South Florida Christian Hardcore Demos

Hi. I haven't made a post here in over two years. I've been a little busy with turning my distro into a full time endeavor ... which I then turned into opening a brick and mortar store (and venue ... and museum).

The store has been very time consuming but also very fun. It's given me the opportunity to meet people who despite living in the same city for several decades managed to never officially cross paths. One of those guys (Dave) has been into my store more than most and always has some hardcore trivia both to contribute and to inquire about. Making new friends and talking hardcore has definitely been what has made opening the store worth all of the paperwork and overhead expenses and tax bullshit as opposed to when I was just casually swapping out records out of my basement.

Dave brought in some cassette demos which I had never seen (or, in one case, even heard of) and asked if I would be able to digitize them as he is a smart man and collects CDs as opposed to cassettes and no longer had a player.

I said sure. I have to upload the files somewhere to get them to him. I figured I might as well knock the dust off of this blog so people know I'm still alive and post about it here.

These are both some 1995 Earth Crisis-inspired, South Florida Christian Hardcore with all of the insane lyrics and intense energy you would expect from the description. Set Apart would go on to release a 7" and a split with another South Florida band by the name of Chalice ... who actually was comprised of members of Overthrow (who I had never even heard of prior to Dave bringing these in). I am fairly certain this was the only release from Overthrow ... well, at least THIS Overthrow as I believe there are several other Hardcore Overthrows from this decade.

Overall these are both actually pretty solid releases and considering I've had the Set Apart demo on my Discogs want list for a while now it was all worth the effort of having my original USB cassette deck breaking halfway through, getting stood up for almost 6 months by a studio guy who said he was going to do this for me and then going out and acquiring a new USB dual cassette deck.

Enjoy and maybe I'll make some more posts now that I remember this thing exists!

DOWNLOAD

EGALITY: Discography

Today marks two years since the passing of one of my best friends and most sincere musicians I've ever known: Dakotah Rhodes.

The first time I met these goons was when the band went by the name of Vovchanchyn. I still can't pronounce that name. They opened up for some beatdown show at The Subculture and were totally unphased by the fact that they had just been blindly stared at and walked out by the crowd who were awaiting opportunities to punch each other in the face to random variations of open chugs. I really don't even remember what we talked about that night but I just remember hitting it off immediately with these Westmoreland County terrorists.

After recording and self-releasing several demos and EPs, the band would go on to release 3 full lengths which were more proper representations of what the band would ultimately become. It was fun to watch these guys continually growing from show to show. Unfortunately the final time I got to see the band perform was whenever I got them an opening slot for Pig Destroyer at the Altar Bar to a sold out room. It was the first time I got to see these guys completely destroy a room full of metalheads who were nearly entirely won over by the end of the set. It was at this point that I felt the band was truly onto something that was going to transcend the southwestern PA heavy music scene.


While the core members of the band all contributed equally to the project it was Dakotah who was the sole guitarist and creative force that drove the band to be the most consistently evolving band in Pittsburgh. Initially starting off as an amateur-league Creation Is Crucifixion worship project, the band eventually took on a life of it's own blending in countless elements of all forms of heavy music. Of course many would make the obvious connections with the black metal influences the band was taking towards the end of their run but Dakotah dug so deep into the realms of heavy music that he would somehow manage to find the one sick riff on a Kittie album and draw influence from it.

Dakotah is the kind of guy who, after hours of everyone hanging out at my place, would stick around for several more digging through my CD collection asking to hear what certain things sounded like or buying things at random from my distro because he had a good feeling about them. His dedication to music is exemplified in the truly indescribable sound of the band which genuinely fails to fall into any sort of mold or expectations. Equally as likely to be into Hatebreed as he was Bible Of The Self, he truly was the definition of a music fan.

Whether it was the right-handed guitar played upside down, the octave pedal set-up that allowed him to play both guitar and bass parts simultaneously or the hand-crafted drum set put together by Chooch ... everything about this band was unique. Equally evolving with the music and live arrangements were the vocal stylings and shenanigans by frontman JR who could range from prototype gutterals to a somewhat disturbing black metal-esque shriek.


DOWNLOAD:

Vovchanchyn Demo
Live Demo 2009
A Contingency
Undulations
Embryonic Aseity
Euphoric Disdain

Refusing to allow their musical legacy pass on along with Dakotah, the remaining members of the band forged ahead with their new project by the name of Nullum. Paired up with the main creative force behind Kamikabe, you can check out their video (which also served as a tribute to Dakotah) here...

INTERVIEW: Hiro from Retribution Network/NERDS Records/Loyal To The Grave/Retribute Records

We met online in 2006, I believe, and started trading releases not long after. Was that the beginning of Retribution Network?

Yup, our friendship been over a decade! Before I started RETRIBUTION NETWORK, I had BLOODAXE 168 COMMUNICATIONS DISTRO. I think 00' to 01'. Back then we didn't have computer so catalog by handmade and order through TEL/FAX only haha. I started as RETRIBUTION, We got web site and started again as mail order distro. I worked for few years at START TODAY mail order after my university. I was into some hardcore music distribution business after some experience at Start Today.

What motivated you to start this label? Did you have any experience with releasing albums beforehand?

When I played State Craft, I always had had some kind of projects bands. I didn't have money for pressing CD so did some self made CDR. so RETRIUTION NETWORK label was just for my own side project bands. We were a CDR label in the beginning but I opened my eyes a bit and tried to put various bands CDs out after the compilation called "RESSURECTION"

It seems like most Japanese bands have a label and there are not a lot of DIY releases. Did you ever do the whole cut and paste layouts routine for your early bands or did you go straight to being on a small label?

The beginning of Retribution Network releases from most my solo project or me with dude in 168 like NOVEMBER MOON, END OF STATEMENT, BLOOD RITUAL etc. I recorded drum by myself and recorded guitar/bass and put voice from vocalist. All recording work was done at my house haha. So quality is not good so I supposed to release as CD-R and its my own label.

Your earliest releases that I remember were the End Of Statement discs. Tell me the story on this release. There is a 10 song full length which features a very high pitched, seemingly-strained voice but then there is also a 5 song EP featuring the same songs yet with a noticeably lower, demonic sounding set of vocals. It seems to be the same track with some wild effects put on it. I remember you telling me something about this initially but I love both versions of this release so much and just want to know the story.

 I think the beginning of E-STATEMENT was when my old friend KANOYA (OG guitarist for the band called BIRTHPLACE) got a cheap MTR and drum machine (it was 98, I think) and we tried to record a bunch of tracks at my house. It was two tracks but both production and style different so we featured two singers for each song and released as each one song split CDR called "Vengeful Hands Of Justice" split between END OF STATEMENT and BLOOD RITUAL.  This split recording production was terrible because we didn't know how to use drum machine and how to record clear guitar tone etc. The Singer of END OF STATEMENT was the BIRTHPLACE drummer called Bloodpit 168. The singer from BLOOD RITUAL was who did CHOKE THE FLAME and GAIA'S SEED WEB ZINE called NKG168. They are my old friends haha.

I still got more 4, 5 tracks for END OF STATEMENT and We released Perish EP and PERISH+1 (redux with new track). Sound production was much better than the older stuff. It was 99'-00' I think
and we wrote called "168 Legacy" and released as 2 tracks EP called Messiah. This was the best recoding by myself drum, guitar, bass and voice and I featured most bands vocalist around Bloodaxe 168 on these tracks. Hope you check 1st edition of 168 Legacy (We re-recorded again for TESTAMENT album but that's real recording version).

We got 10 songs from END OF STATEMENT so we tried to release as full album with real recordings. So I invited members from MASA (LOYAL TO THE GRAVE drum) A-KILLER, GV (BIRTHPLACE) as official member and we re-recorded whole tracks as a band and released full album called TESTAMENT through RETRIBUTION NETWORK. Singer Bloodpit high pitch vocal cause he was just drummer haha. He didn't do tough vocals and some inflence by UNBORN(same Slayer rip as us). Their MCD on Lifeforce vocal parts was hi-pitched screaming shout so I suggested to natural shout by his tone. haha.

After that album, We tried to use VOICE CHANGER and get low tone voice version and released called "OFFICIAL PROPHECY". My old friend RAT (STATEMENT) did voice changer for their split with DIM-MAK on New Eden so we got hint from him a bit and tried and got evil voice for Official Prophecy.

Similarly to my label it seems you started off burning your own CD-Rs along with a layout and then eventually switched to getting your discs replicated professionally at a pressing plant. What made you decide to take the step up to the next level and which release did you start doing so on?

Yeah I did whole atrwork by my laptop and burnt CD-R and was releasing and selling stuff like E-STATEMENT, HANDS UPON SALVATION (Indonesia), SHIVER, CANOPUS and many more. Most from 5 tracks demo so CD-R was the best way to spreading. But when we started to release full length like END OF STATMENT - Testament, BLOOD CALLS WE DIE - Pray For Rain, VA -The Resurrection compilation we decided it shouldn't be CDR because recording cost was much more than self recording and we wanted to distribute in the main stream marketing So needed to put as decent product.

While most of your releases are domestic, you’ve also released several demos and splits featuring international acts. Most bands from overseas do not ever travel to play Japan. What makes it worthwhile to release CDs from bands who will presumably never come to play in your country?

Yeah in the late 90's to early 00' if I have 100 favorite bands overseas, 99 bands didn't come to Japan. The hardcore scene was not international like nowadays. So I didn't think problem to put the band if I haven't met person who released on my label. Its the big difference with my current main RETRIBUTE RECORDS. I release my real friends like LIFELESS, SUBURBAN SCUM, DESOLATED etc (and upcoming DESPAIR discography too) and for the DRAWING LAST BREATH album is we can see at Sound And Fury when Ecostrike gonna play on that fest.

Your label has been CD-exclusively to my knowledge. Have you ever pressed vinyl or cassettes? It seems as though Japan is one of the few places left where people prefer CDs over the analog formats. Why do you think this is?

Yeah I love cassettes and still my one of favorite format. the band released cassette demo between mid to late 90' but early 00' bands released CD-R demo right? That means most New Eden Records bands released CDR demo cdr etc. Euro bands too. People was into CDR format after mid 90's cassette popularity. Also hiphop looks same I was purchasing tons mix tape CASSETTE but early 00 was most MIX CD/CDR. When I did Retribution Network in full effect was around 00', that's why most from CDR format. But yeah VENGEFUL HANDS OF JUSTICE and NOVEMBER MOON demo were definitely on cassette release! Why because 90's products. VINYL is too much expensive If we press LPs, it cost more than 15 bucks. Even in late 90's 7' from over seas price was 6 bucks haha. So doesn't work for any bands in Japan marketing!

How do you put together your split CDs? The bands are typically from all over the world and presumably do not know each other. Do you seek out bands with a similar style to piece together for a release or is it just a coincidence that you have three different metalcore bands hitting you up to do a release all at the same time?

We did several split through my label like KILL A THORY Vol.1 (ONFALL, EXTINGUISH THE FIRE, BLOOD CALLS WE DIE), Vol.3 (MOSTOMALTA, CHERISH, PRIMAL AGE) and SxE Worldwide(SHIVER, HOY ES ELDIA, VERDICT).

I don't like much some compilation or V.A but late 90's early 00' products were so good because that is focusing similar sound bands or some kind of scene report (Syracuse, Erie, Troy, H8000) etc so if we put worldwide split between similar sound style bands from different world each band can be spread words on Retribution etc. That's why I did some split release on my label.

Do you ever approach bands about a release or do you moreso just accept submissions? What factors do you consider when deciding on whether to release an album or not?

Basically RETRIBUTION NETWORK was the label that released around my friends in Bloodaxe so always I rush around my young band to release new release. when, how many songs also about song writing, artwork. etc. When we release a new act through my label the scene looks get more widely and it better for the scene. Some foreign bands asked me about a Japan release sure.

If the band will fit on my label or I used to carry any of old titles etc, I go ahead to release on my label. But most from very very local releases haha, Why because we close my label after our latest release like 1618, END IS FOREVER etc.

Retribution Network was infamous for its releases all having a somewhat similar sound ranging from the H8000 styled metalcore to hardcore kids who listen to the right amount of Slayer. I am assuming this was a conscious decision to designate a style to your label. What do you see as the value being in that?

Yeah, you know my STATE CRAFT was writing such European edge metal mixed with US 90's style hardcore so basically most bands around me loved such solid edge metal style band. I love all kind of hardcore longer years but BLOODAXE 168 communications distro was carrying only such European or US mid 90's classic/edge metal sound hardcore bands. because of was my favorite.

You also started an off-shoot label called Clandestine which focused moreso on beatdown. What made this decision final and do you have future plans for it?

When I started RETRIBUTION NETWORK DISTRO, hardcore scene looked more wide and I got many newer friends through MySpace instead of airmail/letter to my favorite band. Also I'm focusing to my LOYAL THE THE GRAVE after STATE CRAFT stopped in 01' so have chance to distribute more many bands from various kind of hardcore music like beatdown/tuffguy, youth crew, more metal hardcore, metalcore anything. When I signed to DOGGY HOODS. We decided to co-release with FILLED WITH HATE RECORDS. Then I started newer label called Clandestine. I separated 90's style hardcore bands for RETRIBUTION and more hard music for CLANDESTINE. So we released VOW OF HATRED, BLOOD BY DAYS etc through Clandestine.

Somewhere in the past few years you switched the name up from Retribution Network to Retribute Records and seemingly broadened your spectrum on types of hardcore to release. There also seems to be a stronger focus on releasing international bands who DO have tours planned in Japan around the time of the release. What thought process brought this about?

When I opened Nerds record store 3 years ago, I have learned some new business and meaning of Japan licensed release etc. from MIZUKI of Ice Grills who is doing Japanese license from THE STORY SO FAR, STATE CHAMPS etc. Also he is doing tour. It is the totally different with my old label. So tried to start my new label again under Nerds record store and we tried to release Desolated releases etc. But recently we are doing just license release and also some exclusive products on my label. So now I'm mixing new (RERIBUTE) and old things(local releases exclusive through RETRIBUTION) on my RETRIBUTE RECORDS. It is going well and having fun to get release. sometimes big bands license with bonus tracks or sometimes exclusive CDedtion etc. We released LIFELESS exclusive CD last year and they did Japan tour. Great to share time with favorite bands and it feels more than just music.

What do you consider a successful release to be? When all of the copies sell? When it helps a band get their music known so that their shows in Japan are better? When you make your money back on the release?

Japanese hardcore marketing is much smaller than US/EURO. When I released 500 CDs on my label, I think 100-400 CDs sell. I need to see how to make more better sales but if I get to recover cost from pressing, I don't care about profit. Of course wanna try to sell more copies but still working to find best way to distribution/promoting for the band.

You also run a record store strongly based around hardcore, metal and punk called Nerds Records. It’s truly an amazing spot. Would the store be able to exist on its own without the support of all of the mail order you do for your label based out of the shop?

Yeah, I'm having fun everything at NERDS RECORD STORE. Its a miracle. I didn't think physical record store works well for 3 years in the modern age haha. It depends on a month, week but all business is supporting my store. Distro, label, customer who visit to shop etc. me and Mizuki is other owner of Nerds so we are handling everything by ourselves.

How do you feel as though the Japanese record/CD shopping scene is in comparison to America or other places you’ve been? I personally found it to be a haven in comparison to the US scene.

I haven't been to record store in the other countries so would love to visit some famous punk/hardcore record store like Generation X or Coretex etc. If we get more big size store, we would love to do many things like store live, more tons wide  hardcore/ punk stuff. my wish will be moving to more big place haha.

You’ve been doing this for a while yet seemingly just hit the reset button with the label re-launch. How much longer do you foresee yourself doing this? How many more releases?

I have many release schedule in 2017. DESPAIR, DRAWING LAST BREATH on RETRIBUTE RECORDS and 2 more relases by summer. excited about them! I have some more plan and wanna release japanese bands release too. Will see Whats would be the cool release on my label. I keep it Strong and never give up to stop release like my old both label lol.

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The next two released lined up for Hiro's label, Retribute Records is the CD version of the Despair discography and a CD version of the Drawing Last Breath full length. Both copies will be carried here at Preserving Silence whenever they are released!

25 TA LIFE: Discography

Let me start off by stating for the record that 25 Ta Life is my favorite NYHC band.

A lot of people in recent memory have used 25 Ta Life as the butt of their jokes. While there are plenty of people in hardcore who have entirely justified heat with Rick, there are also plenty of hipster-types out there ironically liking the band ever since their split with Spazz back in 1998. Sure, Rick has given us plenty of situations, pieces of merch, speeches on stage and songs to chuckle at but he has also given us some of the hardest and most memorable tracks in all of hardcore. Listen to the Keepin' It Real EP the entire way through and then try to talk shit.

So, in summary, for all of the stories of him performing with a cassette boombox as his backing band or the most recent viral video of him performing "acoustically" ... there also just as many stories and video evidence of 25 Ta Life having some of the most insane shows of all time. The last thing I'm here to do is be Rick's defense lawyer but I'm also of the mindset that he was a legitimate pioneer in the advancement of hardcore becoming a worldwide phenomenon. I digress though as I'm planning on a separate post in the near future on the history of Back Ta Basics Records where we can debate the case of who made who in the battle of Rick Ta Life Vs Hardcore.

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This discography was slightly easier to put together than the Comin Correct discography thanks, in part, due to the Early Dayz semi-discography CD released in 2008. This disc features most of the early demos and 7"s and a few live tracks that were never recorded. While Rick released the same tracks on multiple releases the same way he did with Comin' Correct there were more clearly defined releases in the early years of 25 Ta Life. Most notably: the 1993 demo, the self-titled 7", the Keepin' It Real EP and most importantly, the Strength Through Unity release on Triple Crown and Goodlife Recordings in the US and Europe respectively.

I'd actually give anything to know how many copies were pushed of the aforementioned release as well as the Friendship, Loyalty, Commitment full length on the same labels. These albums had to be some of the best-distributed releases of their time between the combination of intercontinental distribution and whatever insane tactics Rick used to distro this amongst the DIY circuit with his traveling flea market/distro back in the day.

Unfortunately after the release of these monumental albums the original line-up dissolved and 25 Ta Life went into a short-lived hiatus while he focused on revamping Comin Correct. Somewhere around 2001/2002, however, he brought the band back with multiple entirely new line-ups. It was with the acquisition of the backing band for Not Without Resistance out of Clearfield, PA that he started writing and recording new material with the Best Of Friends/Enemiez EP. From there he would go on to release Haterz Be Damned EP, Hellbound Misery Torment LP, Fallen Angel EP and Strength Integrity Brotherhood LP.

While nearly all of these would have random songs plucked from them for various split releases with foreign hardcore bands, the core of the second-era discography can be found on these releases. Despite some shining moments amongst these releases even Rick will tell you himself (off-record) that there were some not-so-bright moments as well. Being the completionist that I am, however, you're getting the whole lot thrown at you here with this download.

DOWNLOAD - PART 1
DOWNLOAD - PART 2
DOWNLOAD - PART 3

Preserving Silence Records Discography

After coming back from Japan and seeing how many people have labels over there I've found myself having quite the fascination with labels and the people who run them. There is something to be said for people who are either still operating or just starting record labels in 2017. With the ever-looming presence of streaming music continually coming over the horizon it takes a certain kind of will and determination to want to sink your personal money into a seemingly-dated endeavor.

Because I am a person who likes to just get things rolling once I make up my mind to do so, I am going to start with a quick discography of my own label (which I am currently in the process of revamping) while I am in the process of lining up pieces of some of my other favorite labels.

Hopefully within the next few weeks you will be seeing interviews, discographies and pictorials on some of my favorite labels:

Retribute Records (aka Retribution Network)
Closed Casket Activities
Alliance Trax
Organized Crime
Militia Inc.
Catalyst Records
SA Mob

and maybe, just maybe...

Back Ta Basics!

I'm actually hoping to make this a regular thing and will do many more from the likes of Escapist, Goodlife, Goodfellow and who knows what else I'll think of.

So anyhow, in the meantime here is a quick rundown of what I released as a kid (and a few download links to accompany).

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PSR000: SET AN EMO KID ON FIRE COMPILATION

Yeah. This was it: where it began. I was 15 years old and randomly hitting up bands to ask if they wanted to be on a compilation with an asinine title ... and it worked! A fair amount of the bands actually gave me exclusive tracks. I specifically remember feeling like the luckiest person on the planet whenever Built Upon Frustration sent me 5 demo tracks for the Resurrected album which hadn't even been released yet.

Anyhow, I did a very tongue-in-cheek REMASTERED EDITION post and download link like 7 years ago on the blog you can check out HERE if you're interested.

PSR001: DOWN TO NONE - COMING TO AN END

This was my first band's first CD so of course I had to start a label to release it. Any money I made on the compilation got lost on giving away almost every copy of this for free lol. Full color, 8 page layout printed entirely on my family's ink jet printer and designed in Microsoft Paint. Took probably like 3 weeks to print up 100 copies of this.

PSR002: BETTER OFF DEAD - LIFELINE

I actually had no idea who these people were when I released this. They posted on the infamous PittPunk message board asking if anyone would help print their full length for them and I cold-messaged and said I would. They were quite perplexed. I remember them driving out to my house to pick up 500 copies of this and not believing in the slightest bit that I actually just did this for the hell of it. With each release I got a little bit smarter and broke into my mom's workplace to use their color copier for this one.

PSR003: THE STRUGGLE - FOR HARDCORE'S SAKE

I was especially excited to be able to help with this release as these guys from Youngstown, OH were some of the first people we met from going to shows. This was a short-lived Crowd Deterrent side project that Steve fronted and we knew every word to every demo song. I literally stole paper for this one from my school to print out at home. I think I remember doing 300 copies of this.

PSR004: SUFFOCATE FASTER - DEMO 2002

This was a big turning point for me because now I was getting to the point of helping to release demos of my favorite out-of-town bands who I didn't necessarily know or would consider friends yet. I remember being actually nervous when driving out to a show in Cincinnati to hand these off to the band. They were significantly older than I and had quite a reputation at the time as being the scary Straight Edge guys in the area. I also believe we did 300 copies of this on top of them having their own version.

PSR005: FIRST BLOOD - DEMO 2002

So this one probably sticks out a bit compared to the other releases. I mean, I love everything I put out ... but this demo was like THE game changer in hardcore at the time. So the story here is that I was AIM (AOL Instant Messenger, for the laymen) friends with Doug who was simultaneously playing in both First Blood and Terror at the time. This demo had already come out as a self-released endeavor and I blew him up like every time I'd see him sign on to tell him how sick it was and that someone should release this on the east coast because no one could get a copy unless they mail ordered direct from the band (which was a very unreliable method to get your hands on this release).

He always kinda brushed it off until there was some kind of situation where First Blood had a show like the day Terror got home from tour or something and he wasn't going to have time to press another batch. He told me I could make 200 copies if I sent them 100 in time for the show. So I did and I sold a copy to seemingly every single person who actively went to shows in Pittsburgh within like a week. He was impressed that I actually followed through and considering we had both sold our respective copies nearly instantaneously he asked me if I'd like to do an actual press of the album. I wouldn't have been able to come up with the $1500 it takes to press a batch of discs to save my life at the time so I unfortunately had to decline and was insanely bummed about it.

This went on to get pressed and officially released by some weird Bridge 9 subsidiary label called Division 36 which I'm fairly certain never released anything else.

PSR006: TOO PURE TO DIE - DEMO 2002

I literally messaged these guys on mp3.com and asked if they wanted me to book them in Pittsburgh and make 50 copies of this to get the word out so that everyone would know the songs. They said yes and booked a tour based around it and we became best friends and got into some wild shit over the past decade and a half because of it. Label validated.

PSR007: DRAIN THIS BLOOD - BURN THIS DEMO

I had started a new band by this time and of course I was the only person interested enough to put this out. Still to this day I am fairly certain this is the only documented "Enhanced Demo" to ever be released. I genuinely don't even remember how it came about but some completely random hacker kinda kid approached me at The Planet Of The Apes randomly after one of our shows and asked if I wanted him to produce an Enhanced CD for us. I was like ... sure. He had me out to his house in New Kensington for what definitely could've been an abduction/robbery scenario and just showed me this entire insane DIY computer rig he had set up and gave me a Master Copy of our demo tracks that would go into this entire insane computer gimmick that had one of our live shows on it and the whole nine yards. What a weird thing.

Only did 125 copies of this because it took so god damn long to burn for some reason on my 12x burner presumably due to the enhanced content. This is why I just decided to encourage everyone to freely burn their own copies (or pass the Mp3s around on Napster/Kazaa!) because I could only make like two copies a day at most.

PSR008: TODAY WE PREVAIL - DEMO 2003

This was another situation where I just liked a band's demo so much that I randomly messaged them and asked if they wanted me to put their demo out. Same thing... I put this out without ever meeting the guys and then five years down the road I come to find out I'm hanging out and regularly booking their new band, Bitter End. Small world. These guys always joke about how bad of a Hatebreed knock off this is but I maintain that this rules. I'll probably steal some riffs from it one day. I actually still have a lot of copies of this and will probably throw one in if you order shit from my webstore because it's so sick!

PSR009: DRAIN THIS BLOOD - CONTEMPT FOR TRADITION

This was a big release for me despite being my own band. We were actually making moderate waves at the time and had some other labels offering to put this out for us. In true Rick Ta Life style I opted to bite the bullet and go DIY on this. I think it ended up being the right call considering it allowed us to sell these for dirt cheap ($3 in person/$4 ppd lol) and really get the word out on the band. I currently have like 20 copies left but we made 1000 of these! Big achievement for a bunch of nobodies. This was also fun to release because I did this whole color-coordinated layout/fake-vinyl-CD-R gimmick that people actually really liked. Terror liked it so much in fact they stole my idea for the One With The Underdogs CD lol. It just serves as an example of doing something unique to make the release standout whenever you're 17 and don't have enough money to press the disc on your own after you just shelled out a whopping $500 for recording.

Side note: I allowed an upstart label by a guy named Che to release this on vinyl as his label's first endeavor. That label was called Flatspot Records and would go on to release some things like the Trapped Under Ice and Backtrack demos and other super cool hardcore things. We are essentially the only unsuccessful thing the label ever put out. For some reason our release is the only one not listed on the discography on the site. He must be embarrassed of the horrible layout. Also a small chance he's still salty about the fact that I told him I was going to beat him up if he didn't get us our 7"s in time for our final show after waiting over 6 months for them. To his credit he took a bus up from Virginia for the final gig in order to ensure we got our copies before the band was defunct ... AND he moshed like a worm for our set!

PSR010: SUFFER THE FATE - DEMO 2003

This was a side project I did for a minute with a bunch of friends and was my first foray into the drumming world. It's one of the worst recordings of all time and probably just shouldn't exist but god damn did we get wild pits at our shows. Only 100 of these floating around thankfully.

PSR011: WHERE IT ENDS - DEMO 2004

My band at the time, Drain This Blood, and our new besties, Too Pure To Die, did a weekend or two together and these guys tagged along. They were Straight Edge so we said fuck it and hung out with them. That's kind of the end of the story here. 300 copies ... a lot of which are still in my basement.

PSR012: CROWD DETERRENT - REVENGE ON THE SCENE

This was one of my favorite releases as I still to this day think it's some of the best Crowd Deterrent material (along with the Die You Bastard demo). I've always been amazed at how seemingly effortlessly these guys can crank out music. Between all of the Crowd Deterrent releases and various side projects that are essentially the same members anyhow they had to have written well over 100 songs in the past 20 years ... and they're mostly all really good! These guys are also the kings of hardcore music videos. YouTube if you don't believe me. Only did like 200 of these because the band doesn't care about letting people know how good they are but we probably could've easily done 500 or more considering every time I eBay one of these I land like $30. One day Crowd Deterrent will accept that people actually really like them and they should make their music more readily available.

PSR013: KAMIKABE - THE ETERNAL FIRE

Kamikabe was, and still is, one of my favorite bands from the area. They were always light years beyond the rest of us in the musical talent department. While they'd eventually evolve into a technical death metal band who'd be released by Unique Leader Records this was when they were a young, spry metalcore band sounding like a carbon copy of everything that was coming out on Lifeforce Records at the time. Had they been a few years older or knew how to show up to their gigs on time they'd be mentioned in the same sentence as endthisday, Nehemiah, The Year Of Our Lord and the likes. This was released in a DVD format because the vocalist at the time worked at a Blockbuster that threw away 500 cases. Ever see what 500 DVD cases in an industrial size garbage bag looks like?

PSR014: NOTHING SACRED - S/T

So this was it: the big step up to being a real label ... or so I thought. I finally had money to actually press a disc considering the Kamikabe EP sold like 200 copies in one night of opening for Zao and we sold them for actual money (I think $6 lol) instead of the typical $1-$3 price range that all earlier PSR releases were pushed at. This band was essentially just a reformed version of Drain This Blood after Rob and I took some time off to tour with Too Pure To Die. There was a lot of hype behind this project considering DTB broke up in it's "prime" and we were really going full force with our musical endeavors at the time. I decided to bite the bullet and press 1000 discs of this thinking they'd fly off the shelves considering that's what the Drain This Blood EP did in like one tour and 2 months of local shows.

Well, maybe that would've been true had I not quit the band before the disc even got back from the pressing plant lol. It didn't really help that the band changed their name (to Unreal City) along with my departure. I managed to rid myself of the large majority of these but mostly as Hanukah presents, stocking stuffers and trade-ins to every single used CD store on the East Coast.

This definitely put a damper on the label and technically was the final release as this was when I got mildly and temporarily sour on hardcore and kinda receded out of that scene for a while.

PSR015: KAMIKABE - DEMO 2006

This is kind of a ghost release as I didn't really call it a Preserving Silence release. Basically I just felt as though this demo/EP was amazing and deserved more than the black and white piece of paper with nothing more than the track listing that they released it as. All I really did was print some decent color layouts to give them to stuff their discs in as a thank you for the Eternal Fire EP doing so well.

PSR016: FAILURE TO FALL - S/T

Same here. Not an official release but these guys had just recorded a pretty good full length and dropped a lot of money on it and then just threw it on the internet without any intent of releasing physical copies. I printed them up a stupid simple layout and sent them off on tour with 50 copies for the hell of it. Kids!

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So there it is: a very brief yet extremly overly indulgent history of Preserving Silence Records. Like I said I'll hopefully be doing similar run-throughs on labels that actually did more relevant things in the near future but hopefully you got some form of entertainment from this article.

PRESERVING SILENCE RECORDS & DISTRO

Some of you may remember that I ran a "label" as a 16 year old kid. It was initially just helping a lot of my friends' (and some people I didn't even know at the time) bands put their demos, and sometimes albums, out.

It was 2001, streaming music barely existed and almost no one had a CD burner ... so there I was to save the day. I remember going to used CD stores and buying up all of their CD singles at 20 for $1 to throw away all of the pop trash inside of them so that I could use the cases for my releases. I definitely printed several thousand copies of various release layouts on my school computers when the teacher wasn't looking. Some spindles of CD-Rs were 100% stolen from various Wal Marts. It progressed over the next few years to where I was actually pressing discs until I ran into one unfortunate release (PSR014!)that put my teenage ass in the poor house and I decided to stop.

Well, I'm an adult now and have more than $500 to my name so I decided to revamp the label. I plan on releasing everything from short-run physical copies of some younger bands who don't understand the value of an actual demo to some deluxe vinyl re-releases of some Pittsburgh Hardcore classics.

To get this thing off the ground and running I spent the literal entire last week gathering up the remnants of my distro all into one spot and built a webstore. I also threw in quite a few pieces of history from my personal collection to spice the store up a bit and clear out some space for the literal hundreds of CDs and records I bought from Japan. You're going to find everything on the webstore from your last chance to grab my cheap-o "$5 Or Less" distro CDs I've been carrying around for years to some shirts and records I'm not letting out of my hands for less than $100.

All the proceeds are going to dust off the gears to get this label up and running again. I have cool ideas and plans to do some actually desirable physical releases. Maybe I just want to prove to myself that some people out there still care enough to drop some money on albums and bands they love. Maybe I'll put myself in the actual adult broke house for failing to accept that everyone just streams everything via Spotify and YouTube. Either way, I'm doing it.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to this.

PRESERVING SILENCE

COMIN' CORRECT - Discography

So after not really doing any uploads for two years I decided to come back strong right out the gates. I've always somewhat jokingly hypothesized about the immeasurable kind of task this would be and now seemed like the perfect time to finally undertake this monstrosity of an effort.

For those of you who don't know, Comin' Correct was initially started by Rick Ta Life as a 25 Ta Life side project. The original line-up essentially consisted of the entire backing band for Krutch amongst random other members from Feeble, Dirtnap, Fat Nuts and the likes. What initially started as a demo and a few split 7"s eventually turned into a full time project with various line-ups whenever 25 Ta Life went into a mild hiatus in the late 90s.

The beauty of Comin' Correct was the insurmountable number of releases that were rapidly being released on Rick's label, Back Ta Basics. Multiple demo tapes would have the same tracks as multiple split 7"s. Some "full lengths" would have 4 studio tracks and 18 barely audible live tracks. It was truly a clusterfuck trying to keep track of which songs you needed to know in order to hit the pit.

There were low points and high points for the band. While there were some sets that consisted of more covers than originals, there were also times when the band was playing out in support of the In Memory Of... album which were actually some of my favorite shows of all time.

Overall you can say what you will about Rick or his bands or his label and business practices but as a wise/insane man once said to me, "I should've known hardcore was no longer for me whenever Rick Ta Life fell out of power".

While I wasn't able to piece together a list of actual studio sessions (the way I typically like to space out my discography compilations) I DID manage to get this in somewhat of a chronological order. I included two separate live sets that were included on the "full length" CDs in separate folders. I also made a point to only included one unique version of each track as they seemingly all have appeared on multiple releases at multiple times.

Some of these are cassette, vinyl or CD rips so apologies for the varying qualities but that's what I was dealing with here. I personally have a theory that the only reason a Comin' Correct song was NOT re-released on various formats and albums is that Rick would occasionally lose master copies which would essentially force them to be retired.

I'm thinking one of my next projects will be a similar upload for 25 Ta Life and MAYBE even a pictorial history of Back Ta Basics Records and all of it's "limited covers" and otherwise undocumented releases.

Speaking of which, you can actually order the "new" album Drugs Destroy Dreams on either CD or LP at the official Comin Correct BandCamp page.

DOWNLOAD Part 1

DOWNLOAD Part 2

DOWNLOAD Live Sets