Spazz - May 19th, 1997

Most of the work of putting these live shows onto the Internet is splitting the recording into songs and figuring out titles.  There's no fucking way that I'm going to do that for a band like Spazz.

Probably one of the most prolific powerviolence bands, even keeping track of the bands they've put out split records with is a chore. And really, does it matter? Is anyone going to care?

Enjoy

AFI / Swingin' Utters - June 30th, 1995

During the 80's & 90's Seattle had a law called the Teen Dance Ordinance which made it almost impossible to have a small concert which was all-ages. The law required a bunch of red tape, expensive insurance & off duty cops which made it financially prohibitive for all but the largest venues to allow access to minors.  Sounds a bit like Footloose, doesn't it?

AFI - Getting RE/AL

Of course that never actually stopped all-ages shows, it just meant that Seattle had a thriving house show scene. Bands which normally would have played in small clubs or bars often ended up performing in someones basement or living room. 

The Radio House was a punk house on Capitol Hill which had a bunch of great shows in the mid 90's. It was named for it's proximity to a large radio tower, & between songs it was possible to hear the broadcast playing through the performing band's amps. A friend of mine who lived there was kind enough to loan me a few recordings of bands that performed at the house.

Swingin' Utters

(photo also by Dan Halligan)

Which brings us to this recording featuring, AFI & the Swingin' Utters at the Radio House in the summer of 1995. Each band played a few songs before switching off to the other band. I'm not really a fan of either of the bands, and the recording is kinda shitty, but I can't pass up the opportunity to post something by AFI before they became cartoon characters.

Thanks to Cameron for the tapes and to Dan Halligan/10 Things for the photos from the show. I'll be posting more tapes from Cameron in the future & Dan has a bunch of great photos on his flikr page

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P.S. I can't be bothered to separate this one into tracks and hunt down song titles.

His Hero Is Gone - August 2nd, 1997

Nothing fancy to say about this show. To be honest I don't even remember it, which is a shame, 'cos I played the shit out of their first two records.

This recording is from the soundboard at 924 Gilman St. Also playing were Brother Inferior, Black Army Jacket & Noothgrush.

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Karp - September 24th, 1997

There's been a lot of interest in Karp lately, which is rad, they deserve it. Heck, there's even a documentary in the works! So I'm not going to re-invent the wheel and try to write a bio. If you know Karp you should download this. If you don't, then that's something you'll just have to live with.

This is a recording from a show at the Chameleon in San Francisco. Also playing were the Young Pioneers. At the time I was pretty homesick for living in the Pacific Northwest and Karp really made my day. I also taped their show at 924 Gilman two days later. A year later I was living back in Seattle.

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Universal Order of Armageddon

I first saw Universal Order of Armageddon at a church show in Boston, of this much I am sure. I have a horrible memory, which wants to say that it was 1993 and Rorschach also played and managed to clear the room. But I can't be certain that I saw both bands at the same show.

At the time the only hardcore I was familiar with was early 80's DC and Massachusetts straight-edge youth crew hawdcawh. U.O.A. blew the back of my head off. Their crazy spactic chaos was completely different from anything I had heard before and I was hooked.

I approached their singer, Colin, after their set to try to tell him how much I enjoyed the music. I innocently asked him where they were from. 'Saturn' he replied, and then launched into details.

This recording is not from that show but was sent to me by a guy who went to Worcester Polytechnic Institute when I did. I believe his name was Tim, but again due to my shitty memory, I am probably mistaken. He had great taste in music and would just send me live tapes with dubs of 7 inches or demos he was listening to at the time to fill left over space. Tim, if that is your name, if you happen to read this, get in touch!

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Saké - October 26th, 1997

I can't think of a better way to start off than with this recording of Saké in Oakland, CA. I moved from Seattle to the SF Bay Area for about a year and a half at probably one of the worst times: even more rain sodden than Seattle due to El Niño and gentrified by the dot-com boom. I spent a lot of that time only occasionally employed, wet, bored and unsure what I was doing with my life. One of the highlights was that I got to see a line up like Saké, Word Salad, Dystopia, Corrupted and Moral Crux play at the Punks with Presses warehouse in Oakland to a bunch of smelly punx and dogs.

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Data Control

There are so many music related blogs in existance right now that it's probably not worthwhile to make another one without a clear purpose.

During the 90's I used to record live music and trade tapes via mail, mostly of punk, hardcore and metal bands I saw in Seattle or the SF Bay Area. At the time, all the music I recorded was at small venues and house shows. Since then some of the bands have achieved some success in the music industry, but most have remained underground. I've managed to hold on to most of my tapes which have been collecting dust in my basement for over a decade.  The purpose of this blog is to make them available to the world, either because I like the band or because the recording is a curiosity that other people might enjoy.

Currently I have a lot going on: a relationship, two small kids, family and friends, a fairly demanding job and a garden to grow. I would like to be able to put up a couple of new tapes a month, but if I can't make the time, so it goes.