NO JOKE 2 x 7"s

No Joke were a Buffalo (West Seneca) area band in the early 90s. They had a bit of a metallic sound popularized by local bands Zero Tolerance & Solid State at the time. No Joke featured Dennis Merrick who later went on to join Earth Crisis & Path of Resistance notoriety. Featured here are two of their 7”s from 1991 and 1992 released on 2 different Illinois based record labels. Not sure of the back story but in the 2nd 7” “Into My Words” the band states “One last note: We all wish Jeff Johns, a slow and painful death. Rot in Hell Buddy!” Jeff Johns was also the name listed on the first 7” as the owner of Statue Records. Wonder if things went sour between the two. Kind of amusing. I enjoy the 2nd 7” "Into My Words" a bit more than “Tragedy of the Masses” as I think the vocals are better. Either way this is a good sample of things going on in Western NY circa 1991. No Joke was Justin – vocals, Greg Gonzales – guitar, Dennis Merrick – drums, and Clint Marriott on bass (later Rob Harris).



DOWNLOAD BOTH 7"s HERE:
https://www.mediafire.com/?bg69qkkoqa2v4ov



NO JOKE “Tragedy of the Masses” 7”
Released on Statue Records 1991 (Statue #3)
1. Lost Soul / Stand and Deliver
2. Misery


NO JOKE “Into My Words” 7”
Released on Crown Records 1992
1. Nevermore
2. Into the End
3. Mark My Words
4. Endtro

FUGAZI "87 demo"

Fugazi is definitely in my top ten bands of all time. After listening to them for just shy of 20 years I can honestly say I like them even more than when I was a young skatepunk rocking out to them in my friends bedroom. of course I got into them just because it was ex members of Minor Threat, Embrace, Rites of Spring and so on... but was pleasantly surprised to hear it was nothing like their previous noteworthy bands. At the time these guys ventured off and did their own thing and paved the road for many (quality) indie bands when emo wasn't such a bad word or tainted sound. Unfortunately I never saw them play and still would love to some day.

This demo recording is rough in some areas and a few of the songs sound very similar to their released versions. At some points in the songs you'll hear little different guitar or vocals parts that are kind of cool, that for one reason or another didn't make the final album versions. Also there's a few decent tracks that were never re-recorded on any of their full lengths (at least that I know of). so this is a pretty cool start to an amazing band that has been the soundtrack to many amazing points of my life.

FUGAZI "1987 demo"
http://www.mediafire.com/download/78mdb0d1lzpplgv/fugazi_Demo87.zip
1. Merchandise
2. (Don Talking)
3. In Defense of Humans
4. Break In
5. Song No 1
6. Bad Mouth
7. The Word
8. And the Same
9. Waiting Room
10. Furniture
11. Joe No 1
12. Joe No 2

HELL NO "self titled" 7"

Pre and post Hell No members were in Citizens Arrest, Kill Van Kull, Moses, All For One, Our Gang, Sleeper (Serpico), Go, Manacled, JJ Paradise Players Club, and also featured Ted Leo on guitar. They played awesome sounding NYC influenced punk and hardcore that sounds somewhat in between the lines of Born Against / Econochrist / Rorschach meets Mind Over Matter / Bad Trip kind of stuff. Very cool guitar riffs with a nice rhythm section and an almost snarling crusty vocal style made this 7" really stand out to me. Listening to it 16 years later from when I got it (mailordered it from the Relapse catalog) I can still pick out all of the reasons and sounds that made me stoked on it. And on top of all of the attitude this band exuded (the lyrics are pretty damn cool) the production is nothing short of some of Don Fury's top notch work. As much as I liked this 7" for one reason or another I never came across any of their other releases. I just found a myspace tonight that seems to have ties to the band. I'm going to seek out the rest of their discography and see if it keeps up with this great debut 7". My fingers are crossed.

Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/hellno1


HELL NO "Self titled" 7"
Released on Wardance Records (WAR #004)
Recorded 9-1-91 @ Don Fury's NYC

http://www.mediafire.com/download/9to94kko980xbes/HellNo.zip

1. Reformer
2. Consequence
3. Disciple
4. Shift

Flyer - V.O.D., Turmoil, Option, BK

1995 Wilkesbarre PA. 717 mofos.