4 WALLS FALLING "burn it"

A few years later 4 Walls Falling released this gem. It was only 3 songs but what a CDep it was. At first listen I was taken aback by the slightly more melodic and slick approach by the band. After a few listens I was hooked. These songs are so damn catchy and the subject matter really struck a chord with me. Pay close attention to the lyrics. They were well written and on a whole other level for me at the time and really helped expand my mind and see the world around me. Hell I was only 15 when this came out in 1992 but hearing a band talk about things that were going on in my mind really made life a little easier for me. Fortunately I got to see these guys after I picked up this record and they seriously never let me down. The energy shown in the photo above by both the band and crowd is rather accurate of each and every show with these guys. Check these 3 songs out and give them a few listens before you cast your judgment because once you digest them a little bit I am hoping you feel the same way I do about them.

The downfall to this record was the absolutely horrid cover art and the fact that it is in a CD wallet. You can kind of see how bad the artwork is in the small photo but up close it looks even worse & bitmapped. It's like some bad clip art image or something. The only other thing about this record that made me chuckle was the final line of the CD where singer Taylor Steele states "You can have your twinkies, I'll keep my health." For some reason I always find it amusing when a band throws in a word or phrase that you wouldn't normally would think would appear in a song. A word such as "Twinkies". Maybe it's just me, but that made me giggle. Not to mention I loved Twinkies at the time.

This was recorded and released in 1992 on 7"/CDep via Redemption Records which if memory serves me correctly was a division of Watermark records or somehow related. It also had distribution though Dutch East India which at the time was pretty big shit.


1. "Burn It"
2. "Happy Face"
3. "Temple"

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UPDATE: Word on the street is that there's a 4th song from this session so if anyone has that in mp3 format and would be down with sending it my way that would rule. Hit me up at info@surpriseattackrecords.com

4 WALLS FALLING "culture shock"

This is going to be a 3 part series on 4 Walls Falling spanning a few years of their lifespan. I believe they were from the VA area as I was able to catch them live many times in the PA and DC scenes. They started out in 1986 and ended in 1994 having gone through a lot of musical growth. In the early years the band had an energetic straight edge old school feel to it with just a hint of melodic catchyness along the lines of Turning Point, Insted, & Endpoint. Their songs were played fast and had a lot of political & environmental content to them.

I don't really remember what made me buy their "Culture Shock" LP. It was probably around 1992 and I was at my favorite local record store. Every visit to the store I would stare at it and think "this kind of looks like a hardcore band". So finally one day I broke down and bought it. The record kicked in with the first of many audio samples on the record and started out a little sloppy and slow. I started to think my decision was a poor one but then the song kicked in. "Oh nice, this sounds decent" I thought. After a few more spins on my turn table I was in love with this album. It wasn't for a few more years did I get to the chance to see them live. It was actually right here in the city I now reside. Broad & Pine St at the University of the Arts. 4 Walls Falling played there at least two times and I swear the whole room sang every last word. I don't know if I will ever feel the inspiration and awe like I did that day at a show now a days. At least I have the memories.

The band eventually branched out musically and headed in a less "old school" sounding direction. I'm going to do two more posts from their later work that explored into an almost Into Another style. But for now here's 3 tracks off of their debut full length CD. It was recorded in 1990 and released in 1991 on Jade Tree Records. It looks like they still keep this in print so I strongly recommend picking it up if you like the songs featured here. It was really hard for me to pic "favs" from this CD as the whole thing never disappoints me. Enjoy.


1. "Culture Shock"
2. "Price of Silence"
3. "Filled"