King Slender - self-titled ep

Hey all. I just wanted to make a quick post here, and it's in regards to a new band I play drums and do vocals in. We're called King Slender, and we play a style of hardcore akin to loads of 90's emo hardcore bands you may already be familiar with.

Wisconsin's Parking Lot Records has just released a three song cassette for us, and we will be recording five new songs in April with Steve Roche (ex-Off Minor, Saetia, Books Lie, etc.) at his Permanent Hearing Damage studio here in Philadelphia. We're just starting out as a band, and we played our first show in December with more coming up in the very near future.

Here is a link to our bandcamp page (the three songs there are available for a free aka 'pay-what-you-want' download). We also have shirts available for any interested parties.

Finally, if you like what you hear and you're on f/b, feel free to toss our page a like.

Thanks, and I certainly hope everyone is doing well.

Aim Of Conrad - "The Intoxicating Sounds of Malcontent"

Aim Of Conrad was a sassy-pants band from Bucks County, Pennsylvania (the lower half) that played a pretty loud and straight forward brand of cheeky rock n' roll that eventually wound up trying pretty hard to resemble later-era Rye Coalition, which isn't really a bad thing. My old band played a couple of shows with these dudes circa 2000, the year this two song cd-r came out. They were all pretty nice guys, especially the guitarists Jack and Grant. Before this band existed, one of these dudes played in the Yardley skate punk band The Yokels, if that means anything to you. I doubt it does, so I'll continue.

I'm not sure if "The Intoxicating Sounds of Malcontent" (geez!) was meant to be a demo or a self released ep, but it's pretty decent stuff. I actually completely forgot that I owned this and haven't listened to it in 14 years or some bullshit, but about ten seconds after playing it I remembered the songs. Five Stars For Failure once played a show with these dudes and The Hex (who I really wanted to hate, but were super fun AND from Chicago) in Alexander T's basement in Reading, Pennsylvania during August of 2000. Maybe I'll throw the Aim Of Conrad footage I recorded in this post somewhere, maybe I fucking won't...I don't really know yet. However, before any of the aforementioned bands played their sets that afternoon, my band mate Justin almost had his back broken during a wrestling match by all around world-class superstar and probably best dude ever Rich Lee (RIP, homie). Justin also wrestled the infamous* Xiron edgeX (you remember AOL instant messenger, don't you?) the same afternoon, which you can watch for yourself below. All of the video footage was filmed by me, terribly. Alexander T eventually put out a few Aim Of Conrad records on his label Watson and the Shark.

Wrestling matches and making fun of The Hex during their set aside, if you enjoy your punk played with tons of sass, spunk and energy, this cd-r might just be for you. I will say that Matt the vocalist really liked to mess up / play with his hair a bunch during their live shows, which always sort of bothered me. This was recorded at MilkBoy by Tommy Joyner in Philadelphia. The first song also appeared on the Kickstart Audio compilation cd Pennsylvania, USA Volume 1, which I still own a few copies of and plan on uploading here one day real soon...probably.

The Reverend Vs Xiron edgeX

Rich Lee almost kills The Rev

Aim Of Conrad full set in Reading, Penna - August 2000

* to us, that is.

Tracklist:
1) Fault Line Fracture
2) Sometimes Is Never Enough

- right here - 

Autumn - "Wire Hangers" 7"

Autumn was a pretty interesting straight edge band from the Morrisville / Yardley, Pennsylvania area (where I grew up) which was active between 1994 and 1996, if my memory serves me correctly. The first thing you would probably notice upon hearing Autumn for the first time was the extremely unique and melodic vocal delivery of Exton, Pennsylvania resident George Chamberlain, who previously to Autumn sang for Forethought and eventually wound up playing guitar and singing in The Passenger Train Proposal a few years down the road. The music on this ep was/is mid-tempo and groove-laden, and in my estimation was the primary reason why they were as popular and landed on as many shows as they did. Sweater vest-wearing emo kids liked 'em, vegan edge kids dug 'em, and folks who were into more traditional hardcore bands like XCornerstoneX were into them as well. Basically, everyone was able to find something to appreciate in their sound, that is once they were able to get past the previously mentioned vocals. I remember a specific review of this 7" in either HearttaCk, Second Nature or No Labels fanzine, where the reviewer essentially stated that the band sounded too much like Foreigner, and that was the end of the review. It's actually a somewhat accurate portrayal of Chamberlain's style, I guess. Very, very, sung. But yo, the music was more memorable than your average chunky hardcore band that chugged along without being overly conspicuous with the level of "mosh".

This is the first proper release by Autumn and it followed their demo tape. I went to high school in Fairless Hills with the drummer Matt's younger brother Brad, and he became aware of the fact that I was one of probably four kids in our grade who was into hardcore after we ran into each other at a Shelter show at City Gardens. One day he asked me if I was interested in buying a copy of the Autumn demo cassette, I politely declined, citing the fact that I would want to hear it first before committing to fork over a couple of dollars for the tape. Brad found this response extremely funny (it clearly was), and continued to give me shit while we proceeded to smoke a cigarette in the school bathroom.  The moral of the story here is that I'm an idiot and regret this terrible decision to this day, well over twenty years later, Life, man.

These songs were recorded at the then-extremely prolific Why Me? Studios, in Gibbsboro, NJ by Joe Deluca sometime in 1995, and the recording quality is quite good. This seven inch was a split release from Northumberland County, Pennsylvania's very own Seven One Seven Records and Nevermore Records out of Trenton. A bit of history: these four songs were originally supposed to be part of a nine song cd released by Iain Hursey and Valparasio, Indiana's Stability Records which, in true nineties hardcore fashion, never came out. Thankfully Travis and Joe at 717 were there to step in, along with help from Joe Kuzemka & Nevermore, and put this record out properly. More importantly, the band photo on the back cover was taken at the infamous Blue Fountain Diner on business Route 1 in Langhorne, a place where I spent many an evening back in high school with friends stoned out of my goddamn gord drinking coffee, eating omelettes, talking about girls but not actually talking to any, et cetera.

I have two different versions of "Wire Hangers": the original pressing is on marbled grey vinyl, is #21 / 150 and has a pretty basic albeit nice layout w/ some pro-printed covers. The other version comes on black wax in a manila envelope-type cover with completely different artwork, has a photocopied, hand cut lyric sheet, a helpful PETA flyer informing you on how you can help prevent animal suffering in your life, and is #145 / 300. Looks like these records were pressed via Tennessee's United Record Pressing, but the vinyl records themselves feel a good bit heavier than what I'm used to from that specific manufacturer. I have included photos of both 7"s for you because I trust you enjoy reading & looking at all of this shit, and also because I am awesome. Check it out if you like Outspoken, Walleye, Option, (early) Franklin or fellow Bucks County natives Introspect, a band that I have posted about previously.

Tracklist:
1) My Eternity
2) Every Day I Live
3) The Nameless
4) Wrong

- 19067 represent -

Fields Lay Fallow - "One Hundred Years of High Rises..."

This is the one and only release by Philadelphia band Fields Lay Fallow, half of whose members also played in Lancaster's Spirit Assembly. Dynamic, intense and heartfelt, this four piece existed only briefly during the late 90s and probably should have made more of an impact. This 12" is quite excellent and their live set was just as good. Their style sounds like an amalgamation of Shotmaker and Spirit Assembly mixed with something a bit dirtier, like Struggle or perhaps Jara. I would say that Fields Lay Fallow were a bit more technical than any of those bands, and you can see previous statements about how beneficial having a good drummer can be. Georgia's Portrait would also be a pretty good comparison. A couple of these folks went on to play in To The Mean, a band that was active circa 2004 and also had the vocalist from Amber Inn amongst their lineup.

The six songs on this record were recorded in October and November, 1997 at Clay Creek Studio in Wilmington, Delaware by Nick Rotundo. It was released by Atlanta's Lunchbox Records (LBR #9) in 1998. Lunchbox was operated by Steve Wishart, who played in Car Vs Driver and Scout, as well as this band in early 1997. I've always really liked the artwork of this 12", too. The record includes some personal writings by members of the band as well as contact information for various organizations that assist victims of domestic violence, drug addicts aimed on getting clean, and also has contact info for gay and lesbian rights groups. Highly recommended.

-shells of shelter crumble-

Tracklist:
1) Notes on Hate
2) Lockdown
3) Notes on Paradigms
4) Storming
5) Wood for Fire
6) Notes on Fronts

(editor's note: Regarding the show flyer; Catharsis also played that night. Good times.)

Introspect - 7" and double 7"

Introspect was rad band from southeastern Pennsylvania that was active during the mid 90s. They played a groovy style of hardcore with those anguished, shouted vocals kids like myself were eating up at the time. There's a kind of Helmet-thing going on here, which definitely worked for them and which you can hopefully appreciate. Philadelphia and the neighboring areas of Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware Counties had more than a few excellent bands that called its borders home. Introspect was a part of the same local scene along with bands like Prema, Autumn, Bleed, Canon, Franklin, Frail, among others. These two records are just a few more examples of what was going on in the Keystone State during the mid 90s. They were released on bass player Shawn Wieland's Fountainhead Records in 1994, and Eric Wareheim of Adult Swim fame played second guitar on the 2x7".

Some warning, the cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" is actually only a 25 second snippet of some in-studio silliness, as opposed to an actual legit cover. I didn't want you to get your hopes up, as it certainly doesn't warrant getting it's own song title on the sleeve. Moving on, both records are enjoyable, but I think I may dig the 7", which was the earlier release, a bit more. Check 'em out.

-single-
Tracklist
1) Her Monument
2) Stationary Trust

-double-
Tracklist
1) Muddy Water
2) Forced Reaction
3) Blue / I Think We're Alone Now
4) Always
5) Birthright
6) Effort

Four Hundred Years | Live in Philadelphia

Here is a live set from Four Hundred Years, recorded at the fabled Stalag 13 in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 22nd, 1999. Sleepytime Trio and The Episode also played that night, and both ST3 and FHY were amazing as they always were. I don't remember much about The Episode's set, as I was not really into the band. They did, however, feature ex-members of Action Patrol, but you probably know that already.

This was recorded on a four track by my old friend Jay, who also captured the Sleepytime Trio set, which I have never heard. Dru Martin (formerly of Encyclopedia Of American Traitors, Spirit Assembly and eventually of Young Livers) played drums for Four Hundred Years at this show, and you can see how he put his own personal slant on some of Ash Bruce's drum parts. The band played at a friend's wedding the previous night, and they wore the same thrift store-purchased suits (I hope) they performed that show in. Additionally, Colin from This Day Forward gave me a copy of his band's first cd which had just come out at this show, and that was very nice of him. Decent sound quality here and a good performance equals a worthy listen if you're a fan of these guys. I didn't get my hands on a flyer for this show, but here's one from a different, completely unrelated Four Hundred Years show in Lancaster. Since I'm absolutely horrendous when it comes to most aspects of technology, I'm not sure if the songs will be in the correct order when downloaded, so I included the setlist below. You can organize it accordingly if you'd like.

-I miss you, Stalag 13-

Here is the setlist
1) Suture
2) Motion Sickness
3) Red Tape
4) Transmit Failure
5) An Hour Too Late
6) Philadelphia (a new jam at the time)
7) Penny For Your Thoughts
8) Life Support
9) Power Of Speech
10) Radio Silence
11) Architect

The Sound Of Failure - "The Party Is Over"

Perhaps the hardest working Philly area hardcore band during the earliest years of the 21st century (fuck, listen to me!), The Sound Of Failure played aggressive, messy but not sloppy, angry and mostly faster paced crust-influenced punk. The lyrics were spewing pretty straight forward social and political messages ranging from the somewhat deserved death of a bullfighter ("Matador"), the stress of living in the 9 to 5 rat race that is capitalism ("Distress Signal"), the modern day war machine ("Disarm"), etc. Chances are, if you attended shows in Philadelphia between the years of 1999 and 2004, you probably saw them play. Their style helped them fit on bills with lots of different kinds of punk bands, and this fact was one of their greatest assets. Metalcore kids were into 'em, crusty hippies were into 'em, as were the horn rim-glassed "emo" kids, or whatever. Sound Of Failure (sometimes there was no "the" in there) went through a handful of bass players and a couple of second guitarists during its lifetime, but drummer Ron Macauley and vocalist / guitarist Joe Gough were mainstays. They were a great band, but, more importantly, great people. These particular dudes are currently active in Dirt Worshipper and War Emblem. Each gentleman wins extra points from me; Ron for letting me use his sweet Zildjian china cymbal every time our bands would play shows together (without bitching), and Joe for being a Philadelphia Flyers fan.

The band released a 7", a few splits and 2 full lengths during their existence, and it's all really good stuff. This is their 2nd cd, recorded as a four piece, and uploaded with Jho's gracious blessing. These songs were recorded in May 2003 (about a year plus before they broke up) at Skylight Studio in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania by Vince Ratti and Rachel Minton. It was a split release by Ed Walters and Cheap Art Records.

-this is where dreams get fucked-

Tracklist
1) Zombie Death March
2) Trapped Inside Burning Wreckage
3) Lemmings
4) 8848
5) Horsham Clinic
6) Old Man
7) Pursued By Invisible Enemies
8) Marching Orders
9) By Your Own Hand
10) Disarm
11) Threes
12) Still
13) Death To The Weird
14) Distress Signal