Gastunk Dead Song Blogspot
Anyone that has followed this blog over the decade that its existed knows of my odd love of German 80's hardcore. I was turned onto a lot of it by two Germans who spent time in SF hanging with my buddy Zoran and I in around 86-87. After they left back to Germany I'd get random mixed tapes of obscure German hc in the mail.This is one of those bands I was turned onto by these guys. I had to work pretty hard to find the actual vinyl of it back then.Pretty raging thrashy hardcore that at times remind me of the almighty Black Flag (check out the song Last Mistake).Listening to this one brings back many happy memories. Enjoy!1.Right Now2.Last Mistake3.Differant4.Happiness5.Your Scene6.Don't Get Mad7.Joy Boy8.Names9.Traped10.Dreams Of Pain11.No Allegiance. A gig that happened around 20 years ago. I found this flyer and tape of both Spazz and Monster X whilepicking through some of my basement crap.
Feb 15, 2010 - Classic Japanese hardcore riffing on songs like 'Both Sides Of The World,'. Tatsu would later create as axeman for the brilliant GASTUNK. Oct 9, 2016 - GASTUNK - Dead Song (1985) 320 MP3 192 kbit/s zip rar DOWNLOAD. DOWNLOAD - http://files.rarzip.download/655398.
The tape is a recording from the board. This CBGBs show was insanely packed,with a very 'diverse' crowd due to the strange line up.
One emo band would play and a bunch of kids from outside would run in while they played. A more brutal band would play and the emo kids would go outside while the other kids came in. Tyler King put this one on.
I recall him talking to me as we were loading inabout him getting a cease and desist letter from a lawyer from anotherMonster X band. I laughed and told him we got those every month.Tyler ripped it up and obviously let us play. Some highlights for mewere having Danny Lilker (Anthrax, SOD and Brutal Truth) come up to meafter our set and tell me how much he dug us and loved the cover ofstraight ahead that we did.
Also meeting Timojhen Mark face to face and him telling me that he flew out to see us from Cali. Listening to Chris Kellys between song banter ragging on all the emo bands playing. It sure was a strange line up. I would love to see the MX set come out as a live LP. Get at me if you have interest i n putting it out. Someday I'll post the Spazz set.Set is separated into 2 sides, both sides are larger wav files. Hands down the greatest Cleveland punk/hardcore band of all time in my opinion.
I was introduced to their sound by my buddy Wedge in the 90s. Wedge lives in the Cleveland area and was a founding member of 9 Shocks Terror (and numerous other bands). Dude would always bring me surprise tapes of bands I'd never heard on our mini tours or weekend gigs we'd play together.The band started off as a two piece, then later joined up with others to make them a legit force to be reckoned with. This features everything. 'Outta Glue', 'Kill Preps' etc. Don't sleep on this one. I rarely post newer stuff on this blog, but this 7' is godly and deserves attention.
You love Infest? Well then you need this 7'. It features members of Infest basically sounding just like Infest. Haven't ever heard Infest? Do you live under a rock? One of my top 20 hardcore bands of all times. I have never been stoked on them doing reunion shows.
But this I can get behind. Fierce Hardcore powerviolence destroys side A, while Side B is a longer instrumental tune that sorta reminds me of Sick-O.
The Comes are by far one of my top 5 favorite Japanese hardcore bands ever. They were involved in the early wave of Japanese hardcore (Lipcream, Gauze, Gism, etc). I am in love with the 'No Side LP'. These guys were fronted by a punk as fuck female (a rarity in those days).
Chitose who sang went on to sing in a few metal bands after the Comes broke up (Virgin Rocks, The Wretched). Pretty sure the drummer went on to play in Gastunk. There are a shit tons of songs on this disc. But I still love it. The band only had two proper releases, so this is like a dream come true. This CD has a whopping 47 songs on it, way to many for me to list.
It consists of the Raleigh,North Carolina bands 1982 Jane Doe demo, a bunch of compilation tracks, and alive set. Total nerdum for hardcore freaks. For those unfamiliar No Labels were pre C.O.C.(Woody on Bass, and Reed on Drums). I had only ever heard a few of thebands comp tracks, and then later on the No Core stuff. This was abeautiful time for hardcore. I was still a metal head when this bandexisted, and didn't start gravitating towards stuff like this until maybe1984.
The band was infamous for their war on Ian Mackaye and the D.C. Straight edge scene. Enjoy the rage!
1.Massada/Will To Die2.We'll Make More3.The Machine4.The Gift5.Your Mistake6.Battle Fatigue7.Poisinous Solution8.Take A Walk9.Frustrated Existence10.No Need/Leap Of Faith11.It's Time/ShortyBack in the 90's my buddy and band mate (from Devoid Of Faith) Jim MacNaughton did a radio show on WRPI in Troy NY. He also helped to book punk hardcore bands to play live on the air to a room full of friends and supporters. It was a cool little thing the folks at the station would let Jim do. It was mainly Jim, this guy Bob Curry who did sound, and a Japanese girl who went to school there named Akimia. I saw so many cool shows there by the likes of Oi Polloi, the Gaia, 9 Shocks Terror, Los Crudos and endless other bands. Both the bands I was playing in at the time were lucky enough to get to play some of these gigs.This is a recording of a set that my old band Monster X did at the station. There were probably ten people there to watch us.
Gastunk Dead Song Rar
I think the recording came out great (although the bass guitar is way to low). We actually released the recording on cassette limited to somewhere between 25-50 copies.
I've been to a lot of really insane shows in my day, but this one was a top ten as far as the craziness factor goes.Back in 1989 I had just moved back to Albany NY from the Bay Area. A few friends from Albany and myself had decided to fly to the Bay Area for the Last Christ On Parade show which was being held at Gilman St. This was just a few days after that Big Earthquake that erupted and disturbed the World series and life in that area.The Show was billed to be Christ On Parade, Neurosis, Econochrist, Nuclear Roach, and Steel Pole Bath Tub.My friends and I had arrived early at the club to hang out, catch up and have fun. The show started to get really packed. It was hard not to notice that much of the crowd were Skinheads. These weren't your regular run of the mill skinheads either.
These were San Jose Hispanic Skinheads. These guys had a reputation for being just as racist and fucked up as as your regular run of the mill white power skinheads.
The Bay Area punks had been bullied by these kinds of jokers for years, and things soon started to escalate as more of these boneheads arrived to the show. They started picking on people, saying racist shit and getting physical like they always had in the past at other venues. The difference was that at Gilman Street warehouse we usually felt safe, and we outnumbered these clowns. After Steel pole Bathtub and Nuclear Roach played the mighty Econochrist took the stage. Within minutes the skins were sieg heiling the band at the front of the stage. There were at least 50 of these guys acting out like Nazis.
Econochrist finally stopped playing and Ben who was the vocalist of the band started yelling at these mongoloids about what they were doing. Suddenly a stocky skinhead girl jumped out of the crowd, and onto the stage where she started hitting Ben who was still mocking the skins over the microphone. One of the friends I was with whose name is Roger Vandusen pulled her off the stage by her leg and as she fell onto the floor he started kicking her (other punks joined in on the kicking). This started the riot! All of the sudden 50 skins were attacking people in the crowd, assaulting my friend Roger, and just going ballistic on people. By some miracle the punks were some how able to push the skins out of the club and everything spilled out into the streets of Oakland where there were even more skinheads who hadn't paid to get into the show (they were drinking and stuff).
Fists were now flying on the streets, boots were kicking, and sneakers were running. Shit really got out of control and very bloody.
Most the punks had run back into the club while the skins were trying to get back in or beating up on random people. These random people were either in the wrong place at the wrong time, or had gotten locked out of the club along with the skins. After a long time some ambulances and police finally arrived. A few people were arrested, and some others were taken to the hospital.Christ On Parade who I'd flown out to see didn't get to play their last show.
Pretty positive Neurosis didn't get to play either (I think they were slated to play after Econochrist, but I could be wrong). To this day I'm still not sure C.O.P. Ever got to play a last show.When things eventually settled down we somehow ended up back at a punk house where Ben Econochrist was either hanging out at or living. I started talking to him about the incident, and eventually played him audio I had recorded from the show on a walkman (or whatever I used back then).
We sat there in aw, laughing in disbelief. Unfortunately I can't find that live tape anywhere. I probably ended up recording a really bad hardcore demo over the top of it, or its just laying in a box un labeled.At any rate Econochrist were a punk/HC band that were from Arkansas and after touring ended up moving to the Bay area.Enjoy this Econochrist Discography!
This band was from the Bay Area and was originally called Apocalyptic Judgement (I liked that name better, so brutal). The band featured a buddy and ex band mate of mine named Zoran Theodorovic. Zoran Played guitar with me in the Romper Room Rejects, and then did this band (singing) after we broke up. Turmoil also featured Ken Sovari who was the second Autopsy bass player.
Ken played on the 1988 'critical mass' demo. Turmoil existed from between 1988-91 and played loads of local metal shows. Zoran is still active today in underground/extreme music.
Dudes been a bay area staple since 1985. Love this stuff. Its so dark & heavy, and is the perfect mixture of metal and hardcore.I've been friends with some members from the Original lineup for years (thanks to Chris Pellow for this demo). I also have a live set on tape that I got from Chris as well that I'll hopefully upload someday. Great Clevo hardcore with tons of Mosh, and some Slayer influence as well.
Albany mosh metal kids went crazy for this band back in the 90's. They'd react by doing those windmills, and stupid karate kicks in the pit. I could only stand there and wonder who the idiot was that invented that 'dance move'. At any rate enjoy the tunes. Beyond Hope Beyond Life2. When Enough Is Too Much3. Childhood's End8.
To Yourself10. A God Of SubstanceBrutal Canadian thrashcore that has scores of UK 1980's thrash and Japanese core written all over it. Harsh stuff indeed. You know its gonna be good when there are 11 songs on the demo.My old bands Monster X and Devoid Of Faith Shared the stage with Blowhard in Toronto. Straight ahead-non stop simple thrash with no frills.
Great dudes, great band. Old friends Simon Harvey and Naomi turned me onto these gents, and they helped to set up the shows we played with them as well. Re-listening to this brings back some keen memories of doing weekend gigs in Canada back in the early 90s. Having to sneak our equipment and merch across the border was always a hassle, as we always ended up paying some fines or being detained or something. I can't imagine how hard it is these days. Enjoy the tunes! This is terrible news.
My heart goes out to his twins and his family.I'm sure those of us that knew Brandon all have awesome thoughts of his past antics.Dude played in a kazillion bands that many folks saw or heard over the years. Municipal Waste, Direct Control, Government Warning, Obsessor, Career Suicide, Wasted Time, etc.I first metBrandon in Richmond VA. When he played drums in Municipal Waste and theyopened for us on some stupid Das Oath tour long ago. After that I'd getinstant messages from him all the time telling me to check out this orthat band that he was in. Seeing if I had interest in putting out random records by his bands on my label, Asking to play Gloom Fest, etc.A really fond memory I have of him is when I sold him a Corrupted Morals7'.
Both of us gushing over how amazing and underrated we thoughtthey were. A year later I went to see one of his bands with CareerSuicide in Albany NY. Him and members of various other bands (CareerSuicide, Direct Control etc) decided to play a covers gig on the spot(never practicing). Brandon asked me to pick my favorite CM song. Iobviously picked 'Peer pressure'.
He said ok, but you are singing it. That was rad.
He helped an old man relive his youth for a second.thanks buddy. Rest easy and free. Okay, I was living in the bay area when this Desecration was making waves in Arizona with Hippycore Records. I wasn't really familiar with them until I'd moved back East and was turned onto them by a Albany buddy by the name of Damon Douglas. I was familiar with the Bay Area Desecration that featured Mr.
Yost on vox, and members who went on to join/form Corrupted Morals. At any rate the AZ. Desecration kicked some major ass as well, playing non stop thrash with vox that remind me a lot of Pushead in Septic Death. This ep also featured a 4 song live 7' flexi. Great political lyrics backed by raging thrash tunes. This rip features the 7' and flexi, Enjoy. 1.insane2.19413.unseen foe4.drink5.driving force6.memoriesI first heard the song 'Memories' by these guys on a Maximum Rock n Roll radio show back in 1987 when I was living in the Bay Area.
I was stoked and fully into the bands sound. That same year my band the Romper Room Rejects was lucky enough to play a gig with them in Davis California at 'the Place'.
After seeing that gig I was even more blown away by the bands brand of low fi thrash. Mix RKL with the FU's and you have Identity Crysis. It took me a very long time to track down this record. Thanks to Daniel Rosen for hooking a brotha up! Six ripping thrash songs on this perfect slab.
1.downflame2.psychonaut3.earth children4.book of shadowsThis is a demo tape I played drums on along with fellow Maplewood New Jersey friends Zack, and Jenn. I met Zack at the local jiffy Lube.dude was wearing a Sleep shirt so I had to have a conversation. We realized we'd had many friends, and the love for similar music in common. We both liked the idea of playing instruments that we hadn't normally played in bands, and we both wanted to jam on some heavy or harder pysch influenced riffs. Jenn I'd known for years, and I told Zack that I thought she'd be the perfect bass player for what we were doing. The band is a really slow work in progress, but we love what we are doing and we have a 7' coming out in April.
Enjoy these four tunes. ErikMeade is a musician who has been a SF staple for decades.We met as neighbors in the Hayes Districtof San Fransisco in the mid 80's. Back then if you looked different, orwore a certain band t shirt you'd likely make conversation with othersthatalso looked the part. Erik sort of became mymentor turning me onto some cool obscure punk/hardcore, and introducedme toother like minded folks in the Bay area. I moved back East in 1989 sowe lost touch for over twenty years. I randomly ran into Erikwhile he was working at a record store about 8 years ago. It was crazy, and was weirdly emotional forme.
I felt like I needed to tell him that he had influenced my entirelife in a positive way through his influencing me musically. I ended up sending him everything I played on, and records I'd released over the years.At any rate Erik has along history of playing in tons of bands. One of those bands was theFlorida death metal band Death.
Death along with Possessed pretty muchinvented the death metal genre. I thought it would be cool to pickErik's brain about his short time in the band. In my opinion he played on the best demo by this Legendary metal act. Nate -You were one of the most open minded people I'd met inthe 1980's San Francisco scene. You and your ex girlfriend Janis turnedme onto a lot of different music and art back then. It was thepunk/hardcore stuff that resonated with me.
I still to this day have atape you made me in 1985 with a bunch of East coast hardcore bands on it (76%Uncertain, Bad Brains, SSD, Sacred Denial, Beastie Boys ep, etc). Youplayed bass in Death in 1985. I am trying to figure out the timelinebecause we were next door neighbors from late '85-1987. You were takingme to early meetings at Gilman Street as it was just being constructed,you introduced me to Tim Yo (who disliked me because I was metal dude), andyou had me singing in a band you were doing with Short Dogs Grow, andRhythm Pigs folks. Was this all taking place during the days you were inDeath, or after it? How the hell did I miss this?Erik -I would think it was during the period I was in Death,although it seems strange that I wouldn’t have mentioned it.
It wasprobably just after I left, and I might not have mentioned it because,at the time, it didn’t seem important. LOL.I'm sure I knew, but probably acted unimpressed because I was one of those metal dudes who was transforming intoa hardcore kid, and I was rebelling against my metal roots. I'm WAY moreimpressed now.Haha. Did your days playing in Death end your playing inmetal bands all together?Erik - Yeah, I just played in punk and rock bands after that, as a guitarist, not a bass player.How did you end up meeting Chuck and joining Death?
What made him relocate from Florida to the Bay Area in '85?Erik -Eric Brecht was playing metal with some guys in Oakland,and somehow, I had joined the group, I think as the singer. That projectquickly fell apart, but a few weeks later Eric got a call from Chuck,who sent him some demo tapes. Eric was really excited about it, so whenChuck asked him if he knew any bass players, Eric asked me if I playedbass. I didn’t really play bass much. I was a guitar player, but I saidyes, and ran out and bought a bass.
I then created a really ridiculousbass rig by putting my Roland guitar amp thru a 400 watt Sunn Power ampinto a 4/12 guitar cabinet. It was an odd combo, but it worked. Chuckflew out a few weeks later and started staying at Eric’s place, and thenwith a girl named Amber who hung out in the scene. She drove him aroundeverywhere while he was out here because he didn’t have car.
I assume hemoved here because the bay area had become the home of thrash metal.How long did your time in the band last? Why did it end? Did Chuckcontinue with Death in the Bay Area after you guys were out, or did hemove back to Florida?Erik -We were only in the band for about six months and a fewshows.
Then we had an argument with Chuck and he left. He just stormed outof the rehearsal room and that was that. I think he went back to Floridafor a few months and then came back to SF, but I’m not 100% sure.Did Eric Brecht quit DRI to Join Death? I recall seeing DRI at the Rock OnBroadway once in 1985, and Eric approached his brother Kurt after thegig and started telling him about how he was jamming withDeath. Kurt was totally supportive of everything Eric was telling him. It was a cool conversation that I dropped in on.Erik - No, as I said, Eric had already left DRI when Chuck hadcalled him.
As for Kurt, as soon as we started rehearsing we got a callfrom Kurt, who was in Chicago touring with DRI. He said “You’ll neverbelieve what some kid just gave me, It’s a tape of you guys rehearsinglast week”. It turned out that Chuck had taped our rehearsals, and thendubbed copies and sent them to particular die hard fans in various cities,who then made copies for their friends. It was at that moment that Irealized just how powerful and important the tape trading circuit waswithin the metal scene.
That was why Chuck already had a fan base in SFbefore he even had an album out.How old were you guys at the time?Erik - I would have been 22, Chuck was 18 and I don't know how old Eric was, but probably 19 or 20.Did you help in any of the song writing at all, or did Chuckmove to the Bay Area with all the songs that you were going to playalready written?Erik - We worked on creating some of the songs that were on thefirst Death LP although over the years I’ve become a bit hazy aboutwhich songs, but overall they were Chucks ideas. We may have had a handin some of the arrangements though.
I bought the first LP when it cameout just to see whether he gave us any credits, and was kind of amusedto see that he’d gotten around the songwriting issue by simply nothaving any songwriting credits at all. I assume that was because hewould also have the original members from Florida and Mantis to contendwith. He may have claimed ownership on later pressings. But I don’tcare.
It was clearly his ideas.Did you play on any of the demos or rehearsals that have been released through out the years?Erik-Yes. I'm on the Back From the Dead demo which was the tape that Kurt Brechtheard in Chicago. Scott Carlson gaveme a board recording of one of our Ruthie's Inn shows that is a muchhigher quality recording then Back from the Dead (which was recorded on aboom box). I've thought about trying to have an engineer clean up theRuthie's tape and boost up the guitar tones if possible.How many live gigs did you play with Death? Where were they?
Most in Bay Area I assume?Erik - As far as I can remember we only played three or four gigstotal. All but one of them at Ruthie’s Inn in Berkley. The other one was atthe Farm in SF with Mordred and the Rhythm Pigs.I think I recall that you guys used to practice at Turk Street Studios in SF?Erik- I honestly don’t remember where we rehearsed initially. Itmight have been Turk. But near the end we were rehearsing at a studio out by Potrero hill owned by Franco from MDC. What was the reaction to the band by other local metal bands in the Bay Areaat the time?
Did they accept Chucks move to the area? Did they welcome the band? I recall much competitionback then within the metal scene. Bands sort of competing to getsigned, play bigger shows etc. Was Death involved in this crap?Erik -I wasn’t really that familiar with the East bay metal scenesince I was part of the punk scene in SF, and was only occasionallycrossing paths with metal bands. But the first time we played Ruthie’s Iwas really surprised by how excited the kids there were to see us. Yousee, I had never heard of Death before Eric Brecht asked me if I’d wantto play bass in the band.
I thought they were just a band with a few home madecassette tapes out, which in punk circles meant you were just locallyknown. Death were from Florida so I figured nobody in the bay areahad heard of them/us. I didn’t realize that within the metal scene tapetrading homemade cassettes was a big deal, and true fans took itseriously. So at our first show there were actually people with our bandlogo painted on the back of their leather jackets who were all jackedup to see us. I also remember that the opening act at our first showwas an Oakland band called Black Death who sounded an awful lot like us,and were really excited to be on the bill.
It was an nice surprise forme. I think we either played with Sacrilege BC, or at least they were atthe shows because I became friends with those guys thru Death, andlater on when Dave Edwardson (of Sacrilege and Violent Coercion) startedNeurosis. He and Scott Kelly asked me to be part of it. I lasted abouttwo rehearsals before I guess they decided I wasn’t on the same pagewith them musically, and stopped calling me about rehearsals. When Ifinally called Scott he said “Oh, we decided we just want to be a threepiece”, so I said, 'Ok, well then, I’m gonna come over and pick up myamp”, to which Scott said “Oh, that’s another thing.
We accidentallyblew up your amp the other night”. Only last year Scott commented to meon Facebook, “By the way, I still haven’t forgotten that I owe you anamp. But you will always be OG Neurosis”.
I thought that was nice. Butback to your question.
No, I didn’t see any backstabbing or cattybehavior ever, in fact one of the guitarists from Testament loanedChuck a Marshall Stack for one of our Ruthie’s shows, because at thattime all Chuck had was a Peavey Transistor amp.What was it that Chuck and you guys were listening to at the time thathelped influence the extreme sound Death was later known for? Thisboggles my mindErik- I have no idea what Chuck was listening to that made him come upwith his sound. Me and Eric were both into mostly punk, so honestly Chucksmusic didn’t seem that radically new to me since I’d been listening toreally harsh fast music for quite some time, and well Eric Brecht wasthe kid who invented ‘blast beats when he was in DRI. In fact, that wasprobably why Chuck called him in the first place. So I suppose it’s safeto say that Chuck had heard DRI. A few of the albums that come to mindwere the first Die Kreuzen records, Dehumanization by Crucifix, andAnimosity by Corrosion of Conformity, which had just come out around thetime I joined Death.
That one was particularly relevant as me and JanisTanaka were hanging out with COC when they toured thru SF that yearbecause they were staying with our friend Ruth Schwartz for the coupledays they were in town.Chuck, Erik, & Eric Brecht at Ruthies '85. Did you or those other guys realize at the time that you were basicallyinvolved with something that was much different then other metal that was happening at the time?Erik- Not me, No. In fact, to be quite honest I didn’t get it,and really didn’t like it. I thought I was gonna be joining a band morelike Exodus or Slayer, and I thought that Chucks, or to be more preciseEric’s, beats were so fast that nobody could mosh or headbang to them. Ikept coming home and saying “I don’t like what we’re doing,it’s too chaotic”. And Janis would say “No, it’s great.
Keep doing it”.Even after I left/quit/got kicked out of the band I didn’t get it. Andconsequently, gave away or taped over all of my cassettes of ourrehearsals.
I didn’t have any tapes of myself with Death for twodecades, until one day I ran into Scott Carlson of Repulsion, who hadbeen the original bass player for Death back in Florida. First off hetold me that tapes of our rehearsals and Ruthlie’s shows were stillbeing traded by Death fans, but more importantly he said that Chuck hadmailed him copies of the tapes back in 1985 and he still had them. So heburned me a tape of all the recordings I was on. To be honest, I stillthink it sounds like a couple of kids going crazy in a garage. But myGirlfriend Sonja loves it. Her current favorite band is GoatWhore.
On aside note some time around 1998 I was walking past a club, and heard aband inside that was playing blast beats with a cookie monster voicedsinger, and I thought, ‘Fuck, they sound exactly like what we were doing18years ago. Who would have thought our sound would stick around so long.
Iwas also kind of astounded when I was in a bookstore and startedbrowsing thru the pages of that book Lords Of Chaos. I thought, ‘man,this is some crazy shit. How did this start’.
Then was kind ofshocked and surprised to find Death listed as one of the originalinspirations for those bands.Do you think Chuck was setting out to try to invent a genre that laterturned into 'Death Metal', or was it like many things in life that wasjust a series of mistakes that happened? Bad recordings that werelooked at as raw because engineers had no idea how to deal with theproduction.musicianship, etc?
I can't get my head around what bandslike Death and Possessed were thinking, and how they did what they didback then? Total innovators.Erik- I think Chuck had it in his head that he was trying tocreate something new that had never been done before. At least he alwaystalked that way. I remember asking him how he had come up with the nameDeath, and he said, “ I just wanted to have the heaviest band name ever, then it hit me.what’s heavier then death? The answer was,nothing.
Nothings heavier then death. So that had to be the name”. Ithought that was kind of funny because it reminded me of that line fromSpinal Tap, ‘How much blacker can it be? The answer is, None. Nonemore black”.Did you ever play in a band with Eric again?Erik -I never played with him again. He was asked to be in Hirax pretty soon after that and moved to LA I think.
Had you been in Touch with Chuck after your time in the band.before his passing?Erik -No, the last time I saw him or talked to him was at ourlast rehearsal at Franco’s place. We got into an argument about thelyrical content, which I thought was juvenile even though he had said hewanted to get more serious. Then he came in with another song aboutripping peoples guts out (Regurgitated Guts maybe?), so I complained,and I guess Eric Brecht sided with me. Chuck said “I don’t need you guys. I’llfind someone who really wants to play my songs”. He then dragged his ampout onto the sidewalk and sat out there for the next hour waiting forhis ride to arrive.
I think if we had just walked outside and apologizedwe might have continued as a band, but we didn’t because of course at that time Death weren’t legendary, so we really didn’t care thatmuch. Which is fine because I already knew I wasn’t the right bassplayer for his ideas.
So it all worked out the way it was supposed to.Was chuck someone that was easy to talk to, or was he difficult to get along with? He seemed to be hard headed but also seemed to know exactly what he wanted. Was he a control freak?Erik-No, Chuck was a pretty easy going guy. A bit like Sean Penn'scharacter Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, only not stoned.Chuck seem a little bit more square then that.
He knew what he wanted musically, butcompared to some of the egomaniacs I've dealt with over the years hewasn't unpleasant at all.Like a stoner surfer attitude? He didn't really party?Erik -I remember that he was really straight (no drugs) and kind ofinnocent when he first arrived in SF, but near the end of our run he changed.Oh come on, there must be some crazy stories from those days? Something Death fans would find interesting? Hookers?Erik -Lot's. But I don't think any of them involved Death. Wewent to keg parties and the like but it never got out of hand withregards to the three of us.What are your fondest memories of those 1985 Death days?Erik - Chuck playing with Kittens at Eric Brechts place which wasa storefront at Haight and Fillmore. I think its next door to thatcrepe place that’s there now.Tell people about the music climate in the bay area at the time.
I recall Janis was in bands (with Courtney Love), and you were always in multiple bands.Erik -the San Francisco scene in the 1980s and mid 90s was a reallyamazing thing. It seemed as though everybody was either in a band or abike messenger, or both. It was a pretty large scene of hundreds ofpeople who were all trying to do something creative. Back then the ideaof playing in a cover band or tribute band was unthinkable.
If you were amusician you wanted to create something new and hopefully unique. Notlike today where most musicians are fine playing in tribute bands, or,if they do deign to play original songs they go out of there way tosound like whatever everybody else is doing. Granted, the metal scenehas fought the longest against that mentality. But back then, theconcept of creating original, unique music was everywhere. Take hardcorefor instance. RKL, DRI, NOFX, Rhythm Pigs, Victims Family, COC, MDC,Dwarves, may have all been super fast thrash bands, and usually friends,but they all put their own spin on the form. Same with Bay Area Metal, AnvilChorus,Exodus, Death Angel, Possessed.
Then throw in all the artsierbands like Tuxedomoon, Flipper, Melvins,Neurosis, Trial, Treason, a StateOf Mind, Clown Alley, etc, etc, and you can kind of understand why Ididn't think what Death were doing was particularly weird orgroundbreaking. I mean it was but so were dozens and dozens of otherbands at that time, just ground breaking, original, and unique indifferent ways.
This is a compilation of all the bands recorded material. My relationship came about with members of this band through an old Canadian friend named Simon Harvey. Simon was raving about this Canadian grind outfit that had two singers that were mind blowing, and the perfect mesh of metal and hardcore. Simon put out a split LP with Human Greed and Shitfit in 1993-94.
I fell in love with Human Greed prior to the album even coming out (as Simon leaked me a tape). Over the years we (Monster X, and Devoid Of Faith) played many shows with these guys, and Monster X was even lucky enough to do a split 7' with them.
HG played in Albany with us I believe twice in the mid 90s, and we played in Canada with them. We loved them as people and as a band. They were hardworking animal rights and environmental people, and it came through in their music.
When these grindmasters broke up members went on to form Seized. Freddy (the drummer) went on to play in State Of Fear (ex-Disrupt dudes).
I really miss these guys and think about Wag, Steph, Freddy, and Pat a lot. They've been hard to track down over the years. Hard to believe this junk is over 20 years old now. Enjoy these 22 slices of grinding hardcore. John sang in Reason To Believe and Sensefield. Reason to believe blew my mind when I first heard them on a tape comp that also featured Our Gang, and Infest back in 1987. Johns singing was that of someone who actually was very talented and had an amazing voice that somehow worked with a fast hardcore band.
A rarity as most of us who listen to the genre know. I lost track of what he was doing over the years, but I'm saddened by his death at the young age of 45. He was still doing music, and was a talented person. I still get shivers down my spine when I hear his voice on any Reason To Believe recordings. Rest In Power! More crushing Japanese hardcore that in my opinion was part of the early Burning Spirits movement of Japan. My favorite thing about these guys is the guitarists guitar solos.
So cool, they literally never stop. Might annoy some punx, but I think it will excite some metal heads that never heard anything like this. Hardcore for fans of Bastard, and Death Side.
Pretty sure one of the members was in Crow. Don't sleep on these 16 songs. This is the bands only full length, and it was never released on vinyl. This was a rough mix which hadn't yet been mixed or sequenced for the record that came out in 2004 on Dimmak Records.
Gastunk Dead Song Blogspot Youtube
This session was a crazy experience. Mark and I went to Holland, staying for two months to write and record the planned LP with Marcel and Jeroen. We played shows around Europe on the weekends to help fund our stay.
We would write riffs in Jeroens living room and bedroom, then go to a squated building in the harbor of Rotterdam that had a bunch of practice spaces set up. We'd spend many hours of the day at the squat practicing and writing these tunes. It was pretty insane. If I recall correctly the recording itself took 2 days, then another day to mix. I feel like this rough is pretty damn close to the actual mix we ended up with. The process took longer than we had anticipated and I wasn't able to switch my flight back home to 'merica.
This meant I ended up leaving a day before we were 100% done with the mix. This CD was ripped by Dennis (the Engineer) so that I'd have something to listen to on the air plane ride back home.
Dennis recorded a bunch of the Sinister records. This is one of my favorite records that I've ever played on (DOF/Voorhees split, and JBA LP being the others I'd feel equally as proud of).
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