Feb 9, 2007

ONE KING DOWN "Absolve" CDep


One King Down was well known for their "Bloodlust Revenge" CD released on Equal Vision Records in 1997 but before that CD was the hard to find "Absolve" EP. No strangers to different line ups this CD features their 1st of 3 singers featured on recordings. Absolve kicks in hard with their signature "ONE KING DOWN!!!" sing along & set opener.

Many people will remember OKD more so for their touring and performances with Rob Fusco on vocals but this EP is still a great listen. However Bill Brown still had a strong presence on this CD giving One King Down an even harder, tough edge to their sound. It's a nice mix of contemporaries of the time like Victory Records all stars Snapcase & Earth Crisis mixed with a good amount of influences from the Albany / Troy hardcore scene for instance local heroes Stigmata.

The core of the band, brothers Bill & Michael Scoville on guitar and bass, Derrick VanWie on drums and Matt Wood on 2nd guitar were all highly proficient players of their instruments. I loved that OKD weren't afraid to slow things down and have the songs kind of plod along in a heavy rocked out fashion. I'm a sucker for mid tempo songs. Listen to some of those guitar riffs and transitions. Not too bad considering how young they were at the time.

I'm not really sure why vocalist Bill Brown left after this EP but they definitely went on to do a lot more down the road. In 1997 One King Down & Brother's Keeper did a full US tour together and I got to know them pretty well. We definitely had a good time on the road together even if we did hide cups full of human feces inside their van only to awaken the next day to shit smeared all over our front window, windshield wipers, and underneath the door handles. It was gnarly... Unfortunately at one point in the tour I had to fly home due to a death in the family. Mike from OKD was nice enough to learn 7 BK songs on bass in one night and filled in for a few dates until I flew back out and caught up with the guys.

It was a 5 week full US tour and I remember after our last show which was in Pittsburgh, PA, OKD were going to come back to Erie and crash at my apartment before heading back to Albany. Once we arrived home I quickly realized that my place had been broken into while we were on tour and it had been burglarized. OKD rolled up and saw me outside with the police and we're just kind of like "What the fuck happened?" The bastards stole my original nintendo but didn't take the power adapter, idiots! Oh well, such is life.

Derrick VanWie went on to play drums in The Promise for many years, Mike Scoville even got a chance to audition for the Foo Fighters at one point, Rob Fusco has been seen wearing scarves while playing chess at shows and can be found singing for Most Precious Blood these days, and some of the OKD crew have been working hard at Equal Vision Records for many years now.


ONE KING DOWN "Absolve" CD TRK 003
released on Trainwreck Records in 1995, recorded in Aug '94 @ Max Trax Studios.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/vk2e0rr3zza2vyd/oneknigdown_Absolve.zip

1. Nine Eyes
2. Bleeding
3. Reawakened
4. The Killing Fields


One King Down & Brother's Keeper in front of my apt in Erie, PA 1997.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Love this band.
- CYST

xbenx said...

Fuck yes, I am lovin this ;)

Anonymous said...

Great looking dudes!

Anonymous said...

OKD recorded a demo between this absolve EP and bloodlust revenge (rob sang on it). 2 of the songs from that demo were on their split with spirit of youth...any chance anyone reading this has that demo? mine was eaten by my car stereo years ago.

blend77 said...

i had that demo...my tapes got trashed so long ago...so bummed.

Ryan J. Downey said...

When Rob quit (or was fired), Steve Reddy bought me a bus ticket from Indianapolis to Albany on the recommendation of one Mike Ski. I showed up, learned 4 songs in a weekend, "wrote" lyrics for a 5th, and we set off for a tour with Earth Crisis, Hatebreed, Madball and Skarhead. I lasted 2 shows (including a "warmup" headlining show in Detroit where the band was billed as "One Kingdom" and cosequently like 20 kids showed up).

kimpunkrock said...

thanks for the upload. I am loving this blog. So many blasts from the past on here. Thanks.

--
kim

Kuba said...

BIG THANKS!!!

john torn said...

Glorious. I remember buying this CD from Mrs. Scoville for $5 the day they finally got them.
I have that demo with Rob somewhere, in a bunch of old WVCR tapes.
The Jawbreaker demo is also classic (earlier recording of the Absolve lineup).

deso518 said...

Bill Brown left the band (and state of NY) because he kept getting in trouble for graffiti and thrown in jail for it. After a third tour in Albany County Correctional Facility he was headed for the state pen (a forth time busted). He then decided to take off and start over out west, (currently living in Seattle). That's why he left OKD way back when.

Dave M (Crazy Old Man) said...

I'm looking everywhere online for OKD's Jawbreaker demo. Does anyone have a rip of it? I'm desperate...

Hit me up at dcmichaels@hotmail.com .

Anonymous said...

Hello , the link was deleted..Can you re-upload this album again please?

I hope you can.

Best regards.

Alfredo.