Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl newsletter!  We are back, after our brief August break, with a great line-up to kick things off again:

• Featured New Arrivals from Men As Trees, Ostraca, Rigorous Institution, and Turquoise
• Optimistic Daisies and Gothic Lullabies: A Particular History of Static Shock Weekend
• Shows and Tours including new dates for Change, Home Front, and Smirk
• Coming Soon including As Friends Rust, Blind Eye, Catharsis, Devour, Hope?, Saidiwas, Water Machine, and Uzu

So, it comes to pass, the final ever Static Shock Weekend lands next week.  This festival has, of course, been a landmark of the London hardcore punk scene since its first iteration in 2012 and (almost) annual renewal ever since.

I must admit I’ve never been entirely in love with the concept of festivals.  The timing / spread of the shows means you will almost certainly miss some of the bands you would like to catch and there is also the venue inflation generated by the need to use larger venues to ensure financial viability, and to cater for the inevitably larger turnouts.

But to be fair, these small gripes are far outweighed by the benefits that festivals as well put together as the likes of the Static Shock Weekend and Damage Is Done festivals bring – diverse line-ups that touch pretty much every sub-genre, attracting bands to these shores who might not otherwise make it, and generally acting as a focal point for the city’s hardcore punk community.

It was those features that I most enjoyed about past Static Shock Weekends – yes, getting to see bands that I already loved, but also being introduced to quite a few that might otherwise have slipped under my radar.

And, while it is sad to see Static Shock Weekend come to its end, 11 years is a pretty decent run (and an awful lot of hard work for its organisers!).  So, rather than dwell on its demise, I’d rather celebrate the highlights.  I attended shows from each of the festivals, with the exception of the first in 2012 and then 2015 and looking back what is immediately apparent is not only how many good bands I caught, but also just how many I missed!  But three performances stand out very clearly in my memory to define a rather personal Static Shock Weekend history.

First up is Give, they of the colourful ‘G’ daisy motif, in 2014.  In fact, Give were my gateway to the festival itself as it was this band who first tempted me down to T-Chances that fateful November.  They headed into the Static Shock Weekend on the back of releasing five great two-song singles on labels ranging from Deranged to React, Youngblood to Triple B (collected together as the ‘Singles Going Confetti’ LP) and with a follow-up LP on Revelation Records slated for the following year.  Musically, Give explored ‘Revolution Summer’ inspired hardcore. Now, clearly, this is a style that many have sought inspiration from, but often find themselves struggling to match the underlying intensity and energy that originally fuelled this sound in mid-1980s Washington DC.

However, there were no such misgivings with Give.  There was always a clear authenticity to this band, who displayed not only an innate understanding of their inspirations, but also a distinctive take on them.  This was abundant to see that night as lead vocalist, John Scharbach, took to the floor in front of the stage (which always seemed disproportionately high to me at T-Chances), and the band unleashed a vibrantly powerful set.

My next stand out memory is of Exit Order at the 2017 festival.  Exit Order hailed from Boston and in the space of four years released an excellent demo in 2013, an explosive self-titled EP on Side Two Records in 2015, and a brilliantly realised LP, ‘Seed of Hysteria’, on La Vida Es Un Mus Discos / Side Two in 2017.  On some levels, Exit Order’s raucous sound could be mistaken as relatively simple, by the fact that it had the singular intent of wanting to make you pogo with reckless abandon.  But, in reality, the skill that went into delivering this infectious sound was not to be underestimated.  The guitars hit you in waves before honing into the defining riff, while the rhythm section literally bounces with vitality, yet is underpinned by surprising complexity, while the vocals are unyielding, not gruff but bristling with intent.

Now in the live environment, bands can sometimes morph into rather different propositions.  Exit Order on the other hand were a living embodiment of their recorded persona – vocalist Anna Cataldo was literally a whirlwind of perpetual motion, as the band locked into a relentless groove.  Various members went on to play in sonically quite different, but uniformly excellent bands, Dame (Beach Impediment) and Innocent (Side Two).

Then in 2020, Murderer.  Now Murderer have only ever released one record and were never a band who toured widely (indeed, I think I recall that the Static Shock Weekend was their first, and may remain their only show outside of New York).  Now, I really enjoyed ‘I Did It All For You’ (Toxic State) – a darkly irresistible LP of gothically sinister almost-lullabies.  But, live, their stripped-down sound took on a whole new dimension.  Their sound became bigger, burlier, even more mesmerising in its insidious repetition, and they had soon swept the crowd up into their joyously black embrace.  Little did I know as I headed back to Seven Sisters tube that this would prove to be my last gig in 18 months as the UK’s first Covid lockdown kicked in just a couple of weeks later.

And, as for 2023, who will be the band to embed themselves in our collective memories?  This is, of course, impossible to call with so many great bands due to the hit stage.  But I am very much looking forward to catching Spirito Di Lupo whose debut LP, ‘Vedo La Tua Faccia Nei Giorni Di Pioggia’, is really rather special.

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.

8^th – 10^th September Chimpy Fest XI (New Cross Inn / including Coke Bust and Failure)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall / UK Tour)

14^th – 17^th September Static Shock Weekend (Various Venues / including Belgrado, Es, Indre Krig, Poison Ruin, Spirito Di Lupo, Tramadol plus many more)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

22^nd September Morus, Haavat, Disciple BC plus more (New Cross Inn)

3^rd October As Friends Rust, Calling Hours plus more (Boston Music Room)

3^rd October Smirk, Eel Men, and Morreadoras (The Waiting Room / UK Tour)

7th October Three Swords Fest (The Engine Rooms / including Change, Cruelty, and Odd Man Out)

26^th October World Peace, Xiao, Trading Hands (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

28^th October Home Front plus support (New River Studios / UK Tour)

18^th November Axegrinder, Civilised Society?, Zero Again plus more (New Cross Inn)

21^st November Slapshot, Death Before Dishonor plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

24^th November Bob Mould plus support (The Garage / UK Tour)

1^st – 3^rd March Damage Is Done IV (Various Venues / including Fugitive, Quarantine, and Illusions plus many more to be announced)

As Friends Rust ‘Any Joy’ 12-inch (End Hits)

Blind Eye ‘Wasting The Time’ 7-inch (Scene Report)

Catharsis ‘Light From A Dead Star I’ 2×12-inch (Refuse)

Catharsis ‘Light From A Dead Star II’ 2×12-inch (Refuse)

Devour ‘Flowers of Fire, Walls of Water’ 12-inch (Ugly & Proud)

Hope? ‘Your Perception Is Not My Reality’ 7-inch (Symphony of Destruction)

Saidiwas ‘Saidiwas’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Water Machine ‘Raw Liquid Power’ 7-inch (Upset The Rhythm)

Uzu ‘Self-Titled’ 12-inch (Symphony of Destruction)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl newsletter.  A quick heads up that this will be our last newsletter for a few weeks, as the school holidays are now fully underway and I’m being run ragged!  Our next edition will be out Wednesday September 6th.

The store will continue to operate as normal, although please note that any order placed on, or after, Thursday 10th August, will ship on Monday 21st August.

With the housekeeping all done, here is our line-up for this week:

• Featured New Arrivals from Graf Orlock, Sweat / Negative Blast, The Toads, and Bait
• Our Most Popular Records Since Launch…
• Record of The Month: ‘In The Comet’s Path’ by Parallel Worlds
• Shows and Tours including the dates for next year’s Damage Is Done IV
• Coming Soon including As Friends Rust, Catharsis, and Saidiwas

We are three months old this week, so a big thank you to everyone who has been able to support us since we got underway!

And what better time to give a shout out to the best selling releases that we have carried so far?

1. Only Constant by Gel (Convulse Records)
2. Shattering Vessels by Neolithic (Vitriol Records)
3. Service To Your Country by Savageheads (Social Napalm)
4. Currency // Castration by Geld (Relapse Records)
5. Quiet Earth by Morrow (Alerta Antifascista)

Only Constant is currently sold out but we should hopefully pick-up a fresh batch of the second press and we have just reloaded on Shattering Vessels.   The Savageheads, Geld, and Morrow LPs are also still available.

And so to the inaugural Foundation Vinyl ‘Record of The Month’!

Selected from our impressive slate of Featured New Arrivals in July, it is the record that has strayed least from my turntable over the last four weeks.  Do not sleep on this one!

‘In The Comet’s Path’ by Parallel Worlds (Scene Report Records)

‘If not by the grace of god, then an accident of birth, if not by divine intervention, then a fluke, a whim, or something worse.  Right time, “right” place, “right” sex, “right” skin’.

Parallel Words are the Young Conservatives reborn, the name change heralding a recalibration in musical direction but no dilution in their political vehemency.  So, what is different?  Their previous straight-up hardcore punk has evolved into a more experimental direction, with fuzzed out guitars, chunky distorted basslines, and fluid percussion laying the bedrock.  And what is the same? Semi-shouted vocals still drip with fury and sarcasm in equal measure as they astutely dissect issues ranging from social conflict born of precarity and the myth of Britain’s meritocracy, to the desolation of the deindustrialised cityscape.  A burlier By The Grace Of God, with added dashes of Rollins Band groove, would be a pretty decent yardstick.  Thoughtful, impassioned hardcore and a very fine record indeed.

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.

13^th August DRI plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

23^rd August Bad Egg, Rough Gutts, Do One, Prey and more (New Cross Inn)

26^th August Spit, Mortsafe, Layback, Churchgoers plus more (New River Studios)

28^th August Slutbomb, Frisk, Frantic State plus more (New Cross Inn)

5th September Raw Brigade, Flesh Creep, Rifle plus more (New Cross Inn)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

14^th – 17^th September Static Shock Weekend (Various Venues / including Belgrado, Es, Indre Krig, Poison Ruin, Spirito Di Lupo, Tramadol plus many more)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

20^th September Angel Dust, Powerplant plus more (New Cross Inn)

22^nd September Morus, Haavat, Disciple BC plus more (New Cross Inn)

3^rd October As Friends Rust, Don’t Sleep plus more (Boston Music Room)

26^th October World Peace, Xiao, Trading Hands (New Cross Inn)

18^th November Axegrinder, Civilised Society?, Zero Again plus more (New Cross Inn)

21^st November Slapshot, Death Before Dishonor plus more (New Cross Inn)

24^th November Bob Mould plus support (The Garage)

1^st – 3^rd March Damage Is Done IV (Various Venues / including Fugitive, Quarantine, and Illusions plus many more to be announced)

As Friends Rust ‘Any Joy’ 12-inch (End Hits)

Catharsis ‘Light From A Dead Star I’ 2×12-inch (Refuse)

Catharsis ‘Light From A Dead Star II’ 2×12-inch (Refuse)

Saidiwas ‘Saidiwas’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl newsletter!  Plenty to be getting on with, so let’s dive right in:

• Featured New Arrivals from JJ And The A’s, Prey, Me Lost Me, and Gimic
• And The Dog Glanced Back…
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon

As I was spinning Discreet’s excellent This Is Mine LP, I was again drawn to its rather visceral artwork and again, I really wished I hadn’t been.  It just doesn’t work for me.  It’s not that the image does not in some ways resonate with the album’s exploration of addiction and trauma, but rather that it’s just not a particularly pleasant image to look at – flies gorging on a piece of raw meat.

This got me thinking as to the importance of cover art more generally, and what makes it more, or less successful.  The continued survival, indeed, renaissance of music in its physical form is driven by multiple factors.  However, one key aspect is people’s desire to enjoy its materiality – to hold the record, to place it on the turntable, to read the lyrics, and to enjoy the artwork.  The record is a physical embodiment not only of a band’s music, but also of its wider political and cultural values.

So, what makes a given piece of album artwork successful?  On reflection, I think it is driven by three characteristics that move from those of immediate pleasure, to those that grow in depth as you immerse yourself in the music itself.   First, it must have the visual clarity to impact and grab attention.  Secondly, it must be aesthetically thought-provoking, in other words, priming the listener to consider what the album will sound like and what its lyrical concerns might be.  And thirdly, it must speak to the artistic intent of the music that it visually represents, and that can, perhaps, only be fully realised once the listener is able to marry the art, the music, and the words together.

Each of these stages is important, and each develops a greater level of depth and appreciation for the listener.  But clearly, not all artwork can satisfy each level equally and, obviously, everyone’s interaction with it will be different by degree. You can have a striking piece of art that seizes attention, but ultimately it doesn’t feel organically connected to the music itself.  To be a truly successful album cover, I think the artwork must succeed on all three levels.  So, what are the album covers that, for me at least, achieve those three aims? Five, in particular, came to mind.

First up is Surf Nicaragua (1988) by Sacred Reich.  This is a record sleeve that is in many ways archetypal of the era. But it is a brilliantly executed example: with the shirtless, camo-clad figure surfing on a coffin lid whilst holding a cartoon bomb.  It would be hard to argue that it is not a visually striking design, but it’s also a well-judged blend of the satirical and the serious, and inspires interest as to what will emerge when the needle hits the groove.  And when it does, you’re not disappointed as the title track erupts and a keen eye is applied to US interventionism in Central America.

Our second stop is Lift Your Burdens High For This Is Where We Cross… (2004) by The Saddest Landscape.  The stark simplicity of the sketched trees, the glimmering blue leaves, the brown paper texture backdrop, and the understated band logo, all combine to quietly dramatic effect.  This in many senses is the perfect encapsulation of The Saddest Landscape’s music – explorations of dealing with life’s more overwhelming aspects, finding beauty in the everyday, and the cathartic pleasures of casting aside the weight of expectations to revel in the moment.  A beautifully evocative cover.

Disconnecting (2006) by Sinking Ships is next in line.  Now, I remember reading an interview with vocalist Danny Hesketh in which he expressed his disappointment at how Revelation promoted this record with quarter page advertisements of the album cover in the printed press.  I’m sure he was right on the money in terms of how ineffective that largely was, but it was oddly exactly how I discovered Sinking Ships.  Something about the sepia tinged black and white photography (an actual family photo rather than a stock image if I recall rightly) spoke to me and said you will like what this band has to say.  And, remarkably, my inner voice was absolutely spot on, and the artwork was the perfect visual realisation of the band’s stirring melancholic hardcore.

We then move to Abolition’s politically charged self-titled LP (2011).  Exploring themes of class dispossession, colonialism, and cultural commodification, Abolition burned briefly but brightly in the London hardcore community.  And I always felt that the album’s artwork of a man striding into the urban fog, his terrier glancing back on what is left behind, spoke eloquently to the band’s priorities – breaking the shackles of the past to march towards a new future. One that we don’t know exactly what it looks like, but recognising that unless we seize the chance to change things, we never will.  Admittedly, I’ve also always been a mug for a good picture of a lone man and his dog, but I like to think it goes a little deeper than that…

Finally, I will close with the cover from the Myteri / Procrastinate Split (2019) 12-inch.  I think aesthetically this is one of the most beautifully packaged LPs in my collection.  The level of love and attention focused on the artistic design by the labels (Alerta Antifascista, Halvfabrikat, Phobia and Nothing to Harvest) and the bands is pretty remarkable – even the etching on the B-side of a feathers and horns insignia works beautifully.  The cover captures a vividly realised stag and a pheasant communing with one another, their shadows captured in seeping watercolours.  Now both stags and pheasants are present throughout various mythologies, often used to denote immortality, and I think in this instance it is intended to represent the enduring friendship of the two bands, who toured extensively together.  Indeed, this split 12-inch was recorded by both bands simultaneously in Procastinate’s hometown in Greece, which invests it with an authenticity that split releases can sometimes lack.

And so, while the whole coloured vinyl fixation leaves me rather cold, I don’t think the value of well-conceived cover art can be overstated – it serves to animate, enrich, and complete a band’s wider artistic vision.

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.

4^th August Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

13^th August DRI plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

23^rd August Bad Egg, Rough Gutts, Do One, Prey and more (New Cross Inn)

26^th August Spit, Mortsafe, Layback, Churchgoers plus more (New River Studios)

28^th August Slutbomb, Frisk, Frantic State plus more (New Cross Inn)

5th September Raw Brigade, Flesh Creep, Rifle plus more (New Cross Inn)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

14^th – 17^th September Static Shock Weekend (Various Venues / including Belgrado, Es, Indre Krig, Poison Ruin, Spirito Di Lupo, Tramadol plus many more)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

20^th September Angel Dust, Powerplant plus more (New Cross Inn)

22^nd September Morus, Haavat, Disciple BC plus more (New Cross Inn)

3^rd October As Friends Rust, Don’t Sleep plus more (Boston Music Room)

26^th October World Peace, Xiao, Trading Hands (New Cross Inn)

18^th November Axegrinder, Civilised Society?, Zero Again plus more (New Cross Inn)

21^st November Slapshot, Death Before Dishonor plus more (New Cross Inn)

24^th November Bob Mould plus support (The Garage)

Bait ‘Self-Titled’ 12-inch (World’s Appreciated Kitsch)

Cloud Rat ‘Threshold’ 12-inch (Artoffact)

Godflesh ‘Purge’ 12-inch (Avalanche)

Graf Orlock ‘End Credits’ 7-inch (Vitriol)

Sweat / Negative Blast ‘Split’ 7-inch (Vitriol)

The Toads ‘In The Wilderness’ 12-inch (Upset The Rhythm)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl newsletter!  We have a stacked line-up, so let’s get straight on it:

• Featured New Arrivals from Spirito Di Lupo, Discreet, Median Rot, and Tramadol
• Foundation and the Death of Tradition
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon including some cracking new releases from Crew Cuts, La Vida Es Un Mus Discos, Scene Report, and Upset The Rhythm

Specific emotional itches demand certain musical responses.  And on Sunday, I was rather in need for something angry.  Not unhinged, chaotic rage, but rather focused, enunciated fury to cleanse the aftermath of a frustrating few days.  At such moments, there are a shortlist of bands who I know will hit the necessary spot and, in this instance, I reached for Turncoat by Foundation.

Foundation were a metallic hardcore band from Atlanta, who were active for a decade from 2006.  They were in many ways the archetypal hardcore band, or at least the embodiment of what we might think that is.  They progressed through demos and a couple of relatively low-key 7-inches before the excellent Hang Your Head EP (Six Feet Under, 2009) saw them propelled to greater prominence.  They had a huge appetite for touring, which reached its zenith with the release of their absolutely crushing debut full-length, When The Smoke Clears (Bridge Nine, 2011).  And they then bowed out with their ferocious final EP, Turncoat (Jawk Records, 2015), which heralded a set of worldwide farewell shows.

Foundation never soared to quite the prominence of some of their Bridge Nine predecessors, but they did forge a remarkably committed following during their lifespan and were an undoubted favourite of mine.  So, what defined their appeal?  When you appraise any hardcore band, there are perhaps three fundamental characteristics that for me demand to be assessed – music, message, and attitude – and I’ll take each of those in turn.

‘You sing the same song your parents sang about their unflinching devotion to everything, everything sick and wrong with yesterday and today’ (A Thousand Ways)

Musically, a single word comes initially comes to mind – monolithic.  Foundation’s riffs were simply monstrous (the opening riff to Purple Heart still never fails to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up), a reimagining of their 1990s forebearers, Indecision and Unbroken, that brought a renewed shuddering velocity to bear.  But power alone is, of course, rarely enough.  Foundation also brought great craft to their song writing – almost from day one, their song structures were developed to maximise the band’s attributes.  The quintessential Foundation song would open with a riff of dark ominous, menace before segueing into a galloping, subtly reworked variation as the fierce, guttural vocals erupted.  The song would reach an emotional peak with a crushing breakdown – but with Foundation, these cathartic moments were almost always partnered with vocals that lent them amplified impact and evolved organically from the song itself.  This also speaks to how integral the vocal delivery was to Foundation’s sound.  While the emphasis lay on almost primordial roared power, Tomas Pearson’s delivery was also emotionally nuanced, ensuring that the required sense of rage, frustration, regret, and also hope was accurately evoked.

‘Conditioned to drag our fingers through the soil, hands caked black with dirt of a ground long made sour by a disease of generations that came before us’ (Failure Breeds Failure)

As regular readers will know, message holds an equal importance to the musicality in my own appreciation.  I need both to work in tandem for my engagement to be piqued.  As such, I’m often lured to bands who engage with political ideas, that develop lyrics that add semantic substance to their sound.  Foundation were definitely a band with lyrical substance, but theirs was a politics with a small ‘p’ – rather than grander political exposition, their emphasis was on exploring ideas through personal experience and reflection to inform how to lead day-to-day life.  As a straight-edge band, sobriety was clearly a central formative pillar.  The sense was that their commitment was initially shaped from exposure to family addiction and their treatment of the related issues displayed a subtlety and awareness that is not always evident.

‘Because there’s no perfect tomorrow that I would not trade for just one more chance to right the wrongs of today’ (Silence Above, Quiet Below)

However, perhaps, even more central to the band’s worldview was the exploration of themes around tradition, primed by the thinking of English writer, Somerset Maugham: ‘Tradition is a guide and not a jailer’.  Foundation’s view was not a simple one of casting aside tradition in its entirety, but rather identifying and, in the words of vocalist Tomas Pearson, ‘striking down the traditional values that keep us separated, scared, and second class’.  The band were committed to a view that hardcore can function as a vehicle for helping people to build ‘a new tradition not built on the truth of our parents, preachers, and peers’.

‘I will give every breath to this, will not hang my head, I’ll keep fighting for every inch, will not hang my head, I won’t let this become another place to hang my head’ (Hang Your Head)

The other defining characteristic of the band was their decidedly unassuming attitude.  I had the pleasure of catching them live four times – twice in 2011 (The Purple Turtle, The Bowery) and then in 2013 (The Black Heart) before their brilliant final London show in 2016 (T Chances).  On each occasion, they put together a performance that brimmed with authenticity.  It really did strike as five mates just delighted that people wanted to see them doing what they enjoyed doing most – playing hardcore.  And there was also a sincerity to their interactions with the audience.  Yes, Foundation had views they wished to share, but my sense was that they were very much people wanting to explore these ideas, rather than assuming that they had all of the answers fully worked out.

So, if you have not previously encountered Foundation, and have a taste for thoroughly well-executed and thoughtful metallic hardcore, then I would highly recommend exploring their catalogue.  You will probably need to do some Discogs digging, although I believe Bridge Nine still have When The Smoke Clears available on CD.  Foundation – a band who quietly yet passionately made their mark.

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.

4^th August Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

13^th August DRI plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

23^rd August Bad Egg, Rough Gutts, Do One, Prey and more (New Cross Inn)

28^th August Slutbomb, Frisk, Frantic State plus more (New Cross Inn)

5th September Raw Brigade, Flesh Creep, Rifle and more (New Cross Inn)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

14^th – 17^th September Static Shock Weekend (Various Venues / including Belgrado, Es, Indre Krig, Poison Ruin, Spirito Di Lupo, Tramadol and many more)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

20^th September Angel Dust, Powerplant and more (New Cross Inn)

22^nd September Morus, Haavat, Disciple BC plus more (New Cross Inn)

3^rd October As Friends Rust, Don’t Sleep plus more (Boston Music Room)

26^th October World Peace, Xiao, Trading Hands (New Cross Inn)

18^th November Axegrinder, Civilised Society?, Zero Again plus more (New Cross Inn)

24^th November Bob Mould plus support (The Garage)

Cloud Rat ‘Threshold’ 12-inch (Artoffact)

Gimic ‘Defer To Hate’ 7-inch (Crew Cuts)

Godflesh ‘Purge’ 12-inch (Avalanche)

JJ and The A’s ‘Self-Titled’ 7-inch (LVEUM)

Me Lost Me ‘RPG’ 12-inch (Upset The Rhythm)

Prey ‘Unsafe’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

The Toads ‘In The Wilderness’ 12-inch (Upset The Rhythm)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl newsletter. I’m finalising this week’s edition having just caught an utterly brilliant Diploid show at New River Studios, so forgive me if I get straight to it!

This is the line-up:

• Featured New Arrivals from Parallel Worlds, Rat Cage, Enzyme, and Gel
• Trains, Ferries, and Water Fountains
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon including some cracking new releases from Alerta Antifascista, Convulse, La Vida Es Un Mus Discos and Scene Report

I have a little ritual every time that Catharsis announce a European tour.  Firstly, I excitedly check the dates.  Secondly, I realise with growing disappointment that once again their definition of Europe does not extend to these shores.  Thirdly, I start exploring to see whether I can make one of the other dates, only to realise that the logistics are not going to work, even if the costs could be justified.

Of course, I appreciate that this lifecycle also speaks to the relatively privileged life of a London hardcore fan – most tours reach our city and even if they don’t a jaunt to Sheffield or Leeds hardly compares to the trips faced by many on the continent and in the US.

I realised that, as a result, I have only ever enjoyed two gigs overseas.  One by good fortune in the US, and one by design in Germany.  The US show was back in 2009.  My partner and I had gone to the Pacific Northwest on holiday, where we were travelling on the train from Vancouver down to Portland via Seattle.  You can imagine my delight when I realised that Keep It Clear were due to be playing a show in Seattle, supporting Soul Control.  I tracked down the West Seattle American Legion Hall and, in hindsight rather foolishly, decided to take the ferry across the harbour to the show.

We soon realised we were very much on the wrong side of the peninsula for the venue and time was running very fine if we were to catch Keep It Clear’s set.  As we sat gasping after a frantic chase for the bus, we consoled ourselves with the thought of a pint when we got to the gig.  This was to prove a vivid example of how two institutions founded with the same core mission can evolve quite differently.  While the British Legion charity maintains a welfare mission, its halls are primarily membership social clubs (although I can’t ever recall seeing one host a hardcore gig).  It would seem that the US equivalent have developed rather differently, remaining specifically focused on veteran welfare and so the West Seattle branch was a much more austere affair than a UK counterpart.

So liquid refreshment was confined to the, unsurprisingly, extremely popular water fountain in the entrance hall and my domestic popularity was at something of a low ebb.  On the plus side, Keep It Clear had arrived late (which was not an unusual occurrence from chatting with some of the locals), so we had got there in plenty of time for their set.  The function hall itself was pretty spartan, brightly lit (until Soul Control’s set in any case), with no stage, but a healthy crowd in place.  And our various travails were soon forgotten as they unleashed an utterly blistering set ahead of a Soul Control’s intensely accomplished closing performance.  We didn’t take the ferry home.

Our second overseas venture was in 2015.  Now regular readers of these notes will know, I am something of a Trial fan and when they announced a European tour with another personal favourite, By The Grace of God, I was gutted to realise that we would be sunning ourselves on the Welsh coast when the tour hit London in mid-August.  My attempts to make one of their Central European dates floundered because of work commitments, but we could definitely get to Köln.  So, we hopped on the train for a weekend in Germany and on the Sunday evening I headed off for the show.

It was in basement venue, MTC, and by the time By The Grace of God took to the stage it was jammed to the rafters.  But while the crowd for both theirs and Trial’s sets were clearly deeply engaged with the material, it was perhaps the least animated crowd I had ever seen at a packed show.  Not in any sense apathetic, indeed intensely focused, but certainly surprisingly restrained.  The show was a great experience but undoubtedly a quite different one to the couple of times I had seen Trial before.

I still rather regret not being able to make one of the Central European dates, but perhaps that’s one for the future.  And in the meantime, I can content myself with revisiting perhaps my favourite tour diary, though that is barely doing it justice, The Humourless Ladies of Border Control by Franz Nicolay (for the uninitiated, formerly a member of the wonderful World/Inferno Friendship Society and now a thoroughly engaging solo artist).  This is a wide-ranging travelogue on the life of the touring musician that specifically explores the past and future of underground punk in the Central and Eastern European region.  Its concluding thoughts tie in with some of the themes I recently explored in respect of ‘The Lost Art of the Spoken Word’:

‘I found something life affirming in the opportunity to play for people for whom music and politics were meaningful in a concrete way, for whom the act of congregating and the investment of feeling in performing music were all serious business’.

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.

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

13^th August DRI plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

28^th August Slutbomb, Frisk, Frantic State plus more (New Cross Inn)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

14^th – 17^th September Static Shock Weekend (tbc)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

3^rd October As Friends Rust, Don’t Sleep plus more (Boston Music Room)

26^th October World Peace, Xiao, Trading Hands (New Cross Inn)

18^th November Axegrinder, Civilised Society?, Zero Again plus more (New Cross Inn)

24^th November Bob Mould plus support (The Garage)

Discreet ‘This Is Mine’ 12-inch (Convulse)

JJ and The A’s ‘Self-Titled’ 7-inch (LVEUM)

Median Rot ‘Exit’ 7-inch (Alerta Antifascista)

Prey ‘Unsafe’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

Spirito Di Lupo ‘Vedo La Tua Faccia Nei Giorni Di Pioggia’ 12-inch (LVEUM)