE WOLVES: Benstrux is my boy. Crucial character to say the least. When I found out he was doing a new band I expected straight up thrash. So needless to say I was a little surprised that the music was a little more involved. Shits still real fast just more intricate guitar work. Usually that turns me off because Im more of a bare bones HC dude but Im diggin this. Hopefully they post lyrics soon as Id love to read them. Dude seems real pissed.

BLAKE INCARCERATED - What the fuck, found these guys on the 315 board so I figured id give them a listen. At first I thought LIFETIME, then I started thinking shit like LAGWAGON. I normally dont listen to shit like this but its not bad at all. Dudes voice gets a little annoying and girl lyrics should be left to MILO but pretty decent. I wouldnt want to see them live (or anyone else in this genre of music) because Id probably wanna off myself, but its cool music to chill too.

TABERNACKLE - Heavy band from RI thats making me kind of nervous. I keep hearing bands bringing back that mid 90s sound. I wish they would stop.

ABILITY - SIIIIICK bass tone. This band kicks ass. Members of VIOLATION, who also rule. Lyrics are your run of the mill (Im definetly not one to talk) but the dudes voice is snotty and awesome. Hopefully they come out to the superior coast soon.

BANDS SEND ME YOUR LINKS FOR REVIEW! HITTHELIGHTS AT GMAIL.COM

FORFEIT INTERVIEW FROM COMBAT #1

As requested, here is this goldmine with XTOMDOMX of FORFEIT...

Who is in the band, who does what and how'd ya get together?
Me on bass now, Wildcat (Brian) on guitar, Steve Baby in vocals and Ben
Shaw on drums. Ben and I used to jam out in his room and then steve baby
jumped in on vocals and Wildcat recently joined.

What bands was everyone in previously and what did you learn from them?
Ben and I were in Normandy and we learned nothing, Steve Baby was in
Earthquake and he probably learned how to function for three weeks only
eating beef jerkey and beer. Wildcat used to be in In Love and War and
he learned how stressful it can be to not have everyone pull their own
weight

Is forfeit going to tour? And if so what are your goals as a band?
Yeah we're leaving December 28th for a three week tour with Attitude and
we plan on touring all Summer too. Our goal as a band is to just tour
and have as much fun as possible.

What's the edge situation in forfeit?
Just me and Wildcat! Holdin' it down!

Give me 3 bands that give motivate, inspire or just plain get you through the day.
Three bands that really inspire me are Blacklisted, Judge and Earth
Crisis

What is your workout schedule these days?
On day 1's I do shoulders and legs, day 2's I do chest and triceps and
day 3's I do back and biceps. Then I rotate that as hard/easy days so
I'm able to rest. On day 7's I rest.

Hard or heavy?
HARD

what do you think of syracuse hardcore at the moment. Picking up
steam or losing ground?
I'd say it's picking up because Reaper is bringing back the hard sound
that Syracuse used to be known for. It lost a little bit of ground
because of My Way breaking up though!

What's the deal with the ep coming out on reaper records?
I'm so excited. We're recording five songs and hopefully they'll all fit
on the 7". It's going to be called "Visions"

Why do the internet fanboys hate nike?
Who knows! They always have to hate on how hard we mosh, the shoes we
wear, and Madball!

I really dislike "internetworking"....

but unfortunately I feel paper zines in todays HC world are a dying breed.

COMBAT started as such but after asking about 40 people at a local syracuse show to cough up $2... or $1 and getting dissed, I had to face the reality that times are changing and its an internet world now. Fucking sucks.

I hate myspace and all that bullshit. Messageboards can be ok, but even then noone has to stand behind what they say. Bands and labels cant even put a record out without it being downloaded before it even hits the distros. But thats HC 2008 .....and we gotta deal.

Hopefully COMBAT will return to paper in the future, but for now Im going to keep it in this blog. Im looking into usb turntables so hopefully I can start including some lost gems that I have chilling down in my basement amongst my wrestling and rocky figure collection.

Some syracuse HC news:

BLACK SS (my band) is currently writing for our new 7" that will be out on REAPER RECORDS. I believe that the 7" will also include a digital download card so you can put the songs on your mp3 player. Also coming out soon is the BLACK SS discography, also on REAPER. It will include all the demos, splits, the third party 7", Foreign Object LP and a live radio set from WERS in Boston. Tommyrot is drawing the cover as we speak, so that should be cool,

Speaking of REAPER, I saw the CRO-MAGS lp art work and its fucking awesome. Alpha Omega was always an iffy record for me. Some of the songs are really really hard but others were just kind of goofy (CRO MAGS RAP). But im really proud of my friends Patrick and DJ for documenting it on vinyl and giving it a proper release.

FORFEIT 7" just dropped on REAPER too. Im sure most of you have it, but if not stop fucking posing. The record release show was killer and I was really stoked to see such a great reaction for them.

BORN TO EXPIRE is a new local band that just posted a demo on their myspace http://www.myspace.com/borntoexpire315 .... Although I was a little bummed they dont sound like the almighty LEEWAY, I think over time theyll be a really good band. Im just glad their influences dont include crap like converge or with honor. This band is just straight up HARDcore.

EARTH CRISIS is playing shows again I guess.

FETCH THE PLIERS webcast is a new punk hc radio show on westcott radio. I havent listened since Im at work during its play time, but its named after an INFEST song... and that deserves a plug. http://www.myspace.com/fetchthepliersradio

ELECTION DAY demo 7" is coming out on a new label called secret jams (which has a pretty dope logo, i think). Ive never really heard this band recorded, but I saw them live and kids seemed pretty into them and I was pretty into the DAG NASTY cover. http://www.myspace.com/secretjams

LIFE OF CRIME has some new shit recorded. Not me really my cup of tea, but it might be yours dawg. http://www.myspace.com/lifeofcrime315

The 315hardcore.com messageboard has a section that the elder dudes have been posting old syracuse bands music in. To be honest I personally think alot of it is really bad, but its cool to see it available for you youngsters to grab and to learn a little bit of history while youre at it.

The VAN HALEN tour is over, and so is this first post on the COMBAT blog. Send your hate, straight ahead bootlegs or whatever else you have to HITTHELIGHTS AT GMAIL.COM