Recoil

Yeah it's been a busy week, but I thought I would post this band Recoil. They will be playing at the Antenna reunion this weekend so be sure to catch them and all the other bands that will be playing because most of them will be playing for the first and last time. Anyway a little history on Recoil: Recoil along with Raid came out of the Memphis Straight Edge scene and they released 2 demos--Salvation in 1991 and Second Season in 1992. The band played the Antenna club a lot between 1990 and 1993. There were also a few line-up changes. The original line up consisted of Graham Burks drums, David Bell bass, David Lawless guitar, John Horrell guitar, and Jesse Robertson on vocals. By the time Second Season was recorded the Memphis Straight edge scene started shifting into a more militant hard line scene, eventually dissolving (along with the hardline scene) as members of the band and the scene walked away from those beliefs. The second and final line up of Recoil consisted of: Graham and David, along with Blair Pearce guitar, Ben Brents guitar, and Alex Westphal vocals. At the Antenna reunion last year, the original line up reformed and have also added another member JB Horrell who played with the band in the early days before playing guitar. JB went on to play with the Noise Choir. I will be posting the second demo in the future. Enjoy this one in the mean time.

Recoil--Salvation

Substance

If you are going to pay homage to Little Rock punk you would have to include this band....Substance was actually from North Little Rock (Sherwood to be exact) the reason I mention this is because I actually grew up in NLR. I came across these guys through drummer Colin Brooks' brother Justin. He played this demo that I have posted tonight and it was a life changing experience. I had not had my radar set to the punk rock for very long and didn't even know that it even existed in Arkansas. The fact that there were local bands putting on their own shows, booking tours and releasing records (especially at 15-18) was amazing to me. I hung out with Justin a lot through skateboarding, went to many shows together. As I mentioned before Substance was actually my first punk rock show. I bought this demo from Colin for about 3 bucks and have had it ever since. This band formed out of the ashes of the Numbskulz and Step By Step. I used to watch these guys practice sometimes and play shows (all the guys had a lot of energy especially Shoban and Colin) and it was always amazing. The memories of walking in to the Brooks house and hearing Colin practicing is still fresh in my mind. Substance released a second demo which had this demo plus some new songs on it. I'm not sure why they put the first demo on with the new songs rather than releasing a second demo, I'm guessing it was a money thing. But this is the original demo with the train tracks on the cover.  After the first two demos Substance recorded some other stuff some of which hasn't been released (although there is a song on the towncraft movie soundtrack that was released). The band recorded a song for the 1992 towncraft compilation and a CD before breaking up in 1994. Members would later go on to be in The Big Cats, Red 40, and Daniel Zanes (Del Fuegos fame) and Friends. I have managed to clean up some of the noise (hiss and slight buzzing) from the tape, but keep in mind this was ripped from a tape that is 20 years old.

Substance--1990 Demo

Distemper

I have waited for a long time to post this, but it has been well worth the wait. I will admit that Distemper had not been on my radar but I really wish had been before, but thanks to Roy it has been made possible. This band has also has Mike Schiffer from Metro Waste. Distemper came together in 1985 but actually recorded and played shows in 1986. Mike McCarthy (Guitar/Vocals) has written up a really  comprehensive bio on the band that you should also check out. There is also a picture gallery.  I believe they will also be playing the upcoming Antenna reunion so be sure to check that out. In the meantime here is the demo.

More on Distemper:

http://www.guerrillamonster.com/music/distemper/2-Distory/distory-read-more.html
http://www.guerrillamonster.com/music/distemper/index.html


Distemper--Destory Memphis

Trusty--Name To Depend On

Yeah it's been awhile since I have updated the blog. I thought I would kick off the update with a little treat from one of Little Rock's greatest--Trusty. A little history for those who may not know....Trusty formed in late 1988 the original line consisted of: James Brady, Bobby Matthews, Paul Bowling and Bircho. Trusty was/is the band that everyone looked too, their sound was melodic but still hard and fast. Trusty managed to stick around Little Rock before moving to D.C. The band released a full length on Truant Records out of Memphis (that will be posted in the future) and 2 more 7 inches on Desoto records, then on Dischord. The band experience different line-up changes and eventually broke up in 1998.  Members went on to other bands, but Trusty eventually reformed with the new line-up and play a few shows once a year. The band has also released some new material on Max Recordings. I didn't get to see Trusty until a year after they left Little Rock for D.C. but they always managed to come back and when they did it was always a great thing. This 7 inch came out on Soma records in 1989, I actually found this gem at Shangri-La in Memphis. I cleaned up the audio a little bit and raised some of the levels.

Trusty--A Name To Depend On