| CD REVIEW Shield recordings: In-Sane - The Fake Boys - This Routine Is Hell |
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Shield Recordings Special Winter-Spring 2010 Dutch independent label Shield Recordings stands for small-scale Punk Rock and Hardcore releases, usually in collaboration with other small labels…each servicing their own area of influence and, in the case one of ‘em releases the album in vinyl format, having both a CD ànd vinyl for sale! I have to admit it’s with a certain feeling of anticipation that I await every package (at least they stil send out promo albums and haven’t gotten onto the iPool download system yet!) the label sends us, but regrettably the material is usually sent àfter the official releases. And that’s a pity, because in certain cases it means that a band may have already passed through the Benelux to promote the album. Included in this “special”, are albums by In-Sane (from Slovenia), The Fake Boys (Massachusetts, USA), and This Routine Is Hell (Utrecht, Holland). -------------------------------------------- This Slovenian Melodic Punk Rock act was originally formed back in 1997 by 5 snotty youngsters looking for a means to get away from the everyday torments of boredom, using local bands but also the likes of Bad Religion, NOFX and Pennywise as their most important musical influences. Over the years the fivesome slimmed down to the current 3-piece of singer/ guitarist Dario, singer/ bassist Máteja, and drummer Shaggie, who started developing their brand of “Heart Core” (as in “coming from the heart”), and eventually, in keeping up DIY ethics, self-released their official debut album Keeping Ourselves Close To Our Hearts in 2006, on home soil only. Not minimalizing the positive things that came from that album’s release, the band’s career was to take a turn for even better things to come, when in late 2008 – early 2009, they signed to Slovenian label Moonlee Records. Thanks to the label’s 4-year experience in the field, the band now found themselves touring outside the strict borders of their country, first conquering the former Yugouslavian countries, then heading out in the rest of Europe (even making it to the Benelux in March 2009). The label also being on friendly terms with Italian label No Reason, the step to a multi-label release (also including Gerrmany’s Fond Of Life, Switzerland’s Bad Moon Records, and of course Holland’s Shield Recordings) was but a very logical one. Keeping DIY standards high, the album was recorded & mixed by Dario (whom also handles the band’s booking) himself, When asked, they’ll tell you that today they prefer to be compared to Propagandhi and/or Hot Water Music. Growing both as musicians and thinking human beings, the remaining trio have indeed come to incorporate elements of Hardcore and Emo in their music, and are not afraid to make an occasional side-step into other genres either. They are strong adepts of the “Copyleft” wave that has been part of the Underground for a couple of years now. As opposed to “copyright”, copyleft means musicians leave their work free for interpretation by others as part of a continuing process, in order to form a globally more freed musical landscape…independent of musical genres. As a good example for that, they used a sample at the beginning of “Fail Stereo Fail”, and bring their own version of The Fat Nuns’ 1995 song “Mrtev Policaj” (translates as “Dead Cop”) which also includes a siren in the opening and some handclapping at the end. As examples of sometimes reaching outside the strict Punk-Hardcore medium, you get a nice didgeridoo at the beginning of album opening track “At The Break Of A New Dawn”. Nót a sample this, but brought by one Sasch Serban. He’s one of the band’s merch guys, along with Mato and Mischa, and together they brought backing vocals to both “Mrtev Polocaj” and official album closing track “Amplify The Words”. Because the album has an untitled bonus instrumental, which is opened in a very Stoner-type style (in fact, if you didn’t know better and the track was played to you unwarned, you’d take it as being from a Stoner band you hadn’t heard of yet)! 80/100 -------------------------------------------- Hailing from Lowell (Merrimack Valley, Massachusetts), this Pop Punk band started playing in 2007 when its founders (singer/ guitarist Jim Domenici, bassist Joe McTigue, and drummer Ryan Fisher, to which they recently added guitarist Mike to “release” the singer from those duties), after years spent in several Hardcore bands, felt the need to return to their roots. In the short time since their formation, the band succeeded in releasing 2 EP’s (2007’s Sleepwalk on Frequency Deleted Records,and 2008’s Pop Punk Is Dead on the Cheapskate Records imprint) plus split 7-inch releases with Frogball (on Neutral Territory Records), Young Leaves (on Thirsty And Miserable Records) and The Arms Aloft (on Dead Format Records), material for which was culled from the EPs. Last year the band (then still a trio) found time to record 12 new songs…which somehow got to the ears of the people at Shield Recordings, who definitely liked what they heard. Being of the overall faster played type, 12 songs means a record not even 22 minutes in length, influences for which are to be sought in such bands as Descedents, Jawbreaker, early Dinosaur Jr, Husker Du, Fastbacks, Buzzcocks, Replacements, The Jam,… (the list goes on, check myspace.com/thefakeboys for additions). No frills, no additional “thrills”…this is driven Pop Punk for the sake of the music! Check out some songs (3 off each of the EPs, 4 off the full-length) at the band’s myspace. Vinyl afficionados, make contact with the label (info @ shieldrecordings.com)!!! Too late to catch the band on their recent 10-day European trip with The Real Danger (which also brought TFB to Nijlen, Belgium and Tilburg, Holland). 80/100 -------------------------------------------- Hailing from Utrecht in Holland, Melodic Hardcore act This Routine Is Hell (shortened to TRISH by the band) was originally known as de Tarrels, and even released their early 2008 demo Crave This under that monicker. During 2008 the band then not only changed its name, but also released a split CD with Alfatec, available only through Matzugoru Recordz…and a cover of Minor threat’s “It Follows” got place on a tribute album released through Mexican label Noize Attack. Normally a second split-CD with Sandbox Rebellion (out on Japanese label Akashic Records) would also have been issued that year (recordings & artwork were sent over in Aug. ’08), but due to pressing problems the CD didn’t arrive until Mid january 2009. Still in 2008, November to be exact, the band undertook a first 10-date tour to Italy (4 gigs thére, and 2 each in Belgium, Germany, and France on the way there) with the bands Outlive and Sandbox Rebellion. On the Dutch gig that preceeded the tour, bassist Martien played his last gig with the band, leaving because the band’s increased activities conflicted with his studies. The line-up was swiftly completed again, when Sandbox Rebellion bassist Mark joined singer Noam, guitarist Bram, and drummer Boris. In February and March ‘09 the band put in a number of shows throughout Holland in promotion of their new split-CD, occasionally playing in more reputed venues. In early April the boys visit Brussels and late that samee month, TRISH headed out to the UK for a small weekend tour (3 dates in the UK, one in Belgium on the way back) with fellow Dutch band Smash The Statues. Only two days later, they headed on down to Italy again, playing a gig in Antwerp (B), 4 in France, one in Germany, one in Holland ad interim, one in Swizerland, and eventually 3 in spaghettiland! During Summer ’09, the band did a couple of festivals, and started writing the material which, after decent pre-production, would be recorded by Nico van Montfort in October-November. The band then took a break, as the singer was off to Rwanda to work on a project from late November ‘til January 18. The foursome then spent every bit of free time in cramped together in the rehearsal room, prepping themselves for the 24-day European (France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Austria, and the Czech Republic) tour they would undertake between Jan. 29 and Feb. 21 (part of which saw Outlive’s Joris replace Mark for guitar duties). Belgium, check the band’s MySpace calendar from times to times, because there’s some dates near by! Holy mother…almost forgot to tell you (yeah right…as if!!!) : stylistically, you can put TRISH’s Hardcore in the same vein as Minor Threat, Paint It Black and Panic, bands which are openly mentioned as influences! So, you get short, fast played (with nevertheless some calmer passages as well) songs in which the factor “melody” is not forgotten, but nót for commercial reasons! Vocals, as can be expected, are screamed from the top of the lungs…no Emo/ Screamo stuff, even though the lyrics are clearly heartfelt!!! In several songs there’s an added guitar (hum…how they gonna pull that off live?) making ‘em even more intereesting. With 11 songs on the album, you’re enabled to listen to it thrice within the same hour, as the total length is only just over 17 minutes! Still, that is nó negative feature of the album, as móre material would probably become somewhat tiring on the unsuspecting listener! At myspace.com/thisroutineishell, you can check out no less than 5 off the album’s songs, plus one off the split release with Sandbox Rebellion. Okay, so obviously I like this…make that: lóve this! And haven given more time with it, it would most certainly get a spot in my year-lists! But with the workload I’m facing (an average of 2 CD reviews a day, would you believe?) I simply had to push things through at an incredible pace (didn’t I tell you there was an advantage to the album’s short length?). 92/100 Tony. |
