| CD REVIEW North Side Kings |
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Band : North Side Kings You know, somehow I had the opportunity to listen to North Side Kings' fourth album a couple of times even before I'd looked into the info concerning this band, and I swear lightning struck in front of my feet when I found out they were from Arizona...and not from New York! Because their sound is so close to that of the likes of Madball, Sheer Terror, or even Agnostic Front in their early days...and the band's name doés kinda suggest they are from the rougher parts of Northern Manhattan Island, doesn't it? This band was formed back in 1999 out of sheer disgust for all the bullshit bands that were labeled "Hardcore" at the time. The band occasionally takes on offensive attitudes in their lyrics and behavious, but that is borne out of a deep need for honesty. Although they don't feel touring as an important thing, the band's attitude has nevertheless taken 'em to share the stage with the likes of Agnostic Front, Clutch, Comeback Kid, Death Threat, Hatebreed, H2O, Kill Your Idols, Madball, Metal Church, M.O.D., Murphy's Law, Poison The Well, Rapid Fire, Scars Of Tomorrow, Soulfly, Striking Distance, Terror, The Dropkick Murphys, Throwdown, Vision Of Disorder, Will Haven, and many more. They signed onto Thorp Records at an early stage, through which all their previous material (2001's full-length This Thing Of Ours; 2002's Another Family Affair; 2003's Allied Forces, asplit with Stampin' Ground; and 2004's Organizing Our Neighborhood) was released except for some compilation album appearances. The band grew to notoriety when, just a month after the release of their 2004 album, they were scheduled (along with Rapid Fire) to play support to Danzig. Organisation was apparently a fuck-up, with a delay for all bands as result. Then Danzig is announced as playing first, pushing back the other bands. Would be alright, if it wasn't for the fact that the Danzig crew started tearing down the stage after his performance, in blatant disregard of the fact that two other bands had come to play. When NSK singer/ guitarist Danny Marianinho confronted Danzig, who was at that time signing autographs, with the fact that he was acting as an asshole, the Rock star reacted violently, striking firstnamed into a wall. As he was preparing to strike again, Marianinho did what everyone in his place would do, and punched his assailant in the face, effectively knocking him out! So it so happens, NSK had been recording material on video, and three cameras were atually present to record front and backstage footage. Luckily one of 'em was close enough to record the whole incident. Needless to say, in their own defence, NSK soon posted the footage on the Internet! Weirdly enough, nothing much has been heard of the band since...until now! As mentioned before, I'd listened to the album before loking into the info, and what I head indeed immediately appealed to me. Brutal Hardcore with a degree of melody and just a touch of Metal, without becoming a "mainstream" thing...yeah man, I like indééd!!! Hey, time to introduce the band: also singing and playing guitar, is Luke Bugs, with additional guitar played by Ryan Butler, and the thunderous rhythm section is composed of bassist/ backing singer Tommy Quiet and pummeling drummer Jason Kowalski. This album sees a pack of extra singers on the guest list, with Puerto Rican Myke (a New York resident with a band baring his own name, apparently) singing his own song "Hustle Don't Stop (Blood Money Anthem)", and bringing additional vocals to "Nice Girls Finish Last" (for which he also wrote the lyrics). More additional vocals come from Dennis Welch and Jason Devore (sorry, I was unable to find out which band they play in, if at all) in "The Bearer Of Bad News", and additional gang backings come courtesy of Tyler King, Brandon the Awesome, Pete Melucci (people of which I found no background either – sorry, can anyone bring me out of my ignorance? Any help is deeply appreciated), Chad Cro-Mag (kinda evident what band hé plays in) and again Puerto Rican Myke! More covers come with Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" and Anthrax' "Among The Living" (both given a Hardcore treatment, though the first can't deny its Pop Punk basis). For your taste of the new album, surf to myspace.com/northsidekings to find 4 full-length mp3 files (one being the short album intro "Giving Emo Kids Something To Really Cry About" – funny little thing, and the album's "Outro" is simply a short reprise, in reverse order). Also on that same page, a cover of Sheer Terror's "Just Can't Hate Enough". For samples of all other album material by the band (plus some video footage) you go consult the band's page at last.fm! Once you've listened to the material available, you'll agree that this one one frellin' good band. Personally, although I'm not ready yet to put Suburban Royalty into my year-lists, will be on the look-out for more stuff by this Arizona lot! Oh, and before I forget, there's a (coloured) vinyl version of the album coming out as well (check the blogs on the band's MySpace page for the appropriate method of appropriation of the item – I just lóve to play with language, have you noticed?). 92/100 Tony. |