Sylvester Staline

Sylvester Staline is a power-violence band from France that has been around for far too long. I'm not sure about the name but I think they were trying to combine Sylvester Stallone and Joseph Stalin, but they spelled it wrong. Probably due to the massive amount of drugs they are on. Or maybe because they're french and can't do anything right... 'MERICA WHOO!! Today I bring you their 2005 release entitled "Gonna Spread Hard Drugs To Your Stupid Kids With The Royalties Generated By This CD". It features 33 short ass songs mostly clocking in at under one minute in length. Classic tracks like "Seth Putnam Is A Rip-Off", "Internet Thugs", and "I Drive Drunk To Smash Cop Kids". They've done a bunch of splits with some really awesome PV bands from here in the states, Magrudergrind being one of them. Up the punx.

it's ya boii,

Cheese

myspace

Gonna Spread Hard Drugs To Your Stupid Kids With The Royalties Generated By This CD

Balboa/Aussitôt Mort split

Hard & heavy, screamy epic goodness. Both bands have sort of a post-metal feel while Balboa definitely has some screamo influence. Balboa is a band from Philadelphia that I've known about for quite some time now. They feature members of a band named Elder, which is another hard hitting punk band from philly. Enjoy kiddies.

it's ya boii,

Cheese

Balboa myspace

Aussitot Mort myspace

Balboa/Aussitot Mort split

мища

мища... мища... мища... I had the pleasure of touring with these three young rapscallions this past summer throughout the new england states and it was an experience I won't soon forget. At first glimpse they are a bit of an intimidating bunch, with their long crusty dreads, rat tails, and no shortage of flare or facial hair. Like if you were to walk up to them and try to start a conversation you might catch a wicked tongue lashing, but nothing could be further from the truth... All three of them are real stand-up gentlemen that would do almost anything for a friend in need. Except for Alex.... ha just joshing, even Alex. 

Anyways... It seems to me like there has been an outburst of twinkley post-rock skramz coming from our neighbors in the Chesapeake state recently in these past few years. Great bands like Pianos Become the Teeth, Age Sixteen, Pansori... but the difference between the aforementioned bands and мища is very evident. мища doesn't rely on any elaborate means of conveying emotion to the audience, they put everything they have on the table for you to judge. Pure and simple. Take it or leave it. Each song carries a completely unique portrayal to each individual. This is what makes мища such a great band in my opinion. I remember being on tour and talking about starting a "mosh pit" to get people into their set a little more, but to my surprise, every time they begun to play I ended up being held captive by the raw amount of passion which inevitably left me motionless. 

Check out this band is you havn't already.

Its ya boii,

Cheese

myspace

click here for complete discography!

Fuck Attack!

This past week I happened to stumble upon this post-punk hardcore band or rather they happened to stumble upon me. As many of you may or may not know I used to set up shows at my former residence in the greatest shithole that is known as north philadelphia. We only put on about half a dozen shows before we were shut down by the unhappy neighbors that surrounded us in our tiny 18th century row home. But before that happened we managed to list our house on Do DIY USA, which flooded my inbox for months with requests from bands dying to play in our living room. After awhile the messages stopped coming in such large amounts but even to this day I still get messages. That's how I found out about Fuck Attack!. 

I took a minute to check out what they had to offer and was pleasantly surprised. They mix the right amount of sassy ear candy riddled with sheer angsty punk influence. These guys are all originally from the central pennsylvania area but have relocated to philadelphia for reasons that are unbeknown to me. But this past weekend they just so happened to be playing a gig in downtown Harrisburg at this bar called the G-Man. The bar wasn't charging to get in so I figured what the hell. I hadn't explored the downtown nightlife too much since I turned 21 so I thought this to be the perfect opportunity. The showed was scheduled to start at 9:30 p.m. and I strolled in just short of 10. The G-man isn't the ideal venue to host live performance due to the oddly arranged layout of the place. As soon as I walked in building I was elbow to elbow with about 50 other people in this cramped faux tiki bar. 

I managed to make my way to the bar and order a couple of drafts and watch one of the opening acts. Nothing special there. Then Fuck Attack went on and by this point I was three sheets to the wind. They seemed a bit nervous as it was only their second show and their set appeared rushed and rather sloppy. Or maybe I was the one who was sloppy. Either way I only stuck around for about half their set. Everyone was sitting down eating with the exception of a few die hard fans that weren't doing much except for this one girl who was dancing like an idiot. She was probably dating one of the guys in the band I assume. I tried pushing the lead vocalist to get some sort of interaction going between the band and the audience, but that never panned out. Shows like that tend to bore me quite quickly so I left and got sloshed. 

Good recordings. Good songs. Live stuff could stand a bit of improvement. Overall a band worth checking out. 

it's ya boii,

Cheese

myspace

Aldome (2009)

Swedes

Swedes was a band that, like most every other late 90's to present day screamo band, broke up well before their time. In fact, I'm pretty sure Swedes was the shortest lived band of all time.

 

The project was conceived in the early part of 2007 and disbanded only a few months later. Thankfully, during their time spent together they managed to record an EP and play a handful of shows that, in my opinion, helped mark a piece of the independent scene in Lancaster. It was what seemed to be the first band that sparked a wave of memorable "skramz" bands in the Lancaster area. Because there were so few shows played I wasn't able to see them in person but I imagine they were fairly intense. They did a brief tour in ohio with a band called NSDWHOA! whom I believe are still active to this day. The vocals on the EP were recorded by the drummer Tony who was the lead vocalist in the group at the time. Christian would later take the position of vocalist while Tony would remain the prominent influence. The reason or reasons why they broke up appear a bit ambiguous, but I would imagine have to do with insoluble differences between members. 

After the break up there was talk of Look Again Media putting out a discography CD but due to lack of member involvement they never recorded their final tracks. 

Christian moved onto another screamo band named DEFEAT!,

which featured members of Circus Circus. Afterwards he created Ursa Theodorus, which he would later call upon Tony to lead as their guitarist. Tony later quit Ursa and moved on to play in Venice and Ursa eventually broke up as well. Meanwhile, Don started Leagues with the dudes from 1994. They played only a few shows one of which was with Kidcrash on their 2007 U.S. tour. Sara never played in any other bands to the best of my knowledge. 

Now-a-days Christian can be found living and working in Lancaster playing in various bands here and there. Don still lives in the area but for the most part given up all musical endeavors. Not sure what happened to Sara and the last I heard Tony moved to Georgia. 

it's ya boii,

Cheese

myspace

sorry, no album art =(

Three Weeks (2007)

Canis Lupus

okay so first off, these little high school heart-throbs broke mine last winter when I scheduled them to place at my house in philadelphia known as "Strawberry Mansion" or "The Big Easy", but then had to unfortunately cancel at the last minute due to some minor dental problems the bassist had suffered. Be that as it may, I'm still a huge fan of these guys. They have a real crunchy sound that is only accented by their youthfulness. Canis Lupus hails from Lancaster, PA which has an up and coming underground DIY music scene already. Their sound isn't anything we all havn't heard before but it's still something worth checking out that will be sure to have you head banging with rest of us "heavy metal" fans.

it's ya boii,

Cheese

myspace

Join The Pack EP (2009)

She Moved Through The Fair

Real noodley ambient instrumentals from my good friend Don Barnes. Sorry I couldn't find the album art work....

it's ya boii,

Cheese

myspace

 Dawn Barns (2005) 

The Lonely Years on the Farm EP (2007)