Hello and welcome to this week’s newsletter!  And we have a stacked line-up to enjoy:

• Featured New Arrivals from Flower, Ataque Zero, Nasti, and States Of Nature
• Headbanging On The 29 Bus, featuring Hygiene and Pest Control
• Shows And Tours, including a newly announced show from The Drin
• Coming Soon, including new releases from Alerta Antifascista, Beach Impediment, Discos Enfermos, Erste Theke Tontraeger, Fight For Your Mind Records, Static Age, and Vitriol

Bar my opportunity to catch Layback strutting their stuff in typically impressive fashion at the New Cross Inn back in mid-January, this year’s gig going has got off to a bit of a sluggish start.  So, it was with some excitement that I was looking forward to a double-header of a weekend, with two very contrasting bands.

First up, on the Friday night at New River Studios, was Hygiene. The band have a cracking new EP, 15 Minute City, under their belts and the title track opened up what was to prove a typically brilliant set.  Initially what strikes you though is, quite simply, the lack of distortion.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love distortion and my listening is largely drenched in the stuff.  But there is also a delightful clarity that can be created by its absence. Every crack of the snare, every rumbling bass line, every wave of guitar, individually hits home.  You even think you can hear the pint arcing through the air after one of vocalist Guy Butterworth’s more extravagant dance moves, which, in the spirit of honest reporting, wasn’t all that extravagant.

Of course, one of the highlights of any Hygiene gig is the lyrics themselves.  The songs weave tales of daily London life with a rich sense of place and a keen eye for the small details that both enrich and frustrate us.  But they also develop a compelling narrative as to how those same daily lives have been hollowed out by forty years of skewed political priorities that have degraded public space, eroded social infrastructure, and further entrenched power imbalances.  All while getting you to sing along about their favourite bus route – the 29 down the Holloway Road since you ask.

I should also add how much I enjoyed openers Skinned.  Just shy of wall of distortion guitars, layered vocals that veered from the ethereal to the coldly detached, and all held together by some powerfully inventive drumming.  They bring Creepoid a little to mind in their shared desire to inject shoegaze with a healthy dose of aggressive discordance.

Sunday night took me very much towards the other end of the musical spectrum with Pest Control hitting the Black Heart on the final date of their UK tour.  I must confess I’ve always had slightly mixed feelings about the Black Heart.  You can buy a decent pint, which is a plus, but the space itself has never quite seemed to work for reasons that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.  Over the years, I’ve seen some great performances there – from Dangers to Dawn Ray’d via Sect.  But crowd responses have always appeared a touch muted despite the excellence on stage.

From the off though, you sensed that this night would be rather different.  The show was sold out and there was a crackle of anticipation in the air, with the bludgeoning Demonstration of Power setting things up nicely.  By the time Pest Control hit the stage, the room was set to erupt and that is exactly what it did.  It was also a perfect example of the joys of a good crossover gig, which by their very essence breakdown the musical barriers that we all busily erect.  Air guitarists at the front of the stage matching the frenzied fretwork, before being subsumed under an old school hardcore pile-on.  The swirling headbanger amidst the sea of frenetic two-steppers.  An A-Z of T-shirts that literally range from Anthrax to Verse.  And when the slab-like riffs of set closer The Great Deceiver course through your body, the pleasures of brilliantly executed crossover are beyond debate.

And if you missed these two shows, you’ll get another chance very soon.  Pest Control are unleashed again this Friday at Damage Is Done 4 (there are still a few tickets available at the time of writing), while Hygiene return to New River Studios on Friday 15^th March for the Zeropolis album release show.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

29^th February Damage Is Done 4 – Fairytale, Take It In Blood, Bullsshit, Subdued, Ikhras, Violent Offence (New River Studios / Fairytale UK Tour)

1^st March Damage Is Done 4 – Fugitive, Illusion, Ninebar, Pest Control, Imposter, Instructor, Silver plus more (Colour Factory)

2^nd March Damage Is Done 4 – Framtid, Quarantine, The Flex, T.S. Warspite, Stingray, The Annihilated, Mazandaran  plus more (Colour Factory / SOLD OUT)

2^nd March Damage Is Done 4 Aftershow – Stiff Meds, Final Dose, Doomsday Clock, Hellish Torment, Accusation (Imperial Works)

3^rd March Damage Is Done 4 – Visibly High, Rat Cage, Layback, Träume, Middleman, Turbo plus more (New River Studios / SOLD OUT)

4^th March Prey, Ritual Error, Higher Walls, Tethered (New Cross Inn)

6^th March Buried Alive, 50 Caliber, False Reality, Mindless (New Cross Inn)

9^th March Opium Lord, Torpor, Jotnarr, Harrowed (New Cross Inn)

15^th March  Zeropolis, Hygiene, Turbo, Johnny Throttle (New River Studios)

16^th March Prey, T.R.E.S.T, Ashes Of Death plus more (Helgi’s)

23^rd March Botch, Bad Breeding, Great Falls (Electric Ballroom / SOLD OUT / UK Tour)

31^st March Fundraiser For Milo featuring Powerplant, Stingray, Middleman, Micromoon, Hellscape plus more (Oslo)

2^nd April Spaced, Going Off, Shooting Daggers, Ikhras (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

4^th April Ancient Emblem, Wreathe, Fox Strikes, State Sanctioned Violence (Strongroom)

6^th April Wren, Wreathe, Healing Wound, Mortar (Moor Beer Vaults)

6^th April Hell Is For Heroes plus support (Electric Ballroom / UK Tour)

13^th April Frail Body, Chalk Hands plus more (Downstairs at The Dome / UK Tour)

17^th April Deaf Club, Fuck Money plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

29^th April The Drin, Tommy Cassock And The Degenerators plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th May Snuff plus support (Downstairs at The Dome / UK Tour)

20^th May World Peace, Flesh Creeper, Asbo (New Cross Inn)

1^st June Long Knife plus support (New River Studios / UK Tour)

17^th June Gel plus support (The Garage / UK Tour)

22^nd November Unbroken, Shooting Daggers, Rifle, Eyeteeth (The Dome)

Imminent

Accidente / Nightwatchers ‘Split’ 12-inch (Stonehenge)

Class ‘If You’ve Got Nothing’ 12-inch (Feel It)

Cress ‘Monuments’ 12-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

Morwan ‘Svitaye, Palaye’ 12-inch (Feel It)

Public Interest ‘Spiritual Pollution’ 12-inch (Erste Theke Tontraeger)

Stress Positions ‘Walang Hiya’ 12-inch (Iron Lung)

Vaguess ‘Thanks // No Thanks’ 12-inch (Erste Theke Tontraeger)

March

Aihotz ‘Niebla Total’ 12-inch (Discos Enfermos)

Aus ‘Der Schöne Schein’ 7-inch (Static Age)

Canal Irreal ‘Someone Else’s Dance’ 12-inch (Beach Impediment)

Cosey Mueller ‘Irrational Habits’ 12-inch (Static Age)

Hacker ‘Psy Wi-FI’ 7-inch (Beach Impediment)

Industry ‘A Self-Portrait At The Stage Of Totalitarian Domination Of All Aspects Of Human Life’ 12-inch (Static Age)

Mirage ‘Immagini Postume’ 7-inch (Discos Enfermos)

No Sun Rises ‘Harmisod’ 12-inch (Alerta Antifascista)

Noj ‘Waxing Moon’ 12-inch (Static Age)

Public Acid ‘Deadly Struggle’ 12-inch (Beach Impediment)

Sweat ‘Love Child’ 12-inch (Vitriol)

Wreathe ‘The Land Is Not An Idle God’ 12-inch (Alerta Antifascista / Pre-Order)

April

Deaf Club, Frail Body, Gouge Away, Heavenly Blue, Infant Island, Modern Life Is War, No Man, Prisoner, Unsufferable

Hello and welcome to this week’s newsletter!  And there is plenty to get stuck into:

• Featured New Arrivals include a superb split LP from Massa Nera and Quiet Fear together with cracking new releases from Planet B and Nonexistent Night as well as a welcome discography reissue from Angel Hair
• Convulse Records Reload
• Shows And Tours, including new dates from Long Knife and Gel
• Coming Soon, new releases from Erste Theke Tontraeger, Fight For Your Mind, Static Shock, and Vitriol

Also, a quick heads up that the gig listing includes details of a fundraising show on 31st March at Oslo in Hackney for the family of Miles from T.S. Warspite, who has been hospitalised following a very serious car accident.  If you live in London, do grab a ticket if you can.  We still have the band’s excellent debut 12-inch, Stop The Rot, in stock and will be donating the proceeds from any copies sold prior to the show to the fundraising campaign.

A rather exciting reload from Denver’s Convulse Records has just landed here, and they are a set of releases that are definitely worth checking out.

First up, we have two new 7-inch EPs.  Portland’s Alienator have unleashed a vitriol fuelled, stomper of a record, with a title track, World Of Hate, that brims with brilliantly fierce riffage and a chorus that is as catchy as it is nihilistic – ‘Alienate. Alienate. Alienate. World of hate.’  Entry, who hail from Los Angeles, favour blistering speed, but do so without ever diluting their inherent heaviness, and they unleash a visceral dissection of our malformed economic priorities over the ferocious six tracks of Exit Interview.

Then, we have four full-lengths to enjoy.  At the more melodic end of the spectrum come Slogan Machine from Tennessee’s Gumm and Be My Vengeance from Denver’s  Destiny Bond.  The former takes its cues from the ‘Revolution Summer’ era but injects them with an urgent, bristling anger that relentlessly pushes and pulls for dominance with the band’s more melodic instincts.  While the latter explore themes of community and identity through a garage punk infused melodic hardcore that brims with an unyielding positivity.

In contrast, Kansas City’s Spine are back with their rampaging blend of straight-up USHC and power violence.  Raíces (Roots) explores themes of heritage and family in the context of the ever more polarised US political environment, while unleashing a truly abrasive aural battery.  And, finally, but by no means least, we have a fresh batch of the utterly groove laden Only Constant from Gel.

Full write-ups at www.foundationvinyl.com

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

23^rd February Eel Men, Hygiene, Skinned (New River Studios)

23^rd February Les Savy Fav plus Ditz (Electric Ballroom)

24^th February Fiddlehead, MS Paint, Wrong Man (The Garage / UK Tour)

25^th February Pest Control, Demonstration of Power, Dynamite, Rhema (Black Heart / SOLD OUT / UK Tour)

29^th February Damage Is Done 4 – Fairytale, Take It In Blood, Bullsshit, Subdued, Ikhras, Violent Offence (New River Studios / Fairytale UK Tour)

1^st March Damage Is Done 4 – Fugitive, Illusion, Ninebar, Pest Control, Imposter, Instructor, Silver plus more (Colour Factory)

2^nd March Damage Is Done 4 – Framtid, Quarantine, The Flex, T.S. Warspite, Stingray, The Annihilated, Mazandaran  plus more (Colour Factory / SOLD OUT)

3^rd March Damage Is Done 4 – Visibly High, Rat Cage, Layback, Träume, Middleman, Turbo plus more (New River Studios / SOLD OUT)

4^th March Prey, Ritual Error, Higher Walls, Tethered (New Cross Inn)

6^th March Buried Alive, 50 Caliber, False Reality, Mindless (New Cross Inn)

9^th March Opium Lord, Torpor, Jotnarr, Harrowed (New Cross Inn)

15^th March  Zeropolis, Hygiene, Turbo, Johnny Throttle (New River Studios)

16^th March Prey, T.R.E.S.T, Ashes Of Death plus more (Helgi’s)

23^rd March Botch, Bad Breeding, Great Falls (Electric Ballroom / SOLD OUT / UK Tour)

31^st March Fundraiser For Milo featuring Powerplant, Stingray, Middleman, Micromoon, Hellscape plus more (Oslo)

2^nd April Spaced, Going Off, Shooting Daggers, Ikhras (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

4^th April Ancient Emblem, Wreathe, Fox Strikes, State Sanctioned Violence (Strongroom)

6^th April Wren, Wreathe, Healing Wound, Mortar (Moor Beer Vaults)

6^th April Hell Is For Heroes plus support (Electric Ballroom / UK Tour)

13^th April Frail Body, Chalk Hands plus more (Downstairs at The Dome / UK Tour)

17^th April Deaf Club, Fuck Money plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th May Snuff plus support (Downstairs at The Dome)

20^th May World Peace, Flesh Creeper, Asbo (New Cross Inn)

1^st June Long Knife plus support (New River Studios / UK Tour)

17^th June Gel plus support (The Garage / UK Tour)

22^nd November Unbroken, Shooting Daggers, Rifle, Eyeteeth (The Dome)

February

Ataque Zero ‘Ciudades’ 12-inch (Static Shock)

Class ‘If You’ve Got Nothing’ 12-inch (Feel It)

Morwan ‘Svitaye, Palaye’ 12-inch (Feel It)

Nasti ‘People Problem’ 12-inch (Static Shock)

Public Interest ‘Spiritual Pollution’ 12-inch (Erste Theke Tontraeger)

States Of Nature ‘Brighter Than Before’ 12-inch (Little Rocket)

Stress Positions ‘Walang Hiya’ 12-inch (Iron Lung)

Vaguess ‘Thanks // No Thanks’ 12-inch (Erste Theke Tontraeger)

March

Accidente / Nightwatchers ‘Split’ 12-inch (Stonehenge)

Cress ‘Monuments’ 12-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

Flower ‘Heel Of The Next / Physical God’  7-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

Hellnation ‘Colonized’ 12-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

Sweat ‘Love Child’ 12-inch (Vitriol)

Wreathe ‘The Land Is Not An Idle God’ 12-inch (Alerta Antifascista / Pre-Order)

April

Deaf Club, Frail Body, Gouge Away, Infant Island, Modern Life Is War, No Man, Unsufferable

Hello and welcome to this week’s newsletter!  We’ve got another stacked edition, so let’s get straight on it:

• Featured New Arrivals from Knowso, Abism, Yellowcake, and Kinetic Orbital Strike
• Metallic Unicorns And Pompadours, featuring Unbroken
• Pre-order: The Land Is Not An Idle God by Wreathe
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon, including the forthcoming new album from Sweat and great new releases from Persistent Vision, Static Shock, and Three One G among others!

And, finally, a quick heads up that we have just restocked two records that rather flew out the door first time round.  First up, Screaming Death, the four-way split LP from Destruct, Dissekerad, Rat Cage, and Scarecrow.  And second, the return of Only Constant from Gel.

‘Swallow my lies, as I obscure my emotions, why must I contest myself, always against myself, embody another likeness, death of true spirit’ (D4, Unbroken)

With Unbroken having just announced a show for London in November, only their second in the UK and their first since 2010, it was apt timing for Rob Moran to be a guest on the Cult & Culture podcast.  The show is hosted by Justin Pearson and Luke Henshaw, both of Planet B, whose new record, Fiction Prediction, will be landing with us next week.  Rob, of course, is Unbroken’s bassist, and also played in a myriad of other excellent bands, including Narrows and Some Girls.

The strength of the interview, as with the majority of those featured on Cult & Culture, is the shared personal and musical history between Justin and his guests, who more often than not also hail from the San Diego scene.  Justin and Rob’s friendship was born in the early 1990s through their mutual collaborations with the late Eric Allen (who played with Justin in Struggle and Swing Kids either side of Unbroken), Unbroken and Struggle playing shows together, and Justin’s Three One G label releasing Unbroken’s 1994 7-inch, And b/w Fall On Proverb.

Thoroughly recommended, the interview is really insightful and benefits from the warmth and, indeed, easy charm, that only friends chatting away can really generate.  The conversation is a wide-ranging one and you sense that it could have spun off in any number of directions, fuelled by Rob’s continued passion for music, taking in everyone from Sepultura to Ned’s Atomic Dustbin by way of Blacklisted and Judge.  One of the most intriguing recurring themes was that of ‘space’ – how it shapes human interaction, and vice versa, spanning the city of San Diego itself, to music venues, such as Iguanas in Tijuana, and Rob’s own coffee shop, Heartwork (named after the Carcass song of the same title).

But the real thrust of Justin’s and Luke’s questioning, is to try and pin down the characteristics that have ensured that Unbroken’s music has both stood the test of time, and also seen the band’s popularity soar since they initially broke-up in 1995.  After all, as Justin says, Unbroken’s is a pretty special legacy: ‘A unicorn, some rare ass shit’.

The first aspect they touch on is that the band’s aesthetic – again in Justin’s words, ‘A bunch of Morrisseys playing Slayer’ – is a pretty unique one.  It certainly helped to fundamentally broaden what it could mean to be a hardcore band, especially bearing in mind that Unbroken emerged from a Californian straight-edge scene that was prone to a certain militancy.  Rob talks about how the band were shaped by introducing their love of British indie and post-punk bands, such as The Smiths, The Cure, Depeche Mode, and Joy Division, to their existing hardcore and thrash metal influences.  At the time, The Smiths were hugely popular, particularly amongst the Latinx community, in Rob’s hometown of Chula Vista.  This connection he believes was shaped by how their songs evoke a sense of not belonging, of being ‘the other’, which spoke to the lived experience of many second-generation Mexican immigrants to the US.

These influences were to impact Unbroken’s music well beyond their pompadour haircuts and t-shirts.  Firstly, lyrically the band tackled issues that were far removed from many of their contemporaries, focusing primarily on the desolation and isolation that can define our daily lives.  Rob is cognisant that on some levels this reflected their own emotional struggles as teenagers, as well as being a conscious attempt to bring genuine empathy and emotional depth to their songwriting.  Similarly, as their sound developed, it increasingly exhibited a bleak melodicism that reflected some of the band’s wider influences.

The second aspect explored is whether the longevity of Unbroken’s impact stems from how influential their music was to become on the future directions of hardcore.  And without doubt, their legacy in this regard is significant, forging a musical template that served as foundational for many of the great metallic hardcore bands that followed, and also a lyrical expression that inspired future emotional hardcore bands with the confidence to explore more personal themes.

Yet we have all at some point returned to listen to bands who were hugely influential for us, only to find that their music has paled a little over time, lost that sense of searing vitality that first defined it.  Perhaps, they were very much of that moment in time, or those that followed reimagined those inspirations that much more powerfully.  But that certainly isn’t the case with Unbroken.  Why?

The answer lies in the simple fact that the quality of their music, some thirty years on, is as viscerally engaging as ever, and when this is combined with the other factors discussed, you begin to get to the heart of the matter.  Whether it is the raw, bristling metallic barrage of Ritual (1993), or the darkly melancholic brilliance of Life. Love. Regret. (1994), you experience music that is essentially timeless, as impactful now as the day you first heard it.  This is a very rare achievement indeed.

Rob talks of how disconcerting this enduring popularity can be, not least in the context of Eric Allen’s death.  When they first reunited in 1998 to play a memorial show for Eric’s family, an 1800-capacity venue was booked.  Remembering nights playing to thirty people at the Che Café in San Diego, Rob was genuinely petrified that they would be playing to a half-empty room at best.  It turns out that he needn’t have worried!

Ultimately, Rob characterises the aim of his musical endeavours as being to recognise that we are ‘hopelessly stuck in this machine’, but to ‘make pockets of beauty’ that offset this often-grim reality.  Definitely an interview to check out, and I for one can’t wait for one final opportunity to witness a truly great band in action.

‘If it was real progression, greed would not dictate our souls, if it was real progression, we’d give back what we stole, if it was real progression, we’d burn these lies all down’ (In The Name Of Progression, Unbroken)

‘Cult & Culture’ is available on most podcast platforms, including ruinousmedia.com/cultandculture.

A quick reminder that we are running a pre-order for the European pressing from Alerta Antifascista Records of Wreathe’s debut album, The Land Is Not An Idle God.  The expected shipping date is mid-March.

Featuring members of Fall of Efrafa, Morrow, and Arboricidio, this is the debut LP from London’s Wreathe.  The band build vigorously on the foundations of those three bands – roared, often layered, frequently call-and-response vocals, entwined in raucous tandem with towering melancholic riffage and a thunderous rhythm section.  A palpable rage courses through the sonic onslaught, but one that is matched with a defiant optimism that, collectively, all is not lost.

The album’s lyrics are based on vocalist Alex CF’s book, The Book of Venym: An Egalitarian Demonology.  This is a fictional exploration of the philosophy and invocation of a pantheon of pagan nature deities, known as the Increscent, ‘a battle cry for the much-beleaguered idea of compassion above self-interest and bigotry’.  For more details on the source material, check out Dark Myths, Venomous Realities.  A guest vocalist appearance from Autarch’s Jamie Pratt completes the picture.

Persistent Vision Records are handling the North American pressing and release.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

16^th February Malignant Methods, Layback, Blood Fury, Final Form plus more (Moor Beer Vaults)

23^rd February Eel Men, Hygiene, Skinned (New River Studios)

23^rd February Les Savy Fav plus Ditz (Electric Ballroom)

24^th February Fiddlehead, MS Paint, Wrong Man (The Garage / UK Tour)

25^th February Pest Control, Demonstration of Power plus more (Black Heart / SOLD OUT /UK Tour)

29^th February Damage Is Done 4 – Fairytale, Take It In Blood, Bullsshit, Subdued, Ikhras, Violent Offence (New River Studios / Fairytale UK Tour)

1^st March Damage Is Done 4 – Fugitive, Illusion, Ninebar, Pest Control, Imposter, Instructor, Silver plus more (Colour Factory)

2^nd March Damage Is Done 4 – Framtid, Quarantine, The Flex, T.S. Warspite, Stingray, The Annihilated, Mazandaran  plus more (Colour Factory / SOLD OUT)

3^rd March Damage Is Done 4 – Visibly High, Rat Cage, Layback, Träume, Middleman, Turbo plus more (New River Studios / SOLD OUT)

4^th March Prey, Ritual Error, Higher Walls, Tethered (New Cross Inn)

6^th March Buried Alive, 50 Caliber, False Reality, Mindless (New Cross Inn)

9^th March Opium Lord, Torpor, Jotnarr, Harrowed (New Cross Inn)

15^th March  Zeropolis, Hygiene, Turbo, Johnny Throttle (New River Studios)

23^rd March Botch, Bad Breeding, Great Falls (Electric Ballroom / SOLD OUT / UK Tour)

2^nd April Spaced, Going Off, Shooting Daggers, Ikhras (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

4^th April Ancient Emblem, Wreathe, Fox Strikes, State Sanctioned Violence (Strongroom)

6^th April Wren, Wreathe, Healing Wound, Mortar (Moor Beer Vaults)

6^th April Hell Is For Heroes plus support (Electric Ballroom / UK Tour)

13^th April Frail Body, Chalk Hands plus more (Downstairs at The Dome / UK Tour)

17^th April Deaf Club, Fuck Money plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th May Snuff plus support (Downstairs at The Dome)

20^th May World Peace, Flesh Creeper, Asbo (New Cross Inn)

22^nd November Unbroken, Shooting Daggers, Rifle, Eyeteeth (The Dome)

Next Week

Angel Hair ‘Insect Mortality’ 12-inch (Three One G)

Massa Nera / Quiet Fear ‘Quatro Vientos // Cinco Soles’ 12-inch (Persistent Vision)

Nonexistent Night ‘In The Middle Of A Boiling Sea’ 12-inch (Three One G)

Planet B ‘Fiction Prediction’ 12-inch (Three One G)

February (Definitely)

Alienator ‘World Of Hate’ 7-inch (Convulse)

Ataque Zero ‘Ciudades’ 12-inch (Static Shock)

Class ‘If You’ve Got Nothing’ 12-inch (Feel It)

Destiny Bond ‘Be My Vengeance’ 12-inch (Convulse)

Entry ‘Exit Interview’ 7-inch (Convulse)

Gumm ‘Slogan Machine’ 12-inch (Convulse)

Morwan ‘Svitaye, Palaye’ 12-inch (Feel It)

Nasti ‘People Problem’ 12-inch (Static Shock)

Public Interest ‘Spiritual Pollution‘ 12-inch (Erste Theke Tontraeger)

Spine ‘Raices’ 12-inch (Convulse)

States Of Nature ‘Brighter Than Before’ 12-inch (Little Rocket)

Stress Positions ‘Walang Hiya’ 12-inch (Iron Lung)

Vaguess ‘Thanks // No Thanks‘ 12-inch (Erste Theke Tontraeger)

February (Probably)

Accidente / Nightwatchers ‘Split‘ 12-inch (Stonehenge)

Cress ‘Monuments’ 12-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

Flower ‘Heel Of The Next / Physical God’  7-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

Hellnation ‘Colonized’ 12-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

March

Sweat ‘Love Child‘ 12-inch (Vitriol)

Wreathe ‘The Land Is Not An Idle God‘ 12-inch (Alerta Antifascista / Pre-Order)

April

Deaf Club, Frail Body, Gouge Away, Infant Island, Modern Life Is War, No Man, Unsufferable

Hello and welcome to this week’s newsletter!  We’re back with another stacked edition, so no messing, let’s dive right in:

• Featured New Arrivals from BIB, Hubert Selby Jr Infants, Malcría, and Pi$$er
• Sweaty Smiles And Buzzing Ears, featuring As Friends Rust, Cloud Rat, Diploid, and Spirito Di Lupo
• Shows and Tours, including new dates for Buried Alive, Frail Body, Hygiene, and Unbroken
• Coming Soon, with stacks of great releases heading our way from Convulse, Feel It, Fight For Your Mind, Iron Lung, Not For The Weak, Persistent Vision, Sorry State, Static Shock, Three One G, and Toxic State!

Before 2024 gets into full swing, I wanted to take a quick look back at some of the live highlights from the second half of 2023.  The first six months of the year saw outstanding shows from the likes of Dawn Ray’d and Savageheads (From Black Flags to Corpse Paint), but the next six were not to be outdone…

Yet, if working backwards, we actually have to start off with the biggest disappointment of my gig going year – reaching Hackney in mid-December, looking forward to catching another fierce dose of Stiff Meds, only to find out that they were unable to make the show.  Now, Jesus Piece’s blend of beatdown meets death metal, as well executed as it is, is unfortunately not really my bag.  That said, I’ve always found watching waves of stage divers strangely soothing, so all was not lost!

A couple of months earlier in October, I had the unexpected pleasure of catching the return of As Friends Rust at The Boston Music Room.  I must confess to be being unreasonably excited as I headed to the gig, memories of brilliant previous shows, most recently in 2008, still surprisingly vivid in the memory, and further sharpened by the strength of their excellent new album, Any Joy, the band’s first new release in twenty years.  As I wrote at the time (Returning Ghosts And Determined Friends), there is something strangely primordial, almost instinctual, that grips you when you see the return of a band who have been intrinsic to your music listening over a long period of time – as you bellow lyrics thought long forgotten, and find yourself sucked inexorably into the swirling pit, you come to realise just how deeply ingrained their music has become.  Everyone left sweaty and smiling, which is as good a benchmark as any for a successful hardcore gig.

September brought the final ever Static Shock Weekend and Tom Ellis had pulled together quite the line-up to sign-off in style.  But there was one particular band that I was determined to see and that was Spirito Di Lupo (SDL), who released their debut LP Vedo La Tua Faccia Nei Giorni Di Pioggia earlier in the year, and it has proven a mainstay on my turntable ever since.  They did not disappoint.  The live setting surprisingly saw their guitars less scuzzy in tone, almost flirting with the psychedelic, while the rhythm section locked into its powerfully infectious groove.  At the heart of SDL’s sound is their duelling twin vocalists and their taut, almost chaotic, interplay brought a fierce vitality to their performance.  The more deadpan shouts of Francesco and the energetically impassioned yelps of Vittoria combined to pack a truly invigorating punch.

And talking of stacked line-ups, it took one of formidable depth for me to shake off tiredness and head out again after a long trek back from West Wales in mid-August.  Golpe opened proceedings at Studio 9294 with swaggering intent, before Bad Breeding literally stomped everyone into submission.  It was going to take quite the performance to bring the night to a suitably crushing crescendo.  That Cloud Rat would do just that, however, was never in any doubt.  The brutal intensity of the band’s musical onslaught is remarkable to behold, and Madison’s vocal performance becomes ever more visceral – aggression untempered, emotions stripped utterly bare.  A set that was as punishing as it was cleansing.

Finally, we arrive in mid-July.  And it was a week where every European tour seemed to be descending simultaneously on London.  But there was a show that kept quietly asserting itself – Diploid at New River Studios.  Diploid hail from Melbourne and this was their first ever European tour, despite having been prolifically active in the Australian DIY scene for the past decade.  Their new album and fourth full-length, I Am Yours. And I Am Here Again, had seen them take their fierce fusing of chaotic hardcore and grindcore to new levels of ferocious inventiveness.  And while my expectations were high, nothing quite prepared me for the battering that was delivered that evening.  Every aspect of their set from Mariam’s raw screams to Reece’s demonic roars, from the ferocious riffage to Scarlett’s brutally frenzied drumming was amplified beyond what felt physically possible.  Cathartic doesn’t even begin to describe the impact, and as the set ended you found yourself almost breathless, so intense had it been.

So, not a bad six months at all and 2024 is shaping up to be just as exciting, with forthcoming shows from Fairytale, Deaf Club, and Unbroken already whetting the appetite!

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

9^th February Catholic Block, Vanity Crystal, Shereen Elizabeth, Red Lady (New River Studios)

16^th February Malignant Methods, Layback, Blood Fury, Final Form plus more (Moor Beer Vaults)

16^th February Es, The Early Mornings, Garden Centre (The Waiting Room)

23^rd February Eel Men, Hygiene, Skinned (New River Studios)

24^th February Fiddlehead, MS Paint, Wrong Man (The Garage / UK Tour)

25^th February Pest Control, Demonstration of Power plus more (Black Heart / UK Tour)

29^th February Damage Is Done 4 – Fairytale, Take It In Blood, Bullsshit, Subdued, Ikhras, Violent Offence (New River Studios / Fairytale UK Tour)

1^st March Damage Is Done 4 – Fugitive, Illusion, Ninebar, Pest Control, Imposter, Instructor, Silver plus more (Colour Factory)

2^nd March Damage Is Done 4 – Framtid, Quarantine, The Flex, T.S. Warspite, Stingray, The Annihilated, Mazandaran  plus more (Colour Factory)

3^rd March Damage Is Done 4 – Visibly High, Rat Cage, Layback, Träume, Middleman, Turbo plus more (New River Studios)

4^th March Prey, Ritual Error, Higher Walls, Tethered (New Cross Inn)

6^th March Buried Alive, 50 Caliber, False Reality, Mindless (New Cross Inn)

9^th March Opium Lord, Torpor, Jotnarr, Harrowed (New Cross Inn)

15^th March  Zeropolis, Hygiene, Turbo, Johnny Throttle (New River Studios)

2^nd April Spaced, Going Off, Shooting Daggers, Ikhras (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

13^th April Frail Body, Chalk Hands plus more (Downstairs at The Dome)

17^th April Deaf Club, Fuck Money plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th May Snuff plus support (Downstairs at The Dome)

22^nd November Unbroken, Shooting Daggers, Rifle, Eyeteeth (The Dome)

Abism ‘LP 2023’ 12-inch (Toxic State)

Alienator ‘World Of Hate’ 7-inch (Convulse)

Angel Hair ‘Insect Mortality’ 12-inch (Three One G)

Ataque Zero ‘Ciudades’ 12-inch (Static Shock)

Class ‘If You’ve Got Nothing’ 12-inch (Feel It)

Cress ‘Monuments’ 12-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

Destiny Bond ‘Be My Vengeance’ 12-inch (Convulse)

Entry ‘Exit Interview’ 7-inch (Convulse)

Flower ‘Heel Of The Next / Physical God’  7-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

Gel ‘Only Constant’ 12-inch (Convulse)

Gumm ‘Slogan Machine’ 12-inch (Convulse)

Hellnation ‘Colonized’ 12-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

Kinetic Orbital Storm ‘The True Disaster’ 7-inch (KOS)

Knowso ‘Pulsating Gore’ 12-inch (Sorry State)

Massa Nera / Quiet Fear ‘Quatro Vientos // Cinco Soles’ 12-inch (Persistent Vision)

Morwan ‘Svitaye, Palaye’ 12-inch (Feel It)

Nasti ‘People Problem’ 12-inch (Static Shock)

Nonexistent Night ‘In The Middle Of A Boiling Sea’ 12-inch (Three One G)

Planet B ‘Fiction Prediction’ 12-inch (Three One G)

Spine ‘Raices’ 12-inch (Convulse)

Stress Positions ‘Walang Hiya’ 12-inch (Iron Lung)

Yellowcake ‘Can You See The Future?’ 7-inch (Not For The Weak)

Hello and welcome to this week’s newsletter!  And we have something of a jam-packed edition to enjoy:

• Featured New Arrivals, including great new releases from Tozcos and Silver, plus a reissue of pageninetynine’s remarkable Document #8, and a restock of one of last year’s stand-out releases, the split LP from Lagrimas and Habak
• Sister Midnight Is Coming For You is an interview with Lenny Watson, one of the co-founders of a really exciting project to establish a new community-run DIY venue in South London
• Shows and Tours, including new dates for Deaf Club and Hygiene
• Coming Soon, with plenty of great releases heading our way from Feel It, Fight For Your Mind, Iron Lung, Not For The Weak, Persistent Vision, Scene Report, Sorry State, Static Shock, Three One G, and Toxic State amongst others!

Also, just a quick heads-up that there will be no newsletter next week, but it will be back during the latter-half of the following week.

‘DIY is the loophole in the system: it is the affordable, accessible alternative for those in need of creative sanctuary’.

(Virginia Easthope quoted in Speak in Tongues: An Oral History of Cleveland’s Infamous DIY Venue by Eric Sandy)

We all know that independent music venues are currently under a huge amount of pressure from soaring rents and the wider cost of living crisis.  The Music Venue Trust estimates that a further 120 community live spaces closed across the UK during 2023.  The situation in London, where the issue of rent bites particularly deeply, is especially challenging.  An interview with Chris Tipton of Upset The Rhythm in the summer issue of Alternative Strategies highlighted that of the 117 venues he had promoted gigs at over the past twenty years in London, some 55 are no longer venues.  In South London alone, recent casualties have included the DIY Space For London in Bermondsey, The Grosvenor in Stockwell, and The Montague Arms in Peckham.

But there is a project underway that is injecting some much-needed optimism into this rather bleak landscape, Sister Midnight.  Originally a Deptford record store / live venue that was forced to close permanently during the Covid lockdown, Sister Midnight has been reborn as a not-for-profit community co-operative.  This co-operative is working tirelessly to bring to life a new DIY venue in South London.  The team has already  secured a ten-year lease on the site of a former working men’s club, The Brookdale Club, in Catford at a peppercorn rate from Lewisham Council.  In addition, they have also raised significant funds for the renovation of the derelict site.  But there is still plenty of work to do, and plenty of support still required.

Lenny Watson, one of the founding members of the co-operative, very kindly agreed to answer a few questions from me regarding the project.  A big thank you to Lenny for making the time to do so in such a comprehensive and engaging manner, as I know that time and other resources are in very short supply at the moment.   As you will see, this is not only a hugely exciting project, but one that is tantalisingly close to being realised.  If the aspirations of Sister Midnight strike a chord with you, please do check out becoming a member of the co-operative if you can at www.sistermidnight.org. It is a project that thoroughly deserves to succeed!  And so, over to Lenny…

FV: What has inspired you to undertake this project?

LW: So, I think we’ve had a lot of different inspirations that have fed into this project. The initial catalyst really was that we had an existing venue and record shop in Deptford and the community around that, the music scene around that, it was just amazing. That was a huge source of inspiration. Just seeing all the incredible creativity that was happening in that space. And when that space closed during the pandemic, I just felt like a real sense of responsibility to the community that we built to continue that in some way and to be able to continue providing a space for the kind of culture and creativity that we’d housed previously. But we’ve also drawn a lot of other inspiration from venues across the country like Le Pub in Newport, The Exchange in Bristol, Future Yard in Birkenhead especially, and The Ivy House in Nunhead. There’s a long legacy of community and co-operative music venues and I feel like all of that shared learning and knowledge has really fed into what we’re doing.

FV: What are the attractions of the community benefit society model for a venture of this type?

LW: The community benefit society model really appealed to us for a couple of reasons. I think the first thing was that it would be a democratically run business, so it would be owned and controlled by its members. And that meant for us that we could put ownership of this venture directly into the hands of the community, which is really important to us because we want local people to play an active role in shaping the space and making it what it is. And I think also, the fact that it’s a not-for-profit model is really important. Partly, because we want to be able to utilise that not-for-profit status to help us get more funding to make this whole thing more sustainable in the long run. But also, because we really want to be very clear in the way that we demonstrate to the community that we are not here to make money off them, if that were even possible to do with the grassroots music venue, and that we are interested in using music to provide social community and cultural benefits for local people in Lewisham.

FV:  What are the most notable challenges facing the co-operative in realising its vision?

LW: The biggest challenge for us has always been money. We’ve had so much success with fundraising. At the moment, we have raised a total of around £425,000 towards the cost of the renovation, on top of having success with a lot of grants and donations that have helped us to pay the ongoing costs of the campaign and the project throughout the last three years. But, that said, there never seems to be enough money to go around and we’ve really struggled with being just chronically under-funded and under-resourced, because although we’ve got all of this money saved up to pay for the renovation of the building, we’ve really struggled to get money just to pay wages for ourselves, which means that a lot of the work is voluntary. That makes it really difficult for us to do things in a timely manner because we just have to prioritise the bare essentials of the project day-to-day. So, yeah, unfortunately just getting access to big amounts of capital is the challenge and I think that is the same for a lot of start-up co-ops and cultural ventures.

FV: What do you think are the key characteristics that make for a successful music venue?  

LW: I think that’s a really tricky one to answer as I think it’s very different for each music venue because successful venues are almost always a response to the communities that they’re situated in. For us, I think the key characteristics that will make our venue successful are giving local people a voice because people in Lewisham, in our community, are generally very engaged and very willing to be a part of shaping the community infrastructure around them. And so, giving people that power is something that I think has historically won us a lot of support from the community and will help us to keep the community on board as the venue progresses throughout its lifetime.

I think also that a really strong commitment and engagement with inclusivity is incredibly important for a venue in our local area. We have an incredibly diverse community around us and it’s important to us that the venue reflects that, and we acknowledge that that’s going to be an ongoing process throughout the lifetime of the venue. It’s not as if we can just throw the doors open on day one and say that’s it, box ticked, we’re inclusive. That’s something that we need to really work with all demographics of our community on and I think that will be vital to our success.

And I think the third thing that will make us successful is being able to take creative risks.  That’s a real challenge for a lot of grassroots venues where there’s just not enough money to go around and because of that they do have to operate in a more commercially minded way. This often means not being able to take risks on newer, younger bands or some more avant-garde genres, but that’s something for us that is really, really important. So, throughout the life of the venue we will be specifically looking to get funding to subsidise putting on those riskier gigs, so that we can do it in a way that has relatively low financial risk and still allows us to support the breadth of culture that we have in the borough.

FV: What current (or former) venue do you think most clearly realises (realised) these values?

LW: I think, again, I’d say Future Yard in Birkenhead is a really, really great venue that we draw a lot of inspiration from. They are just absolutely killing it. They have a great high quality cultural offering and are really rooted in their local community. So, I think they’re a really great example. And I’d also shout out a lot of the venues that we have around South East London that kind of make up our existing music scene. So Matchstick Pie House, which is obviously under threat at the moment, but will hopefully be sticking around. Ivy House in Nunhead, Avalon Cafe. And then, you know, we’ve had some great venues around here that closed in recent years – The Montague Arms, Five Bells, DIY Space. I think all of those venues sort of held those values in one way or another. And, yeah, I think they were all just like a really important part of an ecosystem. And, yeah, without all of them, I think South London is really struggling now. So, we definitely need more spaces to come into existence that are going to uphold those values and to be really rooted in their communities and responsive to their communities.

FV: What factors do you anticipate shaping the venue’s programming?

LW: That’s a really good question. I think our approach to programming is going to be incredibly broad, like we’re not going to be specific to any genres. We’re not even going to be focusing purely on music as a discipline. We want to have multidisciplinary arts programming. So, we’ll be looking at, you know, cabaret and comedy and spoken word and film as well. I think generally what we want is for the programming to reflect the diversity of the music scenes that we have in Lewisham, to be incredibly locally focused and to be really championing local artists and giving a really vital platform to emerging talent from the local area. But at the same time, we do also want to bring in touring bands because we want to be able to put Catford on the map as a destination for live music. So I think, yeah, generally we envision it being a really collaborative effort where we work with local promoters, with the local community and with local artists, as well as with the venue team, to produce a programme that feels like it has a lot of breadth in terms of what it represents, but also really stays true to what Lewisham has to offer in terms of its cultural output.

FV: How do you envisage the venue contributing to local community life beyond being a music venue?

LW: We have got so many ideas about how we want this space to be so much more than just a music venue. We really see it being open through the day and into the evening. So having a daytime use as a cafe and a workspace, and a space for community events. Open in the evening as a bar and then having live music on and hopefully even maybe some nightclub activity as well. And also, we want to have rehearsal and recording studios on the first floor, as well as a space for our recently launched community radio stations, Midnight FM. So, there’s going to be so many opportunities for people to use this space in a lot of different ways. And we want to do all sorts of different community activities to bring people into the space. So, things like children’s music groups or matinee gigs for parents and babies, reading groups, meeting space for local activists, soup kitchens, being a distribution point for local food hubs, having breakfast clubs for school children. You name it, we want it there. We are really interested in how music and culture, and this space more broadly can offer a transformative opportunity for local people and really act as a lever for positive social change in the local area. So, we’re going to be looking to utilise the space in any way that we possibly can to make this a real hub of community life and creativity for local people.

FV: Why should someone become a member of Sister Midnight?

LW: Well, I think if you are someone who is local to Lewisham, or lives in the wider London area or anyone, anywhere really who is interested in setting a precedent for how communities can create the infrastructure they need, particularly creative infrastructure, and be genuinely democratic in running it, then I think this project is for you. As a member, you’ll be buying shares, and the money that you buy them with will be used to help us renovate this building that we’ve got in Catford and turn it into this incredible community and cultural hub. Those shares are repayable, so you’ll be able to get your money back once the business is turning a profit. And crucially, you’ll get a vote on how things are done. So, you will be able to have a voice in shaping this space and making it what it needs to be for our community. So yeah, I would encourage anyone who’s got an interest in what the future of live music could look like at a community and grassroots level to get involved.

We have an affordable share scheme where people can become members from £25 or our standard share scheme is £100 per share and up. I just think this is a really great opportunity for all of us to come together. And in a particularly challenging time when you know, in 2023, we had one grassroots music venue close per week. This is a chance for us to show that it doesn’t have to be like that. And if we can really harness the power of communities and work together, we can create new things and we can create venues that are going to be sustainable and long lasting. So, in a way yes, this project is about creating a great music venue for Lewisham and for Catford, and it should appeal to local people in that sense. But it’s more than that. It’s us being able to demonstrate that there is a way to save grassroots music culture in a broader sense. And so, there’s an appeal for everyone there I feel who has an interest in that.

All photos are taken from www.sistermidnight.org

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

17^th January Restraining Order, Layback, Prey , Dynamite, Tethered (New Cross Inn)

18^th January Samiam, Sam Russo, Uzumaki (New Cross Inn / SOLD OUT)

26^th January Can Kicker, The Pinch, SOP, Shade (The George Tavern)

27^th January Wimp, Ikhras, Strazio, Abso, Affray (The George Tavern)

27^th January Pizzatramp, Rash Decision, Rank plus more (New Cross Inn)

4^th February Käpprätt, Migraines, Catastrophe, Scab  (New River Studios)

5^th February Mutually Assured Destruction, Allfather, King Street, Peacekeeper (New Cross Inn)

16^th February Malignant Methods, Layback, Blood Fury, Final Form plus more (Moor Beer Vaults)

16^th February Es, The Early Mornings, Garden Centre (The Waiting Room)

23^rd February Eel Men, Hygiene, Skinned (New River Studios)

24^th February Fiddlehead, MS Paint, Wrong Man (The Garage / UK Tour)

25^th February Pest Control, Demonstration of Power plus more (Black Heart / UK Tour)

29^th February Damage Is Done 4 – Fairytale, Take It In Blood, Bullsshit, Subdued, Ikhras, Violent Offence (New River Studios / Fairytale UK Tour)

1^st March Damage Is Done 4 – Fugitive, Illusion, Ninebar, Pest Control, Imposter, Instructor plus more (Colour Factory)

2^nd March Damage Is Done 4 – Framtid, Quarantine, The Flex, T.S. Warspite, Stingray, The Annihilated, Mazandaran  plus more (Colour Factory)

3^rd March Damage Is Done 4 – Visibly High, Rat Cage, Layback, Träume, Middleman, Turbo plus more (New River Studios)

9^th March Opium Lord, Torpor, Jotnarr, Harrowed (New Cross Inn)

2^nd April Spaced, Going Off, Shooting Daggers, Ikhras (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

17^th April Deaf Club, Fuck Money plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

Probably January…

Atague Zero ‘Ciudades’ 12-inch (Static Shock)

Cress ‘Monuments’ 12-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

Flower ‘Heel Of The Next / Physical God’  7-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

Hellnation ‘Colonized’ 12-inch (Fight For Your Mind)

Hubert Selby Jr Infants ‘Have You Ever Seen A Crow?…Or An Eel?’  12-inch (Scene Report)

Malcría ‘Fantas​í​as Hist​é​ricas’ 12-inch (Iron Lung)

Nasti ‘People Problem’ 12-inch (Static Shock)

Pi$$er ‘Too Busy Eating Gruel…’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

More Likely February…

Abism ‘LP 2023’ 12-inch (Toxic State)

Angel Hair ‘Insect Mortality’ 12-inch (Three One G)

Class ‘If You’ve Got Nothing’ 12-inch (Feel It)

Kinetic Orbital Storm ‘The True Disaster’ 7-inch (KOS)

Knowso ‘Pulsating Gore’ 12-inch (Sorry State)

Massa Nera / Quiet Fear ‘Quatro Vientos // Cinco Soles’ 12-inch (Persistent Vision)

Morwan ‘Svitaye, Palaye’ 12-inch (Feel It)

Nonexistent Night ‘In The Middle Of A Boiling Sea’ 12-inch (Three One G)

Paint It Black ‘Famine’ 12-inch (Revelation)

Planet B ‘Fiction Prediction’ 12-inch (Three One G)

Stress Positions ‘Walang Hiya’ 12-inch (Iron Lung)

Yellowcake ‘Can You See The Future?’ 7-inch (Not For The Weak)